[Transcript of letter from Mary M. T. to Emily M. Austin Bryan, October 30, 1817] Page: 1 of 3

                                
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Philadelphia October 30-** 1817
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You will perhaps be surprised, my dear Emily, at aga#&
receiving a letter from a friend, who now really begins to dou^t, J 3
whether you retain the slightest recollection of her. I be-
lieve this is the third time I have written to you, without
having received a line in return, which however, I console ny-
self with believing, is rather wwing to some deficiency of at-
tention in the persons to whom I have entrusted my epistles,
than to any diminution of affection in my dear Emily. My
last letter I sent you by MF Hazard, about two months ago,
which I have no doubt will have reached you before this ar-
rives though you may not yet have received it* There are so
many of our young men going to settle in the western country,
that we shall have constant opportunities of keeping up our
correspondance, which I assure you it is my wish to do, and
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which hope you will prove to me to be also your desire, by
speedily replying to this. This I shall entrust to the care
of M* Richards, who has promised to take charge of it, and if
possible, to deliver into your own hands - You probably recoil ca
lect him - he was a student in Papa's office, the winter you
spent with us. Row often do I look back on those happy days
of our youth, when every incident was tinged with the animating
hue of hope and joy. Tell me when I may anticipate the pleas-
ure of seeing you here again.
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