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Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Susan (Benjamin) Stackpole, 13 April 1835
Manuscript letter
Boston. April 13th 1835.
Your letter of the 5th came duly to hand (as the Merchants say) & truly grateful am I for it, my dearest. It finds me in the novel & independent character of “maitresse de la maison”, Mary’s departure, on Thursday last, having endowed me with the weighty responsibilities of the kitchen & parlour cabinet. I was sincerely delighted with your account of people & things, & assure you I fully coincide with Mrs Lawrence’s ideas on the subject, & beg you will ‘act up to them’ for the future.
Many of the people are known to me, & if not personally, at least, by reputation, & therefore I am much amused with a description of them, particularly as they strike you. I think I have seen Emily Markoe at Newport, but am not quite sure tho’ the name is very familiar to me. The reports concerning Mrs Butler must be still, then, somewhat premature, since you have seen her; indeed, every report concerning [p. 2] her, seems to have “cast its shadows before”, since neither the Journal or the expected Lar have yet seen the light. I had a letter from Mary, last night, in New York, who seems to be haunted, thus far, by rather antique beaux, such as the gallant Captain & some of our Washingtonian acquaintances. She expects to arrive in your goodly city on Wednesday. As for us, in this forlorn corner of the earth, we are endeavoring to survive with most exemplary patience & resignation the loss of so many friends, the Post Office being the only Mecca towards which we direct our longing eyes, with most devout anticipation of coming consolation. Here we are ‘semper cadem’, forever & forever; east winds blowing, clouds lowering, scandal hatching, bores stalking & all the world, stupifying [sic]. Yesterday, I received an invitation to a ball all the way from Cincinnati! Would’nt [sic] that be a pleasant excursion for an evening’s entertainment! We are not in such a straight as that for gaiety however, for we have a little party tomorrow eve at Mrs Tom Perkins, for Sarah, I suppose, or mayhap for the fair ‘affianced one’, he delicate Miss Sally. Professor Silliman has long since made his farewell bow to the attentive audience who honored him by a passing interest in “stocks & stones,” & now we are quite destitute of recreation of any sort. There is to be [p. 3] I believe some attraction at the theatre, such as Miss Watson, Miss Wheatley & Sheridan Knowles can furnish forth. Our class of fair amateurs continues in a moderately flourishing condition. We have changed our quarters to Collonade [sic] Row, where a larger apartment, & more comfortable accomadations [sic] enclose our diminished number. Miss Grant, continues to commit horrors innumerable in ‘chiar’’ oscuro’ & design; making most ‘visible darkness’ on lily brows & fair cheeks, & consigning this to most unwelcome immortality the poor crayons whom she so ruthlessly wields! Emmeline, has not yet given the last touch to the curly pate of the little Reubens, & my poor Cupid, still reclines, mournfully, upon his hard, anxiously waiting for the long-delayed moment that he may fly away & be at rest. There have been a few juvenile engagements added to the list. – Miss Lucy Reed to a Mr Tappan of N. York - & Miss Isabelle Welles to Mr Honeywell. (The Welles of Paris’ head clerk, where they are to live I believe). I went the other night to hear Dr Channing deliver an address – the last time, it is said, he appears before his departure for the Summer. He was very eloquent, & I endured the most tremendous heat & crowd I ever experienced, without a thought but of pleasure at the almost angelic inspirations of such a mind. Poor Rollin! the weighty cares of housekeeping &c have quite usurped his [p. 4 bottom] allotted hours & when I do take him up I am so appalled with the confusion of names & events (unconnected in my mind with aught known before) that I speedily consign him to renewed neglect. My cousin occasionally enlivens me with an air on & events (unconnected in my mind with aught known before) that I speedily consign him to renewed neglect. My cousin occasionally enlivens me with an air on your piano, whose dulcet notes are doubly refreshing after the muffled, dissonance [p. 4 top] of ours. I have seen no beaux of late. My friend Thick has quite ‘cut’ me I fear, since I have not seen his comely phiz for many a day. I hope you will come across some agreeable ones at the South & if so, propose an exportation, or “exchange of commodities.” There are many we would not sigh, greatly, to part with. Give a kiss to both Marys for me, & believe me ever yr true & stanch [sic] friend Fan.
Addressed: Miss S. Benjamin. / Care of Rabul Ralston Esq / Philadelphia.
Postmark: BOSTON/ APR 15 / MS
Your letter of the 5th came duly to hand (as the Merchants say) & truly grateful am I for it, my dearest. It finds me in the novel & independent character of “maitresse de la maison”, Mary’s departure, on Thursday last, having endowed me with the weighty responsibilities of the kitchen & parlour cabinet. I was sincerely delighted with your account of people & things, & assure you I fully coincide with Mrs Lawrence’s ideas on the subject, & beg you will ‘act up to them’ for the future.
