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Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Thomas Gold Appleton, 28 February 1847
Manuscript letter
Craigie House. Feb 28th
1847.
We were very glad, dear Tom, to hear of you once more upon your feet, & trust you are gaining, daily, strength & health. Paris is a dangerous place, however, to grow well in, with its myriad temptations of the cuisine, coming in so light & delicate a guise that one may be ensnared before aware of any indulgence. We have had a true Parisian winter for mildness & dampness, &, in consequence, the Grippe has reigned here as it does there. Never have colds been so obstinate & frequent, & I am persuaded the human machine is more likely to be rendered rotten than useful by so much saturation. A fine snow storm, this last week, has been hailed with much delight, from its rarity, & I am sorry yesterday’s rain has spoiled it, so many wash [p. 2] the unceasing music of bells in the clear air, & the dashing by of sleighs of every shape, size and color – through both days & nights.
Our vacation ends, alas, with the month, - & its delicious quiet must be broken – on the wheel that grinds books into brains. Mr Everett will re-assume all the anxiety of master miller, without the jovial face they are wont to wear, mealy-mouthed tho’ it often is. A better joke than that has been perpetrated on him by a fellow Professor in Mrs Pierce. Agassiz, the geologist, has been making him (Mr E) a visit, which, she says, was to prepare himself for his lectures on the glaciers, now commenced.
Hillard gives before the Lowell a course of 12 on Milton, which will, doubtless, be very beautiful. I wish I could hear them, but as they are in the evening have not sufficient omnibus energy to undertake it –
[p. 3] Poor John Bryant has lost his little girl, & takes it heavily to heart – It must be a cruel disappointment to him. Lathrop Motley told me he sent a letter for you to Baring, so if it does not appear you can demand it. Sam Guild was married lately to Lizzy Rice, & their young ménage is nearly buried under the profusion of gifts showered from friends & relatives. Their house (near the Providence depot) has a fine look out over Charles River & the Common, but the street is, at present, jointly paved with old boots & oyster shells. Mrs Otis took leave of the Boston world, for six months, yesterday, by a matinée dansante, Harry’s bed-room being transformed into ball-room for the occasion, where damsels waltzed in cloaks, & I fear in india-rubbers.X Frank Schroeder was married on the 10th to Miss Seaton of Washington – a very nice girl I believe, but unfortunately for an idle man like him without money. Perhaps Mr Gales will raise the wind suggests Henry I see Miss Fuller was quite a lioness [p. 4] in London, speaking publicly at an Italian school &c. She will come back with a still more enlarged “interior consciousness,” – a kind of metaphysical Strasbourg goose. You will see how universal the sympathy for the sufferings of the Irish has been throughout the country - & what relief is offered. Ships loaded with flour barrels are a nobler fleet than if stuffed with gunbarrels – to preserve life & not to destroy – Yet lately the latter were seriously thought of for this same country – but the heart of man is not, thank God, so “desperately wicked” as the catechism teaches, &, like a true instrument, gives out a fine tone when rightly touched.
I am sorry you think Sumner was wrong in condemning Winthrop. The country is fast agreeing with him, & more than one manly eloquent voice has been raised in Congress for the recall of the army, & the cessation of supplies – A Polk cannot make an unjust war righteous, & fit to be carried on by a Xtian people. A Mr Corwin has made a fine speech rammed with truth, which will go further than gun-cotton to open people’s eyes. Winthrop now stands quite alone in the Massachusetts delegation we hear. Is that doing us honor? I feel ready to say “I trust we have in our good State (if not five hundred as good as he” as the king in the ballad boasts, still truly “honorable men”. We hope to see Em- [p. 1 cross] meline soon. All goes well with her & her’s. The paté has not yet arrived, but the passages are so long we must wait patiently.
Give my love to Mrs Rich if she is still in P- Will you get for Henry some of Jansmins poems, the Provençal barber-poet, and also any collection of Noëls so Xmas Carols in Patois. With his love ever thy affte
Fanny L.
[p. 3 bottom] X The boys said “what a great funeral,” seeing the crowd of carriages!
1847.
