Letter from Dinah Mulock Craik to Benjamin Mulock, 22 September 1855

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            <title> Letter from <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#DMC">Dinah Mulock Craik</persName>
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                  when="1855-09-22">September 22 1855</date>
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            <author ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#DMC">Dinah Mulock Craik</author>
            <editor ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#BourrierKaren">Karen Bourrier</editor>
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               <orgName>Dinah Mulock Craik: A Digital Archive</orgName>
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            <sponsor>University of Calgary</sponsor>
            <principal>Karen Bourrier</principal>
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               <resp>Proofing of transcription <date when="2020-08">August 2020</date> by </resp>
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               <head> Letter from <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#DMC">Dinah Mulock
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                     Mulock</persName>, <date when="1855-09-22">September 22 1855</date>
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               Craik’s spelling, punctuation, underlining, superscripts, abbreviations, additions
               and deletions are retained, except for words which are hyphenated at the end of a
               line, which we have silently emended. Where Craik uses a non-standard spelling, we
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                  <date when="1855-09-22">Sunday <choice>
                        <abbr>Sep</abbr>
                        <expan>September</expan>
                     </choice>- 22 1855</date>
                  <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Greenock">Greenock</placeName>
               </dateline>
               <salute> My dearest <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#MulockBen"
                  >Ben</persName></salute>
            </opener>
            <p>Yesterday – coming in from <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Belfast"
                  >Belfast</placeName> I found your letter of <date when="--09-03"><choice>
                     <abbr>Sep</abbr>
                     <expan>September</expan>
                  </choice>. 3<hi rend="superscript">rd</hi></date> – It grieves me so to think you
               have had no letters – I have sent you four – (this being N<hi rend="superscript"
                  >o</hi> 5 –) all I have posted myself – The first was written either the end of
               July or the first few days of <choice>
                  <abbr>Aug<hi rend="superscript">st</hi></abbr>
                  <expan>August</expan>
               </choice> – from <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Lynover">Lynover</placeName> –
                  2<hi rend="superscript">nd</hi> &amp; 3<hi rend="superscript">rd</hi> from
                  <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#PmalderCottage">Pmalder</placeName> – (2<hi
                  rend="superscript">nd</hi> went on to <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#LovellMinna">Minna</persName> who posted it in <placeName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#London">London</placeName>) 4<hi rend="superscript"
                  >th</hi> I posted last week in <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Belfast"
                  >Belfast</placeName> – You have had Lloyds regularly since I knew you were at
                  <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Balaklava">Balaklava</placeName>. – I have
               addressed <hi rend="underline">all</hi> like this letter – as you told me - &amp;
               each letter has had 3 stamps – each newspaper one (&amp; stamped besides) as they
               told me at the Post-Office – My 1<hi rend="superscript">st</hi> letter ought to have
               met you at <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Balaklava">Balaklava</placeName> – you
               must inquire particularly – <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#PatonAllanPark"
                  >Allan</persName> made enquiries yesterday of the postmaster here – who gave him
               the printed form for “missing letters” – but it will do no good for I can’t remember
               the day &amp; hour I posted them – They must be lying somewhere at <placeName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Balaklava">Balaklava</placeName> – Can they have gone to
               the other branch of the <orgName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#AWC">AWC</orgName> –
                  <unclear>Bentsy</unclear>? – Or perhaps the next mail may have brought them all in
               a heap – I do earnestly hope so – To think of you not hearing for two months. – Did
               you fancy Sister was forgetting you – or that I had gone to the other world where
               there isn’t a post office – which would be indeed the likeliest reason of the two. –
               Of course I did not write till about three weeks after you sailed – lest if you were
               not come it might miss you. – I counted about a fortnight for the post – which I see
               takes 20 days – so if <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#LovellMinna">Minna</persName>
               delayed posting letter N<hi rend="superscript">o</hi> 2 – it is just possible it may
               have reached you after this one of yours was posted – But I fear we must give up N<hi
                  rend="superscript">o</hi> 1 as a hopeless case. However never mind – </p>
