A Letter Written on Feb 10, 1848

South Hadley. Feb. Thursday, 10. 1848.

Dear, Dear William.

I have a few moments now that I gladly embrace to commence an answer to your thrilling epistle received last evening, & which was just one week & two days on the way.

I cannot promise you any thing like a good letter for I must write it by detached portions, & perhaps I shall not stay to fill my sheet, because I want it on the way, so as to ensure the more that long one that is forth coming in your vacation. But perhaps I do not sufficiently consider your pressing duties & it may be that you have been giving time to me, when you felt that other things actually required it. If so, I am very sorry, & would have you in no case repeat the act.

Your letter was certainly replete with arguments & those of a very strong kind, & I do not know but they are logically correct & that the conclusion must irresistibly follow. But I can scarcely think my parents will give their assenting voice. I am thankful indeed for your kind & pressing application for a teacher, but I can not at present say, yes, or no. I am aware that your situation & relation to Miss Bradford as well as that in which she stands to you must be one of great delicacy. Neither do I wonder that she should wish to leave. Perhaps, if that memorable letter received from you about one year ago, & which awakened in my bosom strong emotions that had long existed there though perhaps in rather a dormant state, had been replied to, in the negative, I should ere this have heard that you were happy in the enjoyment of Miss B's love, or that perhaps you had even now had united your destinies. But I knew nothing of her then, had I, it might have influenced me differently. I thought I tried to follow the path Providence pointed out, but perhaps I was mistaken. At any rate it would have cost me a struggle to have done differently than I did.

I think you did well to be plain with Miss B. I dont know what she would think if she knew she was made such a prominent character in my letter. But I must go now, for the bell calls to an exercise.

Friday afternoon. I have just finished my recitations for this week, & on coming up to my room, my inquiry was "what shall I do next"? Good foresight & economy suggested that tomorrow was our composition day & I hold better secure some time on my theme beforehand, especially as we are required to spend six hours in a week to that end or else be lowered in our standard of classification. But my putting off disposition said I did not need to begin quite yet, especially as I had just come from a recitation & wanted a little relaxation, before pinning myself down to one subject, to the exclusion of every other; while other feelings still, prompted me to hold a little more converse with the one whom my soul loved, as that would be more congenial to my inclination. So here you find me using the pen, not very skillfully however, else I should be more expert in gliding over the rough places on my paper without leaving traces of spider's tracks in my ink.

I have commenced Wayland, & it was my recitation in that to which I just referred. It is intensely interesting, so good, so solid & so practical, that it seems to afford substantial food for the mind; that which can never be derived from such studies as Logic. I just told my roommate that it seemed as if we ought to grow better every day. I suppose this is our theological course.

I had rather an interesting vacation. Though I did not accomplish all I intended, I hope it was not without some benefit to me. I spent one day every agreeably, in connection with my roommate, another young lady, & two teachers in making a visit out of town, on the kind invitation of one of our or my classmates. We took dinner at her mother's in Granby, after a pleasant walk of 3 miles & in the afternoon called on Mrs. Atwood, the mother of Harriet Newell. She resides with her soninlaw, Rev. Mr Bates of that place, the husband of the sister whom Harriet in her letters addressed as, "little E." We were very much interested in the old lady, found her refined, & sociable & one possessed of ardent piety. We had a pleasant wak walk home in the evening, though it was by star light. How I should enjoy it to visit with you, I wonder if the time will indeed come when I can enjoy some more walks with you.

Miss Lyon made our reading exercises quite interesting by remarks of her own, & instead of taking so large a part of our time as wek anticipated, she only occupied four afternoons.

Monday. P.M.

I received a letter from home two or two or three nights since, in which Pa tells me, that he received your letter a while since, but could not answer on account of a pressure of duties. He expects to though soon, but may not at present, as he intends to preach now almost every evening.

He writes that there are some favorable indications of a work of Grace in Hartford at present. Scarcely any thing that he could have written would have been more heart cheering to me.

I long to hear of revivals on the Western Reserve.

Please excuse me from writing any more now. I think you had better burn up this letter.

Your's [sic] most affectionately & confidingly
Sarah G. Fenn.