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Show 232 to. But it was Nellie who kept, and then donated, her mother's letters. The first of these, undated, is full of love and longing (from some place away from home), and acknowledges the uplifting effect of being near her daughter. The second (circa 1901) notes that Nellie has started Mutual. It offers counsel in patience and self control and admonishes frequent secret prayer as a source of comfort and joy. The next letter, dated February 8, 1904, is written from Brigham City and is addressed to "My Beloved Children." Who are the children who can conceivably be at home? Nellie is 14; Ellis - 24; Olea (born in Philadelphia) - 28. Richard (34) and Bard (36) have in all likelihood established their own families. Probably all but teen-aged Nellie have married by now. Milford, wherever he is, will soon be 68; and Ellis has just turned 57- Ellis is in Brigham City awaiting the hour when the class she will teach (in nursing and obstetrics, no doubt) is to start. Having arrived the evening before, feeling quite homesick, her impulse is to go right up to her room and cry. Deciding, instead, to go in and talk with "George and the folks," she is given a letter full of love and encouragement from her children. She adds this postscript to her letter next day: Ten women are enrolled in her class, better than some beginnings she's had, and Ellis fervently desires that it succeed because much depends upon it. She concludes with the affirmation that her children are dearer to her than life itself. |