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Blenheim December 16th 1863

Wednesday

Dear Sister,

I received your letter by the last mail

and was greatly disappointed to find that neither

you or Nina would meet me at Mr. Booker's.

I had heard through Courtney Cocke that you

were coming as far as Richmond with her

& that Mr. Garrett was going away from home

Xmas so I had fully expected you were going

to P[rince] E[dward] and had made my arrangements

accordingly, & written to Horace to meet me

at the Depot the day before Xmas. I have a

very good opportunity for going. [Ellen?] & Mrs.

Willis Hobson are going on Wednesday to Dr.

H's sisters about 10 miles from Amelia C.H.

& will take me with them & she sends to the

C.H. Thursday morning for her daughter & will

send me over to take the cars there so I will

only be traveling by myself about two hours. Then

I shall have to return in the same way I came

here last fall, but no one seems to think there

will be any difficulty about it. I think I

shall still go unless Ma writes me between

now and then that she would rather I should

not, though I don't anticipate a very plea-

sant time if neither of you are there, but

I have no where else to go. Fannie Harris

invited me to come down & spend it with her

but she lives 14 miles from here & did not offer

to send for me & I don't know how I could

get there as Dr. H drives his own carriage, &

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then I don't think it can be pleasant to them

to have a stranger staying in the house

when their sister is so low, & Miss Maria who

is the head of the house did not ask me.

I have been having a pleasant time since

I wrote last. I like Ellie very much, & find

her a pleasant companion. Last Friday eve

we went over to Mrs. W. Hobson's & staid all

night & the next day, walked back in the

evening & just after we got home Fannie &

her Father drove up & staid till Monday evening.

We three slept in our bed & had a jolly time

together. Sunday we had no church so all the rest

of the family went to Mrs. W. H. to spend the day

& left us girls alone here. I like Fannie more

& more every time I see her. Miss Martha [Burnell?]

sent me an orange while I had that dreadful

cold (which by the by is well now) & I sent it to [?]

Harris & she sent me by Fannie a beautiful bouquet

of greenhouse flowers which are beautiful even

now. I can send you bleached cotton if you want

it for [?] and for your chemises, I have

no linen, let me know if I shall send it. I sent

Hunter a bible by mail soon after I got here

& I got the nicest letter from him a short

time ago, but oh so sad! Twas written just after

his little visit here & he said he did not think

he should ever be marry again, said he could

not tell me how much he thanked me for the bi-

ble. I have sent Willie his gloves. I did not make

Mr. [?] any. Ellie says he is lamed for life will

not be able to go int the army again. Were you

not sorry to see that [?] Barton had lost his

right leg. Mrs. [?] of Richmond sent me word

he was in [?] & doing well. Ask if Kate

Gray evergot my letter & why she did not con-

[sideways at top]

descend to answer.

Love to Aunt Fan &

all at her house. I

do so wish I could be

with you all, I

miss you much

no danger of my for-

getting to love you

my precious Sister,

for I think of you

every moment of the

day. We have no

new cases of the

fever. Write to me

soon. Ever yours

HLP

It is [suffices?] to

say I have written

in a hurry. what

you can't read guess at.

I am very busy fixing

my clothes & making

little Xmas gifts for the

children.