9

Bachelor's Hall August 9th 1831

Dear sister

I have just finished reading your last letter
for the tenth time and as it is [underscore] my [/underscore] motto [insertion] to [/insertion] "return good
for evil" I can not for my life consent to punish you by
compelling you to undergo the torments of "hope defered"
'Tis, indeed, a cruel revenge you have taken for my "long
silence" - one, entirely inconsistent with your usual
benevolence - Is it not strange that [underscore] I [/underscore] should be singled
out as an object of vingeance by one whose province it
has hitherto been to dispense favours and happiness to
all who have had the good fortune to come within the
range of her benevolence? But in your thirst for revenge
you forgot the pleasures of anticipation, and the intense delight
of enjoyment after suffering the horrors of suspense. - so you
see you have not as much cause for self-graulation as you might
suppose - But do not again inflict such [underscore] pleasure & delight [/underscore] upon
one who feels but too desolate and friendless already, - let chastisement
come from a hand less dear to me. -- Please kiss
little Sue for me before we go any farther and then we'll proceed --
I have nothing of my own to kiss except a horse - I must therefore
kiss the [underscore] property [/underscore] of other people. Speaking of kissing reminds me
of a wedding to which I am invited on Thursday evening next
All the world ( a space four inches square) is to be there. I, too, shall
go - but the only being on earth whose presence could
impart joy even in the solitude of a desert, will not accompany me,
In all the vast assembly there will not be one being whose heart
shall beat in unison with my own - I shall therefore be [illegible]
and desolate when all else is gayety and reverlry - but
appearances must be kept up at the expense of inclination - 'tis
so in N. C. and we, of Florida, are not wiser than other people.
Would you believe it, I have serious notions of joining the dance
on the reception!! Dopy dances with great eclat - are not
my heels as light as his! or are all the excellences of some