Transcription
Tuesday evening
Nevis May 22nd 1843
Well dear Alex so twelve months have nearly run round / since we said good bye to you on board the St Nicholas / in that beautiful bay of ours, can it really be so _ / + I rather suppose that it has appeared shorter / to you who have been among new scenes + new / people than to us who have trod the same paths / so often trod before, + I thank heaven we can / say so for as yet there has been no great change / since you left us, baring the matrimonial connections / which of course we are to hope at least are for the / better. We are again at Nevis, [^ which is ] looking sweetly this / spring _ I do not wish to raise your hopes too high / but the trees appear nicely from the house / I cannot boast much as yet of the display from / the river, we do enjoy it prodigiously, + this season / makes reminds [^ us] constantly of you who about [^ went] about / assisting nature _ we hailed the arrival to day / with some anxiety + great delight the arrival of / the new piano at its own home. It answers our / expectations fully _ Mary has no doubt described / to you our visit at Mrs. Millers their great kindness + / the opinions that we formed of their characters one / + all to show you how little we can judge of things / + people at a distance we went to stay ten days + / I staid four weeks, _ last Monday week we were / sitting very quietly sewing + reading when Crotons / bark roused us we looked our + who should resent / himself loaded with bag + basket but [their?] page Bow /
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We were very glad to see him both on our account + on his / own, his does enjoy the freedom + the country, we passed / a very pleasant week, he read to us in the morning / we sewed the afternoon we drove, once to [??ow]-land’s / Mill + the scales proved to us that our life in the city / had been one of excitement or fatigue at least Mary / only weighed one hundred - + Bow 134 his general weight / is about 130 lbs, hen pecking or mother pecking does not seem / to agree with him _ George L. S. made his appearance Friday / afternoon, who had returned _ a few days before from takin g/ his mother on to Boston, so we had the last accounts from / there which is that Fanny Appleton is really engaged to / Longfellow, who as [Chatty?] says has offered him self five / times, he deserves success, Bow is of course in despair / now that he is quite safe _ Papa is a good deal in / town + very much interested in all the different schemes / they at least amuse him, even if they come to nothing / That is very important at this time, when if he had / nothing to occupy his mind the loss of so much if his / property would prey upon him _ he is sanguine you / know + so much the better _ I am sure I feel very much / indebted to George who exerted himself to induce Pa to / go into these matters, on that account as much as any / other _ for the first time I believe since you left, a / Steamer arrived [on Friday last] with out any letters, [From you] she only sailed / five days after the Western so I suppose you had not / time; what a delightful excursion it was to Toledo, + Aranjuez / an enchanted spot, Oh! Kind fortune who throws such / pleasures in the path of one who is so capable of enjoying them _
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Bow came up again to day with Pa + the Piano he tells us / that Mr. + Mrs. G.L.S. Mrs Bowdoin + Miss Angelico went last / evening to Niblos, they have a french company playing there / they enjoyed themselves of course, the Angel is described as / being upon the while a small talker, how does that / agree with your experience, on Saturday afternoon, E. + George / took her out to see the Reservoir, it seems she has never / seen any thing in or about the city; she goes up the river for / the summer on Thurs day, do you remember last year, the a / certain gentleman stationed with glass in hand to watch / the boat, I shall have to play the part [^ of the spy] + report what / sister _ [A??] sees _ Julia Livingston is expected [^ to go] down the / from Sloatsburg the end of this week to go immediately to her / own house I believe; what a blessed day that will be! / There is a good deal of excitement at present about M-[page torn] / steamboat people about the Empire + the South-America, who-[page torn] /it seems beats the Queen [^ of the river] as the new boat was supposed to [page torn] / they passed here at them minutes past 8 8 o’clock; pretty well / if they left 7 tho South ahead, a little more than a minute_ / Did Mary tell you that Jones the widower is going to marry / Matty Thomas, his sister in law, very soon, bad taste we all / think he [^ had] better have taken Elizabeth; I have seen Dan Okey, who / says you are looking precisely the same, no moustache or [st??ecy] / You must attribute the stupidity of this letter dear Alex to / my having been sticking as Bey says all day _ for we are / hard at it making our drum-[well?] wardrobe; with the / assistance of an intelligent [nig?wig?] from Baltimore _ Uncle / Phil who has just returned from taking Bey home describes / them all as well + assembled at Bohemia; Bob has taken / a brake at Phil’ia Mrs Urquhart is coming home to live with them.
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Wednesday Morning - Bo, Molly + I have just returned from a delight - / ful stroll on the river, we had a grand shower last night + / this morning the atmosphere is as clear + the wind from the / west as exciting as can be, the vessels running gaily up + down / Papa says he is to go to town again on Saturday to Mac + Dr. Hawks / by appointment relative to the everlasting papers _ the Dr. you know / is over head + ears in debt + the school broken up _ are you not / sorry that Evereth has declined the mission to China _ Cushing /
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+ Squad are soon to said in the Brandywine _ You must try + / get, the Neighbours + several other novels, translated, from the / Swedish, by Mary Howitt, they are quite the rage now + / are certainly most excellent works _ perfect nature. /
Master Phil Paulding who we only see at church, keeps him - / self entirely to himself, avoids us completely _ he has made quite / a mess for himself in a small neighbourhood __ We intend / [---ing?] Brevoort up as soon as he comes if possible, though I doubt / very much + us being able to get him _
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I pray you take care of those very hot suns / when in Spain do as the Spaniards do _ _ / Ma is very well + very fat _ constantly / in the garden, + taking care of the chickens / good bye - I’ve + all certainly have / letters by the next steamer _ Angelica
[ADDRESS]
From Angel
May 23d 1843
Rec’d June 17
Alexander Hamilton Esq.
Secretary of Legation
Of the United States
MadridTranscriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
