Page: [1] My dearest sister - We received your anxiously expected letter in which you announce the welcome intelligence of the baby's being somewhat better- I assure you we fully sympathized with your joy on her account & yet our joy - was turned into sorrow when we read your melancholy account of yourself. God grant that your little one may still improve - and may he soon restore you to your wonted health & strength. But Callie if he should so ordain it that you must still pass through a fiery trial may he also give you strength which shall prove sufficient for you in your day of need. And that he will do so I cannot doubt. Through much tribulation we are to enter the kingdom - & every child whom God loveth he not only chasteneth but scourgeth. Oh this is a sweet - consoling thought in sickness - sorrow or death - to think that God so loveth us - poor worms - as to take us us [us] as a father & prepare us even by the rod - for that rest - where trials & sufferings will be no more necessary for us. When we view it as we ought to is it not a great mercy to have our little lambs so soon sheltered from every rude blast and storm where our own aching hearts long to rest - in the Redeemers breast - Page: [2] What a world of sorrow this is. I dont [don't] know when my heart has felt so keenly as for poor Mary Gresham - When with her in New York she was constantly speaking to me of her baby her "brag boy" -- The last words she said to me weeping on my shoulder were -- "when you reach home - send for him & smother him with kisses But he was beyond my reach - Jesus in a few short hours sickness had called him home - & today her husband will reach NY [New York] with the first news of his sudden death - Is it not sad - is it not strange - And yet Callie it is right - God doeth all things well - His father had just reached here in the stage - & Mrs Baxter had taken the little fellow in her arms to meet him - On returning to the house she saw that he was spasmed & he lived only a few hours - Will not Mary [unclear text: envy] you the comfort you have had in nursing your precious child - We have much sickness about [deleted text: you] [added text: here] - chiefly diarrhoea [diarrhea] - [unclear text: Willy] - myself & [unclear text: Fanny] have had it quite severely & also Lucy - We are now all over it but Frank is quite sick we think with something like a typhoid attack brought on by [unclear text: jumping] a great deal at school - He is not at all dangerous but he and Margaret being sick at the same time and Muggie's & [unclear text: Lids] babies not being very well keeps Ma very anxious & busy - All are better today & I hope will Page: [3] soon be well - Pa has had such a siege at Decatur - he is far from being well - & he is so unhappy about you - His letters are filled with love & sympathy for you - & he will be much relieved to hear the baby is better - John reached home last night - and Brother Howells family will be here in a few days - Mattie is busy preparing for her wedding next month which owing to the situation of the family will be in the morning - & she will leave for Carolina Mary is to be here next week - John Thomas is to be married tomorrow night & Eliza Dent goes North with Batavia & himself - The Hills have all gone - Tom Wrays family went on with Minerva Winstead when she was married - You dont [don't] know what elegant presents of silver she received from the Thomas' & old Col. [Colonel] Hamilton - Virginia Fulton looks so faded & dejected - & he looks wretchedly I suppose you have seen the death of Marion Pickens - She died with consumption Jane Billups has sent to Miss Bailey for her wedding finery & Gen. [General] [unclear text: Taylor] will open his new house on the occasion - Tallulah Taylors child is very ill - & she is expecting to be confined again shortly - I went to see Matilda Dunwoody yesterday - she is looking as white as a ghost - & thinks she is the most wonderful mother & has the most wonderful child living - I went also to see Julia Croome & Page: [4] Henrietta Hughes (Moore) both of whom are much worsted by chills which they have had - Julia still has them but Henrietta has cured hers she says by taking a large dose of Quinine in [unclear text: brandy] enough to make her drunk just before the chill comes on - Ma says she has seen this cure once or twice succeed wonderfully - Lizzy [unclear text: Craig] is now North and a great belle - Sally [unclear text: Winston] is out wonderfully and is very thick with [unclear text: me] Mrs Le Conte goes north next month - indeed everybody here is bound for the north [unclear text: who] is in the least able to go - Rebecca Harris [unclear text: (Hobbs)] left for the west yesterday and Mary [unclear text: Bach] is here with her sixth child looking as well as I ever saw [added text: her] - Mrs [unclear text: Camak] & Anna [unclear text: visit] as much as ever and have treated me [unclear text: with] great cordiality. Joe Wilkin's [Wilkins] has just left with his wife - one of the sweetest looking ladies I ever saw - We had a long letter from Jimmie yesterday from [unclear text: Christiania] . The cholera is still raging in [unclear text: Copenhagen] & he did not know when they would get home - Well Callie I have tried to write all of the on dits but they are rather [unclear text: uninteresting] I wrote chiefly to assure you of our sympathy for you and brother Porter - You must not mind what Pa writes - he is so excited - He knows it was brother Porters love which prompted him to take you out but he thinks it was a mistaken idea to move you at the season of the year [unclear text: Callie] I know Pa does not intend to make either feel badly for I assure you your [unclear text: visit] has not only increased his attachment to you if it could be but made him very fond of Porter Page: [5] All send much love to you both & many kind remembrances to those who have been so kind to you - Ma wishes so much you were here for her to nurse you - I intended to tell you about the children Callie especially but I must close - God bless & preserve you my dear sister & shield you from all harm is the fond prayer of your sister [Signed] Marion