Handsboro July 2^nd 1864

 

Dearest Irwin

                        I am in receipt of your two expected letters bearing dates 19^th & 20^th June & hasten to clear myself of the neglect you charge me with. I believe the longest period of silence was ten days & then I did not know where to address you. You had bidden Mobile goodbye & did not know whither you would go to Virginia or your present quarters. I was favored with the pleasure of Lieut. Wilkenson's agreeable company to Ocean Springs to try & learn where my darling was but they knew nothing about him. While there Lt W. was captured by the Yankees on account of which I wrote in a previous "note", as you call my twelve paged communications. Sis came home with me & though I was very tired I wrote to you that / night & sent by a wagon in one of Anola's letters to Miss Shepherd the letter which you received on the 20^th ult. I have only allowed one mail day to pass without writing to you with the exception of the two spent in trying to find your place of resting. Now certainly Irwin you will pardon that as no mail was carried over the Bay owing to the roughness of the sea. I write twice every week as I promised that I would & our mail only leaves twice a week. "Stir up the post mistress or who ever is to blame"? I wish I could then maybe a few less demands would be made on my [?] glands. Now my dear I want to make a proposition which you must accede to. You are not to censure me & I will be as forbearing as circumstances will admit when we do not hear from each other. I will excuse you for purloining some of my moments or rather those dedicated to me for your home folks but as I am not in Miss Shepherd's good graces you will be held / responsible for every theft on her account. Yes Irwin write regularly to Sis she cannot bear neglect & I felt almost guilty while she was with me for I received three letters & she none from you & the one she had said "Brother says write to Sis for me". I had not one word too much yet I would willingly have converted one of my dearly prized letters into one for her, but she received one the next mail. I wrote you about all this though & gave you a good scolding which I know you appreciated fully forgive me Irwin I would not willingly wound your feelings & though I felt confident that you had written I could not comfort Anola. Kiss me dearest. Will you have time to read a very long letter today I must write it at any rate I have so much to tell you & yes when you finish you will think "How does Jennie manage to consume so much paper & say so little that is interesting". I am a poor condensor & a rapid contributor which you complain of. When in school I became accustomed to wield the pen with almost lightening velocity as many of our excersises in parsing, composition in synonyms arithmentic &c. were dictated as fast as a person ordinarily reads & to have correct themes we had to either have a very tenacious memory or quick hands. The latter was the most difficult for me & I tried to master it. I know not what my motive was unless it was ambition. Now I am unable to control my pen or thoughts. if you object to "hurried notes" I must stop sending any. If my letters or notes are short what do you think of Anola's. She says I write such long letters that I suppose hers must be very short. As to my crying that is nothing I have always cried more or less about serious things & if I sometimes speak of it it is unintentional I will not make you dread the receipt of my letters because of low spirits. You say "forget you" "Bid the sun forget to shine", the flowers to bloom, the birds to sing, yes anything that is impossible & when they obey / ask me to forget to breathe yet I'll remember you, love ay love you more than life itself. My tears are not all sad, no, there is a holy joy intermingling with every sigh & every tear has its pleasure as well as pain. No Irwin my heart is too deeply & firmly rooted to be shaken loose even at your command, but I know you did not mean that & would not have me say "who is he? I know nothing of him, where did he come from", of you for worlds. What a delightful time you must have in wind & water all the time. You ask me to excuse you for writing war news. What do you mean to insinuate by that? Do you suppose that I am so little concerned in our national welfare as to think dull, or uninteresting, any thing connected with it? if so let me ask what your opinion of my head & heart may be. Perhaps you think with Lieut W. that "all Ladies can converse about with any show of interest is love and sweethearts"? though these subjects are very dear to me / yet I have a few words left for something else. In the mean time though let me tell you that I saw Miss Lucie Burton a few weeks since and was overwhelmed with messages to Lieut. H. but as I did not suppose she intended for them to be delivered I kept my own counsel. I have since learned that she has made numerous inquiries as to whether I have received answers to them & I may as well give them though in my own words. She wishes you to remain unfettered by any promises to me until she has an opportunity at your invaluable head & hand intended to go to Mobile before me & lead you away a willing captive in her chain of love & many other things of like import. doubtless very interesting to you but she must write them herself if she wishes you to hear. Miss Nellie Harrison has stopped crabing for want of a companion; has been to see me several times & Miss Sallie also but I have never returned their visits I know not why except laziness be a sufficient excuse. I owe at least twenty calls on the / beach & as many more in Handsboro. When they will all be paid I cannot tell. I'll commence next week. this is why I write on Saturday, so that you will not be disappointed in the success of your search through future mail on account of fashionable calls.

 

I must see what so much hurrahing is for? Capt. John Cowan has just passed with his company of about 250 members half of whom are officers they did very well indeed I understand he is a strict disciplinarian. His mother gives a party this evening to the children, not being one of this class I am not invited. She is desperately in love with Lieut Kendall & says she knows "I would be jealous if I could imagine how much she loves you. (I saw the rain in the distance)

 

