File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Emmeline (Austin) Wadsworth, 13 October 1851 (1ebee2e7-2b28-4af5-9e82-ca9cf81e0dfa).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-021#038

Cambridge Oct. 13th / 51.
Dearest Emmeline
I hope you have not been too sadly occupied to lose entirely the glory of this past week which with you must have been even beyond ours, tho’ the weather here could not be improved in warmth & softness – “Un pezzo di cielo caduta sulla terra,” as has been said of Naples, seemed to have befallen us, the jeweled bearer of the Revelations, with such splendor in the leaves & sky, by day & such a moon by night! We drove Mrs Pierce yesterday thro Brookline & most beautiful it was, with the Wood-cut creepers hung out for a pageant, tho’ nowhere are they more brilliant than about my own piazza, & having [???]ed themselves with the lilac hedges and [p. 2] clumps look like splendid tropical flowers amidst the glossy green. And the sunsets have blazed forth as a reflection of the glowing earth, another page of God’s great illuminated missal, but have faded as quickly as a vision, as will speedily all this splendor, for even now this warm rain is chanting its dirge. So beautiful so brief has been the life of poor young Wheaton, whose funeral Henry has left me to attend today in Providence. He died on Thursday of brain fever brought on by anxiety of mind & exposure, & for himself is relieved from a life of constant struggle & toil, with a temperament too proud & sensitive to bear the burden of poverty, but for his desolate mother & sisters, who relied wholly upon his exertions, what an miserable loss. He had rather a cold, stiff manner until you knew him well, but a very pure & noble nature, & all his young [p. 3] friends, & older ones too, seem to have loved & respected him with no common feeling. He was of great value to the College, as French teacher, contributing the manners & character of a gentleman with much thorough knowledge of the language in its most finished elegancies. He was just arranging to bring his mother & sisters here to live – how dreary must their future seem to them, for they too have been brought up abroad in a manner to make it very hard to adopt personal exertion for a livelihood.
His death came in sad dissonance upon us the day of Harriet Appleton’s wedding, which went off very brilliantly tho’ not gayly. She was married at St Pauls (the church lighted & crowded & fine music as a prelude) in her bridal dress but unattended by her four bridesmaids (which I thought a pity) for the whole effect would have been freer & less trying for her, I should think, than to face the crowd alone. The evening reception I was also at – it was very fully attended with a beauty [p. 4] ful supper & music tho’ no dancing. Lizzie Prescott in white, Miss Timmins in blue, Hatty in buff, & Lilly Ritchie in pink grouped finely about her. The bride herself lookedvery pretty with a rich dress of white silk, whose details I could not distinguish, & a superb veil descending to her feet & covering her shoulders. Harriot was to have got her wedding things in Paris but was obliged to resign them to Mrs Frank Peabody. After the guests were gone, we of the family descended to supper & the bride slipped away to go to Brookline by such a moon as a bride should have to light her steps.
Mr Franklin Dexter took leave of us to sail on Wednesday for Europe with his youngest son. Mrs Story sails today in a ship carrying government stores direct to Geneva, & we went to a small gathering of her friends at her mothers on Friday to say farewell. I wrote you of my father’s improved health did I not? he seems far better to my, but my Uncle Sam is far from well – gradually failing I fear. His strength & spirits seem deserting him – so long firm allies. Mrs Greenleaf senior has returned to Cambridge to live, & Mary is now with her so that it is very pleasant to me having Annie at the same time, whose gentle presence is always [p. 1 cross] a comfort. I long to hear from you but hardly hope for it as I suppose you are daily looking for the inevitable event. I saw Sam for a moment in the crowd the other night but not long enough to hear about you. At all times & seasons
ever thy loving & anxious
Fanny E.L.
Our love to Wm who I hope is able to bear his sad prostration as cheerfully as ever.

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