            <p>it was only one of <rs type="person" ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#DMC">Sister</rs>’s usual
               – &amp; a note also from <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#MissJames">May</persName>.
               – The remainder will likely have reached you safe – if you are on the spot to seize
               the mail – I can’t tell you how much I feel my <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#MulockBen">Ben</persName>’s writing so good &amp;
               regularly – though not a line comes from me – but you must know well that as long as
                  <rs type="person" ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#DMC">Sister</rs> is in this world
               nothing would keep her from writing – &amp; <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#LovellMinna">Minna</persName> and <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#MissJames">Marian</persName> the same – if I were out of
               it. – No one can be surer of the faithfulness of your few belongings &amp; friends
               than you ought to be. – Your hard work – &amp; the cholera all about – makes me very
               uneasy – especially as I know getting no letters must have made you feel so dull –
               &amp; so inclined you to illness – But I trust you are safe in spite of all – &amp; –
               take all precautions for yourself – If anything of the like happens – never mind
               however long you may be in getting letters – be sure they are written regularly –
               with rarely more than a fortnights interval, in this last fortnight I have written
               thrice. – <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#MissJames">May</persName> &amp; <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#LovellMinna">Minna</persName> I heard from after I posted
               the last – they both send love but “can’t find anything to say important enough for
               one of the takers of <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Sebastopol"
                  >Sebastopol</placeName>” – I dare say they will write next time – They will be so
               glad of this last – which I send to <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Lynover"
                  >Lynover</placeName> tomorrow – <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#LovellMinna"
                  >Minna</persName> &amp; <rs type="person" ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#LovellMaria">her
                  mama</rs> came home yesterday, I believe, from their country cousins – &amp;
                  <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#MissJames">May</persName> &amp; <rs
                  type="person" ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#MrsJames">her mother</rs> will be at home
                  <del rend="strikethrough">yesterda</del> tomorrow – For me – I am having my last
               Sunday in the <rs type="place" ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#PmalderCottage">wee
                  Cottage</rs> – <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Weirie">Weirie</persName> &amp; I
               being sitting in the parlour – while <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#PatonAllanPark">Allan</persName> is writing his novel in
               the next room. – <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#PatonMaggie">Maggie</persName> is </p>
            <p>away to <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#StAndrews">S<hi rend="superscript">t</hi>
                  Andrews</placeName> – so the household is diminished to the three – <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#PatonAllanPark">Allan</persName> – <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Weirie">Weirie</persName> &amp; <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Jamie">Jamie</persName> – some day this week I leave –
               &amp; go direct to the <orgName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#ChambersFamily"
                  >Chambers</orgName> – who are living in the habitable part of <placeName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#RoslinCastle">Roslin Castle</placeName> – It will be
               pleasanter &amp; better than going to stay in <placeName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Glasgow">Glasgow</placeName> – as I am not strong – &amp;
               the close air would soon pull me down again. – Perhaps I may come back round by
                  <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Glasgow">Glasgow</placeName> – &amp; so per
                  <unclear>Grasmer</unclear> to <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Liverpool"
                  >Liverpool</placeName> – I quite like the transit by water – have now made three
               passages &amp; never been sick at all – have learned to sleep as cosily in a berth as
               in a bed. – I left <orgName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Craik">the Craiks</orgName> – the
               girls starting off magnificent in pink not to <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#LadyDufferin">Lady Dufferin’s</persName> – who by the bye
               wrote me such a kind note asking me to put off my going a day &amp; come to dinner –
               but I didn’t – for a Cottage Sunday was never far like a dinner at <placeName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Clandeboye">Clandeboye</placeName> – &amp; besides I had
               promised to see <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#PatonMaggie">Maggie</persName>
               before she left. – So off I came – <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Annette"
                  >Annette</persName> seeing me to the boat. – <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#CraikJames">Mr Craik</persName> took down your address
