Marine Hospital New Orleans La Feby 11^th 1864

 

Dear Wife       You can judge by the size of the paper that I have used here that you will not get a very long letter this time for I write so often that I do not have but a little to write so what I lack in amount I make in the number that I send you I am feeling better to day and to night than I have for a long time although I had a good long walk of three or four miles yet I think that it has done me good I have been down in the city after my pin that I spoke about in one of my other letters it is rather an odd thing but that is the beauty of. I will send it to you in my next letter I want to clean it up a little before I send but make up your mind to laugh when you get it for as I said before it is an odd thing for a pin but never mind I did not cost anything so it is cheap enough at half the money

 

            Well I did not see much to night of any consequence except a couple of cups of good coffee and a piece of very good custard pie which I made out to destroy in short time. but last tuesday and tuesday night was a great time here among the New Orleans ites, it was a day of masquerading when / all of the ignorance of the people here (I mean Southerners) was shown out Men, Women & children would dress up in all of meanest, nastyest and ugliest looking disguises that they could get with false faces to match and travel the streets of the city to show off but the best show off that I see was to see one of them step of in to the ditch and fall flat on her face in the nasty water She lost her mask in a hurry and left on double quick for parts unknown. Some were dressed to represent monkeys (which is the most natural for them) Some brags and leap about the streets some represent hogs otters owls (and in fact they are an owlish set)     I thought when we were in Maryland that we were among an ignorant set but they were nothing to what they are here. Horse shoes nailed on their door steps and on their carts and boots to keep the witches off. So much for the Southern aristocracy once the Elite of the world and the pride of France and England. but I will stop again for to night for it is near one Oclock. But will write again the first of the week

 

Write as often as you can and I will

 

From yours &c            L. V. Tucker

 

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I will send you in this a small scale from an aligator

but it is not like the one that the pin is made of

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