September 1888
JMJT
Jesus Carmel Thursday.
My darling little sister,
I had already started writing to you Tuesday evening, earlier I wanted to resume my letter, but the things I was telling you are not what I want to tell you today, so I have more early to start again. Thank you for your charming letter, if Madame de Sévigné had written to me, it would certainly not have given me so much pleasure... If my little cousin often thinks of me, I am also very often in spirit with her. Like you, I need to hear often about my little Marie, and above all to talk about her myself, I find satisfaction in talking to God about my darling little sister, I'm never afraid that he finds that I tell him too much because I'm sure that my little Marie is very much in his heart. Darling little elf, so many things to tell you but time flies, I see it escaping me with frightening rapidity, it's late, I'm writing to you by the light of your dear little lamp; you see that my writing suffers from my eagerness, what consoles me for having such a bad handwriting is to think that in Heaven we will no longer need this means to communicate our thoughts to each other, that is really fortunate For me !... Yesterday I received a visit, I give you a cent to guess it... A beautiful lady of the WORLD, her dear husband, a tall 16-year-old lady, a 14-year-old Mr., are you there?... It was the godmother who planted verbenas... she was accompanied by her niece Th. Gilbert and his nephew Pierre. It's the world! if you had seen her in the visiting room, she would almost sing "That my heart, that my heart has pain" when she saw us behind the gate. It's time for my chatter to end, yet I haven't said anything interesting to my dear little cousin - but what can one expect from a person like me, who writes without noticing that his paper is filled with banalities during that she has so many serious things to say... Pardon !... I will end, my dear little Marie, by asking you for a favor. You would be very kind if you could while walking in your beautiful park find some small dry moss, tree bark, etc. It would be to make small works, like nativity scenes, for example. If it bothers you, don't bring it back to me, it's only if you find it while walking around. I am very sorry that my dear Aunt is sick, I think of her a lot and pray constantly for her speedy recovery, kiss her very STRONGLY for her little girl, however not in a way to hurt her!... Kiss also for me my DEAR little Jeanne and Céline and Hélène; I have no pity for them who are not sick, so I beg you to embrace them as hard as you can.
Your little sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus died.
