Lucia Fairchild Fuller* to Sarah Orne Jewett
Dear Sarah
It is delightful to have twelve Christmas presents from you! every month I shall have to thank [ one ? ] afresh. No, indeed; I had not thought of subscriptions, nor of any such pleasures as sitting to read the 'Atlantic'; it has taken me an uncommonly long time to [ fill ? ]
my lungs with New York air and breathe deep! and I don't know that I shall ever get the dear East wind quite out of my make-up! It is all very well for the young people to dash into the excitement that underlies all life here -- but peace and the sunset are more [ fitting ? ] to me -- and neither am I to have any more. I looked out of my window the other night and was positively startled to see the moon -- it is only by craning sideways that I can see the sky at all -- thank Heaven there are villages left! -- This is not thanking you -- and you must let me wait till I have seen the Tory Lover* all through before I write about it: I like to feel the whole.
You know in advance I am sure to like it -- and one of my great pleasures is to like what you do more and more, as your life fills out your work. I must confess though that I have had a dreadful pang of homesickness in reading about Hamilton House* -- for that brief dream went very deep! and often and often I think of that long sunny upland slope and the cove with its pine-fringes, and uselessly wish we
had been able to buy it. The present owner can't enjoy the fact more than I do the vision; though I am sure she has done more than I could have to bring new grace to the old. When we meet -- & you will be coming here this winter? -- you must tell me about Roger's* ancestry in your brain, and what traditions went into his makeup.
-- Yes, I remembered that you like tiny books, and it was a
great find to come across [ that corrected ] little one looking all ready to go to you -- and I am glad you still have the old feeling. I do not feel as if you had changed at all in fact, since the days when I first knew you and Deephaven.*
There are so many things I should be glad to talk about. Is one to be sorry for the Aldriches* in this marriage? I know that [ Mrs ? ] A_ had other hopes at one time -- but one finds children's happiness often where one least would have looked for it. -- I beg you to see Bernhardt's Hamlet* without fail when she goes to Boston; the Aiglon* of course for Rostand's sake -- but the Hamlet for her own. New York has many opportunities
truly -- but they are much nicer mixed in with Charles St, than with 5th Avenue! -- How is dear Mrs Fields?* Tell her I drink a cup of tea to her every Saturday! I wish I could tell you ^both^ some of the funny things I hear about the nice young Hyde* who founded the French lectures -- but my bed time is here! Much love to Mary* -- & to Mrs F. when you are with her; to all my dear vanished friends, greeting! and much love to yourself, no [ fail ? ]. It is
almost [ rude ? ] to be away -- and I love it all at home so much more dearly!
Ever yrs
Lu. F. ? ]*
Notes
Fuller: Unfortunately, the signature is difficult to read, but it could be Lu.F. American painter Lucia Fairchild Fuller (1870-1924) was sister to Jewett correspondent, Sally Fairchild. Jewett enjoyed a long friendship with the Fairchild family. See Key to Correspondents, and also Wikipedia and "Lucia Fairchild Fuller's Life of Privilege and Hardship" by Jerry Weiss, Linea 4 January 2021.
While it is not certain that Fuller wrote this letter, there is circumstantial evidence to support this hypothesis, for Fuller was living in New York City at the time of this letter.
This notion is qualified somewhat by the author's remarks about possibly purchasing or renting Hamilton House. It would seem unlikely that the Fullers had the means for this, but in the 1890s, they were able to take a home in the Cornish Art Colony in New Hampshire. Possibly they considered Hamilton House at that time.
1901: Almost certainly this date is correct, as the author reports that she has begun reading Jewett's The Tory Lover in Atlantic Monthly, where serialization began in November 1900.
Hamilton House: This 18th-century mansion in South Berwick, ME, became a setting in Jewett's The Tory Lover (1901). By 1900, the owner and restorer was Emily Davis Tyson. See Key to Correspondents.
Roger's: Roger Wallingford was a protagonist in The Tory Lover. Though he was based upon an historical personage, he was a fictional creation. See Jewett's correspondence with Augustus Buell in 1900 and 1901.
Deephaven: Jewett's first novel, published in 1877.
Aldriches: Thomas Bailey and Lilian Woodman Aldrich. See Key to Correspondents.
On 25 December 1900, one of their twin sons, Charles Frost Aldrich (1868-1906), married the widow, Maria Louisa Alexander Richards.
Bernhardt: French actor Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) brought her company to Boston in April 1901. Their repertoire included Shakespeare, in which Bernhardt took the part of Hamlet, and L'Aiglon (1900) by French dramatist Edmond Rostand (1868-1918). All performances were in French. See Wikipedia and Tompkins and Kilby, The History of the Boston Theatre, 1854-1901 (1908) p. 482.
Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Hyde: The Hyde Lectures in French at Harvard University were established in 1898, with a gift from James Hazen Hyde (1876-1959), Harvard class of 1898. He solicited this gift from his father, Henry Baldwin Hyde (1834-1899), founder of Equitable Life Assurance Company. See the "Guide to the James Hazen Hyde Papers" at the New York Historical Society Library.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Lu. F.: Of the words within these brackets, only "Ever" is somewhat clear.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence Series: I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett MS Am 1743, (61) F., L.N. 1 letter; [n.d.].
This transcription is from a photocopy held by the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Box 4, Folder 159, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Robert Collyer to Annie Adams Fields and Sarah Orne Jewett
Dear Friends
You will like to see this letter and hear a story Mr. Dickinson* wrote me before X-mas* in [ sore dolor ? ] about the school very much as he writes herein. So I sent on my half years widowers mite* at once to cheer him up the ten pounds worth anyhow -- Then it was "borne in upon me" as Friends* say that I must see a rich a generous man who helps me to help somebody else gladly and always says come again.* So I went to drink tea with him on a Sunday and when we had lit our cigars I said I am in a hole again and want you to help me out. Told him the story of the Library and school and laid it on when I came to the small children who if naught was done must go to Fewston* to the board school in all weather a good -- or rather very bad -- two miles and so would he also subscribe twenty pounds a year so that we could keep a teacher at Timble. He rated me for what I had done on my own hook which you will allow was a cruel thing to do and then he said quietly I have two one thousand dollar bills in my safe
down town. I did not quite know what I should do with them this near year. I will give you that money to buy a Draft{ -- } send it on{,} have the gift recorded in your name and stop your own Subscription. I did not get more than half a nights sleep. I guess the check was drawn before I left the house. The Draft was for four hundred and ten pounds. Laus Deo* -- [ thats latin so written ]. My letter was then about half way over the sea. I wrote another the last day of the old Century{,} enclosed the Draft and by the next mail shall hear from Timble again.
Robert Collyer
New York Jan 21st 1901
Notes
Dickinson: John Dickinson (1844-1912) kept diaries that were edited to become Timble Man: Diaries of a Dalesman (1988).
X-mas ... sore dolor: If this transcription is correct, Collyer evidently means "pained sorrow."
The transcription of "X-mas" also is uncertain, for it appears as "H-mas." However, Collyer's "x" in a few other places in his hand-writing looks like an "H."
mite: Collyer alludes to the lesson of the widow's mite in the Bible: Mark 12:41 and Luke 21:1.
Friends: Collyer refers to Quakers, the Religious Society of Friends, who place particular emphasis upon the ability of each person to experience insight from God.
Fewston: Fewston and Timble are villages in Collyer's home region of Yorkshire, UK. Robinson Gill (1829-1897) of Timble immigrated to the United States, where he became a successful businessman and a member of Collyer's All Souls Universalist Church in Brooklyn. In 1892, he built the Robinson library in Timble to benefit his home community and provide a memorial for his maternal ancestors. Presumably this is the library mentioned in the letter.
again: Collyer omits many periods in this letter. I have supplied them where they seem necessary.
Laus Deo: Latin: Praise be to God.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda Box 10: mss Fl 1-5637. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett
[ Late January 1901 ]
You hear everybody talking about the Queen* -- and I may add, the Queen's Twin and wondering how she will feel, as if she were real. I said last night that I thought she would feel her loss, and would say, Well, I'm glad she's got through!
Notes
A transcriber's note reads: [letter to Mary].
the Queen ... the Queen's Twin: Queen Victoria (1819 - 22 January 1901). Jewett notes that acquaintances have wondered how her character, Abby Martin, in her story, "The Queen's Twin" (1899) will respond to Victoria's death.
This text is from transcriptions from mixed repositories in the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Undated Letters, Folder 75, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection. For more information about the individual transcription, contact the Maine Women Writers Collection. Notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Robert Collyer to Annie Adams Fields
1672 Broadway
Dear ever dear friend
I enclose the letters from John Dickinson.* They are very good. A mucky morning means a miry underfoot, and a misty dreepy over head. ^Mrs^ John is all wrong in her guess about the giver of our gift, it is not my son in law, some time I will tell you -- It is a very dear friend who together with his family gave me twenty five thousand dollars in November to create the Robert Collyer Library Fund for our theological school at Meadville* now created, and only asked that the Deed of Gift should be framed and hung on the walls of the Library together with a portrait of yours truly, all of which has been done. And when I went that Sunday a begging for the weans* in Trimble said I -- we -- they -- wanted to make another gift of fifty thousand to the same school to strengthen and fructify the departments of teaching and the salaries of the [ faculty ? ],*which same needed to be raised -- We did not agree about the name this fund should take. I did not care to have my name used again, and suggested another{,} his mothers maiden
Miss Deacon Bartlett* has got me down for Aug 26 if I can come.
Robert Collyer
Notes
Dickinson: John Dickinson (1844-1912) kept diaries that were edited to become Timble Man: Diaries of a Dalesman (1988).
See Collyer to Fields of 21 January 1901.
head: Collyer omits many periods in this letter. I have supplied them where they seem necessary.
Meadville: Wikipedia says "Meadville Theological School was founded in 1844 in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Most of the original funding came from Harm Jan Huidekoper, a recent convert to Christian Unitarianism and a wealthy businessman, and from the Independent Congregational Church." Several gift endowments in Collyer's name went to the Meadville seminary at about this time, one of December 1901 coming from "Henry H. Rogers, a member of the Church of the Messiah, New York [ Collyers's church ]." See Quarterly Bulletin -- Meadville Theological School v. 4-7, p. 24.
Henry Huttleston Rogers (1840 -1909) was an American industrialist, financier, and philanthropist.
weans: Wee ones.
faculty: Collyer appears to have written "facualty."
Sarah: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
When Collyer mentions reading the third part of "the story," he refers to Jewett's The Tory Lover (1901), then appearing serially in Atlantic Monthly.
Mrs Dexter: Collyer's friends included Chicago lawyer Wirt Dexter (1832-1890) and his wife, Josephine Moore (1846-1937).
Miss Deacon Bartlett: This may be Alice Jane Bartlett Melcher (1848-1936), daughter of James Bartlett (1816-99) and his wife, Nancy Jane (née Watts, 1820-1913). See Malden Past and Present (1899), p. 58. However, according to FamilySearch, she married in 1875.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda Box 10: mss Fl 1-5637. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[Monday, January 28, 1901]
Yesterday I went to church and heard Dr. Lewis's sermon about the Queen, which was very well done, and there was a display of the English flags about a big picture of the Queen, and two wreaths of Berwick evergreens, tied with black!* I have lived so much this last year* in thought of the days when there was bitterest feeling toward England, that the sight of these things in the old meeting house astonished me more than it could have astonished anybody else in the congregation; but it was a most pleasing sight. There are some English parishioners, mill people; I suppose the portrait -- a big engraving of some sort came in that way. I saw tears in many eyes, however; the sermon was very touching, but the whole feeling was as if some kind person had died in our own little neighbourhood.
Notes
1901 ... Dr. Lewis's sermon about the Queen: Dr. George
Lewis. See
Correspondents.
In Fields's 1911 collection, with this
paragraph there appears another that is from a different letter,
probably from 1888.
This last year: When Jewett refers to "the Queen" she
almost certainly means Queen Victoria of Great Britain, who died
on 22 January 1901. Jewett indicates she is writing on the
Monday after the service, which almost certainly would have
taken place no earlier than Sunday January 27.: Assuming
the 1901 date is correct, then Jewett has been working on The
Tory Lover (1901), her novel about the American Revolution
during 1777-8. By the end of January 1901, the fourth,
February, installment of the serialization had appeared.
The final installment appeared in August 1901, and a slightly
revised book appeared soon after.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Abbie S. Beede
Thursday
[ November 1900 - June 1901 ]
Dear Miss Beede
I have been delayed about my next handful of manuscript, so that I doubt if I can send you anything for another week. I hope you have not altered any plans ˄of your own^ because I led you to expect some?
I may send half a number presently
but I may not! I find it very hard to keep my hand on a whole good morning now that I have come to town.
I hope that your uncle* continues to be more comfortable --
S. O. Jewett.
The fern did not seem to mind its drive one bit (being heavily veiled!) and my sister* and I have taken great pleasure in having it.
Notes
November 1900 - June 1901: This choice of a date is based upon the small hint that Jewett is in the midst of her serial publication of The Tory Lover, November 1900 through August 1901. She probably completed the final installment in June. She hints that this is her current task by saying that she hopes soon to send Beede a "next handful" or "half a number," that is, half of an installment.
However it is possible the letter could be from a later time. Beede's uncle Pinkham is known to have been ill in October 1901, leading to his death in April 1901 -- see notes below.
This letter is addressed from 34 Beacon Street, the home of Jewett's friend Susan Burley Cabot, whom she often visited in early winter. See Key to Correspondents.
In this letter, as she sometimes does, Jewett has shortened "and" to an "a" with a long tail. I render these as "and."
uncle: Kelsey Squire notes that this uncle is Nicholas Alphonso Pinkham (1815-1902). Also see MWWC Abbie S. Beede materials, folder 5, Nicholas Pinkham's will, which bequeaths the rest of his estate to Sarah Abbie Beede and Mary Emma Leighton. Census records from ancestry.com indicate that Nicholas Pinkham was born April 18, 1815 in Durham, Maine and that he died April 7, 1902, in North Berwick. He is buried in the Friends burial ground. His stepmother was Mary Beede (c. 1802-1877).
sister: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0178.
Transcription by Kelsey Squire, Ohio Dominican University; edited and with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett
[ 1 February 1901 ]*
Dear Mary
I know at this moment of thinking of four copies of the Queen's Twin that were sent to the poor Queen! Mrs. Arthur Holland told me of an English one that was bound most beautifully & offered by a British subject last year -- only yesterday !! But I did mean to tell you that Dr. Horace Furness & Mrs. Wister told me the other day what each thought the other had told long ago -- that Theodore Martin had given a copy to the Queen & that she said it was perfectly delightful. I somehow felt more pleasure in hearing it now than if I had had the message long ago. Dr Furness said then before we knew of her illness that Theodore said she failed dreadfully -- It is nice to know one could give her a little pleasure.
S.O.J.
Notes
1 February 1901: The transcriber has dates this letter Jan. 1, 1901, but that cannot be correct. 1 January was not a Friday, and the letter seems clearly to have been written after the death of Queen Victoria of Great Britain on 22 January 1901. The second Friday after Victoria's death was 1 February, 1901, though it is possible that Jewett wrote the letter on the first Friday, 25 January.
the Queen's Twin: Jewett's story about an isolated widow who has maintained a life-long fascination with Queen Victoria first appeared in Atlantic Monthly in 1899 and was collected in The Queen's Twin and Other Stories the same year.
Mrs. Arthur Holland: Mrs. Sara Ormsby Burgwin Holland. See Key to Correspondents.
Dr. Horace Furness & Mrs. Wister: Horace Howard Furness (1833-1912) was an American Shakespearean scholar, editor of the New Variorum editions of Shakespeare.
See Owen Wister in Key to Correspondents.
Theodore Martin: Theodore Martin (1816-1909) was a Scottish author and translator.
I believe this text is from transcriptions from mixed repositories in the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Folder 70, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection. It was hand-copied many years before the current edition, and the old notes are somewhat unclear. For more information about the individual transcription, contact the Maine Women Writers Collection. Notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Rose Lamb
148 Charles Street, February 5 [1901]*
My dear Rose, -- How delightful above everything this last letter of yours is from Luxor!* I am sure that the winter is doing you a great deal of good, but we miss you, and it makes me a little homesick when I catch a glimpse of your house with the blinds shut as I come and go along Charles Street. I love to think that you are away, and especially that you are going to be in Athens by and by. Do not forget to look at my dear lady in the most beautiful of all the "grave reliefs" -- no. 832:* she is really the most beautiful thing in world, and always a real person to me, so that the thought of her almost gives my heart a little thrill -- 832 -- don't forget her! This last fortnight Mary and I have both been here, and we have been going out so much that yesterday I protested against behaving like a bud* any longer and told my sister that she must go home and let us settle down! I have really enjoyed going about and seeing people so much, -- it is the first year in ever and ever so many that I have not had a heavy piece of work on hand, and I begin to see how often I have "gone out" feeling quite light-headed and absent-minded, after a day's writing; a very poor sort of guest, one must confess.
The photograph# is a delight -- so great a type! I look and look at him. What distinction there is when you see that straight-lined figure among other photographs. I happened to put it with some modern things, and felt as if I must take it right away. Thank you so much, dear.
Fields's note
#Of the Charioteer at Delphi.*
Notes
1901: Though Fields dates this letter 1900, it
could not have been written until after Jewett returned from her
trip to Greece and Italy with Annie Fields in June 1900
(Blanchard, p. 318). Assuming that the "February 5" date
is correct, this letter likely was composed the year after that
trip.
Luxor: Luxor, in upper Egypt, is the modern city at the
site of ancient Thebes. Jewett says in a January 20, 1900 letter
to Dorothy Ward that she had been asked to travel to Egypt with
a friend.
Athens ... the most beautiful of all the "grave reliefs" --
no. 832: Karl Baedeker's Greece: Handbook for
Travellers 2nd Revised Edition, 1894, indicates
that grave relief 832 would be found in room 11 of the National
Archaeological Museum in Athens. The image below shows
part of what probably is the relief to which Jewett
refers. However, one cannot be certain that the seated
woman is the figure Jewett admires, as she may refer to the
person, not shown, whose hand she holds.
Grave relief with high-relief carving. Pentelic marble. Goudi,
Athens, Greece. 340 B.C. #832
In the holdings of the National
Archaeological
Museum. Athens, Attika, Greece.
bud: probably a Maine pronunciation for "bird."
the Charioteer at Delphi: The Charioteer at Delphi was a major archaeological find, excavated on April 28, 1896. According to Fredrik Poulsen in Delphi (1920), the bronze statue is believed to commemorate a victory in the Delphic games.
This letter appears in Annie Fields, Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett (1911), Transcribed by Annie Adams Fields, with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Alice Dunlap Gilman
148 Charles Street
Wednesday morning
[ 6 February 1901 ]*
Dear Cousin Alice:
We have just
received Mary's letter* with the unexpected news of dear Cousin
Charles's death which I feel very much. I have always been very
fond of him as you know, and so many memories of the past are
associated with him and his kindness and
affection to me and to all of us at home. I cannot but be
thankful that he need suffer no more weakness and illness but I
shall always miss him. I send you a great deal of sympathy and
my love to you and your children. You must remember a great many
lovely things -- how ready he was to serve and help others, and
to push forward things that he
saw ought to be done -- [ and written over a word ] the
forgetfulness of his own interests which we have sometimes been
sorry about, shows a different side. He did so many good things
[ and or but ] gave so many good ideas to other people.
I should be so glad if I could come
on Friday but I have been ill since the beginning of last week
with an attack of grippe and I cannot manage to sit up all
day yet and I have not been out. Mary* is here and sends her
love to you all, and says that she shall go down on Friday but
she must return in the afternoon.
With a great deal of love to you dear
Cousin Alice, and to Lizzie and Mary and David and Charlie.*
Yours most affectionately,
Sarah O. Jewett
Notes
Cary notes: "This letter was written in pencil, with obvious difficulty, as by a person propped in bed; the handwriting notably less firm than ordinary with Miss Jewett. Unusual too is the repetitive quality and lack of verbal flow."
While the letter is, indeed, in pencil, I am not sure others would agree with the observations about her handwriting.
Mary's letter: Since Jewett's sister Mary is with
her in Boston, the letter must be from Mary G. Gilman.
Mary is here: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to
Correspondents.
Lizzie and Mary and David and Charlie: The Gilman
children were:
David Dunlap Gilman (1854 - 1914)
Elizabeth J. Gilman (1856 - 1939)
Charles Gilman (1859 - 1938)
Mary G. Gilman (1865 - 1940)
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Louise Imogen Guiney to Annie Adams Fields
Dearest Mrs. Fields:
I meant to have left a card for you with the address of Mr. and Mrs. Roswell Field.* They are at the Regent, 884 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, just beyond the City Hall, on the opposite side. By a cheering coincidence, I met Mr. Field on my way home. I asked him if he had any 'day?' and he said genially and Chicago-esquely: 'No: I just stay home all along!' and he was greatly delighted to know of your friendly and thoughtful intention.
The sun shines in our rear windows this morning, and my invalid basks, and will soon be entirely well. I enjoyed my incursion yesterday into the world; and I am, with love for two who may be nameless,
Louise I. Guiney
10 Feb., 1901
Notes
Mr. and Mrs. Roswell Field: Almost certainly this couple is Henrietta Rose Dexter and Roswell Martin Field an American journalist and author, brother of the poet, Eugene Field (1850-1895).
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields collection Box 26: mss FI . Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Oakes Huntington to Annie E. Trumbull*
Glen Road,
February 15th, 1901. [Friday]
I saw Miss Perkins* at the Rehearsal. The following Wednesday was one of those days when the sidewalks stream and drip with running water, and the rain is shaken like a garment by the wind and one's plumage smells like a "damp dove", -- but Miss Perkins was at Lee's and so was I! We got on finely together and I made her tell me all about the Play (and everything) and I felt as if she were one of my old friends in Hartford, and as if we had lunched together habitually for years in Bohemian haunts!
I thought of you at a dinner the night before, right in the middle of it.* Miss Jewett and I were the only feminine guests, and the men were Johnson Morton with unbounded humor and a talent for dialect stories (an editor), and Mr. Updike of the Merrymount Press, a very modern, enormously clever person, -- these with Fanny and Mark Howe, our hostess and host.
The conversation was the kind you would have loved, and of all delightful themes, it was New England country people. Miss Jewett doesn't tell funny stories much herself, but she loves to hear them, and Johnson Morton was at his very best. I am not usually talkative when the conversation is general, but the excitement got into my blood. Of all topics I adore country people and the ladies of Milford. Mrs. Cassidy and the rest all came walking out and mingled with Johnson's washerladies, and undertakers, and school children, and Miss Jewett's neighbours. Oh, you would have loved it.
Miss Jewett has a very sweet personality. I had quite a long talk with Mr. Updike (he did those little Tree tickets) and he asked me to have T at his rooms to meet Beatrix Jones, the girl in New York who has done so well in landscape gardening. She had seventy men under her at Bar Harbor. I couldn't help wondering if they gave her as much trouble as my one tippling Peter McQuade gave me, and they did blasting for her, too. Imagine Peter with a match and a can of gun powder, -- angels and ministers of grace defend us!*
I went to hear Mr. Seton Thompson on his animal acquaintances, a most interesting lecture. The man who sent me the ticket also gave one to Mr. Walton, the hermit of the Magnolia woods, and we sat together. He told me quite a little of his life in the woods, how he feeds the birds every morning and knows them apart, and how the crows signal in the woods to each other. One calls when he is alone and they do not fly. Another calls when a stranger is with him and they all fly off, -- and how a coal black skunk came into the cabin the other evening and walked all round even scratching at the door to come in again, after it had been decoyed outside. I could easily imagine it. Mr. Walton had a pungent aroma about him suggesting bird feathers, and hen roosts and cabins and wood-pussies, and an absence of violet-scented soap ....
Notes
Perkins: Perhaps this is a daughter of Jewett correspondent Edith Forbes Perkins.
the night before: Huntington is remembering the night before a previous Wednesday. It is likely therefore, that the dinner she refers to took place on Tuesday 12 February 1901 at the home of Fanny and Mark De Wolfe Howe. See Correspondents. Mrs. Fanny Huntington Howe was a relative of Annie Oakes Huntington.
Huntington mentions a number of people in this letter who probably were not acquainted with Jewett. Only those known to be Jewett acquaintances have been researched for these notes.
angels and ministers of grace: William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 1; Scene 4.
A transcription of this letter appears in Testament of Happiness: Letters of Annie Oakes Huntington (1947), edited by Nancy Byrd Turner, pp. 59-61. Notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Robert Collyer to Annie Adams Fields
New York Feb 16th 1901
Sweet Heart
Do not be troubled about the note { -- } just send it along when you lay your hands on it.* I want to correct the List of Trustrees Timbleward { -- } thats all. They wrote me from headquarters that those telegrams were sent to the Postal Telegraph Co { -- } this lets the Union out. I have not followed the matter further { -- } its not worthwhile now but it's a muddle as poor Stephen says in Hard Times.* An edition de luxe is coming to me this week of the great -- and big -- biography. Almost exactly as many words in the book my paper says this A M as in the whole Bible but I will tackle it. Do you skip? or rush a page in a minute as Sarah does sometimes{?} I have bought Henry [Jame's so written ] new book.* I get them all as they appear. I cannot help it. Said [ E d L corrected from all lower case ]* comes from Mr Clapps family { -- } he has mostly E P Dutton & Co { -- } he died first now* was a dear old friend and I took the services at his funeral. This queer caricature may not have come to your table { -- } do not bother to send it back { -- } keep it{,} give it away or burn it as the spirit moves you.
This finds and leaves me glad for a good breakfast very
Notes
it: Collyer omits many periods in this letter. I have supplied them where they seem necessary.
Collyer sent a note to Fields on 8 February 1901 asking her to return a letter he shared with her from John Dickinson (1844-1912) of Yorkshire, UK, with a list of trustees of the local school and library in Timble.
Hard Times: British author, Charles Dickens (1812-1870), published his novel, Hard Times, in 1854. Stephen Blackpool is one of the unfortunate characters in the novel.
A deluxe edition of Life of Charles Dickens (1872) by Frank Thomas Marzials, with additional materials by Leslie Stephen, was issued in 1900, but it was only 262 pages.
Sarah: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
new book: American author Henry James (1843-1916) published two books in 1900 and 1901, A Little Tour of France (1900) and The Sacred Fount (1901).
Said ... first now: While I believe I have transcribed what Collyer wrote, I am not able to make sense of it, except in a general way.
Edward P. Dutton founded the publishing firm E. P. Dutton in Boston in 1852.
Charles Augustus Clapp (1835- 11 January 1901) was a partner at E. P. Dutton at his death. See his obituary in Publishers' Weekly (19 January 1901), p. 56.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda Box 10: mss Fl 1-5637. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Louise Imogen Guiney to Annie Adams Fields
My dear Mrs. Fields:
It was melancholy that I missed you. I was a patient waiter at Dr. Blake's* most of the afternoon, dined with Mr. and Mrs. Barnard,* and did not get home until half-past eight. Many thanks to you for thinking of me in connection with what must have been a particularly fine concert.
Word came yesterday from the steamship office that the passengers due to sail on the Winifredian, Feb. 27, must be transferred to the Devonian,* leaving this port of March 1. This is an escape, in Scriptural phrase, 'by the skin of one's teeth';* for we hae to give over our abiding-place here on that very day and would have found
it another rather maddening circumstance, had the move ^wharfwards^ been named for March 2d! I do hope you keep well, and that I shall see you again before I go. With best thanks, I am
Louise I.G.
Notes
Dr. Blake's: Mary Alice Houghton Blake (1863-1919) was married to Dr. Clarence John Blake (1843-1919), Professor of Otology (anatomy of the ear) at Harvard University Medical School and the author of several books. They founded and supported the Women's Rest Tour Association.
Barnard: This couple has not yet been identified.
Winifredian ... Devonian: The SS Winifredian was a British passenger liner launched in 1899 in the Leyland Line between Liverpool and Boston.
The SS Devonian was a British ocean liner, built in 1900 and torpedoed in 1917.
one's teeth: Guiney refers to the Bible, Job 19:20.
Sarah Wyman Whitman to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ 21 February 1901 ]*
Darling: I guess it was time I spoke to you, & first said words of [ four unrecognized words ] words of Awful Portent if you [werent ? ] coming as asked for luncheon on this next Sunday as ever was: which was [ so agreed ? ] by A.F.* in privy council [ assembled ? ]. Its at 12.30; and [ at ? ] Jack Chapmans* [ & ? ], I guess,
[ Page 2 ]
So no [ more ? ] on this [ theme ? ] ! [ There is ? ] no other tonight owing to the most outrageous cold you ever knew, which I am determined to sleep off -- I am going into [ bottle or battle ? ] and nostrums [ now ? ] so that [ unrecognized word ] though soon unwritten letters [ demand the reason why ? ] !
Please [ then ? ] forgive these lines from one who kind of struggled out to [ her ? ] aunt's after a Thursday composed of all those who had [ dearly remembered ? ] they "hadnt called" &
[ Page 3 ]
came in a solid [ squad ? ] & [ was or
were ] so comfortable that they decided to stay!
--Well [ these are the commands
? ] of Duty [ done ? ]: but it reduces me to
"fiddlestrings to expredge my nerves this night."*
You will forgive this [ free ?
] [ unrecognized word ] [ lapse ? ] & let me
see your face on Sunday?
Yours
Sw
Thursday eve.
Notes
21 February 1901: The envelope associated with this letter was cancelled on 21 February 1901 and addressed to Jewett in South Berwick.
A.F.: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Jack Chapmans: American author, John Jay Chapman (1862-1933). Trained at Harvard Law School, he practiced law in New York City while achieving distinction as an essayist. He was for a few years editor of the journal, The Political Nursery (1897-1901). His second wife was Elizabeth Astor Winthrop Chanler (1866-1937).
Owen: Almost certainly Owen Wister. See Key to Correspondents.
expredge my nerves this night: Whitman quotes Sarah Gamp in Chapter 51 of Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-4), by British novelist, Charles Dickens (1812-1870).
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Whitman, Sarah (Wyman) 1842-1904. 92 letters; [1884]-[1903] & [n.d.] Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence, 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 -107. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Oakes Huntington to Annie E. Trumbull
[February] 1901.*
... Yes, I really did think of you that night right in the middle of the stories, and Johnson Morton* is the "he and I" man, and Miss Jewett has been saying particularly nice things about me again and modesty was never one of my virtues and it isn't modesty now. It's because I've got too much pride to tell you what the things were, only she did say nice things.
And Mr. Updike gave a T, a printer's T, at the Merrymount Press for Miss Jones (the New York girl who has done such great things in landscape gardening) and for me -- really he did -- and we printed things, with trees all made into a joke on the press, "for Miss Jones, Miss Huntington and their friends," and Mrs. Baynard Thayer matronized, and there were men, -- most of them I didn't like, but Mr. Dorr, the man who has big nurseries at Bar Harbor, says he wants to help me in every way he can, and Mr. Updike made me tell my Milford stories, and _____ looked hungry to tell stories himself while I was telling them, and if we had been children in school, I know he would have pushed me out of the way and he would have said "Look! See me do it", and Mrs. Thayer had never heard them and she looked as if her parrot had learned a new trick unbeknownst, and Beatrix Jones giggled, and so did Updike, but I hate telling stories when they are turned on by a crank, and projected forcibly on to an audience. I like to tell them to people like Miss Jewett who know more than I do about them, and to be aggressive and self-assured where angels fear to speak.
Two new classes begin this month and I have been asked to repeat the talk and Mr. Sargent (he is at the head of Dendrology in America and not the portrait painter!) has written me kind things and has sent to New York to get me specimens,— and it has all been as breathless as these sentences, sometimes, lately.
