Seventy-five of the letters in this collection are from Frances to George, thirty-nine are from George to Frances, and thirteen are from other correspondents. Considering that Frances burned all of George's letters from the first year, and that "Frankie" and her "Birdie" lived in the same town, this is an impressively sized courtship correspondence. Fortunately George disregarded Frankie's request that he burn her letters, so at least one side of their earliest courtship is preserved. George was kept busy working on Bird farm and at the sawmill, and the one regular opportunity for them to see each other was at church, so they often wrote during the week, or slipped each other notes during Sunday School. Once Frankie went away to school, first to Hiram College in Ohio and then to high school in Binghamton, N. Y., they started sending each other a packet of letters once a week. Frankie, especially, often wrote on a daily basis, and her accumulated letters acquired a formidable bulk.

The content of this voluminous correspondence is also noteworthy; for these letters illustrate the harder aspects of maintaining both a courtship and a correspondence. Jealousy, arguments about alcohol, distrust, immaturity, and the strain of separation all took their toll, and the letters seesaw back and forth -- a long and loving letter one week was often followed by a "hard cold short letter" the next (1882 May 12). In the first couple years, this union was far from an assured thing. By mid-1882, however, Frankie and George seemed to have a deeper understanding of each other and of their own feelings, and discussed their love and potential roadblocks, like Frankie's father, with greater sophistication.

On March 27, 1879 George and Frankie had promised each other that they would be married someday, and they celebrated the anniversary of this pledge in their letters for four years. They both had some growing up to do before they got married -- Frankie was not quite 16, and George was 18 when the promise was made -- so their extended engagement probably worked to the couple's longer term advantage. Her Birdie's drinking deeply upset Frankie, and she made him promise not to ever drink again. In her letters she used a variety of approaches to try to keep him from "falling into the water," with eventual success. George, who undoubtedly had similar pressure from his mother, an avid temperance woman, joined the Patrons of Temperance and stopped drinking, but not before burdening Frankie with several -- occasionally defiant -- confessions of his lapses.

Birdie also tormented Frankie by flaunting the fact that he was taking other girls for rides -- particularly Carrie Campbell -- while Frank was out of town. He did assure her that, "Carrie is a good girl to go with as far as company is concerned but for a wife Oh God deliver me from all such girls as she is," although it is uncertain how reassured Frankie felt after reading that. He blamed "the devel or something else" for making him ask Carrie out, but it is pretty plain he was angry that Frankie had left town, and was jealous that she was spending some time with Jim Phillips, a young man who did his best to try and split the couple up (1881 May 15).

Although her absence prompted George to misbehave more than he might have if she was in town, Frankie seemed to profit from going to school and being away from home. She eventually realized her near constant nagging about drink might be provoking George, and tried to temper it. She also tried to assure George that her father did not hate him, and she came to appreciate her folks and her future husband more while she was away. She met other boys, but remained true to George, and did not often bait him with stories of other beaux. She described her daily life "away," and noted special field trips. While at Hiram College, "some of us girls went to the Cemetery and I got a little pebble off of Pres Garfield's little child's grave, not that I think anything of the President, but so I can say when I get back to Penn. that I have a stone that came off the Pres. little child's grave" (1881 April 5). Frankie's writing skills improved dramatically with continual practice, and she honed her sense of humor, often at the expense of her friends' hapless suitors: she agreed one unfortunate young man was a "perfect calf" and added, "Deliver me from such animals" (1882 January 30).

Frankie also learned more about what she wanted out of her life: "Oh dear me, deliver me from city life I was not born to be a lady, I like work anyday better than I do study study study" (1882 May 19). Although she found it tedious to be "clear out here trying to know something," she admitted that there was "need enough of it" (1882 January 10). Frank also reflected more on her own behavior, admitting that she had a tendency to be "wasteful," and telling George, "I hadn't ought to tell you that I ever get cross had I? For I ought to make you think I am just perfect. No George, I don't think that way at all. . . I try to act just what I am at all times and before everyone" (1882 March 27, March 8). Her nickname suited her, and her frankness comes through in her letters.

By the time Frankie went to Binghamton in January 1882, they were deeply committed to each other. George was desperate for Frankie to come back to East Smithfield for good, and even threatened, "Frank if you go back to school I shall be tempted to go west this spring but if you don't I shant" (1882 March 20). He had reformed, and was staying at home instead of going with any available girl, even if it was just for "company," or socializing with other men down at "the center." As a result, he was lonely and bored: "Oh Frank it is so lonesome here that I can smell it with my nose stopped up" (1882 April 14). He did get elected an officer of the Odd Fellows, but that post did little to distract him from his desire to get married. He worked long, hard days on the farm and sawing railroad ties at the mill, and spent his evenings writing to Frankie, sometimes crying as he wrote (1882 February 11, March 6). Again and again Frankie wished she was in George's lap with her arms around his neck, whispering the things she was writing down into his ear. Their anticipation of their future life together and impatience for it to begin crowded almost everything else out of these later letters, which positively gush love. Their courtship extended on into the fall of 1883, when they presumably did finally get married.

The most interesting of the other correspondents was Frankie's sister Hope, who wrote two letters while visiting an aunt in Brooklyn. She described the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in great detail (1883 May 15). She also wrote about the social challenges the city presented to a young woman "from the country." "Party etiquette is something terrible -- I tell you I had to keep my eyes open or I would have made a perfect fool of myself. Not far from it as it was, I'm afraid" (1887 March 24). There is also a good letter from Frankie to her parents about Lark Bird's ailing health (1894 January 31).

The other single letters are of nominal interest. They include one from Eva Holl, a friend of Frankie's from Hiram, who wrote about her experience at the funeral of President Garfield (1881 October 9) and a letter from Amelia Dubert to George while she was away at a teacher's institute (1879 August 12). George's cousin Nelson Bosworth wrote about horses and frittering away a Sunday in the company of various girls (1881 June 5), and Jim Phillips invited the couple to a birthday party (1882 June 6). George's autograph book was signed by many relatives and friends between 1877 and 1885.

Subject index:

Amusements--Pennsylvania--History--19th century

Betrothal

Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813-1887

1887 March 24

Binghamton (N.Y.) High School

Bradford County (Pa.)--Social life and customs

Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)--Social life and customs

1883 May 15

1887 March 24

Brooklyn Bridge (New York, N.Y.)

1883 May 15

Church attendance

Courtship

Drinking of alcoholic beverages

Farmers--Pennsylvania--Bradford County

Flirting

Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881

1881 April 5

1881 October 9

Hiram College

Independent Order of Odd Fellows

1882 March 8

1882 March 20

Jealousy

Love in adolescence

Love-letters

Love names

Love poetry

Lovesickness

Sleigh rides

Statue of Liberty National Monument (New York, N.Y.)

1887 March 24

Temperance--Pennsylvania--societies, etc

Temperance and religion

Women--Education

Correspondents:

Bird, George Niles ("Birdie"), b. 1860
Bosworth, Nelson E.
Dubert, Amelia
Hall, Eva M.
Phillips, J. H.
Rowe, Frances ("Frankie"), b. 1863
Rowe, Hope

Provenance:

Acquired, 1991.

M-2711
cat. 4/98 rko

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