Blackwell Family
Alice Stone Blackwell
General Correspondence
Undated 1882 - 83,85
Sanford, CadgeAttleboro, Mass.
June 22, 1882

Old Dear.
     Your letter came today and 
I have sent postals in various  directions 
notifying the girls that July 11 will be 
the great trysting day.  I have requested 
each girl to take with her
    1 pair pillow cases
    1 sheet
     1 napkin ring
     Towels and soap for self
     2 books.
     2 loaves bread.
     Cookies or cake.
     Any article of food wh. can 
be conveniently carried will be 
welcome.

    If anything has been omitted 
fr. the list please let me know 
or sit down on it 
at once.  Mr. Jordan 
writes that 
we can have a 
cottage at Old 
Orchard during 
the month of July 
for $15.  What a lost 
opportunity!

     How did your carriage 
come to grief?  
Some of your masterly 
horsewomanship? As to 
my horse, I 
don't know 
whether I shall 
take her or 
not.  She is 
quite a responsibility 
but please thank Mrs.Are Emma Atkinson or Leila Taylor 
to be with us?  I infer fr. your letter 
that Lulu Seile will join us.  Am I 
right?  Most certainly she can 
bring two such jolly girls as Miss 
Richardson & Miss Trask with her. 
When they decide whether to go or not please 
let me know & I will send them a 
list of articles to bring.  As soon as I 
know definitely which ones of the 
girls to whom I have written will 
join us, I will send their names 
to you.  When you get a full list of 
the party won't you please assign 
the sleeping rooms so that when we 
arrive there will be no confusion?  
Also will you please name a train 
for me to take fr. Boston to Dorchester 
and make some arrangement (i.e. hire 
a wagon) for conveying our trunks 
fr. the depot to the house?  By hire 
I mean engage at our expense.  There 

will be as many trunks as girls 
except in the case of sisters who will 
probably share one in common.  We 
will ascertain that before the 11 of 
July.
Are you sure your Mother isn't 
doing too much for us?  We don't wish 
to impose on anyone.  It seems hard 
for her to supple table cloths & napkins
for so many & if you think we 
girls had better provide them for 
ourselves let me know & I will 
write them to that effect.  The milk 
prospect is fine.
As to Maggie's share of the work, 
it seems to me that she might do a 
little more than you suggest - at 
table, wash dishes, empty slops & sweep-. 
Might she not join the housekeepers 
of the day in cooking?  That is merely 
a suggestion.  We don't wish to have 
her do more than her share. Tnk-

[*Blackwell for 
her kind 
proposal 
as to 
board.  Ah for 
a rendering! 
Don't 
trouble 
yourself 
about -  
the 
Prof's 
pictures 
I can 
see 
to them 
myself 
next 
month.
Your
C.E.S.*]you ask your Mother & we will abide
by her decision.
I suppose you & I had better
be housekeepers the first two days
& Hattie & Emma Durfer the second
two. 
Will you send Eliza Putnam
the list of articles for each girl
to bring?
I am sorry to trouble you to
do so many things when you are
so very busy & your eyes troubling
you but there are some affairs wh.
only one on the spot can attend to
& so naturally the onus falls on
you. 
Please write as soon as you know
whether the girls I have asked you
about are going. Our party ought to
be made up as soon as possible.
I think the house will be well filled
but not crowded. I should certainly
object to bunks in the parlor. Does
your mother regard us as heathens
that we should throw refuse into
fireplaces or around doors or put
our boots on bed quilts!!!
Is boating practicable in Dorchester;
as for Wilbraham, Faith.

