File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Harriot Coffin (Sumner) Appleton, 1 May 1848 (7853e2c8-f5f9-437d-96ce-bef87ed0d8a7).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-018#007

Cambridge May 1st 1848.
Dear Harriot,
I was in town on Saturday, & Eliza told me the children had already written you that poor Julia was at rest. She hoped, the night before, it might be her last here & we all feel grateful she is released from her sufferings, which have been extreme since you left, from ulceration in the throat particularly, which prevented swallowing & also from great emaciation. She arranged every thing before her death, dis [p. 2] tributing her personal effects among her various friends, & even directing what should be engraved upon her tomb. A short time since she recited to her father an ode or sonnet from Horace on Death, which he had taught her when a child, with only one word incorrect!
Her funeral takes place this afternoon. Edward Webster’s remains are daily expected; but, as the military will insist upon attending them, the family are not anxious they should arrive just now. Aunt Sam says Sam has an excellent woman who will take care of the children [p. 3] at the place he has bought by the sea-shore.
Your children passed the afternoon here last week, & seemed much to enjoy working in the garden with spade & hoe. They entered into it with all the zeal of youth. I wish our gardener had half their spirit, for I get very impatient for more rapid progress, & work mine in proportion to the expense.
I have begged Eliza to bring them soon again, for they eat their supper with a zest which proved how good it was for them to get a little country [p. 4] air & exercise. They seem very happy & well, & the pleasure of getting & writing letters quite consoles them for your absence. I am ashamed to say I have not seen your mother, & therefore know your movements only thro’ those documents, but have been hoping daily for some account of who & what you have been seeing & doing. I was ready to scold papa on Saturday, for not leaving word that any letter from St Kitts should come first to us, for I heard from Cary one was sent on, & am very impatient to know what it contains. Perhaps you will find Mary in N. York! but I dread to think the letter may be to say they are not coming. Jewett has cut us [Part 2: p. 5, marked 2] &, gone to Burlington, but I hope will be here later. I met Moses twice at dinner at Aunt Sam’s lately for the first time since I was married. Little Sammy Blatchford is very cunning, & says “Vive la République” drolly enough. He has not yet made the acquaintance of the nursery at No. 39, where I invited him on Saturday, but he did not appear.
Emmeline is still here, but has her trunks half packed. Her baby had quite a violent attack of lung fever, which delays her until the weather is milder. This is a bright May day, but an east wind chills it, the dust is intolerable. Henry went [p. 6] to Portland on Friday, returning the next day. His little nephew Stevy sails in a few days, in a Canton ship, as sailor boy – the monomania could not be expelled, so they think it wisest to yield to it.
We accomplished our visit to the Chateau Deacon Saturday before last, & found the splendor & completeness quite exceeded our expectations. It is so thoroughly French that while within its walls I felt transported abroad so entirely that it was quite bewildering, - but I sigh to think what ravages a furnace may do to those gilt panels & exquisite cabinets. [p. 7] We had a housewarming at Mrs Sparks’ lately, when she appeared magnificent in white satin with sultana turban – looking really very handsomely. Mrs Everettt has also had a party for the bride Mrs Judge Parker. She is from Keene & is, I hear, a very agreeable woman. I have called on her but not successfully.
Pray remember me kindly to Mrs Colden Mrs Brooks & every one who enquires after me. Hoping you will bring home a good stock of health & strength, with love to papa, from Henry & myself,
affly yrs
Fanny E.L.
[p. 1 cross] Our family had the addition, yesterday, of a calf, which, to my amazement, was prancing about the barn floor half an hour after its birth.

• Keywords: correspondence; long archives; frances e. a. longfellow papers (long 20257); frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; people; document; family life; subject; events; death; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1848 (1011/002.001-018); (LONG-FileUnitName)