West Newbury, Mass.
Dec. 26, 1905.Dear Carrie,
Your loving letter has been a comfort to me ever since it came, and I have read it over several times.The Christmas postal is one of the prettiest I have seen, and it has a place in my very small collection of post cards.
It was lovely to have a letter belonging to both fall and winter. Someone told me the other night of the plan of jotting down brief bits of news or happy experiences day by day, tucking them into an envelope, and when the envelope was reasonably full, sending it away as a piecemeal letter. I think such an one would be very interesting, don't you?
Thank you for telling me about the rooms of my Holyoke friends. I can shut my eyes and see the views that you all enjoy from your different windows. It must be pleasant for you to have a room to yourself. I know there are often times when it is almost a necessity to be alone.
Bessie has done well to recover sufficiently from homesickness to feel a growing love for South Hadley. I hope she will come to love it more and more.
I am glad that Helen likes her school. What part of Candia is she in? Is her school the one on the hill next the church with the great rock beside it, where I used to go to school? She may, even after so long a time, accept remembrance from a Mr. Tisdale, whom I saw in Dover many weeks ago. He found that I knew Helen, and wished me to remember him to her when I wrote. The time has flown away, and I have been so busy that I have barely answered letters received.
It was news to me that Mrs. Berry and Mabel Richardson were not in Pelham. How scattered the family is!
It was delightful that Marion could be with you for a little on visits to Mt. Holyoke. I wish I had seen her.
Edith wrote only a short time before you did, telling me of her brother's having to go South. I hope he will fully recover in that warmer climate.
How I should like to have been with you at the Brockway's! I never loved a baby more than I did Alice. Not long ago I read in my diary about my call there last spring, and the sweetness of Baby Brockway.
Thank you for thinking of me during the Christmas concert. I often remember the songs that I enjoyed with you last year, and sometimes I sound the praise of Prof. Hammond. I saw a picture not long ago that reminded me of him, a picture of the author of "St. Cuthbert's", - I cannot think of his name now.
When I get back to Newburyport, I am going to try to find you a photograph of myself. I know I have none of those like Elizabeth's, but hope to find one of the other views. People in Dover say I must have changed since my picture was taken, for I do not look at all like the same person now, but I think you will find a little resemblance. It would make me very happy to have your picture to look at, if you have now or have in the future any to spare for me.
Yes, I like my studio still, and have had four happier months than I ever had before, I think. Church and school and home have all been delightful thus far, and they tell me I am getting to laugh a great deal. Surely I have unnumbered blessings to be thankful for.
Mabel was with me at Thanksgiving, but could not very well leave her work for Christmas with me. She is an evangelistic deaconess now, working only for a few weeks ina place. She was never so happy in her work before. Souls are being saved, and the joy of soul-winning is the greatest possible earthly joy.
My sailor is not converted yet, unless since he wrote last. I wish you would pray for him, poor man that he is, in a lighthouse without Christ. I should think his life would be unbearable.
I wonder whether you will visit Derry during your vacation. I am surprised and pleased to hear of the changes in courses there. I wish I had been able to take a commercial course at P.A. [Pinkerton Academy] in the years when I lived in Derry.
To-day my Aunt Sarah and I are all alone. She is braiding, or rather sewing braids together, for a rug. To-morrow I expect to go back to Newburyport, and the rest of my vacation will be spent there. I go again to Dover, January 1st, to continue my school work there.
The beautiful weather of which you wrote is continuing. This is a perfect day, and I want to be out walking, but cannot leave very well.
I hope you will have a good rest, and a very happy vacation, and that all the coming year may be one of health and joy and glad living in sunny "paths of peace".
Please give love to your dear ones, whom I still count as friends, and accept for yourself as true and sweet a love as I ever felt for anyone.
Please thank Mary and Edith for the love sent by you and give them mine. I should like to see you all.
Your loving friend,
Clara M. Ridgway.