Document 3:
Author: Mary Fletcher Kellogg
Recipient: James Harris Fairchild
Date: Unknown
Location: Oberlin College Archives, James H. Fairchild Papers. Series III Courtship Correspondence,
1771-1926, RG 2/003.
Document Type: Transcript (1939) Autograph Letter, Signed by Author.
Introduction:
In high contrast to James’ emotional second letter, or even his first, Mary Kellogg’s first reply to James is rather distant and emotionless. The majority of the letter is spent excusing her delay in replying to him; though Mary was certainly busy, it seems likely that she delayed in replying because she was unsure of how she wished to respond. The few lines she offers in direct reply are quite cool; though she says she is “willing” to maintain a correspondence with James, note the last line where she discusses the frequency of their communications.
Ladies’ Hall (below,) built early in the school’s history, where men would come to eat meals. She and
Fairchild sat at the table together frequently.
Transcription:
Wednesday Morn. 6 o’clock.
Dear Mr. Fairchild,
Do forgive my negligence in delaying to answer your truly kind note which I received on Tues. 20. I did intend to reply to it before the present time. But on account of a multiplicity of engagements<,> I put it off<,> hoping in vain to have more leisure. I have not only neglected you, but at the same time every other friend<,> as well as every other duty. Nothing has been but half done. I would acknowledge the justice of the sentence were I to be excluded from the favor of all my friends. Were it not for their forbearance, I should have been shut out from their society long since. But you are lenient, you will forgive. I am determined that this habit of delaying shall not be my characteristic, and am not aware that it has been before the present time.
But the bell for breakfast is ringing and I must close. Do not consider this poor note as intended for disrespect<;> it is not most surely. In reply to your first<,> I am willing to maintain a correspondence with you, should you now feel disposed, and trust I shall not be negligent in the future. I should not think it advisable to exchange communications very frequently.
Yours with respect,
MARY KELLOGG<*>1
Transcribed by Rebecca Debus.
1James’ sister Emily, writes, as reported in Albert Temple Swing’s biography of James Harris Fairchild, “When the forest was laid low and Oberlin College was built, Sheffield, because of inability to accommodate all the students in Oberlin, was soon made a branch school. When my brother invited me to take a buggy ride with him to visit the Sheffield school, I felt quite delighted at the opportunity, but father wondered at the extravagance. After a long ride<,> we were kindly received in the parlor of the institution and, among other ladies, I was introduced to Miss Mary Kellogg — quite the brightest-looking and most handsomely-dressed of the group. And when one of the teachers with more acumen than a girl of thirteen or so, asked me to take a walk with her, leaving James and Mary to visit alone for a while, she remarked to me at the door, ‘What a handsome couple! That match was made in heaven!’”
James Fairchild’s son remembers that his father once told him that a girl, regarded by the son as one of the prettiest in his class, reminded him when he first saw her, of Mary Kellogg. She had the same bright color and dark eyes with arching brows.
