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Deborah Weston begins the letter by saying "the battle has begun," regarding the Chardon Street Convention. Deborah describes the sudden arrival of Dea[con] Tarbell and Mrs. [Lucy] Sessions at the Chapmans. She gives an account of the convention, which was "exceedingly mixed--the fashionables & the 'come outers'--all jumbled up together. [Ralph] Waldo Emerson & wife, [Amos Bronson] Alcott, T.[heodore] Parker & [George?] Ripley & e[tc]." It is rumored that the "Mass. A[bolitionist]" newspaper has lost 1500 subscribers. "[Theodore] Parker spoke against the Sabbath." In the evening, Dr. Samuel Osgood defended the Sabbath; Deborah comments that Osgood was "very dull & stupid." Garrison answered him, "mounted on his gospel horse." She describes a sharp altercation between Amos A. Phelps and Maria Weston Chapman after the meeting. Deborah comments on Amos Phelps's speech that he gave the following day, and also reports that "Alcott spoke...in his own peculiar style."