Transcription
September 6th Pa has just handed up your / letter form the Pyrennees after your very dangerous illness, / it is impofsible to deny dear Alex that I feel very unhappy / about it, and look with the greatest anxiety for the / next steamer, You can’t imagine the sorrow and ad - / ditional trouble from this great distance inter-[??]-ing / between you and a sick dear one, I only wish I / could fly off in the first vessel that leaves and / join You. Poor ma has been saved a great deal by / not having going through the course and crisis of the / disease, but now the great desire to know how you hear / the journey, the fear that you will not be careful, / the thousand little things that we might do for you / the thousand anxieties I feel, render the ocean + the / many miles most hateful objects. If you find yourself / with enough at Madrid write to me every particular / that you can remember of Your sickness, every detail, / how the Livingstons may be thanked for their kindness. / All you thought, + all your suffered _ You conceal / a great deal I know, for Mr. Irving wrote that you were / gone for to renovate your health, + we did not know / that you were suffering, perhaps it is as well on Ma’s / account for she never fancies more than is actually / told her, Now then your had better come home, for cer - / tain, it is that you have had more sickness since / you were [^ have been] away, than in the same space, of time at / home. Sunday 10th We have had the Millers with / us all this last week to day they went down with Pa / Of course, it was necessary to shew them round / and we have kept pretty well on the go. Aunt /
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Fan had us to dine on Friday, we made a pretty / large party, for Bina Wells is with us too, of / course we had every thing that was good, but I was not / in the best of spirits, as I am looking for that next steam - / er to hear that You are quite strong again. Yester / =day we had a very nice excursion to the Croton Dam / Miller was very curious to see it, the Minturns joined / us, and took two of us in their waggon, + at / the Dam Aunt Fan + Uncle were waiting with / two of his nieces and two baskets. 11th I was interrup - / =ted by the arrival of Mrs. Lee and Eliza from the Cottage / The old house at Newburyport has been sold with the / stable, church pew + every thing, the furnitue of course / was to [^ be] disposed of according to the wishes of the sisters / therefore Mrs Lee + Mrs Schuyler have been down there / four or five days dividing, they intend to have sold some / at Auction but all was too precious for that, + now the / home of the forefathers, has passed into the hands of strangers / with nothing left but the associations, which will / probably be strong with them so long as they remember / any thing __ I have pafsed to day on the best, in / consequence of a lame foot which I hurt on the pick / =nick, I thought of your laying there so many days / without any of us to read to you or hand You a glafs / of water, Pa returned this afternoon with Aunt / Schuyler he is quite well now, and tomorrow works out / on the road, his honors as path master have passed / rather heavily upon him, and he hopes that next / year they will release him. Little John Hamilton’s / wife has come home to her father, with two little / children, she is of course destitute her husband has taken /
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To drink + gambling + has left her. The family name will / be somewhat in disrepute in the Western Country. Good / night once more I mist put my tender foot up again. __ / 13th We have just sent off a waggon load to the dock, Mrs / Lee, Aunt, + Bina Eliza went off independantly in her boat / she has then no danger of bills, etc. she + Bina returns / on Friday, E is very busy with a hundred different things / arranging for the children’s schooling, studying German, / attending to the flowers etc, she and I this morning were / busy budding roses, we expect to present you with a / bouquet of roses from one root. We had one of the little / sociables last night at Mrs. Sheldons Miss [Gussie?] Gibbs / is staying there, she played one beautiful piece for us, / but she could not dance for she has lost a cousin, a Bibby / We were remarkably gay, with the usual proportion of / belles to beaux, the ice cream as usual, All the Irvings / were there, with Mrs Pierre Irving who is staying with / them. / They told me their Uncle had had another / attack of erysepelas since You were in the Pyrennees quite / severe, but that You he had recovered. (I am writing / with Fanny’s baby on my lap) They hope he is coming home / very soon. Minturn told me we should have our letters / by next Tuesday excellent Minturn, I only hope that / the mail bags have not been delayed, + that You were / well enough to write. We have been cutting up some superb / Peaches for sweetmeats, I suppose you can hardly realize / they are from that formerly worthlefs peach orchard, Mrs Lee’s / “Hugenots” is out, and I think quite graphic + inter - / esting, particularly after she is launched upon Henry 4th / + his sister Catherine of Bourbon which last character she / considers the chief merit of the book. To night we drink tea at / the Minturns, /
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14th Thursday, Our tea party was well enough Giccy + I the / sole representatives from here, think what a change since / the days when the waggon used to go full, it was pretty full / however coming back for Minturns + Delano drove home / with us I had the pleasure of riding [^ walking] back, We have per - / suaded Ma to go off this afternoon with to Fordham, it is / a long while since she has been there, he is going to /
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Drive her down with Lee + Sirius. Think what a change / when this two colts are trusted with such a valuable load, / but they are perfectly quiet + well broken, Sirius made one of / four who took us to the Croton Dam + back again on Saturday / There is no city gossip but the engagement of Sam Ward with / Miss Grimes, The Pearson is to be married in the fall + live / at Pa Pauldings _ I had forgotten Miss Winthrop’s (aunt Ann) / engagement to Mr. Warren of Boston, brother in law of Mrs. /
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Sears + father of the pretty Miss Emily Warren. The Groom is about / 70 the bride only 40 + Do not forget all my injunctions about / taking Care of yourself + writing to me all the details. Come / home next Spring + believe me Your attached sister
MaryTranscriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
