Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3037 D
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE December 9, 18[31?]
AUTHOR Julia Hoffman
RECIPIENT Emma (Malony) Nicholas
MEDIUM Paper, ink
Philadelphia Saturday Dec 9/
I have been expecting a letter from you dear/ Emma every day since I have been here, and every day when the post has/ come without it I have intended to write to you certainly tomorrow to/ ask the reason of your silence, but that tomorrow as usual never has come/ and now since I can’t have the merit of writing for once in my life without/ waiting for your letter I will at least not let it remain unanswered my usual/ time./
I left home the Wednesday after you went, with Mr Meredith and Gertrude/ and here have I been ever since, how much longer I shall stay is quite uncer-/tain, George was to have come for me some time in his month but this/ unexpected cold weather has filled the rivers with ice and stopped the steam/ boats, and I do not quite like the idea of getting up at two o’clock and going/ all the way in the stage, so I think it quite possible that I shall stay until/ the rivers thaw again. Miss Gratz wishes me very much to stay until the spring./
I am grieving to hear of your mother’s bad health I hope you make her take/ as good care of herself as possible, tell her that her friends here inquire very particular/ -ly about her. Miss Gratz and the Moses’ send a great deal of love to her and to/ you. Matilda has not written me a word I think I must wrote her a letter/ if it be only to get a few lines from her in return, she is so taken up with her/ happiness that she forgets she has a maiden aunt to whom it is her duty to/ write. I have begun a cap for her which they all tell me is very beautiful and I/ really think I shall finish it, every stitch I take on it makes me feel older I can/ hardly persuade myself that I am really working for Matilda./
My time here passes pretty much as it does at home, every morning I read/ with Miriam or becky, Italian with one and Spanish with the other, after that I either/ walk or sew, write letters, and the evenings I spend at home generally, sometimes/
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at the Moses’ or Hays’. I don't go to parties at all and do not intend to/ go to any while I am here, I have never liked them and my distaste to/ them now is greater than ever. I have very much improved about walking/ I am out almost every day and have taken a great many long walks since/ I have been here in Philadelphia you can get into the country much sooner/ than in New York and to me that is very agreeable, the scenery to the {Schu?}/ at Fairmount is very beautiful and not a mile from here, I should like to/ have you with me I think you would enjoy it very much./
I found all here unchanged, the girls same as I left them four years ago/ Miriam Moses and Sarah Hays are two of the most intelligent girls I have ever/ known, Miriam is the only one of the family who at all remembers Miss Gratz in/ character she has perfectly well regulated mind which is a think not often/ met with Sarah has a great deal of talent very agreeable manners a great deal/ of frankness one whom I think you can scarcely help loving./
Have you heard from our house at all? I had a letter a few days ago/ George said all was well, and the only change in the family was that old/ Nance has walked off so when the lady Cora pays us another visit she need/ not fear to have her eyes scratched out, I am very much flattered that/ the lady sends her love to me I hope she had entirely got over her/ enmity for the numberless tosses I used to giver her at night. Caty missed/ you both after you went away very much she used to talk of you a/ great deal, and she’d wind up with, “well I liked the little dog very much/ for {?}”/
You did not tell me a word of your journey and whether you found/ Mr M[unrecovered] agreeable, and what you did with Cora at night and how/ Point Judith treated you when you write again do tell me for every/ thing about yourself is interesting to me./
I cannot write you a longer letter for I expect Miss Gratz home from/ synagogue {any?} minute. Have you heard from the Colden’s I did not see/ them after you left me. My best love to your mother good bye dear Em/
Believe me your ever sincerely attached aunt/
Julia Hoffman/
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[Address]
{?}th /
Miss Emma Nicholas/
Care of Mrs Nicholas/
Charlestown/
Massachusetts
[END OF LETTER]
