[Some paragraph breaks added for ease of reading.]"Don't let any body see"
Holyoke, Nov. 30, 1849.
My Dear Parents,
I was very happy, although somewhat surprised, to receive your letter, for you said you should not be able to write till after thanksgiving.
O mother, I shall not be able to write half the letters I wanted to for Wednesday I was fussing all day and did not write only one letter, and that was to Mary Ann, and yesterday I did not write a single letter, for in the morning after doing my domestic and chamber work and fussing a little for evening, it was time to fix for meeting.
The services began at eleven, the minister and a chapter from the bible, and then said the choir would sing a piece. They sang, "O, how lovely is Zion" it seemed to me that I had either heard it, or sung it, or heard about it
(Sarah has gone to bed, and I am trying to get her up to go down to get something to eat, but it is out of the question she won't go. Don't you think, one night, ever so long ago, before the box came, after Sarah had gone to bed we made her get up and put on Miss Clarks loose dress and go down to get something to eat. (this is thrown in between a sentence) but she could not find Miss Scott, so we had to go without. Such a laugh as we had)
They sing very well indeed, it sounded quite nice[.] After the services were over they sang another piece. I do not know what it was. We returned from church about a quarter of 1. In about half an hour after we returned the bell rung for dinner (I was most starved, having had nothing to eat since 1/2 past 6.) We went down and found the tables looking nice. On my table was a cold turkey, all cut up, potatoes, squash, cranberry sauce, gravy (no giblets), 2 mince pies, 2 squash pies, and a tapioca pudding with raisins in it. I was helped to a little totty piece of turkey, and a piece of the stuffing, 2 potatoes, and some squash, and sauce. It did not take me long to eat the turkey, and Miss Titcomb asked me if I would take another piece. I told her yes marm, so she gave me a turkey's wing (and not a bit of stuffing).
Saturday
Then after we were done eating turkey it was carried out, and I was helped to a piece of mince and squash pie. (The pies were both cut into 8 pieces) and then we were helped to the pudding (so all the mince pie I have had was an eighth of a pie) (For breakfast we had frickasee [sic], hot cakes, and butter toast.)
At 5 1/2 the bell rung for supper. We had cold bread and butter, cranberry jelly (or something with great lumps of sugar in it) with milk on it, and plain cake with now and then a raisin, so you see, I suppose, it is not genteel to have pie for breakfast and supper but I don't care for gentility. I think I should have enjoyed being at home and eating just as much as I could stuff (for you know this is allowed for thanksgiving) O do save me a mince pie and a piece of plum pudding. Now don't you tell anyone what I have said about thanksgiving, but you can tell them we had 370 mince pies &c &c.
At the breakfast table on Thurs. morn Miss Whitman invited all the scholars to go into the parlors at 7. So after ten I dressed in my silk and went down with my room mate. As soon as we opened the parlor door Miss W. took hold of my hand and said walk all around and see the flowers. (The parlors are very large rooms with folding doors) over one of the folding doors was the words "Remember those who are gone" they were capital letters made with ever green. it looked very pretty indeed and on the other side was "Excelsior" And over the mirror in one parlor was a large wreath made of paper flowers and evergreens (you can judge of the size of the wreath, it was a hoop from a hogshead) in the centre of this wreath was the words "We loved her" (referring to Miss Lyon [who died Mar 5, 1849]) and on the table under the mirror was a landscape made of moss. It was all fussed up, on a platter. It was made to represent a mountain and a house, man, and there was a looking glass in the bottom of the platter which was to represent water and a ship upon the water. On the shelf were 4 vases of paper flowers and evergreens. In the other parlor over the mirror was a harp made of paper flowers and ever greens. It was very handsome[.] And on the shelf were more vases of flowers on each table, also, there was a vase of flowers, so you perceive we were flowered at a great rate. After all the girls got down,t here was quite a room full.
Mr. Laurie (our minister) and wife and President Hitchcock and wife from Amherst were the only invited company. I was introduced to Mr. Laurie. I told him I was from Boxford. He said Boxford, it joins Andover, does it? Mr. Coggin is the minister I believe. And then some one else was introduced and he said no more. The evening passed quite pleasantly, but really should have enjoyed home better. I think I enjoyed last Thanksgiving better. Miss W. came along to me once and said Miss K. how many have you spoken too tonight? I want you to speak making you many to speak to. Has the day seemed long? You heard of your good minister. They are thought a good deal of are they not among their people? (so much for Miss W.)
(Don't you think one day Miss W. came along to Sarah - as she was washing dishes - and said "Give my love to Miss Clark - your minister's wife and tell her, her children are doing very well.["] Sarah told her she had heard from Mrs. Coggin. Miss W. said she takes a great interest in you, she does in all young people does she not? She is a very pure and lovely spirit.)
(((Perhaps you perceive that nearly all my sentences are enclosed in a parenthesis)))
After spending an hour and a half in the parlor we were invited into the seminary hall. (This is a large room, where we have devotions, missionary meeting, family meeting, and we spend 3/4 of an hour each day in hearing Miss W. talk) The benches were placed around the room, and we all took seats. The hall was all trimmed with evergreens[.] There are 4 pillars in the hall, and the greens were twined around them, very prettily. And there was a table set with refreshments in the form of a cross. It was filled with 2 kinds of nuts, raisins, white grapes, and apples. As soon as we had taken seats, four of the teachers stood at each end of the table and helped us to the good things, and the scholars passed it around (or about 12 scholars). On one side of the hall was written with evergreens "Haec olim meminisse juvabit" Your latin scholar will probably read it for you. I dont know how the letters were made but they were fixed somehow.
[Identifying the student who wrote this letter was tricky. She did leave the clue that she was from Boxford, so I looked up the students listed in the 1849-1850 directory. I figured one would be named Sarah (her sister, or hometown friend), and any other student listed from Boxford might be my letter writer. There were only two students from (East) Boxford at the Seminary in the fall of 1849, but both were named Sarah. One was Sarah Bixby, and the other was Sarah Kimball. So which one was the letter writer? She mentioned she wrote a letter to Mary Ann, not Miss Lastname, so I suspected that Mary Ann was her sister. I looked her up on familysearch.org, and sure enough, Sarah Kimball had a sister named Mary Ann.]