File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Nathan Appleton, 19 August 1851 (8747eebb-052a-4770-b5d8-b91532f5a3dc).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-021#030

Nahant Aug 19th 1851.
Dearest papa,
I confess myself to have been very ungrateful in not thanking you oftener for your most welcome letters, but, thro’ some forgetfulness, the last steamer from Boston went unregarded by me until it was too late. We are delighted to hear, from various quarters, that you are looking better, & I hope the rest of your visit will be as much enjoyed as the beginning, tho’, in so short a one, Harriot’s illness must have been a sad damper. She is very unfortunate to have lost any of her precious time abroad – what a pity her eye would not wait until she returned to the quiet of her own room before troubling her in its old fashion. Jewett we hear has arrived (thro James Lawrence (Tom appeared here [p. 2] yesterday with the news) but he lingers in New York, & having such a horror of Boston there is no knowing when he will show himself there. They had a famous passage – the shortest on record - & Lawrence says Jewett was a most delightful companion. He has written in raptures of his English visit, and Paris seemed rather paled by contrast with such brilliant experiences. How do you find it? Not spoiled, I hope, by becoming a Republic. The summer is, to be sure, the dullest to me to be there, tho’ the crowd out of doors must be always amusing.
We are here quiet enough. Tom comes down, dashes from cottage to cottage, devours our small peninsula like a biscuit, & then rushes off satisfied, but that is not the way to enjoy Nahant – It needs a tranquil spirit & one fond of lingering over books, or of quiet strolls upon the cliffs watching the ever-shifting see, with [p. 3] pleasant enough society at hand when desired. Mrs Paige has been trying the greater gaiety of Newport, & told us all its gossip the other evening at a tea-table where she presided over various delicate dainties. Uncle Sam has not been very well but is now better. Dysentery is a good deal about – even here – Charlie Appleton & Sam L. sail tomorrow in the steamer which carries this, & will doubtless much enjoy their expedition. They have just been to Niagara together. Did you hear of Lady Wortley’s book in England. It is an amusing gossiping kind of book, exuberantly good-natured.
Yesterday the report reached us of George Curtis’ engagement to a New Jersey lady – of Swedish family – true this time I believe. His brother has bought a farm in Pittsfield, as I suppose Tom has written you. In the Transcript lately was a description of a fancy ball given by the New York lady who has bought the Melville Place [p. 4] where we were. Think of that in Puritan Pittsfield under the very nose of Mr Todd! Pierce Butler has written a defence of himself, for the benefit of a few friends only, which Emmeline says has more about Mary with an extract from her letter. It is to be hoped it will never be widely published, for the public are made too often the confidants of private quarrels. Henry dined lately at Mr Bates’, who has a charming cottage on this shore, & fared well of course one dish having 7 sauces to enrich it. Poor Miss West’s death & Catholic funeral you have doubtless heard of, another convert of Fanny Calderon’s I fancy.
How much you must have enjoyed your Suffolk explorations. I often think of it, and what a lasting satisfaction they will give you. And the Exhibition! I am glad to see we are having an agricultural triumph there after all. Dr Mifflin often asks after you, the Paiges, Prescotts & many others. Pray come home better than you went, if possible, & with love to Harriot & Hatty & from Henry ever yr affectionate Fanny.
[p. 1 cross] The chicks are well & I trust will continue so.

• Keywords: correspondence; long archives; frances e. a. longfellow papers (long 20257); frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; people; document; subject; health and illness; social life; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1851 (1011/002.001-021); (LONG-FileUnitName)