"I have written to you so seldom...."

At last, J. S. Hogg found time to write a letter to Mike:

June 3rd, 1904

Dear Mike:

Ima told me last night that I am lazy and you know she is a girl of very fine judgment. Doubtless, you will agree with her for I have written to you so seldom that this is proof evident of her accusation. At no time has my solicitude for or appreciation of either you or Tom in the slightest degree diminished. But as I grow older, with the cares of life daily multiplying, letter writing becomes more burdensome. In my youth I wrote often with much fervor and interest. Should you count letters with me and reply only to those I write to you, our correspondence necessarily would grow lighter year by year until after a while the “old man” would seldom, indeed, hear from his son.

I am trying to shift some of the care of life to Will and Ima. They take them up honorably and perform them well. Within a few years I hope that you and Tom will be able also to relieve me. Ima will soon join you at Lawrenceville to arrange for suitable quarters through the summer, where I hope that you will be comfortable and happy. Of course, this arrangement will be made at considerable expense with the hope that in all respects you and Tom will be mutually benefited by it, mentally, morally, and physically. I should be glad for you and Tom to take up some special course so that during vacation you may have one or two lessons every day. For instance, you might practice in penmanship and study arithmetic or Latin. In this way you could vastly improve and at the same time enjoy all of the frivolities known to youthful pleasures. . . .

         Ima was about to spend the summer in New England with her two younger brothers.

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