Notes
1901: This letter seems to follow from the previous letter, but sometime after, and offers a further report on the evening of story-telling that included Jewett at the Fanny and Mark Howe home.
Johnson Morton: See Key to Correspondents.
A transcription of this letter appears in Testament of Happiness: Letters of Annie Oakes Huntington (1947), edited by Nancy Byrd Turner, pp. 61-2. Notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Katharine McMahon Johnson
[ February 1901 ]*
34 Beacon Street.
[ End letterhead ]
Dearest Katharine I thank you so much for such a dear and satisfying letter! you dont know what a real help it gives a fellow! -- I have my ups and downs about the story* but I do think that it gathers as it goes on. The key of it is so different, and the pace of it so much slower, being a longer expedition, that I can see the wide difference
there is between it and the Pointed Firs, for instance. One cant get the same immediate [ hold ? ] --
It is certainly a dangerous thing to try to write something entirely different after one has been for years and years making stories as short and round as possible but I have long had a dream of doing this, as you know, and I supposed I had to do it.
It is so hard
[ Page 3 ]
I am at last here for my twice=delayed winter visit. I wish you could let me see you dear if you are
coming into town with a spare hour.
With my love to you and little sister*
affectionate S O J
1901: Because this letter is pasted into a "compliments of the author" copy of Jewett's The Tory Lover (1901), it seems virtually certain that the letter refers to that novel.The letter probably was written during the winter while Jewett was composing The Tory Lover.
Richard Cary assigned it to February, but his rationale is not known.
and: Jewett sometimes writes "and" as an "a" with a long tail. I render these as "and."
Pointed Firs: Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896).
little sister: This person has not yet been identified. Perhaps Jewett refers to Johnson's daughter, Agnes McMahon Holden (1880-1968)
This letter is held by Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine: JEWE.1. It was originally transcribed, edited and annotated by Richard Cary for Sarah Orne Jewett Letters. This new transcription with additional and revised notes is by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ February 1901 ]
I am looking for your dear little letter this morning as it did not get along yesterday -- On Account of so busy a F ___ |* but I hope not a too tired one. I did a long day's work yesterday but it was mostly in reading and noting my own Chapters and going over two or three books to freshen my mind now that I come to a new part. I must put in part of the chapter of the girls walk
[ Page 2 ]
(It just occurs to me to say that you must have the tall green glasses for the luncheon on Sunday, and some big bottles of that good Sauterne -- ) Perhaps M. Deschamps* will feel at home with some good French wine.
[ Page 3 ]
I have just got your letter, and with such pleasure -- I am sorry you couldn't go to Mrs. Bullard's* & hear the music -- I think I should have kept you at home all the afternoon instead! -- but when a thing is such an effort why it is an effort! and that's all there is about it. Pinny* doesn't often like to go out in the evening so far be it from her heart to speak to others. Yes: if the lace has come I should send it right over -- It is so little to do to put that on that
[ Page 4 ]
Mrs. Pierce* may see to it at once. -- I hope it will be a good board meeting,* and you must think of me at Exeter.
Pinny
Notes
February 1901: While this date is not certain, it is fairly likely. While this seems a late date to be drafting Chapter 30 of The Tory Lover, which appears in Atlantic in June 1901 (available at the end of May), this coincides nicely with the lecture series by Gaston Deschamps at Harvard, if this is the M. Deschamps Fields expects to entertain. See notes below.
F___: For Fuff, a nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents. The vertical line after the horizontal line is clear, but its meaning uncertain, other than as a substitute for a comma.
the ship: Jewett seems to be working on her first draft of The Tory Lover (1901), Chapter 30.
M. Deschamps: It is reasonably possible that Fields entertained French journalist, author and archaeologist Gaston Deschamps (1861-1931) of the Paris Temps, during a visit to the United States, in which he gave the Hyde Lectures for Harvard University's French Circle in February and March 1901. See Harper's Weekly 45 (1901) p. 233.
Mrs. Bullard's: Probably Mrs. Bullard is Fields's neighbor in Boston and Manchester by the Sea, Elizabeth Eliot (1831-1895), who married Stephen Hopkins Bullard (d. 1909). She was a sister of Harvard University President Charles W. Eliot (1834-1926). Find a Grave.
Pinny: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Pierce: Probably Anne Longfellow (1810-1901), sister of American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who married George W. Pierce, described by the poet as "brother-in-law and dearest friend." But Fields and Jewett may have employed a dressmaker named Mrs. Pierce.
board meeting: Presumably a meeting of the Associated Charities of Boston, where Fields was active.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
George Bartol* to Annie Adams Fields
ALL QUOTATIONS ARE MADE FOR IMMEDIATE ACCEPTANCE ONLY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.
General Manager
Cleveland, Ohio. Feb. 25/01
Mrs James T. Fields
148 Charles St
Boston, Mass.
Dear Madam,
I have yours asking aid for Tuskegee School* Alabama. I have just had occasion to look up the donations made by this Co. during the past year, for charities and [ find corrected ] they numbered about thirty, most of them for objects of even more importance than schools, such as hospitals, maternity homes, bethels &c and these are a regular annual charge, depending upon [ deletion ] regular subscriptions to cover their running expenses --
Mrs J. T. Fields
While corporations sometimes give to such objects, it is really not proper for their [ deletion ] officers or even for their Directors to do more than a very limited amount in this way as the business is supposed to be administered by them strictly in the interests of the stockholders and not for charitable purposes. I feel quite sure that in view of the considerable number and amount of moneys now appropriated our Directors would not be willing to consent to give any more even to a worthy object. Thanking you for your letter and regretting that I am unable to help your cause I remain
G Bartol.
Notes
Bartol: George Bartol (1857-1936). See also Find a Grave.
Tuskegee School: Now Tuskegee University.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda Box 12: mss FI 5637, Folder 13. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Philip Washburn Moen* to Annie Adams Fields
AMERICAN STEEL & WIRE COMPANY
Mrs. James T. Fields,
148 Charles St.,
Boston, Mass.
Dear Mrs Fields,
I received your favor of Feb. 5th some days ago and regret that absence from the city made it impossible to answer.
I have known for years, and contributed to the work, of the [ Tuskeegee* so spelled ] School. I realize fully what a splendid work has been done under the leadership of Booker Washington,* but the demand on me for contributions from many directions will make it impossible for me to think of contributing to the endowment fund.
I shall not fail to keep watch of progress made at Tuskeegee and do from time to time what I consider myself able to do.
[ Signed ] Philip W. Moen
Notes
Moen: Philip Washburn Moen (1857-1904) was son of Philip L. Moen (1824-1891), son-in-law of and co-founder with Ichabod Washburn (1798-1868) of Washburn & Moen Manufacturing. American Steel and Wire (1899) was a short-lived company name during mergers in which the original company of which Moen was an officer became part of the United States Steel Corporation in 1901. See The Iron Age (22 September 1904), p. 15.
Tuskeegee School: Now Tuskegee University.
Washington: Wikipedia says: "Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856 - 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American community."
The manuscript of this typed letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda Box 12: mss FI 5637, Folder 13. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Louise Imogen Guiney to Annie Adams Fields
Dearest Mrs. Fields:
This hood is a love, and unique for its purpose. Thank you and Thank you. All seems to smile upon our embarking Thursday night. As to the cottage, ^(built in 1893 or 1894)^ it is at Five Islands, Georgetown, Sagadahoc Co., Maine; and not on any of the five. It has six good-sized unplastered rooms (Chiefly of pine) with piazza, shed, a half-acre, 50 ft. of it a shore front, and right of way over a field or two, to the high-road. No other houses very near, but yet near enough! It is completely furnished, excepting, of course, table
and bed linen. The view is quite glorious. There is a small sleepy village five or six minutes' walk away, with a country store, and perfectly maddening natives to run the same. Bath is thirteen miles south-west. A small boat due at Five Islands, its last landing but one, in one hour, meets every Boston boat and train at Bath, during the season. There are a good many ^Bath^ excursionists who love the crags just below the pier, -- said love expressing itself in cast lobster-shells and pop-corn crumbs, only too frequently; but they have never been seen at our end. The
My love and Au revoir to dear Miss Jewett.* You know my English address, because
[ Page 4 ]
it was your own, with its 1, 2, 3, Pall Mall,* which sounds like an incantation. All good to you, dear friend!
(A cowled Marist.)*
Notes
1901: This date is supported by the letter describing Guiney's preparations for her 1901 voyage to England.
Mrs. Howe: Fields was friendly with Julia Ward Howe, Alice Greenwood Howe, and Fanny Quincy (Mrs. Mark Antony De Wolfe) Howe. If one of these was looking for a summer home in Maine, Julia Ward Howe, who was about 80 years old, probably was a less likely buyer than the younger women. See Key to Correspondents.
Miss Jewett: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Pall Mall: 123 Pall Mall was the London address of the merchant banker, Brown Shipley. International banks often served as collection points for international mail.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields collection Box 26: mss FI 1556. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Robert Collyer to Annie Adams Fields
From Life and Letters of Robert Collyer, 1823-1912, vol. 2, pp 299-301.
On February 26, 1901, Robert Collyer's New York apartment was seriously damaged in a fire. He describes the experience in a letter of 28 February to Annie Adams Fields.
[ Page 299 ]
The alarm of fire came like a bolt from the blue. I had just been to congratulate Parke Godwin on his 85th birthday, dinner was ready almost -- it is there now frozen! -- Maria our maid came in and said, There is a fire at the front. I thought she meant the Lincoln over the way, but in a moment Rob shouted,
'The house is afire, hurry, Father.' I wanted to get my overcoat. He said, 'There's no time.' So we rushed for the iron stairway in the rear. It was full of servants from the apartments, screaming. 'Be quiet,' we said, 'and rush down.' The smoke was very heavy, but we set our heads to it and went through to the basement without harm. The fire started from a curtain ablaze from the story below, and burnt upward to the roof, taking the apartment across the hall, swept away the store rooms above, and all the servants' bedrooms. By this time they got the water tower up and poured floods into our apartment, so that the fire did not get hold, but the water they say was up to mid-leg, and then the ceilings came down, so you can see the sky. I have not been up at all. I dare not face the sight. I feel in my heart it was a living thing, the pretty home nest so warm and sweet, so perfect to its inmates, and now it is dead and frozen, grimed and ghastly. No, I cannot go up. Bertha, Robert and Mr. Roberts have been there. They went there last night when the fire fiend was slain. We had forgotten the canary, we must have it. So they went up, and there the little fellow was still alive in his cage, strewn with black embers, brought him down, gave him sugar with a drop of whiskey, and yester morning he began to pipe a little hoarsely. We were great friends. He would let no man or even woman sit in my chair without fierce protest. The clothes I sit in are all I have at this writing, the bureaus are frozen fast, and in my closet all my nice things are hard as boards with
ice. I did save that old jacket. I had it on. The pictures are all face down in the parlour, but Bertha thinks they are not badly damaged. The books may be not so badly ruined as we feared. . . . My children came down for me the moment they got the alarm. Robert and I are staying with them this week. . . . I was in sore dolour yesterday, but am pulling out I guess. Hosts of friends have come to help us. We want for nothing they can do. But, ah me ! there is the dead and frozen nest all grimed. Well, I weathered the old storm of fire 30 years ago come October [ Great Chicago Fire ], and guess I shall weather this storm of water and fire, so won't be cast down there where the very help of the Lord came for me so long ago. I will let you know about the flotsam and jetsam when I know myself. We have a fair insurance, and generous hearts sweet as a full honeycomb insist on taking hold with us, and will not be said Nay, so that we have full and plenty of funds to get us on our feet. . . ."
Notes
Robert / Robin Staples Collyer (1862-1928) with his wife, Gertrude Savage, lived near to Collyer and, as he aged, helped to keep his house. Bertha is Mrs. John E. Roberts, Collyer's niece, who became Collyer's housekeeper. See The Life and Letters of Robert Collyer 1823-1912.
Richard Sullivan to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ About 1 March 1901]*
33 Brimmer St.
Dear Miss Jewett.
I have read your charming story* in the Atlantic, that is the first five instalments [ so spelled ] and have been very much interested in your [two unreadable words] and extremely agreeable references to my Great grand father Jhon [ so written ] Sullivan* and his family. My cousin Mrs. [ Pichiane ? ] and I beg you to accept a copy of our book,* prepared by Miss Meredith, which I send with this note. I am very much pleased with the portion of your story referring to Paul Jones and the spirited account of his last night in Berwick, and his progress down river to embark in the Ranger. This story has given me so much pleasure that I beg you to accept my best thanks.
Yours cordially
Richard SullivanNotes
1901: Sullivan refers to Jewett's The Tory Lover (1901). The fifth installment in Atlantic Monthly appeared in March 1901. John Paul Jones, an American naval officer during the American Revolution, is a major character in this historical novel.
Sullivan: Master John Sullivan (1692-1796), the writer's great grandfather, appears as a character in The Tory Lover, where he is known as Master Sullivan, an Irish immigrant school master. For further information about him, see "Extended Notes on Characters in The Tory Lover," at the Sarah Orne Jewett Text Project edition of the novel.
our book: Sullivan refers to Materials for a history of the family of John Sullivan of Berwick, New England, and of the O'Sullivans of Ardea, Ireland (1893), compiled by Gertrude Euphemia Meredith from the notes of T. C. Amory, with the approval of Richard Sullivan. His cousin's name is unclear in the manuscript, and she apparently is not named in the book.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Sullivan, Richard 1 letter; [1901 between Feb. and Mar.], bMS Am 1743 (205).
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Augustus Buell to Sarah Orne Jewett
The William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Co.
Office of the President
Beach and Ball Lts.
Philadelphia
Charles H. Cramp,
President
March 1, 1901.
My dear Miss Jewett:
I have received your pleasant letter of the 28th ultimo and I thank you very much for your kind attention.
I have been following your story in the "Atlantic" with much interest but I hope soon to see it in a book. I do not like to follow serial publications. Whenever I am interested in anything I like to have it all before me at once.
When you get ready to revise your serial publication for ultimate reproduction in a book, I shall take great pleasure in suggesting to you the introduction of two or three characters who actually figured in the History of the Ranger. They would be: Reuben Chase of Nantucket, little John Downs of Portsmouth, and Dorotha Hall, the niece of Elijah Hall. I have some very interesting things about them and they could be worked into your story with good effect.
So far as my own book is concerned, I have it on the authority of Mr. Charles Scribner that it is the most successful biography that they have printed in a great many years.
I will tell you one curious little incident: One of the English reviews, the "Atheneum", treats the book from start to finish as a romance, and in the course of an extremely able and entertaining review, laments that I treated so gently, you might say, the affair between Jones and Aimée de Telison.
Henry Waterson, in a quite elaborate review, made the same comment; and the other day Julian Hawthorne published a review, which was one of the best I have seen, and he thinks that I should have elaborated that affair more than I did.
Getting a little tired of this sort of criticism, I took advantage of Julian Hawthorne's review to write him a letter in which, after thanking him for his kindly comment, I remarked in conclusion as follows
"Noting your complaint that I have not sufficiently elaborated the gentle "relations between the Commodore and his little Morganatic Princess of the "House of Bourbon, I take advantage of your own name to ask you this "question: You would not have had me make a 'Scarlet Letter' of it, would "you?"
Very truly yours,
A. C. Buell
Notes
This letter was written on letterhead, so the address is
printed, but the date and text are added.
The occasion of Buell writing to Fields is the publication,
first in serial and then as a book, of The
Tory Lover (1900-1901). Buell's biography of
John Paul Jones appeared while Jewett was composing and revising
her novel, and she drew upon his work for facts incorporated
into the novel. Fortunately, she was somewhat restrained
in her use of the biography, for subsequent scholarship, as
indicated in Wikipedia,
established that Buell fabricated much of the material in his
book.
the affair between Jones and Aimée de Telison:
Buell recounts the relationship between Jones and de Telison in
Chapter 11 of Paul
Jones,
Founder
of
the
American
Navy,
a History (1900).
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ 4 March 1901 ]
I think that the paper about Miss Towne* was ever so much better! You have deepened and solidified it very much, and I think it gives a beautiful idea of her -- I wonder if you weren't right in what you said first, that Mr. Pierce gave the Library?* I think the Hall was Darrah Hall* ---- Your dear Sunday note has just come -- Oh my darling Fuff* you mustn't feel so about going to places where everybody welcomes you
[ Page 2 ]
The day at Exeter was quite beautiful and Aunt Mary* was too pleased with your dear present and remembrance and kept it close at hand to lift and look at. I promised to thank you for she finds writing a burden (not reading!) (I leave a piece to tear off! -- Pinny.
Notes
4 March 1901: The is the second Monday between the death of Laura Towne and the publication of Fields's article on her.
paper about Miss Towne: Fields's "Laura M. Towne" appeared shortly after Towne's death, in the Boston Evening Transcript of Saturday March 9, 1901; pages are not numbered; this piece appears on the 29th page.
Laura Matilda Towne was born May 3, 1825 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and died February 22, 1901 on St. Helena Island, SC. With her friend, Ellen Murray, she established the Penn School and, in myriad ways, served the freed slaves in the Sea Islands near Beaufort, SC, as part of what has been termed "The Port Royal Experiment." See Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne.
Mr. Pierce ... Library: Edward Lillie Pierce (1829-1897), brother of Jewett and Fields friend, Henry Lillie Pierce (see Key to Correspondents). Mr. Pierce was in charge of beginning "The Port Royal Experiment" under the United States Secretary of State in 1862. He brought Laura Towne and other teachers to St. Helena. "In 1883 he gave to the white and colored people of St. Helena Island, the scene of his former labors, a library of 800 volumes."
Darrah Hall: Darrah Hall at what is now the Penn Center on St. Helena's Island, SC, is "the oldest standing structure on the site of the Penn School grounds." A Penn Center article by Diane McMahon suggests that this building was constructed around 1903, making it uncertain whether this is the building Jewett means.
"Darrah" is underlined twice.
Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Pinny: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Aunt Mary: Jewett had two "Aunt Marys." The one residing in Exeter, NH was Mary Olivia Gilman Long. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ 5 March 1901 ]*
I hated to give you one thing extra to do today, and I heard you all out of breath from hurrying upstairs! Such is the telephone -- I have just had such a beautiful time reading your lovely budget of letters which I found when I got home at five o'clock. (making about six hours good work today) Isn't the Paris letter most touching and perfectly beautiful -- that bit about your being out
[ Page 2 ]
in the cold on Charles St. went to my heart -- (
Poor Ned Gilman's death* will be a great blow to his [ Mother corrected
] who has been sadly ill again and is in a delicate way. Mary*
went right up by the early afternoon train and didn't know
whether she should get home tonight or not. Ned had his own
house and has a dear son big and handsome like himself
but his wife is strange -- she
was one of the Crosby's of Hanover a very good family [ but corrected ] while the nice ones are nice the poor ones may be called otherwise. -- a little cracked I think. She took a tiff against everybody and has lived apart, and tried to make him. I thought I had never seen Ned so nice as he was the day of Aunt Mary's birthday celebrations. We had such a dear good time together . . It was so nice to talk six minutes with
you, but I wish I had asked you about Mary Sheehan!* I quite long to know -- what a pity about poor Nelly!)
The sun is breaking out with lovely golden light from the clouds. It must be all along the room in Charles Street -- -- I have been on the sea with my two dear ladies of the story and landing them in Bristol today!* With dearest love Pinny*
Notes
5 March 1901: Fields penciled "1901" in the upper right of page 1. Internal evidence shows that the letter probably was composed the Tuesday after the death of Edward Gilman on 1 March 1901. See notes below.
Fields has used pencil to delete "Annie" in the greeting. Most parenthesis marks in this manuscript also were penciled by Fields.
today): Parentheses around this passage are by Jewett.
Ned Gilman's death: Edward Harrison Gilman died on 1 March 1901. See Mary Elizabeth Gray Bell, his mother, Jewett's Aunt Mary, in Key to Correspondents. Aunt Mary's birthday was 14 April.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Mary Sheehan ... poor Nelly: These people have not been identified. They may be Fields employees or acquaintances.
Bristol today: Jewett refers to Chapter 23 of The Tory Lover, as she works on the serial publication that was in progress through August 1901, in monthly Atlantic installments. Fields has placed her own asterisk here, pointing toward her note at the bottom of the page: "The Tory Lover".
Pinny: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
John G. Holmes* to Annie Adams Fields
314 WOOD STREET
Mrs. Jas. T. [ Field so spelled ]
Boston Mass.
Dear Madam:
Your letter of the 4th of Feb was duly received and has been mislaid{.}
I have already had my attention to the Tuskegee School* and would be glad to do something for the institution but just now I have other interests that I feel have a prior claim.
[ Regreting so spelled ] my apparent neglect in replying to your letter & [ apoligyzing so spelled ] for the same
yours truly
Jn. G. Holmes
Notes
Holmes: Presumably this is John Grier Holmes (1847-1904). See Pittsburgh Press (7 September 1904, p. 1) for obituary.
Tuskegee School: Now Tuskegee University.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda Box 12: mss FI 5637, Folder 13. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc to Sarah Orne Jewett
This letter was composed in French; a transcription follows the translation.
Dear Sarah, I am reading with increasing interest your Tory Lover,* where your personal impressions blend so happily with the story because you have seen Quiberon through the eyes of your hero and he sails with you into the mouth of the Loire. Your travels in Brittany serve you well in rendering the region's atmosphere truthfully. The scene concerning the ring is perfect, the two realistically rendered men acting each according to his temperament.
I really like
unpromising project. He has written: Mr Hall will pay you the same honorarium as the other members of the editorial Board have agreed to accept and respecting which he will write to you. --
I'm waiting, and I'll tell you more next time.
I am finishing a short story in the midst of the bother caused by the arrival of my poor brother* and the obligation I have to see him every two days on the other side of Paris. If you are told one day that I have succumbed to too many worries of all kinds, you will believe it without difficulty{.} To you with all my heart, dear. ThB
My poor Russian friend, Helen de [ Maunkofsky ? ],* for whom you know my long affection, has just undergone a terrible surgery. I am very afraid of cancer.
Mr. Blanc* is in Monte Carlo. I believe he is dominated by unfortunate influences.
Notes
1901: This date is supported by Blanc's commentary on the serial publication of Jewett's The Tory Lover (1901). See notes below.
Tory Lover ... Quiberon: Jewett's final novel, The Tory Lover, appeared first as a serial in Atlantic Monthly, November 1900 through August 1901. After the August installment, the revised novel appeared in book form.
Blanc refers here to Chapters 17-21 of the serialization, which were included in the March 1901 installment. The ring scene occurs in Chapter 20, when Captain John Paul Jones and his Lieutenant, Roger Wallingford, work out how they can manage being naval comrades in arms on The Ranger while being rivals for the hand of the heroine, Mary Hamilton.
Chapter 18 describes the arrival of The Ranger at the shores of France, where Jones has come in the hope of receiving a warship, built secretly in France, to captain in the American Revolutionary War. Jones approaches France near "the low curving shores of Quiberon," a commune and peninsula in Brittany, on the way to Nantes on the river Loire, where he and Walllingford disembark for Paris.
Jewett and Annie Adams Fields had traveled in Brittany in the summer of 1898, during an extended stay in France that included touring southern France with Mme. Blanc and a stay at her home near Paris.
Sullivan's ... Fenelon: The transcription is uncertain, but Blanc appears to have written "S" for Sullivan. Almost certainly she refers to an important historical character in Jewett's The Tory Lover, the pedagogue, Master John Sullivan (1692-1796).
François Fénelon (1651-1715) was a French theologian and Catholic Archbishop. Note that Wikipedia places his death a few years later than 1712, the date Mme. Blanc gives.
Born in and then exiled with his family from Ireland, Sullivan was educated in France and later immigrated to New England, where he became a schoolmaster, providing a classical education for the novel's protagonists, Mary Hamilton and Roger Wallingford. In Chapter 17, Sullivan tells Mary Hamilton about his history:
I was only a Frenchman of my gay and reckless time. There was saving grace for me, and I passed it by; for I knew the great Fénelon, and God forgive my sins, but I have been his poor parishioner from those days to these. I knew his nephew, the Abbé de Beaumont, and I rode with him in the holidays to Cambrai, -- a tiresome journey; but we were young, and we stayed in the good archbishop's house, and heard him preach and say mass. He was the best of Christians: I might have been a worse man but for that noble saint. Yes, I have seen the face of the great Fénelon," and Master Sullivan bent his head and blessed himself. The unconscious habit of his youth served best to express the reverence which lay deep in his aged heart.Jewett left this passage unchanged in the book publication.
advice: The syntax of Blanc's advice is difficult to untangle, making this part of the translation more than usually uncertain. The following note attempts to interpret Blanc's advice and examines how Jewett responded to the suggestions.
In Sullivan's account, the Abbé de Châteauneuf (1650-1703) was one of his elementary teachers in Paris. According to Parton's Life of Voltaire, the abbot was Voltaire's godfather and tutor. He is characterized in The Tory Lover as a freethinker and epicurean, an admirer of the French dramatist, Racine. He recognized young Voltaire's talents and in various ways furthered his early successes, such as introducing him to influential patrons like Anne "Ninon" de L'Enclos (1620-1705), the French author, salonnière and courtesan, who was the mistress of several powerful men, including the Abbé de Châteauneuf. One way she aided Voltaire (1694-1778) was by leaving him a legacy in her will.
In Chapter 17 of the serial, Jewett has Sullivan recall his youth in Paris: "I have seen the Abbé de Châteauneuf pass, with his inseparable copy of Racine sticking out of his pocket, on his way to hear music with Madame de L'Enclos, once mistress to the great Cardinal."
Mme Blanc corrects Jewett's "Madame de L'Enclos" to "Mademoiselle." That may have been her only intention, but her further comments also seem to have had an effect. Blanc continues: "The music was, I think, their least concern, the abbot having succeeded the Cardinal 'as King Louis succeeds Pharamond,' said Victor Hugo." In revising for book publication,Jewett deleted Sullivan's reference to de L'Enclos and "the Great Cardinal." Though we cannot know exactly why Jewett made this choice, it may be that after Blanc had cautioned her about stretching too far to connect Sullivan with French notables, such as Fénelon, Jewett thought more carefully about problems with dates in connecting Sullivan with the abbot, de L'Enclos, and the "Great Cardinal."
Mademoiselle Anne "Ninon" de L'Enclos (1620-1705) was a French author, salonnière and courtesan, who was the mistress of several powerful men, including the Abbé de Châteauneuf. One should note that, according to Wikipedia, various sources give her birth years ranging from 1615 to 1623. While her recent biographer Michel Vergé-Franceschi gives the 1623 birth year, in this note I will use 1620 as likely to be close. Sullivan says that the Abbé de Châteauneuf (1650-1703) was one of his elementary teachers in Paris. Born in 1692, Sullivan could have had the Abbé de Châteauneuf as a teacher, at best, between 1697 and 1703. De L'Enclos could have received the abbot's visits under Sullivan's observation only in those same years of 1697-1703, when the abbot was between 47 and 53 and when de L'Enclos was between about 77 and 83. Almost certainly, the sort of sexual relationship Blanc seems to imply would have taken place years earlier.
Furthermore, though contemporaries apparently believed that de L'Enclos had some sort of liaison with Cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (1585-1642), their life dates also do not coordinate. She would have been only about 22 when he died. Wikipedia indicates that de L'Enclos was at least 23 when she began a career as salonnière and courtesan that was not firmly established until she was near 30. Still, it seems to have been generally accepted that Richelieu and de L'Enclos had some sort of connection. In Ninon de L'Enclos (1903), Charles Robinson reports her birth year as 1615 and gives her an extended and conflicted relationship with Richelieu, but without giving dates, implying that de L'Enclos was a socially and politically powerful woman when, according to Wikipedia, she was living with her mother as a teenager and perhaps during her year in a convent after her mother's death.
One may wonder whether Robinson and others confused de L'Enclos with another, somewhat older salonnière and courtesan, Marion de Lorme (1613-1650). De Lorme was the subject of the play Marion de Lorme (1831) by Victor Hugo (1802-1885), from which Blanc quotes in her advice. Wikipedia says that Cardinal Richelieu was among de Lorme's lovers. See also Wikipedia's summary of Hugo's play.
Blanc's reference to Richelieu, Châteauneuf, King Louis and Pharamond is somewhat puzzling.
Richelieu was, in the 2 decades before his death, chief minister to King Louis XIII of France, who also appears as king in the Hugo's Marion de Lorme, set in 1638. Pharamond was a legendary 8th century king of the Franks, sometimes identified as the first King of France. Blanc seems to say that the abbot relates to the Cardinal as Louis XIII relates to Pharamond. Does she imply that she thinks the Cardinal's relationship with de L'Enclos was legendary, as suggested by the unlikelihood that they really had a sexual relationship? Or does she mean simply that the abbot was one in a succession of sexual partners for de L'Enclos after the Cardinal? Blanc's exact meaning seems uncertain.
Mr. Charles Welsh: Th. Bentzon (Blanc's pen name) is listed as a member of the editorial board of The Young Folks' Library: Selections from the Choicest Literature of all Lands in the 1901 volume of the series, The Young Folks' Library: The Child's Own Book, published by Hall & Lock Company of Boston. Thomas Bailey Aldrich is listed as editor-in-chief, and Charles Welsh was managing editor. Details about Blanc's contributions, if any, are not yet known.
The British-born Welsh (1850-1914) became a professor of English at Notre Dame University, and was author or editor of a long list of books.
Mr. C. Warner's encyclopedia: American author and Jewett correspondent, Charles Dudley Warner (1829-1900). He was editor of an extensive Library of the World's Best Literature (1897).
brother: Christian de Solms. See Blanc in Key to Correspondents.
Maunkofsky: This transcription is uncertain and the person remains unidentified.
Mr. Blanc: Madame Blanc's estranged husband. See Blanc in Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda mss FI 1-5637, Box 5. Transcription, translation and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College, with essential assistance from Jeannine Hammond, Professor of French, Emerita, at Coe College.
Transcription
7 Mars Paris
Chère Sarah, Je viens
de lire avec un intérêt de
plus en plus vif votre Tory
Lover où vos impressions
personnelles se mèlent si
heureusement à l'histoire
car [ vs for vous ] avez vu Quiberon
avec les yeux de votre héros
et il navigue avec vous
à l'embouchure de la
Loire. Votre voyage en
Bretagne vous a bien servie
pour rendre avec vérité
l'atmosphère. La scène
de la bague est parfaite
les deux hommes bien
vivants et agissant chacun
se lon son tempérament
j'aime beaucoup les
souvenirs de France du
vieux [ S ? ] Il est un peu
hasardeux de lui avoir
fait connaître Fenelon qui
mourut en 1712, mais
c'est possible, après tout,
s'il était enfant et l'hommage
qu'il lui rend est si joli.
Me permettez-vous un
conseil? Dans le volume
mettez simplement pour
l'abbé de Châteauneuf,
-- on his way to Melle
not Madame
de Lenclos,
in one word.
La musique était je crois
leur moindre souci
l'abbé ayant succédé au
Cardinal, "comme le Roi
Louis succède à Pharamond,"
disait Victor Hugo.
aujourd'hui pour causer
d'une proposition qui m'est
faite par un Mr Charles
Welsh qui est chargé par
M. Hall publisher in Boston
Boylston Street d'éditer une
Young folk's library
from the world's best books.
Quelque chose, je pense
comme l'encyclopédie
de M. C. Warner mais plus
restreint et par conséquent
plus soigné. Je ne demande
pas mieux que de me
charger comme il me
le demande, de la besogne
pas entrer dans une
affaire improductive.
Il m'écrit: Mr Hall will
pay you the same honorarium
as the other members of the editorial Board have
agreed to accept and respecting
which he will write to you. --
J'attends, et [vs for vous ] en dirai
plus long la prochaine
fois.
