Harper Lee | To Kill A Mockingbird | 1960

Dear Scout's Mother,

I don't think you're ever named. Are you? You passed when Scout was two. That's a terrible age to lose a child. You lost Atticus, too, but many people marry a man or a woman with the knowledge that they will not always be by their side. People say it's easier to die before a child than to have a child die before you, but when a baby's that young and you pass away, it's like both things are happening at once. So did you watch from where you were? Did you see what happened to Scout and Jem and Dil? One thing, of course, is that even though Atticus had right on his side, I wonder if he would have been looked at differently if he had a strong, pretty wife next to him. Maybe you could have calmed Bob Ewell. At least you could have sat your daughter on her lap and heard her story.

Missing you,
Linda Peters