Olive Smoot Bean, Correspondence, 1882

File — Box: 1, Folder: 12

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Scope and Contents

August 6, 1882-Provo City, Utah
Dear Loved Will
"...Polly is coming up this evening to stay at home, for it seems more like home with her here, and she prefers to stay here, than at her own home. Will, she comes nearer filling the vacany left by you than any one else. I get lonesome to see her when she has not been for a few days, and there is only one living human, that can bring more comfort to me, and that is him whom I love better than life....When I think of the long two years before us, ere I shall see you and receive your love and caresses my heart almost fails me, and yet I try to bear it patiently, for the sake of the religion which is so much to both of us."
OSB
August 9, 1882-Swords Creek, Virginia
My Darling, Loving, dear ones at home,
"One thing, Dear Olive; I fear you have not been able to take care of yourself, as your condition properly demands....enjoy the associations of Dear Polly, and your friends; and take care of dear little Nina....Also, strive to throw off all sense of loneliness and anxiety...and be thankful that you have the privilege of making some sacrifice for the spread of the light and knowledge of the Gospel of truth....And now Dear Polly, a word for you....Now let me beg you, for your sake, for my sake, and of all whom we hold dear, do not work as hard and steadily as you have been doing... but, in place of so much hard work, let me advise you to choose something lighter...in order that you may associate more with those you love and who love you...and may your life become sweeter to you, as it does dearer to us, every day, so that you may look into the future with that joyous hope of realizing your highest anticipations in the holy bonds of unity and love....Share your joys and hopes with Olive and may your loving hearts knit together more closely every day...."
August 13, 1882-Provo City, Utah
Dearest-Best loved Husband
"...Day before yesterday-Nina broke out thick with the measles....It seems as though there is to be some thing the matter with her all the time to keep me in anxiety....At times I get heart sick and discouraged for there will be days at a time when no soul comes near me besides Polly, and she comes later and goes early. I almost feel as though the absent loved one and my God were all the friends I have.... There are but few of my. waking hours when you are not in my thoughts, and you nightly haunt my dreams. I dreamed the other night that you had returned, and the Sweetness of the sensations it produces can only be equaled by the reality."
OSB
August 18, 1882-Cedar Bluff, Virginia
Dearest loving wife.
"...Methodist and Baptist revivals are very prevalent now in this section....We came by one the other day and as we approached we heard screaming and noise enough that one would naturally think there was a wholesale murder of women going on... while the preachers kept up a [round?] of monotonous singing....I soon got enough I assure you....I trust Dear Polly has become one of us in feelings, if not in actual fact....May Heaven bless her, for her love and kindness to you."
August 20, 1883-Provo City, Utah
Dear Loving Will
"...I am happy to be able to state that all is well at home again. Nina soon got over the measles and is quite herself....I get fearfully lonesome here sometimes, and am unable to walk much on account of the swelled veins in my limbs; they almost cripple me at times....Oh! when I allow myself to think of it, the longing to see you and and have you with me until my trouble is over, is almost more than I can bear. I can easily imagine the temptations for wives to write for a release for their husbands, and yet, God save me from such weakness."
August 27, 1882-Provo City, Utah
Dear, Dear, Husband
"...I am as well contented as it is possible for me to be, in the absence of him who is my very life. Polly is as good and kind as ever, but I have not had so much of her company for two weeks.... I hardly like to stay entirely alone, for I have felt poorly of late, and if any thing should happen, I would want some one to go for help.... In regard to her writing to you [Polly] has promised to write nearly every time I have....But don't let her letters take the charm from mine, if they have had any, for no matter how she loves you, she can never give you any purer devotion than I daily feel for you."

Dates

1882

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