Transcription
Sunnyside, Sunday May 15,
My dear Willie
I wrote to you last Sunday and this is my fourth / since I received your last. The discharge of so many clerks / in your office has no doubt added to your labours, which / can hardly be lightened by the recent order said to have been / issued by the “Sec’y of the Interior” that the clerks in his depart= / ment should begin work half an hour earlier and con- / =tinue an hour longer than heretofore; there is therefore / little chance now of hearing from you at all, for under / the old regime you could scarcely find time for half a / line. Still, hoping for the best I will drop a few lines / more. When I was in the City a few days before / I wrote my last, I learnt from Edgar that he had heard from / his brother in law Mr Gittings of Baltimore to whom he had written, / being a little apprehensive that the change in the N.Y. Collectorship might / bring forth aspirants for the place he holds. Gittings anserved that if / there should appear to be any probability of his being removed, both he / and Mr [Jno] [Nelson] (another brother in law and formerly U.S. Att’y Gen’l under Pres’t / Tyler) would go to Wash’n and see the Sec’y of the Treasury. I was in the / City again last thursday ([12?]th inst) and while in Edgar’s office, he / received a letter from Gittings written the day before (??th) / in which he says that he had been to Washington, and / had seen the Secretary, the latter said that he was / unwilling to interfere with the Collector’s arrangements / and under the circumstances which Mr Gittings stated / he thought that Edgar had nothing to apprehend.
Mr Gittings states that while with the Secretary, the
[END OF PAGE 1]
President came in to speak to the Secretary about / you, supposing that you were in the treasury depart’t / but he was put right as to that _ this is all the letter states / as to yourself _ it would appear from Mr G’s letter that / the President agreed with the Secretary as to interfering / with the Collector and the little probability of a removal _ Gittings / tells Edgar, if any attempts of the kind should appear, to let / him know of it, and he and Mr. Nelson will attend to it. /
Your Uncle Washington wrote to Judge Bronson about the time / he entered upon his duties as Collector, in Edgar’s favor _ so upon / the whole I conclude that he is in no danger. Mr. Gittings / says that you Uncle’s letter to the President (I presume the / one he wrote upon in Washington) had great weight / with him. I mentioned the above to Theodore as we / were returning in the Cars to Sunnyside and he spoke / of it to your uncle; this brought an enquiry from the / latter, and I then learnt from him that the letter / to the President spoken of in my last, instead of / being about Col. Aspinwall’s, or P.M.I.’s affairs as I con= / -jectured, was a friendly letter to him, with a view / to your benefit _ he expressing his gratification with / the general course the President had pursued; and / acknowledging the pleasure he felt on learning / that you had been retained through his kindness, / assuring him at the same time that he would / not have written in your behalf were he not
[END OF PAGE 2]
Satisfied that you had acquitted yourself with credit / in the Census Office, and were he not well acquainted / with your abilities. I think it more than probable / that it was this last letter that brought the President / to the Treasury office, and it may be the one to which / Mr. Gittings alludes. I think that your chances for / a more profitable situation are improving. I was of / course exceedingly gratified on finding your uncle / so much interested in your welfare.
Catharine and Sarah went to the City on friday / and returning in the afternoon brought with them your / brother Pierre’s daughter Harriet to pass a few days.
Some of Mr. Routh’s family are about sailing on a / visit to England and are desirous of a glimpse of / Sunnyside before they go; we shall therefore have / a sight of the new connections that are to be. Anna / and her beau young Routh, with three of his sisters / are to be up tomorrow for the day. They will be / pleased with Sunnyside, for the lawn is green / leaves and blossoms are pushing out, the beautiful / young leaves of the ivy are making their appearance, / and event the tardy trumpet creeper is showing / signs of life, while the front of the porch is wound / with the drooping flowers of the Wisteria, looking like / a young beauty with her face half concealed by a /
[END OF PAGE 3]
Profusion of beautiful ringlets.
Amanda and her young ones left for Balt’r / on friday Thursday, a niece, a grown daughter of Mr. / Gittings in company _ the party was escorted by / Edgar’s son Washie, who, by the way, bids fair to make / a large man, if not a great one _ he has grown rapidly / and is now some inches taller than his father, and / is otherwise much improved.
I received a kind letter a few days since from your sister Charlie / and conveying a passing invitation to make her a visit next / month, when she says I will find Ingleside abounding in roses / in all their beauty; that I can make the trip now by the rail / roads in a few hours _ it is possible I may take advantage of / Theodore’s return to Geneva about the middle of the month, when / his vacation commences; he would see me safe to Cayuga bridge, / I will think of it.
I said in my letter transmitting the application for the / land warrants that I hoped they would be found “O.K.” as / a certain celebrated general is said to have expressed himself, / and presume such to be the case as they have not been / returned for amendment.
My best, true love to Sarah and the flock _ say to / little Kate, I hope she has not forgotten me
Think my dear Willie affectionately
Eben’r IrvingTranscriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