J'achève une nouvelle
au milieu du tracas que
me donne l'arrivée de mon
pauvre frère et de l'obligation
où je suis de le voir tous les
[ deux ? ] jours à l'autre extrémité
de Paris. Si l'on [ vs for vous ] dit
un jour que j'ai succombé à
trop de fatigues [ '' marks without meaning ? ] de toute sorte
[ vs for vous ] le croirez sans peine{.} A vous de
tout mon coeur
chérie ThB
Ma pauvre amie Russe Hélène de [ unrecognized name, looks like Maunkofsky ? ]
pour laquelle vous savez mon affection
le [ unrecognized words ] vient de subir une terrible
opération. J'ai grand peur d'un cancer.
M. Blanc est à Monte Carlo{.} Je crois que
de bien fâcheuses influences le dominent{.}
Booker Taliaferro Washington* to Annie Adams Fields
TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE.
(INCORPORATED).
FOR THE TRAINING OF COLORED YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN.
____________________________
| COMMITTEE ON INVESTMENT OF ENDOWMENT FUND ___________________ MR. WM. H. BALDWIN, JR., President Long Island Railroad. 128 Broadway, New York City. MR. J. G. PHELPS STOKES. 47 Cedar St., New York City |
Grand Union Hotel, New York. Tuskegee, Ala. March 11, 1901 |
[ End letterhead ]
148 Charles St., Boston, Mass.
Dear Mrs. Fields: --
I return herewith the letter from Mr. Wick in which he makes certain complaints about our work at Tuskegee.* I would say in the first place that this is the first letter of the kind I have received during the whole of the nearly twenty years of my work at Tuskegee.
I remember distinctly this case. Mr. Robert W. Taylor, one of our graduates, and a very painstaking young man, called upon Mr. Wick at his home in Youngstown as he states, and Mr. Taylor took pains to report the whole case to me. It was so unusual that I took charge of the correspondence myself and I am sure that I wrote Mr. Wick but it seems in some way he failed to receive my letter. I remember the whole matter distinctly. No letter requiring an answer comes to Tuskegee that is not answered, and I have tried to make it plain to all that we do not make any attempt or claim to send out our students as domestic servants to different portions of the country. If we were to go into this work it would occupy all of my time and attention and the work which I consider more vital -- preparing leaders for our people in the South -- would be neglected.
While I am in the city I shall try to call to see Mr. Wick and explain matters to him farther if I can.
[ Signed ] Booker T. Washington.
[ Following is the letter from Henry Wick, mentioned above. ]
[ Begin letterhead ]
National Steel Company
Battery Park Building
New York
HENRY WICK, CHAIRMAN
Mrs. Jas. T. Fields,
148 Charles St.
Boston, Mass.
My Dear Madam --
I am in receipt of letter of the 4th inst. signed by Annie Fields. I regret to say that I have had what seems to me very unsatisfactory experience with the Tuskegee School. They had called upon me at my former residence in Youngstown, Ohio, several years for subscriptions to the school, and I had given them what I felt in keeping with my means at that time, to have been a reasonable sum, believing in a general way that the institution was the means of much good.
They however represented to me with considerable earnestness the great work they were doing, and particularly they were sending out people from the school into active work, and among other things they were training servants for usefulness, and as I found servants were very difficult to obtain at Youngstown, I attempted to open correspondence with Booker Washington to supply me with several female servants.
I received no reply to the letter at all for a considerable length of time, when Mrs.Washington wrote that her husband was absent on a lecture tour, and that he would return in a few days, and take up the subject with me. I never heard anything further from them, until the same clever, young mulatto man, who had called on me at several times previously, came to see me. I listened to the same old, beautiful story of the progress they were making, and the good they were doing.and after I had drawn him out thoroughly as to the number of females they were placing in useful work over the country, I explained to him my experience.
- 2 -
[ Signed ] Henry Wick
Notes
Washington: Wikipedia says: "Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856 - 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American community."
Tuskegee: Now Tuskegee University.
The manuscripts of these typed letters are held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda Box 12: mss FI 5637, Folder 13. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ 13 March 1901 ]*
My dearest Annie
(It is tomorrow that I go to Exeter at 10 & get home at six [ thirty written over 30 -- ) I have been very busy today as well as yesterday trying to make up for time -- I worked so hard yesterday that I was much duller and slower today, and had to push me along but I did very well by sticking to it until late in the afternoon, and so the two days are not lost. (Your notes were delightful.) I wonder if you
[ Page 2 ]
Tonight it is a soft spring rain, I never saw anything so swift as the ways of ice and spring rains -- there has been a deposit in the garden where the water ran earlier & then froze, but today
[ Page 3 ]
it has really hurried out of sight. (Yes, poor Aunt Mary* is really very ill I think, and the loss of this very dear son has given her a terrible blow. Was it not strange that he should have come home to die as it were? and his last words as he fell at poor Mary's feet were about his mother. He suddenly felt ill but tried to beg her not to let his mother know or something like that -- and quickly lost consciousness. There was something very charming and attaching about him -- he seems to have a great many friends, and was not yet forty six so it seems very soon for him to have gone.
[ Page 4 ]
There was a quite terrible picture of him in the morning paper -- it seems a pity to print such things -- he was really [ fine-looking corrected from find- ], at least I always thought so. -- --
I wonder if you did get to Mrs. Cabot's* in the rain?
Yes, dear,
Notes
13 March 1901: This date should be close, since Jewett refers to the death of Edward Gilman, which took place on 1 March 1901, and to Prince Kropotkin's visit to Boston, which lasted for most of March that year. Fields has penciled in upper right, under "Wednesday Evg": "April 18t", but at this time, Kropotkin was in Chicago, having left Boston at the end of March.
Fields has deleted "Annie" in the greeting.
Parenthesis marks in this manuscript were penciled by Fields.
Mrs. Gardner: Isabella Stuart Gardner. See Key to Correspondents.
Prince Kropotkin: Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (1842 - 1921) was a Russian activist, scientist, and philosopher who advocated anarcho-communism. He spent most of March 1901 in Boston, delivering a series of lectures on Russian Literature and other topics (Kropotkin in America, pp. 19-27).
Katharine & Mifs Guild: Katharine's identity is uncertain, but may be Katharine Peabody Loring, a close Jewett friend. See Key to Correspondents.
Miss Guild may be a Back Bay neighbor of Annie Fields, Fannie Carleton Guild, who was the principal of Guild's and Evans' Commonwealth Avenue School in Boston.
Aunt Mary: Edward Harrison Gilman died on 1 March 1901. See Mary Elizabeth Gray Bell, his mother, Jewett's Aunt Mary, in Key to Correspondents. Aunt Mary's birthday was 14 April.
Mrs. Cabot's: Susan Burley Cabot. See Key to Correspondents.
S. S.'s Basket: The meaning of this has not yet been discovered. A likely person with these initials is not known. Could the initials represent "Sunday School" or "Steam Ship?"
P.L.: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Louise Imogen Guiney to Annie Adams Fields
This p.c. fashion is a bad one in which to thank my kindest Dear for the most delicious basket of fruit which ever blessed a dying no-mariner, who could eat little else from shore to shore! But the voyage was perfect, like a sail in the Public Garden swan-boat; and my Aunt proved a true able-bodied seawoman, and enjoyed ^it^ every moment, on deck, or elsewhere. We got in on Sunday, came directly
The address
Notes
1901: This note is written on a post card, mailed from England and cancelled in Boston on 24 March 1901.
W.R.T.A.: "The Women's Rest Tour Association of Boston, Massachusetts comprised a network of middle-class members who collected information about travel abroad and shared it among like-minded American women who required trustworthy non-commercial and unsolicited confidential recommendations suitable for women 'who desire to visit Europe at the least possible expense consistent with comfort'." The organization was founded in 1891. See also "A Summer in England" by Libby Bischof, chapter 9 of Transatlantic Women: Nineteenth-century American Women Writers and Great Britain.
In 1891, Guiney produced A Summer in England. A hand-book for the use of American women, published by the WRTA.
Poste restante: French, also known as "general delivery," when mail is held at a post office until called for by the recipient.
James Jeffrey Roche to Sarah Orne Jewett
My dear Miss Jewett,
If you have not noticed it before, I trust you will pardon me for calling your attention to a slight error in "The Tory Lover",* February [ instalment so spelled ], page 185: "I am no Captain Kidd, nor am I another Tench or Blackbeard." I suppose you wrote the [ unrecognized word ] name, "Teach", who was Blackbeard, unless that was a "Tench", of whose existence my extensive pirate lore has no record. Captain Teach's interesting career
is narrated in The Pirates' Own Book, Boston edition of 1837 pp. 311-23{.}
Your Master Sullivan is a noble contribution to historic fiction and of course Paul Jones is as he should be, the ideal sailorman and sea soldier.
Excuse this intrusion and believe me
Jas Jeffrey Roche
Notes
1901: Associated with this letter is an stationery envelope from the Pilot Editorial Rooms, addressed to Jewett at Atlantic Monthly and forwarded to her in South Berwick, ME. It was cancelled on 16 March 1901 in Boston.
Penciled on the front left side is James Jeffrey Roche.
"The Tory Lover": Jewett's 1901 novel first appeared as a serial in Atlantic Monthly. Jewett corrected the "Tench" error in the book publication.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence, bMS Am 1743 Box 4, Item 188. I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Henry Phipps, Jr.* to Annie Adams Fields
CARNEGIE BUILDING,
PITTSBURG, PA. [So spelled ]
Palm Beach, Florida.
March 16th, 1901.
My dear Mrs Fields: --
I was sorry to learn by your recent letter that Mr Washington* was ill. I do hope for his speedy recovery.
Soon after the receipt of yours I received a letter from the Secretary of the Armstrong Society,* stating that a public meeting would be held in New York on Monday next, and I thought under the circumstances it was better to send my check for $1,000.00 to that meeting, as the aggregate of the collection would no doubt be announced, and this would give the object a good advertisement. I wrote if this were not done to send the check to you, so that it might go through the usual channel of collection.
I am, Dear Mrs Fields,
Yours sincerely,
[ Signed ] H Phipps
P.S.
I am glad to hear that Boston is doing liberally for so good a work.
Mrs Fields,
148 Charles Street,
Boston, Mass.
[ Handwritten bottom left ] First rate!
Notes
Phipps: Wikipedia says Henry Phipps Jr. (1839-1930) "was an American entrepreneur known for his business relationship with Andrew Carnegie."
Washington: Wikipedia says: "Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856 - 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American community."
Armstrong Society: Phipps refers to the Armstrong Association, an organization named after General Samuel Chapman Armstrong (see Key to Correspondents), founder of the Hampton Institute. The Armstrong Association supported the education of African-Americans (and Native Americans) at both the Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes; the association also supported improving educational and economic opportunities for poor whites.
The Atlanta Constitution of 19 March 1901, p. 1, reports on Booker T. Washington's appeal for assistance at a meeting of the Armstrong Association at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Monday 18 March 1901.
The manuscript of this typed letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda Box 12: mss FI 5637, Folder 13. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ 1901 ]*
Just after I wrote you [ Saturday written over Monday ? ] we got a card from Mr. Stubby* to say that he might be expected -- and his visit is now just over, a good whole Sunday which was very pleasant to his aunts.
We had a good many nice talks together, and I look forward to his vacations now with unusual pleasure. He was much interested to hear about Boylston Adams* & his medical school affairs -- Neither he nor I had it in mind to go to church -- and as it happened
[ Page 2 ]
Perhaps now that her Miss -- _____ has gone who kept
[ Page 3 ]
accounts, she will not wish to be Treasurer any longer -- we can see: and act accordingly.
It is the most beautiful of bright Monday mornings -- just like the bright days you were here. I hope that things are opening well in town -- I thought Mary Sheehan's* letter as good as it could be! I shall be so eager to hear about things. I have heard something of what Mr. Paine* told you about the Phillips Brooks life, but in that case it seemed as if it were the
[ Page 4 ]
[widow corrected ] of Arthur Brooks & the William Brooks who had also driven as sharp a bargain as might be and with the effect of Mr. Allen's* being very poorly paid -- How sorrowful! I think they give him but seven per cent on a certain number of copies 5000 -- and then his right ceases. The price of the book is large & this is far more than seven percent on a dollar & a quarter book we must remember = but he has been many years at work, and at this work! -- How Mr. Brooks would have hated anything like this -- the work has been made needlessly long{,} I suppose the family & publisher say to themselves.
[ Page 5 ]
Your report of S.W.'s* little ball is delightful{.} I am so glad you could go -- it gave her great pleasure I know -- Now I must run darling Fuff* -- but it is so easy to go on talking to you and we have such a world of things to say!Pinny*
Notes
1901: This date is based upon Jewett indicating that Allen's Life and Letters of Phillips Brooks has recently been published. See notes below.
Mr. Stubby: Theodore Eastman Jewett, then a student at Harvard University. See Key to Correspondents.
Boylston Adams: Zabdiel Boylston Adams, III, Fields's nephew. See Annie Adams Fields in Key to Correspondents.
Mr. Lewis: Reverend George Lothrop Lewis, Sr. (1839-1910). He was pastor at the First Parish Church (Congregational) in South Berwick, ME, 1874-1910. He read Jewett's funeral sermon.
Mrs. Pitblado's: Almost certainly this is Euphemia Wilson Pitblado (1849 - 1928), an American social reformer and writer, active in Woman Suffrage, Temperance, and missionary support.
Josie Dexter: Josephine Anna Moore (1846-1937) was the second wife of Chicago lawyer Wirt Dexter (1832-1890). She returned to her Boston home after her husband's death, where she died, though she was buried with him in Chicago.
The organization they are discussing with regard to accounts and the treasurer is not yet known.
Mary Sheehan: This person has not yet been identified.
Mr. Paine: Probably this is American philanthropist Robert Treat Paine (1835-1910), a close friend of Phillips Brooks.
Phillips Brooks: See Key to Correspondents.
William Gray Brooks (1834-1912) and Arthur Brooks (1845-1895) were two of his four brothers, the other two having died by 1874. Arthur Books was married to Elizabeth Willard (1855-1916). William Brooks married Mary Jacob Franks (1840-1915).
Alexander Viets Griswold Allen (1841-1908) was the author of Life and Letters of Phillips Brooks (1901).
S.W.'s: Sarah Wyman Whitman. See Key to Correspondents.
Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Pinny: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to James Jeffrey Roche
[Begin letterhead]
South Berwick.
Maine.
I thank you for your kind friendliness about my misspelled pirate* -- it was a piece of carelessness, and shall be set right on the final page.
The Tory Lover was by no means done when I began to print it and so I have been obliged to work at both ends with an idea of trying to meet in the middle! [vertical line, perhaps an incomplete second exclamation point] but I
have been much burdened by winter illness.
I am nearly done with so long a stretch of writing, now, but your note came to me when such kind words were doubly welcome. I appreciated most warmly The Pilots* interest in the first chapters that were printed. It is [very corrected] pleasant to me to carry out
a long cherished wish of [mark resembling 3 below the "o" in of] writing a story of my own neighbourhood and preserving some almost forgotten characters and place-names. Master Sullivan* has always taken great hold upon my imagination as you will easily understand. I wish that one could really know more about him, but it is very interesting to consider the possibilities of his early life.
Believe me
with great regard and my best thanks
Yours sincerely
S. O. Jewett
Notes
1901: Jewett's The Tory Lover was appearing in serial in Atlantic Monthly during the spring of 1901. It seems clear that this letter was written during that spring.
misspelled pirate: Jewett's reference here is puzzling. No pirate appears to be named in either the Atlantic serialization or the final book publication of her novel, The Tory Lover (1901).
The Pilot: The Pilot is "the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston and claims the title of "America's Oldest Catholic Newspaper", having been in continuous publication since its first issue on September 5, 1829."
Master Sullivan: John Sullivan (1692-1796) and his wife Old Margery (c. 1714 - 1801), settled in the Pine Hill area of Berwick, where Master John taught school for many years while Margery managed the farm. Two of their sons, John and James, achieved fame as soldiers and politicians. Sullivan appears as a character in The Tory Lover.
The manuscript of this letter is held by Boston College, the John J. Burns Library: MS1986041. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields (Fragment)
[ Spring 1901 ]*
I had a pretty good morning at the other house -- it was so strange that when I looked over my papers for the next bit of the story* -- the next dozen pages -- they were not there. I found them promptly among some sheets that I thought I had done with, and* went on -- but wouldn't it have been funny to have tried to go on with my work in Boston and found that I had come exactly to the brink of it, and that these next pages were missing? [ There ? ]
seemed an odd kind of fate -- that I should have carried to town exactly what I could do, and ^must^ come back to take the next step. -- I felt a dreadful sense of weight and tiredness this afternoon, but tonight things are better and I am on my way to bed now, it being a little after eight, so I shall hope to get on with Miss Mary
Notes
1901: Fields or perhaps Burton Trafton has written notes about dating in the upper right, below Friday. Their meaning isn't very clear. The writer has deleted "1901" and added numbers placing the letter in the 1880s, perhaps 1882. Or, perhaps, she or he had considered 1902.
In this unsigned fragment, Jewett speaks of writing Chapter 29 of The Tory Lover (1901). It would seem clear that she is working on the seventh of the installments of the novel, which appeared in Atlantic Monthly: May 1901 -- 87: 801-817. Almost certainly, then, Jewett composed this letter in the spring of 1901.
and: In this letter, Jewett often writes "and" as an "a" with a long tail. I have rendered these as "and."
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence II, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, Fields, Annie (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.], 1877-1909 bMS Am 1743 (255).
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe
[ 1901 ]*
South Berwick
Dear Mr. Howe
I brought an advance copy of the April Atlantic to my morning work, and I have found in it your most exquisite poem.* There is a perfect charm in it in thought and wording. I cannot help thanking you for such a pleasure! --
S. O. Jewett
Notes
1901: This date is penciled in parentheses at the top right of the page in another hand. That Howe did have a poem in the April Atlantic in 1901 provides some confirmation.
poem: If the date for this letter is correct, then Jewett refers to Howe's poem, "Fire of Apple-Wood," which appeared in the April 1901 Atlantic Monthly pp. 587-8.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University in Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe additional papers, 1880-1959. MS Am 1524 (774). Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 16 letters from; 1891-1903. Transcribed and annotated by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Louise Imogen Guiney to Annie Adams Fields
It wasn't pure gracelessness which has kept me so long from thanking you for that delicious and most serviceable box! or for the cosy hood which came into play the instant I could straggle deckwards. The voyage was a perfect one, and my Aunt made a distinguished first appearance as a deep-sea sailor. As for me, 'ask me no more!'* It was a prolonged scandal, in a ship of five passengers. We had rather ill luck in London, during our few days, thanks to Aunty's being housebound with a bad foot; to our misadventure in taking lodgings at a place very lately on our W.R.T.A.* list, where we were starved, but had mottoes of the 'Rejoice in the Lord always"* pattern to gaze at on the dining-room wall; and to my own difficulty discovering a spot for storing my books, papers, etc.,
where they should be at all times accessible. But we both like this little wild duck of a town, stuck on a steep hillside over a magnificent hatbox, with its staircase-streets, and Elizabethan gables, and moving sea-smells, and town-criers, and curfews, and clotted cream, and 'all that's nice'.* The surf off the point is running high in the equinoctial wind, and it is really startling to watch it, bright blood-red all along the beaches, and crested with palest rose-color instead of white. Sandstone surely has its romantic uses! We are cosily and quaintly lodged, for the mad sum of ten shillings per week, including all cooking and attendance.
Tell dear Miss Jewett* I shall find a print of Sir Thomas More* for her, some day yet! All love to you both. Your transient Devonian* and enduring friend.
Dartmouth, Devon. 21st March, 1901.
Notes
'ask me no more!': Guiney presumably alludes to "Ask me no more," a poem from British poet Alfred Lord Tennyson's (1809-1892) The Princess (1847), though it is possible she alludes to another poem with the same title and refrain by British poet Thomas Carew (1596-1640). Or perhaps she alludes to both.
W.R.T.A.: "The Women's Rest Tour Association of Boston, Massachusetts comprised a network of middle-class members who collected information about travel abroad and shared it among like-minded American women who required trustworthy non-commercial and unsolicited confidential recommendations suitable for women 'who desire to visit Europe at the least possible expense consistent with comfort'." The organization was founded in 1891. See also "A Summer in England" by Libby Bischof, chapter 9 of Transatlantic Women: Nineteenth-century American Women Writers and Great Britain.
In 1891, Guiney produced A Summer in England. A hand-book for the use of American women, published by the WRTA.
always: This sentence appears in the Bible, Philippians 4:4-9.
'all that's nice': Perhaps Guiney alludes to the nursery rhyme comparing little boys and little girls: girls are made of "Sugar and spice, / And all that's nice."
Miss Jewett: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Devonian: Guiney refers not to the familiar geological Devonian age, but to her residence in Devon, a county in Southwest England from which the name of the geological period derives.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields collection Box 26: mss FI 1633. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Irving Bemis Mower
[ 1901 ]*
[ Begin letterhead ]
South Berwick Maine
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Mr. Mower
I am sorry that I have not had time
either to see you or to write an answer to your letter, but
owing to my illness I have been behindhand about my work lately
-- it was not such a bad case of the grippe for the month of
February, but it has proved a bad hindrance.
I have thought a great deal about
your suggestion
but without seeing my way to making a permanent historical exhibition or society just yet.*
Those persons, and they are many, who have ^valuable^ things, especially papers & furniture related to our town history, are perhaps their best custodians. I do think however that we may make the excuse of some public interest to have an exhibition, a temporary one, which would bring
out such treasures. We could see what there is then and I could perhaps get the excellent idea started [ deletion ] in people's minds.
We must have a talk about it -- I am just going to Boston for two or three days, and when I come back we must have a Library meeting* -- do not you think so?*
Yours with great regard
Sarah O. Jewett.
Notes
1901: Associated with this letter is an enveloped
addressed to Rev. Mower in South Berwick, canceled in South
Berwick on 23 March 1901.
just yet: Richard Cary points out that no local
historical society was formed in South Berwick at this time,
though the Berwick Woman's Club held Local History Department
meetings in the Jewett home.
Library meeting: Cary notes that Jewett, her sister,
Mary, and her nephew, Theodore Eastman, served at various times
on the administrative committee of the Fogg Memorial Library at
the Berwick Academy.
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Abbie S. Beede to Sarah Orne Jewett
Dear Mifs Jewett; --
I am glad to be able to mail you this last [ instalment so spelled ]* today, and hope you may find no egregious errors in it.
I thought I copied page 52 (manuscript) with care, but later on found an allusion to the "two ... men" that I had left out -- kindly allow me to re-write these pages if there are any changes to be made --- I wish I were near enough to you to make all changes for you on the machine. ---
I just held my breath while
that motley crowd was at the "Old Passage inn", but they were all happily disposed of ....
On general principles I quite agree with Howells in regard to capital punishment,* but it would have given me some satisfaction if Dickson had been hanged - - - there was an involuntary fear that he would "turn up" again, sometime, and where. - - -
Oh, Mifs Jewett this story has been such a pleasure to me during this long, shut-in winter. I never could have enjoyed reading ^it^ half as much in any other way --
Mrs. Varney* and I had a most delightful plan to drive to Mrs. Burleigh's yesterday and be organized with the [ 'Club,' corrected ] but it was the old story of "the best laid plans of mice and men."*
I want to tell you that I saw a glorious Blackburnian warbler this morning in the snowy apple-tree under my window. The fearless little fellow twittered and warbled about in a most charming ^way,^ giving us ample opportunity to study him with a field glass. --
Pardon this long note [ would ? ] you? and believe me
Abbie S. Beede
Notes
1901: Beede's weather report and her reference to the final installment of The Tory Lover (1901) place this letter in late winter or early spring of 1901, when Jewett was completing work on the serialization of her final novel. I have made an arbitrary guess at the approximate date.
Page 1, upper center, appears a note in another hand: Refers to "Tory Lover".
instalment: Beede writes about helping Jewett with copying and typing her final novel, The Tory Lover (1901). As she refers to an installment, almost certainly she is working on the serialization, the last part of which appeared in Atlantic Monthly is August 1901. This part includes incidents at the Passage Inn, which stands today on the Severn, near Aust, UK.
Howells ... capital punishment: William Dean Howells. See Key to Correspondents. Howells became known for his opposition to the death penalty and frequently wrote about it, both in fiction and in his essays. See, for example, his "Execution by Electricity" in Harper's Weekly, 14 January 1888.
Mrs. Varney: This may be Carrie (Mrs. Charles) Varney (d. 1910) of South Berwick. See Pirsig, The Placenames of South Berwick, p. 22. It is not yet known to which club Beede refers.
Mrs. Burleigh's: This may be Matilda Burleigh, a South Berwick neighbor, the widow of mill owner and Maine congressman, John Holmes Burleigh (1822-1877).
best laid plans of mice and men: From Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796), "To a Mouse": "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley.”
Blackburnian warbler: A small migratory bird that winters in Central and South America and flies to northeastern North America to breed. The bird's presence in Beede's town of Berwick, ME, would signal that spring weather is near.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Beill [?], Abbie L. 1 letter; [n.d.], bMS Am 1743 (21).
This transcription is from a photocopy held by the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Box 2, Folder 99, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Wyman Whitman to Sarah Orne Jewett
Sunday
It was terrible pleasant, darling to find your message here when I got my morning's mail -- & most dear of [ you ? ] it was to read it. ---- I did exactly as [ pleased ? ] so far as all the main issues were concerned, and regretting the [ supine ? ] conditions of a large city, whereby valuable hours are lost between 6.30 and 9 am, at which time I was in full [ armour ? ] & only anxious to be allowed to carry all the re=
[ Page 2 ]
After this [ opening ? ], I proceeded into the day's game. Very successful: because I did all I had meant to do! a little more. Kate* I saw for a few minutes -- & she is all right, which is a great point -- for [ Candice ? ], as you thought, comes for Easter, because of [ home ? ] & Church -- But I guess she will come if urged before long. I should have [ urged ? ] for just after Easter, but Lily
[ Page 3 ]
Hoppin* is coming here then -- so it could not be
with old Coolidge & Lily too. -----
And of all sorts of New York
episodes, pictures [ talks or folks ] &c. I
will speak at Easter, when you will be lunching or dining here I
guess! and only now stating that I just [ read this new
instalment ? ] [ unrecognized words ] I got on
board the 5 [ o clk so written ] train -- I found a
splendid piece
[ Page 4 ]
of work indeed, as [ unrecognized words, a name? ] testified. Indeed I must tell you that I think it quite wonderful to write a chapter like this, and have it make history & romance* all at once. I only hate to have to take it in parts. I want to have it all now: I cant be satisfied to do it so -- except that
I find I have to. -----
These [ unrecognized word ] places I want to to speak of, as well as the Flag episode -- and we will, on meeting.
Till then bless you & yours -- all so safe & happy in the dear old House today --- Palm Sunday -- and [ we ? ] love you.
_Sw_
Notes
31 March 1901: The envelope associated with this letter was cancelled on 31 March 1901 and addressed to Jewett in South Berwick. Penciled in another hand on the front of the envelope: "New York Tory Lover &c". In 1901, Palm Sunday fell on 31 March, Easter on 7 April.
Flos ... babies: Florence Lockwood (1864-1944) married American architect, Christopher Grant LaFarge (1862-1938) of Heins & LaFarge. See also Stedman Families Research Center.
Her parents were Benoni Lockwood (1834-1909) and Florence Bayard Lockwood (1842-1898). They had twin daughters, Florence Bayard (31 May 1895 - 20 July 1902) and Margaret Grant (31 May 1895-1983), the latter as Margaret Grant LaFarge Osborn, the author of The Ring and the Dream (1947). Their sons were Christopher Grant (1897-1956), Oliver Hazard Perry (19 December 1901-1963), and Francis Willing (1903-1981).
Kate: Whitman and Jewett shared too many friends named "Kate," to be certain which one this is, but she may refer to Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, who wrote the "Katy" stories as Susan Coolidge. Coolidge is mentioned later in this letter. See Key to Correspondents. Candice has not been identified.
Lily Hoppin: Eliza Mason Hoppin. See Key to Correspondents.
history & romance: Whitman refers to Jewett's novel, The Tory Lover, currently in about the middle of its serialization. She has been reading the April issue of Atlantic Monthly, which included Chapter 23, later titled, "The Salute to the Flag."
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Whitman, Sarah (Wyman) 1842-1904. 92 letters; [1884]-[1903] & [n.d.] Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence, 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 -107. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ April 1901 ]*
Dearest (Annie)
(All gone away, and being much missed by everyone!)
-- It is getting to be a late morning partly through being so dark, and I mustn't stop to write long; only to say that I walked home from the station and went up toward Salmon Falls to see the printer about our catalogues for the library (and then stopped to see Becca's sister Mrs. Wentworth*
[ Page 2 ]
and had a pleasant little call ---)* I met Mrs.
Rollins* coming out of her gate and she was full of excitement
over The Tory Lover* -- & said she was as far as April, and
couldn't wait for the month to go which was great news to the
writer! Mary* and I settled down to a quiet evening, and Mr.
Hobbs* came in and stayed some time, and told me some very
interesting things about Madam Wallingford,* his great
grandmother
which I never had known before. One was that it was she* who built the old house down the street where he lives for her daughter Madam Cushing -- and came & lived there in her last days. [ This ? ] was bringing things nearer than ever! (The great house by the river was burnt -- (but not by my mob, as we have seen !! )* I [ am corrected ] getting so mixed up between truth & true fiction !!
It is a dark grey morning. -- How busy you will be about the house and at your'
dear little desk! Goodbye dear with love and blessings from
Notes
April 1901: Fields penciled "1901" in the upper right of page 1. Internal evidence confirms this date and shows the letter to have been composed in April. See notes below.
Except for those around the first sentence of the letter, parenthesis marks in this manuscript also were penciled by Fields.
Becca's sister Mrs. Wentworth: Becca is Rebecca Young. See Key to Correspondents. Her sister, Mrs. Wentworth, has not yet been identified.
---): The line as well as the parenthesis mark have been penciled in by Fields.
Mrs. Rollins: Richard Cary says: "Ellen Augusta Lord Rollins (1835-1922) lived at Main and Young streets in South Berwick, within sight of Miss Jewett's home."
The Tory Lover: Jewett's The Tory Lover appeared as a serial in Atlantic Monthly from November 1900 through August 1901, before being released as a book.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Mr. Hobbs: This probably is Charles C. Hobbs (1835-1917), local historian in South Berwick. He is a grandson of Olive Wallingford Cushing of South Berwick.
Madam Wallingford: A principal character in The Tory Lover.
she: Jewett underlines this word twice.
seen !! ): The parentheses around this sentence are by Jewett.
Pinny: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Abbie S. Beede
Dear Mifs Beede
Will you please copy these pages at your convenience and let me have them again?
Notes
1902: An envelope associated with this note is addressed to Mifs A. S. Beede, North Berwick, ME, and cancelled in Manchester, MA on 23 July 1903. The envelope is covered on both sides with penciled lines, marks, and some figures.
Kelsey Squire notes that the envelope probably does not really go with the note, because the ink differs between the envelope and the letter, and handwriting and content are likely to precede Jewett's September 1902 carriage accident.
In the absence of helpful information, I can date this letter only within the period during which Jewett and Beede were actively working together: 1900 to September 1902. I have chosen to place it during a period when they were especially engaged, while Jewett was composing The Tory Lover (1901).
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0173.
Transcription by Kelsey Squire, Ohio Dominican University; edited and with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ March/April 1901 ]*
On reflection I send back all these notes -- you may like to refer to Alice's* notes &c. And here is this dear and most tempting note of Sally Norton!* I haven't had a more enchanting invitation for years! Cant you see the dear wise little dog? I feel as if you & S.W.* must go = in an automobile! I will promise the automobile if you will ask her & take her out. It is all poor Pinny* can do and would be a vast pleasure, so as to hear
[ Page 2 ]
on a nice piece of toast for Mary* and me and on such a surprising nice breakfast! And lobsters to follow, and a maigre dinner* of more oysters! Oh what a dear Fuff* to think of it! I had a real treat and we are so much obliged. We have pretty much given up having oysters here, they are so uncertain, but these were really delicious{.} (I'd no idea they made such a noise.)
