A Letter written on Jan 7, 1906

Tougaloo, Miss.
Jan. 7, 1906.

Dear family,

Your letter came last Sunday open at the top and on each side, but apparently nothing had lost out as there were a number of newspaper clippings and samples of wall-paper.

The principal events since I wrote you last are (1) the wedding, (2) Mr. Dooley's arrival, (3) Miss Myer's departure and (4) my beginning Greek.(!) The Thursday evening after Christmas several of the teachers and students were invited to the wedding of Octavia Snowden, a last year's pupil, we teaches [sic] joined together and bought quite a respectable lot of dishes, and the students fbought sugar-bowl and pitcher of the same pattern, and we set out with a lantern; it was fearfully muddy, and the wedding-garments were not all spotless when we got there.

The ceremony was performed on the verandah while the guests stood around on the ground under the starlight. The bride wore a pretty white dress of her own making, and a veil. The "quality" for miles around were there and I presume had a gay time after the white folks got away. The refreshments were the crowning feature; we teachers, the minister, and the bride and groom went to the dining room first, and stood in solemn rows by a long table loaded with whole turkeys[,] hams, pies, cake, beaten biscuit, and four great pyramids of cakes two feet high surmounted by a palisade of striped sticks of candy; then at each place was a plate piled with all this, and just a teaspoon to manipulate all with. Everything was very good.

The house decorations were of evergreens, wet and dipped in flour.

(2) Mr. Dooley just arrived a half-hour before we started that evening, and Mr. Hamlin took him along, and I guess he got a thorough initiation. He is a young fellow and little, comes from Scranton, Pa. a graduate of Lafayette, and married. His wife is teaching somewhere near Albany. He seems to be a pretty good sort.

Miss Myer's mother died yesterday, and she left for home (Carthage Mo) last night. She hadn't been here a month. Last year Miss Leach left the same position at just the same time for the same reason. One of the students is going to take her music pupils, and the night school may fall to me.

(4) Miss Macdougall is to begin with a Greek pupil tomorrow, and after some manouvering we got Dr. Hamlin to put the recitation at an hour when I have no recitation, so I have my little Greek book and am manfully learning the alphabet. The only other one in the class is Saunders a great black fellow, very proud of himself. What is [sic] I shouldn't be able to keep up with him?

Mardi Gras comes during our spring vacation. Several teachers are going. I am not.

Who is Ruth's "man-teacher"?

Very warm.

With love -
Susie -

Thank you for the tray.