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William Stoddard Williams' unmarried sister, Cynthia writes him a letter in answer to his of the week before in February, 1785. He is practicing medicine, his first job, in Richmond, Massachusetts, and she and her sister, Martha (Patty), live at home with their widowed mother and their three younger brothers in Deerfield. Cynthia is literate, as most young women were in the 18th century. She speaks of their cloth at "the Mill" and the fact that the Mill is not presently operating so they are in short supply for material for clothing. Problems with "collecting money" are mentioned and Cynthia poignantly expresses her view of life when she states that she hopes he will get on "without suffering" and that she begins to think "that is all we are ever to expect."

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