C E Sanford
Attleboro
July 2, 1882.
Dear Alice :
If you will imagine
your self in my place, you will
not be surprised at my question in
regard to rent. I am inviting persons
to your house under circumstances
other than an ordinary visit, - wh. involves
some responsibility to myself
and I should be very unpleasantly
situated if the girls went to Dorchester
expecting to pay no rent while you expected
them to pay it - however I 
had not the slightest thought that
you did expect it & merely asked for
the sake of certainty. Please give my 
sincerest thanks to your father in
return for the sweet postal he desired
you to send me.I leave it to you to inform Lila
as to date of going to your house etc.
as I do not know her address. I believe
you have already informed Eliza 
Putnam.
As matters now stand, our
party will consist of (1)  Alice, (2)  Annie &
(3) Florence Budlong, (4) Alice White, (5) Hattie
Peirce, (6) Emma Durfer, (7) Ellen & (8) Katie
Clarke, (9) Eliza Putnam, (10) Leila Taylor, 
(11) Laura Eliot, (12) Lulu Gage, (13) Lizzie Luther
(14) Alice Blackwell, (15) Mary  Sanford & (16) C.E.S.
I should advise the following pairing
off for sleeping - Annie & Florence Budlong,
Alice Budlong & Alice White - Ellen
& Katie Clark - May Sanford & Lizzie Luther -
Lulu Gage & Emma Durfer-Leila Taylor
& Hattie Peirce - A.S.B. & Eliza Putnam -
C.E.S. & Laura Eliot. If you prefer any
other arrangement please make it. I believe
you proposed rooming with Eliza. You had
better assign rooms before the party arrives

Annie Budlong ought to have a
room on the 2nd floor where she can
sleep well & have only one flight of stairs
to climb. Where four sleep in one
room as in the den (?) you had better
put Hattie, Leila, Laura & me together. If 
four do not need to sleep in one
room I should put Hattie on the 2nd
floor as she does not like much
stair climbing. As to house keeping
arrangements, were not you & Eliza in
together last year? If so, perhaps
you had better continue so & I can
go on with Laura or some one
else.
You have met - & perhaps forgotten -
all the girls except - Alice White & Lizzie
Luther. Alice White is a friend of the 
Budlongs & an old Prov. high school
girl. Lizzie is a friend of my sister's
from Attleboro.
Alice Budlong will perhaps notbe able to stay with us all the time.
Lulie Seile may join us the last
week & also Alice Mumford.
Unless something new arises,
these will be my last words to
you until I see you on the 11th.
Don't feel bound by any arrangements
I may have suggested.
They are merely suggestions & of
doubtful value.
Yours Truly
C.E.S.

Attleboro, Mass.
July 27 1882
My Dear Old Alice
I have had a very
bad conscience ever since I saw you
last. Did you roast walking up from the
depot Tuesday afternoon? If you did it was
my fault in not telling Mr. Killian to
wait for you. We got there in time to
meet you if you had come by the
train before but it did not occur to me
that you might come on the train
by which I was to leave. All that afternoon
I thought - how hot you must be
but it caused much more discomfort 
to me than to you, my dear.
I sent the clothesline to you by mail
this morning and if you don't receive it
in due time please let my know & I
will attend to it. As to your basket in wh.you sent the cherries to Mother, she says
Mr. Battey carried it back to Boston on
the day after he brought it here. Do you
know anything about it? If you have not
received it I can get him to sent it to you.
How are you feeling after our raid on
your house? I hope it was in good
order before your mother arrived. Maggie
was hard at work when we left. Eliza 
& I were alone at dinner on Tuesday &
funny enough the dining room looked
with its diminutive table & lack of girls.
Do you remember the name &
date of the paper in which Lilian Whiting's
paragraph on our meeting at your 
house appeared? As secretary of the '9+"
I wish to obtain it.
I find our new house progressing.
It will be very pretty & convenient
but not the old house alas! The
evening after reaching home I went

