Transcription
Nevis Friday Morning 2 1843
I hurried up dear Alex on Wednesday as / Ma was along, leaving the dear little cottage + / its hospitable inmates with some regret _ We had / the usual little round of tea parties, + there were / many more to come off which I lobbed off The / day I came home we received Your letter to Pa / by the steamer, George Schuyler had one in town / of which I had not seen the contents. You seem / to be both improving + enjoying Your time + the / habits of study which You have once acquired will / always come back + be useful to You, now that / You [twin?] to it for employment _ I saw Uncle / Phil’s friend Edwards the other evening, he spoke / of this being a great chance for you. Yesterday / Pa came home, + they have managed to defeat / all opposition, + have got their contract for their / boat, which was nearly taken from them at the last / moment Sunday evening. This has been a most exciting / day in one quiet life, Pa rushed in this morning, / saud that E, George, + Geccy were at Fordham, that / the horses were to go down for them which would / give me the chance of an elegant ride, he had just / come from the Boat, soon I got, met them about at / Aunt Fan’s and after pafsing an hour or so there we / drove towards home, our little church had open / =ed its doors to afternoon worshippers, we joined them / and of course took dinner late. This morning / (Monday) the Schuylers went off poor George having / passed a most sleepless night from dreadful toothache. / he said that [Pammily?] should pluck out the offending / member immediately on his arrival in town, he /
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Then had to meet the directors of the Erie rail road / Company opposite, with the view of engaging to take / their passengers from Piermont to New York, having / the ultimate plan that the same boat should stop / at Dobbs every trip which would give us a boat of our / own twice up and down every day, think of that for / next summer, when poor You must leave extras + / postillions and travel in steamboats with the herd. / I must give You a sketch of our plans for the winter / that You may be able to follow us through the different / months. December is to be passed in the Country, / between Fordham, Aunt Fans, + home, the old / grand parents are very much changed, much more / liable to sickness, very still + quiet in their spirits, / and longing more to have some of us with them, we / are going to try + bring them here for the Holy days. / when the family will afsemble, as many as can, they / will be but few, + when George insists upon having an / ice boat on Howlands pond _ the New Year’s day [Sabine?] / Wells has engaged us for, one will probably go to Aunt / Schuyler’s who is making an effort to be gay this winter / and is kind enough to want us girls to help her __ /
The last two weeks in January are to be spent in / Boston at Mrs Lees, a party or four, Mr + Mrs G.L.S. / + the Miss H’s _ we have never been in that good / town in winter, so we have determined to give them / a chance. We go no further than this with our pos - / itive engagements _ Dear Mother will pass some / time at her fathers, some time at Rebecca’s provided /
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The padre’s business will call him / [page cut but original, does not interfere with text] much away, otherwise you know she / is never so happy as when she can stay home / busy as a bee sewing for every body from Tommy up / to Pa, it would do You good to see how fat + well / she looks, she thinks it dreadful to be so large, but / I would much prefer having her so than very thing, she / + Aunt Fan are trying à l’envie to equal their mother / Aunt will I think entirely succeed. I have had such / a very pleasant four days here with no one but Ma / I came home as usual, a little sick + very weary / from the City rambles, the perfect peace and cheer / -fulness of home + Ma have restored me completely / I saw one evening at Cousin Sarah Moore’s the great / General Bertrand who had to give an autograph / before leaving + insisted upon shaking hands with / every body in the room before leaving, his son they say / is a very good boy, probably takes a little the advan - / tage of a free Country to get away from parental / authority _ Your friend Colonel Low is going to give / a party in his own house, Rebecca is to lady patron- / nefs, and we are to make out the list, think what / a fufs the poor man must be in They say he talks of / it constantly. We chose his piano the other day. Julia / Boggs is on the most delightful terms with her hus - / band’s family, they seem to appreciate her, they had / just arrived in town while we were there, I saw / Miss Angel in the street, Mrs Lowndes is quite out / of health and is to remain with her mother all winter / they say she looks dreadfully broken, her two eldest / have êbeen with Julia for some time, for the sake of / the school. Of course, this winter’s candidates for /
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Miss Livingston’s fa–[??] are not Yet known / Goodhue will probably sign + send bouquets / but there must be some new ones. [westorts?] Van / Renfsalaer is driving four greys, + Alexander two / bays, but they won’t do _ Mrs Kemble Paulding has / returned to the City, + gone to her new home on the / Square, they have been fêted up in the Highlands / but the groom had a swelled face all that time / We saw by the paper that the Count de Bresson / was to be the ambassador from France to Spain.
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So soon as the queen’s Majority should be recognized / by the Cortes _ Pa was delighted for Your sake, said / that he is a delightful person + was very kind to / him when he was in Paris _ Write to us if it be so, + / also if Henry Bulwer is send from England. We / have now distinguished musicians in town + they say / the concerts are delightful, Damoreau Cinti +c.
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[Cleball?] a famous violinist are there to entertain us now, / + make delightful music, but no Opera! What will you / do when You come home. Grand Ma Hamilton has fre - / quent attacks of choking from indigestion, otherwise she / is as usual, she came in to Rebecca’s the other day with / a pair of ducks behind her muff and a bundle of / raisins inside of it _ Aunt Eliza has got a Younger Miss / Jarvis to pass the winter with her _ poor girl _ /
The Church matters still occupy Considerable attention / de même _ our own clergymen are certainly behaving / very badly + writing inflamed sermons about the / supremacy of the Clergy + submission of the laity, / Ma often says “how I do want to see my boy” / This echoed a hundred times is the song of the house
Good night Yours Mary
Nov’r 27th
[ADDRESS]
Alex. Hamilton Esq’r
Secretary of the Legation of the U.S.
Madrid
Care of
John Miller
U.S. despatch Agent
13 Henrietta St.
Covent Garden
London
[REVERSE OF ADDRESS]
From Mary
November 28th 1843
Rec’d Dec. 23d 1843
[POSTMARK 1 - red ink, circle]
V
15DE15
1843
[POSTMARK 2 - red innk]
PAID
[POSTMARK 3 - red ink, circle]
NEW YORK
NOV
29Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
