Templeton, Mass.,
Oct. 29, 1905.
Dear Lucy:-
I have more time than usual to spend on your letter so you may count yourself lucky. I don't want to go back to school to-morrow a bit. I had just as soon have a whole week more of rest. I have got my book review done a whole week ahead of times [sic] - a thing that has never happened before & probably never will again. I have my piece, "The Relief of Lucknow," already to rehearse Tuesday so I shall soon be in misery again.
I am so happy that I don't know what to do. Auntie brought me a red sweater from New York. I never expected to be the proud possessor of such a thing. It is just about my shade of red & fits me fine. It just fills the bill. Auntie did send the bundle that never got here so it must have been lost on the way. She sent it right from the store so the men there will probably make it all right. The package contained a fan!!!. Auntie got some pink checked flannel for a waist for me and some gray cheeked goods for a skirt next spring. Cousin Lizzie sent some souvenir postal cards that she had received & Auntie brought some so we shall have to divide up when you are home next time. I shall have about forty then. I feel so big over them.
What do you suppose cousin Fred sent? All the lead pencils that he could find that were so short that he didn't like to use them. I counted twenty-two - some with erasers and some without, some longer, some shorter. Quite a collection in all. He sharpened them all up for me so I shall not have to sharpen pencils for some time. I made some peppermints this P.M. & tried the other rule. They came out fine & there were very few that didn't look fairly good.
Grace asked me to go to ride with her much to my delight. We went to Gardner and out on the state road to Baldwinville & home again. We were gone about two hours. My hands were about frozen before I got home. I wore my sweater & my cloak over it so I was nice & warm. In Otter River I saw Cousin Mary Stone wheeling a twin in a go-cart. We raced horses a good share of the way from Gardner to Baldwinville. Three young women went by in a team. In a little while we had caught up so we went by. When we were going up a hill they went by us again. After a while Grace urged Topsy on & we got most up to the other team & they started up their horse & we had a big race. But Topsy went by & the others didn't catch up again.
Grace said that they (she & Jay) were keeping three cats at the present time. They have a very cute little kitten just the right age to be playful. But just think of it! Three cats on one side of us & four on the other!!! Nellie is some better. She had a dreadful head-ache one day & a tooth-ache the next but they are both stopped now. She wants to go to school to-morrow but Mrs. Miles told me that she didn't think she ought to.
I went to my first foot-ball game Wed. night. I had forgotten all about it till Bessie spoke of it on the car. It was the very one that I wanted to go to most - the one with Fitchburg. Some wanted me to go home & come back on the half-past two car & I finally did. I spent about ten minutes trying to decide whether to go or not & ate my dinner in five. Roger got on to the car that I went down in & walked up to school with me & paid my fare in & stayed with me all the time. What will Carrie say? I had a fine time & he took pains to explain the game out to me. Gardner won 17 to 0. Just think of that when we were playing against Fitchburg! They played Cushing Academy Sat. & got beaten 27 to 0. But they can't expect to beat Cushing, They [sic] haven't for some time. I can't understand it though. They were to play Orange H.S. yesterday & they didn't.
The last I heard from Mary Priest was that she was more comfortable but the Doctor was afraid that when she got well enough to be up she would have to have an operation for appendicitis. I went up & visited Grandma Tuesday night. Aunt Ada was there & Aunt Mattie had the minister's little girl there, taking care of her for the P.M. Grandma is about as usual. Aunt Ada told me that she & Uncle Warren had parted. They had some words & he left. He thought that he had been working hard enough to have a vacation so he took one. I think he is off hunting & fishing but am not sure. They gave me a letter to read from Cousin Mary Brown I think it was. It was the one that had the bunch on her leg before. Another one has come & she has been in bed for some time but hoped to be up soon. There has been a rule made that the half-past five car shall wait for the train. It was six or seven minutes late Fri. night but they waited.
I washed my tam-o'-shander in meal yesterday, & it came out looking fine. I was looking in my trunk Sat where I keep my skates & I happened to look at them & found that they were quite badly rusted so I scoured them all up. I swept & dusted my room so I feel real swell. I have heard several say that Miss Clark said that Drake had got to speak an extra time in Rhetoricals for being sent out of class. Last week the boys all marched up & took the very front seats. What shall I do if they are there when I speak? Arthur Tandy got stuck, last week, Jessie went through hers but looked frightened to death. Walter Greenwood wasn't at school but he was able to play foot-ball in the afternoon.
With love
Molly.
P.S. Amber's appetite is not very good.
P.S. No. 2. Auntie sends her love. Arthur G. was home to-day. The Post-Office has been moved over where the telephone office was.
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