Letter to 'Mummie darling' from Dee at Hollins College — birthday letter, page 1 of 2, dated 'Friday night'
Book 2, Page 142 ·ca. 1934
Transcription
[At upper right:] Friday night —
[Embossed Hollins College seal at top center: oval with shield, ‘HOLLINS · LEVAVI OCULOS · 1842’ around the rim.]
Mummie darling —
I’m hoping this’ll get to you on your birth- day, but — I’m not sure the trains’ll run as I’ve figured 'em out anyway. I’m wishing the dearest mother in all the world a happy birthday. She is the dearest mother, too; no one else could ever hope to be as wonderful as she is. I love her so dearly. I couldn’t help loving her when she is so darling as she is. I want her to know that her daugh- ter thinks of her gently, gently often and miss her terribly, too. She’ll be thinking of the very sweetest of them all Sunday, too — I wish I could be there to say happy birthday and give you a birthday kiss! But — as it is — I’ll have to dream you one.
How the grades gotten there yet? You should have seen the rush from Killie last night about 11:00 P.M. Someone walked in with an envelope in her hand — look- -ing as if she had seen a ghost — and said in…
AI Notes
First page of a handwritten birthday letter on Hollins College embossed stationery (the oval seal at top reads ‘HOLLINS · LEVAVI OCULOS · 1842’ — confirming the writer is at Hollins, the women’s college in Roanoke, Virginia, founded 1842). Dated ‘Friday night —’ at the upper right. Written in flowing blue-ink cursive. Addressed to ‘Mummie darling.’ The letter continues on page 143, where the writer signs as ‘Dee’ (Emma Dee Walker, later Mrs. Robert Lawrence Corbell Jr., b. 1915). Page 143’s reference to sophomore-standing grades places the letter in early 1934. ‘Killie’ is uncertain — likely a dorm-mate’s name or building — but ‘the rush from Killie’ clearly describes someone running over with an envelope (the long-awaited semester grades). The embossed crest identifies the stationery.
Continued on the next page.
‘Killie’ is uncertain — may be a Hollins building name or a dormmate’s nickname; the phrase ‘the rush from Killie’ clearly describes someone running over with an envelope (the long-awaited semester grades, per p143). The stationery seal positively identifies Hollins College, the same college whose Dramatic Club and ‘Miss Chevreux’ swimming instruction Dee describes on the verso (p143).