Wedding letter to Kate, continuation: parasol gift; calling 'Louisa'; William and the plantation; the Alpaca suit
Book 1, Page 195 ·1870s–1880s
Transcription
An open-book scan showing two facing leaves of a handwritten letter in brown ink on lined paper. Both columns are full of dense cursive; both begin and end mid-sentence — this is the middle of the long wedding-week letter to Kate.
Left column
& that is a thing I / dream of & wonder if it / is never to come again / however ‘one of those / days’ — like the little / pa-sol — Love to your / Mother & always more / than I can tell for / your dear Self — Kate / Tho. & we Enjoyed all about / Maxine & the “Aunt Eliza” / & thought it sweet & / funny — also Louisa — / fancy the amazement to / the family when I start / to call her just “Louisa” / for the present I still / continue the old Style of / “Miss Louisa” — they all / think I am going to say / “Sister Louisa” but I have / not the faintest idea of / doing so — William did not / buy the plantation !! mind —
Right column
& the result was by dint / of some odd peices of / Alpacca that was in / the house, & a few yds. / more we have this Suit. / I have not had time / to try on mine yet but / it has quite a neat / Effect with a box plaited / flounce on the lower Skirt / long apron front & basque. / Nell is very much like / it in style — I told Nell / that judging by the Name / of the Alpacca I supposed / She would feel prepared / to meet Numerous cows / at Mulberry — we hope to / get up there before / long, tho’ we have not / suggested the idea to the / “Young” couple yet — The / rest & Enjoyment of the / country will be good for
AI Notes
An open-book scan showing two facing leaves of a wedding-letter to ‘Kate’ in brown ink on lined paper. Part of the bound-out-of-order sequence 189(2/3) → 191L(4) → 190R(10) → 192R(12) → 193 → 194 → 195 → 196 → 187/188(last/Friday). The left column describes a longed-for moment (‘one of those days’), thanks Kate for a ‘pa-sol’ (parasol) gift, sends love to Kate’s Mother, comments on hearing news of Maxine and ‘Aunt Eliza,’ notes the comic family confusion over whether the writer will call Louisa ‘Louisa,’ ‘Miss Louisa,’ or ‘Sister Louisa’ (Louisa is the new sister-in-law via the wedding), and quips that ‘William did not buy the plantation!!’ The right column describes a new dress made from odd pieces of Alpaca fabric — a box-plaited flounce on the lower skirt, long apron front, basque — and the writer’s joke to Nell that the name ‘Bull Head Alpaca’ (cf. p. 187) sounded fit to meet ‘numerous cows at Mulberry,’ followed by hopes to get up to Mulberry to see the young couple. ‘Aunt Eliza’ is in quotation marks in the original, suggesting an in-joke nickname.
Letter continues on page 196, then on the “last pages” pp. 187–188 marked “Friday.” The Alpacca/Bull-Head joke ties this sheet to p. 187 left column, where Nell and the writer first chose “28 yds of Bull Head Alpaca” at Kerrison’s; here the same fabric, re-named “Numerous” by association with cows, supplies the writer’s suit. The “young couple” are the newlyweds Sis & Tho., and “Mulberry” is the Barker family seat in St John’s Berkeley.