Transcription
ALOG NUMBER HF 3037 I
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE July 23, 1834
AUTHOR Julia Hoffman
RECIPIENT Emma Nicholas
MEDIUM Paper, ink
New York July 23rd 1834/
I am sorry dear Emma that your expectation of/ seeing me out of the Hamilton stage will have to be disappointed for this summer/ money is rather too scarce for such a long journey and the Hudson is to [^] be the extent/ of my travels, my [Mohawk] visit too is of course given up though I believe Euphemia is/ expecting me every day as she said she should in her last letter which I have not yet/ answered for I hate to write word that I am too poor to come and see her, is it really/ tantalizing to have so many agreeable invitations and not be able to accept them,/ however I ought not to complain for I have been a fortnight in the country and/ am to go again the first of August, I went up to L[unrecovered] the first of July and/ passed a very pleasant time at Anna Irving’s she has a delightful situation on the/ banks of the river about a mile from the village with a pretty lawn down to a little/ wood along the river’s edge, the house is a very small one but with two piazzas it/ is very pleasant, Anna is very happy she is as devoted to her husband as ever who has/ very much improved since Matilda knew him./
Charles came home the twelfth of June and is at the present moment in the parlor/ writing he not going to travel this summer but talks of going some quiet/ farm house in the neighborhood of the City to write up his notes and arrange/ his book for publication he has perfectly delighted with his western tour and talks/ of it a great deal he came home very well, and looking down but still not so/ ugly as his miniature which you thought such a good likeness, he bought home/ a great many Indian [contrivances] such as hatchets, arrow heads, and beautiful/ beaded [moccasins] and bracelets to me. George is in Michigan he took me up to/ L[unrecovered] and went on immediately we have heard of him from a gentleman who saw/ him in Detroit he was quite well and in good spirits, he was quite sull when he left/ home and I believe half sorry that he made up his mind to go if he succeed in/
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his business I have no doubt he will like it, though it is a hard thing to leave home/ and friends to settle in a new country among strangers, I anticipate great benefit/ to his health from the change of climate which was the only thing that as all worried/ me to his going./
S[unrecovered] is ten years younger than when you left here, he passed the month of June/ in traveling having been invited to join a walking party to the White Mountains/ he is[?] active and full of spirits, his journey has given him quite a taste for [gadding]/ he takes a walk along before breakfast every morning and spends a great deal of time/ on the front stoop and in prowling about the neighborhood{.} I don't believe he has/ forgotten his cousin Emma./
What gay people are becoming in Hamilton with your boat club, you never/ even told me there was a lake there before, what is its name? the boat pirates must/ add a great deal to your pleasures I don’t think there can by anything more/ delightful than floating on the water on a fine afternoon, I have been twice out [in]/ the barge with very pleasant parties the first was to [Port] Hamilton/ is eight miles off on the Long Island shore and commands a most perfect view/ we came back by moonlight to the sound choruses sung by the young men, / I am about melted away by the heat out house is a [complete] on these warm days/ the walls are so thin that the sun {?} warms them through and there are so few/ window shutters that it is impossible to keep out the glare and reflection of the/ hot pavement will come in I shall not have to endure it much longer for the first/ of August is almost here and then I shall be off the Fishkill./
The Rhinelanders are at Hellgate Charles was out there a few days ago Mary and Phil/ are quite well the latter has improved very much in health since he went out,/ Mary made Charles promise to bring me out this week but I don’t think I shall go/ there are so many people there I don’t know, Theodore Irving goes there a great deal/ and is we think attentive to Mary Charles says she talks and laughs with him but/ does not seem to have suspicion of its being any thing serious I should be sorry that/ she should marry him notwithstanding his uncle’s high opinion in which I imagine/ he will find few to agree with him. Ogden comes here as usual on Sunday and/ Washington Irving too generally comes he makes himself very agreeable but I have/ not succeeded in talking ot him [any more] and I do not think I ever shall./
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Frederick Rhinelander told Charles that John [Herbert] with his wife and Mrs {?}/ thought of moving to the Lake if they go they are to have the house free of {?}/ and the place, I hope they may for it will be the means of saving it from going quite/ to ruin. You say the people have all improved in Hamilton in your sent letter/ [please] to tell me something more about that all and how they are so improved,/ one of your friends L[unrecovered] Clark I heard was in town and talks of going to Saratoga with Mrs. Masters. Keep dear little Oggy as sweet as he is now until next summer/ when I am coming to see his mamma in her grand stone house if I should not be melted away before that time in the miserable little brick one. Give my love to your/ mother Matilda and Mr. Whitman say to the last that I shall certainly expect him/ to bring Matilda down in the Fall. Pa is quite well he will leave town the beginning/ of August he has not quite decided whether to {?} or Oyster Pond. Write soon/
ever your attached aunt/
Julia H/
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[Envelope]
9th/
Miss Nicholas/
Care of Professor Whitman/
Hamilton/
Madison County N.Y./
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