Anna Webster Bunting letter to Martha Schofield

Worcester - Sabbath [October] 22nd

My dear dear Mart,

I cannot tell thee how
rejoiced I was to receive thy dear letter, which came
last night - Thee had been in my mind so constantly
that it seemed as though I could not bear the suspense
much longer - A kind letter from Sadie last third
day relieved me much but I feared so you would
not find my letter waiting for you for her directions
were so different from what thee gave me - How glad
I am thee received it - Oh! Mart, I cannot bear to
think thee is so far from me - hundreds of miles
farther than before - If I could only get a letter in
a day or two after thee writes it but it is [Underlined: so] long
coming - A whole week seems a very long time to
me - I cannot tell thee how glad I am that thee
had so pleasant a passage - I was afraid thee would
be terribly sea-sick, but am so glad thee got
along so nicely - Oh dear - I know how thee felt
when the steamer moved off from the dock and
thee bade good bye to all thy friends - I do hope
thee will find Miss Sharp pleasant and agreeable -
I am anxious, more than all to know about her
Do tell me every thing - If she is good company


and lively, she will help keep thee from being
lonely - I am glad she is ready to take hold
of her work and bear all the rough with
thee. I do hope thee will like her. Oh how
much I should have enjoyed thy journey with
thee. I never was out on the ocean and I have
such a longing to see new and strange places -
Only I should want to come back soon. Long
before this I suppose thee [Crossed out: has been] is established in
thy new home in Rockville surrounded by
[Underlined: little darkeys] - Wonder if thee is in Sabbath
School, trying to teach them there, today! Oh
dear, I guess thee will find they are not quite
so tractable and intelligent as white children
after all - I suppose I can never make thee own
but that they are though !!! Has thee got to
do thy own work in the house and keep school,
too? I wouldn't do it! Plenty of darkies to wait
on thee!! They have always been used to it, and
I'd make them now - Thee must not forget to
tell me just how everything looks, how thee
is situated, what thee has to do etc. etc.

Saide wrote me a very kind letter


telling me all about thee, before leaving New
York - I was so grateful to thee and her, too -
I replied to it last night but did not write
a great deal - Oh Mart I must tell thee
Dr. Everett is married! Brought home his
wife from nobody knows where one night at
12 o'clock about two or three weeks ago - So [Underlined: our]
chances are all gone now - Shan't we both cry
over it? I'm sure I shall - not - I
received a letter from Cousin Em. a few days
ago. She was very well. Asked after thee and
said she wished so much that thee would
write her - Thee knew of my cousin Emma
Wolcott's death - I believe I wrote thee in my
last letter - It was a terrible shock she died
so suddenly - I cannot realize it yet - Our
folks went down to the funeral but I could
not get there in time, so did not go -

All our family are about as
usual - Sister's health is very poor - Mamie goes
to school - Brother is helping Father at the
mill, but intends going away to school by
spring if not before - We have a new sewing


machine - Wilcox & Gibbs - Sister rather have it
than Wheeler & Wilson's, so Mother got that one - I have
not seen it yet, but am quite anxious to do so - I have
not seen any of the folks since I was home sick, but
am looking for Delia before long to visit me - I don't
hardly believe I shall go home again before vacation,
which comes thanksgiving week - Five weeks more
of school - We have an examination at the close of
this term - I dread it ever so much -

Mrs. Hall's folks are all well and
wish to be remembered to thee - they feel much interested
in thee, and are as anxious - (almost not quite)
to know how thee is situated, and how thee will like
as I am - I read them thy letter last night - and they
all enjoyed it very much - I like here as much as
ever - they are always kind to me and I am as
happy as I could be any where away from home -

I suppose thee will hear from John
by thy folks, about as often as I can write thee - He
has bought him a house the corner of Hamilton and
34th [streets] a very pleasant place. I should think from
his description - He has rented it to the family who
owned it, for the present. I am quite anxious to see it
for it probably will be [Underlined: my] home sometime in the future,
though I cannot now tell when. There are eight or nine
rooms in the house - I believe - gas & bathroom with hot
and cold water - I think it will be [Underlined: just] such a house as
I shall like - and I am so glad we will not have to
board - But - thee remembers my servant girl, that
I wanted so much - Annie Grace. She is married ! So I cannot
have [Underlined: her] any way - but there are plenty others, I presume that I
can get, and like as well as her - I suppose thy folks
will write thee all about John buying his house for
every body there knows it - Of course, there are all sorts
of rumors about us being married - but that is all - They
don't [Underlined: know] any thing, and now he has rented it, perhaps
the story will all die out again - as it has so many
times -

I must close this now - but will write more
before I send it - I have to go to [Sunday] School this afternoon
too -
Ever thy own
Anna


Worcester -
3rd day - [October] 24th, 1865, 5 o'clock P.M.

