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William Stoddard Williams' unmarried sister, Cynthia, writes him a letter in answer to his of the week before in February, 1785. He is practicing medicine, his first job, in Richmond, Massachusetts, and she and her sister Martha (Patty), live at home with their widowed mother and their 3 younger brothers in Deerfield. Cynthia could read and write, as could most young women in the 18th century. She speaks of their cloth at "the Mill" and the fact that the Mill is not presently running so they are in short supply for material for clothing. Problems with "collecting money" are mentioned and Cynthia touchingly states her view of life when she says that she hopes he will get on "without suffering" and that she begins to think "that is all we are ever to expect."

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