Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3037 H
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE May 30, 1834
AUTHOR Julia Hoffman
RECIPIENT Emma Nicholas
MEDIUM Paper, ink
Friday May 30th 1834
I am tired of waiting for a letter from you dearest Emma/ so I shall {?} here to write to you that you may have no excuse for your silence any/ longer I can’t help thinking it is a plan of yours to draw a letter from me and I/ feel somewhat inclined to scold you for it you might know I should want very much to hear how you got home and found Matilda and little Oggy and it was really/ cruel to leave me three whole weeks without a line, I have put off writing from day to/ day certain that the {?} must bring a letter from you but this afternoon I determined/ it should be the last run down stairs I would take at the Postman’s ring for a week/ to come when I might reasonably expect a letter in which you will please tell me all/ about yourself and your mother Matilda and Mr. Whitman and little Oggy. I miss/ you more than I can tell you it is forlorn to sit the whole of every morning by myself/ when I have been accustomed for six months to company I have to talk to S[unrecovered] that/ I may hear the sound of my own voice but his grunt in return does not at all/ answer the purpose of a voice to [reply] to mine so that I feel pretty forlorn. You see/ I have not gone to Philadelphia I do not think I shall go now George will leave hear/ so soon that I don’t like to lose any of his company, we had letters from Charles about/ a fortnight ago from Jonesville in Virginia we are expecting home every day he had/ given up going to Richmond on account of the shabbiness of his wardrobe so that I don’t/ think he can stay away much longer, he has sent on part of his clothes and some/ Indian [contrivances] in a trunk from Cincinnati which we take it for granted is lost/ as we have no account [^] of it here./
I went to see [Jessy] the week after you left here with Mary Hoffman we marched up/ and down Washington Street for half an hour in pursuit of the house as we had neither/ of us much idea where it was, poor Jessy she seemed dull and looked {?} than ever/
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she seemed very much disappointed that you had left town without her seeing you/ I told her you intended to write to her she said she hopes you would she should be/ very glad to hear from you, she told me her father had not yet any thing to do the/ gentleman who was to take the st[unrecovered] with him still continued ill and nothing could be/ done until his recovery. she said she would come and see me but I do not believe she/ can for the shoes she had on were all worn out and probably they were her only pair, I/ shall not wait for her but go again next week to see her, the people she is staying with/ are friends of theirs the house looks quite neat and comfortable but not as if they were/ very well off in the world./
Another friend of yours Ellen [Duer] was there this afternoon she asked particularly/ after you, I was rather surprised to see her it was quite a sociable visit she and Theodora/ sat here nearly an hour I could not help attributing the visit a little to the probability/ of Charles coming home soon, it was very uncharitable I know but I cannot believe in/ those girls any longer Ellen looks faded by her winters gayety Theodora was certainly the/ prettiest today./
The most important piece of news I have to tell you is that they are pulling down the/ old house opposite to us John and [Ellen] had their last fight [then] this morning the house/ was half pulled down over their heads before they would go I am very glad they have gone/ for they were a great nuisance to us though I must acknowledge a little amusement too sometimes/
I had delightful walks to W[eehawken] last week with Mary P [unrecovered] the country looked so/ beautifully that I could not bear to return to the dull city again I wish you had been w{?}/ me I believe Hoboken was one of the places you were to have gone to while you were in town/ you might have had the pleasure too of seeing a black [snake] on W[eehawken] bluff for a/ most enormous one crawled directly over my foot it felt disagreeably, cold as ice./
The Van Rensselaers are still at the Duers they have had rather a sad visit Cornelia/ has been quite ill for the last fortnight with a bilious fever she is better but is suffering/ a great deal not from the effects of [calowel] and will not be able to go home for several [weeks]/
What do you think of my drinking tea at the Kings, its was great ex[unrecovered] for me I/ only went because I could not help it and had a pretty stupid evening./
All the people here come on just as they did when you left here. [Dayton] and Josh are/ here tonight and I look forward to [wandering] off to bed when I have finished this letter/ in spite of them. In my room I look just as usual I sit there all the morning and s[unrecovered]/ S[unrecovered] at night for waking me up, and give the [cockroaches] their warm bath for they/
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have the same fancy of getting on my washrag still. Give me love to your mother/ Matilda and Mr. Whitman if I can get an opportunity I shall certainly call upon/ you this summer in Hamilton is spite of the [road] and the new house next year tell/ Matilda, do write to me and tell me what you are all about/
ever your attached aunt/
Julia H/
Pa has been over to hear Mr. Williams several/ times he like him very much far better than Mr. {?}/ Ogden was here on Sunday he is quite well/
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[Envelope]
8th/
Miss Nicholas/
Care of Prof. Whitman/
Hamilton/
Madison County N.Y./
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