South Hadley. Oct. 10, 1848My very dear Rebecca,
My object in writing you this evening is to ask you if you would like to take a boarder for a few weeks this winter. Perhaps I wrote you near the close of the last year that Miss Whitman was not well. She was obliged to give up most of her school duties during the Examinations & Reviews. We hoped vacation would restore her, but she has come back, far from well & a proposition has been made within a day or two, that she leave the Seminary for a few weeks or months as she may require, in order to get her health fully established. Her difficulty seems to be nervous prostration[.] She looks pretty well & has a good appetite & can endure a pretty good degree of physical exercise, provided the mind is not taxed at all – but if she attempts to think, is excited or much interested, she has severe a pain in her head, cannot sleep, & is unfitted for anything. In thinking what she shall do, several courses present themselves, but the most pleasing of all is to go Ohio, to spend some time in visiting, but to have a home with my darling cousins. Since her father's death she has had a home at East Bridgewater with her mother-in-law [sic], but she has now gone to live with her brothers & that is no place for Miss Whitman. She has a brother living in Cambridge, but his wife died some more than a year since, & he is not keeping house, besides he is a strong Unitarian & she does not enjoy herself much there. Some other things she might do but they do not seem to take her far enough from the Seminary, and she says she wants to go to some new place. She first proposed being absent only until Thanksgiving & traveling most of the time, but if she gets away, we all think she had better stay a longer time though it seems to us as if we could not exist very long without her. She spoke of having a home with you and staying as long as seemed best as a regular boarder, and I have encouraged her to think favorably of the plan, for I thought you would enjoy it, & your family was just the quiet home she needed. She says she always loved my Cousin Rebecca very much indeed & she is certain, she shall enjoy Mr Atwater's society.
Now do not feel that you cannot have her come because you must make so much change in your family arrangements, but receive her as you would me & let her be as much home as I should be.
She would not be willing that you should change your ordinary course at all, would share Miss Curtis room. She proposes to leave here in about a week or ten days, to spend several days at Buffalo, to go to Niagara & from thence to Cleaveland. [sic] From the latter place she will write you when she will be at your house. She will go from your house to Oberlin & to Mt Vernon to spend some time with Mrs Buckingham, Mr Hawks' daughter. Will you write to me here immediately after getting this, saying whether you are in a situation such as to make it convenient for you, to have her with you & whether it would be agreeable to you or not. Miss Whitman would also like to have you write her & direct to Buffalo. She may be delayed here & we may get your letter to me before she leaves. She hastens as much as possible, because of the lateness of the season -
Will it not be strange, if, after all my talk, & my desire to be with you Miss Whitman should go first and spend some weeks with you? But I will say nothing of myself for I am as blue and sad as I can be this evening, though I try to wear a cheerful face for Miss Whitman's sake. I have ardently desired that my Holyoke life might be ended before either of its principals were removed. The winter looks dark enough in prospect. Miss Lyon is now almost worn out with care. We have some 225 pupils but good night - a kiss for yourself & Cousin Edward.
Wednesday morning. I would like to tell you about my pleasant vacation, how I went to Pomfret - saw Aunt Lyon - about Grandmother & my Uncles & Aunts but I have no time for I must send by this morning's mail. Miss Lyon & Miss Whitman desire much love to you & Miss Curtis. Did you know that Mrs Burgess formerly Miss Moore had a daughter? Do please excuse my poor letter for it is written in the greatest possible haste. With a heart full of love to yourself & husband
Your Sister Sophy
[From the dealer who sold me the letter:
This important letter provides new information regarding a critical and historic period in the history of Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mt. Holyoke College). Mary Lyon, the founder and Principal of the Seminary, became ill in Fall 1848 and was "worn out with care." Mary C. Whitman, the Associate Principal, had also become ill and suffered from "nervous prostration." Lyon and Whitman both took leaves of absence shortly after Sophia D. Hazen wrote this letter. Their illnesses were exacerbated by the responsibilities and stresses of managing a successful institution. In particular, Lyon was driven by her desire to achieve a smooth and efficient operation of the Seminary. She had shaped the school in her vision and made it a success, ably assisted by her selection of very competent teachers and in her selection of Mary C. Whitman and Abigail Moore in 1842 as Associate Principals. These goals were now at risk.
Sophia was a senior teacher at the Seminary and her letter reveals new and important information regarding the circumstances surrounding Whitman's leave of absence and of the nature of her illness. Sophia describes her efforts to gently persuade Whitman to remove herself from the Seminary environment, and we learn that it was Sophia who made it possible for Whitman to travel to Ravenna for rest and recuperation. Sophia was Rebecca Atwater's cousin, but she considered her to be a sister. The impending departure of the two top administrators weighed heavily on her. She confides: "I am as blue and sad as I can be this evening, though I try to wear a cheerful face for Miss Whitman's sake. I have ardently desired that my Holyoke life might be ended before either of its principals were removed...The winter looks dark enough in prospect. Miss Lyon is now almost worn out with care - we have some 225 pupils...." Sophia's compassion for Mary C. Whitman and her loyalty to the Seminary is evident when she writes, "we all think she had better stay a longer time though it seems to us as if we could not exist very long without her."]