1834 March 10, Bloomsdale, to Wm D Cope

              I am giving thee dear William- a proof of my sincere and unabated affection- in this early replying to thy most welcome letter of the 8th which only came to hand this morning- thee may be sure its arrival was awaited by me, with more than usual impatience- I could not believe another week wd. be suffered to elapse- without the accustomed message of love, and rememberence,- and every day I wd. say to myself well- I certainly will hear to day- but very many times have I been doomed to suffer disappointment- how however- I am relieved by the actual presence of the well known hand writing- and will thus evince my greatful feelings- in its early acknowledgement.-  Let me tell thee dear William- I think thee greatly undervalues thy epistolary talents, thy letters cannot be any thing but interesting to me- and if I acknowledge them to be so- why that,- must be as much as thee can desire- as for my own I have long since despaired of arriving at any thing like excellence in the art,- and the only and slight merit- if merit it may called- which they posess- is the spirit of affection which they [---], & which prompts me to the undertaking I have not the least partiality for the employment thee knows- and often with merely for the purpose of receiving in return.-  To day I was [---] gratified & delighted- for independent of the pleasure thine afforded me- there was one from my dear sister Caroline.  I will not tell thee what she says, now- but when thee comes- thee shall see it.- I do not know that I recollect to observation thee alludes to- as having been made by me- when last here- at least I am not certain what it was.- The will find in me as usual- a very ready and willing listener to all thee may have to communicate- I hope my presence will not prove talismanic and cause thee to forget what thee had to say- I did not find it necessary to apply to Father for information respecting the time of holding our monthly meeting- it has just passed, last week- and the next one