Readvilla [sic] Sem.
Apr. 5/82.Dear Mercy,
I suppose you are impatiently waiting for a reply to your letter. Since receiving your reply, I have investigated the matter more thoroughly and have concluded that it will be money in our pockets not to engage in my proposed enterprise[.] There would be a good deal of risk attending such an investment, though I do think such a school would be well patronized. I do not much like to invest money in this section of country, for I would not like to make this my permanent home. My friends are all in the North and I feel as though I would not go so far from them again, should they be spared till my return. If I settled here, I should expect to be swept away by the yellow fever, on its first appearance. Perhaps the time will come, my friend when we shall be able to labor together.
I am not satisfied here. I do not like the influence of the Vice-Principal, if she is Mrs. Read's daughter. Besides it costs so much to go home and I do not dare to stay here through the summer. If I see you next summer, as I hope I may, I will tell you some of the trials and tribulations attending my sojourn in the South. I am going to make application to an Educational Bureau in Boston for a position. I hope you will not be disappointed by this reply to your letter.
The chills and fever do not prevail here. Sometimes those living in the country, who have the malaria in their blood, do not get rid of it for some time after coming to town. I have never had any symptoms of chills. Baton Rouge is the capital and the legislature meets here in about a month. The State House has been repaired and is now very handsome. Baton Rouge extends to the very bank of the Mississippi. We are in no danger from the overflow, but there are plenty of people who are in a suffering condition. It is said there never was such an overflow as this year.
Nothing would give me so much pleasure as to visit you on my way home next July. I shall make my plans to that effect. I am very busy now, and expect to be so during the rest of the session. I have a class in Geology which I enjoy very much. My time is so fully occupied that I have one recitation - Geometry - out of school hours. I am getting right tired, I have a good deal of care and shall be glad when the session is closed.
I would write more but the girls much go to walk, and we will go to the P.O. so I can mail this letter. Give my love to all at home, Mrs. Clark included.
Your devoted friend,
Libbie.Box 83.
[The actual name of the seminary was Readville, a female seminary in Baton Rouge. Intense spring rains in February 1882 led to the Mississippi flooding in the Cincinnati and St. Louis area, with devastating effects in Louisiana. The State House was gutted by fire in 1862; it was opened again after renovations in May 1882.]