第17章给儿子的信（1）
&oHisSon
F。D。斯坦厄普F。D。Stanhope
Dearboy，
&ofpleasingisaveryneetopossess，butaverydiffietoacquire。Ithardlybereducedtorules；andyoodsenseaionwillteaoreofitthanI。“Doasyouwouldbedoneby，”isthesurestmethodthatIknowofpleasing。Observecarefullyleasesyouinothers，andprobablythesamethingsinyouwillpleaseothers。Ifyouarepleasedwiththeplaisaentiooyourhumors，yourtastes，oryourweaknesses，dependuponit，thesameplaisaentiononyourparttotheirsleasethem。Takethetohepanythatyouarein，anddoogiveit；beserious，gay，，asyoufihumorofthepany；thisisaionduefromeveryindividualtothemajority。Dooriesinpahiediousanddisagreeable；ifbyowaveryshortstory，andexglyapplicabletothepreseofversatioinasfeossible；ahrowoutthatyoudoellstories，butthattheshorttemptedyou。
Ofallthingsbaismoutofyourversatiohiaihyourownpersonalsorprivateaffairs；thoughtheyareioyou，theyaretediousaoeverybodyelse；besidesthat，okeepone’sownprivateaffairstoosecret。Whateveryouthinkyourownexciesmaybe，doedlydisplaytheminpany；norlabor，asmaogivethatturntotheversation，lyyouortuiheyarereal，theywillinfalliblybediscovered，withthemoutyourself，andwithmuchmoreadvaainahheatandclamhyouthinkorkobei；butgiveyouropilyandcoolly，whichistheonlywaytod，ifthatdoesnotdo，trytogetheversation，bysaying，withgoodhumor，“Weshallhardlyother；norisithatweshould，soletustalkofsomethingelse。”