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[[note]] 15 [[/note]]

115 Via de Serragli,
Florence, May 20, 1871.

My dear father:

I enclose you a couple of letters for Anna Maria and Aunt Mary, which please send to them when you are writing to N.Port.

We are just passing through an anxious period with the baby; she is getting weaned, her wet-nurse having just left us. The baby is now 15 months old, has 7 or 8 teeth, walks about quite independently and fearlessly, and we think will do better on cow's milk, beefsteak, soup &c &c than on her nurse's milk. Thus far, she is getting on very well, and we hope that she will not suffer more than from the loss of a certain "creature-comfort". She tries very hard to talk so as to make herself understood, and is becoming quite companiable.

We are just about packing up to move to some cooler place for the summer, to the Highlands of Germany probably, which are now quite accessible by Railways.

[[editing marks]] John has been studying very assiduously all winter, and his teacher gives a very good account of his progress and general behavior. A friend of ours, a Germanico-American Artist of reputation, has invited him to spend the summer with him in the Tyrol and the neighboring highlands where they will sketch together, fish &c. It is an excellent opportunity for the boy who is very fond of drawing, and who seems to be more desirous of an Artist's life as a profession than of any other vocation, and we intend to let him his bent. We shall keep near him so as to be able to get at him at any time in case of need. [[editing mark]] He is a very good boy, so far as I know, and as compared with other boys.

I wish our children could have seen and known dear Ma, - she would have had an additional pleasure, and they a shining example of gentleness and worth. I think that Emily and she would have suited

Transcription Notes:
do the editing marks mean to just include what is inside the marks and leave out, "He is a very good boy, ..."?