[Some paragraph marks added for ease of reading.]Templeton, Mass.,
Nov. 5, 1905.Dear Lucy;
I have been having callers so you may not get such an awful long letter. Lucius & Dorothy came down & stayed nearly two hours. I don't know what possessed them. We had a very nice time. Auntie didn't dare to leave me alone so she stayed in the room all of the time. Arthur Tandy came up to see Bessie this P.M. Auntie Nellie & I went up on Dolbier Hill. It wasn't clear in the west & it was pretty cold so we didn't stay very long. I didn't get my studying done so I have been breaking the Sabbath. I didn't go to church but thought I should be just as good through the week if I got a chance to rest to-day.
I received the package & thank you ever so much for the ribbons. They are just as pretty as can be. My fan has come at last. The box was broken & the string was off but the fan was all right. It is all white & is transparant [sic] so I can't flirt with it. Isn't that a shame? Mama got my rain-coat but as it is a little small I don't know whether we shall keep it[.] It is brown & has a hundred, more or less, buttons on it. It has a little cape with scallops on it. Mama got me some golf gloves with long hairs on them & an awfully pretty jersey corset-cover. Cousin Annie brought me some beauty-pins. They are a great deal like Auntie's & are longer than mine so I shall like them.
Last Tuesday night '06 gave '07 a Hallowe'en party. I stayed down at Carrie's. After we had eaten our dinner & done dishes we proceeded to fix Miss Wallace. We put onions in her nightgown & her pillow & put a small cabbage under the pillow & put a strainer, a scrub brush & some carrots in her bed. Just before we went to the party (she was away then) we made a man & put by the window. When she came in she was so scared that she called for Mr. Burnham. She got so tired studying that Carrie took most of the things out of her bed. When we got home we found some spruce with its prickly needles in our bed.
We had quite a good time at the party. They matched up for the Grand March by slips of paper & neither of us got a boy. There were six candles placed in a row & we tried to blow them out. I blew out one so I shall be married in a year. There were some saucers containing slips of paper on which it was written what our future lives would be. I drew a "peaceful life". There were some English walnut shells with candles in them which were lighted & the shells named & launched on some water. If they floated along side by side they would marry. If one sunk you would be an old maid. I didn't try that. I danced Virginia Reel with Carrie; a waltz with Eveline, two two-steps with Ida. We had ice-cream & fancy crackers for refreshments. There was a whole row of jack-o-lanterns made out of boxes on the stage.
But there was trouble over the whole thing. Somebody was careless about the invitations so the Juniors were not invited till Monday & the teachers not till Tuesday P.M. Some of the teachers were mad & wouldn't come & the Juniors were mad but were perfectly willing to come. Miss Clark tried to give us a lecture on the subjects & got herself into hot water. She said that she had heard that Mrs. Brainard, our principal's wife had to get her own ice-cream. Bent spoke right out "She didn't either. I got it myself." Miss Clark said she was glad of that but she heard that no one looked out for the girls that didn't have fellows & got them ice-cream. Now that wasn't so for the Senior boys passed the ice-cream to everyone. Then she said that at the time of our sleigh-ride last winter no way was provided for Miss Barron to get home for the sleigh didn't go down South. I thought Edward Gregory would bust he was so mad. He looked at me & said "That's a lie. It did go down for I went." He told Miss Clark so afterwards. He told her that she could just ask Grace Greenwood if it didn't. He took Grace so she was disgusted with him & said she should liked to have hit him when he said that.
Thursday night Auntie & I went up to the celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the Ladies' Society[.] We had a fine supper. They had scalloped oysters, chicken pie, baked beans, cold meats, salads, cake, pie, yeltris [?], puddings etc. Mrs. Maynard read the history of the Society written by Miss Henrieta [sic] Sawyer. When Mrs. M- started up on the stage Herbert thought that he wasn't going to let his mother go so he started too. When he got on the stage he was so surprised at seeing so many people he stood there & looked. Mrs M- took [him] in her lap & after wiggling some he went to sleep.
Mrs. Turner of E. Templeton played, Mr. Meals sung, Rob played, letters were read from Mrs. Parkhurst, Miss Ellen Lee, Miss Mary Stone, Mr. Charles Lord, Miss Maria Cutting, the Doctor & Mr. Pratt made some remarks & Mr. Pratt read a very cute little poem about how the church in some place did so & so & the Ladies Aid the rest. Ruth Baker sat with me & talked away. She is very cute.
I had my embroidery lesson Sat. & got along some. I don't enjoy it very well. Cousin Annie was here Fri. & Sat. & she talked so much that when she went the house seemed very still. She is a funny woman. I got so much taffy that I was most sick. She was very anxious to see Karl & Russel so Cousin Minnie sent them up. They were just as nice as could be. When Cousin Annie kissed them I expected a howl but none came. Cousin Annie said that Cousin Fred Leland called on her several times lately. He is working in an automobile station nights.
Think of me Wed. in Rhetoricals. "Oh! that last day in Lucknow Fort."
Amber has a very poor appetite & eats almost nothing. He seems rather better to-day.
With love, X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X Molly X X X