Letter from Mrs. Martin CF 111
To his brother Isidore Guérin
29 November 1873.
Your letter arrived when we were at the table, with Maudelonde. You don't need to worry, there is no danger of me discussing prophecies with him, or even with anyone, because I have poor confidence in them and I don't stop at any. However, I always have Marie Lataste (Sr Marie Lataste (1822‑1847), of the diocese of Dax, religious coadjutor of the Sacred Heart) in my mind and if the fourth year of the captivity of the Holy Father passed without it is delivered, I would be very surprised: but I have already been surprised many times, so that I am no longer troubled.
I have more patience than ever, and I now act as if nothing will happen for a long time. I put great works in hand and I deliver my goods at long deadlines. I am tired, very tired of having had fears that paralyzed me and did me considerable harm. I was not surprised at the outcome of political affairs, I expected from the beginning what happened.
Little Thérèse is still growing wonderfully; I take her out of nursing on March 11. I had promised her for a year, I must keep my promise; otherwise, I would have taken it back two months earlier. Céline is also getting stronger.
Pauline is unwell; her aunt writes me to send her some wine to cheer her up. We are very happy with Marie, she is a charming girl; the aunt is delighted
I have Leonie given lessons by a young lady who has her higher certificate. The child learns with great difficulty, but in the end she learns a little. She is definitely going to leave for the Visitation on New Year's Eve; we are in the process of making his trousseau. I think it's lost money, but it's above all the pain she's going to give her aunt that torments me. However, my duty obliges me to try again, if she does not succeed, I will have nothing to reproach myself for.
The dear sister of Le Mans [Marie-Dosithée] is still doing fairly well, she is much better than last winter, we don't understand anything about it. I put myself in the idea that God leaves her to me to transform my Léonie, because she is the only person who has empire over her. Also, when we ask this poor little girl what she will do when she grows up, the answer is always the same: “I will be a nun at the Visitation, with my aunt. God grant that it is so, but it is too beautiful, I dare not hope.
As for the two eldest, here are their thoughts: Marie does not want to hear about the convent, she wants to remain an old maid; Pauline wants neither a convent, nor marriage, nor to remain an old maid; I don't know how she will be able to cope with this!
It seems that your little Jeanne is intrepid, from what M. Maudelonde told me, and that she wants to be the first everywhere, at all costs? If this continues, with the intelligence she has, you will make her a celebrity...