to ride with Father and every
thing fell back so into the old ruts
that I could scarcely believe that not
many hours ago a party of 16 girls
had lived & rioted under the same 
roof.
Mrs. Barrows called on Mother
after returning from our "9+6" reception
& gave glowing accounts of
house, girls, entertainment & all else.
She particularly enjoyed her peep
behind the curtain i.e. seeing the
girls dress.
If two or three of the girls go to
Squam to board for a week can you 
join us? It is by no means sure 
that any of us will go but Laura &
Helen & I are thinking about it.
We won't be there when Eliza is.
Perhaps we can get boarded at the
house on the hill where Laura's cousins
lived last summer.Have you an extra copy of Miss
Whiting's article on our stay at Squam 
last year?
I am happy to say it looks like
rain and the day is sufficiently cool
to let one believe there may be something
to live for after all. I hate to
think of your tramping in to Boston
every day this hot weather. I believe
your frequent need of cracker diet
is a result, in great measure, of
improper exercise in hot weather &
if you would take half as good
care of yourself as you try to of me
your cracker bill would be reduced 
& you would do more work in the end.
In spite of your many & hideous
sins, I long to embrace you. Please 
remember me much to your

[*mother &
not at all
to your 
Father.
When the
weather is 
such that
my house
is as comfortable
as yours I hope
to see you
here
Yours
C.E.S.*]

Attleboro Mass.
Nov 27 1882
My Dear Alice
I suppose you are in
New Jersey by this time and are
doubtless longing for a letter from
me to cheer and comfort you.
Alice White inquired after you
Saturday and was sorry not to have
seen you when you were in Providence
All the girls are well as far
as I know. I saw Hattie Friday. She
and I read Latin together once a
week. Ted Budlong is better.
Mr. Budlong was burned out last
week, his store, carriages and house. Insured.
Last Saturday morning I saw Mr.
Haskell '80 on the train. I had a very
pleasant conversation with him. He
says he is making $43 daily at his
agency business. I suppose it is no secret
so I tell you. I have decided thathe is a very nice young man. I never 
before supposed that he had a 
vein of seriousness in him. In the 
afternoon I was passing down the aisle 
of the car when somebody caught hold 
of my hand and behold - Mr. Odell. 
He had been to Providence to see 
Mr. Goodell for whom he is to
preach a week from next Sunday. 
He had various items of news 
to offer and the mentioning of Laura 
suggested various college scrapes in 
which she had assisted. Can you believe 
we shall never see her again! 
I always liked Mr. Odell minus his 
"amens". He says Mr. French of '81 
was married soon after leaving Squam
and is now teaching in Boston.
A rare stroke of luck to see 
two B.Us in one day. My pleasure in 
talking with Mr. Odell was diminished - 
or increased - by knowing that 
directly behind me sat a German 
friend of mine who cannot fathom 
the intricacies of masculine and

feminine American friendships.
Mrs. Barrow and I are now 
reading Schiller's "Netherlands". It 
promises to read as story-like 
as Motley.
What shall you do Thanksgiving 
Day? I have been invited to 
pass it in New York and in Raynham 
but shall stay at home and 
what is more dreary than a Thanksgiving 
at home with no company? It 
is something we have never done 
until recently and it makes the 
day a very lonesome one.
I can hardly believe there ever 
was a time when I saw you every 
day. There are various ethical questions 
as to which I want your opinion 
for then I should know at least 
what not to do but it has been 
so long since I have had any 
one to talk to that I should 
have to learn how to do it.
I am glad you are going on avacation. You have worked hard enough 
to deserve it. It is very fortunate 
for your happiness that 
your liking and interest are in 
your work.
There is not much news in 
this letter but I know that the 
mere sight of my chirography would 
be good for your eyes and heart.
When are you coming to make 
me a visit?  I have a vacation in 
January of a week or so.  Can't you 
pass it with me? I laugh every 
time I think how you purred all 
night when you were here last 
as if you were so glad to be asleep 
in such good company!
And now, dearly beloved Scamp,
remember me to your folks if you 
are at home and send the most soul 
harrowing message you can invent to 
your cousin and my love across the 
water and don't write under a year. 
Have you called on Laura's mother?
Yours very truly - 
C.E.S.

