3.
MY DEAR NED,――For though I have never yet had the pleasure of
seeing you at our house, I still feel as though I knew you,
Tom has said so much to me of you, and has shown so much more
than he has said. I have felt very thankful that you were his
friend; and now that this terrible and dreadful parting is to
separate me from my only child, I am glad that you are to be
with him. I know the cause that calls him, and I feel that it
is better for him to go than to stay; but, though I say yes,
I say it with an agony beyond your comprehension. I want your
promise that you will not leave Tom during the time that your
country may need you; that you will suffer nothing but death
to separate you; that you will refuse promotion and honor, if
it is to part you from him; that you will stay by his side in
the progress of the battles that may come. It is through your
influence that he goes; I must look to you for his safety. So
make me this promise; and, in return, what can I give? what
can I say? This only: that my house shall be your home; and
that I shall feel as if I had two sons instead of one.