Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 2

Monday. 19th.

Wednesday. 21st.

Tuesday. 20th. CFA

1829-01-20

Tuesday. 20th. CFA
Tuesday. 20th.

Morning at the Office. Received at last a letter from my Father with a remittance. There was not in it exactly what I expected. Although in noticing my allusion he made some kind of apology, yet it was not so kind as I expected after so long a silence. He attempts also to make me in the wrong, when I believe myself entirely right, or at any rate when I still feel as if I had suffered from his harshness.1 The larger part of his letter was upon other subjects. I read, but very loosely, and on the whole both morning and afternoon were not passed profitably owing to the difficulty which I found in fixing my thoughts. Evening, occupied in reading Mr. Boswell.

1.

Sending CFA $250, JQA urged his son to forget their angry scene of 22 August 1828. “I told you then and repeat now,” he wrote, “that I will assist you and my other sons to the extent of my power, so long as I have the power and they are unable to support themselves. I will deny myself comforts to contribute to theirs, and only ask them to remember that I am retiring from the public service, with scanty resources, no light embarrassments, and a family unavoidably and heavily expensive” (JQA to CFA, 13 Jan. 1829, Adams Papers).