File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Thomas Gold Appleton, 21 September 1856 (93c0b729-5d41-4b0c-9230-7a2aab0ddcde).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-026#011

Cambridge Sep 21st 1856.
Dear Tom,
It will be a week tomorrow since we returned to our household gods, & a week of such influenza & lassitude it has been to me, tho’ of August warmth, that I have sighed for the briny air I love so well. I never felt the change of climate so much, even to this far inland. But Cambridge is superbly green & luxuriant abroad, & the week has been made illustrious by the Franklin celebration, which you should have been here to see. We passed the day at No 39, - & roasted on the blazing balcony for 3 hours, while this endless pageant was passing. It was similar to the Water celebration, all the trades being especially conspicuous [p. 2] in vast vans, &, alas! I fear more got up for their own honor & glory & profit than in honor to the practical sage. But the day was splendid, & all went off triumphantly. We sent out buckets of cold water to the exhausted soldiers & school children, ranged up & down Beacon St., & Henry got cheers from various enthusiastic youths.
Harriot feasted her balcony-full of hungry guests, & no sooner was our appetite appeased, than in rushed Willy with 6 starved Freshmen (just loose from the procession) so that poor papa, who followed later from the oration, had much ado to find a morsel. Willy insists now upon being called William, & is immensely important, & not over reverent to those at home, giving us all the college jokes & slang, as he has at his boarding-house youths of all the classes. I have not yet seen the statue, but hear it looks finely. We have not yet been able [p. 3] to see Motley or Dana, but I hope this next week we shall have them here, in some way, tho’ our house is in lamentable confusion, - the Library & study had to be repainted & are not yet quite finished, & the furniture is scattered in every direction. In the midst of this chaos I had to receive, however, the other day, a Crimean hero who came with Bishop Southgate to make Henry’s acquaintance. He is Sir William Eyre now, & commander of the forces in Canada. A tall, soldierly looking man, and talked as modestly of his exploits at the Redan as a hero should, tho’ they have promoted him & knighted him in consequence of them. Your letters describe your life charmingly, & it must be as pleasant as possessing a country place, without the trouble & expense of keeping it up. Where do you go now? You shall have Fanny Farrar’s address if you incline to “merry Carlisle”. Felton seemed so impressed with her charms & she [p. 4] writes so well, she must be worth knowing. A Mr James Walter has sent us most interesting calotypes of Washington & his wife, Jefferson, & the Adamses, from the original Sharples portraits, in his possession. You might hunt him up, & see them, & thank him for us. They have more spirit & character than any portraits I remember – Jefferson’s is especially noble & the profile of Washington is full of animation. Sharples did them ‘con amore’ from life. Lowell sat for an hour, on the grass under our [crossed out: cypress] cedar tree in the garden, the other morning, while we talked of various pleasant things. He has not fairly begun yet, but does in a few days. He is living with Dr Howe, his brother-in-law. Dr Kohl, a German traveler, has just been taking tea with us, telling of his life among the Indians, & Roelker was at dinner, rather sentimental on his intended departure for New York. He thinks he shall do better there, but finds it hard to quit old Boston after 18 years residence.
Kind, old Mrs Chadwick is no more. She was too ill to be at Nahant this summer. So Bangs has shipped off without a word, & I have not yet seen Maria to hear the [p. 1 cross] intended result. We did get your first letter – all I hope.
Mrs Kemble has gone to Lenox. Dr Parsons has won the Boston prize for a Fremont song & Scherb a German one in N. York. Burlingame had an overwhelming reception, spoke well & modestly, acknowledging Wilson had taken the high Massachusetts position & asking to be forgiven. Maine has come out gloriously. A poor man had both hands shot off yesterday by the Fillmore guns in Boston so they had to stop as must I. Love to all
Yrs affly F.E.L.
[p. 2 cross] Dickens’ last is as great as the Barnacles.

• 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); 1856 (1011/002.001-026); (LONG-FileUnitName)