Select Item below to DOWNLOAD - Once item is selected, right click and choose 'save as'
d2e4c98a-0e9f-4870-8793-f5448219f2eb
Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Anne Longfellow Pierce, 5 April 1844
Manuscript letter
Good Friday – mng.
Dearest Anne,
Your frequent missives of late are truly charming, & suggest to me how delightful it would be if I could chat with you daily! We are thankful to hear better news from your invalids, & sincerely hope the Spring will exorcise all their troubles.
Voila, at last, your Fayal packages! A little book accompanies them from Henry which he thought might suit your taste, & seems to be a very good collection of pious thoughts. He is very glad to get the translations from Freil- [p. 2] grath, & you must thank the fair Eliza for her contribution. I am very happy to hear she is cheerfully employed & hope good works will enrich her physical as well as moral nature. It was very pleasant to us to see Mrs M’Lellan & Mrs. Rand, & hear ‘viva voce’ about you all. Many thanks for the kind ‘pricking of your thumbs’ in my behalf. My little wardrobe is filling up fast, but any additions your sisterly (or auntly) interest may suggest to your nimble fingers will have an honorable place therein above all the other Lilliputian offerings. These prophetic wrappings excite sensations, which, must be ‘felt [p. 3] to be understood’; as yet, seem more real than the fame they are to serve, & not a little presumptuous to me. I wonder if Eve, despite her fig-leaf teaching, provided herself seasonably for little Cain?
The last two days have been deliciously summerish, & we sat all the morning, yesterday, upon the piazza, enjoying the balmy air as an invalid does a fresh bouquet.
Aunt Sally has lost a nephew, Mrs Dutton’s eldest son; - how many deaths such a large family as hers is overshadowed by, from year to year!
Do you know Mary Story? the judges daughter? Her engagement to Mr George Curtis, Mr Ticknor’s nephew is just [p. 4] announced. His appearance is very little in his favor, but, as his fiancée herself acknowledges, that is the poorest part of him. Henry sends Alex the coat whose buttons he admired, & hopes it will be amiable enough to fit him to his satisfaction. H. has for you a travelling inkstand which he will send by Mrs M’L. While I write this he has smuggled it into the coat’s sleeve!
Good bye, darling sis,
ever yr loving
Fan –
The Harbinger does not sail till tomorrow (Saturday) after all, so your packages are safely stowed away by this time. Your Autumnal leaves are very beautiful, & shall be treasured up for more [p. 1 cross] than their own good looks. I am passionately fond of these illuminated missals of Nature – in all their varieties, & yours are choice specimens.
Dearest Anne,
Your frequent missives of late are truly charming, & suggest to me how delightful it would be if I could chat with you daily! We are thankful to hear better news from your invalids, & sincerely hope the Spring will exorcise all their troubles.
Voila, at last, your Fayal packages! A little book accompanies them from Henry which he thought might suit your taste, & seems to be a very good collection of pious thoughts. He is very glad to get the translations from Freil- [p. 2] grath, & you must thank the fair Eliza for her contribution. I am very happy to hear she is cheerfully employed & hope good works will enrich her physical as well as moral nature. It was very pleasant to us to see Mrs M’Lellan & Mrs. Rand, & hear ‘viva voce’ about you all. Many thanks for the kind ‘pricking of your thumbs’ in my behalf. My little wardrobe is filling up fast, but any additions your sisterly (or auntly) interest may suggest to your nimble fingers will have an honorable place therein above all the other Lilliputian offerings. These prophetic wrappings excite sensations, which, must be ‘felt [p. 3] to be understood’; as yet, seem more real than the fame they are to serve, & not a little presumptuous to me. I wonder if Eve, despite her fig-leaf teaching, provided herself seasonably for little Cain?
The last two days have been deliciously summerish, & we sat all the morning, yesterday, upon the piazza, enjoying the balmy air as an invalid does a fresh bouquet.
Aunt Sally has lost a nephew, Mrs Dutton’s eldest son; - how many deaths such a large family as hers is overshadowed by, from year to year!
Do you know Mary Story? the judges daughter? Her engagement to Mr George Curtis, Mr Ticknor’s nephew is just [p. 4] announced. His appearance is very little in his favor, but, as his fiancée herself acknowledges, that is the poorest part of him. Henry sends Alex the coat whose buttons he admired, & hopes it will be amiable enough to fit him to his satisfaction. H. has for you a travelling inkstand which he will send by Mrs M’L. While I write this he has smuggled it into the coat’s sleeve!
Good bye, darling sis,
ever yr loving
Fan –
The Harbinger does not sail till tomorrow (Saturday) after all, so your packages are safely stowed away by this time. Your Autumnal leaves are very beautiful, & shall be treasured up for more [p. 1 cross] than their own good looks. I am passionately fond of these illuminated missals of Nature – in all their varieties, & yours are choice specimens.
Archives Number: 1011/002.001-014#034
U. S. National Park Service
Permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted materials contained within this website.
Courtesy of National Park Service, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site; Archives Number 1011/002.001-014#034
Public domain
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)
Image
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
04/05/1844
Manuscript letter in Frances Appleton Longfellow Papers, Series II. Correspondence, A. Outgoing, 1844. (1011/002.001-014#034)
Public Can View
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 6:32:02 PM
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 6:32:02 PM
1011-02-01-14-34 p1+4.jpg
jpg
1.9 MB
Historic