Letter from Asbury Coward to his future wife Elise, circa 1855

Title

Letter from Asbury Coward to his future wife Elise, circa 1855

Description

Letter from Asbury Coward to his future wife Elise. This letter was written while Coward was still a cadet at The Citadel.

Source

A2009.6, Box 2

Publisher

The Citadel Archives and Museum

Rights

Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409.

Format

application/pdf

Language

English

Type

Text

Identifier

https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/1594

Coverage

Charleston (S. C.)

Text

[Page 1]

Citadel. After a glorious dinner

Ma chere ma’m’selle Eleezer

Il fant que vous pardonnez moi - oh hang it, I can’t bother with French now. You must really excuse my horrid writing in your album, as I am, - wonderful to tell -, very much worried and nervous to day. I have, however, with your kind mother’s aid, made you a perfect “Armful of Heaven”. I did not take into consideration corns, toothache, and the time when you used to want sugar for your doll, and Mama would not give it to you, - as you may perceive in the tenth line. I might have inserted this line - Her laughing eyes swim - but not for me are her tears - but I was afraid it might sound funny.

I received, this morning, an invitation to one of those most stupid affairs - a church wedding and I am in such a rage that even Miss Johnson would fail to make me smile. - Newton does not know a letter from a comma - and if I had put in a letter, it would have been because one was needed. Be pleased to remember, that knowing Mr. Massot, and Cadet Coward, does not guarantee your knowing all about the militaire.

Respectfully yours - deep in the “sulks”
Asbury

P.S. Thank Heaven my name can’t be Frenchified


[Page 2]

Miss Elise Blum

Citation

Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925, “Letter from Asbury Coward to his future wife Elise, circa 1855,” The Citadel Archives Digital Collections, accessed March 30, 2023, https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/1594.