LETTER: Autograph letter signed Emmeline (Trotter?), to her sister Miss Rebecca Trotter in Philadelphia.
[Trotter?], Emmeline. autograph letter, signed “emmeline,” to
her sister miss rebecca trotter in philadelphia. Wilmington
[Delaware], April 18th, 1827. 2-1/2 pages on an unlined bifolium, stampless
cover.
A fine letter, evidently from a young Quaker woman away at school to her sister
in Philadelphia, with news of a pupil arriving at the school from Scotland, her
progress on painting screens, and her travails in astronomy: “Two weeks since we
were extremely gratified with a view of Saturn through the telescope, its ring was
in a very favourable position for observation. To some it appeared nearly three feet
in length, but to my very limited view not more than half and inch, which was truly
provoking! I looked at it several times and tried to imagine it larger but it was all
in vain, it still continued the same size. It was [a] splendid sight notwithstanding.”
Emmeline also mentions something of a writer’s circle every Seventh Day, where the
students gather to have original essays read and critiqued by the instructor—“some
are pretty severely handled but I think it will be very improving.” In a neat, legible
hand. Hole from sealing wax (not touching any text); some light toning; in very
good condition.
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