Much love to Ham & Jed. I shall expect a letter from Ham soon. Take good care of your health & your coppers so that you may come home in a year or two and take a wife come home to live and fix up things & I will do something or other I hardly know what but I wont plague your wife.

 

Buckfield Aug. 9^th 1862

 

My darling brother:

                                    How glad we were to get such a nice long letter from you bringing such good news of continued health and well being. We are all well now but when I wrote you that last letter I was fairly sick although I thought I would not tell you. But I guess you judged by the letter that something ailed me for it was only a pen apology for a letter one. We have felt very sad of late, Charley has enlisted in the Mass. 23^d and is going to Newbern N.C. He came home last Wed. night, the same we rec'd your letter and staid until yesterday morn, two nights & one day. You will probably feel sad at hearing this although you probably feel as I do that somebody must go and it seemed to be his duty to. I can hardly realize it—that our Charlie has gone to the war and that we have perhaps looked our last upon him. Oh! these are terrible times and it seems to me they are growing darker & darker. How many many hearts must be stricken, how many homes made desolate! These are the times that produce heroes and martyrs and in almost every home, in these quiet towns thrilling dramas are enacted as touching and noble as any ever devised by poets brain. The time has come when with most of us who have brothers or husbands must choose between duty & pleasure for their paths run together no more and terrible is the struggle to decide. Charlie went from a firm conviction / that he ought and what could we say. You will probably learn before this that a draft of 300,000 thousand more men has been called for. Every patriot seems to hail this with gladness feeling that by such means alone is this terrible rebellion to be crushed. I think McClellan must have erred at least I hope he is patriot but I do not think he is the man for the place. Glad am I that you are safe in Cal. selfish as it may sound for were you here I know you would enlist. I was at the village to attend a lecture the night your letter and Charlie came. I walked up with the Hines girls and Nancy was so anxious to hear from you that I let her read a little 'twas so near dark she could not read much. Charlie & I called there a moment Thursday night and they told him they were glad he was going and bade him God speed.

 

Laura W. came in while we were there & she exclaimed against it. She said she didn't think it was anybodys duty to go. she didn't think the country worth such lives. Bright speech wasn't it! I felt bad for her that she had such principles instilled into her mind. How shocked Nancie looked and I said something. I told Nancie & Katie what you said and they seemed very much pleased. I think a great deal of them. Things go on about as usual here. The Division is reviving somewhat and bids fair not to summer-kill. Our Sabbath school at the village flourishes finely & so does this one down here. Gen. Hersey of Bangor offered last June ten dollars worth of books to every Universalist Sabbath-school in the state of 25 scholars that should be formed after the first of June. Also Mr. Moses of Bath offered five dollars to every such school that would increase their number to forty. / Weren't those generous offers? We have but about 30 scholars but we got the books both from Hersey & Moses, and the firm to where we sent the order gave us another dollars worth so that we now have $116.00 worth of Sabbath-school books down here and grand ones they are too. They could not be better and I assure you we are all exceedingly pleased

 

Sunday noon. How many miles away you are! I feel sad when I think and yet I know that you could not always be at home and I know too that "ye are of more value than many sparrows" and that God will watch over & protect you. Without this thought how could we be sustained under the trials of life. Mother says tell Roscoe "that I used to think him a great way off and worry about but since Charles has enlisted I don't think so much about it". She feels that you are where you can take care of yourself. She feels bad—very bad—as you might know and I pity her. I think we can none of us feel as bad as she does. And yet the time may come when we shall feel that we were blessed in having the privilege of giving one so noble & worthy to the cause of Freedom. There is to be a draft next Friday and who will have to go no one knows but all dread the result. [?] Shaw wont be able to go. he is very slim and seems to be running down all the time. I don't know but he is going for it. I feel worried about it. Frank is keeping school at Healds mill. She is going to pick hops this fall and she has applied for a chance for me. After she gets through picking hops she is to commence a private school at Chases Mills. Hat has just got through with her school. I expect mine finishes next week. Henry has been over once about three weeks ago and Wm K got away / the first of June. I guess Bowman made pretty well at N.B. Ethan is in Conn. selling trees and he writes that the most he can do is $15.00 per day and he is rather blue. Martin is going to Mass. to prospect—starts to-morrow and if there is any prospect at all, father will go too. Our Cavalry were not cut up as reported. I believe only one man killed we will send you a Tribune and I hope you will enjoy it. Do you pay for your board out of that forty dolls.? Daniels folks have rec'd no letter from Jed. I suppose he has written by what you said. Did you get both of my letters? I think you must act [faded, paper fold] I think it strange that her folks don't teach anything. Did I write you that Decatur is sick He has been sick in N.Y. several weeks and never let Olive hear a word from him. I think him smart. She knew he had arrived in N.Y. and as you may well believe felt uneasy enough. J. E. Bryant went to that city and wrote her that her Decatur was there sick but thought he would be able to come home soon. Bryant don't come down to call on me and seems cold to all of us. I don't know what the trouble is and am sure I don't care. Emma & Alice go back to Readfield to-morrow and Julia talks some of going.

 

Our folks have got about through haying. We have plenty of rain. Cherries are thick as you please. Howard went and got five quarts the other day of wild cherries. He is much smarter than George now. George seems quite weakly. Willie & Homer are doing nicely. They talk a great deal about you. Homer still thinks you are there picking up gold! Remember me to Mr Smiths family. Grandmother is well. Alice has been sick but is getting better. She has been to school but a very little. Frequent inquiries are made about you by your numerous friends. Supposing you answer some of them yourself. Mother says she meant to have written you but she don't feel as though she could now. All wish to be remembered. Adam's folks speak of you most every time I see them. They are very glad you are in Cal. Martin & uncle Nat. have been up. Mart. was very glad that you had gone too. All say so because they don't want you to enlist. The quota of Buckfield for the first 500,000 is full. It was nineteen & I suppose the same number will be drafted. How anxious people must feel but I guess they wont skedaddle for Canada. I shall write often once in three or four weeks & if you don't get my letters know it is not my fault. Write as often as you can.

                                                                       

Affectionately Abbie

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