17 October 1897 Letter from James M. Smith, Sr. to Eva Slaton - of Union Parish Louisiana Submitted by: Dr. Robert S. Hendrick Date of Submission: October 2009 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ ================================================================================== ================================================================================== 17 October 1897 Letter from James M. Smith, Sr. to Eva Slaton Materials from the Personal Collection of Dr. Robert S. Hendrick, Jr. Transcribed and submitted by Robert S. Hendrick, Jr. Smith became the Union Parish Clerk of Court in 1879 and served until 1900, when he resigned to serve as a Louisiana State Senator. Smith had courted Slaton prior to his marriage to May Olive Kidd in 1885, but May had died in February 1895. Smith and Slaton married in January 1898. ================================================================================== ================================================================================== James M. Smith Sr. to Eva Slaton (Addressed to Miss Eva M. Slaton) ================================================================================== ================================================================================== Jas. M. Smith, Clerk Edward Everett, Deputy Clerk’s Office Parish of Union Farmerville, LA Oct 17, 1897 My Darling Little Girl: Today is another beautiful Sabbath and after going to Sunday School this morning and singing at 3:30 this evening and then taking a delightful drive, I feel I must spend a portion of the evening, as is my custom, in writing to the dearest, sweetest and best little girl on Earth. This darling is I feel, one of my most sacred duties and gives me more pleasure than anything else, save seeing my precious little girl face to face and talking over our hopes and prospects for a happy future and union, when I can ever hear the music of your sweet voice and “bask in the sunshine” of your pure, loving, angelic influence. Then darling my cup of happiness will be full and I will be the most contented & happiest of men. I hope that my little darling will now rapidly improve and the day is near at hand when I shall have her with me, then life for me will begin anew and I’ll feel and believe that I have the sweetest, loveliest & best wife of any man. Your dear, sweet little letter came Friday darling and you don’t know how happy I felt when I read it. It was good of you to write me such a sweet, loving, cheering letter & so soon after I left, although it was several days coming on account of the in the mails, which are unavoidable. I am so sorry I had such a look of disappointment when with you, but you know darling I just couldn’t help it I love you so dearly and feel such an interest in your early recovery; then too, I didn’t get to see you but a short while & of course that was a great disappointment. I did feel a little blue when I found you sick & not so you could see me that evening, but I felt much better after seeing you & finding it nothing of a serious nature. Yes darling I know you are just as candid with me in all things as can be & no boy has more implicit confidence in his little girl- in everything she says & does than I have in you. You are mistaken about my being alarmed about your condition, for I am not, for I believe everything you tell me. I am only anxious for your early recovery so I can have you with me. You must pardon my impatience, for I love you so intensely and devotedly I just can’t help being discontented & unhappy when out of your presence, hence you must attribute my impatience & interest in your rapid recovery to an over abundance of love & devotion & great desire to have my little angel with me. I am so glad you were able to leave your room after I left. Of course my visit must have cured you, so you see if you were with me all the time the probability is you would soon recover and enjoy good health. Yes, the rain overtook Judge B- & I about twelve miles from Ruston, but we didn’t get wet as we had curtains & rubber lap cloth. We were glad it rained as it made our trip more pleasant- no rain & the atmosphere cooler. It has been very pleasant since. We had a very busy week in Court last week, but will not be so busy this week. Our early marriage is rumored here as well as in Ruston. It is amusing to hear about the different dates fixed. I heard here that we were to have married on the 12th & then I hear it is either the last of this month or sometime next. Dr. Jameson told me yesterday that my sister & cousin (Mrs. Wharton [??]) would be here soon to arrange for my early marriage. Well let them talk & enjoy it. They not know it “cuts no figure” with us anyway. Since my return home our paper says, “It seems from Mr. James M. Smith’s frequent visits to Ruston there must be so great attraction there for him.” Darling I think he is about right about it, don’t you? Yes I can easily guess the early marriage you refer to- Grayson G- & Miss Clara B-. What is the date? Billie, Belle (??) & the children will spend this week with us. I will deliver your message to them & also tell them how you played off on me my last visit. I saw Mr. Price on my last visit but he didn’t mention you to me. I reckon he does get off some good things on Mr. P- & myself- would enjoy hearing them. I hear there is yellow fever at Shreveport & am alarmed when I think of Emmet & sister being there. Emmet wrote last Friday that there was no fever there. I wrote sister several weeks ago for them to come home, as I was fearful it would get there. The Shreveport papers claim that it is only dengue fever, but I fear it will develop yellow fever as it did in Ocean Springs. Take good care of your sweet self-darling & write me soon another long love letter. With best love & many ”sweet goodbyes”. I am Yours Devotedly, James ########################################################################################## File posted at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/union/history/letters/smith/1897-10-17.txt