Mary Leslie Newton describes the improvement of her feet, but the development of a swelling in her hand that is making her handwriting poor. She discusses the weather and an auction at a fancy goods store, from which her brother purchased a fine china cup and a coffee pot.
Mary Leslie Newton writes a humorous letter to her father, making up details to supplant the lack of news. She describes her own printing responsibilities, and asks if she might "set up as a boy" once her brother Don leaves home.
Mary Leslie Newton notes that she cannot think of any news to tell her father, but briefly describes Sunday school, local illnesses, her brother Don's fall through a cellar window, and asks how much her father thinks it will cost to send him a copy of Harper's.
Mary Leslie Newton notes her upcoming birthday, the recovery of her family members, a recent funeral, and the possibility of a visit to her father in Ooltewah. A humorous aside written down the page describes a new member of the community.
This undated letter is likely from 1891, the year the Newton family first had their typewriter. Mary Leslie Newton recounts some Christmas events and notes that she misses her father.
Mary Leslie Newton provides meta-commentary on the letter itself and other letters she is writing, social calls, and changes at the church. She requests that her father pay them a visit. The letter concludes with a small handwritten note when she ran out of space for the typewriter.
Mary Leslie Newton discusses her recent examinations in grammar, history, and geography, humorously describing the kinds of questions she had to answer. She describes her drawing lessons and mentions some social calls. She requests, in a postscript, that her father visit.
Mary Leslie Newton describes the weather and her Latin examination. She recounts the death of the family cat Pooh-bah. She describes her visit to the reading room, her upcoming commencement, and her search for a job, along with the expectation that she would take the teacher's examination over theā¦