This letter, written by Mary E. B. from West Acton, Massachusetts, was addressed to her cousin Sarah Brown, daughter of John Stillman Brown, a Unitarian minister who lived west of Lawrence, Kansas. Mary expressed her thankfulness that the Brown family was safe following the attack on Lawrence and the anxiety she and other family members felt reading national accounts of it. Mary added to her letter the following week, again mentioning the "desolation and destruction abroad in our beloved country." She also briefly mentioned political conflict with Japan.