               &amp; will send you newspapers when he can. Poor <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#CraikMargaret">Mrs Craik</persName> is I fancy worse – She
               was very much excited more than once during the week I stayed. – What a terrible
               thing for <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#LovellMinna">Min</persName> &amp; the
               girls! – </p>
            <p>Yesterday I read in the <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Greenock"
                  >Greenock</placeName> paper – (by-the bye <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#PatonAllanPark">Allan</persName> couldn’t send you last
               Saturday’s Lloyd – there being not one in the town! – but I know <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#MissJames">May</persName> sent it you from <placeName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#London">London</placeName> – ) I read <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#DrSimpson" cert="medium">Simpson</persName>’s dispatch
               about <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Sebastopol">Sebastopol</placeName> – I
               wonder where you were that wonderful Sunday – the Sunday after you were writing to me
               quietly in your cabin. – Tis a strange world – The repost of the Russians quitting
                  <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Crimea">the Crimea</placeName> has not been
               confirmed – but I should think they wouldn’t hold on long – </p>
            <p>If peace comes – what will they do with the <unclear>litof</unclear>? – But you are
               safe to get on anyhow. – You have put your foot in the ladder &amp; up you’ll climb –
               I think from what you say that the <unclear>litof</unclear> work must be out of
               harm’s way – for all but sickness – &amp; sickness – please God – you will stand
               against – unless you are too hard worked – No fear of <hi rend="underline">your</hi>
               falling ill through love of “beer” – I shall long so for your next – with news of
                  <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Sebastopol">Sebastopol</placeName> – They are
               still wild about the victory – The <unclear>Lacin</unclear> sent <measure
                  type="currency">£50</measure> to the man who transmitted the telegraph message to
                  <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Balmoral">Balmoral</placeName> with the news –
               Your friend <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#MrReynolds">Mr Reynolds</persName> has
               come out to the loyal line – he travelled with the <rs type="person"
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#QueenVictoria">Queen</rs> north – &amp; she being too soon
               at <placeName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Edinburgh"><choice>
                     <abbr>Edin</abbr>
                     <expan>Edinburgh</expan>
                  </choice></placeName> – there were no preparations &amp; he spread his plaid for
               her to walk on. – There was a man killed close to her carriage – &amp; <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#MrReynolds">Mr Reynolds</persName> had to go &amp; tell
               her – &amp; ask <rs type="person">her Majesty</rs> to change her carriage – he says
               she spoke so kind &amp; has given <measure type="currency">£30</measure> per week to
               the man’s widow. – <persName ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#MrReynolds">Mr
                  Reynolds</persName> enquired so cordially after you – wished he had seen more of
               you – one of the engineers he sent you to was enquiring for you lately – I
                  <unclear>conclude</unclear> about war – So even if the <orgName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#AWC">AWC</orgName> is disbanded – you need not mind –
               &amp; I shall get <rs type="person" ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#MulockBen">my boy</rs>
               safe home – &amp; the war over. – </p>
            <p>Now I haven’t anything more to say – as indeed it isn’t five days since I wrote last
               – But I feel so troubled about your getting no letters that I write again – surely
               some one of them will have reached you. – Goodbye again. – You need never fear being
               forgotten here at home – I will try &amp; get a Lloyd – at all events a paper of some
               sort to send with this. No letters have come from <placeName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#Australia">Australia</placeName> – God bless my <persName
                  ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#MulockBen">Ben</persName> – </p>
            <closer>
               <salute>Your <choice>
                     <abbr>affec</abbr>
                     <expan>affectionate</expan>
                  </choice>
                  <rs type="person" ref="CraikSiteIndex.xml#DMC">Sister</rs> – </salute>
               <lb/>
               <lb/>
               <signed>
                  <persName/>
                  <!-- This letter was not signed -->
               </signed>
               <lb/>
            </closer>
            <postscript>
               <p/>
            </postscript>
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Letter from Dinah Mulock Craik to Benjamin Mulock, September 22 1855 Dinah Mulock Craik Karen Bourrier Dinah Mulock Craik: A Digital Archive University of Calgary Karen Bourrier Transcription July 2020 by Kiana Wong Proofing of transcription August 2020 by Sonia Jarmula TEI encoding July 20 2020 by Kiana Wong Proofing of TEI encoding August 2020 by Sonia Jarmula First digital edition in TEI, date: July 2020. P5. Dinah Mulock Craik: A Digital Archive Calgary, Alberta, Canada 2020

