Mt. Holyoke Sem. Oct. 14.My dear Mother,
I fear when you receive this, & see it is from me, your first thought will be, that I am in trouble, & perhaps the second, that I am availing myself to an unreasonable extent, of Mr. Kent's permission to write frequently. To quiet the former, I will say in the outset, that I am well & prosperous. My time is too much occupied to write now, - had I not a reason, which I deem important, & which I think you will appreciate, & though I know not how to take the time, I feel that I am discharging a duty, which I will presently explain.
If you could have seen me Wed. eve. you would have seen me in a happier mood, than I have been in for some time & would have wondered what could be the cause especially as I had been quite sad all day. Whit it was nothing less than that dear Eliza Gibbs had arrived here. Soon after tea on that day, Miss Whitman (one of the teachers), came to our room & said to Miss Dickinson (knowing we had two beds) I have got a poor tired child just come from Canada & I want to give her one of your beds for to night. I immediately asked her name & finding who it was, ran down to meet her, & she was as glad to see her [sic], as I was to see her; - said she did not dare to ask whether I was here.
But I was distressed to learn that the cause of her delay in coming here, was the dangerous sickness of our dear Mrs. Hayes[.]
She was taken on the night of the 27 of Sept. with Hemorrhage after working quite hard, & entertaining a company of young ladies. She was very sick, but not in immediate danger till Thursday, the second day, when the Dr. was obliged to go to Haverhill. In the afternoon, she grew worse, - seemed fast sinking, her lips became colorless, - could with difficulty breathe & she whispered to her sister that she was dying. Eliza ran for Mrs Low, & just at that moment the Dr. came, & he immediately took the most active measures, which with the blessing of God, saved from the very jaws of death & in the mean time sent for Dr Poole, who came.
Dr H. said that she would not have lived but a very few moments, if he had not arrived, & he said that he was conscious of feeling in a hurry while in H. though he knew no cause at the time, & when he started to come home, his horse was almost unmanageable & ran with the greatest speed all of the way, for which he could not account. - - - -
You may suppose Mrs. H. would be left in great debility, she was scarcely moved for a week, & when E left just two weeks, from the time she was taken, she was beginning to sit up a little. Dr. says it will be a long time before she regains her strength, & that she will probably never be as well, as before. Since she began to recover, she has had a most excruciating pain in her head, this the Dr. expected. Eliza was there five weeks, was prevented from coming sooner, by her mother's putting her ancle [sic] out of joint after her return from B. Mrs. H. was very well before she was taken sick, in much better
freshflesh than for a long time, & in quite good spirits but E. says she never knew her so low-spirited, as during her sickness. She felt as though she could not have E. come away. She wants to see you so much. Cannot you contrive to go? They had an excellent girl when E. went, but before Mrs. H. was sick, she ran away. because she wanted to be near her sister, but dare not ask to leave. - - -They have now Julia Chapman & a little girl. Poor folks! are they not? I could think of no way you would hear from them, but through me & Mrs. H. is so anxious to have a letter from you & I thought you would be so anxious to hear from her, that I felt as though I must write immediately.
She wished to have E write to you before she came away & though she thought it doubtful, whether I were here she sent messages to you
throughby E. one of which was the she was pining for a letter from you & that one would do her more good than all the medicines in the world. You will of course [write] immediately, you are well. Perhaps you have written since I came away. E [said] she talked very much about you before she was sick - was talking [about] the night she was taken. - Dr has more practise [sic] in H. than any where - it is very healthy in B. I must leave those dear ones. I did not think I should write so long a letter, for want of time but it is very hard to stop - - -I did not learn much news from E. - - Your friends have been very much interested to know the cause of the discontinuance of Mr. K's agency but careful not to ask Mr. Keen. He did not tell Dr. that you were not going there. Did you know Mrs Newton's babe died? The poor little thing weighted 4 or 5 pounds - it languised [sic] a week & died.. Mrs N. was dangerously sick - had just got able to ride out. I pity her. Dr. P. has been sick - excited much sympathy Mrs. Poole is following Mr. H's example, in visiting, visited a week on the South road, with out returning home.
Eliza felt very bad when she arrived here, leaving Mrs. H. coming all alone in the stage &c but I hope she will be contended. I am so glad she has come. She reminds me of Mrs H. in some things but has but little of her vivacity. I hope soon we shall have a room alone together. She has been examined in Watts & did well. She dreads the other studies. She has been so interrupted in study the past summer - but is relieved in seeing so many have not yet got through examination. There are about 200 sc. & 13 teachers. I have been exam. in Greece & first part of Algebra & did well - shall be in Algebra farther, & in Gen His. but think I had better commence Geometry.
This is recreation day the usual one is Wed. We do more work on that day as the whole house is washed. I wish I could write more about the regulations &c. Dear dear friends - how I do wish to see you all[.] Do give my very best love to all friends. Tell Mr. Kent I dream of him most every night, & love to think of our plesant journey. I do hope the dear children are good & get along without seeing Willie. If I could see a little child of some sort it would be some satisfaction, but there are no such commodities here to be seen by us at least. Do tell me how you are. Do be careful of your health. Do write soon if you can.
Your's [sic] with much affect[...] Sarah.
Mrs. H. was 2 or 3 months [...]
[The 1850 census in Poultney, Rutland, Vermont helped clarify how Mary A Kent of Benson Vt., the recipient of this letter, could be "Mother" to a student named Sarah, when there was no Sarah Kent listed in the biographical directory. Mary Kent had a younger family with her husband Cephas H Kent, including another Mount Holyoke student, Frances L Kent. But her two older daughters in their 20s, Sarah E Everetts [sic] and Mary T Everetts, still lived in their home in 1850. In the 1842-43, and the 1844-1845, Mount Holyoke catalogs, Sarah E. Everett is listed with a Benson, Vt. hometown. The year of the letter is not given, and could be 1842 or 1844, but I'm guessing it is 1842 based on the fact that she spoke of events on a Wednesday and wrote the letter soon after, and in 1842 Oct 14 is a Friday. In 1844, it would be a Monday at that seemed too far away given the urgency Sarah felt in writing the letter. Eliza Gibbs, the friend that Sarah mentions in her letter, was not listed in the biographical directory.]