Smithville, Down East, in the state of
Maine.
April 25, 1839.
To Mr. Samuel Colman, No. 8 Astor House,
New-York.
Dear Sir:
I see by some of the papers that you are a goin'
to put
out a book, containing my letters that I've been
writing to the New-York Mirror.
That I should ever
come to be the writer of a book is what I never expected;
but strange things happens now days; and if you
think the letters that I and my son John have writ, are
worth making into a
book, I'm willing you should do
it. If you are a goin' to have picters in it, as the
papers
say you be, I wish you would send me a few of 'em,
for there's nothing
in this world that my children likes
to see so well as they do picters.
Cousin Debby says it is the fashion, when any body
puts out a book, to have it
dedicated to some body; and
if you should think it best to put in a dedication, I
want
it to be to uncle Joshua Downing, of Downingville, out
of respect I feel
for the memory of my cousin, Major
Jack Downing. I don't mean none of your New-York
counterfeit Jack Downings, that stole my cousin Jack's
name, but my own dear
cousin, the Major, that writ all
his letters in the Portland Courier, and the
Downing
Gazette, printed in Portland, State of Maine. I send a
dedication that
you can put in, if you think it is best.
Your friend and well-wisher,
JOHN SMITH, Esquire.
