and different worlds…. a paragraph from a letter by Julie, 1859, to Morris:

“Lottie has been in bed since Sunday (letter written on Wednesday) and is under the Dr’s care. She has a fever, I suppose it is an attack of worms, and is as restless and uncomfortable as only she can be. I hope she will be better soon. I was afraid we should lose her. There has been such dying among the children in this quarter that I was very nervous. She seems though to be better and I hope she will soon be on her feet again.”

Before and after that paragraph in the letter discusses other, more mundane news as usual.  There was, of course, nothing to be done one way or the other: Julie was in Hartford and Morris was in New Orleans; if their daughter was deathly ill it would, most likely, have been over before any letter (let alone a reply!) arrived.  Given the emphatic past tense in the paragraph, Julie may well have held off on writing until the outcome was certain, but still…  A very different world from ours of instant communication!