Vassar, April 28, 1874.

Dear Mother,
The express package 
came [yest] Saturday. I guess I can 
finish the dress when the 
Founder's Day excitement is over 
I suppose you did not receive 
my letters and the sacque for 
Minnie Gavitt last week, as 
they were detained at College 
until Saturday noon. You know 
we put our letters through 
narrow slits in the wall, one 
on each corridor, opening
into a sort of a perpendicular 
tunnel going down into the 
office. By some means or 
other this passage was
stopped up on Tuesday 
between the 2nd and 3rd 
corridors, and it was not 
found out until Saturday. 
Such a thing never happened 
before and I certainly hope 
it never will again. About 400 
letters ware detained. It was
announced Saturday at tea 
and I guess the telegraph 
had to work that night. The 
powers that be say no one was 
to blame but it seems to me
there must have bean a 
remarkable amount of 
ignorance somewhere, if the 
people in the office did not 
discover for three days that 
the mail was little more 
than half as large as usual. 
The Mis. came out Saturday.
People say it is the best 
number this year. 
I will send Mrs. Blaisdell a copy 
now and then send yours 
when you get home again. 
By the way, I want Mrs. Harris' 
address as soon as can be. 
I forgot to copy it from
her letter, and I have had 
eight pages waiting a week. 
I have no copies of "Trig." 
Only a few were printed, 
one or two hundred and they were
disposed of long ago. 
Thank May for her cushion. 
It Is very pretty.
Tomorrow is Founder's Day. 
Of course the College will 
be crowded. For a week or 
two the girls have been 
making evergreens to trim 
the corridors. These halls are 
so immense that it is a
vast amount of work to trim 
them and costs any 
amount from $30. up.
Edward Everett Hale is to be 
the orator of the day. I am very 
glad to have a chance to 
hear him. I am very much 
afraid Eva Bums will not 
come. Her invitation was 
among the letters that were 
detained so long. Of course 
we have a holiday tomorrow, 
and the girls are trying to 
get another for Thursday. 
I certainly hope success will 
come. Work for the next 
year's Mis. will be rather 
harder than this year. Kate
wants me to take the exchange 
department. It makes very
little show, but it is an 
immense amount of work, 
rendering it necessary to 
read, or at least skim over, 
all the college papers and 
magazines on our exchange 
list, which is very long. I have 
a pile of them for April 
only, and that is a foot 
high now. What will it be 
in two months more? 
It will take lots of time but 
be much nicer than this year, 
although of course, the responsibility 
of Kate Mc Bain and 
myself will be far heavier
than this year, as the three 
new eds. know nothing about 
it. I wonder if I have 
ever told you about
Miss Woodman. - She is 
one of the Lewiston girls. 
She is six or seven years 
elder than I am, but 
somehow I have seen a 
great deal of her. She knows 
Mr. Bowen well. Well in 
vacation I had quite a bad 
sore throat for a day or two. 
Miss W. got news of it and 
came down with a plate, 
on which was a glass of 
salt and water accompanied 
by a spoon. On the glass was 
a sheet of very white paper.
She asked if I had any 
flannel. I said yes, and 
as she seemed rather to 
doubt my veracity, or at 
best - certainty, I found 
some and showed it to 
her. She said that was
half cotton. Pretty soon she 
came down again with a great 
piece of very woolly flannel. 
That was the last of it then, 
except that in class she 
kept the windows shut for 
a day or two. Sunday night 
I went to call on her. She 
said she had a sore throat 
herself a little while ago 
and found that she needed much 
more flannel than she gave 
me, so she had been worrying 
ever since about, it, fearing 
that I wore the flannel 
that night and took more 
cold. I assured her that 
it had been sufficient, 
said there was so much 
of it that my neck felt 
all night as if it had 
been broken and was
splintered up with a very
stiff splint. She seemed 
comforted after a while. 
Wasn't it queer and nice 
of her? It almost pays to be a 
little sick here, the girls are 
so kind. I must stop so this 
can go in this mail. Write.
Eva M. Tappan.

Tell May a cap would wear 
her hair off. Tell her to 
braid it in one loose braid 
and not tie the end tightly. 
That will be much better.
E.