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Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Emmeline (Austin) Wadsworth, 2 May 1841
Manuscript letter
On board steamer Columbia
May 2d noon
My darling Em,
The boat is rolling not a little, but I am tempted to make the experiment of writing as there is a chance of our meeting the other steamer at Halifax, and, if not, the Captain says the land-mail will bear our dispatches. I know you will be glad to hear that thus far we have got on famously, having today a clear brilliant atmosphere, the sea ‘deeply beautifully blue,’ with moderate waves enough for the Atlantic & the ship rolling gently onward at 10 ½ knots. The gents are at lunch which I have not patronized beyond a biscuit & a glass of soda-water not wishing to make such a sorry show of appetite (that is lack of it) at dinner as I did yesterday, for what with having dined at home & feeling not a little dismal & headachy from excitement at leaving, et cetera, the Captains petitions [??] & civilities were wasted upon me. I have just been visiting the machinery with the latter most gallant personage & as you can conjecture what odours are likely to be found there when in operation you need no better proof that I am as good a sailor as ever. In fact I was the only lady at breakfast - & one of the Miss Lee’s has emerged since to wisely enjoy the fresh air on deck, but the rest are all under hatches. I confess to more mal de mer then I ever before experienced last night when shut up in my state-room & bothering over my carpet bags but tho' my sleep was of an intermittent nature I have had no more visitings of discomfort in any shape.
[p. 2] Au contraire my old hydro-mania returned with renewed vigour & tho' I miss of course the beautiful shiftings & exhilaration of a sailing vessel yet we bound over the waves with no little dignity & grace. One thing excites my unbounded admiration – the marvellous [sic] quiet. There is none of the constant bawling of orders (the Capt are given sotto voce to a certain little "Mr. Finley" who, like a familiar, is ever at his elbow) nor racket of ropes, nor rushing about of sailors, nor even some creaking of masts as in a packet; neither the monotonous plunge of the engine as in our steamers. There is a slight trembling of course but not a sound from the machinery which moves as smoothly as Taglioni & seems to enjoy likewise its own ease. The only sounds are the bells every hour, the bugle to summon us to meals, the slight sighing of the valves. After that distressingly prolonged parting under that gloomy sky, the crowd on the opposite piers waving farewells, Andrews leaning in his ultra pathetic attitude on a beam (not hanging alas!) salutes firing from both our sides echoed by Bunker hill & the Cutter &c &c I began to feel on what a serious expedition I was bound & that I was actually again cut adrift from home & you my heart's best treasure. That farewell of yours seemed horribly unsatisfactory to me & when you had gone I longed, Juliet-like, "for a falconer's voice to [crossed out: call] lure my tassel-gentle back again" but the most prolonged one would have been no better, probably, so I wont think of any such forlorn things, now they are over, but endeavor to amuse you with some more of my log. I hope Father safely delivered to you my pipe[?] card which I trust you do not consider ominous, but orange buds were the only flowers that could endure a gent's pocket. As I write I am snuffing yr nice bouquet which is blooming as freshly as ever with 2 of Miss Vandenhoffs & 2 of another lady's to keep it company should it be lonesome so far away from land. If this fair damsel (for she is much [p. 3] fairer than I thought) does not patronize her health too largely I expect to find her a very agreeable companion for she seems very lady-like & unpretending, with nothing of the actress, having doffed her flaming cloak for one of darker hue, & is full of pleasant chat. She has a nice-looking younger sister & a Mother like Mrs Tanner & the whole family appear quiet and affectionate. The Father is my dinner neighbour (Mr Gray on the other side) & we are the invited guests to the Captain's table where the dainties chiefly descend. She has been praising[?] greatly her birds, bobolinks linnets &c whose silence & crestfallen aspect betray