[ Page 3 ]
I got through my work better yesterday and can send some to Miss Beede* ^today.^ It hasn't been the best of weeks for working but I have done pretty well, and begin to feel in better trim, I thought that I left today's work pretty well laid out but I dont dare to promise you. Mrs. Doe* came over and spent the day and was really delightful -- so pleased with your visit to her as she always is. I didn't get to the Academy meeting* {--} it was so wet but put the great occasion off before I went to the other house* in the morning.
[ Page 4 ]
I went up to the printers -- toward Salmon Falls ^early^ to see about the catalogues,
If you would like to ask Miss Shedlock* for an evening next week I will pay for her -- she does sound very nice but you [ can ? ] tell when you see her what you think about this. Then we could ask Mrs. Harry Williams* & other friends! ---- Now I must write a note to Sally Norton & then run! On the whole I think I shall run first & write to Sally this afternoon!
Pinny
Notes
March/April 1901: There is circumstantial evidence in this letter to support 1900 and 1901 as composition dates. I have chosen 1901 because Jewett reports providing regular work for her typist, suggesting that she is working on final drafts of The Tory Lover, which is more likely at this time of year in 1901.
Alice's: Probably this is Mary Alice Longfellow, but it could be Alice Greenwood Howe. See Key to Correspondents.
Sally Norton: Sarah Norton. See Key to Correspondents.
S.W.: Sarah Wyman Whitman. See Key to Correspondents.
Pinny: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
morning: This word may be underlined.
Mary Woods: This person has not been identified. She is mentioned in letter to Mary Rice Jewett believed to have been composed October 15, 1900.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
maigre dinner: A dinner without meat, but possibly with fish, such as would be eaten on some days in Lent, usually Friday for Catholics. For Protestants, such meatless meals usually were not obligatory. If the 1901 date is correct, then Lent would have been 20 February until Easter on 7 April.
Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Miss Beede: Abbie S. Beede, according to the Maine Women Writers Collection worked as a typist for Jewett and Fields, 1900 - 1903. Miss Beede lived in North Berwick, ME, and did not marry.
If the date of this letter is correct, Jewett probably would have been finishing The Tory Lover, which was appearing in serial in Atlantic Monthly through August before being released as a book.
Mrs. Doe: Edith Bell Haven Doe. See Key to Correspondents.
Academy meeting: Richard Cary says: "The Fogg Memorial Library, housed in a wing of the Berwick Academy, was the only public library in South Berwick at this time. It was administered by a committee of Academy officials and townspeople, of which Miss Jewett, her sister Mary, and nephew Theodore Eastman were members."
See Jewett to Fields on Wednesday morning, April 1901.
It appears that Jewett became involved with printing an updated library catalogue for the Berwick Academy. Wendy Pirsig of the Old Berwick Historical Society says: The term “catalogue” seems to be what was used to list books so patrons would know what was on loan, and presumably this would have been kept up when the library moved into Fogg Memorial Building in 1894. The printer may have been the newspaper, the Salmon Falls Independent, which covered both Salmon Falls, NH and South Berwick, ME. In 1901 the printing office may have been located on Salmon Street, South Berwick (now “lower Main Street”).
other house: Before 1887, Jewett would be referring to the house on the corner, where she and Mary Rice Jewett moved after the death of their Uncle William in 1887. However, as this letter seems to come from 1901, it is not clear what the other house would be. Perhaps her father's house next door, which had been the residence of Carrie Jewett and Edward Eastman? See Key to Correspondents.
Miss Shedlock: Marie L. Shedlock (1854-1935), a British story-teller, author of The Art of the Story-Teller (1915). She began a tour of the United States in 1900, remaining until 1907, presenting readings and lectures on fairy-tales.
Mrs. Harry Williams: Almost certainly this is the Dr. Williams who cared for Fields during illnesses at about this time. Francis Henry Williams (1852-1936) was making his name at Boston City Hospital in the 1890s for developing ways of using x-rays for chest scans. In 1891, he married Anna Dunn Phillips (d. 1933) of Boston. Before 1895, they were distant neighbors of Fields, at 23 Marlborough St.
See Jewett to Abby S. Beede of Thursday morning 1902.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc to Annie Adams Fields
This letter was composed in French; a transcription follows the translation.
You see, dear Annie, that I wasted no time in sending a little note;* it was longer, but the newsletter required that I shorten it, which I regret a little. I hope one day to discuss the whole of your work more fully. Tell Sarah, if she is with you, that I have just completed the most recent part of her Tory Lover* and that
I will give my opinion as soon as Holy Week has passed and I have completed a short story for which M. Brunetière* presses me. I am very tired, and troubled with vision problems that I attribute to overworking my brain. This has been a heavy year in every way for me. It is time to take a break. Maybe I will take a short trip to Russia.
without my have given him any sign of remembrance, as it has been almost a year since I set foot in La Ferté. My brother* remains in Paris continuing his treatment, which seems to help. I see him as often as I can, but that adds a major effort to my daily routine. At any time, this rheumatism in my arms will flare up. Perhaps spring, which feels close despite the heavy snowfall, will release me.
Exhausted, M. Brunetière finally has left to spend a fortnight in Nice.
Thanks for your mailings. Everything you can send me about the Consumers League and about the Exchange will be a boon.* Everyone comes to me for information regarding the efforts intelligent women are striving to organize here since the 1900 Congress.* I promised that you will keep us up to date.
My article on the complete works of Col. Higginson* will appear soon. I hope he will not be unhappy, even though I said what I believe with a necessary sincerity.
Th B
When I see M. Blanc,* after his return from Monaco, I will give him your greeting. Louis* asks that I send his respects.
Notes
1901: This date is confirmed by Blanc's reference to the serial publication of Jewett's novel, which ran through August of 1901. She also mentions Holy Week as imminent. In 1901, Easter Sunday fell on 7 April. See notes below.
note: The publication to which Blanc refers is not yet known.
Tory Lover: Sarah Orne Jewett's final novel, The Tory Lover appeared as an Atlantic Monthly serial in 1900-1901 before its book publication in 1901. Blanc wrote to Jewett on 7 March 1901, with two pages of commentary on her representation of France in the March installment. See Key to Correspondents.
short story ... M. Brunetière: In 1893, Ferdinand Brunetière (1849-1906) became editor of Revue des Deux Mondes, where he served until his death.
Possibly, Blanc refers to "L'Autobiographie d'un Nègre," which appeared in Revue des Deux Mondes 5:4 (15 October 1901) pp. 759-801.
Helen: Other letters indicate that Helen Maunkofsky -- this transcription is uncertain -- was a Russian friend of Blanc and her son. She has not yet been identified further. See Blanc to Jewett of 7 March 1901.
Mme. Jaccaci: An M. Jaccaci appears in letters during Blanc's travels in the United States. The transcription remains uncertain, and these people have not yet been identified.
Belloni: In a diary of the 1898 tour of France that included Fields, Blanc and Jewett, Fields gives several pages to describing a visit with Gaëtano Belloni, who had once been private secretary to Hungarian composer and musician, Franz Liszt (1811-1886). See Alan Walker, Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years, 1811-1847 (1987).
brother: Christian de Solms. See Blanc in Key to Correspondents.
boon: Possibly, Blanc refers to the National Consumers League, an American consumer organization founded in 1899. What she means by "the Exchange" is not yet known.
1900 Congress: The Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900 took place 14 April - 12 November 1900. See Blanc's letter to Fields of December 1899.
article ... Col. Higginson: Thomas Wentworth Higginson. See Key to Correspondents.
Blanc's article was "Un Américain Représentatif: Thomas Wentworth Higginson" Revue des Deux Mondes 3:3 (1 June 1901) pp. 616-655.
M. Blanc: Madame Blanc's estranged husband. See Blanc in Key to Correspondents.
Louis: This transcription is somewhat uncertain. However, as Blanc refers to him (or her) by first name, she probably means her nephew, Frédéric Louis de Solms, whom Fields had met during her 1898 travels in France. See Blanc in Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda mss FI 1-5637, Box 5. Transcription, translation and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College, with essential assistance from Jeannine Hammond, Professor of French, Emerita, at Coe College.
Transcription
Blanc sometimes abbreviates "pour" to "pr" and "vous" to "vs." Such instances in this letter are rendered as "pour" and "vous."
que je n'ai pas tardé
à envoyer la petite
note; elle était plus
longue, mais les exigences
du bulletin l'ont
accourcie et je le regrette
un peu. Un jour en
reprenant l'ensemble
mieux, j'espère. -- Dites
à Sarah, si elle est
auprès de [ vous ? ] que je
viens d'achever la
dernière partie [ unrecognized word ]
de son Tory Lover et que
je lui donnerai mon
avis dès que les exercices
de la Semaine Sainte
et une petite nouvelle
pour laquelle me
presse M. Brunetière me
le permettront. Je suis
très fatiguée, avec des
troubles du côté de la
vue que j'attribue au
surmenage du cerveau.
Cette année a été lourde
pour moi à tous égards{.}
Il est temps que je
me repose. Peut-être
irai-je un peu en
Russie. Ma pauvre Hélène
dont je vous ai souvent
parlé, vient de subir
une opération, et désire
me voir. Combien
d'épreuves pour tous!
Je me réjouis de penser
que vous avez bien passé
l'hiver. [ Mrs Jaccaci ? ] qui
est à Paris pour un
mois encore, m'assure
qu'il a été superbe chez
vous; ici nous n'en
avons jamais connu
de plus long et de
plus horrible. Le pauvre
Belloni s'est éteint,
sans que je lui aie
donné signe de souvenir
puis qu'il y a près d'un
an que je n'ai mis
le pied à La Ferté.
Mon frère continue à
Paris un traitement qui
paraît lui réussir assez
bien. Je vais le voir
autant que je peux,
mais tout ce que s'ajoute
à mes habitudes quotidiennes
m'est un grand effort.
À chaque instant ce
rhumatisme du bras me
reprend violemment.
Peut-être le printemps que
l'on sent proche malgré
les tombées épaisses de neige
va-t-il me délivrer.
M. Brunetière épuisé est enfin
parti pour Nice où il passera
une quinzaine.
Merci de votre envoi. Tout ce que
vous pouvez m'envoyer sur the ^Consumers^ League
et sur the Exchange sera un bienfait.
Tout le monde s'adresse à moi
pour avoir des renseignements sur
les oeuvres que depuis le Congrès de 1900
les femmes intelligentes s'efforcent
d'organiser ici. J'ai promis que
vous nous tiendrez au courant{.}
Mon article sur l'oeuvre complète
du Col Higginson doit paraître sous peu{.}
J'espère qu'il n'en sera pas
mécontent quoique j'ai dit ce
que je pense avec la sincerité
necéssaire.
Th B
Quand je verrai M. Blanc revenu
de Monaco, je lui ferai votre commission{.}
[ Louis ? ] me charge toujours de ses respects{.}
Sarah Orne Jewett to Frank Stanley Stebbins*
Boston 4 April
[ 1901 ]*
Will you be kind enough to return to me the material I gave you for the Catalogue? About the Seal: I do not think that you will need to have it re-drawn on Stone which would be pretty expensive. I did not know that the Library seal was incorrect -- there was a little difference made in the shading, I remember -- but that is better fitted for its present use ^as label^
than for
I think that
S. O. Jewett
I feel
-- Will you be so kind as to return to me the
I enclose a proof of the pages you sent me which I
had done, thinking that they might be some little help ^
[ Begin long deletion ] Will you please say to the Trustees that I
Sarah O. Jewett
Notes
1901: This letter concerns preparations for the dedication of the new Fogg Memorial Library at the Berwick Academy in South Berwick, ME.
Stebbins: Frank Stanley Stebbins (1866- ), a Harvard law graduate (1893), served as principal of the Berwick Academy (1898-1902). See The Stebbins Genealogy (1904), p. 974.
Cogswell Prize: The Berwick Academy Middle School continues to give William Lambert Cogswell Prize Book Awards to the highest GPA in each class.
Mr. Hobbs: This probably is Charles C. Hobbs (1835-1917), local historian in South Berwick.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743 Box 6, Item 276.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Robert Underwood Johnson
South Berwick, Me.
I am very sorry that I have fallen behind-hand and lost a pretty good reputation for keeping my promises to kind editors about stories. I shall have to ask your patience for a month or two yet, for I am just at work on my last two numbers of "The Tory Lover,"* and I do not dare, now, to lay the work down until it is finished. I was just coming down with a bad attack of grippe when I saw you and Mrs. Johnson in Boston. (I was wondering in those very days what in the world was the matter with me!) and I was so many weeks getting over it that I begin to think I shall never quite catch up with belated stories or anything else. I shall; they are pretty well caught up with now! * * * *
Sarah O. Jewett.
Notes
1901: This letter was typed, presumably by Abbie S. Beede, who, according to the Maine Women Writers Collection, worked as a typist for Jewett and Fields, 1900 - 1903. Miss Beede lived in North Berwick, ME, and did not marry.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the New York Public Library, Century Company records 1870-1930s [bulk 1886-1918], Series 1, General Correspondence 1870-1930, b. 51, Jewett, Sarah Orne 1889-1901.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ 6 April 1901 ]*
Dearest (Annie)
I forgot to tell you that I dont want the little pictures that were [ found ? ] -- I mean to keep the [ Hophaer ? corrected ] -- and the others will do for Christmas* -- Will you please give this little envelope to John -- and give a word to Cassie* to say that I was disappointed about coming for Easter -- They like to have their little presents and I am sorry that I cant be there
[ Page 2 ]
to make a bit of pleasure in that way -- I think on the whole that I shall settle it by means of additional envelopes !! Fuff* is not to fuss -- it is easier than pink dresses! I had a splendid morning yesterday with the after effect of lying on my comfy bed a good part of the afternoon and not even
[ Page 3 ]
wanting to read dear Mrs. Oliphant* or any favorite author -- I wrote myself all to pieces, but whether I can do it again today as I should like who can say! -----(Darling Fuff I had last weeks flowers added on to this Saturday's, so if you want a few to send away.
Oh what a bungle did* come! I was delighted to have the things to read in the evening. We have
[ Page 4 ]
been feasting on your good things every way & Mary* will see to the Clock -- with dear love and I shall think of you tomorrowHow nice about this evening! I wish I were going to be there{.} There is a Kiss in this letter for F____!
Notes
6 April 1901: Fields penciled "Apr. 6? 1901" in the upper right of page 1. Easter fell on 7 April in 1901. In the absence of corroboration in the manuscript, I have accepted this date.
Parenthesis marks have been penciled in by Fields.
Christmas: The uncertain transcription of "Hophaer" makes this sentence mysterious.
John ... Cassie: This John probably is an employee of Annie Fields. Cassie probably is a cook, as suggested in a letter to Carrie Jewett Eastman of 8 September 1895. No further identification has been found.
Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Oliphant: Scottish author Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant (1828 - 1897). If the dating of this letter is correct, there would be no "new" Oliphant to read.
Jewett's report of active writing is borne out by her publishing three new stories in the second half of 1901.
did: This word is underlined twice. Jewett probably is playfully calling a bundle a "bungle."
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Pinny: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Louise Imogen Guiney to Annie Adams Fields
You were once Mr. Whittier's biographer:* now behold Retribution in the shape of a Constant Reader coming for information! Will you not tell me, or put me in the way of finding out, everything knowable about his Greenleaf ancestors? Who was the first American Greenleaf of his line? Was he a Quaker? and from what part of England did he emigrate? My dear friend Miss Morgan* of Brecon (my colleague on that book long-a-brewing about Henry Vaughan) has a perfectly exquisite theory about Mr. Whittier's Greenleaf ancestor having been of Staffordshire, a Quaker, and not in America prior to 1675 or so. If these
things would only come true, J.G.W. would be descended from Lucy,* [ Vaughan's corrected ] eldest child, whom we have unearthed, after a fashion! But we cannot go by 'divine guesses.'* Oh, shan't I thank you with salaams if you can but set us right about this.
Here is a primrose, here is an ivy-leaf; ask Miss Jewett* not to scorn them, for I plucked them for her two days ago, in a pouring rain, from the hedge next to Herrick's grave* at Dean, in his 'dull Devonshire.'* There are trees, all about, that he knew, and brooks, and ancient low-browed cottages. I walked fourteen miles that wet April day, with my head full of his thrush-music.
Love to you. (I write letters and between-letters, it would appear!) Ever yours,
(This from Plymouth, April 6, 1901.)
Notes
Mr. Whittier's biographer: John Greenleaf Whittier. See Key to Correspondents.
Fields's Whittier: Notes of his Life and of his Friendships (1893) does not explore his Greenleaf ancestry.
Samuel T. Pickard's account of Whittier's ancestry shows that the theory of Whittier's descent from Henry Vaughan (see notes below) probably is only a "divine guess" (v. 1, pp. 11-12).
Miss Morgan: Wikipedia says: With Gwenllian Morgan, Guiney prepared materials for an edition and biography of the seventeenth-century Welsh poet Henry Vaughan. Neither Guiney nor Morgan lived to complete the project, however, and their research was used by F. E. Hutchinson for his 1947 biography Henry Vaughan.
Gwenllian Elizabeth Fanny Morgan (1852-1939) was a Welsh antiquary and author and was the first woman in Wales to serve as a mayor.
Lucy: Welsh poet Henry Vaughan (1621-1695). With his first wife, Catherine Wise, he had four children: Thomas, Lucy, Frances, and Catherine.
'divine guesses': Guiney's use of quotation marks suggests an allusion, but to what is not yet known.
Miss Jewett: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Herrick's grave: British poet Robert Herrick (1591-1674). He is buried at Dean Prior in Devon, where he served as vicar. Guiney refers to his poem "Discontents in Devon."
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields collection Box 26: mss FI 1634. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ 8 April 1901 ]*
Dearest Annie
I am in such a hurry to hear about the dinner Saturday & Miss Shedlock* & all! -- but I know it must have been nice and pleasant. Coolidge* would be so glad to see Mr. Morton* for one thing: and they must have given Miss Shedlock a proper sense of American humour between 'em!) ----
What a great flood we have had and what a dark Easter but I did have a splendid
[ Page 2 ]
[ Page 3 ]
the dinner if I can. Perhaps you think this is very trying to a hostess and if you can make the table square without me, why just leave me out anyway -- and then there will be no uncertainty. (
I got a letter from Mr. ^R. Underwood^ Johnson* which I have been expecting but I told him he must still wait a while for the Century story -- He said that his son Owen's book is coming out this week. I do hope that they may have real pleasure & satisfaction out of it -- [ several deleted words ]. I should
[ Page 4 ]
never feel sure that they might not -- they both have gifts, and this boy may have put these all together into one head! I must not write anymore, for I want what poor wits I can muster for this morning. I really long for your letter but I shall not expect it until afternoon.
Dont you love to think of going to Mrs. Lyman's?* Do keep the letter about the car = but we can drive out. I was wondering if you all went to the Concert in an automobile!
Notes
8 April 1901: Jewett must be working toward finishing The Tory Lover in the spring of 1901, at about the time that Owen Johnson's first novel appeared. She says that Easter has recently passed, which was on 7 April in 1901. See notes below.
Someone, probably Annie Fields, has penciled an open parenthesis mark before "Annie" and then deleted this name in the greeting. The remaining parenthesis marks in this letter were penciled probably by Fields.
Shedlock: Marie L. Shedlock (1854-1935), a British story-teller, author of The Art of the Story-Teller (1915). She began a tour of the United States in 1900, remaining until 1907, presenting readings and lectures on fairy-tales.
Coolidge: Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, who wrote under the name, Susan Coolidge. See Key to Correspondents.
Mr. Morton: Probably this is Johnson Morton. See Key to Correspondents.
story: Almost certainly, Jewett is working on The Tory Lover, which appeared in Atlantic Monthly from November 1900 to August 1901.
Pinny: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
^ R. Underwood^ Johnson ... Owen's book: Robert Underwood Johnson (1853-1937), American author and diplomat, who was editor of Century Magazine (1881-1913).
His son, Owen McMahon Johnson (1878-1952), became an author, best remembered for his school fiction, the "Lawrenceville Stories." His first book was Arrows of the Almighty (1901).
Jewett is not known to have published a story in Century after 1898.
Mrs. Lyman's: Fields and Jewett almost certainly were acquainted with Theodore Lyman (1833- 1897), a Union officer in the Civil War, scientist and congressman, and his wife Elizabeth Russell (1836-1911). Their son, Henry Lyman (1878-1934), was a Harvard classmate of Jewett's nephew, Theodore Jewett Eastman (see Key to Correspondents.)
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ 20 April 1901 ]*
Dear Annie
There are three tickets to the Pudding Play -- as I thought -- so we can all go together that Saturday Evening May 4th and you might put it down, though I dont believe we shall be likely to omit so great an occasion -- I met Mary & Theodore* [ deleted letters of ? ] at Exeter where they had been spending the afternoon and we all came home together. It was dusty and cold -- but this morning a little rain
[ Page 2 ]
[ Page 3 ]
we meant to do but I really did feel feel tired -- so we must forgive me. ----- I dont seem to have any news dear, we are just through breakfast and I am bound for the other house.* -- you will see me Monday morning at half past ten -- if all goes well --
Pinny*
[ Page 4 ]
I forgot ^to^ tell you that I met Fanny Quincy yesterday morning and had a nice little talk with her -- She said that ^she went home with^ Mrs. Howe the day before & Mark* had gone to Washington DC!! She was so* nice about Mrs. Howe, and said "she disproved all the mother-in-law theory" (or 'prejudices'.).
Notes
20 April 1901: A note in the upper right corner of page one, possibly by Fields reads: "April 20th". This date squares with Jewett's placing of 4 May on a Saturday, and makes the likely date of this letter in 1901. See notes below.
Fields has penciled an open parenthesis mark between "Dear" and Annie."
Pudding Play ... Saturday Evening May 4th: If the date of this letter is correct, then the Hasty Pudding theatrical Jewett hopes to see is The Dynamiters.
Harvard's Hasty Pudding Club at this time was known chiefly for its original theatrical productions. The 26 April 1901 production was "The Dynamiters." This letter indicates that the show was repeated on 4 May.
Mary & Theodore: Mary Rice Jewett and Theodore Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.
Salem Street: In Boston, MA.
Marigold's: Mary Langdon Greenwood (Mrs. James)
Lodge. See Key
to
Correspondents. Mrs. Lodge had died in 1889, so
presumably Jewett refers to a chair connected with her at Annie
Fields's home.
Mrs. Howe ... Mark: This Mrs. Howe is Eliza Whitney (1826-1909), third wife of Episcopal Bishop Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe (1808-1895). Their son was the author and editor Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe (1864-1960), who married Fanny Huntington Quincy (1870-1933) in 1899. See Key to Correspondents.
so: Jewett has underlined this word twice.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ April 1901 ]
Dearest Annie
I got home all right and found Eva* here, and I wish she could stay longer {--} she really seems to need the rest so much. To-day however, she seems better than yesterday -- a great deal, -- [ and corrected ] perhaps this little change of air & scene will keep her going until she gets away.
Mrs. Tyson and Theodore arrived ^at six^ in solemn company, with great [amiability ? ] expressed on their countenances! -- Mrs Tyson has gone down to the house* and will
[ Page 2 ]
not be back until late this afternoon. It is a
lovely day to be out of doors and to see about her planting
&c. She is going to Philadelphia tomorr
early this week and Elise moves with the family the early part
of next week & has the house cleaned &c then she
comes back about the first of May. I think she seems very
cheerful and as Katy* sagely said, as if her nerves were
stronger.
Stubby is in very comfortable
frame and delighted to have
[ Page 3 ]
his vacation. Harry Lyman* is better, and the
Doctor, who is a Pudding man,* thinks that he will be able to
play his parts in the Dynamiters.*
Mrs. Tyson brought down the North
American with Mr. Howell's paper on Barrett Wendell's book
which you must red. I shall send a card to Miss Hunt at
Darnrells to send a copy to the house -- in [ fact corrected
] the card is already written. For the first time he
writes a criticism, on
[ Page 4 ]
Mr. Henry James's* level it seems to me. It seems to me that I have never read anything of his of this sort that was so good.
What a dear good little time we had together [ darling corrected ] Fuff.*
Eva has just gone -- we have
had a lovely walk on the hill this afternoon. I wish you
had been too --
With dear love
Pinny*
Notes
April 1901: Fields penciled "April 1901" in the upper right of page 1. Internal evidence confirms this date.
Eva: Probably Baroness Eva von Blomberg. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Tyson and Theodore: Emily Tyson and Theodore Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents. Theodore's nickname is Stubby.
the house: Hamilton House. See Emily Tyson in Key to Correspondents.
Katy: Probably Catherine (Katy) Drinan. See Key to Correspondents.
Harry Lyman ... the Dynamiters: Henry Lyman (1878-1928) was a Harvard College classmate of Theodore Jewett Eastman. His parents were Theodore Lyman (1833-1897) and Elizabeth Russell (1836-1911). After several years of travel and work, he went on to study medicine (Harvard 1912). He married Elizabeth (Lilla) Perry (1880-1982) of Boston, who may have been a Jewett relative, in December 1908.
Harvard's Hasty Pudding Club at this time was known chiefly for its original theatrical productions. The 26 April 1901 production was "The Dynamiters." Henry Lyman played the "leader of the dynamiters."
Mr. Howell's paper on Barrett Wendell's book: William Dean Howells (See Key to Correspondents) published his review of Harvard Professor Barrett Wendell's A Literary History of America, "Professor Barrett Wendell's Notions of American Literature," in The North American Review 172 (April 1901) 623-40.
Miss Hunt at Darnrells: The transcription of the business name is uncertain. Presumably this is a supplier of magazines in the Boston area in 1901, but neither the business nor Miss Hunt has been identified.
Henry James: See Key to Correspondents.
Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Pinny: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Chauncey Woolsey to Sarah Orne Jewett
with a small drawing of an arm lifted above water grasping what appears to be a bone. ]
93, RHODE ISLAND AVENUE,
NEWPORT.
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Sarah
I have been hoping that you would find time to write me about Richfield.* Is there a hope that you may be able to go [ there ? ] with me early in June? A lady who knows the place well -- to comment "Tunnicliff Cottage,* "kept [ by a Mrs Getman ? ] is extremely nice and comfortable in [ every ? ] way. If I am so happy as to have you as a companion, you will have preferences of your own, perhaps -- and I am perfectly willing to go anywhere that you
like. It is [ 4 unrecognized words, final 3 underlined ] to me, as I have no choice of my own. If you cannot be with me I will try the Tunnicliff place faute de mieux.* The Spring House, where you perhaps stayed, was burned down some time [ unrecognized word ], and I have not heard of it being re=built though I dare say it has been.
Oh Sarah dear -- it would be awfully nice if you could go. Dont you think it would be fun for you after your [ long pull of ? ] work? Is the "Tory Lover"* nearly finished? I long to hear that you have put it behind you.
There is such a sense
of rest when you can lean back against a big job instead of having it lean back on you.
Do you suppose the ladies before the Flood* [ sat ] as we do to=day asking each other whether they have ever seen such weather? What a month it has been: not one smile. -- I break late a [ 2 unrecognized words ] after these weeks of damp, and long to hurry on to Richfield and see if I cannot create [ less ? ]. [ Dora ? ] is enduring the damp in Cambridge just now, and my neighbors are so sorry for me that they ask me out to dinner every night, -- And each time that I go out I break open.
Love to Mary* and
oh, may it kindly stand that you go to q. with me!
Coolidge
Notes
Richfield: Richfield Springs, NY, was known for its sulfur springs, where 19th-century patients sought relief for various conditions, rheumatism in Jewett's case. Jewett stayed there at the Spring House fairly often, notably in 1894. The Spring House burned in 1897 and was not rebuilt.
Cottage: The quotation mark after "comment" seems to be a stray.
An ad in the Richfield Springs Daily for 4 September 1902 (p. 1), offers "pleasant accommodations" at Tunnicliff Cottage, opening on 1 June, and operated by Mrs. J. F. Getman.
faute de mieux: French: lacking a better alternative.
Tory Lover: The final serial installment of Jewett's final novel, The Tory Lover, appeared in Atlantic Monthly in August 1901. Jewett reports in other letters from April 1901 that she was at work finishing the final two installments.
the Flood: In the Bible, Genesis 5-9, is the story of Noah and his ark in the great flood that, according to legend, inundated the entire world, leaving Noah and his family as the only survivors. Seen "Noah" in Wikipedia.
Dora: Dora was, presumably, Woolsey's sister, Theodora Walton Woolsey (1840-1910).
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743 Box 5, Item 244.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ 1 May 1901 ]*
It was more than usual good to get your letter yesterday afternoon! but now that we are so near a meeting I am saving up many things to say instead of write -- not that there are any [ subjects corrected ] of high importance, but it is so comfortable to talk. Dont ask me about the story -- I must try to put it out of mind while I am away -- these two nights I dream and dream about it, and it grows very hard to do near the end -- (I suppose you will be at the Board meeting* ---- oh no -- it is next
[ Page 2 ]
week and I always make that foolish mistake.)
Today is Mayday: we ought to get some May flowers as I have not
done this year and perhaps I shall get a drive toward night. I
went to the Academy* yesterday and had a noble session and then
went down to Mrs. Sewall's afterward, Timmy* in hand.
I read a story of Crawford's*
last night which had greater bits in it than anything of his
that I have ever read -- A Rose of Yesterday. It is not new, by
[ Page 3 ]
five or six years I should think -- but I never
came upon it before; but it has some quite
wonderful pages -- with great depth of feeling, and yet it is
rather done by main force, and ought to be cut a good deal to
show its real beauty -- There is real feeling in it.
I have in hand a story
that poor John Thaxter* sent me -- and I must write and say the
other thing -- wonderful observations of people and the growing
world but so little selective power and some spots of a kind of
brutal coarseness of appre-
[ Page 4 ]
hension that are hard to bear. (I suppose it was the same sense in his father that made Browning* the only witness to his inner life! I pity poor John but it does seem as if anybody might look at the magazines for himself and see what things are printed, as a sort of guide -- -- He is toiling terribly at these stories, and they keep him busy, and so far it is well.
Notes
1 May 1901: Fields penciled "1901" in the upper right of page 1. Evidence in the letter tends to support this date. See notes below.
Parenthesis marks in this manuscript also were penciled by Fields.
Board meeting: Presumably Jewett refers to the board of Associated Charities of Boston, on which Fields served.
Academy: The Berwick Academy in South Berwick, ME.
Mrs. Sewall's ... Timmy: Probably Jewett refers to a South Berwick neighbor, Helen D. Sewall (1845-1922), who was sister to Jotham and Jane Sewall. See Pirsig, The Placenames of South Berwick, p. 75.
Timmy is a Jewett dog, mentioned in letters from near the turn of the 20th Century.
Crawford's: Francis Marion Crawford (1854 - 1909) was a prolific American fiction writer, author of A Rose of Yesterday (1897).
John Thaxter: Fields has deleted the name and inserted in pencil the initials "S. B." In 1901, Jewett read several of Thaxter's writings and attempted to advise him on revision and publication.
Browning: Presumably, Jewett refers to the British poet, Robert Browning (1812-1889).
Mrs Holland: Mrs. Sara Ormsby Burgwin Holland. See Key to Correspondents.
Fuffy: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
P. L.: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to John Thaxter
South Berwick, Maine
May 3, [1901]
Dear Mr. Thaxter:
I must say first of all that I am very
sorry indeed for your annoyance in regard to your affairs with
Mr. Stedman.1 I well
remember that you were guided in his direction by my advice, and
that I spoke warmly to him about your work and the promise that
it seemed to me to give. I fear that he must have gone to
pieces. When I had to do with him before, he had been most
business-like, and I knew that he was in contact with many
publications of different sorts, but I have heard nothing of him
now for a long time.
