1807 (undated)

Jane Attwater Blatch, Bratton, to Annajane Blatch, Bratton, [c. 1807].

My dear Child,

Now you have with dilligence & attention thus far acquited yourself in learning to read to spell & repeat your Cathechisms & hymns very correct for the care willingness & application you have shown in endeavouring to do your best I with much pleasure commend you but do not think my dear girl that you now have done all that is your duty to do. No you have thro’ your future Life to reduce into practice those good Instructions you have been favourd with at the Sunday School & in a more private way be thankful first to God & then to your parents & benefactors who have kindly took much pains for your good & remember you cannot express your Gratitude better nor give us more pleasure – then in a conscientious walk thro’ life agreeable to those excellent truths you have learnt remember you are still a schollar & have yet much to learn in order to w^ch be constant in reading your Bible & ne’er omit praying to God who is alone able to make you wise unto salvation. Be ever mindful of y^e privileges you enjoy at Bratton may they be improved by you pray to God to give you grace to live in his fear & remember his Eye is continually upon you.

Therefore never yield to any temptation knowing that God sees all your action often repeat over what you have learnt that you may not forget it & ever endeavor to act up to those good precepts thus doing you will fill up your station in life with honor & credit to yourself & merit the Esteem & Love of your friends & be an Example to your companions – Your Father & Mother will rejoice in your prosperity & welfare & have cause to bless God for the happiness of seeing their prayers answered in your behalf.—Yes my child no greater joy can those who wish you will have then to see you walking in the truth to see you a real Christian this will delight all our hearts you will then be sounding y^e discharge of Moral duties I mean those duties w^ch are containd in your commandments toward our fellow Creatures you will then be actuated by y^e best motives Love to God & to your fellow Creatures – you cannot wilfully commit sin nor can you indulge yourself in any known Evil be honest just humble kind & courteous to all.

Text: Attwater Papers, acc. 76. I.A.25; for an annotated edition of this letter, see Timothy Whelan, ed., Nonconformist Women Writers 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 8, pp. 184-85.