Tuesday Eve, Feb 24th /63
  Des Moines, Iowa
  Dear Husband,
  I have just received your precious letter no 18, Feb 4, 5 & 6th.  O! I was so glad to hear from you.  I had been washing very hard all day, & Will forgot to go to the P.O. at noon, so I had to wait 'til night, as it was too wet for the children to go down town, it was nearly dark and I was lying on the sofa thinking of you & how long it had been since your last letter was written & you were not well then, when Will came in with a letter on whose back I soon recognized the Mrs. Mary A. H. you may be sure I was not long in getting at the contents, I thank you my dear Lyle for such long, tender letters, and they are more particularly dear to me when I remember that you have so little time to devote to your friends, if the letters you receive do you as much good as yours do me, we all ought to write often.  I wrote so little the last letter that I sent, that I feel like writing you again.
