I seem to see the Dorset hills now with their beautiful cloud-shadows and lovely blue.  I can see in my mind your pleasant home and all the faces, including the dear one you miss this summer.  What a delightful home she made!  The “good cheer” she furnished for the minds, hearts, and bodies of her guests was something remarkable.  I shall never forget my visits; I was in a state of high entertainment from beginning to end.  What entertaining stories she told! what practical wisdom she gave out in the most natural and incidental way! and what housekeeping!  Common articles of food seemed to possess new virtues and zest.  I always went away full of the marvels of the visit, as well as loaded down with many little tokens of her kindness and thoughtfulness.

To Mrs. Condict, Dorset, Sept. 9, 1876.

What interested me most at the Centennial was in the Main Building, and two things stand out, prominently, in my memory.  The first is groups of Swedish figures, dressed in national costume, and all done by the hand of a real artist.  Especially examine the dead baby and its weeping mother and rugged old wounded grandfather; it will remind you of the words, “A little child shall lead them.”  Next in interest to me were the Japanese bronzes and screens; next wares from Denmark, butterflies and feathers from Brazil.  In the art department a picture called “Betty” in the British division, up in a corner, and in statuary “The Forced Prayer.”  Both my girls agreed with me in the main; the boys cared most for Machinery hall, and my husband for Queensland, for which I did not care a fig.

Last Sunday was as perfect here as with you.  My husband preached at Pawlet, about six miles from here, and I went with him.  He preached a very earnest sermon on prayer.  My Bible-reading is thronged, and I can’t but hope the Holy Spirit is helping my infirmities and blessing souls.  My heart yearns over these women, many of whom have faces stamped with care.  There is a class here that nobody has any idea how to get at.  To meet their case, apostolic work needs to be done.  Do you know that Irishmen are buying up the New England farms at a great rate?

To Mrs. Donaghe, Dorset, Sept. 10, 1876.

The extraordinary heat has worked unfavorably on both my husband and myself; he has been under medical treatment most of the time, forlorn and depressed.  I have just pushed through as I could; my Bible-reading, which has been wonderfully attended, being the only work I have done.  The weather is cool now and I feel stronger.

A party of young people, who were coming to call on A., were upset just above us; two had broken legs, others bruises and cuts, and one had both knee-pans seriously injured.  We got her here and put her to bed, and then I started off to get the rest; but the surgeon, on arriving, decided they should be removed at once, and got them all safely back to Manchester.

To Mrs. Condict, New York, Oct. 16, 1876.