London August 12 [1850]
My dear children
I am very glad the Dr is writing to you today because it will probably be sometime before we can write again if we carry out our plans of leaving here tomorrow- I suppose he will say all that is necessary but I always have the feeling that I must speak too-
Well, you are all over commencement- I can well imagine the state of your house today- the groaning of the wash tub under the numbers of linen sheets & pillow cases & towels- the desolation of the rooms that have so recently been filled with delightful visitors- these things are so strongly impressed upon me from having them repeated for more than twenty years, that I almost feel the fatigue & loneliness & the relief of having got through commencement week even here in my noisy room- I do not mind at all that I am in the great city of London & will you not think me very stupid that I scarcely think of going out in the street today & that I spent all the day on Sat. here & will not put my feet out doors-I am sure it would not be so with you- nor would it once with me I am sure- I often think if some of my children were in my stead how much of
Orra wrote this letter to her children from London when she and Edward had returned there from their journey to Edinburgh, Scotland, for the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. She wistfully commiserates with the children about the hard work of cleaning up after commencement week, describes what she attended at the meeting in Edinburgh, worries about having to cross the ocean again to come home, and at the end of the letter mentions remedies for Edward's cough.