A circa 1830s stampless folded letter from Mary F. B. of Charlestown Massachusetts to Samuel Thomas Worcester of Hollis, New Hampshire.  This is a long missive, tightly but clearly written. Mary warns above the dateline: “You had better not read this letter until you find a time when you are fit for nothing else. It is so long that I am rally ashamed of it and I have been obliged to write it in haste. Excuse imperfections.”

She started the letter on Monday, July 22, continued it on Thursday noon, Thursday eve and Sunday morn. In a pencil notation on the flap, she mentions that she missed the Charlestown post so was sending the letter to Boston for mailing. Obviously there is too much to transcribe here. Mary appears to be a bible teacher at Miss Hall’s School in Newton.  She mentions taking the class on a steam boat ride; replying to a letter she received from Worcester. She discusses a Sunday sermon at length. It appears to be how man should properly harness primitive powers. Condition is generally good with the usual small tear where seal was broken.

Samuel Thomas Worcester (August 30, 1804 - December 6, 1882) was a U.S. Representative from Ohio. Born in Hollis, New Hampshire, Worcester attended Phillips Academy and graduated from Harvard University in 1830. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1835 and began practice in Norwalk, Ohio. He served as member of the Ohio State Senate in 1849 and 1850, and served as judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1859 and 1860. Worcester was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Sherman and served from July 4, 1861, to March 3, 1863. He resumed the practice of law and engaged in literary pursuits. He died in Nashua, New Hampshire, on December 6, 1882. He was interred in the South Cemetery, Hollis, New Hampshire.