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Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Isaac Appleton Jewett, 28 September 1839

Manuscript letter

I am very sorry you should have taken so much trouble about Motherwell. I dont care for the book – for he, like Milnes, I imagine writes so much diluted verse that the spicy few are drowned therein – and you have sent me the piece I chiefly coveted. I have not told you how diligently I have been showing off my pet nooks to E. during the fine days just after you left - & how she was charmed with that sweet corner of the river where we have worshipped so often & how 3 solemn cows stared at us from an opposite bank, one especially moving not a hair’s breadth for ½ an hour, & how we conjectured that some Stockbridge Armida had transformed, as punishment for your desertion, you 3 gents into these horned cattle & you were gazing thus fixedly & pathetically at us for recognition. Give my condolences to Dr Lieber if you see him & dont startle any more middle-aged gentlemen (like Mr Cogswell) by untimely messages from far off damsels - & dont patronize so emphatically the “[???] brother” of my name (Elizabeth) or I shall cut him off with a shilling. What a May Atmosphere in that Spring so[ng] of M’s – the boy’s “mighty heart of joy” – beautiful! & the hermit bird telling his beads is quaint & new. ah I wish he, or any body, would write as temptingly of Winter – which seems to me a sort of gigantic Lear – raving in the distance for his neglectful daughters Summer & Autumn – to carry out the simile sweet Cordelia, or Spring, will alone come to comfort him & die in his arms the moment they meet. How like you this last coin of my analogy mint? Why did’nt you carry off the unappreciated Throp Lago? it is mouldy with neglect; a memento mori for you. Oh we passed a grave-yard you would have so loved today – full of apple-trees too, - so you might have gathered moral fruits & bodily ones together which you like, - here a sigh & there a bite. What nonsense I scribble. Do the like – when the spirit moves you. Did Sergent write that eloquent account of Fidelis in the Corsair? Mr & Mrs Charles were to return with poor Charlie to-night. I have found out Miss Flint writes poetry & draws well – 2 new gifts to her stock so you see how circumferential is your knowledge of her yet. Heavens, why are men lured to study books! We both send kindest remembrances to you & Tom. Good bye. Yrs truly Fanny.
[endorsed with list made out in another hand as scratch paper, poor handwriting:]
x Tallmadge
x leatherwood – stop[?]
Ward
s albindic &c
x Lear – Perkins
x Fanny off by d’Hautville
x E. Ogden spoke of Fanny
x. sap says
x. Norden poisoned
x call on Miss S
x Tom not going to N.
Lothrop Motley books
x “Voices of the Night”
honneur pounding.
Answered: I. Appleton Jewett Esq. / 58 Walker St. / N. York.
Postmark: STOCKBRIDGE / SEP 28 / MS
Endorsed: ansd Oct 1st and 8th-

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-009#013

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Courtesy of National Park Service, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site; Archives Number 1011/002.001-009#013

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Correspondence (1011/002), (LONG-SeriesName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1839 (1011/002.001-009), (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

NPS Museum Number Catalog : LONG 20257

Frances Appleton Longfellow Papers (1011)

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

2016/01/30

08/28/1839

Manuscript letter in Frances Appleton Longfellow Papers, Series II. Correspondence, A. Outgoing, 1839. (1011/002.001-009#013)

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Fanny (Appleton) Longfellow (1817-1861)

Isaac Appleton Jewett (1808-1853)

Frances Elizabeth (Appleton) Longfellow (1817-1861)

Organization: Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site
Address: 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Email: LONG_archives@nps.gov

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