Letter signed Lewis Molesworth [London] to R. Graham Frost. You don’t say in your letter who you are engaged to, but I suppose from the drift of your note that Miss Latty is your intended. Since I have been in London, I have been a great deal into society, and I swear I have not seen a girl as pretty as Latty among the thousands one sees in the drawing rooms of our bloated aristocracy. I read over that part of your letter about your father’s marriage several times before I could exactly realize it, but I was not much surprised. I confess, that although you and your sister discussed it, I had no idea that he had a leaning toward Mrs. LaMotte. Your grandmother must be an awful care to the governor under the circumstances. I suppose blow and thunder is the order of the day. Your stepmother…is a widow, is she not? I am now a barrister of the Turner Temple and am also a lawyer. Regarding my interest in America. Perhaps I shall invest capital in St. Louis. Money is awfully plenty in London. My plans for the future, making money in St. Louis, and in America. Recalling my pleasant visit at Hazelwood. I have been devoting myself for a long time to the light fantastic. One place I go to is a stage dancing academy, all the girls in ballet costume. I have given up women since I was with you in America and am now moral in the extreme. We are going to have the gayest season on record owing to the Duke of Edinburgh and the Czar of Russia who is coming over later. I pine for the plains and go to the British museum and look at the American bison and a sort of craving to be out on the Yellowstone again seizes and almost impels me to leave my native land at once. I see there is a great outbreak of the Sioux nation. I wish I was with Custer. Poker is being much played now. I go to lots of parties for poker where, although you know I cannot play, I am thought to be a good player among novices., [1874?] Mar 18

Item — Box: 3

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The collection comprises papers of the Kennett and Frost families, including notes and receipts of the Kennett, White and Company, circa 1840; letters of D.M. Frost to his wife from Texas in 1852 regarding Indian wars and letters dated 1856 regarding the Sioux War; diary of Edwin Harrison, 1858, which concerns the social life of St. Louis; and Civil War letters of Ferdinand Kennett, Jr. (Confederate) to his parents, 1864. (The Kennett family left Selma Hall and moved to St. Louis during the Civil War. Selma Hall was occupied by both forces during the war.) Also includes various household and personal accounts of Mrs. Julia Kennett; business papers regarding the lead business, balance sheet of the shot tower, 1858; letters from Lily Graham Frost, at Visitation Academy, to family members at Selma Hall, 1859; letter of V.S. Blair to Agnes Brent, dated February 21, 1891, describing Sherman's funeral procession; some letters of Robert S. Brookings after his purchase of Selma Hall; undated material includes bills, receipts and correspondence regarding Selma Hall. The collection also includes the record of a committee of fifty appointed on April 14, 1853, to obtain subscriptions for a testimonial for Luther M. Kennett. Typed copy of a biographical letter written by Kennett inserted into volume.