Calvin Coolidge writing to his son, John, at Amherst College: January 24, 1925.

Coolidge instructs his son to begin a ledger for the budgeting of his expenses. He asks his son to do at the personal level what Coolidge and Budget Director Herbert Lord were doing with the federal budget. John, interviewed in 1976, commented on his father’s budgeting, saying, “He wasn't penurious or stingy, but he knew the value of money. His father could do anything from shoeing horses to building wagons. They believed in doing for yourself and not spending money unless it was necessary."

Coolidge goes on to tell John about a “nice doggie” named “Baked or String Beans.” Beans was given to the Coolidges while they were in the White House. The dog had a dominant personality, which upset Coolidge’s favorite dog, the white collie Rob Roy. Beans was eventually sent to live with Grace’s mother in Northampton.

Coolidge closes the letter with a comment on John’s studies. Although in December Coolidge had told his father that John had “done fairly well,” Coolidge now tells his son, “Your marks are not very good.”

Money and grades will be a theme throughout the spring in correspondence between Coolidge and his son. In a letter dated May 12, Coolidge says, “Perhaps it would be just as well if you send me each time your account of expenditures. I have not had any account this term… I do not remember to have seen any report of your work since last winter sometime. What is the reason it does not come?”