File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Mary (Appleton) Mackintosh and Thomas Gold Appleton, 5 November 1849 (d475edae-a0be-4eb1-afe4-6d08f6ecf242).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-019#029

Cambridge Nov 5th 1849.
Dear Mary & Tom,
This Indian sun or weather makes me very lazy, but I will [??] up my energies to write at least a few lines. I believe I told you, in my last, of a visit we had from young Strickland. His dreadful death in the White Mountains has deeply shocked & pained us. So few days before he was by our fire-side, speaking in raptures of this country & full of plans of enjoyment. He said that as he had not yet come in to his property he meant to travel about as much as he could, but I thought to myself the jar of one of our rail-cars would be too much for such a delicate, sensitive organization as he seemed to have. He came out to consult Henry about three tragedies he had written, & Henry was much interested in his view of writing & was hoping, on his return from his fatal journey, to have the reading of his productions. His keen love of nature led him to foo far the lateness of the season was against such an expedition, but tho’ vehemently urged to resign the higher hills by the guide & young [p. 2] Carpenter, who was with him part way, he would not yield to their better judgment &, insisting upon going alone, lost his path & perished with fatigue & cold amidst the woods. Sumner showed us a beautiful letter written by Carpenter to Sir George Strickland giving every detail he could furnish, & showing the elevation of mind his own was in before his death. His body was brought to Boston & placed in [??]ily Church for removal to England if desired. The Bishop performed the funeral service & the Mayor & many citizens honored it by their presence. What terrible news for his family & his younger brother who had only left him a week before! This is the first accident that ever happened upon these hills & I trust will be the last. The thought of his sufferings has haunted me day & night. I shall always think of them when I hear, or read, Excelsior, but hope in his solitary agony he was sustained by his Father’s presence & knew that he was not alone.
To turn from this sad subject to a very different one – tomorrow is Mr Winthrops wedding day & a week after Harriet will give a great party to commemorate it. On Saturday [p. 3] we were at a very gay wedding-visit. Lilly Chadwick’s rather Mrs Tom Perkins 3d as she is obliged to call herself. There were four charming bridesmaids & so many other pretty damsels beautifully dressed that the show was very [crossed out: pretty beautiful] I thought of poor Mrs Gosham all the while.* [At top of page: * Neither Tom P. nor Madame were there, both ill –he not likely to recover.] Mrs Chadwick complimented Tom, & I returned it for him by assuring her how much he enjoyed visiting at their house &c &c. We had a delightful dinner lately at Mrs Wm Eliots in the country, the two Perkins’, Hillard & young Sam kept up a perfect storm of poems & jokes – such an exuberance of youthful spirits almost saddened me from its excess. I thought it quite a beautiful picture as I sat in Sam’s picturesque study after diner – his widowed mother living with him, so proud of his growing fame, & he so devoted to her, so good & industrious, working so hard to prepare himself for his great historical labors, & at finding time to teach two boys, to play with them heartily & throw sunshine all about his home. Ned Perkins has just got into his house, & is rejoicing in his gas & comforts, while Charley, grown manlier, but still modest & amiable, is opening his boxed up treasures, & mourn [p. 4] ing over the destruction of Etruscan vases &c. When he dined with us he played part of his symphony which has a great deal of musical talent I think. Tom says I forget to mention Uncle Sam. It is only then because there is nothing to say. His life is the same serene routine & the bloom on his cheeks as perennial as ever. He is just now giving birth to a toast for a New Hampshire dinner in Boston, & highly elated with its promising appearance. Jewett is his indefatigable scribe, & writes innumerable letters in his name, but bears up under the task most cheerfully, being in great health & spirits. Aunt Sam entertains every Saturday – the Miss Wheatons were her last guests, & Caroline Blatchford who is visiting Sam & looking very well. Jewett lodges near the Athenaeum, but takes his meals at Uncle Sam’s, & thinks there was never such coffee, such breakfasts & diners as in that favored mansion. It is true. It has a protecting genius which overrules all ordinary domestic disasters. Aunt Wm has returned to town, & her house is quite transformed & strange with new papers & paint. A dark crimson burns in the basement, & the drawing rooms are a blaze of gold. They seem to be beginning life anew; for [p. 5] she showed me a beautiful sets of new china selected by Mr Lyman (& so forever saddened to her eyes) & new silver I hear is to appear. Hatty is better, but poor Frank is hopelessly unchanging. His wife has gone to Salem to live with her father, & Mrs Ritchie has taken her house in [???] [???] Square.
