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Henry Dec 16 1860
So this is your eighteenth birthday
is it Nina dearest? May it be a very, very
happy one to you my darling, & may the future
realize your brightest and most sanguine an-
ticipations. It is hard for me to picture you to
myself as a grown woman, Nine, although I
know it must be so. As I look at you as you
were when I left home, I try to imagine
the change which two years & a half have made
in the placid half dreamy [countenance?] which
is before me, but I can make no alterations which
please me, & so am fain still to think of you
as you were then, until we meet again next sum--
mer. I wonder if the sun shines as brightly upon
your birthday in Winchester as it does here. I
don't think I ever saw a more beautiful winter day.
The reflection of the sun from our ice & snow clad
river & bluff seems almost to redouble its bril-
liancy, whilst the sky is as clear & the air as
soft and balmy as that of October. For a week
past the weather has been unexceptional , but for
some time before, it was anything but pleasant
I assure you, so you may imagine how much
we have enjoyed the change. I am sorry to hear
you have had so little fine weather in Virginia
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during the past fall & winter. Here it has been as
Mr Foots (I believe) would say, "on the contrary quite
the reverse," for with the exception of some two
or three weeks the fall has been a delightful one.
Our winter made its appearance a little earlier
than usual, bringing with it an abundance of
cold weather and ice, but not snow enough to give
us any sleighing yet. Charley and [Brat?] have been enjoy-
ing the skating very much, & on several occa-
sions have been very intent upon my joining them,
but having read the "Pickwick Papers" lately, & with
poor Mr. Winkle's experience upon the ice so freshly
impressed upon my memory, I have been by no
means disposed to trust myself in their hands
upon so treacherous an element. & my sprightly
young lady from New Jersey who has been spending
several months with her brother (Mr. [Hyndsham?])
at our old house invited me to go upon a ska-
ting party with her a few days ago, but I very
respectfully declined the invitation, referring her
at the same time to Charley as a much more
gallant