File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Anne Longfellow Pierce, 14 September 1852 (4ca8689e-96b3-4236-81f5-07a314292697).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-022#022

Cambridge. Tuesday
Dear Anne,
We reached our beloved home safely on Thursday ev’g last, in intense heat & all the horrors of dust & cinders from Providence, but found Cambridge as fresh & green as June from the rains, & the house looking spacious & comfortable & the garden very gay with autumnal flowers. My summer at Newport was delightful in so pleasant a position & with such agreeable friends under the same roof & we all separated with great regret, feeling that such successful & harmonious communions do not often occur; but already [p. 2] it seems a dream I have dreamed dozing upon my Library sofa, so different was that frolicking & open place to this shady quiet. I was so glad to have Sam there the last two days, & I think he enjoyed it, altho’ we were in rather a bustle with winding up affairs & undertaking to give a party to our Newport friends, which went off quite brilliantly – the house being illuminated, so that our light truly shone before men from afar.
Poor baby injured her elbow by falling off a jouncing-board, a day or two before we left, & as it could not be moved & seemed to pain her much I felt very anxious, so that on arriving we drove directly to Mason Warrens. He pulled it & pinched it in the usual humane medical manner & then pronounced nothing to be out [p. 3] of its place but that she must wear cold water bandages & a sling for a fortnight. The very next day however she began to use it quite fully & will not keep in her halter so it is evidently improving. She looks thin, & dark as an Indian papoose after her sea-side summer, but has been perfectly well & I trust will remain so thro’ this perilous season.
The boys are in fine health & so delighted to get back to their rabbits & gardens & treasures manifold.
My sister still lingers in Berkshire & will probably thro’ this week, altho’ my father has returned, then she will come to me for the winter I suppose unless the cold is too severe for her. Sam is now with us, & I hope will remain, for I can accommodate them all very well. I was glad to hear of Caro [p. 4] line Greenleaf’s good fortune, & beg you will convey my warmest felicitations to Lizzie on her prospects & my wishes that her hours may not be too burdensome but be sustained with a cheerful spirit. How is she now? How much Alex, with his fondness for children, will enjoy a pet at home. And little Alex will be a papa next. How the tide rises & pushes us aged ones up the bank!
Give much love to Mary & tell her I know I ought to be writing her instead of you but shall now keep what I might, could & should have said until I see her here which I hope is to be soon. Tell her we called on Mrs Ceras at Newport but didn’t see her after all. Mrs Greene has returned from her voyage no better & another tumor forming. Sam’s friend Hurlburt came in last night to see him & they had a pleasant chat over [p. 1 cross] London & Paris. Sam does not seem to feel his disappointment in returning so soon so much as we all do for him. I have not yet talked with him of his plans for the future.
With love to all
Yr aff
Fanny –

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