_Vailima_, _Upolu_, _Samoa_, _November_ 28_th_, 1891.
DEAR SIR,—Your obliging communication is to hand. I am glad to find that
you have read some of my books, and to see that you spell my name right.
This is a point (for some reason) of great difficulty; and I believe that
a gentleman who can spell Stevenson with a v at sixteen, should have a
show for the Presidency before fifty. By that time
I, nearer to the wayside inn,
predict that you will have outgrown your taste for autographs, but
perhaps your son may have inherited the collection, and on the morning of
the great day will recall my prophecy to your mind. And in the papers of
1921 (say) this letter may arouse a smile.
Whatever you do, read something else besides novels and newspapers; the
first are good enough when they are good; the second, at their best, are
worth nothing. Read great books of literature and history; try to
understand the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages; be sure you do not
understand when you dislike them; condemnation is non-comprehension. And
if you know something of these two periods, you will know a little more
about to-day, and may be a good President.