Transcription
Nevis / Sunday
25th June
Your letters of the month of May dear Alex came / by the last steamer two to Papa + two to myself, bringing / us the sad account of your long distresses, two weeks in bed is / a long experience of the four walls, I am too thankful that you were / able to tell us of a drive out before in your last letter, indeed I / don’t wonder that the Irvings feel so unhappy at having their / Uncle sick so far away from home. It is dreadful, + I hope / you will not expose yourself to the sun during those hot / months you are destined to stay in Madrid. By this time yr. / chef is gone, and everyone else is gone, Oh that you had / wings to fly away + pass a month or two with us. I think it / must be dangerous to travel with or without an escort I would certainly run no risks. You will perhaps in yr. Solitude be thrown / a little upon the Spanish society, although I doubt if there / be much that deserves that name in the place _ but you might / ferret out some amusement from them, + perhaps might strike / upon some interesting characters, at any rate you will be learn = / ing the language. My last letter ended as I was preparing to go / to town which, after drinking tea and during [^ breakfasting] with dominic / Van Pelt I did in company with Pa + George, Sheldon, Minturn, / in fact all Dobbs as usual on board the boat I staid with the / [Nell’s/Hell’s?] can came back after a pleasant nine days visit on Friday / last Pa only returned this morning looking badly, + suffering / from an attack of “the influenza”, which like La gripe / at Paris takes down every other person _ Pa has had a rare/ time staying first at Mrs. Lee’s then at Bryant’s dining out, [su-??page torn] / our + being out all the time, he will probably give you some / particulars very shortly himself, I found Grand ma + Grand pa / well, she is beginning to lose her activity + her memory to a great / degree, he is in fine spirits + about as usual in health + spirits / he has had a most respectful listener in Cambridge Livingston / who came to Eliza’s on Saturday, + has spent most of his time / at the house. He returns to the City tomorrow + we have been / planning an excursion for the 4th July. Tuesday even’g 27th / Pa is still suffering from the influenza a little fever at night, + a little / cough through the day. Dear Ma never was better, she is very active / up at five when she goes up to the garden, pick sher vegetables + fruits /
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Attends to her chickens, comes home and dresses all before breakfast / time, she is then busy for everybody, sewing, reading, etc. all day long. / + of course ready for her bed by nine O’clock. This afternoon at / four the Grandparents left us, they have been here nearly two weeks / and were restless + anxious to get home. We expected George / + Geccy back by the steamboat, but only received a note from him / saying that they had got back to New York but that as Robert was / away he would be detained until tomorrow, Poor Geccy suffered / a great deal at first from the announcement of the sudden death / of Legaré (an account of which You will see in the Intelligencers / I will send you by this steamer) but George with his usual kindness, / came directly on from Boston, where he + Pa were when it happened / and not only broke it to her gently, with such agreable little details / as he had got from Bigelow, but brought he to New York, where I / then was + has taken her since to Bridgeport , he he thinks that the / sea air agrees with her, + that she is doing well poor Legaré! / Attorney General + as good as Secretary of State, perhaps the / A-[mb?]-ition of his whole life but just gratified, What a comment / upon Human plans, they are built upon a light fabric, l’homme / propose, dieu dispose” _ It is a pleasure to his friends to know / that he was perfectly calm + composed, Although aware for twenty / four hours, when mortification had taken place that he could / not possibly live __ I dined at Julia’s when I was in town / at her first Company dinner, and it was quite amusing the inex - / perineced housekeeping a partie carrée Cambridge L– + I / the two guests, we were assembled, and at four when the guests / were expecting the announcement the waiter could not be found / to set his table, we got dinner at five, + a nice little dinner / it was, + were glad enough that it had not missed altogether, / Lewis appeared very well at the head of his table, is quiet but / attentive, has very nice wines, and [ca??s] remarkably well / but he is bête _ acts well enough in regard to Mrs Ray; but / talks of how he may get rid of the trouble of doing things for her / + this not only before me, qui que ce soit, it makes no difference. / Julia is [nicely?], very happy, + going up to Staatsburg tomorrow to / make her second visit _ pass the 4th delighted + delighting. / Angelica goes bravely on with the painting, her mark is oil /