Many of the people are known to me, & if not personally, at least, by reputation, & therefore I am much amused with a description of them, particularly as they strike you. I think I have seen Emily Markoe at Newport, but am not quite sure tho’ the name is very familiar to me. The reports concerning Mrs Butler must be still, then, somewhat premature, since you have seen her; indeed, every report concerning [p. 2] her, seems to have “cast its shadows before”, since neither the Journal or the expected Lar have yet seen the light. I had a letter from Mary, last night, in New York, who seems to be haunted, thus far, by rather antique beaux, such as the gallant Captain & some of our Washingtonian acquaintances. She expects to arrive in your goodly city on Wednesday. As for us, in this forlorn corner of the earth, we are endeavoring to survive with most exemplary patience & resignation the loss of so many friends, the Post Office being the only Mecca towards which we direct our longing eyes, with most devout anticipation of coming consolation. Here we are ‘semper cadem’, forever & forever; east winds blowing, clouds lowering, scandal hatching, bores stalking & all the world, stupifying [sic]. Yesterday, I received an invitation to a ball all the way from Cincinnati! Would’nt [sic] that be a pleasant excursion for an evening’s entertainment! We are not in such a straight as that for gaiety however, for we have a little party tomorrow eve at Mrs Tom Perkins, for Sarah, I suppose, or mayhap for the fair ‘affianced one’, he delicate Miss Sally. Professor Silliman has long since made his farewell bow to the attentive audience who honored him by a passing interest in “stocks & stones,” & now we are quite destitute of recreation of any sort. There is to be [p. 3] I believe some attraction at the theatre, such as Miss Watson, Miss Wheatley & Sheridan Knowles can furnish forth. Our class of fair amateurs continues in a moderately flourishing condition. We have changed our quarters to Collonade [sic] Row, where a larger apartment, & more comfortable accomadations [sic] enclose our diminished number. Miss Grant, continues to commit horrors innumerable in ‘chiar’’ oscuro’ & design; making most ‘visible darkness’ on lily brows & fair cheeks, & consigning this to most unwelcome immortality the poor crayons whom she so ruthlessly wields! Emmeline, has not yet given the last touch to the curly pate of the little Reubens, & my poor Cupid, still reclines, mournfully, upon his hard, anxiously waiting for the long-delayed moment that he may fly away & be at rest. There have been a few juvenile engagements added to the list. – Miss Lucy Reed to a Mr Tappan of N. York - & Miss Isabelle Welles to Mr Honeywell. (The Welles of Paris’ head clerk, where they are to live I believe). I went the other night to hear Dr Channing deliver an address – the last time, it is said, he appears before his departure for the Summer. He was very eloquent, & I endured the most tremendous heat & crowd I ever experienced, without a thought but of pleasure at the almost angelic inspirations of such a mind. Poor Rollin! the weighty cares of housekeeping &c have quite usurped his [p. 4 bottom] allotted hours & when I do take him up I am so appalled with the confusion of names & events (unconnected in my mind with aught known before) that I speedily consign him to renewed neglect. My cousin occasionally enlivens me with an air on & events (unconnected in my mind with aught known before) that I speedily consign him to renewed neglect. My cousin occasionally enlivens me with an air on your piano, whose dulcet notes are doubly refreshing after the muffled, dissonance [p. 4 top] of ours. I have seen no beaux of late. My friend Thick has quite ‘cut’ me I fear, since I have not seen his comely phiz for many a day. I hope you will come across some agreeable ones at the South & if so, propose an exportation, or “exchange of commodities.” There are many we would not sigh, greatly, to part with. Give a kiss to both Marys for me, & believe me ever yr true & stanch [sic] friend Fan.
Addressed: Miss S. Benjamin. / Care of Rabul Ralston Esq / Philadelphia.
Postmark: BOSTON/ APR 15 / MS
Archives Number: 1011/002.001-005#002
U. S. National Park Service
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Courtesy of National Park Service, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site; Archives Number 1011/002.001-005#002
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Correspondence (1011/002), (LONG-SeriesName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1835 (1011/002.001-005), (LONG-FileUnitName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1835 (1011/002.001-005), (LONG-FileUnitName)
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Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Code: LONG
Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Latitude: 42.3769989013672, Longitude: -71.1264038085938
Latitude: 42.3769989013672, Longitude: -71.1264038085938
NPS Museum Number Catalog : LONG 20257
Title: Finding Aid to the Frances Elizabeth Appleton Longfellow (1817-1861) Papers, 1825-1961 (bulk dated: 1832-1861)
URL: https://www.nps.gov/long/learn/historyculture/archives.htm#FEAL
URL: https://www.nps.gov/long/learn/historyculture/archives.htm#FEAL
2016/01/30
04/13/1835
Manuscript letter in Frances Appleton Longfellow Papers, Series II. Correspondence, A. Outgoing, 1835. (1011/002.001-005#002)
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Organization: Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site
Address: 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Email: LONG_archives@nps.gov
Address: 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Email: LONG_archives@nps.gov
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