Two letters, 10 August 1874, augment the South Caroliniana Library's holdings of papers relating to the family of the Rev. James Hamilton Cornish (1815-1878), rector of St. Thaddeus Episcopal Church, Aiken, South Carolina.

Two of Cornish's children, Mary and Ernest, are here represented as correspondents through letters to another of their siblings, Rhoda. Ernest, a mere schoolboy, wrote to his sister, whom he addresses as Lola, with reference to his studies under Mr. Gadsden and Miss Rhett and giving a comic description of having "put on a long coat of Pa's and his straw hat and...a short pair of pants and a corn silk mustache" in which to parade about the yard.

His older sister Mary penned a lengthier letter to Rody, then living in Washington, D.C., with news of social events, a surprise party at the Ravenels' and a dance, as well as comments about her younger brother, whom she described as "a perfect pickle." "The only way we can manage him is by telling him we won't have any thing to do with him," she added.