Attleboro, Mass.
Dec. 3, 1882

My Dear Old Alice,

Your letter reached me 
early Thanksgiving morning and I received 
it as an auspicious open
for this day.  I could imagine you and 
Eliza sitting together writing and 
would I might have looked in on 
such a pretty scene in hideous old 
Brooklyn.
You know from experience how 
my heart goes out to pow-wows but 
I cannot find it consistent with 
other engagements to be present. 
Neither can I attend the other pow-wow 
of next Friday evening, wh. 
indeed tempte me to howl.
As to making you a visit 
at present - I cannot, my Dear but 
have a vacation the middle of January 
when I should be very happy to 
make a pilgrimage to your houseif your desire to have me continue.
So if you want to see me
you must come to the mountain.
Father is anxious to know
what day you are coming.  If you
should take up a permanent abode
here, he and mother I  would
be delighted.  Of course I should
find it tiresome.  I don't go to
Prov. until 10.25 and return--except
twice a week at 2:15.  I have time
to do all necessary studying there and 
while I am away you can do your
book reviewing etc. and the rest of the
time we will spend in jollyfying.
No doubt we can lure some of the
Prov. girls and boys to spend an
afternoon and evening with us and
some of them longer and you
can call on them in Prov.  I shall
expect you in a very few days after
receiving this letter.
Had I known Eliza was to
have the advantage of the contents
of my last letter I might have

put some more B.U. news into
it.  Mr.  Odell says he hears that
Mr. Flack is married and made
various kind remarks about Eliza
He is a good boy.  How does Eliza's
German progress?
I have just finished a most
astonishing German novel and
shall take pleasure in relating
the plot to you when you come.
It takes a German novel to raise
one's air, put one's teeth on edge
with expectation and feel as if
ordinary existence were too milk-
and-watery for endurance.  After
finishing one of them--particularly
one of Werner's--I feel as if I
had just returned from a spree
in some unknown planet.  They
take hold of me and carry me away
bodily almost.
All the girls are well according
to last accounts and the
Budlong brother is improvingI was very much astonished to 
hear that Miss Watson is in the
R. I.  hospital. We can call and 
see her there if you like.
If I could be in Boston I 
would gladly go with you to Mrs. 
Eliot's. Lizzie Price would accompany 
you any time and Mrs. Eliot 
would be delighted to see you. If 
you go please remember me to her 
and tell her I shall come to see 
her whenever I am in Boston.
I hope Lila took her Thanksgiving 
dinner with your folks. It 
would be lovely indeed to dine at 
a boarding house on such a day.
Now Alice come to Attleboro just 
as soon as you can and stay
just as long as you can and
bring just as little work as you can.
If you don't believe you purr 
when you sleep just listen some night. 
I have no doubt all my folks would 
send love if they were here. Father did 
say 'Tell Alice I want to see her." Remember 
me to your folks and come soon.
Yours very truly  C. E. S. 

Attleboro, Mass
Jan 1, 1883
Dear Alice,
Your beautiful book 
reached me this morning. Thank 
you very many times for it. If 
you were within rendezvous 
limits, I would attempt a digital 
acknowledgement on your calves. 
Father said when he 
saw it 'Miss Alice is a lady of 
discernment.' Mrs. Barrow also 
admired.
I have not been in Boston 
since I saw you but have ransacked 
Providence from end to end 
and side to side for everything from 
lace for curtains to door knockers.

Lizzie Price spent Friday night

Mother and be 
sure to wish you 
any quantity of 
nicery in the 
next twelve 
months, innumerable 
book notices and an editorial 
to write and such things. 
It was quite 
like old times 
to march  around 
Boston 
with you 
the other 
day. May we 
repeat the performance.
Yours
C.E.S.with me and when to Prov. Saturday 
to stay over Sunday with 
Fannie Mosher. Helen Jary stayed over 
Sunday with the Budlongs. 
Perhaps Helen and Lizzie will 
spend tonight with me.
I saw Julie last week. She seemed 
to be feeling well and happy. 
While I was there the Clarke girls 
walked in. I am invited by them 
to a "Clay party" next Wednesday. 
We are to bring aprons. What a "clay 
party" may be is as yet a mystery. 
We are to make mud pies" Katie 
Clarke says.
My vacation comes Jan. 26 
and lasts about a week and a 
half. I think I deserve it for I 
have had none since September. 
I received notice of the annual 
alumnae association meeting. I should enjoy 
attending but all the meetings of 

