I am very glad you find young Mr.Hopkins so agreeable a friend.

His poetry is better than some which I see printed in the village papers, and seems generally unexceptionable in its subjects and tone.

I do not believe he is a dangerous companion, though the habit of writing verse does not always improve the character.

I think I have seen it make more than one of my acquaintances idle, conceited, sentimental, and frivolous,--perhaps it found them so already.

Don't make too much of his talent, and particularly don't let him think that because he can write verses he has nothing else to do in this world.