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Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Anne Longfellow Pierce, May 1847
Manuscript letter
Cambridge, Friday
Dearest Annie,
Many thanks for your warm sympathy in my new joy & ethereal heavens. I am very glad to be able at length to confirm Henry’s accounts of my well-being with my own hand & to assure you all that I never was better or got through a confinement so comfortably. It must be a tedious thing at the best & I am rejoiced to be about again & to be strong enough to enjoy my new treasure. She is as charming as these fresh Spring days, which really seem to me a resurrection after the lifelessness I left the world in before I was ill. Our clumps of lilacs are perfuming the air & the apple-trees in fullest blossom – everything very late but com [p. 2] ing out finely & I escaped watching the slow, slow change therefore it bursts upon me as a miracle almost. My little darling promises to be as quiet & good a baby as Erny, & has a sweet little face, just beginning to show there is a soul behind it. She has very dark hair, a lock of which I have preserved, but blue eyes as yet, though of a deep dye. I think she will be like Henry. She is very fat & I make a better nurse than ever before. (This for Grandmamma to whom my best love.) I am very sorry you all thought me so rash & naughty in trying the ether. Henry’s faith gave me courage & I had heard such a thing had succeeded abroad where the surgeons extend this great blessing much more boldly & universally than our timid doctors. Two other ladies I know have since followed my example successfully & I feel proud to be the pioneer to less suffering for [p. 3] poor weak womankind. This is certainly the greatest blessing of this age & I am glad to have lived at the time of its coming & in the country which gives it to the world, but it is sad that one’s gratitude cannot be bestowed on worthier men than the first discoverers, that is men above quarreling over such a gift of god. As one of my brother’s lady friends abroad, a proud, noble woman says, one would like to have the bringer of such a blessing represented by some grand lofty figure like Christ, the divine suppressor of spiritual suffering as this of physical.
Do you know we are thinking of passing our vacation on your seaside, & Henry has been beseeching[?] me to write to know whether Cape Cottage hotel is rebuilt & if not, whether nice rooms could be got at Martin’s Point. I was much pleased last summer with the clean, comfortable look of things at the latter, & if we can steal you away, & Mary, & better yet, the whole household from Portland we [p. 4] could have a charming visit there. I want the sea air for my children & the green grass to run upon. I hope earnestly this delightful plan may be practicable. Can you find out for us without delay if rooms must be secured & what ones you think best & on what terms they can be got? We should require two bedrooms adjoining,- better yet if communicating, & another also adjoining or near for a parlor. Then we could be by ourselves out of the way of company – We had a visit the other afternoon from Judge & Mrs. Reddington & Ann Sophia I was charmed to see the latter as well in health & spirits. She was greatly inclined to join us at Martin’s Point. I shall count on Mary. If Mother can’t be tempted too, she can at least look in on us every day on her drives. Dr. Nichols, I suppose, was, or is in town for the ministerial week. I wish we could catch a glimpse of him. Sam has not yet reported how Brattleboro agrees with him but I am anxious to hear.
With love to all ever thy
aft” Fanny L.
[p. 1 cross] Mr & Mrs Jerry Mason were here yesterday asking after you. How I wish you were here. My sister is now probably on her way to her island home & my brother I hope on his way to us. Dr. Gay, our botanical professor, is engaged to a daughter of Charles G. Loring – a very fine girl another pleasant gain for our society. – Just heard from Sam – he seems much pleased with things & says is no better as yet is certainly no worse. I suppose he has written you or would send the letter.
Dearest Annie,
Many thanks for your warm sympathy in my new joy & ethereal heavens. I am very glad to be able at length to confirm Henry’s accounts of my well-being with my own hand & to assure you all that I never was better or got through a confinement so comfortably. It must be a tedious thing at the best & I am rejoiced to be about again & to be strong enough to enjoy my new treasure. She is as charming as these fresh Spring days, which really seem to me a resurrection after the lifelessness I left the world in before I was ill. Our clumps of lilacs are perfuming the air & the apple-trees in fullest blossom – everything very late but com [p. 2] ing out finely & I escaped watching the slow, slow change therefore it bursts upon me as a miracle almost. My little darling promises to be as quiet & good a baby as Erny, & has a sweet little face, just beginning to show there is a soul behind it. She has very dark hair, a lock of which I have preserved, but blue eyes as yet, though of a deep dye. I think she will be like Henry. She is very fat & I make a better nurse than ever before. (This for Grandmamma to whom my best love.) I am very sorry you all thought me so rash & naughty in trying the ether. Henry’s faith gave me courage & I had heard such a thing had succeeded abroad where the surgeons extend this great blessing much more boldly & universally than our timid doctors. Two other ladies I know have since followed my example successfully & I feel proud to be the pioneer to less suffering for [p. 3] poor weak womankind. This is certainly the greatest blessing of this age & I am glad to have lived at the time of its coming & in the country which gives it to the world, but it is sad that one’s gratitude cannot be bestowed on worthier men than the first discoverers, that is men above quarreling over such a gift of god. As one of my brother’s lady friends abroad, a proud, noble woman says, one would like to have the bringer of such a blessing represented by some grand lofty figure like Christ, the divine suppressor of spiritual suffering as this of physical.
Do you know we are thinking of passing our vacation on your seaside, & Henry has been beseeching[?] me to write to know whether Cape Cottage hotel is rebuilt & if not, whether nice rooms could be got at Martin’s Point. I was much pleased last summer with the clean, comfortable look of things at the latter, & if we can steal you away, & Mary, & better yet, the whole household from Portland we [p. 4] could have a charming visit there. I want the sea air for my children & the green grass to run upon. I hope earnestly this delightful plan may be practicable. Can you find out for us without delay if rooms must be secured & what ones you think best & on what terms they can be got? We should require two bedrooms adjoining,- better yet if communicating, & another also adjoining or near for a parlor. Then we could be by ourselves out of the way of company – We had a visit the other afternoon from Judge & Mrs. Reddington & Ann Sophia I was charmed to see the latter as well in health & spirits. She was greatly inclined to join us at Martin’s Point. I shall count on Mary. If Mother can’t be tempted too, she can at least look in on us every day on her drives. Dr. Nichols, I suppose, was, or is in town for the ministerial week. I wish we could catch a glimpse of him. Sam has not yet reported how Brattleboro agrees with him but I am anxious to hear.
With love to all ever thy
aft” Fanny L.
[p. 1 cross] Mr & Mrs Jerry Mason were here yesterday asking after you. How I wish you were here. My sister is now probably on her way to her island home & my brother I hope on his way to us. Dr. Gay, our botanical professor, is engaged to a daughter of Charles G. Loring – a very fine girl another pleasant gain for our society. – Just heard from Sam – he seems much pleased with things & says is no better as yet is certainly no worse. I suppose he has written you or would send the letter.
Archives Number: 1011/002.001-017#015
U. S. National Park Service
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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
05/01/1847 - 05/30/1847
Manuscript letter in Frances Appleton Longfellow Papers, Series II. Correspondence, A. Outgoing, 1847. (1011/002.001-017#015)
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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 6:14:11 PM
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 6:14:11 PM
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