John Quincy Adams | Page 3

had evacuated Boston, the boy, barely nine
years old, became "post-rider" between the city and the farm, a distance
of eleven miles each way, in order to bring all the latest news to his
mother.
Not much regular schooling was to be got amid such surroundings of
times and events, but the lad had a natural aptitude or affinity for
knowledge which stood him in better stead than could any dame of a
village school. The following letter to his father is worth preserving:--
BRAINTREE, June the 2d, 1777.
DEAR SIR,--I love to receive letters very well, much better than I love
to write them. I make but a poor figure at composition, my head is
much too fickle, my thoughts are running after birds' eggs, play and
trifles till I get vexed with myself. I have but just entered the 3d volume
of Smollett, tho' I had designed to have got it half through by this time.
I have determined this week to be more diligent, as Mr. Thaxter will be
absent at Court and I Cannot pursue my other Studies. I have Set
myself a Stent and determine to read the 3d volume Half out. If I can
but (p. 004) keep my resolution I will write again at the end of the week
and give a better account of myself. I wish, Sir, you would give me
some instructions with regard to my time, and advise me how to
proportion my Studies and my Play, in writing, and I will keep them by
me and endeavor to follow them. I am, dear Sir, with a present
determination of growing better. Yours.

P.S. Sir, if you will be so good as to favor me with a Blank book, I will
transcribe the most remarkable occurrences I met with in my reading,
which will serve to fix them upon my mind.
Not long after the writing of this model epistle, the simple village life
was interrupted by an unexpected change. John Adams was sent on a
diplomatic journey to Paris, and on February 13, 1778, embarked in the
frigate Boston. John Quincy Adams, then eleven years old,
accompanied his father and thus made his first acquaintance with the
foreign lands where so many of his coming years were to be passed.
This initial visit, however, was brief; and he was hardly well
established at school when events caused his father to start for home.
Unfortunately this return trip was a needless loss of time, since within
three months of their setting foot upon American shores the two
travellers were again on their stormy way back across the Atlantic in a
leaky ship, which had to land them at the nearest port in Spain. One (p.
005) more quotation must be given from a letter written just after the
first arrival in France:--
PASSY, September the 27th, 1778.
HONORED MAMMA,--My Pappa enjoins it upon me to keep a
Journal, or a Diary of the Events that happen to me, and of objects that
I see, and of Characters that I converse with from day to day; and altho'
I am Convinced of the utility, importance and necessity of this Exercise,
yet I have not patience and perseverance enough to do it so Constantly
as I ought. My Pappa, who takes a great deal of pains to put me in the
right way, has also advised me to Preserve Copies of all my letters, and
has given me a Convenient Blank Book for this end; and altho' I shall
have the mortification a few years hence to read a great deal of my
Childish nonsense, yet I shall have the Pleasure and advantage of
Remarking the several steps by which I shall have advanced in taste,
judgment and knowledge. A Journal Book and a letter Book of a Lad of
Eleven years old Can not be expected to Contain much of Science,
Literature, arts, wisdom, or wit, yet it may serve to perpetuate many
observations that I may make, and may hereafter help me to recollect
both persons and things that would other ways escape my memory.

He continues with resolutions "to be more thoughtful and industrious
for the future," and reflects with pleasure upon the prospect that his
scheme "will be a sure means of improvement to myself, and (p. 006)
enable me to be more entertaining to you." What gratification must this
letter from one who was quite justified in signing himself her "dutiful
and affectionate son" have brought to the Puritan bosom of the good
mother at home! If the plan for the diary was not pursued during the
first short flitting abroad, it can hardly be laid at the door of the "lad of
eleven years" as a serious fault. He did in fact begin it when setting out