To Reuben and Abigail Smith, Lichfield, Connecticut.
My dear Parents,
I can
not resist the feelings which impel me to seize
this first, and perhaps only, opportunity, of publicly testifying
to you my respect and affection.—To you I am
indebted, not merely for life, but for instruction and
example happily calculated to explain, and impress me
with a sense of, its value, and the inestimable purposes
to which it may be applied. If, in my past or future conduct,
any conformity to your desires and precepts appear;
if, by any past or future exertions of mine, the welfare
of mankind be in any degree promoted; to your cares,
to your vigilance, to your virtues, will it be owing. It
is, therefore, a simple act of justice, to make my first acknowledgments
to you.—The panegyric of a poet, on his
patron, may justly be suspected; but who will venture to
question the sincerity of a son, who dedicates to his parents?
—Nor need your modesty be wounded, by this public
mark of my esteem. Should my conduct prove me
worthy to claim relation to you, it will best pronounce your
eulogy: my follies and my vices can only affect myself.—
Accept then, my dear parents, this new proof of my sincere
and filial love.
E. H. SMITH.
