Albany, New York, March 1872
Dear Mother,
I have been very busy this week and it seems so good to be at liberty to talk to you for a few minutes even if I can only talk with pen and ink on a little piece of paper that will not contain one half I want to say…
Since writing this, I have stopped and ironed my clothes. I always iron Friday. Mrs. Wright does my washing and I think she ought to. We pay enough for board though we get ours much cheaper than some of the girls.
If I stay another term, I shall board myself. It is much cheaper and I should like it better. I am as careful of my money as I can be and have not lost any yet.
I get along very well in school, at least the teachers tell me my standing is good whenever I ask them.
Miss Stoneman is my teacher in map drawing and penmanship and I am afraid I shall never be able to draw maps correctly anyway. It takes more time than anything else and I do not see any particular use in it.
And then if we do not speak loud enough in our recitation, she marks us the same as for missing. She always tells me to talk louder until I forget what I am going to say, so I suppose my standing in that is not very good though it can not be very low or she would tell me.
Grammar is very easy and I get along quite well in that Miss McClelland gave us sentences to write and analyze the other day. She found quite a good deal of fault with the most of them, and when I got about half way through with mine, she said, “Stop. Miss Austin, that was done beautifully, just the way I wanted it.”
I thought it was quite a compliment but did not appreciate it very much at the time for when she spoke out so quick, I thought I had said something wrong and I was so frightened that I did not get over it all day and I would rather she had kept still and marked me 10, without saying anything.
The girls laughed as hard as they could because I jumped so when she spoke. Miss Rutland, our teacher in Arithmetic, gave us an invitation the other day to call on her. Her mother and she live here.
Carrie’s giving me lessons in German every night after school. She says I learn it real easily.
We went out last Friday for a walk and went away over to the eastern and northern part of Albany. It was a splendid day and I enjoyed the walk better than any I have taken since I have been here.
Yours with much love, Edith
