Handwritten letter from Gertrude Starkey Pitcairn to her father, Dr. George R. Starkey. “S” seal pressed into top center of the page. Gertrude misses her father greatly and wishes he could come home permanently. She feels there is a lack of the “masculine element” with no grown men in the house, and she sometimes wishes they had a thoughtful man around to break the monotony of the “feminine ways of viewing things.” She confesses that she has grown fonder of gentlemen’s society as she has grown older, but it’s an enjoyment she has little chance to indulge in. Mother, Pauline, and Miss Kate went to see the actor Booth yesterday in Taming of the Shrew and The Stranger, and they “came home in the same state of admiration that all womankind are in after seeing the man whom the newspaper critics pull to pieces so.” The family is well, and the children are excited for next Wednesday evening. Gertrude is sorry to report that they are troubled about Mr. Pendleton since he has “taken some severe colds and today was scarcely able to preach.” There is “an element in the family” that she will be very relieved to be rid of next week. She has recently been studying the 1st century B.C. and has come across some “rather important personages.” Names mentioned: Pauline (Pauline Starkey Wells), Miss Kate, Booth (Edwin Booth?), Mr. (William Frederic) Pendleton