Augusta County: Mary Anna Sibert to David H. Evans,
February 12, 1868
Summary:
Sibert reports on her father's steel business and the possibility that Evans will
be asked to accompany him on an extended business trip to Baltimore.
Feb 12, 1868
Mt Solon Va.
My Dear David
Your welcome & very dear letter of Tuesday has been rec'd & read with thankful pleasure God was
merciful to guide you safely home over the frozen roads. I had no idea they were
so slippery or I should have been miserable about you, & pa he reached
home in good time without any accident. Pa & Ma took Ada to Bridgewater
this morning. Ada will remain with Rennie some time. Pa, & Ma will if
they live return tomorrow Evening. I am left as housekeeper. Hattie &
myself are the only inmates of home this Evening Lola, & Lula have gone
skating. Hamie is at school so you see I am left almost desolate how I wish you
were with me now then I should not feel so lonely, & deserted I missed
you so much all day Monday I felt restless like I wanted something to add to my
happiness which I could not find or get in my home. it was you I wanted but
alas! I could not have you whom I love so truly & tenderly that pleasure
is not often mine to have you near me only
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Every [illeg.]
heavily upon my heart when we are separated.
Pa rec'd a letter from Mr. Harris last night he
wants pa to come on directly to Baltimore & make steel he has a charcoal
Furnace for pa & says he can procure any amount of money for papa. he
calls pa "Dear Sibert" pa
said he would go to Baltimore & put the furnace in blast if he lives
& then return home & would like for Magnus or David Sibert to go
& attend to the business for him as he will have to be else where. Pa said he would like to send you if you
would go, as he knows that neither Magnus or David would be willing to leave
thier homes for so long a time, & would not
like to be absent from thier
wives, & you have neither home or wife to
leave. but I say you have one true & loving heart to part from one who
loves you just as dearly & devotedly as if I were your wife it would be
just as bitter for me to give you up for months as it would be for Ella,
& Rennie to give up thier husbands, but for
your future prosperity & that of my dear papa I would ask God's
blessings upon your dear head & heart & let you go for I would
know tho' far away that you would still love me
& that I would never cease to love & think of you. it seems hard
to me not to see
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you oftener then two weeks
& were you to go to Baltimore & I not see you for
[unclear: month] I don't know how I could live contentedly with only the
hope of seeing you some day far in the future. there would not be much joy in
waiting ever hopefully. Pa will talk to you on the subject. I am truly delighted
to hear you are coming down to stay several days. wish you could stay a month or
a year with me well I wish you could be with me always & that we did not
have to part from each other. I hope that bright & sweet time of our
lives is not far off when we can be with Each other always. How much I would
love to see your dear dear face to day. I want to see
you more then my pen can tell. I will try &
imagine you are down stairs. no, I can't imagine any such thing, for you are not
Oh I do wish you were. I wish you could see pa eat cake, & custard. he
tells ma she is too good to him when he leaves home he misses her wifely love,
& thoughtfulness for him. I know pa does too. I hope he can soon stay at
his own fireside all the time Hattie has been singing, "What is home without a
Mother." My heart echoes the words [illeg.] "What indeed is home without
a Mother" under the
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[illeg.] be with a dear good, & [illeg.] husband [deleted: ] says is much better & happier I think it must indeed be
a blessed joy-- a joy which Every true & devoted wife should appreciate
& thank God for giving her so dear so sacred & holy a gift as a
beloved, & loving husband. to woman it is her greatest treasure in this
life.
I wish you were here to see my house keeping I would give you good cooked eating I think. I want to see your dear David. Oh if I could only feel sure that I could see you to night I would be so glad, & happy. I love you so fervently devotedly & entirely that I only am happy when I know you are near me so I can see your dear face & hear you talk, & even your silence is dear to me when I can see that you are indeed near me. Yes I love you with true & unchanging devotion. I love to know & feel that you dearer to my heart then all the world with its teeming people, & wealth & were you taken from me life would be dark, void, & desolate I feel just as I write it does seem that my heart would break if you were taken from my love.
I must close now, & get supper. Wish you could be here to eat with us. Write to me soon I love to read your dear, & truthful letters I have them all by memory I read them so often. I love you more dearly then all else on Earth. My heart, its love, & thoughts are all entirely yours, & yours only while we both live. Love me, as I love you & that will be with more then words can ever fully Express. God bless, & guide you always is the daily prayer of my heart. Goodnight. I send a loving kiss to you. Hamie sends thanks for the tobacco sends [unclear: his] love to you & says come down soon he wants to see you. My love is thine only.
Yours
Mollie Sibert