About this story: I find in it a new
proof of your gifts of observation -- it is wonderful how you
get the talk of your characters. But I think that episode with
the half-witted man is very unpleasant, too unpleasant,
so that it may have been the reason why the story has failed of
acceptance. It is as true and close a study of character as the
rest, but quite too horrible, and carries a kind of disgust with
it for the wretched creature.2 I don't think the
story needs such a proof of the lover's helpfulness. I believe
it would be better to leave it out. Your point in the assurance
of the heroine's heart that she was not doing wrong is
original. I would add a remark on the part of William that he
didn't generally believe in doing evil that good might come, but
he never had reproached himself about that foolin' of Mirandy.
He might watch them some evening as they stood together happily
in the houseyard, for a little final paragraph, and say this.
I think that I should send the story to
Mr. Alden* again; but you may not like either my subtraction or
my addition!
In haste, with kindest regards,
S. O. Jewett
Notes
See Richard Cary. "Jewett on Writing Short Stories." Colby
Library Quarterly 10 (June 1964): 425-440.
1Mr. Stedman: Arthur Griffin Stedman (1859-1908), son of Edmund Clarence Stedman, maintained a literary agency in addition to his own literary work. He prepared the biographies for A Library of American Literature, which was jointly edited by his father and Ellen M. Hutchinson in 1892; compiled a volume of selected poems by Whitman; brought out an edition of Melville's Typee; and supervised a series called Fiction, Fact, and Fancy.
2 Around this time Miss Jewett wrote to Annie Fields, in part: "I have in hand a story that poor John Thaxter sent me -- and I must write and say the other thing -- wonderful observation of people and the growing world but so little selecting power and some spots of a kind of brutal coarseness of apprehension that are hard to bear … I pity poor John but it does seem as if anybody might look at the magazines for himself and see what things are printed, as a sort of guide. He is toiling terribly at these stories, and they keep him busy, and so far it is well." (Houghton Library, Harvard)
Editor's Notes
Mr. Alden: Henry Mills Alden, editor of Harper's Magazine. See Correspondents.
This letter is edited and annotated by Richard Cary in Sarah Orne Jewett Letters; the ms. is held by Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine.
Sophia Wallingford Smith to Sarah Orne Jewett
May 10th 1900 [1901?]
To
Miss Sarah Orne Jewett
Dear Madam
I was greatly interested in your story "The Tory Lover" appearing in the Atlantic Monthly and I wish to ask whether the characters in the story are fictitious or historical. The hero Roger Wallingford [anchors?] the [personality?] of my fraternal grand-father Samuel Richard Wallingford [first?] lieutenant on the "Ranger" under Capt. Paul Jones{.} Lieutenant Wallingford was married to Lydia Baker and was killed before the birth of his son -- George my father -- Madame Wallingford is also a familiar character to me. Berwick and its neighborhood is well known [to us as well?]. My sister Olive attended the Berwick Academy. [And we] made our home with our great-aunt Madame Cushing. With us at school were Mary [Nason?], her sister Lucia and [Miss Woodhouse?].* I am sure are familiar to you. With apologies for troubling you.
I am
Yrs truly,
S. Wallingford Smith
15 Ohio St.
Bangor
Notes
It would appear that this letter is misdated, or that the date
is incorrectly transcribed. Smith could not have begun
reading The Tory Lover in Atlantic until
November 1900.
Olive: Sophia Wallingford Cushing Smith
(1820-1908), and her sister, Olive Wallingford Cushing (1817-1887).
Mary [Nason?], her sister Lucia Woodhouse:
These
people
have
not
yet
been
identified, though the Nason family has a long history in South
Berwick, ME.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University: bMS Am 1743 (201); transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Abbie S. Beede
[ October 1900 - May 1901 ]*
Dear Mifs Beede
Will you be so kind as to send me the chapters of The Tory Lover here by mail when you have got them done, if you can get them into the mail not later than tomorrow morning, as I find that I must go to Boston in the afternoon? If [ they are written over it is ] not ready will you please send them to 148 Charles Street?
There is no hurry about the short story, but when that is done it can go to Charles Street too.
Notes
October 1900 - May 1901: Beede is typing an installment for Jewett's The Tory Lover, which appeared in an Atlantic Monthly serial, November 1900 - August 1901. This letter was composed at some point during Jewett's writing of the serial installments. I have chosen to place it when Jewett was in South Berwick, but planning to join Fields soon.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0179.
Transcription by Kelsey Squire, Ohio Dominican University; edited and with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Bliss Perry
13th May
[ 1901 ]*
South Berwick. Maine.
[ End Letterhead ]
Dear Mr. Perry
This is a short instalment [ so spelled ] of The Tory Lover* but it seems to leave off in a very good place! If you should like more copy however it is at your service. The August number will be a longer one.
I return this delightful
treasury of fun: rustic and Collegiate! ---- I hope that you will forgive me for keeping it so long, but more than once when I have taken Mr. Pratt* in my hand to carry back to you I have not been able to resist the pleasure of reading him a little more.
With thanks
S. O. Jewett
Notes
1901: Jewett is sending Perry the penultimate serial installment (July) of her 1901 novel, The Tory Lover, for the Atlantic Monthly.
Mr. Pratt: The identity of this person is uncertain. Jewett was acquainted with Charles Stuart Pratt, husband of Eliza Pratt. See Key to Correspondents. This Mr. Pratt was the author of a number of books for children, for which "rustic and Collegiate" seem inappropriate descriptors.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Small Library, University of Virginia, Special Collections MSS 6218, Sarah Orne Jewett Papers. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Frances Rollins Morse to Sarah Orne Jewett
(A rainy) Sunday
May 19
[ 1901 ]*
Dearest Sarah --
Since I last wrote you the situation has decidedly improved. And convalescence has reached [ thru ? ] the subconscious processes, so that
the glance of the eye and the lines of the face, and oh, the frank brave look come back, tell of returning health -- So weathercock Frances stands up once more with feathers
all a-preened, pointing to "fair weather" -- But libations to the gods are in order to preserve such happy conditions --
I hope to see you soon -- and did I tell you I should like to know your [ "quarterly" ? ] or was that in the letter I tore up? I hope the writing has gone well --
Love to you -- from
Notes
1901: Associated with this letter is an envelope addressed to Jewett in South Berwick, cancelled in Boston on 19 May 1901.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Morse, Frances Rollins, 1850-1928. 3 letters, bMS Am 1743 (157).
A note with this entry in the Houghton Finding Guide implies this letter is not from Francis Rollins Morse, but there is no rationale for that observation.
This transcription is from a photocopy held by the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Box 2, Folder 97, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Robert Underwood and Katharine McMahon Johnson
May 19th
My dear
Mr. & Mrs Johnson;
I was indeed startled by the marriage cards of your daughter. I cannot quite make it seem true yet! You have a gift for this thing in your family! My best wishes go to you and to your children.
I found on my desk a neglected note written on the reverse of this sheet which I trust you will not consider as coming quite too late!
most truly yours
Notes
1901: Agnes McMahon Johnson (1880-1968) married Frank Howell Holden (1870-1937) on 15 May 1901.
This manuscript is held by the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin. MS Johnson, RU Recip. Fields, Annie, 7 ALS, 1 APCS to Robert Underwood Johnson. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
John Marr to Sarah Orne Jewett
Miss Sarah Orne Jewett,
South Berwick, Maine,
Dear Miss Jewett.
In [ looking corrected ] over my collection of old books, not long ago, I found the book herewith and take the liberty to send it to you. It may not interest you beyond, perhaps, its age and the short biography it contains of the life of Thomas Johnson, the last survivor of the crew of the Bon-homme Richard.*
I find another old book entitled,
"The Prisoners of 1776,"
-- Also
"An Account of the several cruises of the squadron under the
command of Commodore John Paul Jones --"
2
containing a list of prisoners confined in the Mill Prison, Plymouth, England, including the names of those who served under Paul Jones. 20 were from Kittery, 9 from Berwick, and 4 from York. Two of the names ^(who served under Jones)^ are of interest to me, inasmuch as Thos. Hammett of Berwick, was the brother of Sarah (Hammett) Marr, -- my great grandmother, -- Ichabod Lord of Berwick, -- if my data is correct -- was brother of my grandmother Sherah (Lord) Neal, of North Berwick.
The work was compiled from the journal of Charles Herbert of Newburyport, -- in 1847 -- who served under Paul Jones, and was a prisoner in Old Mill Prison.*
It is possible that you may have
3
the work in your library, if not, will you allow me the pleasure of sending it to you?--
I send the indian arrowheads I promised you on my last trip to Maine. They are scarce specimens of their kind. Does it seem to you possible that they were chipped into shape by the use of a block of wood?, as scientists say they were.
Wish I had something nice to send you in acknowledgment of your uniform courtesy and kindness to an old man. I am now the oldest man living, born in the section I came from except Columbia (Columbus) Warren* who is two years my senior.
By the way,! -- Can't you give us a little sketch of the
history of the paper and papering of the old parlor of the [
once ?] "Frosts Hotel" in your village?* -- Few perhaps,
4 have ever seen the quaint old paper, and many
that have would fail to appreciate it from a lack of the proper
knowledge of the story it tells. -- --
A stranger once approached Mr Dickens* and was told to go away and not bother him! The stranger politely replied that Mr D. belonged to the pubic and that every man that could read owned an interest in him, and he respectfully begged leave to bother his individual interest.
As "Sarah Orne Jewett" I trust and hope you will accept my apology, and perhaps, look kindly upon my individual right to bother you.
Yours Truly
John Marr.*
#659 Averill Ave.
Rochester, N.Y.
Notes
Thomas Johnson, the last survivor of the crew of the
Bon-homme Richard: Possibly, Marr has given
Jewett a copy of The
Land
We
Live
in:
Or,
Travels,
Sketches and Adventures in North and South America.... (1859),
by Charles Augustus Goodrich, which contains a brief
account of Thomas Johnson, p. 334. The Bon-Homme
Richard was under John Paul
Jones's command in 1779 when he captured the British
frigate Serapis.
journal of Charles Herbert of Newburyport: Charles
Herbert, A Relic
of the Revolution (1847).
Warren: Columbia (Columby) Warren (1817-1908) resided in
South Berwick, the Columbia Warren house being one of the oldest
remaining houses in South Berwick, according to Historic New
England. Warren appears as a character in the historical
novel, Dunnybrook (1943) by Gladys Hasty Carroll
(1904-1999). See also Wikipedia.
"Frosts Hotel" in your village: Jewett eventually
set two stories at Frost's
Hotel in South Berwick, ME: "The
Stage Tavern" (1900) and "Peg's
Little Chair" (1891). For a brief account of the
history of Frost's Hotel, see Pirsig, The Placenames of
South Berwick (2007), p. 94. Pirsig says: the
"hand-painted French wallpaper dating to 1799 and showing the
bay of Naples from the mural "Les Vues D'Italie" is said to have
survived in the former hotel, but has been paneled over."
stranger once approached Mr Dickens: No source for
this anecdote has been found. Presumably Marr refers to
British author Charles Dickens (1812-1870).
Marr: Below the signature, someone has penciled:
(born in South Berwick).
The ms. of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard
University: bMS Am 1743 (146); transcription and notes by Terry
Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Abbie S. Beede
Tuesday 28th May
[ 1901 ]*
Dear Miss Beede
I find (by a receipt to be signed) that your copy of my chapters is at the post office here. -- I think that you must have made your fingers fly faster than usual through such a long installment, and I shall try to be quick in my turn today and* get it corrected so that I can take it to the publisher tomorrow.
I hoped to see you on Wednesday
to ask you to be kind enough to let me have a memorandum of what I owe you -- I must be deep in your debt by this time. I know that I shall always be owing you my best thanks for your kind care and interest. . Pretty soon I shall have some other things to send you; I wish that two much belated short stories were ready to send you now! I go home tomorrow, and I shall hope to hear from you there as soon as it is convenient.
_______
I wonder how you felt about the ending? So many long threads had to be tied into a smooth knot that I found it a very hard piece of work to do.
Notes
1901: Beede has typed the final installment of The Tory Lover for publication in the August 1901 Atlantic Monthly.
and: In this letter, as she sometimes does, Jewett has often shortened "and" to an "a" with a long tail. I have rendered all of these as "and."
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0176.
Transcription by Kelsey Squire, Ohio Dominican University; edited and with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to John Thaxter
South Berwick, Maine
[May-June 1901]
Dear Mr. Thaxter:
I think the first half of this new
story is the best work you have done, but I don't feel sure that
the story as a whole is as good as the last -- no, I like that
and the one with the bird on the wave better. But there is such
good humour in this. I wonder if you cannot think over
the ending and make it a little freer. I am almost persuaded
that I should have the dress prevail! And after all its visions
and delays have Miss Sarah Burr reap a triumphant victory and
when she goes to the parsonage she looks so splendid and puts
on
such an easy gayety with her new garment that the Captain
finds her approachable and all is settled! What do you think of
this? The other sister would affectionately admire -- you could
dispose of her; but one's heart is appealed to by Miss Sarah
Burr. I couldn't bear to see her cast down. I am sure Mrs.
Thaxter* will agree with me that she showed a splendid fight,
and such funny determination.
Have you tried the Saturday Evening
Post in Philadelphia? They use a good many stories -- and
Outing?
I am very much hurried this morning, so
please forgive such a letter as this.
Yours most sincerely,
S. O. Jewett
Notes
See Richard Cary. "Jewett on Writing Short Stories." Colby
Library Quarterly 10 (June 1964): 425-440.
Wikipedia
also says: Outing was a late-nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century American magazine covering a variety of
sporting activities. It began publication in 1882 as the Wheelman
'an illustrated magazine of cycling literature and news' and had
four title changes before ceasing publication in 1923."
Mrs. Thaxter: Thaxter's wife was Mary Gertrude
Stoddard (b. 1858). Cary notes that Thaxter was not
successful at publishing his stories.
This letter is edited by Richard Cary in Sarah Orne Jewett
Letters; the ms. is held by Colby College Special
Collections, Waterville, Maine.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Abbie S. Beede
South Berwick, Maine
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Mifs Beede
I send this cheque which you ought to be hardly able to read, for faded ink as well as thanks -- but I hope both will be distinct enough! Thank you for your two most kind and helpful letters -- What you say of the story is a great reassurance to its writer who is just now
comparing the actual thing with all the dreams she had of what it might be! I do not think you can know how great a pleasure your interest has been, for you have known The Tory Lover* at closer quarters than any one.
In haste -- and leaving many words unwritten
Sarah O. Jewett
I never saw a Blackburnian warbler -- but I did see some dear little cedar birds the other day, the first in a great while!
Notes
The Tory Lover: Jewett's novel first appeared as a serial in Atlantic Monthly, November 1900 through August 1901, before taking form as a book in the autumn of 1901.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0167
Transcription by Kelsey Squire, Ohio Dominican University; edited and with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
Thursday morning
[ June 1901 ]
I found Mrs. Tyson* at the newspaper
[ Page 2 ]
[ Page 3 ]
It is a lovely morning and I wish you were hear, dear. I am not sure that I shall be much at work until afternoon but I have got many small things to do about the house ^this morning^ as you will imagine: some shelves to be put up in the garret for books &c --
Dear Fuffy* you were so kind and dear this time! I love you the more and I promise that I wont be so fretful again. You
[ Page 4 ]
do have to have much patience with so poor a Pinny,* but she couldn't very well help getting so tired, and she is never much of a Spring Pinny: she never was! and it is too late to begin I fear!
A letter from Helen Merriman* who thinks of coming down from Stonehurst to spend the night. -- She went up there day before yesterday a planting.
= With a heart full of love
I watched you [ deleted word ] to Cambridge Street corner!
Notes
June 1901: This date is speculative, but probably close to correct, based in part upon this letter's seeming connection with other letters that take note of a visit to South Berwick from Helen Merriman about this time.
Mrs. Tyson: Emily Tyson. See Key to Correspondents.
so: This word is underlined twice.
Manning (or Farquhar's,): Jacob W. Manning's Reading Nursery in Reading, MA, sold seeds, plants and gardening supplies on site and by mail order. R. & J. Farquhar Company of Boston, MA sold seeds and gardening supplies by mail order.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
148: Annie Fields's Boston home at 148 Charles St.
Fuffy: A nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Pinny: Pinny Lawson (P.L. / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Helen Merriman: See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ June 1901 ]*
Yesterday turned out much as expected though I got more work done than my sinking heart counted upon when I was writing you. There were no end of things that kept both Mary* and me trotting as fast as we could -- and then at about four the Tysons* appeared with beaming faces it was such a lovely day! and we drove off, we four, in the open wagon and found some nice woods where there were
[ Page 2 ]
plenty of things growing even large belated
mayflowers which were a great pleasure to me because I hadn't
picked any this year. I do so which that you had been with us
dear -- it was lovely to be out of doors. When we got back at a
little before six there was a nice telegram to say that Helen*
was really coming and Mary told Elise but not Mrs. Tyson and tea
dallied along until after the quarter to seven train came in
when Mary proudly appeared with
[ Page 3 ]
old Helen* in hand and there was great
rejoicing! We had a very pleasant evening -- I really hate to
leave Helen all this morning when she is to stay only one day,
but I suppose I must. It was very wet early but now it grows brighter
and brighter again -- we promised to go down to H --
House* to luncheon.
I was oh so glad to get
your dear note yesterday{.} I send you this one from Coolidge,
so as to know about S.W.*
[ Page 4 ]
I suppose she will be coming home today -- Helen seems remarkably well -- I think her week in Virginia must have given her a real start --
Goodby dearest little Fuff. I shall think of your this afternoon.
I got my papers and was busy this morning because I waked up early -- so you see I am making the most of time!
Notes
June 1901: Fields penciled "during 1901" in the upper left of page 1. Other information in the letter is consistent with this date.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Tysons: For Emily Tyson and her step-daughter, Elise, See Key to Correspondents.
Helen: Which Helen Jewett means from among their acquaintance is not certain. Because this letter seems related to other letters apparently from around this time in 1901 that indicate Jewett had a visit from Helen Merriman, this probably is the right one. See Key to Correspondents.
Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Old Helen: See Sarah Orne Jewett to Sarah Wyman Whitman August 4, [1903], in which Richard Cary identifies "Old Helen" as Helen Bigelow Merriman. See Key to Correspondents.
H -- House: Hamilton House. See Emily Tyson in Key to Correspondents.
Coolidge .. S.W.: Probably, Jewett refers to Sarah Chauncey Woolsey (1835 - 1905), who wrote under the name of Susan Coolidge.
Sarah Wyman Whitman. For both, see Key to Correspondents.
Pinny: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Wyman Whitman to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ 1901 ]*
Darling, your little note was a sort of "Flagon" & staid me a good deal.
I have not been free either as you will understand, but it was one real thing I could do for Alice [ unrecognized word or words ].* I
[ Page 2 ]
I long to hear of the Tory Lover* & to see you & all. Johnson Morton* has asked if he may come down for this Sunday.
I love you.
Notes
1901: This date is based upon Whitman mentioning Jewett's The Tory Lover (1901).
Alice: Whitman may refer to Alice Greenwood Howe, but this is far from certain. See Key to Correspondents.
Sally Norton: Sara Norton. See Key to Correspondents.
Tory Lover: Jewett's final novel, The Tory Lover, appeared as a serial in 1900-1901, before publication as a book in 1901.
Johnson Morton: See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Whitman, Sarah (Wyman) 1842-1904. 92 letters; [1884]-[1903] & [n.d.] Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence, 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 -107. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ June 1901 ]
What a delightful letter this is of Mrs. Fraley's!* It makes one know and like her more than ever -- -- I am so eager to hear how poor George is and poor Alice* -- I think that I must go down and ask ^by^ the telephone how things are -- Perhaps it is not so serious as Mrs Fraley feared --
[ Page 2 ]
A note from dear S.W.* which sounds better but the writing still looks fluttery as if her hand was not too strong -- I dare say that such a beautiful little rest as she seems to have had only made her know how tired she
[ Page 3 ]
falling showers. This is lovely rainy weather. Helen* went off at quarter to seven, and we had a dear little visit from her as ever was.
To think of your going to Norton!* Oh* how I wish I could have gone with you! I have a real sentiment about the old place though I never have been there but twice -- and I know Miss Pike [ may be a comma here ] -- a good [ creature corrected ]. I should have sent messages, especially to Mrs. Wheaton who is the Lady Bountiful of
[ Page 4 ]
[ the corrected ] school and a really good woman, generous and simple and seeing her opportunity at her own door which so few of us can. I am so glad you went there if I could not go .. Did you say I had just been with you?
But I must write no more darling Fuff* and just run to my work.
Pinny*
Notes
June 1901: With its reference to events consistent with 1901 and to a recent visit by "Helen," this letter seems to follow from another letter to Fields that probably is from June 1901.
Mrs. Fraley's: Mrs. Fraley has not been identified.
George ... Alice: Probably George and Alice Greenwood Howe. See Key to Correspondents. Mr. Howe died in 1903; perhaps this letter refers to his being seriously ill.
S.W.: Sarah Wyman Whitman. See Key to Correspondents.
H. House: Hamilton House. See Emily Tyson in Key to Correspondents.
Helen: Which Helen Jewett means from among their acquaintance is not certain. Because this letter seems related to other letters apparently from around this time in 1901 that indicate Jewett had a visit from Helen Merriman, this probably is the right one. See Key to Correspondents.
Norton: Almost certainly, Jewett refers to Wheaton Female Seminary in Norton, MA, founded in 1834. See Miss Pike and Mrs. Wheaton below.
Oh: This word is underlined twice.
Miss Pike: Clara Pike (a. 1844-1933) was a teacher of English and sciences at Wheaton Female Seminary.
Mrs. Wheaton ... Lady Bountiful: Eliza Baylies Chapin Wheaton (1809-1905) was a founder and life-long benefactor of Wheaton Female Seminary.
In using the term "Lady Bountiful," Jewett probably does not refer to the character in British playwright George Farquhar's The Beaux' Stratagem (1707), but to the more recent use of the term to denote a generous woman.
Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Pinny: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Wyman Whitman to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ June 1901? ]*
Nobody knows what beasts of Ephesus* I have contended with these two days past, dear & dear friend -- appointments that were not kept, & appearances of the least expected at fatal moments, until now when I must embark for Brockton, to speak to the working people's Club* there, as promised in November last!
That "Theodore [ has or had ]
[ Page 2 ]
left Laurel" seems to be the one sustaining fact in a day of demolition: & for that I thank you & bless you, & perhaps even if I could have got to Charlie Street* you would not have been there, with all there is to do! -- Still I never did take comfort from such thoughts! Now I am counting on next week: & I love you.
Notes
June 1901?: This guess for the date is based on the slight possibility that Whitman refers to Theodore Jewett Eastman's graduation from Harvard in 1901.
beasts of Ephesus: See the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15: 29-34.
Brockton ... working people's Club: Brockton, MA is about 25 miles south of Boston. Late 19th-century Working People's Clubs in New England formed part of the Episcopal Church ministry, providing wholesome activities for the laboring classes.
"Theodore has left Laurel": The transcription of "Laurel" is uncertain; the word could even be "harvard." In most letters, Theodore would be Jewett's nephew, Theodore Jewett Eastman, who graduated from Harvard in 1901. See Key to Correspondents.
Charlie Street: 148 Charles Street, the address of Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Whitman, Sarah (Wyman) 1842-1904. 92 letters; [1884]-[1903] & [n.d.] Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence, 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 -107. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett
Wednesday
[ 12 June 1901 ]*
I was so glad to get your letter last night when I got here. We were lucky in getting in at six and* catching the Manchester train at six twenty! but our trunks haven’t got along yet and all things considered, I think that I shall put off going home ^
not so sorry that I can’t go to town ^for lack of clean clothes!!^ I shall work on my proofs and take things easy. We had a lovely little bit of a visit to Mrs. Hunt* -- I shall tell you all my news when I get home. Love to Susy*
I am waited for by John* when I thought there was time to write.
Notes
12 June 1901: The associated envelope for this letter was canceled June 12,1901. On the back of this envelope, underlined three times, is what appears to read "Mrs Mower." This would be Annie Elizabeth Caldwell Mower. See Key to Correspondents.
and: In this letter, Jewett indicates "and" with a long-tailed "a."
Mrs. Hunt: This is uncertain. The Jewetts were acquainted with Catherine Clinton Howland (1841-1909), wife of the prominent American architect, Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895).
Susy: Though the Jewett sisters knew several "Susans," they typically referred to Susan Marcia Oakes Woodbury as Susy. See Key to Correspondents.
John: This person has not yet been identified. He could be John Tucker, but it seems unlikely that he would be in Manchester with Jewett. See Key to Correspondents. More likely, Fields had an employee at this time named John.
The manuscript of the letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0196_02_00_115_01.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Lucy Keays Hayward
June 12th 1901
[ Begin letterhead ]
South Berwick.
Maine.
My dear Lucy
How kind you are. And how much Mary* and I wish that we could accept your invitation! It would be a great pleasure to both of us, and* we should so gladly come if we were free, but next week the affairs of Theodore's* graduation begin [ deletion ] and from Class day to Commencement we are engaged in one way or
[ Page 2 ]
another here, or at Massachusetts with Mrs, Fields* ^where we spend some nights^ until he comes home, Mary has already declined an invitation for this reason which came to us both -- and we are still sorrier to say no to you. It would not need the laurel for an inducement, but as you know, we should dearly like to see it bloom. Do give our kindest regards to Mr. Hayward and to Bell* and say what pleasure we
[ Page 3 ]
should have had in coming if the plan had been possible.
I have just finished a long story* which has taken me a whole year since I came from Greece, though I had done a good piece of it three years before.* I am sure you will find much of our old town in it -- our dear Old Berwick! I was writing a story and not a history so that I have not always followed the true dates, in minor matters -- making my people earlier or later
[ Page 4 ]
dead{,} giving them journeys that they never took; even keeping
my hero alive and making him happy when history reports that he
died!* I wanted to keep the memory alive of old houses and old
families and I am so glad that I have got the long story done
-- If your dear Mother* had still been here how many
questions I should have loved to ask her --
I shall give your kind
message to Becca* and your other friends and tell them how sorry
we are to have sent such an answer. Mary sends you her love and
thanks with mine. Indeed we are very sorry to say no, dear Lucy!
Yours affectionately S. O.
Jewett
[ Up the left margin of page 1 ]
You would love to see Berwick now, it was never more green and
beautiful{.}
and: Sometimes Jewett writes "a" with a long tail for "and." I render these as "and."
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. Key to
Correspondents.
Theodore's: In 1901, Harvard's Class Day Exercises took place on Friday, June 21. Though this is not certain, it appears that Jewett was unable to attend all the Harvard commencement ceremonies for her nephew, Theodore Eastman, on June 26 because she needed to be in Brunswick on June 27 to receive her honorary degree from Bowdoin College. Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Fields: Annie Fields. Key to Correspondents.
Mr. Hayward and to Bell: Lucy Hayward was married
to the Reverend Sylvanus Hayward. In 1901, their only
surviving child was their unmarried daughter, Bell. Key to
Correspondents.
long story: The Tory Lover (1901). See The
Tory Lover annotated edition, at the Sarah Orne Jewett
Text Project, for information about how Jewett managed the
historical characters in her novel.
dear Mother: Mrs. Hayward's mother has not been identified, though it appears she may have been from the large Goodwin family of South Berwick.
Becca: Rebecca Young. Key to Correspondents.New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Perkins Cabot Wheelwright
by-sea.. Mass
[ 1901 ]*
Dear Mrs Wheelwright:
Your suggestion of pleasure for Sarah* and me, is
Mifs Jewett (Sarah) is not here at this writing but she returns in a few days and [mark that may be a comma ]
if the season should still be a good one for you --
I wonder if the world is as green with you as with us. We have had no continued heat yet. English green will have to look to its laurels if this keeps on. Are you reading Stillman's book!* If so you are finding it very good I am sure. He is just the person
to write Autobiography. How few they are. He is as true as Wordsworth,* and can one say more!
Another time we may I hope talk of these and other good things -
Annie Fields
Notes
1901: This date is supported by Fields's reference to William James Stillman's autobiography. In 1901, June 16 fell on a Sunday.
Sarah: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Stillman's book: American journalist and painter, William James Stillman (1826- 6 July 1901) published The Autobiography of a Journalist in 1901.
Wordsworth: British Romantic poet, William Wordsworth (1770-1850).
The manuscript of this letter is held by Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, NH, USA: Annie Fields Letters, 1882-1911, MS 58.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Robert Underwood Johnson
[ Begin letterhead ]
South Berwick.
Maine.
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Mr. Johnson
I have just remembered that your note about the story is still unanswered --
I really dont know what to say about the price! I usually get from $300 up in these days of age and* experience, but we certainly do not count The Honey Tree* either at its value in the ^rustic^ part, or
--- I wish that you and Mr. Gilder* would do what you think best about it, and I shall be satisfied - -- I should ^[ much ? ]^ rather give the rest of that honey to The Century out and out, and make the story a birthday present, than put a price on it that it is really not worth to the Editors!
Sarah O. Jewett
Notes
and: In this letter, Jewett often writes an "a" with a long tail for "and." I render all of these as "and."
The Honey Tree: Jewett's story, "The Honey Tree" did not appear in Century, but in the December 1901 Harper's Magazine.
Mr Gilder: Richard Watson Gilder. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Princeton University Library, Princeton, NJ: Robert H. Taylor Collection of English and American Literature RTC01, Box 10, Folder 12. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Wyman Whitman to Sarah Orne Jewett
Dearest friend: I loved your letter, and I am thinking of the time when I shall see you -- but not on Class=Day,* as I am not quite up to the "day [ we ? ] celebrate" -- so long as it makes no large difference to anyone.
I would love to have been at Theodore's [ speech ? ], & you will tell him so from me, wont you? and on Commencement, I shall count on taking his
[ Page 2 ]
And you will be coming before & perhaps after Class Day to Manchester A.F.* says -- A.F. dined here last night with Frances,* who made a dear little visit here, for just at the end of Monday came word that Mary had Measles after all! So this morning her mother went up (yesterday it was [ Harry ? ]) and the question of getting off at present is en l'air.* -- I am now settling to a few days in which I can bring some of the lagging jobs along a little: for I am in desperate means: and the only reason I have not written to you [ every ? ] day this week (following the impulse
[ Page 3 ]
of the heart!) is that I have P I L E S of
addressed envelopes [ grown ? ] miles high. By [ Phoebus
? ]* I am minded to burn them! and yet shall the piety of
years go for naught?
But when we meet, ah then
there will be a chance to tell you many things not here set
down. ---
Dear friend here is love
always.
Sw
Notes
18 June 1901: The envelope associated with this letter was cancelled on 18 June 1901 and addressed to Jewett in South Berwick.
Class=Day: Whitman has hyphenated the words in this way. In 1901, Harvard's Class Day Exercises took place on Friday, June 21. Though this is not certain, it appears that Jewett was unable to attend the Harvard commencement ceremonies for her nephew, Theodore Eastman (see Key to Correspondents), on June 26, because she needed to be in Brunswick, ME on June 27 to receive her honorary degree from Bowdoin College, but she did attend the Harvard class day celebration.
A.F.: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Frances: This Frances has not yet been identified. Nor has Mary. The transcription of "Harry" is uncertain, and his identity also remains unknown.
en l'air: French: "up in the air," meaning uncertain.
