John Quincy Adams to John Adams

October 13 1774

Sir

I have been trying ever since you went away to learn to write you a Letter. I shall make poor work of it, but Sir Mamma says you will accept my endeavours, and that my Duty to you may be expressd in poor writing as well as good.

I hope I grow a better Boy and that you will have no occasion to be ashamed of me when you return. Mr. Thaxter says I learn my Books well—he is a very good Master. I read my Books to Mamma. We all long to see you; I am Sir your Dutiful Son,

John Quincy Adams

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Adams, John Quincy. Letter to John Adams, October 13, 1774. Adams Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. Published in Adams Family Correspondence, Volume 1: December 1761 - May 1776 (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1963). Pages 167-168.

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