File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Anne (Longfellow) Pierce, 7 August 1847 (a8d1039d-39da-4de4-bf5f-c46dea7022e6).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-016#021

Oak Grove. Saturday –
Dearest Annie,
I will not quarrel with this weather for keeping me from Portland since it was so amiable while you were here. How glad I am these two days did not come in your week, though with our many in-door resources they are far from dull to me. It held up long enough yesterday afternoon for me to receive a delicious bath, & try my new sea-weeds, which I like very much. Mary helped me plunge outside the bath, as the tide was hardly high enough inside, & the peep over the water of the shore, & sails & rocks beneath quite [p. 2] spoiled me for being cooped up in the narrow cage of wood. Charley was allowed to paddle longer in shallow water, & sail his boat, which so charmed him that he jumped about with delight, & was unwilling to come out! We launched the boat the ev’g before from the rocks, Henry throwing it far out, & great was his delight to pull it in “like a fish,” & let it “eat its breakfast” off the rocks.
The paper fever continues at its height, & he even resigns his meals rather than lose the sight of his beloved. He was just now looking at the smoking chimney thro’ the rain, & exclaimed “Poor smoke, it is crying.”
Mrs Bancrofts departure is delayed by the weather, & we had [p. 3] last night juggling exhibition’s, for her amusement, by Henry, of an egg standing on end without being broken, &c, a philosophic discovery which he thinks Columbus showed forth instead of the more vulgar way the pictures represent him. It is by shaking it so as to break the yolk inside, the weight therefore settles at the bottom, but there is still some slight of hand in balancing it.
My long-desired news from St Kitts arrived night before last! The Governor & family arrived safely after a pleasant 6 weeks voyage, without a storm, & were well pleased with the aspect of people & things. He had the election of a Chief & Puisne Justice before him, & she receptions & dinners as Governor’s lady. The climate is tempered by a sea-breeze, & is [p. 4] not so hot, she thinks, as a Boston summer, tho’ oranges fill her garden. The children were all well The island is even more beautiful than she expected, with very lofty mountains before their windows, & these tropical fruits all around. She says they are without ice (imagine it) the supply in the ice-house, paid for by subscription, having failed, but vessels come constantly from New Haven. There is a good Library there, a very Puseyiteish Arch-Deacon, & pleasant people. The blacks are very independant, [sic] & call her “Your Excellency –“ We are expecting newspapers detailing their reception wh have gone to Father.
Mr Hill is hurrying off because he can get no bacon, tho’ the first day he was for buying Renés Island!! Mr Pratt has appeared, & other Worcesterains – a couple who promise Henry a sight of Excelsior illustrated by a female friend like Gray’s Elegy, I feel quite lost without you & Anne So- [p. 1 cross] phia, & cannot tell you how much I enjoyed yr visit. We longed to go to the Cape today, hearing, last night, from the bridge the roar of the breakers, & seeing them flashing nearly as high as the light house. I have discovered Mr & Mrs Prince of Lowell to be very old friends of mine, I have not seen since a child, but then often. With much love to all ever thy
Loving
Fanny L.
Love to all.

• Keywords: frances e. a. longfellow papers (long 20257); document; correspondence; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1846 (1011/002.001-016); (LONG-FileUnitName)