40 Ironmonger Row, Saint Lukes, LONDON My Der^a^r Phebe I once more seat myself to write to you I have your two last letters now spread before me one under Date of Oct 6th to 19th & the other Oct 25th to Nov 2nd And they both were truly interesting to me. I sent you a vary full sheet the the size of this Dated Nov 22nd which I hope you have got before this time. I inserted an Extract from about 30 letters from my Brethren in this country, & as I mailed this just Before I got your dated Oct 6th to 19th so I though[t] I would not answer it untill I herd from you again. I however acknowledged the reception of it in a letter which Elder Kimball wrote to his wife On the 4th of Jan your last letter Dated Nov 2nd come safe to hand, by the barers who arived safe & are setting their business to moove with the whole church in which they reside next spring. I trust you have obtained my letters in answer to yours before this time, in which I expressed my feelings concerning the death of Our dear little Sarah. your lines in poetry On her death in your Oct 6th letter were truly sublime & affecting & none could feel them more deeply than myself. I highly prize them more so as they came from your pen. I have recived 7 letters from you since I have but in England, & it has truly Been a feast to my feelings to hear from you by letter when we are seperated so far apart, in fine I never so highly prized the privilge of writing as during the last year of my life. I am now sitting by the side of Elder H. C. Kimball. We are enjoying good health & many Blessings from God. Hark!!! the Postman is at my door he hands me a Bundle of Letters one a ship letter from New York. On opening it, who can imagin my surprise on finding it to be the usual salutation & hand writing of My Dear Phebe Dated NY. City Dec. 6, 1840 "Truly strange things happen in the Last days" your letter informs me that Brothers J. F. Carter & L. Scammans had visited you in the west, & wished you to returned with them & spend the winter at your Fathers untill my return, you having excepted the offer of course accounts for your being in New York. This unexpected intelligence for a moment gave me a peculiar sensation of Both joy & sorrow, of Joy at the Idea of your having the privilege of spending the winter at your friends Fathers House & among your friends & that I could the soon sooner behold your face & enjoy your society while on my visit among our friends in Maine, as well as your company on my journey west, calling upon our friends in Connecticut. On the other hand I felt sorry that the packages letters & things which I have sent you could not have fallen into your hands instead of another. or at least that you could not have obtained them before you left. Inasmuch as you had an opportunity to go East, I feel to say Amen to it & my prayer to God is that you may have a good visit with your friends, & that you may prove a Blessing unto them while you are with them, & that you may maintain your integrity before the Lord, & enjoy peace, health, & strength, & grace according to your day in all things, you have never been forgotten by me before a throne of grace, you inform me in your last letter that you had not received any lette[r]s from me since the one dated the 6th of July I felt sorry to hear this for I have written many since that date & several full sheets the size of this & I have taken much pains in all of them to give you information of all things that I thought would be of Interest unto you. I hope Sister Kimball will not send you all the packages of letters by Mail which I sent you by Elder Turley & othr private conveyance without opening them for some of them contained half a dozen letters for the fox Island friends & othrs, four letters contained gold coin which is not suitable to send by mail. I sent many things by Eldr Turley in packages which I much desired you should obtain, the following in substance is extracts from my Journal which will ^give^ an idea of the letters I have written you & othr friends in the U.S. since the one dated July 6th of which you speak as being the last one Recceved. I think it was dated on the 8th I spoke of some things I should send you "July 10th I wrote 4 Letters directed to the following persons Ezra Carter sen Ilus F. Carter. Eunice Woodruff, & Lucian R Foster sent them all by P. P. Pratt to NY. July 11th I purchased several articles in Manchester to send to Phebe. July 13th I received an – interesting letter from Phebe which by request of Elder Young I made an extract which is inserted in the 4th No of the Star July 14th Sarah Emma is two Years old this day so I went to the best Gates store in Manchester & bought as nis^c^e a winter dress as I could find for Phebe, worth $5 in Manchester & twice that in NY, & two veils, and a dres for [FIGURE] Sarah Emma!!! A peace of nice flannel for Phebe Sarah, & Willford jr several other articles & wrote A Letter to Phebe & put in the bundle sent by T Turley. On the 16th Day of July I was Presentd with a small CHINA BOX as a specemen of what could be x^e^xecuted at the Staffordshire potteries this was presented me as a present from some friends that worked in the business after I had visited the works. It was highly ornamented i^w^ith gold, bearing the following inscription in gold letters. (Phebe & Willford Woodruff A Present from Stoke upon Trent England) valued at $15 & two china vials or smelling bottle's set in gold as follows (Phebe) & (Sarah Emma) & other small articles. I Put £5 sovreigns into the chinabox filled it with sewing silk & packed it tight in the centre of a Parcel which consisted of needles, scissors, Penknife. sewing silk, Twist thread. thimbles, 6 Caps (worked by the sisters) silk Apron, steel pens, socks, shoes, 8 pr of stockings for Phebe, Sarah & W.d Jr & other small articles covered it with several thicknesses of cotton cloth & Brown paper wrote particular directions not to have it opened by no hand but Phebe's, & (I think Sister Kimball will smile when she comes to open it & see the pains I took to do it up & the many small scraps of paper covered with writing which I did not expect any one would see but your own) This parcel I carefully put into the hands of Elder Turley to take to you. I put two sealed letters in this bundl[e] [page torn] [D]ated July 17th. July 18th I wrote a letter to the saints from Fox Islands which I sent by Elder T with several others done up in a wra[per] [page torn] & directed to Phebe (I dreamed this night Sarah Emma was Dead) & spoke of it to Elder Smith in the morning