Sallie Darlington to Elizabeth (Abbot) Bowditch, 3 December 1866

[From Sallie Darlington in Faribault, Minnesota, to Elizabeth (Abbot) Bowditch. She describes the opening of her school (St. Mary's Hall); talks about how she heard news about Elizabeth's family through her (Sallie's) sister Kate, who was Director of a hospital with some patients who were war prisoners from North Carolina; and reminisces about her time in Tarboro.]

Faribault, Minnesota
December 3rd/66

My dear Mrs. Bowditch,

When I rec'd your last letter I thought I would reply to it immediately, but I have been kept so very busy by school duties that I have had very little time for letter writing. We opened the 1st of Nov. and are now running very smoothly. We have nineteen boarders and sixteen day scholars; the number of boarders is limited to twenty five and by Christmas we shall be full. We have a pleasant set of girls and our accommodations are all of the very best; indeed I was never in a Seminary where everything was so complete and all were so happy and comfortable. I mailed to your address the opening Discourse of the Bishop,1 thinking you might like to see it.

You ask me how I heard from you during the war; it was through my sister Kate,2 whom was for more than two years Directress of a General Hospital in Baltimore. They always had some prisoners in the Hospital, and I begged her to be on the watch for North Carolina boys, and for my sake, to show them what kindness she could, as I had received so much kindness from North Carolinians in days gone by. Accordingly she wrote me one day that she had heard that among a lot of prisoners lately arrived were some Carolina boys and she went at once to see them. On inquiry she found one was from Edgecombe Co. - a Lieut. Knight,3 a cousin of my old scholar, Betty Knight. On hearing Kate's name he expressed much pleasure at seeing her, and told her that he remembered me distinctly and that he had seen me at Church in Tarboro repeatedly. He then gave her some information with regard to your family, which was the first I had heard from you since the war had begun. I immediately communicated it to your sister Ellen,4 but she did not place much confidence in what he said.

You speak in your letter of returning to Tarboro, but not knowing how soon you may go, I shall direct this to Burnsville. When you reach Tarboro and get the time I wish you would write me a long letter, telling me about everyone. I feel a strong interest in the place and the people, and I shall never forget the pleasant days I spent there. How often I wish we could live them over again; one never enjoys a thing fully at the time, at least, it seems so. Have you changed much in appearance? I wish you would send me a picture of yourself and G'a.5 I intend to sit to an artist some day when I feel quite well and I will send you one of mine. You will find me looking old and broken, and my looks correspond with my feelings. My health is not very good this winter, and some days my school duties tire me dreadfully. And yet I have assumed them from choice, as, fortunately, I have sufficient means to live quite comfortably without exerting myself. But I never could be satisfied to live an idle, aimless life, and, as I am very fond of teaching, I shall continue to do something at it as long as I have the health necessary for it.

Give much love to G'a and Nat,6 and believe me

Yrs. sincerely as ever,

Sallie

  1. Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822-1901)
  2. Catharine Lacy Darlington (1823-1886), Sallie's sister
  3. Epinetus Edwin Knight (1838-1908). He was a 2nd Lieutenant in Company I, 15th North Carolina Infantry, and was shot in the left shoulder at the Battle of South Mountain in Maryland on 14 September 1862. He spent nine months in a hospital in Chester, Pennsylvania, where his life was saved "by the skillful nursing of a kind 'Sister of Charity' (of whom he always spoke feelingly as his 'little Yankee Mother')." In May 1863 he was transferred to the General Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and was released shortly afterwards.
  4. Ellen Louisa Abbot (1837-1887), Elizabeth's sister
  5. Georgiana Abbot Bowditch (1848-1927), Elizabeth's daughter
  6. Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch (1846-1913), Elizabeth's son