File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Nathan Appleton, 25 March 1850 (97d977be-43b9-40cb-ada0-2f1991da0209).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-020#008

Cambridge March 25th 1850
Dearest papa,
We are looking very anxiously for your next letters, for the last were certainly far less cheerful than we hoped would come from the sunny South. What a wretched time you must have had with so many accumulated miseries within & without, that wearing cough making night hideous! We shall hear nothing more of it I trust, & shall hope to be told your spirits have risen with the thermometer, & that the discomforts of that benighted region are overlooked in the enjoyment of the novelties & the splendor of Nature, - for outside the town there must be something worth looking at, from all accounts. You can have the consolation of knowing that here you would have been worse off, for March has been more disagreeable than usual, very cold & blustering; with constant [p. 2] snow-storms thawing immediately, & so filling the atmosphere with dampness & catarrhs. April may be a little better, & then with May will come east winds in all their deadly power.
My walks are almost entirely confined to the piazza, & I keep well as do the chicks, with care. We drove in, on Saturday, in a violent snow-storm to dine with Harriet, & found her pretty cheerful, tho’ still keeping house. Your Healey portrait looks down pleasantly from the old “green-room” wall, where the bed stood, & we all hoped the original had as healthful a color in the cheek.
All minds are absorbed, now, of course, by the Webster trial, which has gone through one week, increasing in interest. There are so many witnesses on both sides, I should think it would take nearly a month to complete it, & the poor Judges & Jury it is feared may break down with [p. 3] the fatigue & bad air. The latter were walked to church yesterday, but are kept locked up of course all night, & being all men of active habits must feel the change of life & diet seriously. The prisoner has maintained a wonderful calmness thus far, & some people think his mind is stunned by the blow, but he appears to take a close interest in all that goes on. There is one story about him almost incredible. A very perfect model was shown of the College & as Dr Wyman walked by him, after giving the most searching anatomical identification of the jaw &c the Dr said “Wyman, we ought to have that model for the College. It would be a capital thing.” This is like the trivial mind of the Dr, but at such a time one would think even he would be sobered. He is also said to have shaken hands warmly with Dr Francis Parkman as he passed him. There seem to be no new facts against him, as we supposed, but the old are strong enough, supposing all Littlefield’s testimony time. Still I hear there are very strong witnesses [p. 4] to prove Dr P. was seen during the afternoon & some of them giving him a direct course, so the interest will be undiminished in the end.
Mr Webster’s speech is the great topic. It does not find much favor at the North, & many Whigs even disapprove it. It is very Southern in its attempt to be national. His notion of enforcing the human game-laws is very Shylock like – “the law allows it” but who would cut the pound of flesh? Uncle Sam says it is an abominable speech, & so does Geo Briggs & many more. We had no letters from Tom by last steamer, but hope this will bring one. Mary wrote in rather a confused state of mind about things here. Politics worry her too much, in her weak state, but they are the one topic of English society, so she can’t escape the infection. Rölker has returned much to our joy, as Henry had his classes in the afternoon, much to the injury of his eyes. He saw Tom in Paris & reports him very well.
Tell Jewett we too have the Opera in great glory, Otello, Lucia, Borgia &c I have not been & shall wait for Don Giovanni. Jewett must be a great solace to you as his letters are to us. [p. 1 cross] I see by them, as never before, how invalids must suffer in the Havana. Give our love to him.
Hoping nothing but pleasant days & nights are before you ever, dear papa,
yr loving
Fanny.
Mr Calhoun seems to be dying. I can’t help thinking – “he will leave his country for his country’s good” –
ENDORSED: FANNY / 25 MARCH 1850

• Keywords: correspondence; long archives; frances e. a. longfellow papers (long 20257); frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; people; document; social life; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1850 (1011/002.001-020); (LONG-FileUnitName)