Daily Advocate
Baton Rouge
May 24, 1861
The following letter, from Mrs. Jefferson Davis, was written in acknowledgment of the receipt of a beautiful work-box, manufactured and presented to her by several patriotic misses of this city. Gracefully worded and beautifully written, we present it to our readers and let it speak for itself.—Petersburg, (Va.) Express.
Montgomery, Ala., April 29, 1861.
My Dear Young Ladies.—Permit me, before thanking you for your kind present and wishes for my husband’s welfare, to congratulate you upon the secession of Virginia—the birthplace of my mother, as well as yours.
The elder and honored sister of the Southern States, is received with tearful joy among us, and many hands will fashion stars with which to mark this brilliant accession to our galaxy.
The possession of a work box manufactured by little Southern girls, so industrious, so enthusiastic and so patriotic, will be much prized by me, and I will leave it to my daughter with the note which precedes it, as a precious legacy.
Long ere you reach the responsibility of useful womanhood, may we have united peace to independence in our Southern Confederacy.
Wishing you, my dear young friends, a long, a happy life, I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully and sincerely, your friend,
Varina Davis.