Part 33 (1/2)

Now let ot up early and Miss F called with M's two dresses After prayers and breakfast I wrote to papa, went to school with H, andfor two hyht away for a new hymn-book They had several of mine already I said, ”Go to, let us make a hymn” (Prof Smith in his Review) and made and sent them Then I wrote to Mr S and to Mrs Charles W---- [8] Then Mrs C came and stayed till nearly four, when she left and I went down to Twenty-second street to call on a lady at the Water Cure Then I went to see Mrs C (the wife of the Rev Mr C) I think I told you she had lost her little Florence I do not rerief; she seeet away till five, and then I took two stages and got ho the children would be fa So now count up my various professions, chaplain, marketer, hymnist, consoler of Mr S, Mrs W, Mrs C, and let oing to lie down and read till I get rested, for my brain has been on the steady stretch for thirteen hours, one thing stepping on the heels of another [9]

_May 23d_--If your eyes were bright enough youdown Broadway this afternoon, as if s were after us He wanted me to have a fountain pen, and the only way to accomplish it was to take me down to the place where they are sold, below the Astor House I wanted to walk, and so did he, but he had got to be on a boat for Norwich at five PM and pack up bethile; however, he concluded to risk it, hence the e raced was a caution

I have just written hiin one in prose to you I have just got a letter fro ten dollars to give away; I wish it was a thousand! The children are in tribulation about their kitten, who co-board on to herself H ht fully comprehend the situation, and then showedto part with the remains, and buried them in the yard

_Saturday_--I went to Yonkers with M and H to spend the day with Mrs

B Her children are sweet and interesting as ever; but little Maggie, now three years old, is the ”queen of the house” She is a perfect speciaging Her cheeks are rosy and shi+ning, and she keeps up an incessant chatter They are all wild about her, froest child

II

Home-Life in Dorset

DORSET, June 10, 1870

Here we are again in dear old Dorset We got here about ten on Wednesday evening, expecting to find the house dark and forlorn, but Mrs F

had been down and lighted it up, and put on the dining-table bread, biscuits, butter, cakes, eggs, etc, enough to last for days Thursday was hotter than any day we had had in New York, and not very good, therefore, for the hard work of unpacking, and the yet harder work of sowing our flower-seeds in a huge bed shaped like a palm-leaf But, with M's help, it was done before one o'clock to-day--a herculean task, as the ground had to be thoroughly dug up with a trowel; stones, sticks, and roots got out, and the earth sifted in our hands The back ofbehindme with cocoa butter Our place looks beautifully Soh, and when fully leaved will reatly needs the rest; he will then go ho Jane and Martha I told Martha I thought it very good of Maria to be willing to cooodness, and that _anybody_ would go withwhich Culyer gave theer Our family circle now consists of

Pa Prentiss, Ma ”

Min”

Geo ”

Hen ”

Maria ”

(horse) Coco ”

(cow) Sukey ”

(dog) Nep ”

(bird) Cherry ”

We never saw Dorset so early, and when the foliage was in such perfection

Last Tuesday I reached our door perfectly and disgracefully loaded with parcels, and said to myself, ”I wonder what Mr M would say if he saith this load?” when instantly he opened the door to let me in!

Account for this if you can Why should I have thought of hih the closed door? It s can be Well, Ito have a small basket on the table in the hall with ferns, mosses, and shells in it They all send love from Pa Prentiss down to Sukey What a pity you could not coo to your bedroom door and say, ”I wonder whether Annie would shriek out if she saw me in this old sacque, instead of her pretty one?” and perhaps you'll open and letto ride

I've been and I've got back, and I'ot back tobiscuits

Good-bye, chicken Mamma PRENTISS

_June 12th_--Everybody is in bed save Darby and Joan We slept last night under four blankets and a silk coive you a faint idea of the weather It has been beautiful to-day, and we have sat out of doors a good deal Papa and the boys went out to our hill after tea last evening and picked two quarts of strawberries, so as to have a short-cake to-day M took me yesterday to see a nest in the orchard which was full of birds parted into fours--not a crack between, and one of them so crowded that it filled about no space at all The hyree,” and I should think they would, for they have no rooree in They all four stared at us with awful, al solemnity, and each had a little yellow moustache I had no idea they lived packed in so--no wonder they looked ht of them, especially of the one who had no room at all, made me quite low-spirited

_Wednesday_--Your letter reached us on Monday, and we all went out and sat in a row on the upper step, like birds on a telegraph wire, and papa read it aloud I a the scenery You ought to see papa eat strawberries!!! They are very plentiful on our hill The grass on the lawn is pricking up like needles; easy to see if you kneel down and stare hard, but absolutely invisible otherwise; yet papa keeps calling me to look out of theand ad by to do the sa about hi, doubled up his fist at me, and then kissed h that I have nearly killedit? We have just heard of the death of dickens and the sensation it is land

_Thursday_--This bird of ours is splendid I have just fra theh at papa's ways about coffee He complains that he drank too much at Philadelphia, and says that with strawberries we don't need it, and that Ithere it is I ask theI did not feel very well and needed it! The next day it appears again Why? He had been down and ordered it because it was _good_ The next day he orders it because it is his last day here but one, and to-morroill be on the table because it is the last! Dreadful o