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Letter 29 - To Alfred, Grand-nephew of Mrs. Chevreux

Paris - 29 November 1846

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My very dear Alfred1,

As I promised, I begin with you a modest relationship by correspondence. I hope that on your part, you will not break your promise. No doubt you are already enrolled in the Minor Seminary, and, that full of zeal, you devour rosa, and dominus, and amo, etc. Soon, you will be a great Latinist. Oh! Yes, work hard, my dear friend, you have a noble heart and you need to develop yourself. Nowadays, as you will realize later on, work is absolutely necessary to make something of yourself. Yes, work; listen to the voice of your friend who greatly cherishes you. Perhaps by the end of the school year, I will no longer be in France; this is quite possible, whatever be the mission I may choose. In any event, however far removed I am from you, my fine little friend, rest assured that your success in your studies will always rejoice my soul a great deal. And if you obtain some prize or other — which I do hope — what will be the joy for your Grandmother, for your Papa, and for your Mother who are in heaven and who watch over you from on high; for your beloved uncle Félix, who also loved you and still does. Very often, my very dear Alfred, he talked to me about his grand-nephew who has since grown up. In addition, what joy for your fine aunts who have so great a need of you! To top it all, what joy for the one who is writing to you and who also loves you; happy if he could have been able to prove his affection by other than words alone.In your pains and difficulties, my very dear friend, have recourse to Jesus Christ, to the Blessed Virgin, our Mother, who so loves the children who attach themselves to her. Don’t socialize with young fellow-students who, while good in themselves, yet are not completely exemplary. This, dear Alfred, is what must be done to become a righthand man, as well as a missionary. Everywhere, there is need for good behavior and work. If one day your ideas change, and that spurning the world, you would wish tobecome a poor missionary, what a pleasure for me to press you to my heart on foreign soil.Let’s allow God to do His thing! On our part, let us always pray that He enlighten us. Now I await a short letter from you, my very dear Alfred; subsequently, every time that I write to your family, I will always include a short letter for you in theirs. Pray to God, my very dear friend, for your friends, deceased and living. In addition, don’t forget he who hugs you as he loves you, that is to say, from the depths of his heart.

Schoeffler, deacon

1 The identity of this child remains to be revealed. There are no Chevreux nor Nagel in the rosters of the Minor Seminary. He is perhaps Alfred-Nicolas Tournois, born at Pont-à-Mousson in 1834, who entered the Minor Seminary on 20 October 1846; he is no longer mentioned at the opening of school, in September 1847. But there is also a Rémy Tournois, born in 1832... Brother? Cousin? Never named in theletters. Mrs. Chevreux was born Navel; this name does not appear in the registers.
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