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TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
Eastern Routes, & visit me. I live between this Rail Road & the Jackson & Vicksburg, 7 miles from each, & about 9 miles from Jackson where they unite; and I will send a Carriage for you to that City whenever I learn that you are there, or that you will be there at a certain time, I can breakfast at home, & sup in New Orleans, 'rhe only source of anxiety I suffer and one which is unceasing is the conduct & condition of my oldest son. I wrote to you more than a year since, that he had suddenly left me, as I thought, to join some fillibustering expedition. I conjectured that he had joined Walker, or Lockridge. He was going on very well with his studies, & had done nothing dishonorable. I had applied for an appointment for him as Cadet at West Point, and felt confident of getting a situation for him in 1860, when there will be a vacancy for Texas. I have just written to Judge Hemphill requesting him to secure an appointment for him if possible. The last time I heard from him he was living with a Mr. Walker on the Brazos, in Fort Bend Co. near Pitt'sville. I should like very much to get him into some kind of business in Texas which will employ him honestly until I can learn the result of his application for admission into the Military Academy. If he cannot get an ap- pointment I will then send him to some good school or college until he is qualified for business which will support him I will have some means which will enable me to do this by the first of next May. If you can find him in your County, a little advice from you at this time would be of great service to him; and you might perhaps through some friend in Washington aid me in getting an appointment as a Cadet. He would suit the army better than anything else. He is very brave & energetic, and is a fine rider & an excellent marksman. I had him at a very good school when he deserted his home, and he had nearly completed the arithmetic, & could read Latin pretty well. He wrote a good hand, and could draw respectably. He possesses a better talent for mechanism, than the most of boys exhibit, & is quite skillful in working with many kinds of tools. But I know nothing of his oc;m- pations or his associations for the last 18 months. When he left me · he was one of the Teachers in my Sunday School, and assistant Li- brarian; & he had been guilty of no act of immorality, or of gross disobedience. Actuated by some romantic notion, and prompted by the restless spirit, and a desire for roving & for adventure common to boys of his age who have read much history & many books of travels, & who possess poetical imaginations he suddenly cut short his studies, arrested the plane of education I had formed for him, renounced my authority & set up for himself. I have suffered Severely on his account, and I am afraid that he may never recover from the effect of such an unfortunate beginning of his career. I wrote to you several Letters before leaving Austin to the care of the Secy of State in regard to the business mentioned in your last to me. I also wrote a private Letter to Genl. Cass contradicting some articles which appeared in the papers caluminating you villainously, and I denounced the authors of them as severely as I could. My address is Jackson Miss. Please let me hear from you, & do not fail to come and see me. I have a most comfortable and beautiful home, where I can enjoy your company. Sincerely & affectionately Yr friend & St EwD. FONTAINE
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