Letter from M. Carey Thomas to Mary Elizabeth Garrett, September 20, 1889

Dearest Mary, I too have a very bad headache but if I do not write a few words tonight there will be no other time. Bessie has just gone upstairs, continuous talking makes her cough so much that we have to be very careful, but so far she has not caught cold although the thermometer fell 20 degrees the receipt of her telegram and her arrival and both my furnace fires went out in the same two hours - a thing which seldom happens in a whole winter. GǣWilliamGǥ is ill in bed with a bad cold but nevertheless if it were not for my headache it would be charming. My headache is, I think, your headache and so to dismiss it finally I will tell you about it. Yes I was slightly annoyed about the copy, but of course the misunderstanding was MamieG��s and your letter explains it fully - but that was not the trouble - through that same letter of JuliaG��s, through a letter from Mamie and viva voce from Bessie I had learned that you had discussed the treasureship - it was not the discussion I minded but the fact that you when I tried to say a few words about it at the Peabody had said that you would not discuss it except in Gǣfull CommitteeGǥ and when I demured about time you said it could wait Gǣthere was no hurryGǥ - moreover in saying this you had (accidentally I suppose) used a line which makes me so angry that I am afraid to let myself say anything in reply lest I should lose my self control So for this reason I dropped the subject but I considered myself by your remark tacitly pledged not to discuss it till we could all meet. I refused to continue the subject when Bessie mentioned in and I did not talk it over with Mamie. Now in view of what you had said to me and of what you knew of my opinion in regard to it - an opinion I had been prevented from expressing - I could not believe that you had been willing to discuss the matter, much less try to settle it without my being there. It seemed to me - to put it mildly - not on the square and that you should have done it (not that the thing itself mattered) gave me a sick headache. It is awfully foolish and if it really was as it seemed I do not think I shall be so foolish again. You see - do you not - why I disliked it. Do not explain it on paper - you can tell me about it, if there is anything to tell when we meet. Your letter was nice and I do not suppose you meant to do what was not nice but between people that care for each other I do not think dealing can be too fair or faith too good. I am of course very busy and with my headache have seen at the Deanery 30 people today - girls and parents but I had to and it does not seem to me that you had to do all you have done in these last days. It is not right if you are ever to be strong and I thought you were going to be more careful. I admit FatherG��s letter looks as if he had seen Mr. Gilman but if so that most astute of men had scrambled back from his position before the Gascogne arrived. We have an entering class of 52 and at least 15 graduates among and among the undergrads the two holders of the 1st and 2nd scholarship offered by the Committee for the Harvard Exs for Women. Indeed I have lost my heart - my collegiate heart - to the new class, they are so completely women and so much better fitted than in any other year. As I did not sleep last night, Goodbye