St. Helenaville, December 5, 1864.
The side-saddle was marked distinctly “Miss Ellen Murray,” and I never received any notification that any one intended it for my use. I do use it, however, as much as I want to, and have lately had a ride to school. Ellen often rides. She tried Betty the other day and found her an easy trotter. Our horse feed costs us almost as much as our own, but yet we enjoy and need the two horses, for neither can stand the work alone.
I have been having a nice visit from Louise Kellogg. She has settled down in Mr. Sumner’s house and seems very well content. Her companion is a Miss Lee, of Boston.
I am more than ever in love with school-teaching, and a solitary carpenter came to-day to take the measurements for more seats in our new school-house, so we hope some day to get into it.
An expedition has gone from here to Pocotaligo again, and Grahamville has been taken, we hear. We see a a great column of smoke to the north, and we know that hundreds of wounded men are coming to Beaufort. We met a pleasant gentleman at Coffin Point last Sunday — a Captain Crane,[1] and to-day we hear he is dead. Rina’s Jack Brown died in hospital some time ago and Rina feels it very much. Did I ever tell you how pleased she was with your flounced dress? I gave Elizabeth a bit of crape and one of Mr. Wright’s shawls that was black and purple, and it consoled her. She was so crazy in the summer that she had to be put into the jail for safety. Elizabeth, you remember, is Rina’s daughter and Jack Brown’s wife. She is the only child Rina ever had.
[1] Of the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers (colored). He was killed in the engagement at Honey Hill, near Grahamville, South Carolina, fought November 30, 1864.
