Transcription
Sunny Side, Irvington, Westch’r Co’y N.Y.
Sunday evening Sept. 21. 1856
My dear Sarah
I have heard nothing fron you for a long / while, I might perhaps have learnt something of your affairs / had I called in 14th Street, but I have not been in the / City [^ more than] twice within the last three or four months and then only / to return the same day, and of course has not time to call / in the upper part of the City; my last visit to N York was / a week since, and among the [illegible??] I had made of / matters to be attended to, was a call on your sister Mrs. Jencks -
The very warm summer weather we have had, with the / omission of exercise, have weakened my frame so much / that a moderate degree of exercise brings on fatigue - / I have fully intended to call in 14th Street when last in / the City, but by the time I had finished my business / in the lower part of the town, I felt too tired to attempt / anything more. The post of last wednesday brought / Catharine a note from your Sister Mrs J. informing that your / little Kate had arrived from Boston and would leave again / for Washington in a fortnight _ I proposed going to the City im= / =mediately to bring her up for a few days, but Catharine said / it was not necessary for me to go as [matilda], our cook, a good / woman and who knows Kate well, was going to the City on friday, / and she would get her to call for the little girl; and Catharine / wrote at once to Mrs J to this effect. We were of course not a / little surprised by Kate’s appearance at Sunny Side on thursday / afternoon. It seems your Sister had heard of a very good / opportunity for sending the little girl on to Washington, but it / would [admit] of no delay, and as she no doubt thought it would / hardly do to send her, without having first called on the relatives /
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Here, she availed herself of the kindness of Mr [Palmer] of Dobb’s / ferry, to send her up, and Mr Palmer drove from the latter / to the Cottage. Little Kate could stay with us but that night, as / the opportunity for Washington would start the next afternoon / we dispatched her down safely in time, and as she would / have to travel all night, I am somewhat anxious to hear that / she reached you in good condition.
You may have heard that Pierre had gone to Europe, but you / could not have learnt it from me for I do not recollect that I / have written to you since he left _ Pierre, between his Parish / duties and his Missionary business had been overworked and he / was of course pretty well fagged out; both those bodies be?? / became sensible of it and very considerately gave him leave / of [??], and his parishioners made up a handsome purse for his expenses. He had the satisfaction of meeting his daughter / Anna and her husband (Mr + Mrs Routh) in London, but much / of his tour has been performed alone _ the want of a com= / panion operated against a full Enjoyment of the scenes / be passed through _ I have seen some of the letters he / has written home and have read them with much / interest: they are considerably in detail and very graphic, but / have a tinge of homesickness; this last feeling had half / determined him to shorten his stay in Europe, and would / probably have hurried him home had not his friends / on this side urged a longer stay _ He had made his / arrangements to sail, [^ with Mr + Mrs Routh] in the steamer “Persia” about the beginning / of October; but the alarm that our newspapers have sent / abroad of the prevalence of “yellow fever” it seems frightened / him from his propriety, and induced him to change.
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From the “Persia” to the “Asia” to sail the 4th of this month, and / the arrival of the latter was announced two days since _ / Your Uncle Wash’n was in the City on friday and says / that he understood that Pierre purposes coming up here the / early part of this week _ I am glad of his safe arrival, / but regret that his haste betrays a deficiency of judgment / and want of his consideration _ if his presence here would / immediately stay the ravages of disease, or if his family / were suffering from the lack of friends, or means, there might / be some excuse for his haste, but I doubt whether any / miracle will attend this jump.
You may have noticed by the papers that the / “yellow fever” has invaded “Bay ridge” on Long Island / a little south of Brooklyn, and that it has driven / off the inhabitants, at least such as had the means / of getting away _ Theodore you know has a parish there / he held on until the last of his parishioners left / when he removed his family to Geneva _ he was a / few days since at Charlotte’s . on Cayuga Lake _ Charlotte says that he has been quite unwell, that he had in / fact brought away from “bay Ridge” something of the / prevalent complaint, but that he was now entirely / well though very thin _ he expected to go to Mount Morris, in / Livingston County, where his brother in law, Rev’d Ch’s D. Cooper formerly / had charge of the Parish _ and purposed afterward to go to / Philadelphia taking his daughter Lizzie with him; his oldest daughter /
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Fannie, is now there with her Aunt and Uncle (Rev’d Ch’s D. [C-?-por] is / now settled in Phil’a). Fannie has been, and is still much / out of health, Charlotte says that Theodore feels somewhat / uneasy on her account - she has been a great part of / the summer with her Aunt [Cooper?] who appears to be / greatly attached to her - Mrs. C has no children.
I was asking little Kate whether her Aunt [Laswon?] were / still with you, [and?] was answered that she was expected / that day in New York _ I was in hopes that she was still / at your right hand and get hope it is the case, and / if it be so, commend me to her kind remembrance; / if she have left Wash’n little Kate will hardly supply / her place.
Thine my dear Sarah affectionately
Eben’r Irving
Mrs William Irving
No 28 4 ½ Street
Between Penn’s Av. + [C?] Street
Washington D.C.Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