consciousness of change in condition like the rest of the passengers. But they sang their matins very well. Being Sunday we have had service, all the nice neat, fine-looking sailors (in their best bluing with ‘Columbia’ atop their hearts) present, & this morning we were awaked by the band playing deliciously; God Save the Queen. Does’nt this sound very fine! It is quite like being in garrison. I had a charming long tramp with the Captain yesterday by the light of a watery moon & sickly sunset; Boston light-house visible on the horizon looking after us like a loving eye dimmed now & then by tears, or if that is too sentimental, winking into sleep as it is a revolving light - shining intermittently. All the while the band played old airs & the Captain made civil speeches in any quantity in true sailor fashion – lauding Boston hospitality & America in general & vowing he could have pointed his gun’s at a brother as soon as upon us. He even exceeds our Captains in civility, offering to walk with me when ever I appear above, make the band play only airs I like &c. he ushers the ladies to the stair-head then shouts for Mrs Anderson to receive us at the bottom with royal etiquette. Tom is deep in a French gastronomic book so I sha’nt yet enlighten him as to your kindly remembrances. Mr Gray seems charmed with his accomodations [sic] & promises [p. 4 bottom] to tantalize Mr Prescott into an account thereof. I hope you will keep up a good heart, my darling, & try to glean comfort from every thing within yr reach. I am sure, now the worst is over, you will resign yourself with your usual womanly patience & alas! too great distrust of joy, & pour out all your love to me as freely on paper as you have by looks & words blessed me continually. I must have it in some shape, you know, for it is truly "my daily bread" – & God grant it may nourish me thro’ life & afterward as I pray mine may you. But I wont bring tears to your dear eyes which have suffered too much by me already. Keep them dry for my sake; alas what have I done in this world but cause them to [p. 4 top] flow, tho’ they are denied my own. But ‘tis God sways their tides & I will bear my uncomfortable share therein since my personal griefs diminish with Life's strength. I will finish this long yarn in Halifax which we hope to see tomorrow morning at 10.
Monday mng ½ past 9. Halifax is in sight dearest so I must say farewell hoping you will get this by the Britannia. I have had a nice night & never felt better. Thank Mr Prescott & Mary Dwight for their kind notes from me, will you? & give my love to all my other friends. [p. 1 cross] With kind remembrances to your Father & Sam believe me as ever (tho nearly "1/2 seas over") yr loving Fan. Tom sends his warmest regard & thanks for yr most welcome gift.
ADDRESSED: MISS AUSTIN. / CARE OF SAM AUSTIN ESQ / BOSTON. MASS. / U.S.A.
May 2d noon
My darling Em,
The boat is rolling not a little, but I am tempted to make the experiment of writing as there is a chance of our meeting the other steamer at Halifax, and, if not, the Captain says the land-mail will bear our dispatches. I know you will be glad to hear that thus far we have got on famously, having today a clear brilliant atmosphere, the sea ‘deeply beautifully blue,’ with moderate waves enough for the Atlantic & the ship rolling gently onward at 10 ½ knots. The gents are at lunch which I have not patronized beyond a biscuit & a glass of soda-water not wishing to make such a sorry show of appetite (that is lack of it) at dinner as I did yesterday, for what with having dined at home & feeling not a little dismal & headachy from excitement at leaving, et cetera, the Captains petitions [??] & civilities were wasted upon me. I have just been visiting the machinery with the latter most gallant personage & as you can conjecture what odours are likely to be found there when in operation you need no better proof that I am as good a sailor as ever. In fact I was the only lady at breakfast - & one of the Miss Lee’s has emerged since to wisely enjoy the fresh air on deck, but the rest are all under hatches. I confess to more mal de mer then I ever before experienced last night when shut up in my state-room & bothering over my carpet bags but tho' my sleep was of an intermittent nature I have had no more visitings of discomfort in any shape.
