Файл:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Thomas Gold Appleton, 31 March 1847 (77741b77-781e-4309-929b-69b7bd7ce56c).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-017#012

Craigie House. March 31st
1847.
This is your birthday, dearest Tom, & I send my sheet freighted with good wishes manifold, despite Miss Banett’s bitter words in my memory. Can I love thee my beloved, can I love thee?
And is this like love to stand
With no help in my hand &c Love is never wholly fruitless, & I will not stint mine because I cannot shield thee from the evils love alone can soothe. Thank thee from my hart, for thy words of affection in thy last letter, which were most pleasant to receive, altho’ I grieved over the trial which called them forth. I do indeed wish I could have been near thee during thy tedious imprisonment - & have read & chatted with thee as I once did when your eyes confined you to the house. Altho’ you had [p. 2] so many kind friends about you, still I know I could have made myself most useful & welcome, & when I read your note I longed to spirit you into my cosy study, & enjoy the comfort & pride of having two patients to cheer & amuse, for Henry still needs my evening services, as reader, as much as ever. What is a woman’s life good for, after her children are in bed, but to administer comfort to some weary soul.
I imagine you now in London, enjoying Mary & Roberts’ society before they leave, & as I have written her, will not tell such little news as I have twice over. I cannot bear to unsettle them at the eleventh hour, but I do hope they have arranged to give us Mary & the children for the summer, & that Robert will not think such robbery too hard upon him.
We are all much pleased with the residence at St Kitts, if it is not too much prolonged, altho’ it still [p. 3] sounds almost as fabulous to me as Sancho Panza’s government, & trust Mary’s halth will not suffer from the climate, but she will enjoy witout a drawback the delicious days & more delicious nights, luminous with the southern cross, of those fragrant, balmy regions. Are you not tempted to visit them there? We confess to the desire, tho’ what with college bonds & domestic it is of course doubtful if we can gratify it – Papa also seems bitten with the idea of cruising about the islands, & I should not wonder if he should seriously undertake it next winter. H. N. Coleridge’s “Six months in the W. Indies” – gives a charming picture of their great beauty, & since he was there many things must have vastly improved.
Emmeline has returned with her husband & the fair Elisabeth, altho’ the two latter are here but a day or two leaving her for some weeks. Wm [p. 4] has grown very portly, & seems pretty well on the whole, tho’ I fear she can never cease to be anxious about him –
Bennett Forbes sailed, a day or two ago, for Ireland, having obtained command of the ship-of-war Jamestown, freighted with food. Young Lyman of N. was to be his clerk, wishing a berth in her, but arriving five minutes too late, the punctual Bennett set sail without him leaving him high & dry on the wharf with his trunk. Ralph Waldo looked in on us yesterday with his falling voice & shoulders. He was very pleasant, & more communicative than usual, on the strength of a very complimentary note Henry wrote him on his poems, whereby hangs an amusing tale. In it, H. says – “I fear my wife will never read my poems again she is so fascinated with yours” &c which the solemn Alcott reading, & construing ‘au pied de la lettre,’ goes about asserting Mrs L. no longer reads her husband’s poetry! Mr E was full of a gigantesque picture of Paige’s, which is to be sent out to the London Exhibition, & is only unveiled to a choice few here. Paige’s friends think it is the greatest thing of this or any age, of course. E. was charmed with the [p. 1 cross] Raphael Cartoon, which we brought down from the nursery where it hangs, for him to admire. He delighted in the free marks of the pencil, & said, “I see now a fine picture must always impose silence like a Cathedral” I shall hope to welcome you & Mary in Craigie Castle before June, but my wishes must not, of course, influence them a jot beyond what they consider right & convenient. Do you know our learned Prof Pierce dares to question Le Verner’s conclusions & planet. It is audacious, but he is a most sharp-sighted astronomer, & it would be very strange if his assertions are true. The paté arrived in admirable condition, & we had a Club dinner to do it justice, & divers little soupers off it afterwards with Bowen & Felton. All declared it the best they had ever eaten, & the health of the donor was drunk in Burgundy with all honors. I hear the Wash [p. 2 cross] ington cast has also arrived from Richmond. Hillard is in ecstasies with it, but I have not been able to go in to see it, expecting every day an addition to my nursery.
We fervently trust you are well now, dearest, & will have no relapses, with Henry’s love & many kisses from the chicks
ever thy loving
Fanny.

• Keywords: correspondence; long archives; frances e. a. longfellow papers (long 20257); frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; people; document; social life; events; birthday; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1847 (1011/002.001-017); (LONG-FileUnitName)