Oct 23rd, 2024
June 27th, 1892
My Dearest Henrietta,
I fear I must commence this long overdue letter with ill tidings. The railroad work your Uncle Lewis promised me, and that brought me to Macon, is not to be. I must admit I do not entirely comprehend what has transpired, but what I gather from your uncle – on those rare occasions when he emerges from the bourbon-dark pit of his drunken despair – is that some duplicitous New York investors promised money and iron that sadly never arrived here in Georgia. Whether it is thievery or incompetence I do not know, but I do know I must find other steady work in order to raise the money to ask your father for your hand.
Fear not though, for I have already taken up other work in the alternate. A kind enough seeming gentleman, Mr. Porchnik, newly arrived from Germany, has opened a newfangled style of bakery right on Mulberry Street. It’s early morning toil, but good honest work for the good and honest Christian provider I desire to be – and your father requires I be – for you.
Forever Yours,
JR. T.
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July 13th, 1892
My Dearest Henrietta,
I am most apologetic for the undue burden I place on you in between my far too infrequent letters. I can do nothing in my waking hours but earn to eat to live. Except for the ordained rest of the Sabbath – which Mr. Porchnik keeps on Saturday, in some odd continental manner – my work at the bakery just runs me bone dry. Mr. Porchnik even has me boiling the bread, if you can believe that! At night I dream only of you, and awaken moist from the promise of your presence. I long to see you again soon, and toil so thoroughly as to arrest my correspondence only in order to bring that day ever closer.
I Am Forever Yours,
JR. T.
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July 19th, 1892
Dearest Henrietta,
I heard today of the passing of your beloved Uncle Lewis. I believe young Tom Stevens is riding to notify you and your family in person, and will fairly beat this letter, so by the time you are reading this I’m sure you will have heard as well. You and your family are in my prayers.
He was a kindly and generous man who did much for me, and who I will remember fondly for the rest of my earthly life. I recall he once said to me, ‘Jedidah Reuben Tompkins, you do not need fame or fortune to be happy in this world. You just need a plot of land and a loving wife. You should come meet my niece Henrietta, a buxom beauty unparalleled for three counties in every direction – except perhaps to the west, as they got this girl over there in Baldwin who well… … whoa. But I digress...’ And that is how in time I came to swoon over you.
I will forever remember Lewis Stapelton z”l. He did not in any way deserve the troubles that befell him before his untimely death.
May His Memory Be A Blessing,
JR. T.
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July 24th, 1892
My Dearest Henrietta,
I write to remind you that I hold you and your family in my thoughts and prayers during this time of grief. Though I may be only a few counties away as the crow flies, being kept apart from you by my work in this time of your sorrow makes me feel as though I might as well be across the ocean. I am daily reminded of a line from a book I’ve borrowed from Mr. Porchink, and from which book I am finding no small comfort and insight in this difficult time. It was written by an ancient philosopher – name of Moses Maimonides: “the sun has set on all joy, for he has gone on to eternal life, leaving me dismayed in a foreign land.”
You are as always in my thoughts,
JR. T.
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August 16th, 1892
Henrietta,
I break my silence towards you from a place of deepest torment. I feel like Abraham at the rock of Moriah – but I stand, knife drawn, not over the binding of young Isaac, but over the fate of our young love. These past few months have awoken in me a thirst for knowledge I fear I cannot quench here in humble Macon.
I know, in my heart of hearts, that I love you. There is meaning in that. But I am finding meaning in the study of halakha and the deeper mysteries of Torah. I desire to learn. I know that now. Perhaps to learn of you, to learn of that pastoral life of peace and prosperity and grace you promise me. But I must confess I desire now to learn of greater truths as well. I know there is space in my heart for both talmud and Ms. Henrietta Stapelton of Augusta, Georgia. But what I do not know is whether there is the time.
JR. T.
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February 12th, 1893
Miss Henrietta Stapelton,
I regret that you must have not had news of me in many months. I regret further to inform you that I must here end our courtship.
Last September I received the joyous news that Rev Halberstam, the eldest grandson of the Divrei Chaim, had established a new yeshiva in the town of Bobov. I made my choice. It was a difficult journey, but it is a blessing to have an opportunity to study under such a learned man with the support of daily chavrusa.
I apologize for the tardiness of my notification. The mail service of Emperor Franz Joseph is a far cry from that of Dixie.
Best,
Yehuda Reuven Tompkins