            "Mr. Graves got a helpmate"! Who do you suppose would have him? No indeed nor is he likely to have one soon. his last & only chosen was Mrs House but she has a beau from Biloxi a Mr. Gardiner I believe. Mr Graves told some of the ladies that I "bumfoogle him so with my criticisms when out of the pulpit that he becomes so embarrassed when he makes use of those commonplace expressions in the sacred stand that he sometimes feels like stopping altogether". "Is he still the subject of conversation"? Yes, & is likely so to be until he goes to the army. then we will let him alone. Would you like a description of our jaunt to O.S.? Neither Sis, Aunt or I knew the way & of course it was quite an undertaking to go there with the buggy. We started Wednesday morning with the mail rider & asked the way to [?] ferry. "Just go right on & any one in Biloxi will tell you how to get there." "But Mr. Young may be we wont find any one." "Oh? yes there's lots of folks there." so we proceeded. in Biloxi we passed some school children, stopped & inquired the most direct route or whether they could tell us or / not. "Yes, marm" said the largest in the group. Just go right straight ahead till you come to the market house, you know,—"oh we know nothing about it." "well go on till you come to a big big big house & take that road & keep right straight" on until you get there, then stop, & wave your handkerchief & a niger will come over with the flat and pull you to the other side if you wish to get there." Isn't this a description a la mode? Well we went there & stopped a little while at Mr. Ellis to see if Mother had sent for Anola. No one had come, we had a nice [paper torn away] though. I ate my piece for you & wish [paper torn away] carry it to you. Arrived at the ferry [paper torn away] as directed & the "niger" came, but [paper torn away] skiff. He did not see the buggy & [paper torn away] rather strongly (I reckon). soon though [paper torn away] came & after much difficulty per [paper torn away] / mule to accompany us we got in the proper road but did not turn out & after having gone till we were convinced that we ought to be near O.S. we met some wagons & asked how far to the ferry. "Well I reckon you'll not get there soon if you continue on this road O.S. is some four miles behind you." "Oh! horrors we all so tired what must be done." "Why go back & get in the road." We got directions & followed them strictly I assure you if they did lead into some dreadful places we had to unhitch the mule. No one of the [paper torn away] carry the buggy over ourselves. finally [paper torn away] in sight of the ferry & thought all [paper torn away] troubles at an end; far from it. John [paper torn away] cross the mule & buggy so we had [paper torn away] Mr. Plumers & get him to house the [paper torn away] he very kindly did & offered to [paper torn away] to the point in his boat but / as we had left numerous articles at the ferry we were compelled to return. John crossed us at leisure & we went home, Anola with books under her arm Aunt with a basket of peaches & your Jennie with a comfort sack. Aunt Mary insisted on playing vender of peaches & at every halt would cry out "Peaches for sale sweet & ripe". Mother was surprised to see us as she had sent over after Anola but he was too late. Jimmie Kies I think was his name. We enjoyed ourselves as much as swollen feet & tired limbs would admit & started home about nine [paper torn away] following morning Mr. Plumer was [paper torn away] have us remain for dinner but we [paper torn away] would prevent our crossing Biloxi [paper torn away] lingered. While the mule was being [paper torn away] (I suppose is surely good night my love [paper torn away] entertained by the lady of the mansion & [paper torn away] told me that he liked me well enough [paper torn away] in his neighborhood & that if he had a promise from me that I would not treat any one he would send with the cold shoulder I should have the finest young man in O.S. of course I gave the promise I was desirous of hearing what my future name would be. "Well I do not know of any one better than Lieut. Kendall" Don't you feel flattered? He said he must have an invitation to our wedding as he was a guest at my mothers. We finally left with many promises of returning & the proper directions all impressed on our memories so that we came through swimmingly [paper torn away] letter dated 18^th ult. waiting for me [paper torn away] it immediately Aunt thinks I had [paper torn way] a singular supply of paper & envelopes [paper torn away] she faces. Dr. Mc Callen can't [paper torn away] on hand. Yes I [?] [paper torn away] really very sorry to learn that he [paper torn away] I liked his appearance very much / I feel sorry for his sweetheart's sake I have heard that it was on her account that he denied himself the pleasure of our society. I know you drew a long breath when you broke the seal of this letter & counted the sheets but you deserve a little punishment for being so hard to please. a sense of duty will prompt you to glance over every page but I can see you skip over half with a fever. be patient a little longer. The report that you are now in the ranks is confidently believed by many in H & when I go or send letters to the office with Lieut. as your title I see them whispering & smiling about my fall from grace when I have the truth. How little do they know of Jennie's heart. I never thought I could love but you took its citadel by storm & had your banner waving over it long before I knew I had a heart. I do not see how you found it out when the possessor knew nothing of its / existence. I am much obliged to you for taking it away from me, as the knowledge of its presence would have annoyed me exceedingly. You say you are satisfied with me. I pray that you may always have the same contentment in the possession as in the pursuit. I must go & hear brother Graves discourse this morning as he has lectured me on my absence once or twice. Good bye my love. Aunt sends much love & I send a fresh supply of love & kisses just as [?] Write soon [paper hole] & long long letters to

                                                                       

Your devoted Jennie

 

P.S. Mr. G. did full justice to novel readers & ridiculers of himself to day: paid particular attention to all those sorter things poor fellow he accidentally coughs may be as his feathers fell considerably. He leaves next week to see his mother. [paper hole] its a peacable way of / absconding. Oh! how warm it is I am nearly melting Nannie Taylor says she is glad she has learned how to dive else she would never dare to kiss me for fear of drowning. If you have never learned that accomplishment let me suggest that you practice it while you have "plenty of water" It is like taking a shower bath to get your face in close proximity to mine during the summer season. apropos de rien. Why did you not tell me you wanted that handkerchief marked instead of carrying it to Sis? I am almost glad she did not do it for you. I will some day have to obey your commands? really, you certainly do not know what a willful piece of humanity you have undertaken to subjugate. You speak of my dutiful heart What do you know of that? I understand. you wanted me to gratify you by saying that "your will was my law" but you shall not have that in black & white to tame me with in after years. But I know you have been interrupted in the perusal of this often enough to make you wish my letters were not quite so lengthy & will release you from further duty this evening. Good bye my darling my kindest regards to Willie or any one to whom they will not be unwelcome God will watch over you Irwin & in time restore you to

                                                                       

Your waiting

Jennie

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