My dear Mart

My letter has not gone yet, and
I will write a little more before sending it - I
have been out of school quite a little while, and
thought I would sit here at my old desk, just
where thee and I were when thee was here - We
have to keep a warm fire now, the days are so
cold - but with that exception every thing is
just as it was then - did we have an instrument?
I have forgotten - We have one, now. My school is
not very large - about 50 in attendance - I feel
very little tired tonight - wish so much that
I could have a good talk with thee - I do
wonder what thee is doing just now! Remember
if thee can, and tell me - Oh, I cannot realize
yet that thee is so far away - the sun is shining
in the window on my desk, a stream of golden
light falling on my paper - I wonder if thee
is where it can shine on thee - I suppose it is
very warm in [South] Carolina - Here it has been
as cold as winter, the past week or two - snow
in New Hampshire, already - I have got on my
winter clothes, and many wear their furs already -


What did thee take for clothes? I really wish
I knew - did thee travel in thy black and white
dress? and did thee take more than one trunk -
Thee did not write me anything about Ben going
to New York with thee - did he go? -

I do not know where the island
thee is on, [Underlined: is], for certainty unless near Hilton
Head - on the coast - How are the syllables
divided? Wad-me-law? is it [Underlined: u] or [Underlined: w]? Is that right?
I never heard of the island, and conclude it
must be quite small - Tell me all about it
when thee writes - Tell me just where thee is -
How large a place Rockville is - where thee is
teaching and how many scholars thee has -
Every little thing will be [Underlined: so] interesting to
me -

Miss Hall is coming & we are going
to make a call before going home, so I must
close this for now, but will write again
tonight so I can send the letter tomorrow
morning - I wish thee could get it tomorrow
night -


Evening 7 [half] o'clock

Miss & Mrs. Hall & I are sitting alone here
in the sitting room - cold and cheerless without
but a nice warm fire & a bright light make it
very comfortable within - I received a short
letter from John tonight, no news - he did
not get time to write Sabbath, so wrote a few
lines yesterday - Said thy folks had heard
of thy safe arrival, and that Jennie Ricker
is visiting Lyd. That was all - Oh, I do hope
I shall get another letter from thee in a few
days - I want so much to know all about
thee - I am so thankful sister did not
get an opportunity to go - Her health is
very delicate - I feel very much worried
about her - I wish there was something to
help her - It seems as though there might
be something to give her relief - I am
looking for her to come out here sometime
before my term closes -

Oh, I thank thee ever so much
for the leaf thee sent me - It is quite a
curiosity - I think I shall have to form


a laboratory of [Underlined: curiosities], as I have several
trophies on hand already - What does thee do
with thine?

For a wonder, I have at last got
[Underlined: John Halifax] to read - Have not got very much
interested in it, yet - but suppose I must like
it, as it is Miss Muloch's - I wonder if thee
can get anything to read where thee is, though
I presume thee has the [Underlined: papers] if nothing more -
I do hope thee will find the climate south
a benefit to thy health. I am quite anxious
to know how it agrees with thee - There
are so many things I want to know. If I could
only see thee. I would make thee talk enough
to fill half a dozen sheets of paper - Thee must
come home in the spring at all events - I
shall want to see thee so much - Perhaps I
shall be in [Philadelphia] by that time, though
I cannot tell -

I must close now - this has been
written in haste, but I hope thee will excuse
it - Thee will be glad to get it no [Underlined: matter] how
it is written - All send love -

From thy own
Anna E. Webster
Box 86
Worcester
[Massachusetts]


[Envelope]

Miss Martha Schofield
Rockville,
Wadmelaw Island
South Carolina

Care H. A. Evans, [Superintendent]

[Number] 2. [answered]