I have my hands so full at present, dear sister, that I can scarcely spare a half hour to write even to you, the duties of a housekeeper, of a milliner & mantua maker and the necessity of paying some neighbourhood visits before we are shut in for the winter, have made me a perfect drudge for...
you had better come down this morning for you will never see sister Ann again if you do not, there is no hope for her. Virginia ought to be told for she must know the worst soon, and grandpapa.
It is long since I have written to you my dear sister, partly because I have not had time, & partly because I had nothing to write about but unhappiness & misfortunes; fortune has persecuted us so unrelentingly that even though at last she seems to give us one smile to excite hope, not...
I think, dear sister, that I shall certainly go to Boston now; brother Jeff. proposes to set out next wednesday (this is friday) but as he is now in Bedford from whence he cannot return before sunday, and has so much business always that he can never say certainly what time he will do any...
Virginia has yielded what I considered the privilege of my elderhood, my dear sister, that of writing the first letter to you, but after all I have nothing to tell you that you knew not before; that...
I have been longing to write to you dearest sister, for some time; our only pleasure is in writing & recieving letters from Boston at present, but I have been so busy for some days past that I could not write. The day before yesterday a box was packed & despatched to you which when you...
We arrived here yesterday my dear Virginia sometime before sunset and as a post goes out tomorrow (the post goes from here to Lynchburg twice a week) I will write to you though I feel as stupid and unwilling to do any thing as I usually do after a journey. the day we left you was a very...
I have been so constantly employed in copying those manuscripts, my dearest sister, that I have not been able to write to mama or yourself, or indeed any of my beloved family; I have thought nevertheless incessantly of you. Mama’s spirits still seem to be bad, from her letters, worse even than...
It is my turn to write to you dear sister, & so I mean to do though I have little to say now, ever, that can make it desirable to receive my letters; complaints that I indulge too much in, & details of distressing or disagreable things are the beginning middle & end of them. I cannot...
I have been just a fortnight at this place my dear Sister, during which I have received one letter from Tufton but though the girls promised faithfully to forward all your letters and mama’s to me during my absence, it is now nearly four weeks since I have had a word of intelligence from you in...
I have just heard dear Virginia that Mrs Faulcon (Louisiana Cocke) was going to Albemarle and that she would take letters for us; I am very much tired already with writing I am terribly sleepy but cannot lose so good an opportunity. I would write to Mary but Mary Cary intends to do so, tell her I...
Mr Gilmer was obliged to stay one day here my dearest Virginia & that gives me an opportunity of writing to you which I will do if it is only to tell you how much I have thought of you all since I left you; every thing else I suppose Martha has told you for she was going to write to you...
I have the head ach, dear Virginia, & do not know whether I can write as long a letter as usual, but will not defer writing as tomorrow I shall be employed all day closely. I read your Louisiana schemes with pain & yet would not say no to them; the abandoning Monticello altogether would...
We thought this morning, dear sister, that aunt Marks was dying, I did not think she had more than a few minutes to live. They had taken her up as usual to dress her & had completed what was absolutely necessary when she became so faint,...
I have been so very much occupied, dear Nicholas, this winter that I have not had time to write to my friends. Mary & myself have been correcting the manuscripts for publication, & we scarcely keep ahead of the printers. we devote about as much time every day to them as you do to the...
The books, Dear Nicholas, are all packed & Ben went to day to have the boxes nailed up & directed to you, & tomorrow they will set off to go in waggons as far as Fredricksburg. if the steamboat is running they will be put on board, but if not the waggons will go on to Washington. The...
We arrived here in safety on the tenth, my Dearest Nicholas, & found James alive, but having been for several days on the very brink of the grave. for three days he was in a raving delirium, and he has, in living through it all, showed more constitution than either his...
Mary & myself have been here (at Mr Garrett’s) some days, Dear sister & intend remaining for a week or two; now that we have done with the manuscripts we are at liberty to pay visits to our friends here which we have always...
As I have prevented Virginia from writing, Dear Sister, I must write to you myself in spite of the drowsy & stupid feelings which oppress me mama will I believe write very soon to Mrs Coolidge; she has been staying with Mrs H. Smith in the country & was there when Mrs C.s letter arrived;...
I have only one moment to tell you, we arrived safe & well Sunday at 3 o clock, and with as pleasant and prosperous a journey or rather voyage, as good company, bright skies & smooth seas could ensure—the thursday must be excepted when the jolting of the stage or perhaps the anxiety of...
We received a letter from George yesterday, my dear sister, dated the 6th as he finished it they were just anchoring in sight of cape Henry & I suppose sailed fairly the next day. George had just got a sprain some days before & although he says it was getting well I am afraid it was bad...
Since I wrote to you Dear sister Mr Donnelson has come back to Washington; how the president will settle matters about his private secretary I do not know, but Nicholas is very unwilling that any thing should be said about his having been chosen. therefore, though it is improbable that you should...
Cornelia wrote to you the day after our arrival here dearest Virginia and I intended to have written again in a few days, but having set to work with my needle in the mean time I got so intent upon...