File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Emmeline (Austin) Wadsworth, 8 July 1852 (ac503373-2d64-4062-8a5b-84167946d173).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-022#016

Cliff House
Newport July 8th 1852.
Dearest Emmeline.
What must you think of me for my long silence? None the worse I trust for friendship lives on faith & that is too long rooted a growth between us to have its vitality endangered now, but indeed I have been so busy with my guests & many preparations in leaving my house for the summer, that the desired hour never came when I could tell you all my anxious thoughts of you – & here I have foolishly been waiting until I could procure a table whereon to write, but finding none procurable am at last doing the best I can at an angle of 45. I am very impatient to hear from you again, & hear that Wm is better. I hoped the trial of sever suffering would be spared you, but every form of it seems to come to mould you into [p. 2] perfectness. It is hard to say which is the most difficult to bear such a sudden shock as the Wormleys experienced, or the more protracted watching & waiting. May God continue to strengthen & cheer you thro’ this “anguish of patience”. I feel so little strength in my own nature for that kind of trial, that I feel see what truly “the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” His presence must have been to you, & in my vain words of consolation think [crossed out: bitterly] sadly “What can we do for our beloved”?
We left Cambridge on Friday afternoon & reached here at nightfall Mary remaining behind for dentistry & rest until Tuesday, when she joined us. We find our mansion very comfortable & clean, delightfully situated on the cliff, half way to the beach from Beach Lawrences, but having the same beautiful outlook on the sea & the clover-scented cliffs, most accessible for walks & drawings on the rocky ledges, - far from the noise & dust of the town, with only a melancholy wind piping ever like the [p. 3] ghost of some pastoral poet thro’ our windows. We have two rather elegant drawing rooms, & a spacious hall & dining room, [crossed out: behind] from the door behind nothing but soft turf to the sea. The Sedgwicks we found already arrived, consisting of Mrs Robert & her daughter her son Ellery & his wife (Miss Brevard that was) with a famous fat baby. They are all quiet, pleasant people & most agreeable companions. The Benzons (our German friends) will probably appear today, & the Howadji before long. We have still two rooms on the first floor not taken & are looking for some nice bodies to fill them. Our table is very good, & we are all thriving on this delicious air, so pure & invigorating yet gentle as if it blew from a southern sea – suggestive of lotus eaters & delicious languors, of enchanted armadas & alluring mermaids beyond any sea we have at the North. Several people have already called to remind us we are on the outskirts of society, & driving yesterday over the 3 beaches I n Albert Sumner’s easy carriage many private vehicles enforced it still more. Flowers have too been kindly showered upon us from the [p. 4] Nortons, Miss Grant & others. This part of Newport is much changed by new roads & new houses – Mr Wetmore’s towering & fantastic pile looms up behind us & still farther out to sea Sarah Cleveland is building, on rather a desolate point I should think. The Nortons are not very far beyond Mrs Harpers, tho’ they are now living quite in the opposite direction in a spacious mansion with grounds. Mr Lawrence’s is much beautified since we were there with shrubberies & flowers but many sunny recollections cluster about it & the sad one of my poor little spaniel whose lithe form still hovers on those cliffs to me.
Sophia Thorndike is here & I must go today to see her. Mrs Horatio Greenough also – but I cant begin to enumerate the countless people one knows. Mary Jones (the petite) was married on Tuesday to an Episcopal clergyman & I was invited to the reception but felt not like at once rushing into a party. Since her mother’s death she has been in deep grief & mourning, devoted to church matters. The children are in great spirits & health, so glad to get their cousins again & I so glad to have their lessons resumed. Poor baby is very thin & rather unhappy with her teeth, but will soon gain I hope. Tom is here too - & I hope we shall keep him The night before I came I had Lord & Lady Wharncliffe & their clever daughter at tea very sociably [p. 1 cross] & found them delightful people, so intelligent & liberal minded. Sumner knew them well & they have the highest admiration of him He sent us a note from the young lady remarkably well written, expressing her regard so warmly that she evidently forgets he still considers himself a young bachelor. They have sailed & were but a short time in the country. Mary sends her love & so does Henry & Tom. With mine to Wm & Mrs James
ever yr affte
Fanny E.L.

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