File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Reverend Samuel Longfellow, 20 April 1848 (937c31fe-bba3-434b-a536-b80185796449).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-018#006

Thursday.
Dear Sam,
Many thanks for your notes both, which gave a very pleasant daguerreotype of your present life. I hope the poor invalid begins to feel her wings unfold as her cage door opens wider, & that the little child may yet remain to bless her mother. You, as a pastor, are obliged to sound the abysses of human destinies, & behold, unflinching, the fearful “now” Henry so well describes in his Student, & which often haunts my thoughts with mingled [p. 2] terror & joy. But, having this necessity upon you, you have, fortunately, the magic to dispel the shadows – you see the Father’s hand in all, leading his children to himself, when others see only ‘the shadow it casts,’ as Lamartine says.
We are reading his “Histoire des Girondins,” & find it intensely interesting, most glowingly written, & grouping the chief men together with artistic skill & vitality. His portraits, like Titan’s, all but speak, but I may say they do that also, for he reports quite [p. 3] fully the most striking speeches of the time. We have been reading, too, the poem of ‘Endymion’ you saw here, & find it quite charmingly done, with a pastoral freshness about it ‘all of the olden time,’ & the mingled personality of the men & the women very gracefully managed. A Mr Legaré has a volume of poetry out, which is a “pot pourri” of the mingled perfume of Henry, Lowell, Poe &c. Many alas will mistake the bees fed from books, instead of flowers, as the genuine builders of Hyblean rhyme!
[p. 4] Little Stephen will probably sail early next week, & I hope you will be here to send him off; - his papa, we hope, will accompany him hither to cheer him on his long voyage. Annie writes me ‘Grandmama’ takes it much to heart, as well she may, but if a boy will be a sailor & nothing else they think it better than nothing. My brother Tom must have reached England by this time, & we shall soon get his lively reports of the great events enacting abroad – “Sceptre & crown must tumble down” has been humming in my head all these days, & I see the Harbinger quotes in it the same sense. This snow storm [p. 1 cross] has stopped the gardening. The prairie seeds are all planted, but protected by a box. Dash is in Portland & alas Mr Fessenden will not accept him! Alex’ address is Edenton North Carolina.
Mrs Sparks gave a house-warming last week, & looked very handsomely in white satin with a sultana turban – Here was more permanent dancing than I have seen at a Cambridge party - & the rush to supper was nearly as dangerous as the rush to hear Mr Everett the next day, which sent Felton to Oak Hall to rept & [p. 5] put many lungs in jeopardy. Henry roasted on the top of a settee, propped up on all sides, as long as he could survive it, & then escaped. I did not attempt going, & from Sumner’s account it was rather a mediocre performance The Reps, coolly, carried each a friend, & the College was very shabbily put at the end of the procession, therefore the students, finding themselves crowded out of their rightful places, pushed in en masse & became as formidable as their com peers in the late revolutions – Bowen & young Wheaton dined [p. 6] with us yesterday, & smoked & talked till six. Mrs Otis was out with Aunt Sam the day before & went into raptures about the house.
I am amused at the intense horror of the women at the Revolution, & find myself quite a Charlotte Corday among them – To hear Allyne Otis you would think it the crack of doom. John has departed, & we have a youth who seems quiet, & docile & promises very well, -
I hope you have written some new sermons, & wont find yr stock exhausted all at once. Bring me some to read – With Henry’s love ever thy affte Fanny E.L.

• Keywords: correspondence; long archives; frances e. a. longfellow papers (long 20257); frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; people; document; subject; social life; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1848 (1011/002.001-018); (LONG-FileUnitName)