2  Thursday Noon, 14th, Dear Husband, again I have leisure to write you a few lines my school is still small, but pleasant, I think I enjoy teaching better than I ever did, the time passes so fast when I am in school, if there is no prospect of your coming home. I will try to get another school as soon as this one is out the children are very good and very easily governed; I wrote you last week that we were going with Mr Robinson to Iowa Centre, we started early Saturday morning, it is about 20 miles from here and Mr R was driving a young colt so that it took the best part of the day to go, we stopped at a Mr Maxwell's about a mile this side of Iowa R. he is a very strong union man, and in the course of conversation I found that he was from Lafayette, I know the firm that he was connected with well and, his daughter Mary and I were schoolmates and sat in the same seat, she is married and lives in Iowa Center, we had a very pleasant time, he is a real whole souled man I know you would like him; when Mr Robinson told him my husband was in the army, he said "good for him, I hope he will come out to Major Gen" Mr R replied you can be assured he will do his whole duty. Mr M. Kene Mr Wordworth & Clement and all my old friends he came out here seven years ago, we staid there all night; Mr M and Mr R went over to the Center to a union league meeting in the evening; you have seen an account of those meetings in the papers; Sunday morning we started pretty early to meeting and stopped at Mrs Ingersols, Mrs Maxwell's mother she is a widow lady; she and three daughters keep house, one of the daughter's name is Cory, she lost her husband about three months ago in the army, he was in the 39th [illegible] Co, and now right here while I think of it; the different Regts are making out records, each Company seperatly, perhaps you have seen some, I do wish I had the record of Co. C. 23d I should prize it highly, Mrs Cory has one of the Co that her husband was in, framed nicely, hanging in the Parlor  Mrs Ingersol lives nicer than any country people I have seen in Iowa, well I must hasten, as I see I am making a long story of some thing that may not interest you very much, but it was quite an event to me, and so I thought I would write you about it; Mr M did not ask me my name before I was married and so I did not tell him so we went to church and listened to a no 1 sermon from Bro Ross, with a good deal of antislavery and antisecession mixed up with it; this feeling between the union and secesh or Copperhead is very bitter then and Bro R could enter into the spirit of his side of it; well after meeting was over Mr Maxwell's daughter came running up to me and almost covered me with kisses, she did not know I was in Iowa and was not expecting to see me, so you know I must look very much as I did seven or eight years ago, Mary said I had not changed a bit, that she knew me the moment she came into the door; She was always a warmhearted girl and always took my part, and she has made a noble warmhearted woman; I don't know of any one in Iowa that I feel so anxious to visit and have a good talk with as Mary Baldwin my paper is full and I must stop for today, there is preaching in my school room at five o'clock. good bye Mary
