Transcription
Nevis March 19th 1843
Sunday
My dear Son
After our absence of more than two / months, your Father and myself are again at our own / House. We came up yesterday by Water, to Hastings, the / Ice not permitting us to go in at Dobbs, where the Horses / ware waiting for us, we sent up immediately for them, / and after some delay and great discomfort (for the weather / was intensely cold) we started for home on Wheels, through / Snow drifts very deep, or bare ground, so that we have / neither wheeling or sleighing. The Storm of Thursday / night was a Hurricane of Wind and Snow, we ware at / Bell Ludlows that Evening at a social tea drinking for / Mary Ann Lee, when we got home Robert told us that / he had been really apprehensive that the Carriage / would Blow over in going up for us, returning we ware / too well Laiden for any thing of that kind. The next / Evening we spent with Regina Miller, a nice little supper / also for Miss Lee, your sisters ware all there, including / Fanny, who was induced to go, by the kind solicitations of / Aunt Schuyler, who you know is always doing the right / things in the very best manner, Aunts friend Mrs Dantforth / and Husband, and one or two young Gentlemen ware the / only Persons out of the family, Mr. Miller gave the Secretary / at Madrid as a toast, but I can assure you, that that / was not necessary to bring you to our recollections.
Your letter by the Western with its enclosure, my dear / Son, has given me the most heart felt pleasure, not / only for the real benefit conferred, but as an evidence / of your willingness to sacrafice [sic] your own gratifications /
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To our comfort, and painful as it is to have you away / still, your position is the brightest spot in our reflec - / -tions. Rebecca, and Fanny, both tell me, that their Husbands / have no new Business, George Schuyler is trying to do some / thing in the Steam Boat line, but as yet the season has been / so bad, that I hear he has not realaxed [sic] much, your Father / I suppose has told you, that our affairs are in a sad / state, nothing from the big House for the last year, and / no dividends from the Trust probably for two years to come / as we are without income, there is noting left for us / but to bring our wants down to the lowest point, and / endeavor to be as happy as we can under this entire change / of circumstances _ Papa keeps up and says things will / be better, but I as usual am rather dispounding the Girls / behave sweetly and submit to exertion and privation without / a murmur, they have had a luxurious Winter at Aunt / [Fan’s]? Where they now are, and will remain some time longer / it is there last Winter [thou?], as Uncle Tom intends renting / his House with the Furniture if he can get a Tenant to suit / him. I began this letter last Sunday on our return Home it / is now Friday, and tomorrow Papa is going down to his / Club [Durnoc?] (for as yet he allows himself that pleasure) / I must therefor finish my epistle and sent it down be / him, the whole week has been Cold and cheerless and the / ground is now covered with snow, the Thermometer this / morning at seven, on the Eastern Piaza was at 22. The Banks / and Boughtons ware to have moved away to day but it is / so Cold and Windy we have beged them not to go, the [stu–?] / People come in to morrow of Monday. The Paper of yesterday ./ announces the arrival of the Steamer Columbia but we / have not yet got your letters by her we hope the Girls are /
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Enjoying then and that we will get them to day or tomorrow /
Your grandfathers letter will have informed you that I / spent the time your Father was at Washington with them / a very great pleasure all round, if you have not answered / his letter I wish you would do so, as I know he expects it / they were both quite well and I think as cheerful as when you / left us, [Lewis?] is very happy in his Boy, who is healthy and / fine looking, he is also a great pleasure to the Old People.
Your Grand Mother Hamiltons sorrows I verily believe will / only terminate with her Life, Aunt Eliza is determined / not to be comforted, she keeps her Room, will see no one, / and goes no where but to Church, and when / there behaves in such a manner as to attract /
The attention of all around her, we have heard that / People begin [^ to] think that she is not much better than her / unfortunate Sister, they are to move this May, which we hope / will be of service, as she must then escort herself, the Alexan[^ ders] / are not to continue with them. As I have written you my / blessed Son such a doleful letter thus far, it is but fair that / I should say something on the bright side, my visit to the / City, was very delightful, and among other pleasures I had / an opportunity of seeing more of your favorite Miss A. L. / than I had done before, Mary and she since Julia’s wedding / have been quite intimate, I presume the Girls have written / you all about it, I will therefore only say for myself, that / I think her very Pretty, and very pleasing, and that I shall / consider that Man truly fortunate who succeeds in / gaining her good opinion, some of her old Beaux have / returned but I understand that others are added to the / list. With my best regards to Mr Irving believe me my / beloved Son your devoted and affectionate Mother M Hamilton
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[ADDRESS]
Alexr Hamilton Esq.
Scty of Legation of the
United States
Madrid
[REVERSE OF ADDRESS]
From MaMa.
March 27h 1843
Red’d April 25h
______________Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
