Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3043 F
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE July 8, 1836
AUTHOR Eliza Storrs (Middletown)
RECIPIENT Emma Nicholas (NYC)
MEDIUM Paper, ink
PEOPLE Jessy (Jessie), Grandmama Storrs, Uncle William, Henry Lemuel
Storrs, his fiance, Mama Storrs, Mr. & Mrs. Ellsworth
PLACES “West”, Broadway, the boat Cleopatra, Hartford, Grandmama’s
piazza, Hell Gate, Oyster Ponds
EVENTS Uncle William went “west”, Jessy disappeared, Ordination of
Henry Lemuel Storrs, St. Pauls (church), engagement of Henry, 4th of July in NYC, ice cream, read Scottish Chiefs, lecture by Dr. Farris, read scotch poems and Peter the Great
46th
Addressed to Miss Emma Nicholas
Care of Judge Hoffman
New York
Middletown July 8th 1836
After having made several / unsuccessful attempts to mend a pen with my scissors, I / have at last given up in despair, and have found my writing / with a pen turned so that I use the back of it, I can not / render the necessity of making a mark that would be soon / across the room; how long this will be the case I do not / know but hope until my letter to you is written. I was / foolish enough to leave pens, paper, knife and all at home / and must be contented with the best I can find now. / Grandmama is so old, that she can neither see to read / or write, and therefore does not know the situation of / her writing desk, Uncle William to whom I always apply / for every thing in the writing line has heard the cry of / “Westward Ho” and gone with the multitude to the / prairies and forests, but you will not be particular and / I flatter myself that your eyes will be so blinded by / affection that the crooked marks half formed letters and / all which is as it should not be will be passed over / unseen. After this long preamble about nothing I will / proceed to tell you the pains and pleasures I have / felt, the lights and shades I have seen since we parted / in Broadway. I went immediately down to find Jessy but /
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She was gone, and in answer to my question, where? I / might as well have had the repetition of an echo, where? / it would have been quite as satisfactory as the / information I received. They told me she had a short / time before moved into Greenwich Street, but in what / part of it she had taken up her abode I could not / ascertain. Poor Jessie, what an unpleasant situation is / hers. I always feel doubly sorry for those who are possessed / of refinement of feeling and who have been in early life / accustomed to better things when they are by a reverse of / fortune compelled to sacrifice every thing which has / been their delight, and sometimes even the friends who / have smiled on prosperity’s hour. How often must Jessie’s / feelings be wounded, cruelly wounded, it is too melancholy / to think of.
On Sunday morning was the ordination and / it was a most impressive service. Fourteen were ordained / Henry read the Gospel, and can I feel you how I felt / when I heard his voice in the church for the first / time. How much he felt I knew for he read with / such a low and trembling voice that even where I / was which was quite near I could hardly hear him. / In the afternoon he preached in St. Pauls. I went / although I wished not to go for many reasons. I cannot / tell you my feelings dear Emma, I did not dare to look / at him hardly until after the sermon, while the / last hymn was sung. I hope he may be all that he / ought to be, for he has chosen a most responsible / profession; and taken most solemn vows. He left / on Monday evening; when he returns he will know /
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What place is to be his future abode, and when he is / in his parsonage with his lovely wife (should that / happy time ever come) I hope to go and spend many / pleasant hours with him. You not not know with how / much pleasure I look forward to next summer, how / many castles I build upon this foundation, and how / many day dreams have this for their subject. But I / must stop or I shall have no room left to tell you how / we reached this place. Tuesday morning I was doing a / little of every thing and at five mama and I went on board / the Cleopatra which was as full of men women & children as / it could well be, and as warm as any inhabitant of the / Torrid Zone could wish. Such a collection I have not seen / in a long time and concluded they were persons who / had been to N Y to pass the 4th of July and were returning / home after hearing the crackers & seeing the soldiers [page torn] /
Fire works. Mr and Miss Elsworth of Hartford were on[page torn] / board, and another young lady and her brother whom she / knew I found them very agreeable and until 10 the time / flew, after that when we went into the cabin it dragged / its slow length along “until half past three, when Mama / and I were safely landed in the dark, we had no trunk / I went as soon as possible up to Grandmama’s where we / preferred sitting on the piazza and enjoying the fresh / morning air until five, rather than disturb the family. You / do not know how beautiful every thing looks, the walks are / lovely and I wish for you every time I go out. There is also a / house near the river and near [^us] where we can get ice cream / almost as good as the Hell Gate ice cream. It is so quiet here /
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We can hear the rustling of the leaves, and you know how I enjoy such perfect repose, the air is so cool and pure/ too, from one room we have [^lovely] view of the river. I cannot / help thinking how warm and dusty N Y is and if Papa / was here where I know he would feel so well, I should / be much happier. He will leave soon and at Oyster Ponds / or some other ponds August will be delightfully spent. / How did you spend the 4th? As you told me you would / in steamming and reading? My head ached from the noise. We / heard crackers and pistols and guns all day. I have written
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Quite a long letter notwithstanding the stick I am writing with. / You must not get the blues again. We shall probably be at / home next Tuesday and I will come and see you as soon as I can. I should not receive a letter from you before we leave or / I should be delighted to have you write. Good bye until I see / you and believe me still yours
Sincerely
Eliza Storrs
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I have done nothing in the literary line / since I came except to read an old volume of the Scottish / Chiefs (quite a new work) and heard a lecture on natural history / by Dr. Farris and was occupied for two hours with his remarks. / I have also looked through a volume of scotch poems & songs by an / author unknown to fame, and read two pages in the life of Peter the / Great and also two newspapers & half a dozen old letters which I wish had been love letters.