Phoebus: If the transcription is correct, Whitman refers to Phoebus Apollo, an ancient Greek god associated with the sun as well as with music, truth, prophecy and healing.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Whitman, Sarah (Wyman) 1842-1904. 92 letters; [1884]-[1903] & [n.d.] Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence, 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 -107. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Robert Underwood Johnson
22nd June [ 1901]*
Dear Mr Johnson
Will you please send me The Honey Tree -- and I'll see what can be done
-- In haste -- yours sincerely
Notes
1901: Probably this letter was composed in 1901, the summer before "The Honey Tree" was published.
The Honey Tree: Jewett's story, "The Honey Tree," appeared in Harper's Magazine in December 1901.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the New York Public Library, Century Company records 1870-1930s [bulk 1886-1918], Series 1, General Correspondence 1870-1930, b. 51, Jewett, Sarah Orne 1889-1901.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Barrett Potter to Sarah Orne Jewett
| BARRETT POTTER. ATTORNEY-AT-LAW |
Bowdoin College
Brunswick, Maine, June 22, 1901. |
Miss Sarah Orne Jewett,
Dear madam: --
I sent to you this morning a certified copy of the vote of the Trustees and Overseers of Bowdoin College, conferring upon you the degree of Doctor of Letters. By request of President Hyde,* and with the consent of the Secretary of the Overseers, I have since amended the original vote, by adding, after you name, the word, "daughter of Theodore Herman Jewett, of the class of 1834".
Secretary.
Notes
Hyde: William De Witt Hyde. Key to Correspondents.
Potter: Maine Memory Network says that Potter (d.1926) was "an attorney, legislator, Bowdoin College trustee, and head of two banks."
The typescript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence, bMS Am 1743 Box 4, Item 182. I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett
[ 23 June 1901 ]*
MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Mary
We have just come home from church. Dr. Peabody* preached a beautiful sermon -- that and his prayer were both like his prayer on Class Day. We missed you very much after you went away, and A.F.* had a short good nap and I had a long comfortable lie down. Then S.W.* came before I was dressed and we had a nice time with her but she looks so poorly! Then Dr. Peabody
and Rose* came by the 4:30 -- both very hot and tired as I am afraid you were -- though it grew so cold here that I had to get my jacket on and* remove myself out of the wind! -- I forgot that I must go to Boston tomorrow -- I shall see that great city three days running, but no matter -- I must go tomorrow! A.F. is so pretty & pleasant and having a nice time with her company, and Rose in calm and sweet frame -- They are both
hoping to see you back again. Mrs. Parkman Blake* was at church. I did not know she had got home. She was very sweet and asked eagerly for you. I [ had corrected ] not seen her since her daughter died{;} though I went to see her I missed her.
This is not much of a letty and on a very dirty old sheet of paper* but I was afraid that I should not have time to cheep later as Isabel* used to say -----
Dr. Peabody: Andrew Preston Peabody. See Key to Correspondents.
A.F.: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
S.W.: Sarah Wyman Whitman. See Key to Correspondents.
Rose: Probably Rose Lamb. See Key to Correspondents.
and: In this letter, Jewett sometimes indicates "and" with a long-tailed "a."
Mrs. Parkman Blake: Mrs. Parkman Blake is Mary (Molly) Lee Higginson Blake (1838-1923), wife of Samuel Parkman Blake (1835-1904), a prominent Bostonian. She also was the sister of Henry Lee Higginson (1834-1919), founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She was a benefactor of Boston's Museum of Fine Art and of Harvard University. Their daughter was Theresa Huntington Blake (1874- 31 July 1900).
paper: The sheet upon which this letter is written has a soiled wrinkle through it.
Isabel: This person has not been identified. See also Jewett to Annie Adams Fields of Saturday morning, November 1899.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Sara Norton
Manchester, Tuesday [June 25, 1901]*
Dearest Sally, -- Class day was really an exquisite thing to see! I did not take in the beauty of its spectacle until I happened to go to Dana's room in Holworthy, and to sit on a window-seat looking down the Yard just before we went to the Statue.* The sun was getting low enough to slant across under the elms, and the lanterns were lit by it before their time with a strange light of day that was better than candles. The people too, though they were going on to the next pleasure, had a look of leisure as they went along the paths, as if they were counting over the last pleasure instead of anticipating a new one. There was such a satisfaction in the beauty of the whole afternoon's festival. I have never seen anything quite like it. I keep thinking as I try to write of that most lovely page of Fitzgerald's in "Euphranor" "and a nightingale began to sing" it ends; you remember what I mean? after the boat-race!*
Forgive such a note -- my pen will not keep itself steady; it is like trying to write with a small bird's beak!
Yours ever most lovingly.
Notes
June 25, 1901: In 1901, Harvard's Class
Day Exercises took place on Friday, June 21.
Assuming that Jewett composed this letter the following Tuesday,
the date would be June 25. This date is of some importance
because Jewett had to be at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME on
June 27 for the commencement exercises at which she received her
honorary degree. See Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams
Fields, June 28, 1901.
Dana's room ... Yard ... Statue: According to
Silverthorne's biography, Jewett and her sister, Mary, attended
the Harvard graduation ceremonies of their nephew, Theodore
Eastman in 1901. Holworthy Hall is a first-year dormitory
at Harvard University. "Henry
Wadsworth
Longfellow
("Harry") Dana, Harvard AB 1903, AM 1904, PhD 1910 taught
English at the University of Paris (Sorbonne) from 1908 to 1910
and comparative literature at Columbia University from 1912 to
1917, when he was dismissed for pacifist activities. Thereafter
he continued to teach comparative literature and Russian studies
at a variety of educational institutions and was deeply involved
in progressive political activities, particularly in advancing
the cause of global socialism and supporting labor unions and
worker education. " He was a grandson of the poet, Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow and the author Richard Henry Dana, Jr., and
the son of Richard
Henry Dana III (1851-1931), whom Jewett knew as "Dicky"
Dana, and Edith Longfellow (1853–1915).
In Harvard Yard, stands
the Daniel Chester French statue of John
Harvard, famous for its plaque containing three lies,
because the statue does not actually depict John Harvard,
because he was a benefactor rather than founder of Harvard, and
because the founding date of 1638 should be 1636.
This letter appears in Annie Fields, Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett (1911), Transcribed by Annie Adams Fields, with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett
[ Summer 1901 ]*
Dear Mary
A nice cool East windy day, which I dont doubt is just the same at home. I got through with my affairs in time for the 4:30 train but I didn’t have much time for Mrs. Gillespie* -- a dry rub in consequence but they made the most of their half hour -- I had a long but pleasant time with
the [deleted word ] Park St. interviews,* and all seems to be going well. A.F.* offers you this cutting which made the first Editorial in the Herald on Thursday! There were friends who referred to it [ at corrected ] the office and I couldn’t think what they meant, and at last Mr Perry* was so funny and discreet that I demanded an account whereat he was surprised that I hadn’t seen it. The tone of it was [ deleted word ] very kind but it does seem
so funny to me. Miss Bartletts* anxieties were based upon this you see!! -- I found A.F. well & Rose gone in the morning, most unwillingly, she said. Tom Beal and his wife and Ida* were here calling but they soon went.
= The really important matter is these letters which I enclose which gave us deep joy, and Jessie’s anxieties affected us not unpleasantly! Dear little Jess! We were saying last night that Madame De Arcos* and all the diplomat gentlemen will provide a natural
entourage and it will be very pleasant.
We sat later on the piazza last evening it, was so quiet and lovely and the little owl complaining down in the woods in a pleasing way.
I wish you would be so good as to send me that Circular from the York Dramatic Club* which I must answer, and also Thérèse's parasol* which is all ready in its wrappings behind the umbrella jar & just needs a tag on! I always seem to be wanting something!
Now I must go and pack my trunk for the express.
I see that there are yacht races a going on in
Notes
Summer 1901: This is a highly speculative date, though it is likely to be close. An archivist at the Maine Women Writers Collection correctly places it after Theodore Eastman began study at Harvard in 1897 and after Bliss Perry became editor of Atlantic Monthly in 1899.
The letter seems to associate with other letters believed to be from about this time, particularly Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields of 4 August 1901, which mentions letters from Jessie Cochrane and Madame de Arcos.
The main details placing these letters in 1901 are that Jewett mentions visits to a Mrs. Gillespie, apparently for some form of treatment, here and also in a letter definitely from the summer 1901, when she was preparing The Tory Lover for book publication.
In this letter, Jewett sometimes shortens "and" to an "a" with a long tail. These have been rendered as "and."
Mrs. Gillespie: This person remains unidentified. The transcription of "rub" is somewhat uncertain, and this passage remains mysterious, though in a letter to Mary Rice Jewett -- Tuesday, Summer 1901 -- Jewett mentions this person again in connection with a series of 5 visits, seemingly for a form of treatment.
Park St. interviews: The offices of Atlantic Monthly and Houghton Mifflin were on Park Street in Boston. See Key to Correspondents.
A.F.: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Jewett speaks at some length an editorial in the Herald, presumably of Boston, but what is in this editorial has not yet been determined.
Mr. Perry: Bliss Perry. See Key to Correspondents.
Miss Bartletts: Jewett was well acquainted with Edward (Ned) Jarvis Bartlett (1842-1914) of Concord, MA. See Key to Correspondents. His daughter, Mary Bradford Bartlett (1875-1962) did not marry Philip A. Davis until 1905, so at this time, she would have been Miss Bartlett. Why she would be anxious about an editorial in the Herald is not yet known. Perhaps the piece was about her famous uncle, Daniel Chester French?
Rose ... Tom Beal and his wife and Ida: Rose probably is Rose Lamb. See Key to Correspondents.
The Beals almost certainly are Ida DeFord (1856-1938) and Thomas Prince Beal (1849-1923). The Ida named here is Thomas's sister, Ida Gertrude Beal; Thomas and his sister are nephew and niece to Annie Adams Fields. See Annie Adams Fields in Key to Correspondents and Back Bay Houses.
Jessie’s ... Madame De Arcos: Jessie Cochrane. See Key to Correspondents.
In 1901, the Spanish ambassador to the United States was José Ambrosio Brunetti, Duke de Arcos, (1839-1928). The duke served as ambassador beginning in 1899, when diplomatic relations between Spain and the United States resumed after the Spanish-American War of 1898. He was chosen for this post in part because his wife was American, Virginia Woodbury Lowery (c. 1840-1934), of a prominent Washington, D.C. family with roots in New Hampshire.
York Dramatic Club: Little has been learned about this club or why Jewett would be in correspondence with them.
Thérèse's: Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc. See Key to Correspondents. Mme. Blanc visited the United States several times, making one extended stay late in 1893 through early 1894 and another in 1897. Fields and Jewett spent much time with her during their 1898 trip to France.
Newport: This correction was added in different ink, presumably after the letter was completed.
It appears there were several sailing races at Newport, RI, during most summers at the turn of the twentieth century.
Stubby: Theodore Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection: Jewett Correspondence MWWC0196_02_00_126_01.
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[Bowdoin in pencil in upper left corner of page 1, in another hand]
South Berwick
Friday afternoon
[ June 28, 1901]*
My dearest Annie
Here we are at home again -- I have so much to tell that my pen splutters. I have had a beautiful time full of delightful old associations to my heart. (Here is S. W's* dear letter --
Professor Smith of Andover and his wife* to stop over the afternoon with us, and Mary went to take them to the station after a little drive -- which gives me this first minute with you. [ marks that seem not to signify: .) ] You cant think how nice it was to be the single sister of so many brothers ^at Bowdoin^ -- [ Pinny double underlined]* walking in the procession in cap and gown and Doctors hood!
and being fetched by a marshal to the President to sit on the platform with the Board of Overseers & the Trustees -- also the Chief Justice and all the judges of the supreme court, who were in session in Portland, or somewhere near by! And being welcomed by the President in a set speech as the only daughter of Bowdoin, and rising humbly to make the best bow she could -- But what was most touching was the old chaplain of the day who spoke about
[ Page 5 ]
father in his "bidding prayer,"* and said those things of him which were all true. And [your corrected] P. L.. applauded ^twice!^ by so great an audience. (P. L. !)
I told Dr. Hyde that I should ask Mrs. Whitman to make a window.* I hope that you will approve this plan -- it will be a really beautiful and permanent memorial to leave. They are making up a fund, but the money that I could give will count so much more in this way. Mary was dear and lovely, and
[24 circled in another hand, bottom left of p. 5]
I must say good bye just as I seem to have begun! but I wanted to tell you & Eva* a little about it.
Mrs. Riggs was there (Kate Douglas Wiggins) and Mary and I both liked her so much (I far more than ever{)} that we asked her to come for a night on Monday. [Beginning parenthesis probably in another hand and ink ] I shall get to you on Friday as early as possible, as you know --
[24 circled in another hand, bottom left of p. 6]
but my heart would bring me much sooner. Your letters are dearer than ever. I think I love these two the best of any!
Your P. L.
With love to Eva & to Mary O'Brion* when she comes. [End parenthesis mark, probably in another hand and ink.]
Notes
June 28, 1901: Jewett was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Bowdoin College (Brunswick, Maine), her father's alma mater, at commencement on Thursday June 27, 1901. She was the first woman in the United States to receive an honorary degree from an all-male college.
Though this is not certain, it appears that Jewett was unable to attend the Harvard commencement ceremonies for her nephew, Theodore Eastman, on June 26 because she needed to be in Brunswick on June 27.
S. W's: Sarah Wyman Whitman, called Mrs. Whitman later in the letter. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Howe: Probably Alice Greenwood (Mrs. George Dudley) Howe, though Jewett usually would refer to her by first name. See Key to Correspondents.
Nelly Prince: Probably this is Helen Prince (1882 - 1909), the daughter of Charles Albert Prince (1852- 1942) and the fiction writer Helen Choate Pratt (1857-1943). See Key to Correspondents. Nelly married "John A. L. Blake, a Harvard graduate, on August 8, 1908, at the family home in Noirmoutier. After a honeymoon in Europe, they settled in Boston. She died less than a year later, on April 11, 1909, due to complications with a pregnancy."
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Professor Smith of Andover and his wife: The identities of this couple have not been determined. It seems likely that Jewett refers to Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. Assistance is welcome.
Pinny: Pinny Lawson / P. L. is one of Jewett's nicknames.
President: Wikipedia says: "William De Witt Hyde (September 23, 1858 - June 29, 1917) was an American college president, born at Winchendon, Mass.," and educated at Harvard University and Andover Theological Seminary. He was the seventh president of Bowdoin College (1885–1917).
Chief Justice: Andrew Peters Wiswell (1852-1906), a graduate of Bowdoin (1878), was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Maine (1900-1906).
"bidding prayer": In Anglican and Protestant religious services, the bidding prayer occurs before the sermon, and usually contains petitions for various classes of persons. The identity of this chaplain has not be discovered. Assistance is welcome.
clipping from the Somersworth Free Press: A clipping apparently included with the letter appears between pp. 3 and 5.
|
Honor for Miss Sarah Orne Jewett.
One of the pleasantest features of the Bowdoin Ceutennial
was the ovation given Miss Sarah Orne Jewett as she took
her place in the college procession, and in cap and gown
sat upon the platform with college professors and the
wearers of many honorary degrees. Introduced as the only
daughter of the college, she represented not only the true
and noble woman whose talent we are all so proud of and
whose personality is enshrined in the real affection of so
many hearts, but the womanhood of the twentieth century
taking its rightful place beside the manhood. The degree
given Miss Jewett is the first one ever conferred by a
man's college on a woman, and it means much to the new
century. The day was a proud one for South Berwick and
recalled many memories of the father, also identified so
closely with Bowdoin, whose influence lives in this
talented daughter and still blesses and brightens very
many lives to which he ministered while here. -- Somersworth
Free Press. |
Eva: Probably this is Baroness Eva von Blomberg. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs Riggs: Mrs. George C. Riggs (1856-1923) is Kate Douglas Wiggin's name by her second marriage. She wrote a series of stories for young readers based on her travels in Britain. Three of these published during Jewett's lifetime were: A Cathedral Courtship and Penelope's English Experiences (1893), Penelope's Experiences in Scotland (1896), and Penelope's Irish Experiences (1901).
window: According to Silverthorne, Jewett proposed a stained-glass window for Memorial Hall to honor her father. With President Hyde's consent, she commissioned Sarah Wyman Whitman (1842-1904) to design and execute this window, which was completed on June 20, 1903, making it one of Whitman's last completed windows.
Whitman's window honoring Dr. Theodore Jewett in Memorial
Hall, Bowdoin College.
Unfortunately, this window cannot
be
viewed
by
the
public
from
the inside.
Bowdoin's "Stained Glass Treasure Restored,
Replaced on Memorial Hall" says: "What appears from the
outside to be black glass is actually deep red, evident only
from the inside when bright sunlight passes through the
window. But because the inside of the theater must be free of
ambient light, the window is walled off and now visible only
from the outside."
Mary O'Brion: Mary Eliza O'Brion (1859-1930 -- unconfirmed life dates), Boston-based concert pianist, private teacher, and instructor at Wellesley College. Her name appears regularly on programs as a piano soloist and accompanist with various groups and orchestras. She often performed with the Latvian immigrant composer and pianist Olga von Radecki (1858-1933). Among von Radecki's compositions is a setting of Jewett's poem, "Boat Song."
This transcription appears in Annie Fields, Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett (1911),
Here we are at home again. I have so much to tell that my pen splutters. I have had a beautiful time full of delightful old associations. You can't think how nice it was to be the single sister of so many brothers at Bowdoin, walking in the procession in cap and gown and Doctor's hood, and being fetched by a marshal to the President, to sit on the platform with the Board of Overseers and the Trustees, also the Chief Justice and all the judges of the Supreme Court, who were in session in Portland, or somewhere near by! And being welcomed by the President in a set speech as the only daughter of Bowdoin, and rising humbly to make the best bow she could. But what was most touching was the old chaplain of the day who spoke about father in his "bidding prayer," and said those things of him which were all true. And your S. O. J. applauded twice by so great an audience!
I told Dr. Hyde that I should ask Mrs. Whitman to make a window. I hope that you will approve this plan -- it will be a really beautiful and permanent memorial to leave. They are making up a fund, but the money that I could give will count so much more in this way. Mary was dear and lovely, and the great day was hers as much as mine, as you will know.William DeWitt Hyde to Sarah Orne Jewett
Bowdoin College,
Brunswick, ME
[ End letterhead ]
I am very happy to congratulate you on being the first and only daughter of Bowdoin College.
I was glad to read your telegram at the dinner yesterday:
in which you made all the acknowledgement that could be expected.
I have asked the secretaries of the Trusties & Overseers to record the degree in the form which you suggested: but I suppose academic tradition will compel us to give simply you rname on
the diploma which we should be happy to send in due time.
Permit me to add that the little part I had in this matter was one of the pleasanter privileges the presidency of the college has brought me. Your work has given
immortality to some of the sweetest, simplest, sincerest traits of the dear old New England we all have loved: and we here at Bowdoin are proud to give official expression to the gratitude and admiration which is universally felt.
Wm DeW. Hyde
Notes
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Hyde, William DeWitt, 1858-1917. 3 letters; 1901-1903. (108).
This transcription is from a photocopy held by the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Box 2, Folder 99, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ 30 June 1901 ]*
Dearest Annie
It gave me such a fright to hear about the lamp! Now we must never have one any more but use the little fat candles, and have a safe little shelf put there for them -- -- . Oh my dear Fuffy* think what would have happened in a few minutes more! It is awful to think about and I stop myself every time I begin. The extinguisher shall be blessed forever more.
--- The garden seat (you see I turn to thoughts of peace
[ Page 3 ]
[ Page 4 ]
the fourth that they have the great bonfire and put our roofs in peril! ---- and no old Cragin* to watch them any more -- I have felt very tired and blurry today and so I shall go to bed early -- with the Church anniversary & the Academy, and Theodore's going and now this last week at Bowdoin* we have had a great hurry & excitement in this month of June. Yesterday who should appear just at noon but Dr. & Mrs. Fox from York and Betty Lyon* with them -- really
Notes
30 June 1901: On the first page, below "Sunday night," "3 July 1892?" has been written in another hand. However, the content of the letter indicates that Jewett probably wrote on the Sunday before July 4, 1901, the weekend after her return from the Thursday June 27 ceremony at which she received an honorary degree from Bowdoin College. However, one detail of the letter point to a 1902 composition date. See notes below.
Fuffy: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Blind Charles's: Wendy Pirsig of the Old Berwick Historical Society has identified "Blind Charles" as Charles H. Goodwin (1837-1917), who was Jewett's neighbor. He worked at a news stand, delivered mail, and did odd jobs. OBHS archives include photos, evidence of his blindness, and of his performing manual maintenance work at the Berwick Academy. He married Fidelia Scott ( Shorey or Murphy) (1840-1911) of Rollinsford on July 19, 1870.
It seems that authoritative sources disagree about Fidelia's maiden name. Vital Records of Berwick, South Berwick and North Berwick gives her birth name as Shorey, while Rootsweb and History and Genealogy of the Stackpole Family say she was born Fidelia S. Murphy. The latter source says she was the daughter of Michael Murphy and Esther Stackpole. See also Find a Grave.
bed-ful: It is not clear whether Jewett wrote this or "bed -- full."
Sandpiper: Celia Thaxter. See Key to Correspondents.
Eva: Probably Baroness Eva von Blomberg. See Key to Correspondents.
old Cragin: Probably, Jewett refers to Michael Cragin, an Irish-born Civil War veteran who served as a special officer of the South Berwick police. After being attacked a day or two earlier, he died on Tuesday 16 July 1901 at the age of 65. See the Oxford Democrat (23 July 1901), p. 3. If this is the right person, the information casts some doubt upon the probable 1901 composition date of this letter. Mr. Cragin should have been available to perform watch duty on bonfire night in 1901, but not in 1902, unless something else prevented his providing his services on 3 July 1901.
Bowdoin: The reference to a church anniversary is a little unclear. Perhaps Jewett was involved in planning of ceremonies for the South Berwick Congregational Church 200th Anniversary, which took place on June 4, 1902.
During the spring of 1901, according to Richard Cary, Jewett -- along with her sister Mary and nephew Theodore, served on a committee administering the Fogg Memorial Library at the Berwick Academy, the only public library in South Berwick. See Jewett to Fields on Wednesday morning, April 1901.
Jewett's nephew, Theodore Jewett Eastman, graduated from Harvard University in June 1901. Jewett attended his "class day," but was unable to attend the commencement ceremony because of her presence at Bowdoin, for her honorary degree. See Key to Correspondents.
Jewett received an honorary degree from Bowdoin College on Thursday 27 June 1901.
Dr. & Mrs. Fox from York and Betty Lyon: These people have not yet been identified.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields papers: mss FL 5548. This manuscript has been damaged by water, making parts of the transcription less than normally certain. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Abbie S. Beede
1 July.
[ 1901 ]*
Dear Mifs Beede
Will you be so kind as to copy this little story and to
for my hurried writing!
S. O. Jewett
Notes
1901: This date is not certain, but this letter seems to precede that to Mark Howe of 4 July 1901, in which Jewett reports that her typist has estimated the length of a current story at 3200 words. While it is not known what story that was, the next story she published in that length range was "The Spur of the Moment," in The Outlook of 4 January 1902, at about 3700 words.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0175. Transcription by Kelsey Squire, Ohio Dominican University; edited and with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Abbie S. Beede
Dear Mifs Beede
Will you please make two copies of the chapter heads for me and send them to me
Care ˄of^ Mrs. J. S. Cabot*
Prides Crossing
Massachusetts?
I shall send the others as soon as I can get them done.
In haste and with thanks for your kind note.
S. O. J
Notes
1901: In the summer of 1901, Jewett had completed installments for The Tory Lover then appearing in Atlantic Monthly. For the upcoming book publication of her novel, she wrote chapter headings that included titles and quotations from literary texts. Presumably, these are what Jewett asks Beede to type.
On 4 July 1901, Jewett was in South Berwick, but on the 5th, she left home, and by 8 July, she was writing home from Prides Crossing, MA. Almost certainly, then, this letter was composed in 1901.
Kelsey Squire notes that the opening "dear" is written in pencil; the rest of the letter is in blue ink.
Cabot: Susan Burley Cabot. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0172.
Transcription by Kelsey Squire, Ohio Dominican University; edited and with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe
Maine.
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Mr Howe
I am afraid that you will think that this story doesn't approach the high literary level of The Green Bonnet,* but perhaps you can make it do -- at least to found an Almanac* upon! and by and by I may have some deeper inspiration on the subject which shall be the Companion's* own. This is more likely to please the elder "youth" but -- I send it to you
with proper humility and spare all apologies. I am too tired and still too hurried to do anything better at this moment, and I am very sorry.
My typewriter sends me now that it is under 3200 words, and I have shortened it since. I forget whether you said
3000 or 3500: if it is still too long and we really print it, I can shorten it in proof-reading.
How pleasant and kind of you to have written me that second note, which made me feel much better in regard to time!
S. O. Jewett.
The Green Bonnet: Jewett's story, "The Green Bonnet: A Story of Easter Day" appeared in Youth's Companion in April 1901. No other Jewett story appeared there until November 1902.
Almanac: What piece Jewett has given Howe for use in an almanac is not yet known. While it is not known what story that was, the next story she published in that length range was "The Spur of the Moment," in The Outlook of 4 January 1902, at about 3700 words.
Companion's: Howe was at this time editor of The Youth's Companion. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University in Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe additional papers, 1880-1959. MS Am 1524 (774). Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 16 letters from; 1891-1903. Transcribed and annotated by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett
[ 5 July 1901 ]*
Mayflower Club.*
6 Park Street.
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Mary
I thought that you might like to hear that I had made so great a journey in safety. I was busy with papers most of the way, and it was cool and comfortable while somebody in the seat behind me had some fir-balsam
in a bundle that made me feel as if I must put for Mouse Island.* I thought I would get what luncheon I wanted and have a “glad free day” -- but so good a breakfast rather impaired my appetite, and I missed your good company. I first telephoned to Russell Ball* to hear if Stubby* had returned
but he had not! Perhaps he will get another Sunday. -- One of the Miss Bartletts* of Manchester was lunching foreninst, and* she was so nice & pleasant and presently asked statedly what I ought to be called now if it was Doctor,* they had been asked in regard to
was quite serious. I think I can see you laugh! -- I gently dissuaded her, and left her with a calm mind.
I must now hie me to 4 Park Street *
Mayflower Club: "The Mayflower Club of Boston, Mass. was a private women's club founded in 1893 to provide a place in a central location in Boston where members could find comfortable rooms, a place for reading and writing, and a restaurant for lunch."
Mouse Island: Jewett several times stayed on this island in Boothbay Harbor, ME, usually to recuperate from illness.
Russell Ball: This person has not yet been identified.
Stubby: Theodore Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.
and: In this letter, Jewett sometimes indicates "and" with a long-tailed "a."
Miss Bartletts: These Bartletts have not yet been identified.
Doctor: This word is underlined twice. Jewett refers to her recently receiving a Doctor of Letters degree from Bowdoin College in June 1901.
4 Park Street: The Boston address of the Atlantic and of Houghton Mifflin, Jewett's publisher.
The manuscript of the letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0196_02_00_113_01.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
John Marr to Sarah Orne Jewett
Dear Miss Jewett,
I send you herewith a portrait of Paul A Chadbourne,* bearing his autograph.
I have his charming letter of 1878 [ inclosing so spelled ] picture at the time he was [ Prest. so it appears ] of Williams College. I have no one to leave it to who would properly appreciate it. If you can give it a place among other subjects in your study, my wish is accomplished. I am the only person living that knew*
He was always uniformly kind to me and in the height of his fame never seemed to forget that we were once poor boys together.
His grandmother, Olive (Neal) Chadbourne, was sister of my grandfather William Neal --
I am -- yours truly,
John Marr.
Notes
Chadbourne: Paul Ansel Chadbourne (1823-1883) was an American educator and naturalist. He served as president of the University of Wisconsin, Williams College, and Massachusetts Agricultural College, now University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Wikipedia.
knew: At the bottom left of this page is a circled numeral, probably a 2.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743 Box 3, Item 146 I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Wyman Whitman to Sarah Orne Jewett
but really Monday morning.
[ 8 July 1901 ]*
Dearest I go to town today & see my Aunt to say goodbys for the [ season ? ], and Tuesday I am obliged to go again. This makes me feel a little discouraged. Could you come Tuesday afternoon & go a-calling? on
[ Page 2 ]
I wrote at once to [ Mr ? ] Garrison* asking the size & saying I had a sketch for the cover* & was only waiting for the dimensions: a final factor.
Probably he went away for 4 days on the 4th an apt opportunity this year.
Notes
8 July 1901: This date is a guess based only upon Whitman suggesting that Mr. Garrison has taken a long holiday after July 4, this being a good year to do that. In 1901, Independence Day fell on a Thursday, making a 4-day weekend a temptation. Whitman also seems to indicate familiarity with the play Cyrano de Bergerac (1897). See notes below.
Rostand ... Madame de Margerite: Whitman seems to be alluding to the French dramatist Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (1868-1918), whose well-known play Cyrano de Bergerac appeared in 1897. Mother Marguerite, in the play, allows Cyrano to visit his beloved Roxane in the convent. The play was first performed in translation in the United States in New York in 1898 and 1899.
The play in French was performed in Boston by Sarah Bernhardt's company in April of 1901, according to The History of Boston Theatre: 1854-1901, p. 482.
However, this allusion is not certain, and the person to whom Whitman refers remains unknown, though possibly she is speaking indirectly of Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Garrison: Francis Jackson Garrison, who worked for Jewett's publisher, Houghton Mifflin. See Key to Correspondents.
cover: If the date of the letter is correct, then Whitman probably would be working on the cover for Jewett's final novel, The Tory Lover (1901).
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Whitman, Sarah (Wyman) 1842-1904. 92 letters; [1884]-[1903] & [n.d.] Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence, 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 -107. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett
[ 8 July 1901 ]*
Dear Mary
With all your affectionate care to keep the particulars from me, I happened to be at A.F’s* when she got her mail and we sat down to enjoy your letter with others, and I learned about that poor [ naughty little corrected ] Tosy!* I am so sorry for all the [ provocation corrected ] and anxiety it must have been to you -- but you would be reassured if you had seen the instant zeal with
which A.F. sat down = without listening to the rest of the letter even -- to write the telegram, and then she skipped me right off in my chariot to the Station to send it, hoping that you would have time to get the 6 o’clock train!! I* hope that something better will turn up about it. I would have some doctor see the child, and be ready to say that it wasn’t hurt much to prevent damages being exaggerated. I hoped that you had Dr. Sleeper,* when I found a mention of him in my letter on getting
home. If Tosy does have to come away I think it is lovely that he will have an aunt to come to -- and [he blotted, perhaps corrected ] has always loved to go to walk with her, you know, while I think that he may like ^her^ John* and be in a good estate generally though I grieve to think of him -- It won’t be parting with him as much as sending him off to some places would be, of course. And we must remember that [ Toesy so spelled ] is only a little dog after all, and won’t feel
all the feelings and think all the thoughts that we are ^only^ too ready to imagine. I told Mrs. Cabot* about it -- and it was a vast interest: she [ doesn’t corrected ] care about dogs herself but she instantly took his part.
I was busy in one way and another all the morning with little [ vocations ? ] of Emily Peirson* as I told you, and then after luncheon I drove down to A.F’s and we went out together to make a call at ^the^ MacMillans & on Madame [ De Arcos corrected] and neither were at home, and then
we came back to the house and I drove home via the [ telegraph corrected ] office, we having found your letter{.} No more tonight for it is late and I must be off early in the morning.
Sarah
Notes
8 July 1901: An envelope associated with this letter is addressed to Mifs Mary R. Jewett at South Berwick, cancelled in Prides Crossing, MA on 9 July 1901.
In this letter, Jewett sometimes shortens "and" to an "a" with a long tail. These have been rendered as "and."
A.F’s: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
I: Jewett has underlined this word twice.
