[This text is machine generated and may contain errors.]
Bradley School House, Sept. 28 / [1853] Mr. Edward P. Smith "Dear Brother" Your last and first favor were read nearly at the same time. One lay in the office or somewhere nearly two months. I was glad to hear from you (for to tell you the truth I thought that you never would write to me by your writing to Frank and never to me) and to hear that you were well. You found us all well and I am in hopes this may find you the same. Your No. 1 One I have lost. I had [it] at the door examining it and drop [sic] it. I looked for it I don't know how long and Ann too but we could not find it, but in looking for it I found a shilling so I take it for granted that it was solver ore. Send me some of the gold ore and I will try to be more carefull [sic] of it. I am teaching school yet, and has some right-fine times every Friday. All my schollars [sic] speak on that day and I muster all the Boys and I have the drum and fife, too. The smaller boys have wooden guns and the larger real ones. Frank was here last week and see [sic] me drill them. He says that they beat his company. Some Fridays there is some 25 or thirty people to hear them speak and to see them muster and lots of girls among them. I write this during recess and have no time to collect my thoughts so you must excuse this short letter. I saw Pa at court. They were all well. We all Am. Mother, Peter and John send our love and believe me I am, as ever your [Loving] Brother, L. H. Smith.
A personal letter from future Edgecombe and Duplin County school teacher, L. H. Smith, to his brother Edward P. Smith. At the time he wrote this letter, L. H. was teaching at Bradly’s School House, but had not yet earned his teaching certificate. Edward begins the letter by recounting his search for two of Edward’s mislaid letters and his eventual discovery of a silver shilling leading him to the comic deduction that Edward’s letter must have contained silver ore. He promises that if Edward sends him a gold shilling, he will be more careful of it. However the bulk of the letter describes his experiences teaching at Bradley’s School House, North Carolina. He focuses on the regular Friday routine. All his scholars, he writes, “speak”, or recite their lessons, on Friday and he musters all the boys accompanied by a fife and drum. “The smaller boys”, he writes, “have wooden guns and the larger real ones.” Apparently, this was something of a social occasion in the community and a matter of serious competition between different schools and schoolmasters. L. H. reports that “Frank was here last week and see [sic] me drill them. He says they beat his company. Some Fridays there is some 25 or thirty people to hear them speak and to see them muster and lots of girls among them.” L. H. notes that he is writing during recess and has no time to “collect my thoughts” but readers will note numerous errors of spelling and punctuation in the letter. One hopes that the students benefited more from L. H.’s lessons in reading and arithmetic than they could have from his writing lessons