[Paragraph breaks are added for ease of reading.]Mt. Holyoke College
Nov. 24, '88
Dear Charley,
I commenced a letter to you Wednesday but havn't [sic] had time to finish it so I will commence another to go Monday morning.
About the middle of the week I had a letter from cousin Addie. She said they were at Uncle Amos's and invited me to spend thanksgiving there but I wrote my reg rels and expect to stay here.
I am sitting by my window looking toward the south. There is quite a large fire down that way it looks as though some one was burning a large pile of brush.
Sarah and Lu have gone for a walk I took mine before dinner. Lu is going home thanksgiving, it will be quite a rest for she has the greatest power of throwing things around that I have seen for some time. She has had the room-work for a week and the floor (a hard wood one) hasn't been swept since I swept it. Sarah takes the work tomorrow so we expect to get straightened out soon.
It is very cold the pond is frozen nearly enough for skating but Miss Blanchard won't let them try it yet. We have examinations the eleventh and tenth of December and I guess they will be pretty hard. We expect to finish Senechite and Algebra if we pass. When are you going home Xmas? We go either Thursday or Friday. It is not certain which.
A letter came from home this morning I wonder if I shall have one from New Haven. The letters seem almost necessary for my existance [sic] for it makes life miserable when I don't get just about so many. I hope you didn't spend much time on that conundrum for the question was how that man got down. And as there is down on every goose he must have got it from the goose.
It is getting so dark that I must have a light and it is not much after four. It was so dark this morning when the half hour rang that I didn't know whether to get up or not. The thermometer in our room was below eighty six all the morning and steam came on at the hour bell before breakfast. We must have some one see to it for we cant freeze all winter.
Wednesday Rev. W. Constantine a greek from Greece spoke to us and this morning a lady from Utah. We have more missionaries here than I had ever dreamed of seeing. We have invitations to give in every direction. The next thing is for the orphanage for colored children down south.
The girls have come back and say some of the town people were out skating. My ironing is done all but the aprns [sic] which I could not starch and my algebra is the next topic.
Our supper last night was vat [?] meal, bread and butter and gingerbread. I wonder what you four dollar people would say to that.
One thing is certain the girls are not sick very often. I have hardly had a head ache since I have been here. I get as tired as I used to going to Putnam but get over it again.
Tomorrow we go to church in the morning and hear Mr. Bladgeth from somewhere then at three there is a missionary meeting at four bible class and we are expected to spend an hour and a half on that beside the class time. In the evening there is another meeting and after that a german bible reading. There is about an hour before supper and I will see what I can do in that time.
Good Night
Seraph Bliss[Perhaps Lu is Lulu Bliss 1891; I cannot connect up the two Bliss families via familysearch.org, but maybe they are related.]