Tosy: The information here about Tosy the dog is not easy to interpret. Jewett seems pretty clearly to say that, as a consequence of injuring a child, Tosy may have to leave his home and come to live with his "aunt" and John, presumably meaning the Jewetts and their employee, John Tucker. It seems, then, that Tosy is not yet a Jewett dog. A letter of Winter 1903 to Annie Adams Fields mentions Tosy, but introduces new confusion about his identity. There a dog named Timmy patiently awaits the gift of a cookie; at the end of that letter, Tosy is said to have waited patiently. Are Tosy and Timmy the same dog? Or are both dogs now in the Jewett home?
Dr. Sleeper: Dr. Charles M. Sleeper (1856-1924). According to his obituary in the Portsmouth Herald (NH), he was a graduate of Bowdoin Medical College (1883) and was active in Maine democratic politics. His wife was Julia F. Sleeper (1861- ). See the Herald for Wednesday, August 27, 1924, p. 9.
John: Possibly Fields has an employee named John, or Jewett means Fields's equivalent of John Tucker. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Cabot: Susan Burley Cabot. See Key to Correspondents.
Emily Peirson: Emily Russell Peirson (1843-1908), wife of Charles Lawrence Peirson -- sometimes spelled Pierson -- (1834-1920), both of whom were residents of the Manchester area.
MacMillans & on Madame De Arcos: These would seem to be local or summer residents of the Prides Crossing area. The MacMillans have not yet been identified.
In 1901, the Spanish ambassador to the United States was José Ambrosio Brunetti, Duke de Arcos, (1839-1928). The duke served as ambassador beginning in 1899, when diplomatic relations between Spain and the United States resumed after the Spanish-American War of 1898. He was chosen for this post in part because his wife was American, Virginia Woodbury Lowery (c. 1840-1934), of a prominent Washington, D.C. family with roots in New Hampshire.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection: Jewett Correspondence MWWC0196_02_00_117_01.
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett
[ 9 July 1901 ]*
I found that I had forgotten about the gig: if it is painted dark as before I would leave it so -- I don’t think that light colour we used to have is good now, there is a lighter brown that I have seen -- the wicker is stained a darkish [ wood colour corrected ] and varnished evidently, but it isn’t worthwhile to bother. ----
I opened your letter in a hurry this afternoon ^late^ when I got back but you had not [ got corrected ] mine and so I heard no more [from corrected ] a naughty
and dear [ perplexing corrected ] Toesy!* I saw Mrs. Fields* a minute and she said that she hoped things would blow over from what you said in a letter today but I shall be in a hurry to hear tomorrow. I went to Boston and had scant time for what I wanted to do -- but I managed to get my train, and to finish the affairs at 4 Park St.* One of Mr. Woodbury’s drawings* had come and I liked it: it was a very old fashioned little Ranger plunging in a sea! I went to the wig place but tonight my hair is all dry and*
flying as it hasn’t been before. Mrs. Gillespie* was not present. I have had five times they said, and so there is only one more. I rested myself a while -- and had luncheon, and then went down to S.W.s* and we made our calls [ finding corrected ] only one house at home, so that we had a great talking over of things. Coming down in the train at 12:40 beside! It was quite a visitation but we needed it to make up for arrears! -- I found
the top lilies and they are lovely. -- thank you and John* so much. Now a poor [ sister corrected ] is so sleepy she must go to bed. I send Emily Tyson’s* nice note -- It will be so good to have her at home again. I shall send some others, they seem to be coming fast this week. We have had a good evening. Mrs. Cabot* took a nap after tea and then we had a sprightly game of backgammon. I am lent Stubby’s present of the White Murder Trial. She has had a Turkey morocco cover made!!! to slip the pamphlets
into. Good night with much love
Notes
9 July 1901: This date is confirmed by a letter of the day before that concerns the adventures of Tosy the dog, and is supported by other details in this letter. See notes below..
In this letter, Jewett sometimes shortens "and" to an "a" with a long tail. These have been rendered as "and."
Tosey: The story of Tosy the dog's misbehavior is revealed somewhat more fully in Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett of 8 July 1901. That letter suggests that Tosy was not one of Jewett's dogs, but perhaps belonged to a neighbor.
Tosy is mentioned again in a Winter 1903 letter to Annie Adams Fields, but that letter seems to suggest that Tosy may also have been named Timmy, or that both Tosy and Timmy resided with the Jewetts in 1903.
4 Park St: The Boston address of Houghton, Mifflin and Atlantic Monthly.
Mr. Woodbury's: Charles Woodbury. See Key to Correspondents. Woodbury and his wife, Marcia Oakes, produced the illustrations for Jewett's final novel, The Tory Lover (1901), which includes the story of John Paul Jones's forays in The Ranger during the American Revolution.
Mrs. Gillespie: That Jewett has five visits to Mrs. Gillespie and that, in another letter, one of these involved a "dry rub," suggests that she has sought treatment for her rheumatism, for which electric and rubbing treatments were common in the 19th century. However, it is far from certain that this is Jewett's topic. Mrs. Gillespie has not been identified.
dry and: Someone has drawn a line between these two words that are virtually run together on the page.
S.W.'s: Sarah Wyman Whitman. See Key to Correspondents.
John: John Tucker. See Key to Correspondents.
Emily Tyson’s: See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs Cabot: Susan Burley Cabot. See Key to Correspondents.
Stubby: Theodore Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.
White Murder Trial: It seems likely that Theodore Eastman has given as a gift, Second Trial of John Francis Knapp by a New Jury, Recommenced at Salem, August 14, 1830, for the Murder of Capt. Joseph White, before the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, at a Special Session, Commenced at Salem, July 20, 1830, which may have been reprinted in about 1900.
An archivist at the Maine Women Writer's Collection provides this note:
The reference here and in the next few sentences is to the highly publicized 1830 brutal murder of the prominent 82 year old Salem MA citizen, Captain Joseph White. There was much speculation as to who had committed the deed and why over the next several weeks -- and the event gathered national interest. Captain White’s widowed niece, Mary Bickford, had been his housekeeper for years -- but she was away visiting her daughter, Mrs. Joseph Knapp, on the night of the murder. It became known that Mary Bickford was designated to inherit only $15,000 of the half million-dollar estate -- while another nephew. Captain Stephen White, was to have the rest. Suspicion fell on Stephen White -- but eventually a couple of petty thieves were caught (one in New Bedford. MA and the other in Belfast, ME) who, much to the shock, dismay (and delight) of readers around the country, implicated two brothers of the prominent Crowninshield Family of Salem -- as well as Joseph Knapp and his brother Frank. Richard Crowninshield (hired by Joseph Knapp to commit the murder in a futile attempt to alter the will) hung himself in prison -- thereby prompting prosecutor Daniel Webster’s famous quip: “There is no refuge from confession but suicide; and suicide is confession.” Joseph and Frank Knapp went to trial, were found guilty and hanged. George Crowninshield, however, was acquitted. The murder, the arrests, and the trial were headline news around the country for several weeks. For a complete account of the event - and especially Nathaniel Hawthorne’s interest in it - see Vernon Loggins, The Hawthornes (1951) pp.242-254.See also: John Francis Knapp and Joseph Jenkins Knapp Trials: 1830.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection: Jewett Correspondence MWWC0196_02_00_127_01.
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Alice Dunlap Gilman
[ Begin letterhead ]
Pride's Crossing
[ Begin letterhead ]
10 July [ 1901 ]*
Beverly
Dear Cousin Alice:
I thank you so much for
your kind note which pleased my heart! I have wished to tell you
how sorry I was that you have been ill, and* though Mary* gave
you our love and my messages, I am not contented without sending
one word myself. You must be very careful and not overdo, and
get your strength back as
fast as you can. When you feel like a little change do please remember what a warm welcome waits for you in Berwick.
Of course I was delighted and full of pride and pleasure in
the Degree,* if only because it would have pleased father so
much. You know how warmly attached he always was to the college,
and how some inheritance of that feeling has naturally come
to me. I thought of Cousin Charles* too, and that it would
have given him pleasure and how he would have half teased ^me^,
and [ deletion ] said some serious things that would
have made me feel a deeper pleasure than before. I miss him very
much, even though I have not yet gone to Brunswick without
finding him. He was always so kind and put so many new thoughts
into my mind whenever we talked together. ---- I have almost
finished the Tory Lover* now, and I am very glad for I am
am almost too tired after more than a year's steady hard work.
Lately I have 'kept at it' both morning and afternoon, and it
has been almost too much. I am spending a few days just now with
my dear old friend Mrs. Cabot* but I go home early in the week.
It must be about the time that you
expected Cousin Fanny.* I have not forgotten that I owe her a
nice long letter which I was so glad to get. I hope that this
time she will stop to see us on her way home. With love to you
dear Cousin Alice and to David & Charlie & both the
girls, I am
Yours most
affectionately,
Sarah
[ Up the left margin and across the top of
page 1 ]
We have not seen Theodore* since commencement as he went off on a cruise with some of his friends. We were delighted to think that he had done so well in college, with a cum laude and Honors in French but he has kept close at his work, and done the best he could, dear boy.
Notes
1901: As the notes below indicate, this letter was
composed in 1901.
and: Jewett sometimes wrote "a" with a long tail for
"and." I have rendered these as "and."
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to
Correspondents.
Degree: Jewett received an honorary degree, Doctor of
Letters, from Bowdoin College at the 1901 Commencement.
Cousin Charles: Charles Jervis Gilman died February 5,
1901.
Tory Lover: Jewett's novel was appearing serially
in Atlantic Monthly at the time she wrote this letter.
Mrs. Cabot: Susan Burley Cabot. See Key to Correspondents.
Cousin Fanny: Cousin Fanny may be Frances F. Perry (1861-1953), Jewett's mother's niece, the daughter of Dr. William G. Perry and Lucretia M. Fisk. See William Gilman Perry and Lucretia Morse Fisk Perry in Key to Correspondents.
dear Cousin Alice, and to David and Charlie and both the
girls: Members of the Gilman family. See Key
to Correspondents.
Theodore: Theodore Eastman received his A. B. from
Harvard College in 1901.
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Horace E. Scudder
Pride's Crossing
Beverly, Massachusetts
July 12, 1901
Dear Mr. Scudder:
I think that this is the first time
that the sight of your handwriting ever gave me a little pang! I
wished it were I who had written first to you; I have been
thinking of you and hoping to find the right hour when I might
tell you how sorry I was to hear of your illness. Long ago, one
late winter day, someone told me that you had been ill, but I
thought of it as something quite in the past, a shadow that had
not only come but gone again! and only within a few days I found
out what a long and hindering siege this same illness had been.
I am more sorry than I can say. I wish that I might have known,
and might have at least said a word even if I could not do a
thing or make some evidence of true and hearty sympathy. I have
always suffered very much at times from the hindrance and defeat
of illness -- as if I had always been a decent sort of mill that
ran unexpectedly short of motive power. Now that I have grown
older and behold such a long row of books, however, it seems as
if I must have been writing every minute since I arrived in this
world.
I can't help hoping that you will
like this last one -- The Tory Lover --* which has taken
more than a solid year's hard work and the dreams and hopes of
many a year beside. I have always meant to do what I could about
keeping some of the old Berwick flowers in bloom, and some of
the names and places alive in memory, for with many changes in
the old town they might be soon forgotten. It has been the
happiest year of work that ever came to me as well as the
hardest. A good deal of the 'tone of things' which existed in
those earlier days had survived into my own times: the fine old
houses, the ladies and gentlemen of colonial days were not all
gone. Dear Mr. Warner1 gave me the final push toward
writing such a story when he was in Berwick once, and I am so
glad to remember that he read some of the early chapters last
summer and took pleasure in them.
I am eager enough to get your Lowell2
into my hands. I hope that it is down for the early autumn? I
suppose that we must wait for September in a new-bookless state
now. It has the effect of sending me back to old friends and
favorites, but I should like my Lowell sooner than I am
likely to get it. I am just now spending a few days with an old
friend, who is the best of readers and who likes a fresh book as
well as anybody, but after grumbling because of summer vacations
in the publishing world, I saw her sit down after breakfast to
her Boswell,* and there she is yet!
Forgive me such a long letter, but it
is next best thing to the talk with you which I wished for as I
began to write. I have said nothing of the old days when I first
came to know your unforgettable kindness and sympathy for what
my young heart dreamed of writing. But those things are never
going to fade from my mind.
Please take my best thanks for your
kind words about the Degree, and please remember me to Mrs.
Scudder and your dear girl* whom I hope to see again and to
really know. And get well just as fast as ever you can, or you
must be made to turn your back upon Chocorua and come to settle
in Berwick where the tide comes up from Portsmouth exactly twice
a day! and the Tamworth hills3 look blue in the
distance.
Yours most affectionately,
S. O. Jewett
Notes
1 Scudder must
have prompted [Jewett] to act on Charles Dudley Warner's
suggestion that she write an heroic novel about John Paul
Jones's activities in Maine ... As an editor, he was aware
that the vogue of local color was on the wane and that the
historical romance was capturing the attention of the American
reading public.
2 Horace E. Scudder,
James Russell Lowell (Boston, 1901). Miss Jewett
was a frequent guest at Elmwood, Lowell's home, where
the time was spent pleasantly discussing books and the art of
writing. Lowell introduced Miss Jewett to the poems of John
Donne, which she read "with perfect delight." The Boston Brahmin
often mimicked her Maine accent and colloquialisms, reminding
her waggishly that the state of Maine had once been merely a
"deestrict" of Massachusetts.
3 Vicinity of Chocorua,
New Hampshire, a small community of summer homes in the White
Mountains of New Hampshire populated in the latter half of the
nineteenth century largely by persons of literary or artistic
prominence: painters Benjamin Champney and J. F. Kensett,
philosophers William James and William E. Hocking, poets William
Vaughn Moody and Edwin Arlington Robinson, editors Horace E.
Scudder and Ferris Greenslet, educators Abraham Flexner, Francis
J. Child, George F. Baker. Henry James and William Dean Howells
came often to stay with William James, and Whittier and Lucy
Larcom vacationed in nearby Ossipee. Miss Jewett used to visit
the Reverend Treadwell Walden, rector of the Episcopal Cathedral
in Boston, at his cottage in Wonalancet.
Editor's notes
The Tory Lover: The Atlantic Monthly serial
of
Jewett's
novel
continued
through
the
August 1901 issue.
Mr. Warner: Charles Dudley Warner. See Correspondents.
old friend: Susan Burley Cabot. See Correspondents.
Boswell: Mrs. Cabot probably is reading The
Life
of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791) by James Boswell.
the Degree, ... Mrs. Scudder ... dear girl: Jewett
refers to the honorary degree she received from Bowdoin College
in June 1901. See letters above.
Scudder was married to Grace Owen
(1845-1926). They had twin daughters; Ethel (1875-1876)
and Sylvia (1875 - after 1912); Cary says she married Ingersoll
Bowditch of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
This letter is edited and annotated by Richard Cary in Sarah
Orne Jewett Letters; the ms. is held by Colby College
Special Collections, Waterville, Maine. Additional notes
by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
hollyhocks !
Thursday morning
[ 18 July 1901 ]*
Maine.
Dearest Annie
In haste I have filled up my inkstand with another kind of ink, and look at the result! -- I got home all right, not to uncomfortably [ a meaning and ] the rain kept on gently, almost until I got here, but the evening was very hot and close at the first of the night. Oh Fuffy* dear, I dont see
Poor old Craigin* is dead, our old affectionate harmless willing [ hearted corrected ] pensioner.
[ Page 3 ]
It is late [ a meaning and ] I just give this to Theodore* to run to
[ Page 4 ]
the mail -- Susy & Miss Appleton* are coming at half past six tonight. I got a fear after I started that it might be last night.
The first step in life is to clear out my ink bottle!
Notes
18 July 1901: This letter probably was composed on the Thursday after the death of Michael Cragin on 16 July 1901. See notes below.
Fuffy: Fuffy is a nickname for Fields.
Craigin: Probably, Jewett refers to Michael Cragin, an Irish-born Civil War veteran who served as a special officer of the South Berwick police. After being attacked a day or two earlier, he died on Tuesday 16 July 1901 at the age of 65. See the Oxford Democrat (23 July 1901), p. 3.
John: John Tucker.
Theodore: Theodore Jewett Eastman.
Susy & Miss Appleton: In other letters, Jewett frequently mentions together Susan Travers (Key to Correspondents and Mary (Minnie) Worthen Appleton (1886-1965), both of whom Jewett met in Newport, RI.
Pinny: See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields papers: mss FL 5557. This manuscript has been damaged by water, making parts of the transcription less than normally certain. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Wyman Whitman to Sarah Orne Jewett
19 July 1901*
Dearest, I do not think you will have heard that on Thursday [Mr. Whit: ? ] went on a sailing-trip and while at Marblehead had a [ fourth ? ] seizure, -- probably the most serious he has ever had. ----
D. Fitz, most fortunately was at his office, came at once, and then
[ Page 2 ]
[ Page 3 ]
I enclose Mr. [ Mifflin's ? ] notes: and
if only the Proof passes the rubicon* of criticism the "incident
will be considered closed"!
I have not written to my dear
Theodore* because I have had every other letter to write: but
tell him how the [ Lop - lilies ? ] still delight me:
and I am counting on the seeing of him.
Ever, darling, yours
SW
Notes
19 July 1901: Whitman writes of the fatal stroke of paralysis that her husband, Henry, suffered on Thursday 18 July 1901. He died the following Sunday, 21 July 1901.
Dr. Fitz: This may be Dr. Reginald Heber Fitz (1843-1913), a prominent Massachusetts physician, a professor of Medicine at Harvard University, and a practicing specialist in appendicitis.
Mr. Mifflin: This transcription is uncertain. However, at this time, Whitman may have been working with Houghton Mifflin on the cover design for Jewett's soon to be released novel, The Tory Lover.
rubicon: The Rubicon is a river in northeastern Italy, remembered in history as the boundary between Gaul and Italy, which Julius Caesar illegally crossed in 49 BC, committing himself to seeking to become ruler of Rome.
Theodore: Theodore Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Whitman, Sarah (Wyman) 1842-1904. 92 letters; [1884]-[1903] & [n.d.] Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence, 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 -107. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ Fragment. Top of first page in pencil by another hand: Mr & Mrs Whitman ]*
to have made a new condition.
--- I dont want to talk about except this word to you, but I was touched by the way they spoke to each other, quite a new tone. I shall be so glad whether he lives or dies, to have heard it. But one cannot wish him to live, poor [deleted word] man!
I am writing more than I ought in this short hour before mail time. So good bye, darling Fuff.* Theodore* is so comfy and nice, and
everything seems to be in good trim. Now I must see what I can do about works & Ways!
your own Pinny*
Notes
Mr & Mrs Whitman: If this letter does, indeed, concern Sarah Wyman and Henry Whitman, as the note at the top of the page suggests, then this letter was likely composed not long before Henry Whitman's death on July 21, 1901. See Key to Correspondents.
Fuff: Nickname for Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Theodore: Jewett's nephew, Theodore Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.
works & Ways: See the Bible, Job 34:11 and Ecclesiastes 8:17.
Pinny: Nickname for Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 40 letters to Annie (Adams) Fields (no date). Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence, 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 (117). Transcribed and annotated by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett
[ Late July 1901 ]*
Dear Mary
It is a night of loud chirping crickets, and so cool and nice. I am glad we have come to these cool evenings. Stubby* and I were very hot coming home, after a delightful luncheon at Mrs. Cabot’s.* We had a nice drive to the Beverly station and then our troubles began for the cars were crowded and hot and I was dreadfully tired but at Porchmount “Bob Goodwin”* was happily discovered and he and Stubby had such a beautiful time that I felt revived. They began to talk at once, sage steady talk with frequent brief chuckles, but almost steady, and this lasted until half past twelve at night! Katy* had a nice supper and after that I held out for a while, but finding that they were going straight through the Harvard book of class pictures with comments appropriate to each! I departed for bed and had a hot bath and got rested & cool. Dear things! they were so happy, and Goodie is a nice boy; one of the best & pleasantest. I have enjoyed him very much. Their tongues never ceased and it was a beautiful visit. Stubby has gone down to York with him. They had an early breakfast for the 7.42 train and I urged them to drive instead this lovely cool morning so the[y] moved discreetly off with Sarah Fanny.* Yesterday they had a nice drive and went to Hamilton House but couldn’t find anybody to their exceeding disappo[i]ntment. I got rested yesterday and had a beautiful day. It was one of the days when both the house and garden were perfectly lovely. I went to see Sarah Johnson* late in the afternoon Mrs. B. C.* having reported her as very poorly and I have seldom seen her so well -- all dressed up and sitting in her front room in Sabbath calm! I fell heir to your Sunday morning interview with Mrs. B. C. and we spoke of Craigin in the course of it, and I said that his sad taking off might be a warning. “Warning!” pronounced Mrs. B. C. with despair. “There was Horace Bennett took up in bushel baskets and what good did that ever do to Izik!” We ought to remember this as an example of the futility of human things. I went on to see Becca and found her nicely and going to walk out with Ida Raynes,* & she came in here later in the evening. Joe seems to be all right and all the household. I could go on writing all the morning there seem to be so many interesting things to say, but I must get the last of my book things off by the morning mail & go to the Bank & do some sewing and speak with Joe about some things in the garden with high pomp -- in your absence. Give my love to everybody. It seems as if I hadn’t heard for a great while as I lost your Saturday letter to Manchester. We are going by Dover & Lakeport tomorrow -- a “new road”. -- The address is Holmewood, Holderness, N. H. Care Miss Longfellow* (Aunt Mary I am pleased to be going!)*
With best love
Sarah
Topsy is very well & rose the hill yesterday.* Helen Sewall sailed on the fifteenth Becca said.
Notes
Late July 1901: Almost certainly this letter was
composed soon after the death of Michael Cragin on 16 July 1901.
Stubby: Theodore Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Cabot: Susan Burley Cabot. Referred to later in the letter as Mrs. B. C. See Key to Correspondents.
Porchmount “Bob Goodwin”: "Porchmount" is a local
pronunciation for "Portsmouth (NH)," which Jewett occasionally
uses in her letters. In Theodore Jewett Eastman's Harvard
University class of 1901 was Robert Eliot Goodwin of Concord,
MA, who eventually completed a law degree and set up practice in
Boston.
Katy: Katy Galvin. See Key to Correspondents.
Sarah Fanny: This seems to be a Jewett family horse,
with perhaps a play on the name Sarafina. Assistance is
welcome.
Hamilton House: The 18th-century house built by
Jonathan Hamilton in South Berwick. See Emily Davis Tyson
in Key
to
Correspondents.
Sarah Johnson: This neighbor of Mrs. Cabot has not
yet been identified.
Among Fields's acquaintance was the painter
Sarah J. F. Johnston (1850 - 1925), daughter of Boston
artist David Claypoole Johnston (1799 -
1865). See also Oxford Dictionary of American Art and
Artists, entry on David Claypoole Johnston. Though
the name is spelled differently, this could be the person Jewett
meant.
Craigin ... his taking off ,.. Horace Bennett
took up in bushel baskets ... Izik!:
Mrs. Cabot and Jewett seem to be discussing the unfortunate
deaths of Michael Cragin and Horace Bennett. Horace Bennett has
not been identified.
Almost certainly, Craigin is Michael Cragin,
an Irish-born Civil War veteran who served as a special
officer of the South Berwick police. After being attacked
a day or two earlier, he died on Tuesday 16 July 1901 at the age
of 65. See the Oxford Democrat (23 July 1901), p.
3.
Becca ... Ida Raynes: For Rebecca Young, see Key to Correspondents. The identity of Ida Raynes is not yet known. The one person of this name appearing in on-line records lived 1848-1896 in South Berwick and married William Waterman Palfrey in 1869, changing her name long before Theodore Eastman Jewett was born.
Joe: In a letter of Saturday [June 17 or 24, 1899] to Annie Adams Fields, Jewett mentions Joe, the gardener, and his "old" Mary. There it appears they may be employees of Emily Tyson.
Miss Longfellow: Alice Mary Longfellow. See Key to Correspondents.
(Aunt Mary I am pleased to be going!): Though the
transcription does not confirm it, this parenthetical message
seems likely to have been added by Theodore.
Topsy: Topsy appears to be a horse, but the animal
or person seems not to have been mentioned in other Jewett
letters.
Helen Sewall: Probably this is a South Berwick
neighbor, Helen D. Sewall (1845-1922), who was sister to Jotham
and Jane Sewall. See Pirsig, The Placenames of South
Berwick, p. 75.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Robert Underwood Johnson
[ Begin letterhead ]
South Berwick.
Maine.
[ End letterhead ]
I am afraid that I cannot send you a story. I am sorry and ashamed to make such a statement, but I could not turn aside while my mind was so full of the Tory Lover, and now that is ended I am too tired and
Yours with sincere regret and heartfelt apologies
1901: Jewett indicates that she has just completed her final novel, The Tory Lover, which ended its Atlantic serialization in August 1901.
Above the salutation, penciled in another hand: "Youll get this yet -- G".
Jewett's next published story was "The Green Bowl" in the New York Herald of 3 November 1901. She never published another story in Century, her writing career coming to an end after her debilitating September 1902 carriage accident.
See also her letters to Johnson of 17 and 22 June 1901.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Princeton University Library, Princeton, NJ: Robert H. Taylor Collection of English and American Literature RTC01, Box 10, Folder 12. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ July - August 1901 ]*
[ Page 3 ]
[ Page 4 ]
done. It makes one think of Raquette Lake* about here now.
[ Alice corrected ] is very well and really delightful & gay in her little spirits. She is planning all sorts of things, a{nd} cannot hear to my departure, but I shall come on Friday, going right down to Boston to 4 Park St.* & to Manchester sometime in the afternoon. Dear love to you and to Rose* from Pinny*
Notes
July - August 1901: Other letters from 1901 place Jewett at Holmewood Cottage with Alice Longfellow in Holderness, NH near the end of July or early August 1901.
In the upper left corner of page 1, horizontally and possibly in pencil: "Alice sends love."
Fuffy: Nickname for Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Shepard Hill: Holderness, NH is on Little Squam Lake, which is connected with nearby Squam Lake. Shepard Hill is about 3 miles east of Holderness. Probably the point of land Jewett refers to is on the larger lake, but this is not certain.
Bella Curtis: Jewett probably refers to Isabella Curtis (1873-1966), who maintained a summer residence on Moon Island in Squam Lake, east of Holderness, NH.
Mrs. Armstrong's camp: For General Samuel C. Armstrong, see Key to Correspondents. His second wife was Mary Alice Ford (1864-1918). Edith Armstrong Talbot (1872-1941) was Gen. Armstrong's daughter from his first marriage to Emma Dean Walker (1849-1878). She married Dr. Winthrop Tisdale Talbot in 1896.
Mary Armstrong was a co-founder of Rockywold Deephaven camps in Holderness, NH. According to the National Park Service, the purpose of the camps was "to bring people steeped in the intensity of their professional and urban lives to Squam for a summer immersed in simplicity and nature." See also Rockywold Deephaven Camps, "The Founder."
While it seems likely that Armstrong named her camp after the fictional town in Jewett's novel, Deephaven (1877), this has not been confirmed.
Hampton people: These would be students from the Hampton Institute, where Gen. Armstrong remained in charge from its founding until a disabling stroke in 1892. His wife and daughter continued their association with Hampton after his death.
the book: Edith Armstrong's biography of her father, Samuel Chapman Armstrong: a Biographical Study, appeared in 1904.
Raquette Lake: Raquette Lake is in New York, about 220 miles west of Holderness, NH. Jewett and Fields stayed at a forest camp there in September 1894.
Alice: Alice Longfellow. See Key to Correspondents.
4 Park St.: Offices of Houghton, Mifflin, and Atlantic Monthly.
Rose: Rose Lamb. See Key to Correspondents.
Pinny: Pinny Lawson, a Jewett nickname. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields papers: mss FL 5568. This manuscript has been damaged by water, making parts of the transcription less than normally certain. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
Saturday morning [4 August, 1901]
Dear Annie
I do think your letters are dearer and nicer every day --- and oh, they do make me wish to see you so! I hope that you did not come back too tired from town yesterday, and I am so glad that there is no more going there for the present. Twice a week was a [poor partially underlined?] Fuffy!* and yesterday afternoon grew too hot here though the morning was cool and beautiful. I am up earlier than common
this morning, for there is a great expedition now on the road to Knight's Pond* after pond [lilies by ?] Elise and Theodore.* Elise came up to pass the night to go, or rather to make an early start -- so ^they have started^ after a good breakfast and with a provision of two bananas each in hand. I drove down to H. house* yesterday morning with Stubby and we felt that the green fields were never [lovelier corrected]. Elise had gone down to the Coolidges in the boat with Templeman* to spend the night -- something is the matter with the boat which he had had built. Mrs. Tyson has set up a Saturday morning reading for the Country!* At which Mary & Mrs. Goodwin are much pleased,* and I join in with alacrity, and we are going down presently. All this is good and pleasant.
How delightful about Madame d'Arcos!* (Fuff wrote her so charming!) and Jessies* letter is encouraging though I dont doubt that it
will be later than the 12th -- When she comes here for her little visit I should rather it would be in September -- but we needn't dwell upon that now .
------ Stubby is going off on Monday I am sorry to say though he will have a very nice time on a boat cruising with a boy. He is looking forward to his visit to you next month I find, and perhaps you can think of a week that would be better than another, or I may say, more convenient. Oh, the hollyhocks are so lovely in the garden! I do wish you were here !!! It seemed to me that I
must beg you to come and spend Sunday, and then I remembered your Baron ---- and the Board meeting but oh, to see Fuff! I keep on feeling very well and ready to do things, so far. How delightful about young Boylston* -- I always liked and believed in that dear boy. There are so many things to say but I must get my letter to the post office now{.} With dearest love always P. L.*
Notes
4 August 1901: As the notes below suggest, 1899 is about the earliest possible date for this letter, for this is the date at which the Tysons began summering at Hamilton House in South Berwick.
The letter seems to associate with other letters believed to be from about this time, particularly Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett of Saturday [Summer 1901], which mentions letters from Jessie Cochrane and Madame de Arcos.
The main details placing these letters in 1901 are that Jewett mentions visits to a Mrs. Gillespie, apparently for some form of treatment, here and also in a letter definitely from 1901 -- Tuesday night, from Pride's Crossing --, when she was preparing The Tory Lover for book publication.
Fuffy: Jewett's nickname for Annie Fields.
Knight's Pond: In The Placenames of South Berwick, Wendy Pirsig gives the history of this pond in the South Berwick area, which was a major local source of commercial ice well into the 19th century (pp. 223-4).
Elise: Daughter of Emily Tyson. See Correspondents.
Theodore: Jewett's nephew, Theodore Jewett Eastman, nicknamed Stubby. See Correspondents.
H. house: Hamilton House in South Berwick, ME; purchased in 1898 by Emily Tyson.
Coolidges in the boat with Templeman: John Templeman Coolidge (1856-1945) and his first wife, Katherine Scollay Parkman (1858-1900), daughter of historian Francis Parkman, summered in Portsmouth, NH, at the historic Wentworth Mansion, which they restored and maintained over many years, beginning in 1886. Wikipedia says: "Coolidge was a Boston Brahmin, artist and antiquarian who used the property as a summer home. His guests included such luminaries as John Singer Sargent, Edmund C. Tarbell and Isabella Stewart Gardner." See also How the Coolidge Family of Boston Saved Wentworth Mansion by J. Dennis Robinson.
Mrs. Tyson: Emily Tyson. See Correspondents.
Saturday morning reading for the Country: Information about this seemingly public reading from Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896) would be welcome.
Mary & Mrs. Goodwin: Mary Rice Jewett and, probably, Sophia Elizabeth Hayes Goodwin. See Correspondents.
