Mrs. D. L. Child [Lydia Maria Child] ALS to Unidentified, April 18, 1831

Boston. April 18th 1831.

My dear Madam,

I will answer the last part of your letter
first, because it particularly interests my feelings. You did
not request me to insert an obituary notice of your daughter;
you merely suggested the general propriety of such notices;
of course no personal allusion was intended by the blind par-
-tiality of parents. Your feelings are natural and honorable to
a mother; and I am the last person on earth not to sympathize
with them and respect them. I likewise think obituary no-
tices of children would be extremely salutary to my young
readers; but I dare not begin the custom. I am willing to
give offence, where a question of principle and duty is concerned;
but I would rather avoid placing myself in a situation where
I should be almost sure to give an additional pang to some
wounded heart.

With regard to the school - The Spring quarter
begins the 1st day of May. There is a vacation at present.
The uniform is very simple - Merely a straw bonnet of any
kind, trimmed with blue, and light blue calico gowns of any
figure you choose. White gowns, or any light gowns a young
lady may happen to have, are occasionally worn; it is merely
preferred that all dresses should be plain and simple.

I do not know that I said anything about religious
opinions in my last; and you may wish to know something
on this subject. Miss Prescott is a Calvinist, but a very mild
one, - she makes no attempt to instil particular opinions into
her pupils - being a woman of religious feelings, her influence is