I have not let (wife) Lydia understand the sign, but have told her I thought you had probably met Miss Smith in Lynn. I may see her again to-morrow and if anything occurs of importance I will communicate again.James suggests Edwin stay at the Parker House in Boston but then hits up his brother for more money.
I received the twenty dollars sent and if it is convenient for you to send some more I will be obliged. I found a silk sacque for Lydia at Jordan and Marsh's today which just suited me, and I think will suit her. Cost $27. It seemed cheaper and better than one I could find elsewhere and I think it is a good bargain. I have also been obliged to buy a sacque for daughter Mary costing $12, and there are current expenses every day. If it is not convenient to send I can borrow in Danvers, but should prefer to borrow of you. I shall be able to pay at the end of the quarter, the first of July. Send $30, if you can in your next.James isn't finished as he adds a post script after seeing Susan Smith again.
We had a pleasant call from Miss Smith last Sabbath. She is to stop at Mrs. Fellows tomorrow upon invitation. She had promised to tell Mrs. Fellows when she was engaged. So Mrs. Fellows asked her, the reply was that it was an acquaintance and that she would report when it became an engagement. Mrs. Fellows thinks very highly of her and she has had good opportunities of seeing her - she having taken her dinners there for over a year - and has visited there a good deal beside.
The next letter from Susan is after her final week at the Gravesend school. She and Edwin have once again met in Lynn. Perhaps they strolled the Lynn Common pictured above.
May 19th. Danversport. Saturday Evening.
I can with difficulty persuade myself that Saturday has come so quickly , and as I sat musing by my window, those beautiful words of Milton came to my mind.
"Years following years , steal something every day , At last they steal us, from ourselves away. " You can imagine I hail this eve with pleasure, for it brings with it two weeks of rest. I think I never have had a vacation at this season of the year and I look forward with much pleasure to this one.
On Thursday and Friday I attended the examination of the High School. The exercises from the first to the finale were very excellent. From the programme you will see what was accomplished in those two days. The essays and orations of the masters & ladies were well written and listened to with much interest. I wished I was a school girl with them. Was it wrong? Friday evening, rather reluctantly, I accepted the invitation to the meeting of the "alumni." Although quite a stranger to many I enjoyed myself very well. The hall was very tastefully decorated with flags & bunting & mottoes of the different classes that have graduated from the school. One of the prettiest and most significant was the first my eye fell on as I entered the hall. "Carpe Diem." ("Enjoy the present day," seize the opportunity. ) During the evening, two gold & two silver medals were presented by the alumni to the two masters & misses who ranked first in recitation, deportment & punctuality.
This morning I made a farewell visit to Gravesend School, everything was moving on its quiet way.The following remark remains unexplained. Was she perhaps paid in a lump sum for her teaching quarter? She continues.My visit at the office of the City Clerk on Thurs. was more successful than the one of the day previous, and I was enabled to reach home with "the heavy purse," without, I think, even exciting a suspicion, that I was a "moneyed man ".
Our impression concerning the little wild flowers gathered at Nahant is correct for I find it answers the description of one in Botany bearing the name, Cerastiurn Arvense, or, Field Chickweed.
Nahant is a peninsular town that extends into the Atlantic from Lynn. In the 1800s it was a popular getaway spot for wealthy Bostonians. Susan's interest in flowers is explained later when we learn one of her high school teaching classes is botany.
Nothing preventing, I shall probably spend next week, the first of vacation in Danvers & the second in Ipswich. My address will be in "Care of Charles E. Smith, Danversport. " I do not know whether the mail from Acton comes through in one day or more. I am quite free from the cold which was troubling me on Wednesday; not withstanding I increased it on that day. I trust you suffer no inconvenience in reaching home, and was not obliged to walk from the station after the pleasant ride of the afternoon.
Wishing you good night, as always I am, respectfully,
Susan Smith