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Pictures, and she gets along quite well. Julia’s house is on the / corner of Mercer St. + Waverly Place, near were [M-??-is?] once [page torn] / to their great delight, it being a two story house madame [moro] / could not condescend so low, and they are alone, for this Year at / least. I spent one day over at the Kind + hospitable Athon’s Staten / Island. Miss Genevieve some how or other kept us laughing all / the time and as nothing could be more refreshing than that / exquisite sea breeze + sea view we had strength for it. I think / I have never seen such a view, The Kills all round, the North / River, the Bay, the Ocean, Cities, Villages, ships, the Quarantine / all under Yr. eye + a great deal more. Fanny spent the same / day at the Goodhue’s with her friend Mrs Livingston + returned in / the boat with us. Don’t You think Your family is sufficiently / Itinerary, but if you have to stay all this summer at Madrid, / you will have to do the stationary for all of us. The great amuse - / ment in N. Y. has been the French Opera + Vaudeville Comp’y / at Niblos an excellent troup from New Orleans, + a fashionable / resort, consequently it is well attended + goes off with spirit, I saw / L'Ambassadrice, but how poor us the music of these French composers / I am glad you speak of an Opera, a resource for Yr. evenings, but / with the thermometer perhaps at 90’ “it is impossible” Good / night, a demain it is late for the country. Wednesday 20th The / waggon returned from the boat this afternoon well filled George, Geccy, / + two Joneses Mary Ann + Katy for the Cottage. They speak of the city / as very hot, + enjoyed much the delicious breeze up here. Pa is much / better to day, so much so, that he got on his horse this afternoon + rode / over to the farm, there is no news from town of general interest. / The domestic news speaks of the return of Uncle Phil + Rebecca, / + that [Lanny?] + baby are coming up here on Saturday afternoon; the family at Bohemia continues well they leave the farm for / Brandywine Springs about the 4th of July. Bowdoin and the / Dream are supposed to be under weigh [sic] for Nevis, her [1st?] trip. / We are talking of a little excursion to Rhinebeck to eat cherries, / Cambridge seemed so anxious for one of our pick nicks if it / comes off at all it must be done next week or the cherries will / be gone, we have had such a drought that I expect it will / rain all next week __ I think yr. Friend Mrs Scott had full / reason to be alarmed at the prospect of travelling in that /
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Horrible country of Yours, it is at the risk of one’s life, Minturn was / [??] here today, he has [^ been] cured of the Influenza homeopathically in / a very short time, we are all becoming converts to the system, you / must hunt out some Dr. of the kind where you are, + consult with / him, we are going to send the old piano over to the Minturn;s for / the summer, they have come up here, it will probably travel tomorrow / on an ox sled, George + I as escort. Charley Hamilton has returned, a / man taller than his father, not handsome Geccy says, + probably / pretty determined, he is now treated with all that winning po - / liteness for which Uncle John is so famous, all his sayings quoted, / + that air negligé and indifferent as to where he is going etc. /
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29th George + Pa go down tomorrow morning, we have been busy all the / morning transporting the old piano to the Minturns, where it now stands / safe and ready. The great heat of the day has this afternoon been relieved / by a pelting shower, Geccy and I have been on the bed, I looking over a / part of Theodore Hook’s life, + a part of “Martin [??-t]” both very / amusing, she reading Webster’s Bunker Hill speech. Pa + Ma down / stairs, we have had such a drought that we are afraid our raspberries,
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Will not fill out well, espérons, we have had plenty of strawberries / + Mrs Constant invites us over to eat cherries, we shall certainly make a / descent upon her _ Aunt Fan + Uncle were surprised at the growth / of our trees, + thought they seemed to grow better than any body’s trees. / The order + decorum observed at the Bunker Hill celebration / has been the subject of universal remark, not a single person / committed scarcely one [drunk?] : Minturn told me his cousin / walked as one of the “sons of New England” from N. Y. it happened to rain / some one ran from the street + handed his umbrella to that perfect stranger, when Minturn objected the man said it to such a / street + left it _ whereupon the cousin bought one of the handsomest / in all Boston, + sent it with the old one, to the trusting, enthusiastic / stranger _ Good night dear Alex, try + find some pleasant people / with whom to help along these long hot days that you are passing alone / I am writing in the eve’g after the cottagers have taken their departure / We have had a superb sunset with a thunder cloud behind it /
Pa is quite well as are all / With much love Yr. sister
Marie
[ADDRESS]
Alex Hamilton Esq’r
Secretary of Legation of the United States
Madrid
Care of / John Miller, Esq’r
U.S. despatch Agent
13 Henrietta Street
Covent Garden
London
[WAX SEAL - broken, brown]Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
