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16 Dec 57 Peter on board 'Tynemouth' Mother ______________________________________________________________________________________________

At Sea

Dec 16. 1857

Private

My dear Mother

I have left off writing my regular letters for I have nothing to say, but really just now I can do nothing but write & that scarcely for the rolling of the ship.

When one is obliged every moment to grasp hold of something to retain one’s equilibrium it is impossible to find interest in reading & it is equally impossible to do anything else.

I have just got into some sorry little corner in the cabin into which the rain has not penetrated & where I am tolerably free from the wind & going to set to work, not to give you a history of my voyage – for I have nothing to relate – but to communicate to you a few of my inmost thoughts which I am sure you will weigh & take into consideration with your usual discrimination.

Here am I then, about to return home, all the prospects I had when I left England having long vanished. By the time I reach home I shall be within a few months of coming of age & altho’ it will be four years since I first went into business & altho’ I have travelled all over the world, still that very travelling has taken up so much of my time that after all I have seen very little of business – and business is of that complicated nature that it requires time & experience.

Now what I am therefore about to suggest is this: whether my Father & yourself taking all this into consideration & knowing as you do my character & my habits, think that on my return I should continue in the same line I have commenced or that I should at once strike out in something fresh. Mind, I am only asking your opinion, seeking advice & whatever you determine I will adopt, for from the day I set foot again in England I intend to enter heart & soul into whatever line I do adopt.

I do not fancy I am bustling enough for a business life. My Father will of course say ‘You must make yourself so’, but you cannot alter a person’s nature. I should always have chosen the Bar – only I feared I was too retiring for that, but that I think should soon wear off. I have often also thought of an Architect.

But do not let me influence you in your decision. You will have plenty of time to think the matter over & whatever your decision, whatever you desire, I will follow it up with my whole heart.

I am just in time for the Bar, for the University is of no consequence. The apprenticeship of an architect I know nothing about, or I can return to Lindsay’s & resume my seat. I shall receive a salary but I see nothing ultimate there, which is the chief thing.

Please give this your consideration & confer with my Father on the subject. He has so many things to think of that I write to you & I am sure you will together decide for the best, so that when I return I may start afresh with a distinct understanding of my future prospects & career.

Give little Helen a kiss for me. She will be quite a young lady when I return. I recollect when I was a boy reading an amusing account of a Chinese plum pudding – I little thought then that I should ever eat my Christmas Dinner in that part of the world.

Your affect Son

Peter G Laurie