Reproduced by courtesy of the University of California at Los Angeles .

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Dinah Mulock Craik: A Digital Archive University of California at Los Angeles Charles E. Young Research Library Mulock Family Papers 846 Letter from Dinah Mulock Craik to Benjamin Mulock, September 22 1855 Box 1, Folder 8

Our aim in this edition has been to transcribe the content of the letters as accurately as possible without reproducing the physical appearance of the manuscript. Craik’s spelling, punctuation, underlining, superscripts, abbreviations, additions and deletions are retained, except for words which are hyphenated at the end of a line, which we have silently emended. Where Craik uses a non-standard spelling, we have encoded both her spelling and the standard Oxford English Dictionary spelling to facilitate searching. The long s is not encoded.

Sunday Sep September - 22 1855 Greenock My dearest Ben

Yesterday – coming in from Belfast I found your letter of Sep September . 3rd – It grieves me so to think you have had no letters – I have sent you four – (this being No 5 –) all I have posted myself – The first was written either the end of July or the first few days of Augst August – from Lynover – 2nd & 3rd from Pmalder – (2nd went on to Minna who posted it in London) 4th I posted last week in Belfast – You have had Lloyds regularly since I knew you were at Balaklava. – I have addressed all like this letter – as you told me - & each letter has had 3 stamps – each newspaper one (& stamped besides) as they told me at the Post-Office – My 1st letter ought to have met you at Balaklava – you must inquire particularly – Allan made enquiries yesterday of the postmaster here – who gave him the printed form for “missing letters” – but it will do no good for I can’t remember the day & hour I posted them – They must be lying somewhere at Balaklava – Can they have gone to the other branch of the AWCBentsy? – Or perhaps the next mail may have brought them all in a heap – I do earnestly hope so – To think of you not hearing for two months. – Did you fancy Sister was forgetting you – or that I had gone to the other world where there isn’t a post office – which would be indeed the likeliest reason of the two. – Of course I did not write till about three weeks after you sailed – lest if you were not come it might miss you. – I counted about a fortnight for the post – which I see takes 20 days – so if Minna delayed posting letter No 2 – it is just possible it may have reached you after this one of yours was posted – But I fear we must give up No 1 as a hopeless case. However never mind –

it was only one of Sister’s usual – & a note also from May. – The remainder will likely have reached you safe – if you are on the spot to seize the mail – I can’t tell you how much I feel my Ben’s writing so good & regularly – though not a line comes from me – but you must know well that as long as Sister is in this world nothing would keep her from writing – & Minna and Marian the same – if I were out of it. – No one can be surer of the faithfulness of your few belongings & friends than you ought to be. – Your hard work – & the cholera all about – makes me very uneasy – especially as I know getting no letters must have made you feel so dull – & so inclined you to illness – But I trust you are safe in spite of all – & – take all precautions for yourself – If anything of the like happens – never mind however long you may be in getting letters – be sure they are written regularly – with rarely more than a fortnights interval, in this last fortnight I have written thrice. – May & Minna I heard from after I posted the last – they both send love but “can’t find anything to say important enough for one of the takers of Sebastopol” – I dare say they will write next time – They will be so glad of this last – which I send to Lynover tomorrow – Minna & her mama came home yesterday, I believe, from their country cousins – & May & her mother will be at home yesterda tomorrow – For me – I am having my last Sunday in the wee CottageWeirie & I being sitting in the parlour – while Allan is writing his novel in the next room. – Maggie is

away to St Andrews – so the household is diminished to the three – AllanWeirie & Jamie – some day this week I leave – & go direct to the Chambers – who are living in the habitable part of Roslin Castle – It will be pleasanter & better than going to stay in Glasgow – as I am not strong – & the close air would soon pull me down again. – Perhaps I may come back round by Glasgow – & so per Grasmer to Liverpool – I quite like the transit by water – have now made three passages & never been sick at all – have learned to sleep as cosily in a berth as in a bed. – I left the Craiks – the girls starting off magnificent in pink not to Lady Dufferin’s – who by the bye wrote me such a kind note asking me to put off my going a day & come to dinner – but I didn’t – for a Cottage Sunday was never far like a dinner at Clandeboye – & besides I had promised to see Maggie before she left. – So off I came – Annette seeing me to the boat. – Mr Craik took down your address & will send you newspapers when he can. Poor Mrs Craik is I fancy worse – She was very much excited more than once during the week I stayed. – What a terrible thing for Min & the girls! –

Yesterday I read in the Greenock paper – (by-the bye Allan couldn’t send you last Saturday’s Lloyd – there being not one in the town! – but I know May sent it you from London – ) I read Simpson’s dispatch about Sebastopol – I wonder where you were that wonderful Sunday – the Sunday after you were writing to me quietly in your cabin. – Tis a strange world – The repost of the Russians quitting the Crimea has not been confirmed – but I should think they wouldn’t hold on long –

