Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3043 H
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE August 18, 1836
AUTHOR Eliza Storrs (Oyster Ponds)
RECIPIENT Emma Nicholas
MEDIUM Paper, ink
PEOPLE Mary, “Morpheus” (self),
PLACES East Hampton, Schooley’s Mountain
EVENTS consoling Emma re: upcoming move to Belvidere, soon to leave
for East Hampton, early days “clouded”
48th
Addressed to Miss Emma Nicholas
Care of Judge Hoffman
New York
Oyster Ponds Aug 18th 1836
I have delayed writing to you / my dear Emma for a week. A long time you will think / for me to neglect answering you welcome letter and / indeed it is a long time during that time I have not / been very well, and have commenced one letter which I attempted to finish and afterwards destroyed. The boat leave so early in the morning that there is no / time to write then, and I am writing before I resign / myself to Morpheus. My eyes feel inclined to close . and you may expect but a dull epistle and not very / long either.
I was truly rejoiced to hear from you, but your letter made me melancholy. Why have you been / thus “cast down”? I need hardly ask the question for / my own mind suggests the answer. It is no trifling / thing to leave your friends, and most sincerely do / I wish you could remain with us. “Home is where /
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The heart is, wherever its loved one dwell” and you / will be happy in your western home, I have no / doubt after the pain of parting is over, and time / has accustomed you to your new abode. It seems / folly for me to attempt to console you my dear / friend, I can only offer you my sympathy, my fine / sincere affection, and my hopes and wishes that / wherever you are you may find peace & happiness / You have been tried and afflicted, but do not / suffer your mind to dwell upon those trials and / afflictions, turn rather and reflect upon the / blessings you have an do still enjoy, and draw / from the few flowers the perfume they yield.
I think we shall not / remain here longer than this week, so that next / week I hope to see you and that is far better / than writing. I have been collecting some of the / “wonders of the deep” that are to be found here. I / have some sea weed and some beautiful stones.
My pen scratches so that I / can hardly write as you will perceive. I would / not send such a scrawl, but if I do not write now / I cannot write at all, and I cannot have you / pass another week without an answer; you must excuse the scrawling etc.
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If you should answer this, I should / not receive it, the mails are so irregular, and / therefore you need not write. We may leave in / two or three days for East Hampton but it is / quite uncertain. Now I must bid you good / night, and may we soon meet again. At the time I received your letter, I received one from / Mary at Schooley’s Mountain. I do not expect to hear / from her again until I go home.
Good bye my dear / Emma and although your early years are clouded / may your path be brighter and your “last days be / better than your first”.
Yours
Ever
Sincerely
Eliza Storrs
