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Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Mary (Appleton) Mackintosh, 20 February 1860
Manuscript letter
Cambridge Feb 20th 1860.
Dearest Mary,
Our winter has come now in good earnest, & it is hard to write with such stiffened fingers but I must essay to give you some account of Harriot’s ball, which was the prettiest one of the season, & went off most successfully. The whole house was open, & the display of flowers most beautiful, festooned over the mirrors, hanging in baskets from the door-tops, & blooming in every available space, with endless camellias & other choice exotics.
Harriot received in the old “green-room,” on nearly the same spot [p. 2] where I so well remember you blushing in your blue crêpe, by mother’s side, at your “coming out” ball! It seemed like a dream all the evening to me, & Wm Boott gave a sigh with me to the past. Hatty looked very pretty in a simple, French dress of white tulle, caught up with white clematis, & adorned about the waist & shoulders, & with a wreath of the same in her hair. It was most suitable for a young girl, & as she has a bright colour it became her well. Harriot was in black velvet, & I in pearl-colored silk with many flowers, trimmed with lace & cherry velvet, - with white feathers & a band of cherry velvet in my hair. I give you these details thinking they may be of interest to you. Charley [p. 3] was honored with an invitation, & it was quite an event for him to remember. The young married ladies were the greatest ornaments, & beautifully dressed – Cora Shaw, Mrs David Sears - &c, for I do not think there is much beauty in Hatty’s set, tho’ many pleasing damsels. Hatty is as nice looking as any, having a pretty figure & a very intelligent, good face with fine eyes. Mrs Shaw has lost much in looks since she has been abroad, but is always graceful & elegant. Tom came back from N. York, for the occasion, bringing Miss Lane. Maria was not there but Mrs Bangs was, not looking, however, as well as usual. She is to be confined in June, & her two little girls are mere babies still! I stopped in Saturday to take Maria [p. 4] to hear Mrs Kemble’s Richard the 3d (a wonderful performance) & saw them moving about with Aunt Sam at their heels. Papa bore all the fatigues of the ball very well, as he could retire into the card-room when tired, tho’ he had to be driven up stairs to sleep. I suppose he now looks forward to Hatty’s marriage, as the next event he would like to see well over, but I do not discover any very desirable young man about her. We go tonight to a ball at Anna Amory’s for her son’s bride (a second Mrs Wm A.) & I shall think again of you as the mother’s bridesmaid! I go out so rarely, & know so little the present generation that I naturally live much in the days that were. I got a distant glimpse of Miss Sedgwick at the reading, & shall make an attempt, now the roads are smoothed by snow, to get over to Kate’s to see her. She had a long talk about you with Aunt Sam the other day. I have a lithograph of the childrens [p. 1 cross] picture I shall try to send you when I get an opportunity. I would have given it to Synge, who offered to take any thing, but I had them not when he came to take leave. He seems to have had a dreary time at Nicaragua. Sir Wm Gore Ouseley broke down, & nothing was done but avoid sickness as best they might, & long for release.
How touching is Dickens’ account of the clergyman who assisted the mourners of the wrecked Australian ship – with their letters &c Julia Howe’s book on Cuba is out – very spicy, but with very moderate remarks on Slavery – I wonder her husband let her publish it.
[p. 3 cross] I hope you will see the Fields when again in London. She is a very sweet woman, & did so enjoy a visit to Tennyson. She thinks him the greatest man alive, & his wife Shakspearian in perfection of character. They return in April. Love to all. I am glad the Eton boy begins hopefully. It seems so strange to think of Ronny at Woolwich, when I saw him as a baby with a prophetic cockade on his hat!
Yr loving
Fanny E.L.
Dearest Mary,
Our winter has come now in good earnest, & it is hard to write with such stiffened fingers but I must essay to give you some account of Harriot’s ball, which was the prettiest one of the season, & went off most successfully. The whole house was open, & the display of flowers most beautiful, festooned over the mirrors, hanging in baskets from the door-tops, & blooming in every available space, with endless camellias & other choice exotics.
Harriot received in the old “green-room,” on nearly the same spot [p. 2] where I so well remember you blushing in your blue crêpe, by mother’s side, at your “coming out” ball! It seemed like a dream all the evening to me, & Wm Boott gave a sigh with me to the past. Hatty looked very pretty in a simple, French dress of white tulle, caught up with white clematis, & adorned about the waist & shoulders, & with a wreath of the same in her hair. It was most suitable for a young girl, & as she has a bright colour it became her well. Harriot was in black velvet, & I in pearl-colored silk with many flowers, trimmed with lace & cherry velvet, - with white feathers & a band of cherry velvet in my hair. I give you these details thinking they may be of interest to you. Charley [p. 3] was honored with an invitation, & it was quite an event for him to remember. The young married ladies were the greatest ornaments, & beautifully dressed – Cora Shaw, Mrs David Sears - &c, for I do not think there is much beauty in Hatty’s set, tho’ many pleasing damsels. Hatty is as nice looking as any, having a pretty figure & a very intelligent, good face with fine eyes. Mrs Shaw has lost much in looks since she has been abroad, but is always graceful & elegant. Tom came back from N. York, for the occasion, bringing Miss Lane. Maria was not there but Mrs Bangs was, not looking, however, as well as usual. She is to be confined in June, & her two little girls are mere babies still! I stopped in Saturday to take Maria [p. 4] to hear Mrs Kemble’s Richard the 3d (a wonderful performance) & saw them moving about with Aunt Sam at their heels. Papa bore all the fatigues of the ball very well, as he could retire into the card-room when tired, tho’ he had to be driven up stairs to sleep. I suppose he now looks forward to Hatty’s marriage, as the next event he would like to see well over, but I do not discover any very desirable young man about her. We go tonight to a ball at Anna Amory’s for her son’s bride (a second Mrs Wm A.) & I shall think again of you as the mother’s bridesmaid! I go out so rarely, & know so little the present generation that I naturally live much in the days that were. I got a distant glimpse of Miss Sedgwick at the reading, & shall make an attempt, now the roads are smoothed by snow, to get over to Kate’s to see her. She had a long talk about you with Aunt Sam the other day. I have a lithograph of the childrens [p. 1 cross] picture I shall try to send you when I get an opportunity. I would have given it to Synge, who offered to take any thing, but I had them not when he came to take leave. He seems to have had a dreary time at Nicaragua. Sir Wm Gore Ouseley broke down, & nothing was done but avoid sickness as best they might, & long for release.
How touching is Dickens’ account of the clergyman who assisted the mourners of the wrecked Australian ship – with their letters &c Julia Howe’s book on Cuba is out – very spicy, but with very moderate remarks on Slavery – I wonder her husband let her publish it.
[p. 3 cross] I hope you will see the Fields when again in London. She is a very sweet woman, & did so enjoy a visit to Tennyson. She thinks him the greatest man alive, & his wife Shakspearian in perfection of character. They return in April. Love to all. I am glad the Eton boy begins hopefully. It seems so strange to think of Ronny at Woolwich, when I saw him as a baby with a prophetic cockade on his hat!
Yr loving
Fanny E.L.
Archives Number: 1011/002.001-030#005
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Correspondence (1011/002), (LONG-SeriesName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1860 (1011/002.001-030), (LONG-FileUnitName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1860 (1011/002.001-030), (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
02/20/1860
Manuscript letter in Frances Appleton Longfellow Papers, Series II. Correspondence, A. Outgoing, 1860. (1011/002.001-030#005)
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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
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 5:16:41 PM
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 5:16:41 PM
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