If peace comes – what will they do with the litof? – But you are safe to get on anyhow. – You have put your foot in the ladder & up you’ll climb – I think from what you say that the litof work must be out of harm’s way – for all but sickness – & sickness – please God – you will stand against – unless you are too hard worked – No fear of your falling ill through love of “beer” – I shall long so for your next – with news of Sebastopol – They are still wild about the victory – The Lacin sent £50 to the man who transmitted the telegraph message to Balmoral with the news – Your friend Mr Reynolds has come out to the loyal line – he travelled with the Queen north – & she being too soon at Edin Edinburgh – there were no preparations & he spread his plaid for her to walk on. – There was a man killed close to her carriage – & Mr Reynolds had to go & tell her – & ask her Majesty to change her carriage – he says she spoke so kind & has given £30 per week to the man’s widow. – Mr Reynolds enquired so cordially after you – wished he had seen more of you – one of the engineers he sent you to was enquiring for you lately – I conclude about war – So even if the AWC is disbanded – you need not mind – & I shall get my boy safe home – & the war over. –

Now I haven’t anything more to say – as indeed it isn’t five days since I wrote last – But I feel so troubled about your getting no letters that I write again – surely some one of them will have reached you. – Goodbye again. – You need never fear being forgotten here at home – I will try & get a Lloyd – at all events a paper of some sort to send with this. No letters have come from Australia – God bless my Ben

Your affec affectionate Sister

Toolbox

Themes:

Letter from Dinah Mulock Craik to Benjamin Mulock, September 22 1855 Dinah Mulock Craik Karen Bourrier Dinah Mulock Craik: A Digital Archive University of Calgary Karen Bourrier Transcription July 2020 by Kiana Wong Proofing of transcription August 2020 by Sonia Jarmula TEI encoding July 20 2020 by Kiana Wong Proofing of TEI encoding August 2020 by Sonia Jarmula First digital edition in TEI, date: July 2020. P5. Dinah Mulock Craik: A Digital Archive Calgary, Alberta, Canada 2020

Reproduced by courtesy of the University of California at Los Angeles .

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Dinah Mulock Craik: A Digital Archive University of California at Los Angeles Charles E. Young Research Library Mulock Family Papers 846 Letter from Dinah Mulock Craik to Benjamin Mulock, September 22 1855 Box 1, Folder 8

Our aim in this edition has been to transcribe the content of the letters as accurately as possible without reproducing the physical appearance of the manuscript. Craik’s spelling, punctuation, underlining, superscripts, abbreviations, additions and deletions are retained, except for words which are hyphenated at the end of a line, which we have silently emended. Where Craik uses a non-standard spelling, we have encoded both her spelling and the standard Oxford English Dictionary spelling to facilitate searching. The long s is not encoded.

Sunday Sep September - 22 1855 Greenock My dearest Ben

Yesterday – coming in from Belfast I found your letter of Sep September . 3rd – It grieves me so to think you have had no letters – I have sent you four – (this being No 5 –) all I have posted myself – The first was written either the end of July or the first few days of Augst August – from Lynover – 2nd & 3rd from Pmalder – (2nd went on to Minna who posted it in London) 4th I posted last week in Belfast – You have had Lloyds regularly since I knew you were at Balaklava. – I have addressed all like this letter – as you told me - & each letter has had 3 stamps – each newspaper one (& stamped besides) as they told me at the Post-Office – My 1st letter ought to have met you at Balaklava – you must inquire particularly – Allan made enquiries yesterday of the postmaster here – who gave him the printed form for “missing letters” – but it will do no good for I can’t remember the day & hour I posted them – They must be lying somewhere at Balaklava – Can they have gone to the other branch of the AWCBentsy? – Or perhaps the next mail may have brought them all in a heap – I do earnestly hope so – To think of you not hearing for two months. – Did you fancy Sister was forgetting you – or that I had gone to the other world where there isn’t a post office – which would be indeed the likeliest reason of the two. – Of course I did not write till about three weeks after you sailed – lest if you were not come it might miss you. – I counted about a fortnight for the post – which I see takes 20 days – so if Minna delayed posting letter No 2 – it is just possible it may have reached you after this one of yours was posted – But I fear we must give up No 1 as a hopeless case. However never mind –

