Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3030 G
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE December 17th 1836
AUTHOR Anicartha Miller
RECIPIENT Ann(e) Hoffman Nicholas
MEDIUM Paper, ink
DESCRIPTION
PEOPLE Rev. S. S. Whitman, Elizabeth, Franklin, Mr. James Boorman, and
Samuel War[en?], Mrs C, George, Mrs Douglass Cruger, Mr
Williams, Mr Bowen, Mr Green, William, Hamilton, Emma, Mr
Bostwick, Charles Collins, Mrs Dr Janeway, Mrs Torey[?], Mrs J
Trimble, Mrs Mitchill, Spencer, Mrs Robinson, Mr George Douglas,
Mr Macdonald, Mrs Sands, Mr Whitman,
PLACES
EVENTS
KEY WORDS
*Original spelling retained throughout work, content appears exactly as written.
[PAGE 1]
[In Pencil: 50/20/5/5/80/25/105]
New York, December 17th 1836
My dear Mrs Nicholas,
I have delayed writing to you from week to week, until I/ should be able to write with some certainty in regards to Elizabeth’s affairs, and/ believing that they are now in such a [train] that success can no longer be considered/ doubtful, I hasten to give you an account of the progress of the thing, as I know/ that you will be interested in all the particulars. I did not take any steps at/ all in regard to it until after my brother Franklin went to Mississippi, which was/ not until about three weeks after your own departure. One rainy day I made a/ desperate effort, and accomplished the writing of three applications, of which I dis-/patched with no small degree of trepidation. Two of them were unsuccessful, and al-/though I have kept them a secret here, there is not the same reason for concealing/ them from you. They were addressed to Mr. James Boorman, and Samuel War[en]/ I said in both the letters, that if the object appeared in any respect objectionable, / it would not be necessary to answer the application, silence would be understood to im-/ply a negative answer. I never heard a word from either of them. The third letter/ was addressed to Mrs Douglass Cruger, and contained a request that she would/ mention the circumstances to the brothers, and endeavor to interest their sympathies/ in the story. The next day brought a polite note from Mrs C., saying that she had shown my letter to her brother William, and was just setting out for her brother/ Georges country seat, whence she should return in two or three days with her own / name, and she hoped with that of both brothers for my subscription paper./ I considered the matter half done, for I knew what with liberal subscription from/ them to begin with, from them to begin with them I should find little difficulty in making up the remainder. / But a fortnight passed away heard not a syllable from Mrs Cruger. After the / note I had received from her, I could not help thinking it very strange, and at last/ came to the conclusion that she had changed her mind. The fact of her husband’s / being a southern man made it very probable that he might have exercised an unfavour-/able influence on her mind, and such eventually prove to be the fact truth. You may/ suppose that my enthusiasm was bery much damped. I had not spirits enough to/ make a new application, and did not know what to do. At this point I called them on/ Mr Williams, told him my difficulties and asked his advice. He manifested great interest/ in the matter, encouraged me to renew my efforts and told me to put his own name down/ for $25. This of course recommended the subject in the church, and I have since received/
[END OF PAGE 1]
[PAGE 2]
A subscription of $25 from Mr Bowen, one of $30 from the [Hillys], and a promise/ without specifying any amount from Mr Green.
After an interval of nearly three weeks, Mrs Cruger called, and/ with her was Mr C. It would be a long to tell you all that was said, but the amount of/ ot was, that Mr Cruger was very much opposed to the emancipation of slaves, and as she/ would be under the necessity of acting in opposition to his feelings, she, although contrary/ to what she had first intended, would give nothing. He brother William, when she/ had mentioned the subject to him, had said that he would give whatever she did, and / as she gave nothing, he followed her example. Her brother George would give $100./ When she read the letter to him, he at first said that he would give the whole amount,/ but as she told him she thought it unadvisable that he should do so, he named the/ sum which I have mentioned. You will draw your own conclusions from the circum-/ stances. I must say in justice to Mrs Cruger, that I thought she acted like a kind-/hearted and well-meaning woman, and her husband like a disagreeable and overbearing/ man. She was so evidently doing violence to her own feelings by the refusal, and was/ so candid in explaining the reason for it, that I conceived a higher opinion of her/ that I ever done before. Mr george Douglas is as you know a religious man,/ although I believe more sincere that discreet. The present instance has certainly / shown how much more certainly we may rely on a man who acts from Christian/ principles than [inserted: one who obeys only] the ordinary impulses by which men are governed.
[In Pencil: 260/20/280]
Besides the letters I have mentioned, I have written several/ others. One addressed to Abraham Van Ness has I believe been unsuccessful. Several/ persons have promised to subscribe and undoubtedly will do so. The other subscrip-/tions which I have not mentioned are $20 from Mrs Dr Janeway, and $5 from Mrs/ Torey, Mrs J Trimble and Mrs Mitchill. The whole amount therefore now subscribed / is $295.