We were very glad, dear Tom, to hear of you once more upon your feet, & trust you are gaining, daily, strength & health. Paris is a dangerous place, however, to grow well in, with its myriad temptations of the cuisine, coming in so light & delicate a guise that one may be ensnared before aware of any indulgence. We have had a true Parisian winter for mildness & dampness, &, in consequence, the Grippe has reigned here as it does there. Never have colds been so obstinate & frequent, & I am persuaded the human machine is more likely to be rendered rotten than useful by so much saturation. A fine snow storm, this last week, has been hailed with much delight, from its rarity, & I am sorry yesterday’s rain has spoiled it, so many wash [p. 2] the unceasing music of bells in the clear air, & the dashing by of sleighs of every shape, size and color – through both days & nights.
Our vacation ends, alas, with the month, - & its delicious quiet must be broken – on the wheel that grinds books into brains. Mr Everett will re-assume all the anxiety of master miller, without the jovial face they are wont to wear, mealy-mouthed tho’ it often is. A better joke than that has been perpetrated on him by a fellow Professor in Mrs Pierce. Agassiz, the geologist, has been making him (Mr E) a visit, which, she says, was to prepare himself for his lectures on the glaciers, now commenced.
Hillard gives before the Lowell a course of 12 on Milton, which will, doubtless, be very beautiful. I wish I could hear them, but as they are in the evening have not sufficient omnibus energy to undertake it –
[p. 3] Poor John Bryant has lost his little girl, & takes it heavily to heart – It must be a cruel disappointment to him. Lathrop Motley told me he sent a letter for you to Baring, so if it does not appear you can demand it. Sam Guild was married lately to Lizzy Rice, & their young ménage is nearly buried under the profusion of gifts showered from friends & relatives. Their house (near the Providence depot) has a fine look out over Charles River & the Common, but the street is, at present, jointly paved with old boots & oyster shells. Mrs Otis took leave of the Boston world, for six months, yesterday, by a matinée dansante, Harry’s bed-room being transformed into ball-room for the occasion, where damsels waltzed in cloaks, & I fear in india-rubbers.X Frank Schroeder was married on the 10th to Miss Seaton of Washington – a very nice girl I believe, but unfortunately for an idle man like him without money. Perhaps Mr Gales will raise the wind suggests Henry I see Miss Fuller was quite a lioness [p. 4] in London, speaking publicly at an Italian school &c. She will come back with a still more enlarged “interior consciousness,” – a kind of metaphysical Strasbourg goose. You will see how universal the sympathy for the sufferings of the Irish has been throughout the country - & what relief is offered. Ships loaded with flour barrels are a nobler fleet than if stuffed with gunbarrels – to preserve life & not to destroy – Yet lately the latter were seriously thought of for this same country – but the heart of man is not, thank God, so “desperately wicked” as the catechism teaches, &, like a true instrument, gives out a fine tone when rightly touched.
I am sorry you think Sumner was wrong in condemning Winthrop. The country is fast agreeing with him, & more than one manly eloquent voice has been raised in Congress for the recall of the army, & the cessation of supplies – A Polk cannot make an unjust war righteous, & fit to be carried on by a Xtian people. A Mr Corwin has made a fine speech rammed with truth, which will go further than gun-cotton to open people’s eyes. Winthrop now stands quite alone in the Massachusetts delegation we hear. Is that doing us honor? I feel ready to say “I trust we have in our good State (if not five hundred as good as he” as the king in the ballad boasts, still truly “honorable men”. We hope to see Em- [p. 1 cross] meline soon. All goes well with her & her’s. The paté has not yet arrived, but the passages are so long we must wait patiently.
Give my love to Mrs Rich if she is still in P- Will you get for Henry some of Jansmins poems, the Provençal barber-poet, and also any collection of Noëls so Xmas Carols in Patois. With his love ever thy affte
Fanny L.
[p. 3 bottom] X The boys said “what a great funeral,” seeing the crowd of carriages!
Archives Number: 1011/002.001-017#009
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Correspondence (1011/002), (LONG-SeriesName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1847 (1011/002.001-017), (LONG-FileUnitName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1847 (1011/002.001-017), (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
02/28/1847
Manuscript letter in Frances Appleton Longfellow Papers, Series II. Correspondence, A. Outgoing, 1847. (1011/002.001-017#009)
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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 6:15:09 PM
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 6:15:09 PM
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