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Title:
Letter from James Haywood Southgate to Mattie Logan Southgate, November 20, 1881: Electronic Edition.
Author:
Southgate, James Haywood, 1859-1916
Jones, Mattie Logan Southgate
Funder:
Funding by the Institute of Museum of Library Services (IMLS) and the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), with support provided through North Carolina ECHO.
Transcription Information:
Text transcribed by: Kelly Clark
Images scanned by: Digital Production Center
Text encoded by: Katherine M. Wisser
Transcription Edition:
Edition: First edition,
Date: 2006
Publication Information:
Publisher: Duke University Libraries
Date: 2006
Availability: ©This work is the property of the Duke University Libraries. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching, and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text.
Source Information:
Title: Letter from James Haywood Southgate to Mattie Logan Southgate, November 20, 1881
Author: James Haywood Southgate
Date: 18811120
Note: James Haywood Southgate writes his sister Mattie Logan Southgate with news from home and advice for her studies at Wesleyan Female Institute James commends Mattie on the progress she made in her report card grades and counsels his sister on how to build a "superior intellectual edifice." He advises that she use her letter writing to "improve her mode of expression" and suggests that she abandon her habitual practice of underlining. James thanks for Mattie for sending a photograph. He details the foods that the Southgate family has brought to their Durham home in order to host visitors for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South's North Carolina Annual Conference. He describes his plans to travel to Atlanta for the Exhibition and notes that he may visit his Uncle Thomas Wynne and his family in Columbus, Georgia. He closes by inquiring after a parcel he sent Mattie. James writes his letter on stationery from the Office of James Southgate, General, Fire, Insurance and Commission Agent.
P: James Southgate papers, 1794-1944 and undated, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
Class: Durham (N.C.) -- History
Class: Education -- Virginia -- Social aspects -- History -- 19th century
Class: Atlanta (Ga.) -- Description and travel -- 19th century
Class: J. Southgate and Son Company
Class: Jones, Mattie Logan Southgate
Class: Communication in the family -- Southern states -- History -- 19th century
Class: Friendship in adolescence -- Southern states -- 19th century
Class: Methodist Episcopal Church -- North Carolina Conference
Class: Insurance companies -- North Carolina -- Durham -- 19th century
Class: Brothers and sisters -- Correspondence
Class: Wesleyan Female Institute (Staunton, Va.)
Class: Wesleyan Female Institute (Staunton, Va.) -- Students -- History -- 19th century
Class: Report cards
Class: Work ethic -- North Carolina -- History -- 19th century
Class: Diet -- North Carolina -- History -- 19th century
Class: Diet -- Southern states -- History -- 19th century
Class: Women -- Education -- Virginia -- History -- 19th century
Class: Southgate, James Haywood, 1859-1916
Class: Southgate, James Haywood, 1859-1916
Class: Jones, Mattie Logan Southgate, b. 1865
Class: Staunton (Va.)
Class: Atlanta (Ga.)
Class: Durham (N.C.)
Class: Columbus (Ga.)

Library of Congress Subject Headings:
Durham (N.C.) -- History
Education -- Virginia -- Social aspects -- History -- 19th century
Atlanta (Ga.) -- Description and travel -- 19th century
J. Southgate and Son Company
Jones, Mattie Logan Southgate
Communication in the family -- Southern states -- History -- 19th century
Friendship in adolescence -- Southern states -- 19th century
Methodist Episcopal Church -- North Carolina Conference
Insurance companies -- North Carolina -- Durham -- 19th century
Brothers and sisters -- Correspondence
Wesleyan Female Institute (Staunton, Va.)
Wesleyan Female Institute (Staunton, Va.) -- Students -- History -- 19th century
Report cards
Work ethic -- North Carolina -- History -- 19th century
Diet -- North Carolina -- History -- 19th century
Diet -- Southern states -- History -- 19th century
Women -- Education -- Virginia -- History -- 19th century
Southgate, James Haywood, 1859-1916
Southgate, James Haywood, 1859-1916
Jones, Mattie Logan Southgate, b. 1865
Staunton (Va.)
Atlanta (Ga.)
Durham (N.C.)
Columbus (Ga.)

put in your hands the necessary implements for working out and building a superior intellectual edifice- Nothing short of hard, earnest work will satisfy yourself and comfort your parents, in the end. In the letters you write home from time to time I note that your spelling has improved and your mode of expression seems easier- Practice will be of untold assistance to you and I would suggest that you write often, cultivating the powers of description, relating incidents of school life +c +c, letting this come as a Kind of extra study- I also note that you are much addicted to underlining your words. This will never do. When you underline a word other than one in a foreign language you at once accuse the person to whom you are writing of not being able to tell emphatic words in a sentence, without they are pointed out. You also by this mode confess to a faulty construction.

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