Skowhegan Nov. 25 \u201878<\/p>\n
My dear Nellie,<\/p>\n
It\u2019s sometime since
\nI got your last letter. I\u2019m home
\nnow and am not going back.
\nMy father and mother wanted me
\nvery much to stay at home, and
\nI got it into my head that I
\nought, and so wrote on the
\nspur of that thought that I
\ncouldn\u2019t come. But I\u2019ve been
\ngrieving ever since, and would
\nhave taken it back any minute.
\nI had got so attached to my
\nscholars and classes that it
\nseemed as if I couldn\u2019t give them
\nup. I really enjoyed it much.
\nAnd then I hadn\u2019t quite suc-<\/p>\n
ceded in some respects as I
\nthought I would another term.
\nI\u2019ve been inclined to laugh at
\nmyself. It\u2019s so absurd to make
\na decision oneself, and then
\nraise a moan over it. But
\nI am always \u201cunstable as water.\u201d
\nYou see I can\u2019t lisp a word
\nof this to anyone here, and
\nso I\u2019m making a sort of escape
\nvalve of you.<\/p>\n
I shall probably be at
\nhome all winter, unless I go
\nto Boston as I may for a few
\nweeks. I\u2019m going to try to
\nmake it a winter of some profit.<\/p>\n
I do so hope you will get
\nsome good from your Lewiston
\n(or Auburn (?) doctor. I am so
\nrejoiced to hear of any im-
\nprovement in your health. Take
\ncourage, dear \u2013 There are so many<\/p>\n
women \u2013 and men, with feeble
\nhealth to start with, who
\naccomplish beautiful life works.
\nI know some \u2013 A French
\nwriter says \u201cit is wonderful
\nhow much a little health,
\nwell managed, will do for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
I hear from Peace there is
\nsome talk of your coming
\nback and finishing your studies
\nat Waterville. I haven\u2019t dared
\nto say anything about it lately,
\nbut it seems to me you ought
\nto if you can. Perhaps I\u2019m
\na little selfish about it \u2013 my
\nname won\u2019t seem so lonesome
\nin the triennial! But it does-
\nn\u2019t seem right that, faithfully
\nand honestly as you have gone
\nthrough with the course at
\nColby, you shouldn\u2019t be reckoned
\nas one of her graduates.<\/p>\n
I was at Waterville for a
\nday last week. Saw Peace, and
\nshe seemed and acted as she
\nused to before the Matthews
\ndynasty. I went up to College
\nwith Lapty [?] and into Prof. Taylor\u2019s
\nclass. It seemed natural and
\nyet unnatural. Spoke to the
\nProf. He asked me how I liked
\nteaching. I said, pretty well. He
\nsaid he should have thought
\nI would find it ver-y stu-
\npid! I wonder if he finds
\nteaching stupid. I saw the
\nthree freshwomen \u2013 goodlooking
\ngirls \u2013 Ah well! things isn\u2019t
\nas the used to was! especially
\nin the female department
\nof Colby. The girls are reviving
\nSigma Kappa \u2013 Peace and
\nHatty have gone into it with whole
\nhearts. Isn\u2019t that funny?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m very glad, and I guess the
\npoor thing wasn\u2019t so dead that
\nit couldn\u2019t be resurrected. I
\nsuppose Peace will write you
\nabout it.<\/p>\n
Miss Ricker has gone away to
\nkeeping house, and Sophia has
\na beau (to speak vulgarly)
\nand Mr. Hanson has about 50
\nscholars. Everything seemed queer,
\nand I realized that I was no
\nlonger, and never could be again
\na little wheel within the big
\nwheel of of Waterville life.<\/p>\n
As I had read Avis some time
\nago, and we had the book in
\nthe house, I didn\u2019t have to
\ncommit any violation of the laws
\nof our Commonwealth to ful-
\nfil [sic] your request. I think it is
\na wonderful book and a story
\nbook \u2013 which is proved by the<\/p>\n
fault found with it. But I think
\nit is faulty in style, and down-
\nright too bad in its denouement.
\nThat a woman of genius should
\nhave troubles enough \u2013 petty hin-
\ndrances and severe afflictions \u2013
\nwas natural \u2013 was ever the story
\nof a genius, be it man or woman,
\ndifferent? but the troubles should
\nnot destroy, but ripen and de-
\nvelop the genius \u2013 if it is genuine.
\nA woman with the talent which Miss
\nPhelps gives to Avis, and who has
\ngone through the life that
\nAvis led, ought to be capable
\nof something really great \u2013 infinitely
\nsuperior to the artificially got-up
\ndream of the girl. The trouble is,
\nMiss Phelps was mistaken about
\nAvis, she wasn\u2019t a genius at all.
\nAnd whatever argument she would
\nhave us draw from her life<\/p>\n
of course comes to naught.
\nWhat do you think about her?<\/p>\n
Your last letter was so pleasant
\nthe more so that I hardly expected
\nyou to write until I had again.
\nI had not a say about
\nCharlie\u2019s joining the Kappa\u2019s
\nI suppose he thought that he
\nhad arrived at years of dis-
\ncretion, for he never asked my
\nadvice, which would have been
\nreally, I suppose, against either.
\nBut he\u2019s old enough to judge
\nfor himself.<\/p>\n
I have heard Miss Ricker
\nspeak so many times of Miss
\nDay that it seems as if I
\nknew her. I think she
\nmust be very nice and that
\nyou must like her.<\/p>\n
Do you know what I\u2019ve been
\nthinking of lately, Nell? After<\/p>\n
you get through or tired of
\nAuburn, I would like ever
\nso much to have you come up
\nhere to stay a week or two \u2013
\ntwo or three weeks \u2013 to slip
\ninto our groove of life and run
\nin it a little while \u2013 to read
\nand study a little with me
\nif you are able \u2013 if not to do
\nwhat else you please. You\u2019d
\nslip into our family here ever
\nso naturally, I know, and we\u2019d
\ntry to make it restful instead
\nof wearisome to you. Suppose
\nyou be thinking of it. It would
\nbe a real pleasure to me.<\/p>\n
Well this letter is big enough
\nin quantity, surely, whatever be
\nits quality. I hope to hear
\nfrom you again soon \u2013<\/p>\n
Your aff. friend,
\nLouise H. Coburn<\/p>\n\n
Skowhegan Nov. 25 \u201878 My dear Nellie, It\u2019s sometime since I got your last letter. I\u2019m home now and am not going back. My father and mother wanted me very much to stay at home, and I got it into my head that I ought, and so wrote on the spur of that thought that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7698,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7698"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14653,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/669\/revisions\/14653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}