Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3040
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE March 29, 1841
AUTHOR Mary Colden King
RECIPIENT Emma Nicholas Maloney
MEDIUM Paper, ink
PEOPLE Mrs. Gaylord, Posey, Julia Hoffman, Charles Fenno Hoffman,
Geroge Hoffman, “Uncle” Ogden Hoffman, Virginia Southard Hoffman, Mary Colden Hoffman [Daughter of Ogden]
PLACES Hell Gate, Niagara, New York, Astor House,
EVENTS Mary King’s possible trip to visit Emma, trip with Posey to Niagara
*Original spelling retained throughout work, content appears exactly as written.
[PAGE 1]
New York/
March 29th/
1841/
[POSTSCRIPT TOP OF PAGE 1]
I forgot to tell you, that we certainly leave for Europe / the first of October. The length of our stay is uncertain / but from eighteen months to three years I expect. If I / am yet over the ocean, I shall want to see every thing.
My dear Emma. /
It is a very long time since I have / heard from you, except a few lines, and it is al - / most equally long since I have written. But I / was prevented from writing by a very unsentimental / but still very unpleasant reason. I had the good / sense, about four weeks since, to shut my hand / in the door of my wardrobe, and as it happens / to be my right hand, I could not very conveni-[page torn] / hold a pen. I hope that the same reason has not prevented your writing. I suppose however that / your numerous household affairs occupy so much / of your time, that you have not many [spare] / minutes to devote to writing. I have not been / well for a long time. I think that I felt the / weather thro’ winter more than usual, in consequence / of having spent last winter in such a warm / climate. I have not been out for nearly two months / at least for more than a day or two, and I am / wanting now with all impatience, to go back to / Hell Gate. I hope that my health will not prevent / my intended visit to you this summer. But / I am afraid, my dear Emma, that I will have to fight for it. At least, I ought not to say fight / for it, for if I am able to undertake such a / journey, there is no-one to prevent my doing it. /
[END OF PAGE 1]
[PAGE 2]
They were all very anxious that I should do so, / and it will only be affection for me, that will . induce them to persuade me not to undertake it. / I do not despair yet, for I think that when I / once get started I shall improve every step. / I shall not be able to leave here before the / first of July, for I have made a promise of a / year’s standing to take Posey to Niagara this summ / er and she cannot leave school before then. / Therefore I will be at Niagara about the second / week in July, and when I get as far as that / I can decide whether or not I can go on. They / all say that I must remember that the rough / going only begins after I leave Niagara, because I / will if it can possibly be done, go by land in / every case, in preference to water, for I have the / greatest terror of going on the water, and I al - / ways avoid it if possible. I believe that I should / have been to Europe before if I could get there / by land. There is another impediment my dear / Emma, which I did not think of, which / is that it is not very safe. I believe to travel / in the Western Country in the latter part of August / and first of September, on account of the [forest?] / I cannot possibly leave home before the first week / in July, for it would not do, to break my prom - / ise to Posey [inserted: as] she has been counting upon it / since last summer. You see my deary Em / that I tell you all just as it is. If I possibly / can I will come, and I will make every exer - / tion to make it possible, but if I cannot come / you will know why, and will not think that / I love you any the less, because I do not come /
[END OF PAGE 2]
[PAGE 3]
I will write soon, and let you know / if I have attempt my plans, or made any / new arrangement. Therefore take nothing for granted / dear Em, until you hear from me again.
The few lines which I said I had received from you / were by Mrs. Gaylord. I have not seen her yet / as I do not go out, I sent her my card + address / begging her to come, and see me. She returned / for answer that she was not well, and could / not come. I have ordered the carriage to pay her a visit, which nothing but bad weather shall pre - / vent my doing, but as it now threatens a hard / rain, I am afraid I shall have to countermand / my order until tomorrow. From the note which . she write to me, I should think that she / was a very kind hearted woman, but very / little au fait in the ways of the world. The / way in which she speaks of “dear Em”, has said every thing [wax seal] her favours, to my heart, and [page torn] / I long to [wax seal] more from her own lips, about / my “dear Em”. I trust that tomorrow it will be / clear, and that I can pay her a visit.
I have not seen Julia since I wrote to you, and / I do not know where she is as for Charles + George / I have not seen them this winter. Uncle Ogden has / as I suppose you know, left Washington, and is / lookout out [sic] for a house in the City. Virginia / is still at the Astor House, and I do not know / when she comes for her house. I have not seen / her for some time. She is a lovely girl and I think that you would adore her very much. I have / never seen either of her children, although one bears / my name “Mary Colden”.
And now good bye. Do write to me some, and believe / me ever your affectionate cousin
Mary C. King
[END OF PAGE 3]
[ADDRESS]
Mrs. Richard S. Malony
Care of the Rev. S. S. Whitman
Belvidere
Illinois
Via Chicago
[Postmark] [red]
New York
Mar 30
[handwritten] 1st [stamped] PAID [handwritten: initials unrecovered]Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
