.NTI.MTM2MQ

him for Mr. Denison to which I have rec. no answer. I presume they conclude to comply with my terms, or they would dismiss [underline] you at once. You speak as though I [underline] did not know, by experience [underline], what it is to be confined to hard service in a store. I do, however, know something about it. I have toiled, in a very frail state of health, as severely as my strength would possibly admit, long years in the little, diversified & vexatious business of country shop keeping, as is was in olden times, when we retailed molasses by the pint [underline], & tea by the ounce. I have worked in the day times, & layed awake in the night times, in adjusting the difficulties, & arranging all the parts of any business, so that, in the whole, it would [???ld] me a livelihood, & a competence for future emergencies. If I had not done so, my son, you would not now have a father's house & home, & a father's pecuniary assistance, which are most willingly & cheerfully tendered to you at all times. Yes, Zadoc, I have worked with head [underline], & hand [underline], in a store, more years than [start underline] you have [end underline] lived, not withstanding my present comparatively idle life, or labors limited to the feeding of my cows & pigs, & to various other small [underline] matters. And even at this [underline] stage of my life, I would be in business more worthy of your [underline] ambition if I were not bowed down almost into the grave by long standing bodily infirmities for which there is no remedy. I regret this more on your [underline] account than [start underline] my own [end underline], because