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Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Mary (Longfellow) Greenleaf, 18 March 1851
Manuscript letter
Cambridge March 18th 1851.
Dearest Mary,
How truly do I sympathize in the sudden shock the news of dear mother's departure must have given you & Alex, for I suppose he is now with you. It came, likewise to us, without a warning, but I can hardly call it a surprise. She seemed to me ever hovering upon the brink of that better land, & I have hoped she would thus gently leave us when God willed to release her from her weary body. In what harmony with her life was such a transition – this continuance, rather than change of being. She had nothing but the flesh to put away from her, - her soul was already clothed upon with immortality and assumed its natural place without effort or suffering. I trust Annie feels reconciled, & that you all [p. 2] will, to such a removal, without the prostration of prolonged illness, so painful to witness in so feeble a body, - without a cloud upon her mind, she fitly closes a long life. There is something very beautiful & touching to me in her death, & it brings the next life nearer and nearer to us. Ah if we could all be as fine & gentle in soul as she was, as free from passion & selfishness, as fine & cheerful in doing & enduring, it would never seem afar off & so quietly might we all be led to it. I shall greatly miss the motherly tenderness with which she always greeted me, but am deeply grateful I have been allowed to enjoy it so long. I wish my children could have remembered her – but they shall never be able to forget her wholly.
Well do I know, dear Mary, what such a loss is to you, that there [p. 3] is a yearning which can never be stilled, but be comforted with the assurance that she can never be far removed, that another home will unite you far more closely than you have ever been upon this earth. I feel how sad it must seem to you to think of your almost solitary home in Portland – how gladly you would have been there at this time – let me share all your feelings, & pray with you for perfect resignation to God’s will. Alex too will have regrets, but let him not be saddened by them. Annie’s care was soon relieved & fortunately Henry was able to obey the instant summons. I have urged Annie to come here if it would be any comfort to her, but she prefers not at present. It is well she has filled her life with external [p. 4] cares or it would seem now very empty.
The children have been well since I last wrote. Baby was christened on Washington’s birth-day, & received the name of Alice – Mary. the latter for her three aunts’ sake. She is growing a beauty – full of vigour & life & has the devoted homage of all the house hold. The children take especial delight in her & make her laugh at & with them very merrily. We have today a raging snow-storm – what snow-drops too upon the table of a gentler kind. My father has sailed, with Jewett, for Antigua & is now, I trust, arrived there. Henry sends his best love to you all & do not forgot mine to James & Alex
ever yrs with truest sympathy
Fanny E. L.
Dearest Mary,
How truly do I sympathize in the sudden shock the news of dear mother's departure must have given you & Alex, for I suppose he is now with you. It came, likewise to us, without a warning, but I can hardly call it a surprise. She seemed to me ever hovering upon the brink of that better land, & I have hoped she would thus gently leave us when God willed to release her from her weary body. In what harmony with her life was such a transition – this continuance, rather than change of being. She had nothing but the flesh to put away from her, - her soul was already clothed upon with immortality and assumed its natural place without effort or suffering. I trust Annie feels reconciled, & that you all [p. 2] will, to such a removal, without the prostration of prolonged illness, so painful to witness in so feeble a body, - without a cloud upon her mind, she fitly closes a long life. There is something very beautiful & touching to me in her death, & it brings the next life nearer and nearer to us. Ah if we could all be as fine & gentle in soul as she was, as free from passion & selfishness, as fine & cheerful in doing & enduring, it would never seem afar off & so quietly might we all be led to it. I shall greatly miss the motherly tenderness with which she always greeted me, but am deeply grateful I have been allowed to enjoy it so long. I wish my children could have remembered her – but they shall never be able to forget her wholly.
Well do I know, dear Mary, what such a loss is to you, that there [p. 3] is a yearning which can never be stilled, but be comforted with the assurance that she can never be far removed, that another home will unite you far more closely than you have ever been upon this earth. I feel how sad it must seem to you to think of your almost solitary home in Portland – how gladly you would have been there at this time – let me share all your feelings, & pray with you for perfect resignation to God’s will. Alex too will have regrets, but let him not be saddened by them. Annie’s care was soon relieved & fortunately Henry was able to obey the instant summons. I have urged Annie to come here if it would be any comfort to her, but she prefers not at present. It is well she has filled her life with external [p. 4] cares or it would seem now very empty.
The children have been well since I last wrote. Baby was christened on Washington’s birth-day, & received the name of Alice – Mary. the latter for her three aunts’ sake. She is growing a beauty – full of vigour & life & has the devoted homage of all the house hold. The children take especial delight in her & make her laugh at & with them very merrily. We have today a raging snow-storm – what snow-drops too upon the table of a gentler kind. My father has sailed, with Jewett, for Antigua & is now, I trust, arrived there. Henry sends his best love to you all & do not forgot mine to James & Alex
ever yrs with truest sympathy
Fanny E. L.
Archives Number: 1011/002.001-021#010
U. S. National Park Service
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Correspondence (1011/002), (LONG-SeriesName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1851 (1011/002.001-021), (LONG-FileUnitName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1851 (1011/002.001-021), (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
03/18/1851
Manuscript letter in Frances Appleton Longfellow Papers, Series II. Correspondence, A. Outgoing, 1851. (1011/002.001-021#010)
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 5:47:12 PM
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 5:47:12 PM
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