Abbot/Bowditch Family Letters

Sallie Darlington to Elizabeth (Abbot) Bowditch, 15 May 1866

[From Sallie Darlington in Faribault, Minnesota, to Elizabeth (Abbot) Bowditch. She responds to the first letter from Elizabeth since the start of the Civil War; tells about her father's death, and her brother (William) and sister Kate's activities during the war; talks about her move to Faribault and her teaching at a school there; responds to Elizabeth's questions apparently about the education of one of her sons, probably John who was then age 10; and mentions the marriages of a couple family members.]

Faribault, Minnesota
May 15th/66

My dear Mrs. Bowditch,

I cannot tell you how very glad I was to receive your letter today; it was forwarded to me from my old home. Since the re-establishment of the mails through the South I have been intending to write to your sister¹ to enquire for your address, but now on learning it I shall not let twenty four hours pass without trying to reply to your letter, although at present I am suffering so from rheumatism in my neck and the shoulders that I can scarcely turn my head.

I am very glad to know that you suffered no more from that terrible war which has brought sorrow to almost every household. My youngest brother² served three years and was then wounded at the battle of the Wilderness and taken prisoner. His leg was amputated from the hip, but, strange to say, he lived and was re-captured by Sheridan while making a raid. Poor fellow, he will go on a pair of crutches all his life. I am truly glad that Nat³ escaped so well.

And now I must answer some of your questions. My dear father⁴ died three years ago this spring and we then broke up our pleasant home. Kate⁵ went into an army hospital in Baltimore where she served faithfully as Directress for more than two years, until the close of the war. My health was not good, so I was ordered to Minnesota, which is now a famous resort for consumptive patients. I came here in /63 and have remained as I found myself improving. This town is the residence of the Bishop⁶ and is also the seat of the "Bishop Seabury Mission," which is a very flourishing church work. It consists of a Divinity School and a large Graded School for boys and girls. We have five resident clergy here besides the Bishop; they are Professors in the schools and also hold services at different mission posts within fifteen miles of us. Since I have been here I have been teaching in the schools and enjoy it very much. Next fall it is proposed to commence a Diocesan Young Ladies Seminary under the auspices of the Mission and I shall then be engaged in that. So you see, my dear Mrs. Bowditch, I am still hard at work, and have been all this long time that you have not heard from me. Sometimes I get very tired, and am disposed to think that life is but a weary round of duties with very little to cheer one's pathway, but the feeling soon passes away, and I am glad to be able to contribute my mite towards the great work of education.

I am sorry that G'a's⁷ education was so interrupted, for I know she would have made a good scholar under favorable circumstances. With reference to your little boy⁸ I am afraid I cannot be of much service to you as I am now situated. Were I living at home and as I once was, I would have you send him to me and try to make him happy. There are two large Military Academies at W. Chester, but I should be reluctant to put so young a boy at either of them, unless as a day-scholar, where he would still have home influences around him. My nephew Walter⁹ continued to live with us until my father's death when he went home to his father's.¹⁰ He attended one of those Academies and, in his uniform, made as handsome a little Cadet as you would wish to see.

My niece Nettie¹¹ married some seven years ago and now has two children. My sister Kate⁵ also married last fall and is living in the northwestern part of Penna., so you see I am left alone and am therefore at liberty to roam around the world wherever the fancy may take me. I like extremely being here and even if my health did not require me to stay, I should do so from choice. I have made many kind friends who show me every attention and I feel that this is now my home.

I would be very glad to think that we might ever meet again, and if I were east it would not seem impossible; but now we are so very far apart that it seems almost hopeless. How often I recall the many pleasant hours we spent together and wish oh! how earnestly, that I could be put back just to that very time again. Since then I have had a varied life, many joys but also many sorrows, and I presume it has been the same with yourself. If we could meet how much we should have to tell and to hear.

I can fully sympathise with you in your anxiety for educating your children and really wish I could be of service to you or, at least, offer some suggestions, but I seem to be so isolated myself, so entirely out of the world away up here on the borders of civilization, that I feel my utter inability to assist you.

The climate here is very cold in Winter. The thermometer sometimes standing at 42 degs. below zero, but the colder it is the better I feel.

I hope you will write again soon. Give my love to Mr. B.¹² G'a⁷ and Nat.³ My lame shoulder warns me that it is time to stop writing, so with much love I remain as ever

Yours,
S. P. Darlington

I enclose an editorial notice of our school, that you may see what we are doing in these western wilds. I wish you lived near enough for your children to have the benefit.

 

Copyright Charles Towne. Usage of this work is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0
Compiler: Charles Towne

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