the society have been so timed 
that I could not attend. I suppose 
you go to them and make 
the acquaintance of girls from 
other colleges. One of the advantages 
of living near Boston.
I received "European Breezes" 
last week for which many thanks. 
You are my good angel. Sometimes 
I have so much to read 
that I don't know where to begin and 
sometimes I have so little that 
I am reduced to first principles, 
i.e. Hypatia & Scott.
What would you think of us 
girls going to Amhurst next summer? 
If you think of any desirable 
place please mention it. Amhurst 
is a fine country and the 
studiously inclined could frequent 
the school. Perhaps, however, 
we cannot find a house.If we cannot, what would you 
think of boarding? What would 
you think of going to Annisquam 
again? What would you think of everything?
How is Capt. Kidd?  You are 
suspiciously silent on that subject. 
However do not think I 
have not my own sources of information 
which may surpass 
yours in extent. What would 
you say if you heard a rumor 
that his treasures were 
buried in Attleboro?  Do you 
not suppose he would come 
here to search for them? Truth 
is indeed stranger than fiction!
Hattie, Mr. and Mrs. Peirce, Frank & 
Lulie spent Christmas with Emma 
Durfer. Hattie's presents were numerous 
& pretty. She had a stack 
of beautiful cards.

Please give my wishes for a 
happy New Year to your Father and[*Sanford*]
Attleboro, Mass.
Jan. 12, 1883
My Dear Taugenichts,
Thank you for your invitation
to visit you which I shall
be very glad to accept.  I will appear
at Dorchester Jan. 27 and before that
time, if you will, you may write me
what train you intend taking home 
on that day and I will go on the
same.  But are you not afraid you
will get tired of me?  My vacation
lasts from the 27th to a week from
the following Wednesday.  When you think
you have seen me long enough, just
treat me decently and I will take
the hint.  I expect great larks and
shall enjoy seeing you attempt to
twist your British tongue into
Parisian shapes.  Don't think, however,
that I anticipate any pleasure in
seeing you, it is nothing but the
larks I am looking forward to.
I had a very pleasant call from
Fannie Mosher last Friday and am
intending to spend tonight with her
in Providence and I know I shall
freeze.  The north pole is nothing to
Attleboro and Providence.
We all laughed over "European
Breezes" and now Mrs. Barrows is
reading it.
I am not going to write any
more to you now for it is nearly ten
o'clock and I must take the 10.25 
train for Prov.  besides a dozen or so
errands between to say nothing of
warming my nose which threatens
to leave me if not immediately
placed on the radiator and
you wouldn't want me to go to

Dorchester minus a
nose.  I would
be taken for a woman suffragist
whose brutal husband had
deprived her of that appendage.
Now, goodbye, for about two 
weeks and please remember me to
your family. 
Yours Very Truly
C. E. S. Attleboro, Mass.
March 11, 1883

My dear old Scamp,

Your last letter - to wh. I 
am sending an undeservedly prompt reply - 
bears plain traces of the "Red River." 
That book was the delight of my young 
school days. Many a time I have been 
"stood on the platform" for laughing at the 
ship that "ploughed the waves w.her taffrail."
I am very sorry you can not 
visit us next week - thought now would 
be your most leisure time. If my desire 
to see you becomes overpowering I may drop 
down at your house or office for a swift 
call some day - your house seems much 
more homelike to me than this one does 
yet. However we are getting settled. The house 
stands so high between joints that going 
up and down stairs seems a pilgrimage 
but a system of bells & speaking tubes has 
shortened distances considerably.
Your dream reminds me of one I had 
recently. You and I were at B. U. & suddenly Prof. 
Bowne appeared, just returned fr. Europe. On 
seeing you he rushed towards you exclaiming 
"My dear Alice." Then I decamped, knowing 
I should receive a less enthusiastic reception 
wh. would not be flattering [welcome] and I 
am very fond of the old man. He set me 
down as a frivolous dakthat in college - in


