File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Emmeline (Austin) Wadsworth, 14 February 1851 (afe5da48-be93-4357-9bc6-afd7872f89cd).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-021#004

Cambridge Feb 14th 1851.
Dearest Em,
How I wish I could spirit you here now that you are once more alone & your heart full of painful anxieties. We would try to cheer you, & pet you, & tell you all the hopeful things we hear of the absent steamer, which no one hear thinks of despairing about yet, I find. Many days are still expected to pass before news may arrive. God grant she may some fair morning come sweeping up the bay of New York & bring her own good tidings! How does poor Mrs James bear the protracted suspense? It must be some comfort to her to be with her children, & fill the dreary time with cheering & supporting them under so new a trial – but I never hear the wind blow without thinking how sadly it must knock at her heart & depress her spirit. I saw Sam at the Assembly the other [p. 2] night, & we talked you all over. was a very brilliant ball, the ladies so beautifully dressed & the supper table so elegantly adorned. I never saw anything so tasteful as Wales’ arrangement of the vast pyramids of flowers. By skilful [sic] wires he makes great sprays of camellias &c with none of the stiffness usual in such large bouquets. Martha Peabody & Miss Shaw were to me the most charming damsels, but so many light flitting figures were all very lovely. There was a complaint that there were not enough married ladies to make a rich background but as they are chiefly used for that they do not so much come. The hall could well bear many more people. Mr Joe Coolidge took me in to supper (as a family compliment I suppose, for he never spoke to me before) & talked very sensibly in his most carefully exquisite manner, - very warmly of Charley Norton whose friendship he made abroad. Louisa’s reception was very fully attended & went off very pleasantly – it seeming strange enough to see all Boston in Cambridge. As there was another [p. 3] party in this neighborhood the toll man must have thought the whole town was taking flight. Louisa looked very well in white breade silk with a deep fringe below a silk berthe (have I told you all this before?) & Jane in a pink one & Mrs Norton handsomer than either. I was very glad to have a chance to see Mary Parkman & Sarah Cleveland again, the former looks thin & still speaks of herself as far from strong. The bridegroom was far older than I expected to see being quite bald (not unlike Mr Folsom) but all say is a delightful person, full of taste & cultivation as well as business talents. He has been abroad before, so will know just where to take them. I must go up soon to see Mrs N. for she must need cheer after such a departure I should think she would be nervous to have them go in an American steamer just now! The last engagement is young Prescott to Clara Peabody the sister of the blonde, Mrs Loring, a pretty delicate girl. I suppose Lizzy has written you of it. We have a good deal of entertainment [p. 4] out of a Count de Gurowski a Polish nobleman very highly connected, but who was too republican for European courts. He is an epitome of Europe, having lived its life so many years, & enlivens us every Saturday evening by his racy talk. Waleski (who married & murdered Mrs Humphey) was a servant in his father’s family, a notorious gambler & adventurer afterwards. He was with him at the theatre when the servant said “Madame is dying” & the loving spouse replied “I knew she would at seven” & budged not. I have seen Mrs Gillehand (Mary Ropes that was) & she has the same look as formerly with a portly English husband. We are looking forward to enjoying Pavodi next week. As I did not hear Jenny Lind it will be an especial pleasure to me. Tom has been staying with us the past fortnight & seems to like the change & the fresher atmosphere of our house. Father is thinking seriously of Antigua - & thence to England for the grand show. I think of christening my baby on the 22d but her name is still uncertain. I have heard of so many Alices lately I am almost tired of it. May Ward has a boy born after 8 months She fell & hastened matters. I have not seen her [p. 1 cross] since her marriage & have been waiting for snow to make the wedding calls. A Virginian youth who dined here yesterday said some persons were disinclined to Crawford’s monument for Richmond thinking so many bronze statues would resemble negroes! This is the last extremity of southern prejudice. What fun it would make among foreign artists. Mrs Browning has written a powerful slave poem & some intense love sonnets.
Our love to Wm
ever yr loving
Fanny E. L.

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