File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Reverend Samuel Longfellow, 21 July 1853 (b038f979-7fd6-4da9-84f1-8b911f5d65f6).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-023#014

Nahant. July 21st 1853.
Dear Sam,
You have seen by the papers our great loss in the death of our good old Uncle Sam. It was very sudden, after only a few hours illness, & his wife who was by him did not even know when the summons came. I feel it deeply, not only because he was so hale & hearty that we hoped he might enjoy his beautiful & beneficent old age some years longer, but because his image is so bound in with my book of life – so associated with all home ties since childhood. But every year the veil between the two worlds becomes more transparent to me, & so many I love have gone behind it that they seem to crowd the very threshold, & Death becomes the only [p. 2] the only [sic] lastingly familiar face in our daily paths. And so it should be. There is a time in life when these partings grow closer, & we must resign ourselves to take a short leave of all the friends of our childhood, & begin to form new ties with the young springing up about us. We should, like the holy mountain in Dante, tremble with joy, not fear, as they ascend from us, & be lifted ourselves by their angelic sympathy upon a higher path.
My poor Aunt is much overwhelmed of course by losing her companion of thirty years, who has been to her both husband & children, requiring of late years all the hourly care & tenderness of the latter - & her devotion to all his wants has been unfailing as has that of Miss Goodwin
He died on the 12th & on the 13th, the anniversary of our 10th wedding day & which we hoped to celebrate as [p. 3] joyfully as a “silver wedding” the sad news reached us. On Friday was the funeral, with all its melancholy assembling, of the family &c, but the most trying thing to me was to enter the drawing-room & see the green morocco chair vacant, so long occupied by his venerable form with its halo of silver locks reclining upon its shadow - & see the bell he used & the books on the table as usual. We much regretted Mr Peabody’s absence, as he was a personal friend of my Uncle, & Mr Gannett was like a stranger to them, [crossed out: but] and the latter got thro’ the Chapel service rather confusedly I thought tho’ highly. There was good music & a crowded church, but police at the door to give us unobstructed entrance. A few of children next me were I suppose Mr Barnards who had brought on the 4th July a band of them to offer my uncle a basket of flowers & sing him hymns – in return for a late [p. 4] donation to them. The rest went out to Mt Auburn but we returned to Nahant, as I could not bear the fatigue of more, & our quiet drive up & down tho’ long was pleasant. He seems to be sincerely loved & mourned as he should be for the sweetness & generosity of his character, & is a great loss to many. He gave away his whole income for years in charity, & has now left as much for the poor as for his widow. There is an excellent notice of him in the Christian Register you may have seen.
Henry has gone up today to Phi Beta, having been deterred by the rain yesterday from Commencement, & hopes to bring down tonight Mary Greenleaf who is there & will go to Portland next week. They came by Niagara & refreshed themselves at Sharon. We are much interested to know if you have really accepted the Brooklyn offer. I should think it likely to please you if you have a sympathetic audience & one likely to do well .
We are very content here with daily drives on the beautiful beach & thro’ picturesque Swampscott & like the quiet better [p. 1 cross] than Newport bustle. They boys have a nice school near & are very happy with others. We hear of Charley in Paris revisiting yr old haunts, & my sister is now among kind relatives in Wales. Henry left the deed for James – at C.
Hoping soon to hear from you.
Yr affte sister
Fanny
I have lately lost too my uncle Charles my mother’s youngest brother & most resembling her.

• Keywords: correspondence; long archives; frances e. a. longfellow papers (long 20257); frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; people; document; ma; united states; nahant; places; subject; family life; travel; social life; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1853 (1011/002.001-023); (LONG-FileUnitName)