Seward House, Badsey, Evesham
Nov 26th /03
My dear Kath
Thank you very much for your share of the fur and muff, they are a very pretty brown and beautifully soft, I like them very much. Thank you also for your long letter which I am sure you must have found difficult to get written with all your work and other things, you seem very full up this term, I am glad you seem to be having a nice one. I expect you will like a list of my presents and letters on my birthday, I did have such a lovely lot, and such nice ones. Besides your letter I heard from Jack, May, Dip, Boo, Auntie Fanny, Auntie Polly, Aunt Lottie, Mary, Blanche Gepp, Mrs Idiens, Maggie Wood and Edith Young. The latter said she intended sending me some little thing soon. Father and Mother gave me such a nice gold bracelet, very prettily worked, and set with pearls, I do like it. Little Ba gave me some local views, it was her own idea “because she thought Detty liked pictures” and it had been a secret since last holidays, when Boo bought them, she kept her secret well. Auntie Fanny sent me a lovely chain and pendant, the former is gold set with turquoise and the latter turquoise and pearls, it can also be used as a brooch also. I do think it was kind of her to give me so good a present. I had another chain and pendant from Mary, the chain a sweet little gold one, and the pendant gold set with pearls in the form of rays from a turquoise in the centre. Wasn’t I lucky to get such nice jewellery. I shall want to show them to you come home. Auntie Polly sent me £1 to buy something I liked with, Anna gave me an eiderdown, I received it about a month ago, it is turkey red, very soft and warm, a good large one. She wrote at the time of sending it so that was really another birthday letter. Norah gave me a card-case, Aunt Lizzie a silk handkerchief, Mrs Idiens and Daisy a silver-mounted frame, cabinet size, and the Vicarage people sent me 3 plays of Shakespeare’s, “Hamlet”, “Macbeth” and “The Tempest” in separate volumes, in such a nice little edition known as “The Temple Shakespeare”, wasn’t it kind of them! I had Daisy Idiens and Evelyn Hands to tea on Saturday to keep my birthday, otherwise I did much the same as usual on Saturdays, but I enjoyed my birthday all the same. Aunt Lottie’s letter was truly characteristic, she was sending an old black and white blouse of hers which she thought with alteration I might like (and her letter was all about clothes and such things, and just at the end she wished me many happy returns of the day. I am glad you managed to go and see Hildegarde, I must answer her last letter soon, I also must write to Mrs Ashwin, she wrote to me some time ago. This is the eighth letter I have written already this week! I think you will have to content yourself with a black coat etc, but with such a nice sum as £4, you can get really nice things, which will come in useful for some time to come. For a guinea or 25/- you could get a lovely jacket, and 15/- or £1 would get a really good skirt then that would leave heaps for a good blouse, gloves etc, or anything else you might want. I am glad you are going to see Miss Watson at the end of the term, you will enjoy a few days with her. Hockey goes rather better, the weather has been nicer lately, I did not go this week. Daisy and I always go to Evesham together on Monday, I enjoy going with her. “Hiawatha” is getting on, I like it immensely. It is post-time, so I must stop.
Much love and many thanks again for your present and letter.
From
Your loving sister
Ethel N Sladden
