Letter from Louisa Cook Walters to her sister Emma

Placerville [Idaho]
June 15th, 1865

My Dear Sister Emma,

Your letter dated May 11 came to hand yesterday, and found us in that kind of halfway state between sick and well, with the exception of Mr. Walters, whose health is quite good. Mary has the whooping cough and today is quite sick with a fever. She has coughed about four weeks and lately she has no appetite, and if she eats anything she cannot keep it on her stomach, so that she is getting quite weak. Nearly all the children in town have it, and some of the grown folks, too. I caught a cold five or six weeks ago, and now I am coughing as hard as ever I did in the States, just from sympathy with the others. I think barking must be contagious, for I cannot hear a child cough without having a real time of it myself. You wanted to know if that deep snow was gone yet. Yes, the old snow is gone except in the tops of the mountains, which are not far off, but if you had been here yesterday morning you could have seen some that was "bran new" and fresh. The day was cold and real wintery, but today the weather has changed and the air is warm and quite like our June weather at home. If I do not get better of my cough, Mr. W. says I will have to take a trip to the valley, where the climate is warmer. The air is so light here, so high up in the mountains, that I do not believe it is good for the lungs to stay here too long.

Well, Emma, I am real glad you have got a good husband and I hope you may long live to enjoy each others society and to be a comfort to each other. I believe the married life is the happiest or the most miserable way of living and I believe that I know by experience the truth of this in its fullest sense. I think Mr. Walters has but few equals and it is my greatest pleasure to anticipate his wishes and to make our home cheerful and inviting as possible and I know it is fully appreciated by him, and so far, I think there are but few happier families than ours has been and I hope will be as long as we both live. But Emma, I think I have the advantage of you in one thing. My husband is an active Bible Christian, and though he is my superior in the Christian graces, yet my tastes and his are perfectly agreed in this matter, and we are trying to go hand in hand in the narrow road that leads to life eternal. You, too have a Christian husband, and O Emma, do you not think that now is a good time to choose your father's God for your God? I do not know how you feel on this subject. Perhaps I shall offend you, I do not wish to; I only wish to entreat you to choose now that better part which cannot be taken from you. Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and all things shall be added unto you.

Amos is interested in the Sabbath School too, is he not? Mr. Walters has been superintending the Sabbath School here for two years. He makes it a very interesting one. He has his own way of managing the school and the children think there never was such a man before and I think they are about right.

Tell Mrs. Johnson that I am much obliged for that little photograph. I think it looks like the other children. I would like to send ours, but there is no artist in the country. There has been one at Bannock City, 12 miles from here, through the winter, but the whole town and everything in it was destroyed by fire about two weeks ago. They charged 12 dollars per doz. for them.

I must tell you that Mr. Walters has been buying a new house this spring. We have rented a house since we were married, until last Monday, when we moved into a house of our own, and for want of something better to write about, I will describe it to you. It stands with the end to the street, with a front door and one large window. The front room is about twelve by fifteen, I guess. Back of this is a sitting room with a nice fire place and back of this is the kitchen. There are two cupboards, one open and the other a real nice close cupboard and a sink with a tin spout to carry off the water to a ditch some distance from the back of the house. The rooms are all lined and papered and altogether I do not think there is a nicer house in town, although there are many larger ones. Well, I must close for I am owing a letter to Ma and will try to write to her tonight. I am getting quite negligent about writing to everyone but Ma, but I think it my duty to write to her, whether I have time to write very much or not.

I like the silk you sent me very much. The floss is 50 cts here & the silk two dollars. They have brought some in this spring. I think it a very good way to get little notions, only it takes a good while. I sent to Godey's in Phil. for needles and sent a dollar about the time I sent for the silk to you. About a month ago I got an envelope with ten papers of needles from them. The same needles would have cost me five dollars here. Bye and bye I am going to send to you for a collar. The plainest worked ones here are three dollars apiece. Collars & cuffs five dollars a set. Mary sends her love to you and says you must not get jealous, for Aunt Sarah hasn't got anyone to get things for her as you have.

Give my love to Amos. Tell him I wish you both very much happiness. Mr. Walters joins me in good wishes.

Write to us often & soon.
Your affect. sister,
Louisa Walters

[In margins]
Tell my new brother if he will write to me I will answer his letter with a great deal of pleasure. Emma, you spoke about some new songs. If you have anything new, Mr. W. is a good singer and he would like it very much, but if you cannot get the notes within two weeks after it first comes out, we will have it here as soon as you could send it. "Just Before the Battle" was worn as near threadbare here last fall as any such song could be. We had a splendid Glee Club here this winter, which Mr. W. belonged to. They had a good many new pieces of music, "Brave Boys are They", "Rally Round the Flag", "That's What's the Matter", "The Dying Soldier", "Brothers at the Door", and I don't know how many others. "Gone to the War" was another very pretty one and was very much sung. We are in a fast country.