“I arrived here safely. Meeting Willie B. and Bertie B. & Mary Gunn all at Newtown in the cars. We had a very pleasant time coming up & Mrs. Gunn was delighted with the Tulips. Everybody noticed my diamond pin, & I tell you what!!!! They praise it up, saying & asking me how much it cost? and having me stand still, so that they might see it, once in a while I do _stand still_ & let them feast their eyes on it. Some of them ask me if it is glass set round with Gutta Percha and brass. I always tell them ‘yes of course.’ I tell you what!! I’m proud of it and _will keep it_ & conform to your rules. I wear it whenever I go to school & put the guard on my shirt, so if the tie should fall off it would be held on. I suppose you remember the blue tie that you got me. I wore it up from N. Y. to here, & my rough coat rubbing against it made it look awful, bringing out all the shoddy, and making it look like down all over the tie. “When I got home I took every bit of the white stuff out & now all the boys think it looks a great deal prettier. Dear Mother I want to tell you something about that hat. It is one that I have had two winters, and I like it because it is so old. I would rather have this one than a new one, and the other is not fit to wear and doesn’t fit me, so Henry may have a new one. “Mrs. Gunn thinks that I ought to have my own old hat. And she is going to try and have the other one fixed up for Henry. “Here I must stop, I am your affectionate Son, “WILLIE.” RIGHT “WASHINGTON, CONN., “_Dec. 6, 1864_. “MY DEAR MOTHER: “It is a very cold day, and we have just come in from out doors. We all have been playing foot ball Which is a very exciting game. However I dont play much for the simple reason, that I am too short winded. A great many of the boys get their shins kicked, but I am very fortunate, for I have never got _mine_ kicked but once and then I kicked it myself, when I _meant_ to have kicked the foot-ball. At all times of the recess you can look about the green and see certain boys hopping about holding one leg up, and crying. * * * * * “This year I study a great many lessons, Latin, Anatomy, Book-keeping, Spelling, & Arithmetic. In Latin, I get along nicely. It seems a great deal easier this term than it ever has yet. In Anatomy I get along perfectly splendid. I know every bone in your body and the latin (or Scientific) names of them all. in book-keeping I get along nicely. In Arithmetic I am in square root and I understand it perfectly. I guess that if Mr. Gunn writes to you, he will say that I get along very well in my studies, and you can tell Father so too.