MANUSCRIPT: AC. Ink. Dated: Thursday morn. Addressed on the fold: Austin. W. Dickinson./Amherst./Mass. Postmark illegible. The letter is sealed with a diamond-shaped wafter on which is printed "Believe me," followed by the first bar of the well-known musical rendering of "Believe me, if all these endearing young charms."

PUBLICATION: L (1894) 70-73, in part; LL 130-132, in part; L (1931) 69-71, in part; Home 78-80, entire.

As the year advanced, ED's homesickness increased. The strain must have been apparent to her family, for her father had already decided not to send her to Mount Holyoke for a second year.

The custom of exchanging valentines was not limited at this time to one day, but extended through the entire "Valentine week." The Reverend Henry B. Smith was a member of the Amherst College faculty; the Reverend Pomeroy Belden was pastor of the East Parish church in Amherst. ED's friend Thomas has not been identified.