Do
not conclude from this, that I advise you to spend much of your Time or
Thoughts upon these Exercises and Diversions. In Truth I care very little
about any of them. They should never be taken but as Exercise and Relaxation
of Business and study. But as your Constitution requires vigorous Exercise,
it will not be amiss, to spend some of your Time, in swimming, Riding, Dancing,
Fencing and Skaiting, which are all manly Amusements, and it is as easy
to learn by a little Attention, to perform them all with Taste, as it is
to execute them in a slovenly, Awkward and ridiculous Manner.
Every Thing in Life should be done with Reflection, and Judgment, even the
most insignificant Amusements. They should all be arranged in subordination,
to the great Plan of Happiness, and Utility. That you may attend early to
this Maxim is the Wish of your affectionate Father,
John
Adams
Adams,
John. Letter to John Quincy Adams, December 28, 1780. Adams Family Papers,
Massachusetts Historical Society. Published in Adams Family Correspondence,
Volume 4: October 1780 - September 1782 (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press, 1973). Pages 55-56.
