address just
as soon as we get there. The doctor thinks I ought to take the baby
away from town, so I am going to the boarding-house I wrote you about.
Oliver will come down every evening--it's only an hour's trip.

I am so tired from packing that I can't write any more.

Lovingly,
VIRGINIA.

* * * * *

MATOACA CITY. September 15, 1886.
DEAREST MOTHER:

Here we are back again in our home, and I was never so thankful in my
life to get away from any place. I wrote you how dreadfully inconvenient
it was, but it would take pages to tell you all of my experiences in the
last few days. Such people you never saw in your life! And the food got
so uneatable that I lived on crackers for the last fortnight.
Fortunately, I was still nursing the baby, but the doctor has just told
me that I must stop. I am so distressed about it. Do you think it will
go hard with her after the first year? She is as fat and well as she can
be now, but I live in hourly terror of her getting sick. If anything
should happen to her, I believe it would kill me.

Oliver sends love. He is working very hard at the office now, and he
hates it.

Your loving
VIRGINIA.

I forgot to tell you that Mrs. Midden has found me such a nice servant.
She is a very young coloured girl, but looks so kind and capable, and
says she is perfectly devoted to children. Her name is Marthy, and I
feel that she's going to be a great comfort to me.

* * * * *

MATOACA CITY. October 12, 1886.
MY DARLING MOTHER:

I was overjoyed to find your letter in the hall when I came out from
breakfast. Has it really been two weeks since I wrote to you? That seems
dreadful, but the days go by so fast that I hardly realize how long it
is between my letters.

We are all well, and Marthy has become the greatest help to me. Of
course, I don't let her do anything for the baby, but she is so careful
and trustworthy that I am going to try having her take out the carriage
in the morning. At first I shan't let her go off the block, so that I
can have my eye on her all the time. Little Lucy took a fancy to her at
once, and really enjoys playing with her. This makes it possible for me
to do a little sewing, and I am working hard trying to make over one or
two of my dresses. Oliver wants me to have a dressmaker do it, but we
have so many extra expenses all the time that I don't feel we can afford
t