Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 3 (1876 - 1882)

Lt 30, 1877

Walling, Addie; Walling, May

Healdsburg, California

October 27, 1877

Previously unpublished.

Dear Children, Addie and May:

I would love to see you this morning, but you are a great distance from me. We miss you. But we hope you will be good girls. If you see children at school pert and forward, do not imitate them. We want you to think much more of your behavior than of your dress. We mean to dress you comfortably and modestly and not extravagantly. We hope you will seek to overcome every defect in your characters. While Addie is kind and tender of May, we hope May will not take advantage of this kindness and make Addie her waiter. May must seek to help herself to keep her own things where she will know where to find them without depending upon Addie to look them up. We hope you will both look over your clothing every week and see what articles need buttons on them and what needs mending and do these little jobs yourselves. You can, by being caretaking, save much work that others will have to do if you are careless. You are none too young to be helpful in every way that you can. 3LtMs, Lt 30, 1877, par. 1

We want you both to be affectionate. We hope May will cultivate kindness and unselfishness. Now is the time at your age to form correct habits. If you neglect to do so now, you will grow up with wrong habits confirmed upon you that will perhaps never leave you. But now, my dear children, you may form correct habits. Do not use slang phrases, but let your words be correctly spoken. We want you to do all that is in your power to be right. Be lovely in temper and correct in deportment, then go to your Saviour and ask Him to do that work for you which you cannot do for yourselves. Ask the dear Saviour to give you His Holy Spirit to help you in all your efforts to be good and to do good. Jesus loves you better than we can. We hope you will love Jesus and be little lambs of His fold. 3LtMs, Lt 30, 1877, par. 2

From your aunt. 3LtMs, Lt 30, 1877, par. 3