South Hadley, Mass.
Nov. 8th 1882
My Dear Father;
I was so glad to hear from you, Edd [her older brother] told me of your not being well and I was feeling real anxious about you.
What a relief that the harassing suit is virtually terminated, as I judge from what the state of affairs are that it is. Is there any possibility of the other side taking exception to the decision, and carrying it to the Supreme Court? Write the decision, who pays costs &c.
I suppose you are all chaffing [sic] under the disappointment of elections, the democratic majorities are sweeping: The morning after the elections we girls haunted the one and only telegraph office with grave concern on our faces, which amused the old postmaster very much. I couldn't believe that our grand old republican state could go forty thousand dem. majority, but the figures are there.
It speaks well for General Beaver that he carried Pittsburgh and Philla. where he was best known.
I hear lamentations every where over the election of the famous Ben. Butler after the administration of such a man as Gov. Long, it seems to be a perfectly understood fact, that the day was won by bribery.
It seems a strange anomaly in the history of a state like Mass. that a man whose career is so well known, a republican, a greenbacker and a democrat, should be chosen for its Gov. Our honored faculty are especially much grieved.
My expenses depend very greatly on where I go or what I do X'mas vacation, I have not though[t] much about it, and do not yet know what would be best for me to do, do you think I had better stay here?
We have a few days vacation [at] Thanksgiving, for which I have two kind invitations to go home with girls, but I prefer to avoid the expense and will remain here.
I would like you to send me twenty dollars and I will make [it] last as long as I can.
Your aff. daughter
Gertrude
[More information about Butler, Benjamin Franklin (b. November 5, 1818 d. January 11, 1893), Civil War Union Major General, US Congressman, Massachusetts Governor.
Benjamin Franklin Butler was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire. He graduated from Colby College in Maine in 1838. Butler started a law career but soon turned to politics. Butler married Sarah Hildreth in 1844. He was elected a Massachusetts state senator in 1859. In 1860, Butler was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention were he voted 57 times to nominate Jefferson Davis for President of the United States. After the northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas, Butler joined the southern Democrats in supporting States' Rights advocate John C. Breckinridge for President. At the start of the Civil War, Butler was appointed a Brigadier General of Massachusetts Volunteers, by President Lincoln. After a number of semi-successful military exploits, Butler was appointed military governor of New Orleans in 1862. His controversial actions as governor earned him the nickname "The Beast" and he was vilified in the South. He was called an outlaw by Confederate President Davis (the man he once supported to be President of the United States). He left New Orleans at the end of 1862 and his remaining war record was less than spectacular. After the war, Butler became a Radical Republican (a major switch from his prewar political life) and was elected to Congress in 1866. Butler was angered by President Andrew Johnson's soft treatment of the South, especially Jefferson Davis. As a House Manager, Butler was very zealous in his prosecution of President Johnson during his impeachment trial in 1868. He was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1882. Loathed by Democrats and Republicans, he switched to his third political party, the Greenbackers. Butler was the presidential candidate of this party in 1884. He died in Washington D.C.]