Lucinda Sargent writes to Emma and her older sister Levina (spelled Livena here) mainly to explain that her sister, Mary Ann Sargent, was too ill to write a letter back to Emma. Lucinda goes on to explain that she was teaching in the fall, but expects she will be unable to do so this winter on account of Mary Ann's poor health. She then asks Levina the name of her "boy" (boyfriend) and expresses sympathy for Emma since her "man" has "gone to war." Lucinda closes with verses from a poem she wrote when her sister Laura died at a young age.