[p. 2] Au contraire my old hydro-mania returned with renewed vigour & tho' I miss of course the beautiful shiftings & exhilaration of a sailing vessel yet we bound over the waves with no little dignity & grace. One thing excites my unbounded admiration – the marvellous [sic] quiet. There is none of the constant bawling of orders (the Capt are given sotto voce to a certain little "Mr. Finley" who, like a familiar, is ever at his elbow) nor racket of ropes, nor rushing about of sailors, nor even some creaking of masts as in a packet; neither the monotonous plunge of the engine as in our steamers. There is a slight trembling of course but not a sound from the machinery which moves as smoothly as Taglioni & seems to enjoy likewise its own ease. The only sounds are the bells every hour, the bugle to summon us to meals, the slight sighing of the valves. After that distressingly prolonged parting under that gloomy sky, the crowd on the opposite piers waving farewells, Andrews leaning in his ultra pathetic attitude on a beam (not hanging alas!) salutes firing from both our sides echoed by Bunker hill & the Cutter &c &c I began to feel on what a serious expedition I was bound & that I was actually again cut adrift from home & you my heart's best treasure. That farewell of yours seemed horribly unsatisfactory to me & when you had gone I longed, Juliet-like, "for a falconer's voice to [crossed out: call] lure my tassel-gentle back again" but the most prolonged one would have been no better, probably, so I wont think of any such forlorn things, now they are over, but endeavor to amuse you with some more of my log. I hope Father safely delivered to you my pipe[?] card which I trust you do not consider ominous, but orange buds were the only flowers that could endure a gent's pocket. As I write I am snuffing yr nice bouquet which is blooming as freshly as ever with 2 of Miss Vandenhoffs & 2 of another lady's to keep it company should it be lonesome so far away from land. If this fair damsel (for she is much [p. 3] fairer than I thought) does not patronize her health too largely I expect to find her a very agreeable companion for she seems very lady-like & unpretending, with nothing of the actress, having doffed her flaming cloak for one of darker hue, & is full of pleasant chat. She has a nice-looking younger sister & a Mother like Mrs Tanner & the whole family appear quiet and affectionate. The Father is my dinner neighbour (Mr Gray on the other side) & we are the invited guests to the Captain's table where the dainties chiefly descend. She has been praising[?] greatly her birds, bobolinks linnets &c whose silence & crestfallen aspect betray consciousness of change in condition like the rest of the passengers. But they sang their matins very well. Being Sunday we have had service, all the nice neat, fine-looking sailors (in their best bluing with ‘Columbia’ atop their hearts) present, & this morning we were awaked by the band playing deliciously; God Save the Queen. Does’nt this sound very fine! It is quite like being in garrison. I had a charming long tramp with the Captain yesterday by the light of a watery moon & sickly sunset; Boston light-house visible on the horizon looking after us like a loving eye dimmed now & then by tears, or if that is too sentimental, winking into sleep as it is a revolving light - shining intermittently. All the while the band played old airs & the Captain made civil speeches in any quantity in true sailor fashion – lauding Boston hospitality & America in general & vowing he could have pointed his gun’s at a brother as soon as upon us. He even exceeds our Captains in civility, offering to walk with me when ever I appear above, make the band play only airs I like &c. he ushers the ladies to the stair-head then shouts for Mrs Anderson to receive us at the bottom with royal etiquette. Tom is deep in a French gastronomic book so I sha’nt yet enlighten him as to your kindly remembrances. Mr Gray seems charmed with his accomodations [sic] & promises [p. 4 bottom] to tantalize Mr Prescott into an account thereof. I hope you will keep up a good heart, my darling, & try to glean comfort from every thing within yr reach. I am sure, now the worst is over, you will resign yourself with your usual womanly patience & alas! too great distrust of joy, & pour out all your love to me as freely on paper as you have by looks & words blessed me continually. I must have it in some shape, you know, for it is truly "my daily bread" – & God grant it may nourish me thro’ life & afterward as I pray mine may you. But I wont bring tears to your dear eyes which have suffered too much by me already. Keep them dry for my sake; alas what have I done in this world but cause them to [p. 4 top] flow, tho’ they are denied my own. But ‘tis God sways their tides & I will bear my uncomfortable share therein since my personal griefs diminish with Life's strength. I will finish this long yarn in Halifax which we hope to see tomorrow morning at 10.
Monday mng ½ past 9. Halifax is in sight dearest so I must say farewell hoping you will get this by the Britannia. I have had a nice night & never felt better. Thank Mr Prescott & Mary Dwight for their kind notes from me, will you? & give my love to all my other friends. [p. 1 cross] With kind remembrances to your Father & Sam believe me as ever (tho nearly "1/2 seas over") yr loving Fan. Tom sends his warmest regard & thanks for yr most welcome gift.
ADDRESSED: MISS AUSTIN. / CARE OF SAM AUSTIN ESQ / BOSTON. MASS. / U.S.A.
Archives Number: 1011/002.001-011#002
U. S. National Park Service
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Courtesy of National Park Service, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site; Archives Number 1011/002.001-011#002
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Correspondence (1011/002), (LONG-SeriesName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1841 (1011/002.001-011), (LONG-FileUnitName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1841 (1011/002.001-011), (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
2021-06-16
05/02/1841
Manuscript letter in Frances Appleton Longfellow Papers, Series II. Correspondence, A. Outgoing, 1841. (1011/002.001-011#002)
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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 6:51:12 PM
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 6:51:12 PM
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