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Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Zilpah (Wadsworth) Longfellow, 3 April 1844
Manuscript letter
Cambridge April 3d 1844.
Dearest mother,
We had, yesterday, the pleasure of seeing Mrs McLellan, and it made me very happy to receive from her hands your affectionate note. Its gentle reproaches I acknowledge I deserve, and can only plead, in excuse, that I have been constantly occupied with my duties as scribe & reader, the printers allowing Henry no pause in his undertaking. Fortunately, his eyes enable him now to write a little for himself, just as I find writing is not very good for me.
We were deeply grieved to hear from Anne & Mrs M’L. that you had been confined to your room for so long a time. I now doubly regret that Henry did not go to Portland during the vacation, to cheer you all, and if Anne had only written us how ill you were I should have endeavored to accompany him, & help her in nursing you. In experience, I confess I must yield to her, but perhaps a strong desire to aid, & a loving heart would soon teach me, & in these I am presumptuous enough to believe she cannot surpass me.
I constantly regret that you should only know me as a daughter in name, but if the College holds us chained to Cambridge the greater part of the year, may I not hope this separation will be soft- [p. 2] ened by frequent visits from you & Father? I know I ask a great deal, but I long to persuade you that it is, after all, a short journey, & that a resting-place in a daughter’s house is wholly different from any other kind of visiting, which, to an invalid, must be more or less irksome. In the Autumn, when our repairs are completed, & I can hope to make you comfortable under our roof, I shall claim the happiness of welcoming you here as a daughter’s dearest right.
Henry continues very well, and very busy, having resumed his lectures, from which he reaps golden opinions among the students I hear, but he wishes he had a little more leisure to indulge his poetical vein, which struggles to free itself from the bonds of these more practical duties. I am a pretty active spur upon his Pegasus, & wish it were possible for a poet, in this age of the world, to surrender himself wholly to his vocation, as the Minnesinger of old. He has written a poem lately upon Peace, which I am sure will give his Mother’s heart a throb of great joy and pride – if his wife’s has a right to prophecy from its own experience. It will appear in Graham’s Magazine of May, & I hope will unseal many eyes & touch many hearts. I especially love to have his beautiful spirit occupied in subjects, which must better humanity, & freshen men’s memories with the whole meaning of Christ’s everlasting truths of love & mercy, which are so much mildewed by prejudice, & the bad customs of nations. So many have already blessed [p. 3] him for the light & strength his words have given them, that I long to have him always inspired by the responsibility of his holy mission – of poet. But I must check my too eager pen, & say farewell for the present, dear mother. I cannot tell you what a thrill it gives me even to write that word.
With much love to Father, Aunt Lucia, & all the other dear ones of the family circle,
ever yr affte daughter
Fanny.
ADDRESSED: MRS S LONGFELLOW / PORTLAND
Dearest mother,
We had, yesterday, the pleasure of seeing Mrs McLellan, and it made me very happy to receive from her hands your affectionate note. Its gentle reproaches I acknowledge I deserve, and can only plead, in excuse, that I have been constantly occupied with my duties as scribe & reader, the printers allowing Henry no pause in his undertaking. Fortunately, his eyes enable him now to write a little for himself, just as I find writing is not very good for me.
We were deeply grieved to hear from Anne & Mrs M’L. that you had been confined to your room for so long a time. I now doubly regret that Henry did not go to Portland during the vacation, to cheer you all, and if Anne had only written us how ill you were I should have endeavored to accompany him, & help her in nursing you. In experience, I confess I must yield to her, but perhaps a strong desire to aid, & a loving heart would soon teach me, & in these I am presumptuous enough to believe she cannot surpass me.
I constantly regret that you should only know me as a daughter in name, but if the College holds us chained to Cambridge the greater part of the year, may I not hope this separation will be soft- [p. 2] ened by frequent visits from you & Father? I know I ask a great deal, but I long to persuade you that it is, after all, a short journey, & that a resting-place in a daughter’s house is wholly different from any other kind of visiting, which, to an invalid, must be more or less irksome. In the Autumn, when our repairs are completed, & I can hope to make you comfortable under our roof, I shall claim the happiness of welcoming you here as a daughter’s dearest right.
Henry continues very well, and very busy, having resumed his lectures, from which he reaps golden opinions among the students I hear, but he wishes he had a little more leisure to indulge his poetical vein, which struggles to free itself from the bonds of these more practical duties. I am a pretty active spur upon his Pegasus, & wish it were possible for a poet, in this age of the world, to surrender himself wholly to his vocation, as the Minnesinger of old. He has written a poem lately upon Peace, which I am sure will give his Mother’s heart a throb of great joy and pride – if his wife’s has a right to prophecy from its own experience. It will appear in Graham’s Magazine of May, & I hope will unseal many eyes & touch many hearts. I especially love to have his beautiful spirit occupied in subjects, which must better humanity, & freshen men’s memories with the whole meaning of Christ’s everlasting truths of love & mercy, which are so much mildewed by prejudice, & the bad customs of nations. So many have already blessed [p. 3] him for the light & strength his words have given them, that I long to have him always inspired by the responsibility of his holy mission – of poet. But I must check my too eager pen, & say farewell for the present, dear mother. I cannot tell you what a thrill it gives me even to write that word.
With much love to Father, Aunt Lucia, & all the other dear ones of the family circle,
ever yr affte daughter
Fanny.
ADDRESSED: MRS S LONGFELLOW / PORTLAND
Archives Number: 1011/002.001-014#011
U. S. National Park Service
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Courtesy of National Park Service, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site; Archives Number 1011/002.001-014#011
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Correspondence (1011/002), (LONG-SeriesName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1844 (1011/002.001-014), (LONG-FileUnitName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1844 (1011/002.001-014), (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
04/03/1844
Manuscript letter in Frances Appleton Longfellow Papers, Series II. Correspondence, A. Outgoing, 1844. (1011/002.001-014#011)
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 6:38:15 PM
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 6:38:15 PM
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