Agassiz keeps up his scientific or social soireés on Saturday evenings, but as that is our day for going to town I am generally too tired to go. I went to Dr Gray, however, the last, & saw his great columbara of dead plants laid away on shelves. His charming wife is a little better. Poor Miss Everett looks sad & Thin. It is said she has lost her heart to young Child the amiable tutor, whose intimacy her father encouraged but likes not the result. Both are much in love I fear, & I hope the father’s scruples will be overcome. He himself was in similar position, clever & poor when he aspired to his wife’s hand, but he looks as if he might be as unbending as any father in a melodrama. Sumner was here yesterday, as usual, & after dinner as we strolled round the garden our beautiful young calf [p. 6] attracted his attention. Some bucolic [???] reminiscence made him advance to caress her, he pulled the rope to draw her to him, when, by an unexpected manouvre, she whirled about & bringing it to bear upon his own calves prostrated the philanthropist, in a moment, prone upon the ground! The whole thing was so ludicrous that we could not help roaring with laughter, & I fancied Bowen, whose windows raket our ground, indulging in a merry peal behind them. So much for cockney realizing said I, while Henry mercilessly compared his position with that of the Free Soil Party and the fierce Democracy as he picked himself up from the field. When we got into the house he said to Charley who was present, “did you see me fall?” “Yes said Charley “and I laughed”! Whereupon he read him a lecture upon sympathizing with a friend & not laughing at him. Charley alas! only followed our example, & mentioned it expecting approval. To my great regret, Mary, the nurse, leaves us in a few days, to take care of her brother’s children from Newfoundland. But fortunately I have found a very nice American girl, gentle refined-looking, who was three years at Feltons & is capable in various ways.
[p. 7] You may remember seeing her at Eva’s party. I give Charley lessons now daily; & he has a little table in the Library for desk. He cannot yet read, but knows all his letters, as does Erny, & they both count very well by help of a Chinese board with wires & balls. But geography they like best. They like to make their little finger sail to China for tea, to Africa for monkies, to England to see Ronny &c &c & they learn a great deal on the map very readily, it being interesting to them. Charley is very fond of putting his ship at the North Pole in the ice to find “those poor men.” They often go, in fancy, to St Kitts, & so round the Cape to California. I shall write Robert, if possible, by the next steamer. What do you hear from him? Pray give us all your news, for he rarely writes.
Mr Norton has been very ill this week thought to be dying – but yesterday he revived a little – still I should think he could hardly rally from this attack. His death will make a sad change in one of the happiest homes in the world. And Charley is away too – at Calcutta! Henry’s old friend Bosworth writes him he wishes to marry again [p. 8] to cheer the advancing twilight. Mr Lawrence seems to be very much pleased with his reception. I hear some noble Lady takes the ambassadresses in hand, suggests to them points of etiquette & the [??] costumes to be worn. I hope she has got the control of Mrs L’s wardrobe. Emmeline has got out again & is remarkably well. I lost all sight alas! of Mrs James Wadsworth when here. Naty & Charley are rejoicing in woolen [sic] trousers & think themselves quite men! They are very fond of each other being nearest of age. Hatty is as thin & nervous & Willy nearly as boisterous as ever. They are sadly wanting all in governance, & after a day with them my chicks, who are tolerably manageable at home, distress us by screaming & talking in the same violent way. I think Harriet’s ill health (tho this last year very [???]) makes her unequal to checking their rampant animal spirits. Other children I see behave so much better I much regret it. Watered poplins are all the rage here for walking & evening dresses, one would become you & make you look stout! Excuse this galloping letter. I am just reading the Caxtons. Clever is not it? but the trail of the Bulwer is over it all, tho’ to suit the age he grinds moral & domestic sentiments. I believe he would put any tune into his hurdy gurdy people asked for, but he cannot put true life into them – to my ear. I wish you [p. 1 cross] would find out for me if Mrs Jamesons “hones of the Poets” is gettable. It is shameful her books should be out of print. Perhaps she might spare me a copy if aware of my extreme admiration of all she writes. Her last book is a perfect treasure to me, worth its weight in gold. Pray tell her from me that it has opened a seventh heaven to me & given a new halo to the heads of the saints & to my beloved pictures. I hope you enjoyed your visit at the Darwins. Much love to the.
ever yr loving
Fanny.

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