Wedding letter to Kate, continuation: Auntie; Uncle John; the bonnet & net veil; William's singing; Harriett Crafts in black silk; kisses for Sis & Cate
Book 1, Page 196 ·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.
Left column
Nell & being with Auntie / & next to Mother. Uncle / John writes & looks forward / to our coming up too, & / it will give him pleasure — / but how, & when we are / ever to get up there, is / now a knotty question — / Any how we have it to / think about — I am still / wearing the bonnet you / made for me just because / I like it — My veil is at / the back & I wear a little / net veil over my face. / Dress, is one thing I have / rested from there is so / much to think about / that cant be helped — / it is a relief to get into / one or two things that we / just do & go along in. — / William comes by and / says Tell Mary I say
Right column
“Tirra-la-la-la-a-a-r” / He sings & is in a / happy frame of mind, / gets along finely with / Louisa upsets a large / King Expression & senti- / -ment to her amusement / & amusement — frequently / I have written a / wretched scraggily letter / & it will trouble you / to find out the pages / but it is too stupid to / write over again — / Harriett Crafts came / in a blk Silk dress / train & looked very / nicely & was so / affectionate — Kiss / the the dear “little / cats” for us & never / mind telling any thing / they say it is next to / having them in our laps
AI Notes
An open-book scan showing two facing leaves of the wedding-letter to Kate in brown ink on lined paper — the penultimate body pages of the long letter (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 closes the Mulberry-visit discussion (‘Nell & being with Auntie & next to Mother’), notes Uncle John’s anticipation of their coming up, and continues a chatty digression on dress and bonnet — the writer is still wearing the bonnet Kate made her, has her veil at the back with a little net veil over her face, and finds it a relief to have settled some of the dress question. Closes the column with William stopping by and saying ‘Tell Mary I say’ — leading into the right column, which opens with William’s nonsense-syllable singing (‘Tirra-la-la-leera’) and reports him in ‘a happy frame of mind, gets along finely with Louisa upsets a large King expression & sentiment to her amusement & amusement.’ The writer apologizes for her ‘wretched scraggily letter’ — too stupid to write over — then describes Harriett Crafts coming in ‘a blk Silk dress train’ looking very nicely and being so affectionate. She closes with kisses for ‘the dear little cats’ (the children Sis & Cate), instructing the recipient never to mind anything they say, ‘it is next to having them in our laps.’ The ‘King expression’ identifies William as being among the King family (also p. 187/193 — the King family figured prominently in the wedding-week social rounds).
Letter continues onto the “last pages” (Friday-dated) at pp. 187–188. The “King expression” reference ties William here to the King-family circle that figures across pp. 187, 192, 193. “The dear little cats” — the kittenish nickname for Sis and Cate — closes the letter’s domestic intimacy with the recipient Kate.