I called on Charles Collins, a benevolent Quaker who has always been a friend/ to the negroes and opposed to slavery. He declined to give any thing, but offered his/ advice and assistance. He offered to go with me to see Mr Foulke, a gentleman who/ has commercial relations with Curacoa, and we accordingly went to Mr Foulke’s/ office in South Street. I told him the business [inserted: and] discovered that he knew all about Spencer/ and his wife, as well as the family to whom Elizabeth belongs. He did not think that/ the two daughters could be worth $200 each, and believed that under the circumstances they/ might be obtained for something less [inserted: even] than their value. He kindly offered to forward a / letter, and I have accordingly written to Mrs Robinson to know what will be the lowest/ price at which she will part with them. The letter was sent a few days since. I do not/ at present think it expedient to endeavor to obtain more that $350, and I believe from the promises received I may count on that sum with certainty. I have a hope that Mr Foulke may be willing to give them a passage in one of his ships, although he made no such promise. He is a very obliging gentleman and I am told/ a man of liberty. I have ented into all these details because I knew that you would / wish to hear them. If I succeed in effecting the object, I shall feel that a very good / result has been accomplished, at the expense of a small amount of labor to myself.
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[PAGE 3]
And now that we have dispatched Elizabeth’s affairs, I come to a matter in/ which you will readily imagine, I have felt no small interest. Mr Williams has had/ a call to Hamilton to fill the chair of Biblical Theology. It seems that two appli-/cants made previously to this, has been declined by him. Another much more urgent/ appeal has now been made, not only to himself but the church; which is called upon/ to sacrifice its individual interests to the good of the whole denomination, as there is/ said to be no other man so well qualified for the professorship. Mr W. says that/ the last application has created a doubt in his mind as to his duty in the matter,/ abd gas subjected him a very painful vacillation of mind. He finally determined/ to submit the matter to the judgment of the church, and to be regulated in his own/ conduct by their decision. A special church meeting was held last evening for the / purpose, and the church decided resolved that it was not their duty to part with him,/ and hoped that his views would coincide with theirs; and I understand they do. / You may suppose how I felt at the idea losing him as a pastor. All my most de-/lightful views on religion have been received through the medium of his preaching,/ and its influences on my mind will not I hope be lost either in this life, or in the/ [torn] happiness to which I aspire in another. I believe that the doubts which/ [torn] entertains of how own usefulness here, led him to think that some of [stamp] / [torn] ction might be better suited to him, but I have no doubt myself no [unrecoverable]/ any one [unrecoverable] in the church that this is the place where he ought to remain. It is sometimes a [unrecoverable] matter of astonishment to me that his ministry has not been more successful, palrticu-/arly with the young people of active minds, and I who have lived so many/ years [inserted: in] unbelief myself, fear that I have but little patience with it in others. Alas, I/ fear that Christians are well nigh as unjust to the world, as the world to them and who/ knows how far their own inconsistencies and unlovely deportment may serve to repel / even those they love from the cause of Christ./
But I have said nothing of yourself & Emma. The/ Monday after you left, I went to your father’s, and to my very great surprise found/ that you had gone. I saw no one but Elizabeth, and she could not [inserted: even] tell me the name/ of the person whom you had gone, only that it was not Mr Bostwick. She has told/ me that you have been heard from within a few days of your place of destination, but/ of any particulars of your journey I am entirely ignorant. It could not have been/ destitute of incident, and I had hoped that you would on your arrival have given me/ some account of it. You will by this time be able to add to it some of your adventure in/ Illinois. You have no doubt no lack of useful employment. I am for my own part/ leading the life of a busy idleness which seems almost unavoidable in a city. I had thought of/ taking up some branch of study this winter, but I find the regular enjoyments engage-/ments of the week with two or three other matters which I have had on hand, fill up all/ the time. I have thought too sometimes that I had better employ myself in making/ useful what I have already learned than in seeking to acquire more. You will think/
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[PAGE 4]
me very conceited to be so easily satisfied with my own acquirements, and I think it by/ no means impossible that I might make both objects practicable. As you do not hear often/ from the city, I suppose news would be agreeable to you, but I do not know that I have / any to offer you. I heard Mrs/ Sands speak the other day of the death of your cousin Miss Seton in the West Indies, but of that I suppose you have heard. We have not yet received/ tidings of Franklin’s arrival in Vicksburgh, although it is now time that we should./ I was at Bloomingdale the other day and saw poor [Tower] who is now getting better./ He spoke of you and Mr Whitman with great kindness. Mr Macdonald is well and/ cheerful, and I bless God that it is so; id he had become peevish and unhappy invalid/ his misfortune would be doubly great. I do not like ot think we shall never/
[break in page]
meet again and I do not believe that it will be so. In the mean time let us not [inserted: permit] the/ only chain of intercourse we have to grow rusty. Write to me and tell me exactly how you are/ situated. I should like to be introduced to the very shovel and tongs in your fire place./ You have told me too much of Mr & Mrs Whitman not to make feel an interest in/ their welfare and Emma will readily believe how happy I should be to hear imme-/diatley form herself. Eliza joins in this request. I have taken advantage of a rainy/ Saturday to write this letter, and it will not probably be sent before Monday as Id do/ not know where to address you, and shall be under the necessary of sending it to your brother Charles. I hope to hear from you at least on te reception of this letter, if not/ before. May God bless you and yours in my dear friend the prayer of your affections./
Anicartha
[END OF PAGE 4]
[ADDRESS]
Mrs Anne Nicholas/
Care of the Rev. S. S. Whitman/
Chicago/
Illinois/
[post mark: New York Dec. 19th]
[END OF LETTER]Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
