Letter from William (Buck Hill P.O., Va., Nov. 26/95) to 'Dear Kate' (page 2 — 'Miss Grundy' and the late Phil)

Page 2 of a multi-page handwritten letter in brown ink — same hand and same Buck Hill P.O., Va., Nov. 26/95 letter to ‘Dear Kate’ that opens on p. 128 and is signed ‘William’ on p. 130 (squeezed sideways in the upper-left). The page is photographed open as a two-column spread (left column then right column). A small caret-inserted word (‘caved’) appears at the top of the right column; a phrase mid right-column (‘and a yet ya’ or similar) is struck through. The writer recalls childhood ‘royal battles’ over the doll ‘Miss Grundy’ — after a while she was neglected and down in the front basement, and William and Phil used to have such battles banging each other over the head and shoulders with her, persons making her their boys (i.e. using her as a weapon as boys would), bringing her unprotected sawdust body with a whack until they stepped a knee caved, as the recipient’s tender heart could not stand to see such cruel treatment. He then turns to praise of the late Phil (‘Such a splendid fellow Phil’ was, every one liked him so. If there ever was a bright joyous sweet tempered nature it was his — linked with it a true heart and gentle manners. — a bright intelligence.') and laments his inability to write what he wants (‘Oh I dont know whats the matter — I cant write — I expect its all because you are sick and I am thinking of you as much that the quantity of things I want to write to you about wont come in the way I want them to’). Letter continues onto p. 130. The recipient ‘Kate’ is Henrietta Catherine (‘Kate’) Barker (named at the head of p. 128 as ‘Miss H. C. Barker’); the writer ‘William’ (signed on p. 130) — likely William Barker, her brother (per the Mulberry Castle family list on p. 219 / family tree p. 220). ‘Phil’ (here ‘the late Phil’) is a third sibling or close family member; the writer recalls his death affectionately. [‘Buck Hill P.O.’ is in Hanover County, Va.; ‘persotsigying’ resolved as ‘personifying her by her boys’ — i.e. the dolls’ two child-imagined sons; doll’s ‘sawdust body’ confirmed; minor cleanup of strike-through (‘and a yet ya’ or similar) marked as struck.]

Letter continues on p. 130 with closing signed ‘William’ written sideways into the upper-left margin. ‘Miss Grundy’ is the name of a sawdust-bodied doll the writer and Phil used as a weapon in childhood mock-battles — the comic affection of the passage masks an undertone of mourning for Phil (‘Such a splendid fellow Phil’ was, every one liked him so’).