Sunday Afternoon
My dear Sister,
I am two or three days behind
my time in writing but I have been so com-
pletely overpowered by the warm weather that I
found it hardly possible to do any thing –
Clara did not return from Romulus until
Monday, in the mean time I had been toiling
with a noisy cross irish girl which operation
requires full health and strength – then
Clarence was to be prepared for Geneva– he
left Wednesday morning – Fred went with
him but as he returned in the next train
of cars was there only 15 minutes – Clarence
wrote the same evening, that he had passed
his examination and wished innumerable
articles to be sent from home – The next
day I spent the morning gathering together
furniture for his room bed &c – Then came
Maria for her outfit – she and Mundy
having taken a room were about to commence
housekeeping without any furniture – I collected
together knives, forks spoons, plate, tea cups

[left Margin] I have opened my letter to say I shall be obliged to trouble you
about a little girl – Mary

Unknown

has left without notice

[top Margin] I had a letter from Augustus

x

Augustus Seward

Birth: 1826-10-01 Death: 1876-09-11

last Sunday he is
well – finds his studies pretty hard this term– Thurlow
Weed

x

Thurlow Weed

Birth: 1797-11-15 Death: 1882-11-22

was here one day
last week – he is not well – only took tea with us
Harriet's

x

Harriet Weed

Birth: 1819-02-06 Death: 1893-11-01

cough has returned– she is to go South
Your own Sister

saucers and a few other [ indispensible ] articles,
having obliged to go to the garret wood house
chamber & carriage house I spent the remainder
of the day on the bed– Yesterday Henry and
Fred set off on a political tour to the North
to be gone ten or twelve days– Their clothes
were to be put in order and packed all of
which took place before the favourable
change in the weather which has enabled
me to health once more – Clara left all
well at Romulus, spent most of her time with
Adeline– Mrs Schooley was well but is very
[ discontened ] and not very comfortable– I am
very sorry she could not retain a home of
her own in her old age – I believe few old persons
have mu as much comfort as Grandma did
who are obliged to depend upon their children
Clara of course listened to innumerable complaints
of hardships from all quarters – Uncle Ezra
complains that he is obliged to support Patty, Chryston
people complain that they are not paid and
Patty complains that she suffers in various
ways – Aunt Schooley is made to feel
her dependence upon Gurnee and Adeline
thinks old people are very troublesome

[right Margin] e

x

Editorial Note

Portions of the marginalia also appear on page 3

and gone to another place – she did not like to wait on tables

[right Margin] which is the chief thing – Send me either white or black I would
quite as soon have the latter – not less than 11 or more
than 14 years of age – let it be understood that they
are to wait upon the table– I
am very sorry to annoy you
with this kind of business
as every body has enough
of their own –

And so it will ever be until we all have more
of that charity which "seeketh not her own" – People
spend long lives seeking that happiness which is never
to be attained by selfish gratification– Harvey
Miller brought Clara to Seneca Falls where she took
dinner with Mrs Sackett, and then took the
cars home – I suppose you too have had a week
of hurry and preparation – if Fan is gone you are
very much alone – our little pet boy is doing all
he can to supply the place of the absent – he says
he is all the boy there is left – to day he has
brought in wood and made fires for Grandpa
brought apples and peaches from the garden [ for ]
mother and accompanied aunt Clara to Church –
his eyes a certainly much stronger – that redness
of the margin of the lids is seldom now visible –
I continue the medicine– I suppose your directions
to give Arsenicum every 3 nights means every 3^d med-
icine night – giving the medicine every other night
am I right? – Clara encountered Debby to day coming
from Church– she says E. Horner is very wroth about
the lemon tree – they came home last week – Debby also com–
memmorates that Dr Briggs has a letter from Maryann which
says that your lemon tree was left a long time ago at
Bill Wood's – that the said tree is not yours – Debby went
to Wood's to enquire for you and was told that it was
dead long ago whether at the time it was left there or
not I did not learn – If this is true you are certainly

entitled to some explanation from Mrs Dill– were I you I should
write her on the subject immediately – Of course you do not
want that tree if it is not yours – I should await her directions
about the disposition of it – if it was really intended to go to
Michigan (which I much doubt) it will be so for another
way– if it was given to Mrs C— on condition of its not
being claimed by Maryann (which is the only explanation
which can be given for her exceeding interest in it) then it can
be sent back here–they have all acted badly about it
as people generally do when the try to conceal the
true motive of their actions and feign some other – Some
allowance of course is to be made for the source of our
Information– Briggs (not being a woman)
Mrs. Alvah Worden
Canandaigua
AUBURN
Sept
22
N.Y.


[right Margin] behaves very well he says nothing about it except that
he presumes Mrs Worden will return the tree when she
ascertains that it is not hers– it is a pity that Wordens

x

Alvah Worden

Birth: 1797-03-06 Death: 1856-02-16

family have never been able to do a strait forward
action–