This collection consists of a four-page letter written by James Morris Hicks, a student at Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute (now Virginia Tech). Writing to his father on December 5, 1897, Hicks thanks his father for a seven-dollar money order. He continues by discussing cadet drills, his work in the foundry, and his election as vice president of the freshman class. He finishes by responding to his father's news about his crops and cattle and other family matters.