Academy of
Visitation, April 24th, 1861
DEAR FATHER: I suppose that you will be surprised at the
reception of this letter, but you can not imagine the anxiety I feel all of the
time, for as the mails are stopped I have not heard a word from Mother for two
weeks. Nearly all of the girls are going home, twenty-six have gone already,
and Sister Bernard has telegraphed to the parents of the others, for she does
not think that they ought to stay here with the country in the state it is now.
It is not at all probable that we shall have any Distribution this year, and as
we have been all over our examination we shall lose nothing by going away.
Please let me go home, for I cannot study when I know that you are liable to be
sent to war at any time. Nor do I think that Mother would wish me to stay if
she could not hear from me. If you do not think it best that I should go, I
think I shall join the secessionists. My toes seem to be going without my
consent, for my shoes are much more “holy than righteous,” as I am keeping my
new ones for my journey home. Of course I could not expect you to go with me,
for I know that this would be impossible; but if any of your numerous friends
are going to Lowell you can send me with them. As this letter will reach you
through the influence of Col. somebody (I never can remember names), and
I have to write to Mother, I must close. Goodbye and believe me
Your ever devoted
“LITTLE BUNTY.”
BLANCHE is mistaken about the telegraph, but the poor child
seems so anxious about you and about her mother. We are not the least alarmed,
but since the secession of Virginia parents seem to be very much so, and are
sending daily for their children. Do not be uneasy about Blanche. She is
perfectly safe, but I do hope that you will soon get to Washington. Excuse
haste.
S. MARY BERNARD
SOURCE: Jessie Ames Marshall, Editor, Private and
Official Correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler During the Period of the
Civil War, Volume 1: April 1860 – June 1862, p. 36-7
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