Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3043 B
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE March 14, 1835
AUTHOR Eliza Storrs (New York)
RECIPIENT Emma Nicholas (Hamilton)
MEDIUM Paper, ink
PEOPLE Jessy, Ann Nicholas, Matilda Nicholas, Mrs Van Rensselaer,
Throop Martin, Cora (the cat), Cornelia Livingston, Mary Stevens, Mama and Henry Randolph Storrs, Mary Rhinelander, Jenny Renwick, Cornelia, another Mary Rhinelander, Phil Rhinelander, Phil Paulding, Willy Renwick
PLACES Hamilton, NYC,
EVENTS Nicholas family to come to NYC in April (six weeks), party for the
bride Mrs Van Rensselaer, party at Cornelia Livingston’s,
Addressed to Miss Emma Nicholas
Care of Professor S.S. Whitman
Hamilton
Madison County
N.Y.
Post marked Mar 16 New York
New York March 14th 1835
I have delayed answering your letter / my beloved Emma, not because I was not inclined to write / immediately but that I might have it in my power to / communicate to you some of the sayings and doings of your / cousins about whom I know you are always happy to hear / even minute particulars. But first of all I must tell you / how rejoiced shall I say, yes more than rejoiced I am / that you are so soon to come. In less than six weeks you / will be here, and those six weeks will soon pass away / I shall count the days; and you are coming to stay with / me, to be with me almost all the time, almost I say, / because although I am very selfish, you must I suppose / sometimes make a little time to your other friends & / I must let you go. I am half afraid to indulge on these / pleasing anticipations lest some cloud should arise and / darken the now bright prospect. /
“Tis ever thus, tis ever this, with dreams of mortal bliss,
With looks too bright & beautiful for such a world as this.
One moment round about us their angel lightnings play
Then down the sail of darkness drops & all hath passed away”
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I am not disposed to dwell upon such melancholy ideas, / although I know how often our dearest hopes are blasted / I cannot but look forward with delight to the time when / you think you will bid farewell to the green hills and / beautiful walks of Hamilton. In that respect you will / find New York sadly deficient as you well know, but there / are warmly attached friends, and pleasant smiles to / welcome you here, and we will forget the dust & bricks / out of doors. That the whole family are to leave Hamilton / I was quite surprised to hear, I had heard something of / the kind some time since, but I chose not to mention / it to you in my letters, for I thought if it was actually / the case you would tell me. I have been those far writing / merely about you; you must not & will not I know think / you are the only person of the family I shall rejoice to / see once more. I love you the most, but I love your / mother, Matilda, and all very much and hope to see / much of them here. You will regret leaving Hamilton, / you have spent many pleasant hours there, and just as / the new house is completed to leave it, is sad. I feel a / little disappointed that I shall never visit you there, but / as you are coming here instead of going father off I / cannot lament the change.
Since I wrote last I have attended a / party given to the bride Mrs Van Rensselaer, and there / I saw Mr Martin, you remember Throop Martin / somehow or other he began talking about your Mother / and as I know you all we talked a long time about / you especially about your Mother and Matilda. He /
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Said he was not as much acquainted with you, but / he remembered you perfectly, and even inquired after / Cora. He told me to day every thing that was kind / to give you all when I wrote, and sent his love to Matilda / and all her children, and your Mother and you. He / said some things I will not write about his respect / and admiration etc. etc. etc.
Last Wednesday I was at a little / sociable party at Cornelia Livingston’s. Mary Stevens was / there and Phil was there. I had the pleasure of talking / more than usual with him, and we talked about you / sometimes. You see we never forget you. Last evening / I drank tea with Mary Stevens and there met Mary / Rhinelander, and [Jenny] Renwick, and Cornelia & another / Mary Rhinelander, Phil & Phil Paulding & Mr Renwick, Willy / Renwick as Mary says and I have caught her way & say / Phil and Willy, in private I mean, for I always say Mr. / with much dignity when I address them. Mary Rhinelander [page torn] / talked together a long I like her very much. I asked / Phil if he had any message to send, he told me he had / written a long letter to you. I spent a very pleasant / evening, Papa came for me and we did not leave until / near eleven, it was an accidental kind of little party. / When I went to drawing school Mary asked me to / come up to tea that Jenny Renwick was coming & other / that she sent for the rest of the cousinhood & for / Cornelia. I enjoy myself very much, it is a delightful circle / and when you come I shall be still happier. You
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Wish me to write every thing about Phil & Mary, there are / a thousand things I could say that I cannot write / I will remember them until you come. Last night I / brought home Phil & Willy Reniwick’s gloves to mend / and was half disposed to mend them with sealing wax / but I did not. Mary Rhinelander is a sweet girl. I love / her very much already and when you know Mary / Stevens you will love her. They are both sweet girls I / enjoy their society very much, I have passed away
BOTTOM OF PAGE 4
Pleasant hours this winter and feel attached to New York / w hich is a feeling I never expected to experience, but with / such pleasant friends I could not but be happy. Cornelia / Livingston is a nice girl too, she is much handsomer / than of the rest of us, and is the belle of our circle.
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I must bid you good bye now my very dear Emma oh when you / come down how happy I shall be. Papa and Mama are / delighted with the idea of your coming to our house. “Fly / swiftly round ye wheels of time”
Your affectionate Eliza
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A long time ago I went to see Jessy but she was not in / town and I am really ashamed I have not been again, I shall / [go?] soon and try to find her. Give my love to your / Mother and Matilda.Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
