Letter from Hendersonville, N.C., to 'Dear Sister' (Ellie / Ellen M. FitzSimons), Wednesday April 11 (or 10), 1935 (page 1)

Scanned page 513 of Book 1 — Scan of original. Open full size →

Hendersonville N.C. Wednesday April 11, 1935

Dear Sister,

Glad to get your letter of Sunday 7th. May congratulation for the well deserved tribute of that L.L.D. degree, for your able loyal interest in the College and helpfulness to the students. — Doctor does not let me; for it makes me realize what a slim margin there is between us.

You were very fortunate in not having an “up-to-date” photograph of yourself for the News & Courier — of yourself; that of Theodore Jervis shows him to be “out of date.”

It is wonderful the progress you have made, for only two years ago you were taken for a mendicant. Lilly and I are no [longer?] to walk with dignity and pride and stop trotting in the streets, specially to and from the Library. — For you know Pride comes just before a Fall. — And I are enjoying Huger, Reg, Frank and his family. I was at Hugh’s enjoying Theodore and Clara’s visit and ~~Dorde~~ [sweet ?] when they arrived and stayed there with them yesterday. We also had Daddie for the week-end which was a great pleasure to all of us. Theodore tells me that ~~Margarita~~ Margaret and their children are to go to-day with them Dunbar and Maggie [or Margie] [Frank?]

AI Notes

First page of a letter written in dark ink on a single sheet, dated ‘Hendersonville N.C. / Wednesday April 11 [or 10], 1935.’ Addressed to ‘Dear Sister.’ The continuation on page 514 carries the compiler’s pencil docket ‘Uncle Sate & Ellie,’ identifying the writer as a FitzSimons elder relative (‘Uncle Sate’ — nickname unresolved; signs S.F.S. or S.P.S. on p514) and the recipient as Ellie = Ellen Milliken FitzSimons, the Charleston Library Society librarian. The writer congratulates Ellie on the honorary L.L.D. she was offered by the College of Charleston on 28 March 1935 for conferral in May (referenced in book-001/p529), notes that her photograph for the News & Courier is fortunately not ‘up-to-date’ (unlike Theodore Jervis’s), reflects on her two-year recovery from being taken ‘for a mendicant’, and reports a recent gathering at Hugh’s (W. Huger FitzSimons’s house) with Theodore (Tote) and Clara, Reg, Frank and his family, and Daddie for the weekend. The day-of-week ‘Wednesday’ is most likely a writer error for Thursday April 11 1935, or the day is actually April 10 — both possible. April 7, 1935 was a Sunday, matching Ellie’s incoming letter referenced at the opening.

Letter continues on page 514, where it is signed* S.F.S. (or S.P.S. ) and bears the compiler’s pencilled note “Uncle Sate & Ellie” *.