She developed then the "letter-writing habit," which has clung to her through life.

The letters of that time were laborious affairs, often consuming days in the writing, commencing even to children, "Respected Daughter," or "Son," and rarely exceeding one or two pages.

They were written with a quill pen on foolscap paper, and almost wholly devoted to the weather and the sickness in the family.

The amount of the latter would be appalling to modern households.

The women's letters were written in infinitesimal characters, it being considered unladylike to write a large hand.