File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Anne Longfellow Pierce, 14 March 1851 (bb726838-6f2d-4a7c-8dd7-d5a4c2bde352).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-021#046

Cambridge Friday mn’g
Dearest Anne,
I have just received the Dr’s letter to Henry & it has given me great comfort to know, as I hoped, that our dear mother passed away without suffering. She always seemed to be just hovering on the brink of another world, & I always felt that just so quietly & gently she would leave us – continuing, rather than changing, her pure & holy life – but free from the weary body.
It must have been a cruel shock to you at first, so sudden [p. 2] & unexpected, but I trust you now begin to feel how much better it was than a more protracted illness, with great prostration & weakness. Well do I know, my dear sister, that such a loss can never be filled in this world, that the yearning for a mother’s tenderness is never stilled, but we can feel sure that it is never far removed from us, - and you have enjoyed it long, & been enabled to do all your duty by the dear departed spirit.
Desolate indeed will seem you home & empty your life, but such a heart as yours finds duties everywhere, & should be cheered by the blessings it imparts to others. [p. 3] I wish you would come & be with us if it would be pleasant & a comfort to you, - but I shall hear from Henry your plans.
Poor Mary – how sad & sudden for her will this news be - & how much Alex will regret his distance. But all is well. Our Father has gently led her to her other home, where so many are prepared to welcome her, & let us rather rejoice with them than think too heavily of our loss.
ever affly yrs
Fanny E.L.
Pray give my truest & tenderest sympathy to dear Aunt Lucia. My brother is with me & begs me to send his love to you & to her.

• Keywords: correspondence; long archives; frances e. a. longfellow papers (long 20257); frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; people; document; subject; family life; events; death; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1851 (1011/002.001-021); (LONG-FileUnitName)