File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Anne Longfellow Pierce, 28 December 1844 (ac868c99-124c-46e8-8ed2-7afdedd51b9a).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-014#033

Cambridge. Dec 28th 1844.
Dearest Annie,
Your precious volume, filled with more perfect and exquisite poems than were ever before collected in the same space, arrived safely, & delighted me inexpressibly. How can I thank you fitly for such a beautiful gift; for the taste & kindness which prompted the invention of such a gathering of spoils from the only harmless battle-field, for the patient collection & arrangement of them. An illuminated missal like this is indeed a holy book, & dims the lustre of those man has painted. I shall read it with reverential awe, & hear, while I read, the chants of seraphic choirs through the long-drawn aisles of our forest Cathedrals, see sainted-vision gleaming from the richly tinted windows, & remember that not [p. 2] a leaf falleth to the ground without our Father.
I hope it will inspire Henry to fill up one of the vacant pages, unless he feels it to be as difficult a task as the Sultan did to adorn the unfinished window of Aladdin’s palace. The variety of leaves is wonderful & I think your taste in the margins, with the small leaves, particularly happy. If I can gather the materials I shall attempt such a book next Autumn for my sister in England, for it would excite there the greatest astonishment as well as admiration, their dull rains blotting out, or rather preventing, all these brilliant colors upon their worlds. Their Autumn is never like ours the favorite season of the Year, nor adorned by him, like Joseph, in a motley coat.
I hear that Mrs & Miss Everett wore wreaths made of autumnal leaves at some fête there, & it was thought they were excessively artificial (the wreaths I mean).
[p. 3] We have been collecting some N. Year gifts for Portland, & I wish very much they could be sent before N. Year’s day – but as they vary in shape & weight as much as possible, Henry thinks they had better accompany Sam, who has a vacant trunk, & not be risked to take care of themselves. They must be heralded however by our warmest wishes to one & all, which I commission you to distribute as well as the visible tokens thereof when [th]ey arrive.
We passed Xmas merrily in town, wh[ich] prevented my writing sooner to thank you for the Forest Leaves. At a party at Mrs Dwight’s we saw Mrs Clavers’ daughter, & hoped to see the authoress herself, but she did not appear. I think of calling on her as I hear she is a great admirer of Henry’s, & is anxious to make his acquaintance. Charlie is kicking & growing to our heart’s desire. I was greatly disappointed you could not return with Henry to see him before all expression is swallowed [p. 4 bottom] up in flesh. Thank, dear Mother, very kindly for her delightful note. Her sympathy in my motherly delights will be always most grateful to us both for there is often an intensity of happiness which almost demands the relief of another’s experience. If our Father in Heaven feels any-thing like the joy over his children we have over our [p. 4 top] single one what an infinity of happiness is his! I can now better understand his long-suffering patience with our impurities.
Love to all
Ever thy
Fanny L.
Lowell was married the day after Christmas.
[p. 1 cross] I believe Mrs Appleton has a book for fancy work or knitting & will send it to you unless you wish to possess one. Hers is an English one & I do not know if it can be got here. Is it not charming to get such good news from Mary. The Greenleafs have deserted Cambridge for the winters & have taken a house in Mt Vernon St.
ADDRESSED: MRS PIERCE / CARE OF HON S. LONGFELLOW. / PORTLAND. ME.

• Keywords: correspondence; long archives; frances e. a. longfellow papers (long 20257); frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; people; document; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1844 (1011/002.001-014); (LONG-FileUnitName)