Collection of letters written to a Massachusetts man

A collection of ten letters, measuring from 4½" x 7¼" to 5" x 8", each in their neatly opened original envelope. The letters are folded for mailing, else fine condition, a few envelopes with a bit of wear. The letters are addressed to Samuel Adoniram Hayward of Easton, Massachusetts, written by Lucy Irene Putnam of Jacksonville, Vermont, with dates ranging from June 25, 1896 to October 10, 1897. The tone of the letters sways from loving and reminiscent to unsure and despondent. Hayward, referred to by Lucy as "Ad", was married in 1873 to Ellen Bruce, shortly after the birth of their daughter. He then had another daughter two years later by a different woman, who he would later marry, though we have not been able to find the date of their marriage. Lucy’s husband of 18 years had passed away in 1887. In her first letter, Lucy says she is home safe, and that it was very difficult to say goodbye to him. She writes "No the home ward side was not as pleasant as the one the week before then, there was nothing but a few days of pleasure before us, and I enjoyed it as well as you." She wants him to meet her at Lake Pleasant in August, and says she will pay for his trip there. In the second letter, sent one month later, she writes "Oh yes, I do wish you were with us dear, it is lonesome for me to feel that I am all alone. I can see the need of you every day and it comes to me more and more." She continues writing the letter two days later, and curiously writes "I think that letter your friend wrote you splendid and she must be a Spiritualist and I think she knows it too. Oh the idea of being afraid of Spiritualism or being Hypnotized. I think it will do one good. And you had to write to her to know whether you could go to the lake or not, and if it was best. When I read her letter and yours I thought that perhaps she is the one for you, she is finely educated and I think she might fill the place of wife. I think there must be some thing I do not understand. It gives me a terrible feeling. When I read her letter I could feel the electricity in my arms." She then immediately reiterates that she thinks he should come to the lake and that she will pay for him to get there. The next few letters have a different tone, either starting off with "Dear friend" or signing off "I remain your friend." The fourth letter, sent in March of 1897, starts off "Dear friend, as I am sitting all alone, reflecting on the past, I thought I’d try once more to write you… perhaps one at this late date will not be welcomed…" By the sixth letter she returns to a more loving tone. It seems that she visited him again in June of 1897. On June 17 she lets him know that she is home, and says "I send love to your mother, and keep a share of it if you think it worth having," signed off "Love, LTP." Things take yet another turn in a letter sent on September 12. She reminisces of a time when they were together in a field. She wishes they were together, and says "but I am thinking that will never be, and it brings a tear to my eye, but best of friends have to part some times." She asks him to tell her something, and says "will you tell me when you write? I say when you write then I think perhaps he will never write again. It has been so long that I think perhaps you’ll not ever want to write or hear from me again." In her final letter, Lucy writes "But as we are so far apart in miles and minds, perhaps we can never be what we might have been had we been acquainted younger in life." She mentions that he can not move away from his mother, and she cannot move to be with him. She poetically pens "I’ve thought it over and over and over again and with tears in my eyes I write these lines. It’s not all joy to live. There is no such thing as perfect happiness on earth. And I dread the cold winter. I think it might be pleasanter if I had one to look after things and be company these long winter evenings. You speak of some lady friend. I hope you have met her, and I hope you will enjo. …