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.