it was only one of Sister’s usual – & a note also from May. – The remainder will likely have reached you safe – if you are on the spot to seize the mail – I can’t tell you how much I feel my Ben’s writing so good & regularly – though not a line comes from me – but you must know well that as long as Sister is in this world nothing would keep her from writing – & Minna and Marian the same – if I were out of it. – No one can be surer of the faithfulness of your few belongings & friends than you ought to be. – Your hard work – & the cholera all about – makes me very uneasy – especially as I know getting no letters must have made you feel so dull – & so inclined you to illness – But I trust you are safe in spite of all – & – take all precautions for yourself – If anything of the like happens – never mind however long you may be in getting letters – be sure they are written regularly – with rarely more than a fortnights interval, in this last fortnight I have written thrice. – May & Minna I heard from after I posted the last – they both send love but “can’t find anything to say important enough for one of the takers of Sebastopol” – I dare say they will write next time – They will be so glad of this last – which I send to Lynover tomorrow – Minna & her mama came home yesterday, I believe, from their country cousins – & May & her mother will be at home yesterda tomorrow – For me – I am having my last Sunday in the wee CottageWeirie & I being sitting in the parlour – while Allan is writing his novel in the next room. – Maggie is

away to St Andrews – so the household is diminished to the three – AllanWeirie & Jamie – some day this week I leave – & go direct to the Chambers – who are living in the habitable part of Roslin Castle – It will be pleasanter & better than going to stay in Glasgow – as I am not strong – & the close air would soon pull me down again. – Perhaps I may come back round by Glasgow – & so per Grasmer to Liverpool – I quite like the transit by water – have now made three passages & never been sick at all – have learned to sleep as cosily in a berth as in a bed. – I left the Craiks – the girls starting off magnificent in pink not to Lady Dufferin’s – who by the bye wrote me such a kind note asking me to put off my going a day & come to dinner – but I didn’t – for a Cottage Sunday was never far like a dinner at Clandeboye – & besides I had promised to see Maggie before she left. – So off I came – Annette seeing me to the boat. – Mr Craik took down your address & will send you newspapers when he can. Poor Mrs Craik is I fancy worse – She was very much excited more than once during the week I stayed. – What a terrible thing for Min & the girls! –

Yesterday I read in the Greenock paper – (by-the bye Allan couldn’t send you last Saturday’s Lloyd – there being not one in the town! – but I know May sent it you from London – ) I read Simpson’s dispatch about Sebastopol – I wonder where you were that wonderful Sunday – the Sunday after you were writing to me quietly in your cabin. – Tis a strange world – The repost of the Russians quitting the Crimea has not been confirmed – but I should think they wouldn’t hold on long –

If peace comes – what will they do with the litof? – But you are safe to get on anyhow. – You have put your foot in the ladder & up you’ll climb – I think from what you say that the litof work must be out of harm’s way – for all but sickness – & sickness – please God – you will stand against – unless you are too hard worked – No fear of your falling ill through love of “beer” – I shall long so for your next – with news of Sebastopol – They are still wild about the victory – The Lacin sent £50 to the man who transmitted the telegraph message to Balmoral with the news – Your friend Mr Reynolds has come out to the loyal line – he travelled with the Queen north – & she being too soon at Edin Edinburgh – there were no preparations & he spread his plaid for her to walk on. – There was a man killed close to her carriage – & Mr Reynolds had to go & tell her – & ask her Majesty to change her carriage – he says she spoke so kind & has given £30 per week to the man’s widow. – Mr Reynolds enquired so cordially after you – wished he had seen more of you – one of the engineers he sent you to was enquiring for you lately – I conclude about war – So even if the AWC is disbanded – you need not mind – & I shall get my boy safe home – & the war over. –

Now I haven’t anything more to say – as indeed it isn’t five days since I wrote last – But I feel so troubled about your getting no letters that I write again – surely some one of them will have reached you. – Goodbye again. – You need never fear being forgotten here at home – I will try & get a Lloyd – at all events a paper of some sort to send with this. No letters have come from Australia – God bless my Ben

Your affec affectionate Sister