Mt Hol Sem
Friday eve 1857Dear Dora
I have got to send you that letter & I may as well send you a word of encouragement in it as I cannot come & see you for it will cost more than a postage stamp. Fast day & sabbath were very solemn & profitable days. Sarah Gerald & her roommate Nellie Treadway & several others have decided to join Christs side. Judie Morton is quite serious and many others are seeking peace in Christ. I never enjoyed fast day before so much. Mr Williams preached a beautiful sermon in the afternoon for us. He is a lovely man in my estimation[.]
I find I'm writing on the same sheet that I began to Caddie but as I can only scribble a note just now, I [...] not care if it is only 1/2 a sheet. I had a letter from Mollie Smallwood yesterday - a good one. Really I don't know how I can afford to go to Conn. Thomas is coming tomorrow. Have a great long funny letter from Jerimiah Frink - Jeh's brother written by Ed Mont. G Shaw! It gives me the stomach ache to speak seriously. Mary Bush's mother has been in my room all the evening I have been fixing my oriental picture, have just got it done. My frame is nearly completed - Jessie is studying Dis. just now, the half hour bell before retiring has run. Judie told me to tell you she misses you much when she comes in here. Allie Bentley came in here this eve to see us for she said she had the blues. Katie Wilcox came in twice but did not find us. Wont I be a happy child this time tomorrow if it is pleasant &c. The moon sheds its finest beams of crystal light in at our curtained window and smiling bids me look up & be thankful for another days blessings and I'll thank God that I have you Dora for you are a blessing. And the bright moon sweetly bids me ask a gift from Heaven for Dora & I will my dear, & God grant that all the blessings I crave for you may be [...]isived.
Night nighty
Your AnnieJessie sends love. We are going to have a sleigh ride tomorrow night in the moonlight. Mattie Lane and her brother & Thomas & Jessie & if nobody comes to keep me in the parlor I'm going too.
Getting along well in my studies. A Mr Anderson came with Mrs Bush who knows Monias [?] & of course must know me & speak to me - He is real smart by the way -
Love & congratulations to Eleanor
[This letter had no full date, but the date can be estimated by clues on the envelope and in the letter. The postmark indicates that the month begins with J, and the letter mentions a sleigh ride "tomorrow night in the moonlight." The only month that begins with J that has a sleigh ride possible in Massachusetts is January. The full moon in January 1857 took place on Saturday January 10. Since Annie wrote this letter on a Friday evening, I am deducing that she wrote it on January 9 and the sleigh ride took place at the full moon.]
[Annie was identifiable because of a second letter where she signed her full name.]