№ 386

Woollen embroidered reticule with chenille tassels. With letter from maker Ella Mendham to her mother.

Letter addressed on outside to "Mrs Mendham", and reads: "My dearest Mother, I know you dislike to have your birthday spoken of but I could not refrain from making you a trifle which I hope you will like. I do heartily thank God for preserving you to us and pray Him to be the comfort to you in life and death and at the last be united to us for ever in Heaven. It grieves me now when I think how often I have caused you pain but if it pleases God to spare us both I trust now to be a comfort to you and my dear Father. You do not know how much I love you but I feel the older I grow the more I need a Mother, and now may God Almighty bless you is the heartfelt prayer of your Affectionate child Ella Mendham".
UK, 1840-1870