Shall be 
glad to 
see the anti-
coeducation
article. 
Capt. 
Loredan  
just 
arrived.


decency to 
come here 
whenever you 
have leisure 
and desire w. 
out waiting 
for a formal 
invitation. We should 
all be delighted 
to have 
you come any 
time. We are 
always ready 
for company & 
had rather 
see you than 
anyone else. 
Your very 
truly,
C.E.S.fact he told me so once (not in just those 
words) and ever after when he was in hearing 
I took good care to justify his opinion. 
He is however, to quote Mr. Bowne, " a whole 
wall! I have just finished reading 
the letter of L. Maria Child. Such books make 
me believe what Prof. Buck once told us, 
that we were born too soon or too late. 
You must have enjoyed the Claflin reception 
It is worth while to spend an evening in 
such company. it is a practical application 
of Longfellow's lines "Lives of great men 
etc." Mrs. Child reminded me of you in 
some respects. I could hear you making 
some of her remarks. Your spirit must 
have instigated the vituperative logic of her 
letter to Gov. Wise.
Let me congratulate you on your 
success in Amherst and on your $14.00 prospect. 
You will be rich yet. Did Mr. Jordan 
tell you where he expected to be next year? 
All he would tell me was "Somewhere 
down your way."   What are the especial & 
heart rending wrongs of Amherst women?
I must laugh over an indiscrete 
remark I made in S.S. class a week or so 
ago. The teacher asked where I would begin 
if I were to build up a system of 
cosmology in so etwas & I incautiously 
replied that the affirmation of one's own existence 
would make a good starting point. I 
couldn't have been stared at in greater wonder 
& amazement if I had asserted w. Bro. 
Jasper "He do move?". However I had my revenge

revenge for last Sunday, in acc. w. my 
teacher's request I presented a paper on the 
subject. "Is deception ever justifiable" and 
had the satisfaction of upholding views 
wh. they considered heinous yet could not 
controvert.
I fully agree w. you in your admiration
for Capt. Loredan. It is strange Ed. King should 
have written one such poem & only one. Have 
you read the "Gentle Savage?"
Do you know that Mrs. Peirce and Hattie called 
on Miss Watson at the hospital & that Miss 
Watson has taken tea  w. them a number 
of times & expressed great pleasure in having 
found some friends in a strange city? Just 
like Mrs. Peirce & Hattie to do such a thing! 
Hattie had an engagement this week & is to 
spend next Sunday w. me. See what you have 
missed in not coming here.
When you write will you please tell me 
the name by wh. to buy the California popies? 
I am going to raise some indoors, if 
possible before it is time to plant them outside. 
I want to see some of the little yellow 
beauties.
What I meant by your interest in W. S. 
being theoretical is this. You have convinced 
yourself by some mental, argumentative, logical 
process that it is right & ought to be 
& since it is right & ought to be, you ought 
to do your best in promoting it & you act in 
accordance w. this mental conviction. Also a 
logical proof of the contrary would make you 
adopt the opposite side & you would not suffer 
any acute sense of personal loss (except perhaps
that Othello's occupation would be gone)an indignity. Now I think your mother feels 
a strong sense of personal indignity inflicted 
upon her by not being permited to vote. 
Very likely whenever she sees some especially 
dirty foreigner she says to herself "There 
goes my political superior " and can't look 
him square in the face as she would wish. 
All the logical proof or disproofs of worth 
in heaven would not change her opinion. 
I know from experience what an inward conflagration 
such a feeling is & so do you 
but not on the suffrage question unless I am 
much mistaken. You feel it much more 
in regard to that European (& some what 
American) matter whose exponent in 'The 
Shield' (?). ---------- Since writing 
the preceding I have been to Sunday school 
& eaten my dinner. My duties as provider 
of viands seem to be successful judging by 
the amount consumed. If I succeed in getting 
any new article of food which any of the 
family relish (Father, particularly, who is 
very scrupulous in such matters) I make a big 
mark against it in my mind.  When I went 
to the market for meat for today I told 
him the butcher plainly that the last he sold me was 
not up to standard & if he had none better 
etc. etc. Father laughed when I told him & 
said that was not the way to do business 
but it succeeded for I got some especially 
tender meat as a result. We had a 
some what funny time in S.S. a few weeks ago 
I asked quite innocently the Scriptural 

