Handwritten letter from Dr. George R. Starkey to his daughter, Gertrude Starkey Pitcairn. Letter faded and difficult to read in places, transcription follows:

“Easter Sunday 1875. My Dear Gertrude! So it appears that I am to be with you & Mamma at your first Communion. I can hardly tell you how glad I am. In contemplating this event, the concourse of emotions which I experience surprise me, & cannot be expressed for want of words. First, there is a beautiful solemnity in the act; an act by which you consecrate your life to the delightful service of the Lord. Delightful, because in His service alone can any true happiness be found; We can never avoid being [in] some one’s service; if not in His, then in that of evil & diabolical spirits. In His service alone is there true, genuine freedom: indeed everything which can give any real value to the life which He has given us as our own. His yoke is easy & His burden is light, but the yoke & burden of all others are galling, cruel, oppressive & bitter. Then, to see you making this consecration so cheerfully endows it with a perfume which is very grateful & pleasant. It affects me like the blossom-season of fruit trees. And as that is the prophecy of the mature fruit, the Lord grant that we may see the fulfullment of this prophecy. This impression is enhanced by considering the springtime of the life which you are thus consecrating. It is beautiful, & a sweet privilege to “remember thy Creator in the morning of thy days.” It should not distress us that the blossom season is very short, & that the young fruit will be acrid & unsavory & unsightly for a season; the grateful foliage continues, as well as the beauty of form; & the rich fruit, ruddy with the sunshine odorous with delights & grateful to the soul, will not fail. Again, it must needs be that some personal considerations will intrude themselves. I confess to the emotion of thankfulness that we have succeeded in so guiding our child however imperfectly that may have been, that she should be inclined to take this important step. Again there is a deep felt gratification that our eldest should thus qualify her self for exerting so important and orderly an influence over her brothers & sisters. There is also a strange newness (?), of course, in seeing our first born passing from childhood to womanhood. And last, I am surprised by a sense of some slight wounding of the natural affections: A feeling akin to what might be produced by your throwing off your allegiance to Mamma & me. This belongs to selfhood, and is therefore, scarcely worth the mentioning. I would like much to have you to be received by the rite of confirmation. If it should not appear desirous to do it publicly, perhaps Mr. Pendleton would be willing to do (?) officiate in the ceremony Saturday evening. Please to get mother to ask him. If you have not done so, I hope you will find time to read the chapter on “the Holy Supper” in the T.C.R. It will do much towards the most desirable effect of your initiation into the Lord’s visible Church. Also read the sermon in the last “Messenger,” by Mr. Potts. Your loving Father.”

Names mentioned: Mr. Pendleton (William F. Pendleton?), Mr. Potts