Transcribe Evans, Mary. Letter to Ward, Henry A. (1879-10-20)

[another hand- </u Miss Evans > Oct. '79] Lake Erie Seminary Painesville, Ohio Oct. 20th 1879 Prof. Henry A. Ward Dear Sir:

  Your letter of Oct. 4th

was received at the Seminary during my absence from Painesville, and by an oversight, was not opened and answered as is usual with letters ad- dressed to me and received during an absence. Upon my return, it was too late to avail ourselves of your special offer, and it would have been almost impossible to raise the money, even for the $235. required to secure the collection. Though we are sharing in the general return of prosperity, we have now only money for repairs and improvements in our building, and must do many ^other^ things before we can afford cabinets. And yet, I hope to interest friends of the Seminary in the subject, and when we are supplied with more Educational op-