(not logical) basis for believing that Bible
commands & provinces apply to us. Miss Capron 
(our teacher) set the class on the trail & 
today they reported. Miss C. built high 
hopes on a passage wh. I demolished where 
upon she somewhat angrily said that I would
make the apostles talk like fools acc. to my
interpretation. One girl in the class, who formerly
would have asserted that every thing in the Old 
or New Testaments applied to us, stated today
that after looking into the matter she 
didn't see as anything applied to us!
As to Peter & Paul rejoicing in tribulations - 
so they often stated but not that they 
found the tribulations whether scourgings, 
imprisonment or other wise fun. They rejoiced 
in tribulations not because they were tribulations 
(as in your case in regard to W S. persecution) 
but on account of the moral qualities 
wh. tribulations produced as a proof 
of my arguement. I refer you to Rom. 5.3. etc.
How is your library? I hanker after 
a set of Scott & when I buy it will perhaps 
hand over the stray volumes of his works wh. 
I now owe to you from the library.  Would 
they not enjoy Mrs. Child's Letters? If they 
would they could not read a more elevating 
book.
My frivolous young sister offered to 
dust my room this morning. When I looked 
around after the process I saw the reason for 
her unusual freak of industry. She had 
turned up side down every thing in the room 
wh. admitted of such treatment. The pictures 
of your Mother and my Father were calmlystanding on their heads surveying the 
ceiling, other objects ditto. I said nothing but 
when opportunity offered performed a similar 
operation in her room. By & by she 
swooped down on me w. a shriek and I 
saw she discovered the deed.
We had a severe storm in Prov. yesterday. 
Whether Wiggin was at the bottom of 
it or not I don't know but I do know 
that I was out in it & was soaked 
completely from my knees down & most 
of the way from my knees up & had to remain 
about 4 hours in that condition & 
as I have not taken the slightest cold 
therefrom you will be additionally convinced 
that your dakthat was born to 
be hung not drowned.
I am very curious to know what you 
would do if you lived in Attleboro. Can't 
you try it a year? You would pitch into 
temperance probably. One of our druggists 
has had to suffer lately for illegal selling 
of liquor. He has paid heavy fines & more 
suits are pending, it is said. he is apparently 
convinced of the wisdom if not of 
the righteousness of conforming to the law 
as he will not even sell on the prescription 
of a reliable physician, (Father 
has not tempted him.) a thing wh. 
would be winked at. Every one is amused
at the matter as the druggist is quite 
unpopular.  I wish you would have theAttleboro, Mass
Nov. 11, 1885

My Dear Alice, 
Do you remember what is to happen two weeks from today? That Nov. 25 will be the wedding-day of one of your old friends? We have now decided upon more definite plans than when I saw you last. The ceremony will be at 12:30. You bravely offered to wear kid gloves on that day but you will not need to sacrifice yourself. I shall wear no gloves myself, and shall not dress in white. All will be perfectly simple. We have invited our relatives and most intimate friends. We are sorry not to be able to ask more but the house would not conveniently hold them, in fact we
are afraid of being crowded now. 
It is not certain yet that we 
shall go away after the wedding. 
B.K. is quite busy and Mother 
and May have a plan for spending 
the winter in Florida and 
if they do they must go the Saturday 
after the 25th and we 
should be at home to help 
them away, say farewell and 
take care of Father.  Moreover 
B.K. always feels well in cold 
weather and needs a vacation in 
summer and if we do not go 
away now we will take two 
whole weeks next summer.
The dressmaker came to the 
house this morning to try on the 
wedding gown and all the family - 
which includes B. K. - viewed 
it and pronounced it fine. 
I hope you will like it too.
I suppose you have rollicking 
around town frittering away your

