MY DEAR FRIEND,--Your letter was duly received, and I wanted to
answer it immediately, but have been too weak to write _comforting_
letters.
Am so sorry to hear you are still sick, and wish I could help you.
Am still more sorry to hear you are "dreading" the summer; but I do
not wonder at it, for on a farm the labor required by the women in
the house must be incessant.... I cannot take the burden off your
shoulders; but perhaps a word of sympathy from another, and
something from her experience, may enable you to face the
difficulties.... My experience has been that when anticipating a
hard time, if I only accept it, and make up my mind that it _has_ to
be my part, half the burden is taken off, if I determine to go
through with it all, giving myself up to that work and thinking of
nothing beyond in the mean time. Take all the rest I can get,
instead of trying to do something else too. Rest will do you more
good than company or books, when you are so used up with real hard
work. Women all try to attend to too much outside of their
households, for the sake of company and variety; do you not think
so? Now, just take things as quietly as you can this summer, and
feel that in your home duties you have more than you can do, and
look forward to the time when summer will be over and you will have
less care.