Transcription
22nd February. Washington’s birthday 1843
Think of my having received a letter from you my dear / brother to day, bearing date 23rd Jan’y only a month / from Madrid, the other letters by the steamer were / rec’d yesterday, two from Pa, one for Geo. + if you could / have seen the great delight + pride those letters occa - / ssioned it would comfort + cheer you through many / troubles, Pa’s joy at the prompt sacrifices you determined / to make for all our sakes could scarcely be restrained. / I for one cannot bear to have you so cribbed + crimped / away from home, as you must be, to carry out the plan / you propose, it is so much easier to economize at home / we have so many things that you have no idea how little / we require + how abundantly we are supplied. You / would not imagine to have seen us flourishing about / this winter that we were reduced, for we have not felt / it. Julia sent me my dress for bridesmaid as her partic - / ular present to her friend. We arranged dresses for our ball / at home which were as pretty as any in the room, out of / last years old ones, Uncle Tom’s carriage [??s–s] all those / troublesome back hills, so that you have no idea how / magnificent we have appeared upon nothing. I am too / sorry that the portrait which was so near being done, or / rather being begun, should not be; I shall vote for a portion / of your previous savings being devoted to that purpose. [G/Y???y] / wrote to you since our party, + as we do not send by the / steamer our news must be old news, but as our little b[???] / is made up if such little particulars + details, as Uncle / Tom says, they will keep. We have sent twice a month [??] / since we have been in town by packets. I hope they are. Forwarded. Pa + George came back from Washington on / Monday both in glee but I have not seen enough of the / latter to know exactly what he has accomplished. You / will probably near directly from himself __ I must now /
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Stop and dress for Mrs. Miller’s who made [Yecey?] & I appoint / an evening for her, the Van Rensselears, Miss [Thorndyke?] / +c. I hear are to meet us. [Yecey?] is asleep beside me. / Aunt & Uncle dozing down stairs. More to morrow.
Sunday 25th. Our little party went off remarkably well with / the assistance of one of Miller’s good suppers.. Pa flirted with / Mrs. Newton Oakey, who by the by mentioned, poor little / woman to Aunt Fan, that she found no society in her hus / =band’s famkliy for there was no sympathy, that she had no / social circle was not wanted sociably any where and wished / she was living near all of us. I hope “William” is able to amke / up for these deficiencies, or she must be triste. Epes Sargent / talked to me Animal Magnetism by the hour, Mary Jones’ marriage was announced with all the magnificent details /
Thursday Morning We “receive”, of course a great many people / called after the party Angelico whose reception day it like - / =wise is came over in a carriage looking very pretty, her hair / dressed with corals Ma + Pa were here just them, she / talked with Ma who thinks her a refined little lady + / was not presented to Pa who does not so much admire. / The last cavelier [sic] is Alexander Van Rensselaer with bouquets / and a handsome face. Aunt + Uncle dined at Mrs. / F. De Peyster’s and four sisters spent the evening there. / Of course we had all the family, little Miss Anthon’s, / P. Thomas Van Schaik’s etc. with a few stranger ladies / and gentlemen. John L. Stephens says his books will not / come out till spring. He has lost his spirits very much, + / talks of going to China. Rebecca all this time was / getting better until her impatience carried her on the / docks and all round walking and she is in bed again / with violent headaches. She expected a letter from you / with these last received. Uncle Phil does not get much / to do as business is dull for lawyers. So they have de- / =termined after a good deal of alternations in their / plans to stay with the Bowdoins for another year. The / Sullivans will probably join with them and all take / another house. The trouble and difficulty of course / has arisen from our brothers in law’s peculiar tem - /
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=perment who is rather excitable but whose bark etc._ / Fanny’s children continue quite well, she is quite pleased / at this last determination. On Friday our engagement / came off at Mrs Minturns, we went en masse, + met / the Gibbs’, Mrs, Remsen Miss Rogers, some gentlemen, in / all 40 people. Conversation music supper. We enjoyed / ourselves very much as we always do, Pa made a laugh / with Mrs Pyne. Minturn told me an affecting story of a / Clerk of theirs who was dying for the death of his mistress, / Poor Minturn is quite sick a tendency to inflammation / of the wind pipe. He is much better now but shews it. /
Monday Morn’g. We are so near Lent that invitations are becom- / =ing scarce Yesterday Dr / Wainwright gave us an excellent / sermon concerning the use of our gifts + our exerting all the / good influence we are capable of in our sphere however small / it may be/ Those daughters and son of Re Peter A. Jay were / there enveloped in Crape. Wainwright brought in [^ a] proper eulo - / =gium of the old man of course without mentioning names / he died very suddenly about a week since. Another death / has occurred which shocked us much young John. R. LIving - / =ston lost his wife on Saturday back _ from [^ a] vessel breaking round / the Heart. She was sister to Charles + Helen McEvers. I dined / yesterday at Grandma Hamiltons she is well Uncle Alex was / polite and civil, but could not refrain from little disagreable / cuts. As it was the precise day 8 months since Mr. Holly [^ died] Aunt / Eliza could not appear. This morning to the new house and / changing the scene will of course do the poor little woman some / good, she never leaves the house now but on Sundays. I went / yesterday evening with E + George to hear [?Belloros?], he is a / greater favorite than ever, and with reason for his views of / life and religion are so reasonable and practical that one / is quite satisfied the best course is to join the two. I was so / surprised the other eve’g to find how dark and backward the / views of these young men in society are upon those subjects. They / talk out sometimes to us women + this one seemed to feel / that with a temper such as God had given him, nothing / could be expected. Aunt Julia’s family is working away / to try and keeo them in the homestead, + will probably suc - / =ceed. That Ludlow family seems to me to furnish the most /
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Melancholy example of the evil effects of a totally neglected / Mental education + a most contracted moral one / I spent a few hours the other day with Julia Boggs Livingston / She is much happier than she used to be, but I am afraid / will not be very much improved by her in character by her / master. She in excellent health walk’s down twon with / him every morning and then comes home to work a pair / of slippers for his birth day but Mary (who we found at break - / =fast the other day at ½ past twelve) is in most wretched spirits. / Cannot become reconciled to have Julia leave, but can’t bear / Livingston. Julia + the mother will move in the spring / We heard a little piece of news last night. Miss Julia Ward / is engaged to that Philanthropist Dr. Howe of the blind / institution _ at Boston You remember the notice of him in / Dickens’ notes. There is a book spoken very much of which / you must read, called “The Bible in Spain” I believe the author’s / name is Barrow [sic Borrow] at any rate he is an English missionary to distribute / the Bible, and falls in with some tribes of Gypsies in Spain and / has a great many other interesting adventures in that country making /
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A most entertaining book. To night we go to Mrs. / Gibbes concert, the last one of the season and tomorrow / Mrs. [unrecovered, illegible] comes. Mackenzie’s trial proceeds slowly. / people don’t care any longer for the same details / but only look for the result. __ Alex Hamilton / + his wife have just gone from here. Rammerer the / music man has been here with a friend, a piano / maker to inspect ours, + get the last improvements / from Berlin. Pas has started for Nevis to return / on Wednesday. We are all well, and I hope / are grateful for that blessing, and contented + / happy too, as we should be with so many around / to make us so _ Good bye my pride and comfort / take care of your health. Your Mary ____
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27th Feby is my last date. Uncle Tom says there / were a few shares of Life + Trust sold at 55 % on / Saturday. But there is very little either wanted / or to be had
[ADDRESS]
From My dear M.
Feby 27h 1843
____________
A Hamilton Esqr
U.S. despatch Agent
13 Hamilton Street
Covent Garden
LondonTranscriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
