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.’ [‘Dress’ (not ‘Bess’) confirmed; 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); minor cleanup of mid-paragraph reading.]
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.