File:Fanny (Appleton) Longfellow to Emmeline (Austin) Wadsworth, 24 November 1840 (dc968778-f269-4843-b304-8caf2543f82c).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-010#027

Pittsfield. Nov 24th 1840.
Dearest of all little women!
How are you & how are your dear, suffering eyes? I should have tried them before now with my merciless pot-hooks to inform you in what fashion I have been endeavoring to supply your loss this past week had I not been too busy every moment, at Lenox, to do more than dutifully [crossed out: to] announce our safe arrival in these parts to Papa. I had a most delightful visit there, as you may imagine & am thankful I undertook it, tho’ I should not say that so confidently before we get home, which Heaven grant we may accomplish without broken necks, tho’ the state of the roads & weather might alarm a more courageous traveler than myself. But Tom & I have jogged over the ruts & slosh thus far so well that I have no fears but of being a month on the road, as our sober beast has certainly lived, at some period of his existence, in the family of your Pilgrim-progress friend “Mr Ready-to-halt.” & minds the lash no better than a bore does cutting. It has done me good for the winter this domestication for a week with such a family as the Sedgwicks, as I will explain to you at length when I have the happiness to find myself again at your chamber window. All my lately-indulged longings for foreign delights were as good as satisfied by these delicious talks with Miss Sedgwick about them, who, I was delighted to find, had enjoyed & felt them more deeply than seemed probable, darkened as her spirit was by sorrow & constant anxiety. Now, they brighten out from the dark background with magic-lanthorn effect & my half-dormant enthusiasm was quickened into strong life again by her fresh remembrances. We posted with “7 league boots” from Alp to Alp & gallery to gallery, Tom got fresh [p. 2] laughs & wonderment for all his old stories & adventures & had theirs in return, especially from Kate, who tells a story well & is, altogether, much improved having become more womanly & sedate, prettier & more graceful, in fact, an admirable girl & would make the best American wife in the world. being such a rare combination of practical abilities & a great cultivation & education, tho’ the former rob her somewhat of that undefinable feminine self-distrust Mr Dana thinks our crowning charm. Miss S. too looks better than I ever saw her & has the same overflowing sentiment of manner & tenderness of heart has ever – which warms up the Alps & damp Italian churches deliciously. I love her as a second mother for she has that sort of watchful care & fondness toward me, but I cannot talk to her with the freedom I do to you my sweet – there must be an entire equality of age - &c &c – in fact you have no cause to be jealous of her, she could never be just what you are to me & I wish Mrs T., for your sake, was more like her. They are a rare family truly – all so capable & so intelligent - & so good-natured, the youngest children doing more with head & hands than many grown people. I felt quite ashamed there of my lack of practical accomplishments, knowing how much it would benefit my inner & outer woman to [crossed out:un]- make an evener balance between the workings of the two.
The weather has been detestably cold & stormy but I had so much to talk aobut I minded it not & have got on bravely with my cloak. I hope to reach home in time to despatch it on the 1st – A propos of this return, I have the disinterestedness to advise you now not to come to Springfield, as so many hours in those cold cares are very tiresome & you would have nothing else as the weather would not admit of any perambulations at S. & we shall probably dash directly thro’ to reach Boston on Thursday evg if practicable. We leave here tomorrow mn’g early & shall get on as far as the state of the roads will permit us, hoping to arrive, the next day, at S. in time for the cars. I found here, to my delight, a letter [p. 3] from Mackintosh to Grandmother by the Caledonia announcing Mary’s continued well-being tho’ not a very good nurse but I am glad she is any-thing in that capacity. He says she was down stairs (3d of November his date!) & had written me but I have not yet received it. She must be marvellously well or Dr F. the greatest encourager of impudence. I know not what to make of it. We took advantage of a decent day to visit Stockbridge, looked in on Mrs Yale, who is the same feeble-minded, well-meaning body, has lost her ‘toddlin wee thing’ since last year & has made the old mansion so fine with white paint outside, that, what with the different aspect of the surroundings, the nakedness of the hills &c, we could hardly recognize it. Old Ashburner was as Voltaire-like & full of toothless gaiety, Mrs Jane as dignified & agreeable (every soul made such eager enquiries after you, never doubt again your powers of charming in a short time) but it looked very sad there to me, [crossed out: with] Mr Theodore’s mansion, corpse-like, with closed shutters & his warm shake of the hand missing to my welcome. She looks very sad, écrasée with her widow’s weeds, but has gleams of cheerfulness they say. Poor Mr Davidson we found at the last extremity & before this he has doubtless shuffled off this mortal coil which hung so loosely upon him. [crossed out: She] I did not see [crossed out: her] of course, not being able to leave him an instant, crowning her life-long devotion by these last offices. She has been a Eugenie Grandet in that, with as much noble perseverance in duty, & less [crossed out: cause] aid to make her yoke easy for her lover did not desert her. Our “vie de procena” is as full of romance. I have heard enough here of it to help a Balzac to most heart-thrilling pictures. Mr Field had come from N. York to Mr Davidson’s funeral, & we exchanged a few syllables, among which your name shone conspicuous, over the dinner-table at Galpins. I must no longer torture your poor eyes. I have scribbled this à la railroad for this is my only day with these good people – Yesterday we drove up from L. in a drenching sleet & dined at Aunt Dorothy’s, who said no person had ever charmed her so much in so short a time as your Ladyship [p. 4 bottom] & her liking is worth having, for I consider her one of the sweetest woman natures God ever blessed the earth with. I can hardly believe I am going back to that insipid town-life so soon, tho I long, con tutto il cuore, to embrace you, sweet, & you are my world now. Tom has been wondrously contented but wont be sorry I imagine to discuss it, or any thing else, with you over Constantia. Please inform my people when we intend returning & dont worry yourself too much over this [p. 4 top] head-over-heels pack of words. Offer up prayers Thanksgiving day for me as I shall for you in the ‘Cathedral boundless as our wonder’ &c, if not a victim on its altar!
Good bye, for a day or two, best beloved,
ever thy loving
F –
Tom kisses your hands
Give my kind regards to your Father & brother.
ADDRESSED: MISS AUSTIN. / CARE OF SAML AUSTIN JR ESQ / BOSTON. MASS.

• Keywords: frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; frances e. a. longfellow papers (long 20257); long archives; people; document; correspondence; pittsfield; ma; united states; places; subject; travel; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1840 (1011/002.001-010); (LONG-FileUnitName)