New York Sept. 17^th 1833
My dear Sister Frances
I am come to enquire after
your widow-hood, and the health of the darling little pets,
as also to transact a little business matter. Well
I hope you are happy in the society of our much loved
Mother, We ^are^ certainly highly favoured children, sister, for
I know from observation there are few such mothers as
ours. We should have been very glad if she could have given
us all her society this summer, still we felt ^that^ she
ought to embrace the only time which may even be
offered her, to visit Cornelia and surely it would have
been extreme ^ly^ selfishness in us, to have wished her to
delay her visit to Auburn for a single day. No I know
too well, what my feelings are when Jen. is absent, and
were I seperated from him now as you are from
Henry, after our dear children, his Mother next would
be dearest to me—How gratifying to mother to be-
come acquainted with all her grand children, Cornelia
and I are quite jealous we know Augustus and Fred.
will merit most of their grand mama’s affection, but
we wish her to love ours likewise.—Dear old
Grand Ma how her black eyes have sparkeled while
she has dwelt with love and gratitude upon the good
properties of her grandson, to his devoted mother
Tomorrow Augustus will be with you, I know you
love him Fanny, and I hope he is worthy of your affection, but
please do not tell him any-thing that will feed vanity.

My dear Sister- There seems to be a blank
page here, inviting my pen to scratch it
over so that it may be in the fashion
and I have commenced writing upon it
still I am unwilling to admit that to
be the inducement for writing.— It occurred
to me as I commenced that I ought to
say to you that nothing further reaches
us from our friends abroad: and from this
I infer that they are on their way home.
Indeed I am all the while looking for them
and though I fear they have curtailed their
observation of many a thing that would
have been agreeable & must trust that you
& dear mother will think she has not
had full time for a visit at Auburn, I
shall still rejoice to see them & give them
a hearty welcome home. Heretofore when ab
sent from friends & those I love, I have left
them behind, at home, in peace & safely; I have
always thought of them as out of danger & in
the enjoyment of ordinary comfort- but now
that Father & Henry are away- where perils
await them- among strangers, posting on
from place to place we know not where,
my mind has been singularly exercised &
my sympathies & affections excited in a way
new & strange to my bosom. a thousand times
have I forayed to the Father of Mercies that
He would preserve them & restore Henry to you

[left Margin] and Father to the anxious bosom of his consort & both of them
to us all.- The Lord preserve you to their return
B.J. Seward

Now to business. We have just received a dear long letter
from some dear friends in Illinois- these friends have sac-
rificed their homes, the comforts and privileges of the land
we inhabit, and their friends which are dearer than all
other comforts: to go into the vally of the Mississippi to labour
for the promotion of good. They have now been two
years in Ill. and after viewing the state of things, they have
come to the conclusion (the same as we did before we left
the West) that something must be done to elevate the female
charicter. Ignorant and degraded as are the males, the
females are quite their inferiors— The men have advan-
tages which our sex do not: they go from home: sometimes
their business calls them to St Louis, and often to county
towns, where they necessarily mingle with those who are
intelligent and educated; and this you will perceive a
marked difference betwixt the sexes. Now what our dear
friends Mrs. Brooks, Mrs. Baldwin and Mrs. Jenney want, is to establish
female schools, and gather in country girls, and educate them sufficient-
ly, to become teachers of country children—and in order to do it
with facility, they have written to us to procure Holbrooks Phil-
osophical and Chemical sets, with Geometricals, Arithma-
tic and Geological specimens from the school set. We
are to solicit the assistance of our friends to do this, the whole
apparatus will cost one hundred dollars—And now dear sister,
since Providence has dealt so bountifully by you, in giving you
so abundantly of the good things of this life, have you not a small
Bill you would send us to help us onward in this good cause?
Our Heavenly Father will reward you: and Your Brother and
sister together with their Ill. friends will thank you
Marcia

I ought to have said that Marcia & I
have much confidence that the school
apparatus spoken of within, will prove a bless
ing to the female sex in Illinois & be safely
& sacredly preserved & appropriated to the
use proposed.—Those good women, deserve
I think, the sympathies & support of the friends
of females every where.
Mrs Wm H Seward
Auburn
New York
NEW YORK SEPT 18 Marcia
1833.