time in frivolities just as usual. 
B. K. wants to know what you 
would do if Cleveland should 
declare for woman suffrage in 
the territories. It would be rather 
an incomfortable situation 
for you, nicht wahr? I wish 
he would, just to see what 
you would do.
I don't expect to take much 
comfort in seeing you the 25th. 
I think it will be a very trying 
day. You must come and see 
me about Christmas time and 
we will have a genuine, old-fashioned 
rendezvous. Come, won't you?
Goodby, my Dear
C. E. S.Providence Aug 25
My very dear Alice
You don't know 
how sorry & disappointed we are 
at your absence & sickness. 
We had so counted of having 
you with us particularly as 
you were away last year. 
I should have written to you 
long ago only I was expecting 
to see you every day.

 We are enjoying every thing 
except the heat wh. is almost 
unendurable. Last evening we 
went to a lawn party at Lizzie 
Little's. Her lawn is like 
velvet & was lit with Japa-

to day but 
some weeks 
of late dinners, 
midnight suppers 
& the 
present heat 
is wilting 
even this 
girl.

Has Gardner 
improved your 
Mothers throat?  
Please re-remember 
me to her 
for I like 
her although 
she does 
think I 
am a little 
________.
I am 
in a minus
hurry to 
go back to 
college. You 
ditto?
We can't

nese lanterns & two headlights. 
Our Bear Croft party were 
there & some of Lizzie's friends 
& one of the boys in our old 
class. We had a fine time 
out of doors & also in doors 
minus the heat.
We have been dissipating 
at a high rate. Up until 
early hours & busy all day. 
Hattie, I suppose, has told 
you about our theatricals 
at Leslie's so I won't repeat 
it.
To morrow we are all 
going to Newport to spend 
the day & return on the 
nearly-midnight boat, a 
number of gentlemen going 
with us to play "propriety."
Miss Davie is coming to 
see me in Sept. She would 
like to be there when you

are but I don't know when 
that will be. Your sickness 
has [setup?] my plans. Of 
course you have not given 
up your visit to my house 
if you are well in time 
to do so. At Attleboro you 
would be in a physician's 
house who could care for 
you if you need care. You 
could be as quiet there as 
you wished.
This morning I had a 
letter from Mr. Holman wh. 
I would show you were 
you here for it contains the 
sentiments of wh. youendure it in 
Boston if this weather 
continues.
You know 
you have all 
good wishes 
from me.
Oh! for the Bear 
Croft Clan 
to day!
Yours
C.E.S.

would approve. Strange to 
say, it raised much my 
esteem for him.
You know my disapproval 
of Frank Bates 
was a negative one. Since 
I have seen him more 
I am getting to like him 
although I am not enthusiastic. 
Alice I have 
confidence in your discretion 
or I should not 
write in this way.
Yesterday afternoon Alice 
& I etched. It is a delightful 
kind of labor. It is 
very delicate when done & 
we had some particularly 
pretty patterns.  Moreover, 
my hands are stained with 
indelible ink wh. only serves 
to call attention to there

smallness & prettiness - sets 
of their beauty as a mole 
does a "peachy" skin! [*drawing of a peach with a face*]
This is the place of all 
places where I like to visit. 
I feel almost as much 
at home as I do at Attleboro 
& that is how I like 
to visit.
I had a letter from 
Ella in wh. she said 
she had written to you &  
time that she did the 
scamp.
You dear old villain 
how I would like to pet 
you & hug you & squeezeyou - metaphysically of 
course - it is too hot to do 
it in any other way.
What is your plan 
for next year's spree? Don't 
forget to tell me.
I had a visit as you 
know from Hattie & Laura 
at the same time before we 
came to P. Nasmith's 
clover? If you had 
been there also, I should 
have been as near contented 
as [mortal?] well 
could be. Probably Laura 
will go back to A. with me.
We go home Friday or 
Saturday so direct there 
when you write. 
I know, Dear, my writing
is particularly illegible