Vassar, April 20, 1874
Dear Mother,
Yours came this
morn. The books came 
last Friday. What does 
it mean? Grandmother 
Bolton's money would
not have bought more 
than one volume. How 
much were they? Did you 
get them? They were lovely, 
but they must have cost 
ever so much. Mr. [S ] sent 
a postal Thursday saying 
that he had forwarded 
8 vol. Hawthorne's works by
express. I could not imagine
what he meant.
Yesterday was such a lovely 
day. Some of us went to 
Cedar Ridge again for a 
walk. It is a lovely place 
for Sunday afternoons,
only rather too far. Some 
of the teachers were there 
too. We found quantities 
of hepaticas right along 
by the road without any 
climbing at all.
Lou wants me to visit her 
next summer. It begins 
to be very pleasant here. 
The grass is growing green. 
I had a little stye in my 
eye Saturday, and I did 
not want to read any. 
Kate Maltby read my
Logic lessons over to me, and 
another girl insisted 
upon reading Geology, 
although she does not 
have it herself. Wasn't 
it lovely of them? It is 
almost worth while to 
be a little sick here to see 
how very nice the girls 
are. I found a rock of 
fossils the other day, rather 
a rare thing here.
We have, that is Kate and 
I, been in the cabinets 
looking up fossils. There
is the fossil jaw of an 
ancient frog two feet or 
more each way. It is
triangular In form. 
What an immense 
amount of workthat frog must have 
had. Rumor says that 
the riding school is to 
be made over and 
either the cabinets or the 
art gallery will be moved 
there next year to give 
more room in the 
main building. They 
will build houses for 
the profs, sometime. I only 
wish they would do it, so 
we could all have single 
rooms next year. Last 
year all the girls who drew 
single rooms gave them 
up if they felt wall enough 
to have a double, so I 
presume I may possibly 
get one that way, but 
it would be horrid to 
take a single room
from any girl although 
you know she did not care 
nearly so much about it 
as you did. $5. came in 
your last. The needlebook 
and lace came all right. I 
forgot to say anything 
about them. Hope Anna's 
baby will have eyes like Mr. 
Bowdish's. They are handsome. 
The silk came but she used 
some alpaca or something 
that she had. It is a sort 
of basque waist, cut up 
behind. It is trimmed 
with silk around the 
bottom and sleeves. 
She charged $2. for making 
and [found] silk and 
buttons. It is not very 
pretty but will do a
while very wall. I think she 
is very reasonable and 
she seems anxious to please. 
It is funny how much
power the name, Vassar, 
has in town. All the 
stores are so anxious for 
the V.C. customer. Before 
vacation I had a pair 
of very old boots that I 
thought might be mended 
and do to wear on long 
walks. I took them to a 
shoe dealer in town. He 
looked at it half-
contemptuously a minute
saying something about 
"drawing the hole together" 
and it's being hardly
worth fixing. Suddenly an
an idea seemed to strike him. 
He started, and asked if 
we were from the college. We 
said yes. Thea he took up the 
hoot, said he presumed 
the other was good and he 
could fix this very nicely. 
He told me how he meant to 
do it and how well it would 
look. I said I wanted it as 
soon as possible. He said 
his man would be in soon 
and he should go to work 
right away and might 
have it in half an hour. 
I came in in twenty minutes, 
and it was mended very
nicely. Besides he only charged 
half what others would. I 
thought something was up. 
I was right. He said "Do you 
buy your boots of Gilder sleeve?" 
Anna said yes. (G. comes
to the college twice a month
with a stock of boots, so all 
the girls buy of him.) Then 
he ran down G. fearfully, 
said he was no shoemaker, 
had no idea how to select 
shoes; If we would come to 
him he would make it 
worth our while. I priced
some of his boots and 
they did seem cheap. But 
it is funny how they work 
for Vassar custom. Why a 
dealer in P. will run all 
over town for half a yard 
of cambric for a Vassar girl. 
They are paid for it too, for
if one goes to a place, many 
are sure to follow and few 
of the girls mind what price 
they pay. Do go to Mrs. Blaisdell's 
If you possibly can. Take 
some little sewing with 
you let the rest wait. I can sew when I
come home in the summer. I don't 
see what will be best for 
next summer, to do 
and go, I mean. It
would be expensive to 
stay in Prov. nearly 
as much so as to board
away in some places. 
I don't know whether Ed is 
teaching or not. Presume 
so. I wrote him the other 
day, and directed it to 
Glover. He said in his last 
he had net heard from you for a 
long time. On the other side 
is a plan of my room 
and parlor.
Eva M. Tappan

[Back of last sheet of original letter contains plan of Parlor 67]