Ellen Axson Wilson to Woodrow Wilson

I hope you will excuse pencil; there seems to be no ink except at the desk in the sittingroom, and I want to write here and now,—in this quiet after dinner hour when I am supposed to be resting. We had a glorious two hour drive this morning to Nahant, behind two fine horses and partly on the hard beach,— a particularly delightful thing to do as I learned when a girl at Old Orchard. Both sea and land were exquisitely beautiful and the day absolutely perfect, with a soft sea breeze without a touch of chill in it- the sort we had at Sagg. It was a drive to be remembered always. We brought up short & turned about at the great stone gates of Henry Cabot Lodge's estate. He has a noble park &c. covering all the outer point of the Nahant peninsula. People are allowed to walk but not drive through it. I didn't know he was so rich; he seems to be, like Roosevelt, one of fortune's all round favourites!

The wind has suddenly changed now & it is much cooler - not quite so much to my taste here, but better if it lasts for our excursion to Boston tomorrow,—Besides the sea from the window where I sit has grown superb in colour,— green close by, deepest blue beyond, with white caps and “breaking waves” on the rocks below me. Yesterday it was rather pale and washed out in tint.

Last night I went to a ball! Unexpected! eh? It was at the swell hotel & Mr. Tedcastle as one of the “cottagers” had been invited with his family. So he insisted the girls should go “to see what it was like,” and I must chaperone them. They sat there, perfect wall-flowers of course, for an hour or so, but perhaps mildly amused “sizing up” the dancers,–a remarkably ugly crowd. I wonder what my darling is doing this Sunday afternoon with no Ricketts nor Hibbens to divert him. Chiefly sleeping I hope. Ah, how I wish I were there! — or better still that he were here. That would be absolutely perfect. I am really afraid I ought to write short letters; there is no incident with which to fill four pages even, and when I begin to grow personal I find myself beyond measure oppressed at the situation — at my being away and you there alone. I wouldn't feel it half so bad if you could only loaf during the two weeks. But that inauguration address when I let my mind dwell on it gets on my nerves, I hope, more than on yours. Oh, my darling! you are so precious, to me first, and to so many others too! Why didnt you let me stay & try to take care of you? I love you, love you! I idolize you, my own darling! As ever –