Madame d'Arcos: In 1901, the Spanish ambassador to the United States was José Ambrosio Brunetti, Duke de Arcos, (1839-1928). The duke served as ambassador beginning in 1899, when diplomatic relations between Spain and the United States resumed after the Spanish-American War of 1898. He took a new post in 1902. He was chosen for this ministry in part because his wife was American, Virginia Woodbury Lowery (c. 1840-1934), of a prominent Washington, D.C. family with roots in New Hampshire.
It appears that Madam de Arcos was summering in the Prides Crossing / Manchester, MA area.
Jessie's letter: Probably referring to Jessie Cochrane, a frequent guest of Annie Fields. See Correspondents.
Baron: This reference remains mysterious.
Board meeting: Annie Fields, for many years, served on the board of the Associated Charities of Boston. This probably is the board Jewett refers to.
young Boylston: In Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields, Monday Morning [July 1899], Jewett notes that Annie Adams Fields's nephew, Boylston Adams III plans to stay with her at Charles St. as he begins his medical studies at Harvard.
P. L.: Pinny Lawson, one of Jewett's nicknames.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 40 letters to Annie (Adams) Fields (no date). Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence, 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 (117). Transcribed and annotated by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Henry Mills Alden to Sarah Orne Jewett
PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK AND LONDON. EDITORIAL ROOMS
Dear Miss Jewett:
You long ago answered a note from me about the Connecticut Valley article. As you did not seem inclined to undertake it, we abandoned the idea. It was only you that we wanted, after all, and you we would prefer to have in work more characteristic of you.
We are making a point of little pieces (really characteristic of our best writers) sketches of three or four pages in length. They must be interesting as disclosures of nature or of human nature (preferably of the latter) and we hope you may so far see your way to doing some such sketches* for us for publication in our magazine during 1902 that we may put your name in our Prospectus. And we would like to have one of these, to begin with, at your earliest convenience. Our payment to you for this would be at the rate of $75. a magazine page, if you keep within the specified limits.
[ signed H. M. Alden ]
Miss Jewett,
148 Charles Street,
Boston, Mass.
Notes
sketches: Jewett appears not to have contributed to this project. However, she did publish two short stories in Harper's Magazine in 1901-2: "The Honey Tree" (December 1901) and "Sister Peacham's Turn" (November 1902).
The typescript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett. bMS Am 1743 (3).
This transcription is from a photocopy held by the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Box 2, Folder 99, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Gilson Hoyt Willets
South Berwick.
Maine.
[ End letterhead ]
[ 21 August 1901 ]*
My dear Sir
I am just now away from my house, at the address above, which was my birthplace and is still my home for the greatest part of the year. I cannot therefore give you any help in the matter of photographs, but you are quite welcome
I am obliged to write in haste but I beg you to believe me
S. O. Jewett
Manchester by Sea
Massachusetts Aug 21
Notes
1901: This pairs with another letter to Willets of 24 August, probably in 1901.
Deephaven: Jewett refers to the 1893 illustrated edition of her 1877 novel, Deephaven.
Heaton of the Bacheller Syndicate: Jewett contributed several piece to Irving Bacheller's (1859-1950) first modern newspaper syndicate, for distribution to newspapers across the United States.
Eliza Putnam Heaton (1860-1919) was an American journalist and editor. Jewett probably refers to an interview piece that first appeared in 1895 and that seems to have been recycled in various forms: "Pleasant Day with Miss Jewett."
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Princeton University Library, Princeton, NJ: Robert H. Taylor Collection of English and American Literature RTC01, Box 10, Folder 12. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
On the back of page 1, top right, appear the penciled initials, "RHT," presumably for American bibliophile Robert H. Taylor (c. 1914-1985).
Sarah Orne Jewett to Gilson Hoyt Willets
24 August [ 1901 ]*
To Gilson Willets Esqr
I am afraid
that you had better make your arrangements to suit your own convenience. I shall be in South Berwick early next week and I shall leave word that your photographer is to do what he likes, and to have whatever help can be given hm. There is a very good photographer in the village -- but I do not know whether his interior work is equal to his really excellent work out of doors --
S. O. Jewett
Notes
1901: This speculative date is supported by a tissue of circumstantial evidence. It seems clear from the letter that Willets is working on a project that involves making photographs of the interior of Jewett's house. As of this writing, there is no certain published evidence that this project bore fruit. An article appeared late in 1901 that may be connected with the pair of letters Jewett wrote to Willets in August: "Sarah Orne Jewett -- A Visit to her Home,"
The Houghton Library of Harvard University holds a collection of interior photographs of the Jewett home, made by Kingsbury Studio, Photographs of Quality, Portsmouth, NH. It appears from the letter that Willets has asked Jewett to suggest a photographer for the project. It may be the case, therefore, that Willets engaged the Kingsbury Studio to make the photographs. According to a catalog note, one photo (Seq. 5 / #37) apparently shows "images of: Katie Galvin, Mary Galvin, and John L., who were all household staff." Katy/Katie Galvin is believed to have joined the household in 1899, when she immigrated from Ireland.
This letter seems likely to have been written before Jewett's September 1902 carriage accident. 1900 and 1901 are, therefore, likely dates. In 1901, Jewett was the first woman to receive an honorary degree from Bowdoin College. Her historical novel, The Tory Lover was receiving a strong reception, and several newspaper pieces about her appeared, offering stories about her home and personal life. This would seem a good time for Willets to have received an assignment for a project that involved extensive photographs of Jewett's house, which figures in the novel.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Small Library, University of Virginia, Special Collections MSS 6218, Sarah Orne Jewett Papers. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Sara Holland
Manchester by Sea
Monday 26th August
[ 1901 ]*
Dear Sara:
This must carry my
affectionate good wishes for your share of our birthday,
and* assure you that I shall think of you and bless the day that
you were born to be my younger mate and Arthur's wife and your
Cousin Annie's cousin and so, my friend!* I shall drink
your health in the best beverage I can reach at the
high moment of celebrating so illustrious a day --
A few days ago I started a book on its way to you which I like
for its American qualities: Captain "Bob" Evans's
autobiography.* I am afraid that it is a clumsier volume than
you will like on the edge of a journey, but it will keep! and
give you and Arthur, beside, some idea of the quarrel [ deleted
word and between ]
over Sampson and Schley [ by corrected ] their respective friends. At least this seems to be one exciting cause. Not that the quarrel is of great consequence: not half so much as this honest picture of a modern sailor's experience and character.
Everybody is very well
among the people for whom you care most here, only their hearts
are very sad at Nahant from the loss of Willis Beal's dear
little son.* Annie and I
happened to see him only a few days before he died -- a beautiful little fellow, and so* delightful to his grandfather and grandmother as one could quickly see.
-- I am deeply interested in your change of plans,
and the giving up on Arthur's part of such overwhelming cares of
business.* I had a sudden certainty that dear 'Aunt Harriet'*
would have smiled upon such a decision with entire approval: her
son has done a solid piece of good steady hard work all these
years and earns his holiday, which is sure to be put into other
work
none the less -- I love to think of his sitting down with a
sigh of content to read all a workday morning! Annie and
I thought that there was even a feeling of rest in his first
letter. How many more hours you will have together now.*
[ Up the left margin of page 2 ]
-- Thank you for your kind interest in the
[ Up the left margin and across the top margin of page 3 ]
Tory Lover.* I am just through with the book proofs and
it comes out here & in London late in
September.
With my love always yours most truly
Sarah O. Jewett
Notes
1901: See notes below.
and: Sometimes Jewett writes "a" with a long tail for "and." I render these as "and."
Page 2: In another hand, centered at the top of
page 2: "(To Mrs Sarah Holland: )".
my friend: Sarah Holland was Annie Fields' cousin
by marriage. Key to Correspondents.
Evans: autobiography: Robley D. Evans, A
Sailor's Log: Recollections of Forty Years of Naval
Life (1901). Richard Cary writes that Jewett
refers to "the public controversy over who was the 'real' hero
of the rout of the Spanish fleet at Santiago -- Admiral William
T. Sampson or Admiral Winfield Scott Schley. Captain Evans was
one of the several naval officers invited by Robert Underwood
Johnson to give their versions of the battle in the Century
(see his Remembered Yesterdays [Boston, 1929],
417-418)."
James (4 February 1899 - 12 August 1901)
Willis (14 June 1902)
Holland (2 June 1904).
so: Jewett underlined this word twice.
business: Richard Cary writes: "Despite the roseate picture of domestic leisure drawn by Miss Jewett, Holland did not retire from his iron, steel, and railroad enterprises (for a short period he was president of the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad in Maine) until after he met with an automobile accident in 1916."
'Aunt Harriet': Arthur Holland's mother, Harriet Holland. Key to Correspondents.
Tory Lover: Jewett's final novel appeared in
serial, 1900-1901, and as a book in September 1901.
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Sara Norton
Manchester by Sea, August 28,
1901.
My dearest Sally, -- I hear of you at Windsor and in other far countries,* and the summer goes parading by, here on the shore (where I have been staying once before since August came in), after some perfect days at home, and a bit of a visit to Miss Longfellow at Holderness,* where we played much on the lake and in it, and I had one perfectly happy long morning when we went huckleberrying together with enormous profit to the rest of the household! There is a charming sort of easy life going on about those lake shores. One is more shut in by mountains than on Winnipiseogee,* -- which is so much better known, -- and sees all the colours of the great slopes change and change with the slow cloud shadows. The house where I stayed is so close to the lake that the little waves come clucking up to the very walls, and one lands as immediately as if it were Venice, and hears the loons calling as if it were still a wilderness.
My thoughts fly to Stonehurst at this moment and I wonder with considerable wistfulness if we shall really get to that kind house this summer. Perhaps it might be in late September.
"The Tory Lover"* got itself quite done at last, -- though almost every day I get hurried notes from The House with questions about last things. I grow very melancholy if I fall to thinking of the distance between my poor story and the first dreams of it, but I believe that I have done it just as well as I could. I was delighted the other day when Mrs. Agassiz* said that she had been doubtful in the beginning, but had really liked each number better than the last, and I found that my people had made her a real pleasure in the end. One needs these things for cheer.
This morning I have been copying Mr.
Kipling's "Bridge-Guard" poem* with great delight. Some one lent
me his copy cut from the "Times," and I had not succeeded in
getting hold of it before. Don't you think it very fine? Don't
you feel the same wonderful self-consciousness in it as in "For
to admire and for to see"? One sees and feels that lonely
place in a wonderful way. If you were here how we could talk
about it!
Notes
Windsor: It appears Sara Norton is traveling in
England, where Wikipedia
says: "Windsor is a town ... in the Royal Borough of Windsor and
Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site
of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British
Royal Family."
Miss Longfellow at Holderness ... the lake: Alice
Mary Longfellow. See
Correspondents. It appears that Jewett and Longfellow have
both visited Holderness, New Hampshire, which is on Squam
Lake. It is possible that they stayed at the Asquam House
Hotel, though there were other hotels in this resort town.
SeeAround
Squam
Lake (2002), by Bruce D. Heald, Chapter 4.
Winnipiseogee: Probably Lake Winnipesaukee,
a resort area in the White Mountains of southeastern New
Hampshire.
Stonehurst: The summer home of Helen Bigelow Merriman at Intervale, NH. See Correspondents.
"The Tory Lover" ... The House: Jewett's novel, The
Tory Lover, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1901.
Mrs. Agassiz has been reading it in the serial which appeared in
Atlantic Monthly, November 1900 - August 1901.
Mrs. Agassiz: Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz (1822-1907) helped to develop the Harvard "Annex" into Radcliffe College, where she served as president. She was the second wife of the naturalist Jean Louis Agassiz.
Mr. Kipling's "Bridge-Guard" poem ... "For to admire and for
to see": Rudyard Kipling's "Bridge-Guard in the Karroo,
1901," describes the feelings of soldiers set to guard a remote
railway bridge during the South African War. The refrain is:
(Few, forgotten and lonely,
Where the empty metals shine -
No, not combatants - only
Details, guarding the line.)
For to admire an' for to see,
For to be'old this world so wide -
It never done no good to me,
But I can't drop it if I tried!
This letter appears in Annie Fields, Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett (1911), Transcribed by Annie Adams Fields, with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Abbie S. Beede
Dear Miss Beede
I hope you can make out this little story: just leave any doubtful words as usual. Could you send it to me by Saturday?
Thank you so much for your promptness with the other, which came
back safely. I enclose five dollars "on account."
S. O. Jewett
Wednesday.
Notes
1900 - August 1902: An envelope associated with this letter is addressed Mifs ^ A. S.^ Beede, and cancelled in South Berwick on 27 December 1902. It is not possible that this envelope actually belongs with this letter, for after Jewett's September 1902 carriage accident, she did not actively write fiction. Almost certainly, then, this letter was composed between 1901 and August 1902.
It seems likely that this letter was written either before Jewett began serious work on The Tory Lover in mid-1900 or after she completed the book, in August 1901. I have chosen to place it in early September, thinking that perhaps the "little story" she mentions here is the same little story she mentions in a letter to Beede of 4 September 1901.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0180.
Transcription by Kelsey Squire, Ohio Dominican University; edited and with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Francis Jackson Garrison
Friday
[September 1901]*
Manchester
Dear Mr. Garrison
I have just heard this morning of your illness. They only told me that you were at home with a cold the last time I was at the office -- and I wish to say at once how very sorry I am ^that the illness has been [ worse? ]^. Mr. Mifflin* speaks briefly as if he supposed that I
[2]
knew ^all about it^, so that I really do not know half so much as I wish to, but it is a great comfort to know that you are better. One cant help feeling very anxious about ones friends, but I hope that you have already come to a not too unpleasant stage of easy convalescence, and especially, that you will take as long a rest as
[3]
possible before you go into town again! Harden that conscience that may try to urge you too fast, and make believe that it is not yourself but one of those friends whom you treat so kindly, and be very good to the patient, and very unwilling to let him think of any body but himself -- for once!
I am going to ask H. M. & Co. to send you a new story which is about to be published. It is by a new writer of tender
[4]
years, and some excellent critics believe that it shows promise. It has at least a lovely cover, and its name is The Tory Lover!
With love to you and to Mrs. Garrison believe me ever
Yours sincerely
Sarah O. JewettNotes
September 1901: Weber and Weber indicate that Jewett's The Tory Lover appeared in September 1901. As she reports here that the book is about to be published, the latest possible date for this letter is September of 1901.
Mifflin: George Harrison Mifflin. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held in the Parkman Dexter Howe Collection, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida: SOJ MS1 Autograph Letter of Sarah Orne Jewett to Mr. Garrison, Friday [Fall 1901] Manchester [n.d.].
The description of the Jewett portion of the P. D. Howe Collection says that this letter came inserted in a copy of The Tory Lover containing this inscription: "K. de C. B. from S.O.J.: Christmas 1901." "P. D. Howe identifies K. de C. B. as Kate de C. Birckhead. One of Jewett's early friends was Kate Birckhead of Newport, Rhode Island, who is thought to have inspired Deephaven." See Key to Correspondents.
Transcribed by Tanner Brossart, with assistance and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
(after supper when I sat up, or stayed on the couch I began to feel tired to pieces! So much for an old Slow Pinny!* ) X I have been reading Mifs Angel -- It is a most lovely 'historical' story{--} if you haven't got it, I want to send my little Tauchnitz one. Venice is so exquisitely drawn in it, and afterward in London all the life of that day: Dr. Johnson-* comes along the street as if ones own eyes saw him! -- I think you have got Miss Angel but perhaps you can't put a hand on it ( -- so tell me, [or corrected ] ask Mrs. Cabot* which would be still quicker if you are out of reading. What a
[ Page 2 ]
lovely day! but Theodore* thinks that it will be very warm for the football players!! I hope that he will have a good day out of doors like last week. He says that he saw Boylston* yesterday at the City Hospital. I didn't know until he told me a little while ago that Boylie has really got the chance he wanted with Dr. Williams -- how good![ We corrected possibly from I ] had this nice letter from Mrs. Knight* of Portsmouth yesterday -- a charming letter and full of life from anyone of 88! She has asked so often for you -- A note from Thérèse* too and I have a letter to send you which is lost for the moment. It)
[ Manuscript breaks off here; no signature ]
Notes
September 1901: Fields penciled 1890 in the upper right of page 1, and noted that part of this letter appeared on p. 67 of Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett.
However, this date almost certainly is incorrect. As the notes below indicate, this letter was composed when Jewett's nephew, Theodore, was a student at Harvard and, probably, when Fields's nephew, Boylston, was in medical school at Harvard. Also, almost certainly, the letter was written before Jewett's September 1902 carriage accident.
Though she says Mrs. Knight is 88 years old, her 88th birthday would not occur until March of 1902.
Another problem with dating is that Jewett seems to have spent most of the autumn of 1901 at Manchester with Fields, while in 1900, she wrote from South Berwick in September.
Parenthesis marks in this letter have been penciled in by Fields.
Fields also has penciled the X after the end parenthesis, to mark the spot at which she began her selection.
Pinny: Nickname for Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
"Miss Angel" ... Tauchnitz one ... Dr. Johnson: Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) was a prolific and multi-talented English writer and lexicographer, known for his witty conversation. Miss Angel by Anne Thackeray, Lady Ritchie (1837-1919) appeared in a Tauchnitz edition from Leipzig in 1875. In The Atlantic (April 1882: 563-4) is an appreciative essay on the history of Tauchnitz editions, high quality inexpensive reprints of English and American literary works usually published in partnership with their authors, but free of copyright restrictions.
Mrs. Cabot: Susan Burley Howes Cabot. See Key to Correspondents.
Theodore: Theodore Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.
Boylston ... at the City Hospital ... Dr. Williams: Zabdiel Boylston Adams, III, Fields's nephew. See Annie Adams Fields in Key to Correspondents. Adams completed his medical degree at Harvard in 1903. He married Anna S. Foster on 4 June 1907.
Dr. Williams has not been identified. It is possible, though unlikely, that Jewett refers to the most prominent Dr. Williams practicing in Boston at this time, Francis Henry Williams (1852-1936), who was making his name at Boston City Hospital in the 1890s for developing ways of using x-rays for chest scans.
Mrs. Knight of Portsmouth: Jewett gives Mrs. Knight's age as 88. This makes it likely that she refers to Helen Caroline Cross Knight (5 March 1814-1906), of Portsmouth, NH. See Life and Light for Woman 37 (January 1907, pp. 33-4). Her sister, Charlotte Tilton Cross (1819-1903), was the second wife of Elisha H. Jewett (1816-1883), who was first cousin to Jewett's father, Theodore Herman Jewett.
Thérèse: Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Fields Transcription
In Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett (1911), Fields includes a passage from this letter on p. 67.
I have been reading "Miss Angel." It is a most lovely historical story. If you haven't got it, I want to send my little Tauchnitz one. Venice is so exquisitely drawn in it, and afterward in London, all the life of that day. Dr. Johnson comes along the street as if one's own eyes saw him. I think you have got "Miss Angel," but perhaps you can't put a hand on it.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Abbie S. Beede
[ Begin letterhead ]
South Berwick, Maine
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Mifs Beede
You see that I have been working [ over probably written over on ] this little story again -- it is hard to get it just to my mind. Will you be so kind as to copy it again and then we can see what we think of it, once more!
Please send it to me
registered care of Mrs. J. T. Fields, Manchester Massachusetts, but keep this worked-over / copy in your desk until sometime when I see you. Please let me have a memorandum of what I owe you.
The work up on The Tory Lover is but just over: the book is binding now,
Notes
1901: This date is confirmed by Jewett's noting that her novel, The Tory Lover, is being bound. The book version appeared in the autumn of 1901.
Which story Beede is to type again is not yet known. Jewett's next published stories were "The Green Bowl" "The Honey Tree," and "The Spur of the Moment."
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0181.
Transcription by Kelsey Squire, Ohio Dominican University; edited and with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Robert Underwood Johnson
Manchester by the Sea. Mass.
I did not mean to leave your very kind note so long unanswered.
It is possible that among the plates made by Harpers' Magazine and Scribner's you will find what you seek ^in connection with Thackeray in America^.* The thing that you suggest has been done I fear many times over. Taking "Yesterdays with Authors"* illustrated -- and the magazine papers I have published, I cannot think what else remains --
Just now everything [ valuable ? ] in mss. relating to Thackeray
is packed away in the Safety Deposit. Perhaps the new and delightful things given into your hands by Smith & Gilder will be sufficient{.} I congratulate you upon getting [ them ? ]!
You will find in Mr. [ Howells'* corrected ] book the pictures of our house as well as in the magazine --
I did not know of your being at York until sometime after your sadly fruitless journey to South Berwick{.}
and since then my little hotel has been so well patronized! that I have been unable either to get away much or to ask friends here.
It is a pleasure to know you are all well and very interesting about the babes in the wood, viz: Paris --
Mifs Jewett* is here and sends her kind regards with mine to you both.
Annie Fields.
Notes
Thackeray in America: George William Curtis (1824-1892) published a book of this title in 1853."
"Yesterdays with Authors": In 1871, James T. Fields (see Key to Correspondents) published this memoir of his friendships with British and American authors, including English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863).
The manuscript of this letter is held by The New York Public Library, Archives & Manuscripts, Century Company records 1870-1930s, Series I. General Correspondence 1870-1930, b. 33, Fields, Annie 1886-1912. http://archives.nypl.org/mss/504#detailed.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Unknown Correspondent to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ 1901 ]*
Lovely darling Sarah, I did not write y* from Gloucester because of turmoil, and I think also you are away from home.
[ So ? ], as if after being in the Holy Land* of New England Elements, not you yourself
could tell all about it! Every thing has been wonderful, marvelous, unmeasured in any previous scale of measurement. Your own power and presence, Miss Mary's* preciousness, the first real understanding of New England stateliness and essence, -- notwithstanding that I think I speak the language because of the blood strain.
Miss Mary was such a darling on that Portsmouth
jaunt. I have not a bit of remorse ^now^ because I cost her the pains of the trip. She could not begrudge giving such a lasting living joy. I needed Kindness, and it is not any necessarily reflecting [ comment ? ] on this [ community corrected ] that I do not get it here; they doubtless have other things to give that I do not know enough to ask for. But Gloucester Kindness and South Berwick Kindness have helped indeed.
And your crimes are wiped off the slate. I would not confess to you that in my wanderings, -- very anxious{,} very [ desparate so spelled ] when the Tory
Lover* was appearing, I did see scattered issues. But life broke in half very badly soon after, I have been putting the pieces together ever since -- So I never got the whole of that book, or even the quarter of it. [ But corrected ] look what a blessing to have been delayed till after seeing the matchless placing & character of that house,* the whole surroundings & neighborhood, Portsmouth, your own setting, -- at least even if superficially the Picture. [ an apostrophe ] I am so happy to take in your treatment & handling with all that this means of supplementary colour &
interest
I am writing soon to [ Miss corrected ] Mary separately, and I am [ tying ?] up to the hope of luring you to some desultory & dreamy weeks in New York in the late fall. [ very apparently not capitalized ] few people can hold out those qualifying aids toward confronting the great & wicked city{.} But we can, in South Washington Square. And you will find it is no idle boast -- -- If I [ were corrected ] out with you, who can put a limit to what can be accomplished with Miss Mary! But of course I am going to
go easy, & not be fatuous with vain ambitions -- When I saw this place again, I laughed & laughed{.} So would you. But though so much less like treading a measure in a minuet, or governing a colony as your places are, it is right for keeping alive Aunt Amanda [ Gallup ? ] and Grandma Kingsbury* in spirit, which is what I have intended to do. And I am very certain it would amuse you to come here some happy happy time.
I am dying to send y some formulas for self suggestion, but it would have too much impudence I fear.
Notes
1901: The Atlantic serialization of Jewett's novel, The Tory Lover, to which the letter writer refers, was completed in August 1901.
This letter offers multiple clues to the identity of its author, but I have failed to follow any of them to that person's identity, even though this seems to be a person quite intimate with Jewett.
While the signed initials seem clearly to be "CSD," no currently known and possible correspondent has those initials. And though the author seems fairly closely related to the Gallup and Kingsbury families of Plainfield, NH, that clue also has not yet led to a solution.
y: The writer sometimes abbreviates forms of "you" in this letter.
Holy Land: In this case, probably a reference to a specific location, what was then Palestine, the Holy Land of the Bible.
Miss Mary's: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
that house: Almost certainly the author refers to Hamilton House, in South Berwick, ME, one main setting of The Tory Lover.
Aunt Amanda [ Gallup ? ] and Grandma Kingsbury: The identities of these people remain uncertain. It seems likely that Aunt Amanda is Amanda Maria Kingsbury (1819-1888), who married Charles Frederick Gallup of Plainfield, NH. in 1866.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
D., C.S. 1 letter; [n.d.], bMS Am 1743 (43).
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Charles Eliot Norton* to Sarah Orne Jewett
My dear Miss Jewett: --
It was a great pleasure which you gave to me in sending to me a copy of The Tory Lover.* Gifts differ, -- and a good story from a good friend is one of the best. It came, too, at a good time, associating itself with the beauty of these soft autumnal days. It has had, however, one ill
effect. It kept me up till long past midnight last night, so that today I have not command of the right words for the full expression of my thanks. But I will not delay them.
The chief interest of the book to me has not been in the story, but in the illumination which it affords of its writer's character and life. Few books reveal more of
their author's self, and when that self is such as this book shows, the book is precious.
If I were writing of it to some one else I should have much more to say, -- but to you I have only to say: -- I thank you with sincerest gratitude for such a mirror of such a friend.
Sally* sends her love to you.
We hope to see you before
[ Page 4 ]
long.
Affectionately Yours
To
Miss Jewett.
Notes
Norton: See Sara Norton in Key to Correspondents.
In the Houghton folder with this letter is an envelope addressed to Jewett in South Berwick, ME, cancelled on 16 September 1901.
The Tory Lover: Jewett's novel of 1901.
Sally: Sara Norton.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence, bMS Am 1743 Box 4, Item 166. I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Wyman Whitman to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ 19 September 1901 ]*
Darling: this is a Request. The Bryces* (on their way to Mexico) are coming to me for a [ quilt or quiet ? ] day next Tuesday the 24th. Will you come and stay too ^over night --^ ? and arrive in time for luncheon. This will make a great [ differ ? ].
Ever [ unrecognized word ]
September 19th Sw
Notes
19 September 1901: The envelope associated with this letter was cancelled on 19 September 1901 and addressed to Jewett in South Berwick. The address has been deleted, and the letter directed to Manchester by Sea. Mass., and it has been cancelled a second time on 20 September in South Berwick, and again on the back in Manchester.
Bryces: Jewett was acquainted with James Bryce, Viscount Bryce (1838-1922), who was Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford University (1870-1893), ambassador to the United States (1907-1913), and also an author. While this transcription is uncertain, it seems likely Whitman refers to this couple.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Whitman, Sarah (Wyman) 1842-1904. 92 letters; [1884]-[1903] & [n.d.] Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence, 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 -107. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
William Dean Howells to Sarah Orne Jewett
Sept. 22, 1901.
My dear Miss Jewett:
Your book* has come, and I thank you for it; but I must take it to New York before I can hope for a chance to read it: we are "packing" for our flight, if that is imaginable. I am sorry the summer should have gone without my seeing you; it was a summer in vain.
Mrs. Fields* asked us over when we
could not come, and indeed Mrs. Howells has been so [ overtaken ? ] that we could not [ well ? ] have got away.
All join me in best regards.
W. D. Howells.
Notes
book: Jewett's The Tory Lover appeared as a book in 1901, after the completion of the Atlantic serial in August.
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of the letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Howells, William Dean, 1837-1920. 16 letters to Sarah Orne Jewett; 1875-1908. Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (105). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Samuel Sidney McClure
Mass -- 22 Sept.
[ 1901 ]
Thank you for the two cheques which I received today, and for your last letter. I am more than glad that everything looks
so well. I shall try to have another story for you before very long, but I must finish some other work first.
S. O. Jewett
Notes
1901: While this date is note certain, it is highly likely. Jewett had two stories in McClure's Magazine in February and June of 1901: "Elleneen" and "A Born Farmer." This would account for his sending her two checks in September of that year.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Small Library, University of Virginia, Special Collections MSS 6218, Sarah Orne Jewett Papers. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Henri-Raymond Casgrain to Sarah Orne Jewett
This letter was composed in French; a transcription follows the translation.
78, rue de la Chevrotière,
Mademoiselle Jewett,
Mademoiselle.
I have the pleasure of responding both to your kind letter of August 30 and to the arrival of your new book, The Tory Lover,* which came the day before yesterday. First, I thank you for all the gracious things you say in your letter. Like you, although I rarely write, I do not forget.
Your kind nephew, who took the trouble
to go out of his way to see me, gave me a much appreciated pleasure. What a charming young man! I rejoice with you in his success at Harvard and I wish him much more. He deserves it.
Last spring, I received from Mlle. Blanc-Bentzon* one of her typically interesting and af-fectionate letters. She told me of her plan to trav-el to Russia during the best time of year, but I see by your letter that she has not left France -- yes, you are right, she has to suffer so many troubles, and of the most trying kind; but she is strong, courageous Christian that she is.
I would like to talk about your new work, which I am sure is not
less interesting than others from your pen; but I haven't had time yet to read it. I hope soon to give myself that pleasure, thanks to my sister, Madame de Martigny,* who has returned from a long absence in Montreal, and who will stay the winter in Quebec. She comes almost every afternoon to spend some time with me. This is the occasion for our lovely reading. You see that I have no reason to complain about my blindness. Please remember me fondly to Mademoiselle, your sister, and to your excellent nephew,* and believe me your most devoted and respectful
Notes
letterhead: A printed design at center top, in what appears to be brown ink, consisting of the stylized, superimposed initials C H R.
An envelope associated with this letter is addressed to Jewett in South Berwick, postmarked in Quebec on 24 September and in South Berwick on 26 September. Stamped on the back flap of the envelope is the letterhead design in what appears to be brown ink.
The Tory Lover: Jewett's final novel appeared in 1901.
nephew: At this time, Jewett's surviving sister was Mary Rice Jewett. Theodore Jewett Eastman was their orphaned nephew. See Key to Correspondents.
Blanc-Bentzon: Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc. See Key to Correspondents.
Martigny: Casgrain's sister, Rosalie (b. 1844- ), married Joseph-Prime LeMoine de Martigny. See Stemma4web.
This letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA: b MS Am 1743, Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Casgrain, Henry Raymond, 1831-1904. 4 letters; 1897-1901. Identifier: (38). Transcription, translation and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College, with essential assistance from Jeannine Hammond, Professor of French, Emerita, at Coe College.
Transcription
78, rue de la Chevrotière ,
Mademoiselle Jewett,
Mademoiselle.
J'ai le plaisir de
répondre à la fois à votre bonne lettre du
30 août dernière et à l'envoi de votre nouveau
livre The Tory Lover qui m'a été remis
avant hier. Je commence par vous remercier
de toutes les gracieuses choses que vous me
dites dans votre lettre. Comme vous, bien
que j'écrive rarement, je n'oublie pas.
Votre aimable neveu qui a pris la peine
me'a fait un plaisir que j'ai vivement apprecié.
Quel charmant jeune homme! Je
me réjouis avec vous de ses sucès à l'Université
de Harvard et je lui en souhaite de
plus grands. Il les mérite.
J'ai reçu de Mlle Blanc-Bentzon
le printemps dernier une de ces lettres
intéressante et affecteuse comme elle sait en écrire.
Elle m'annonçait son projet de voyage en Russie
pour la belle saison, mais je vois par votre lettre
qu'elle n'a pas quitté la France, oui, vous avez
raison, elle a à souffrir bien des tribulations et
des plus sensibles; mais elle est forte comme une
courageuse Chrétienne qu'elle est.
Je voudrais vous parler de votre
nouvel ouvrage qui j'en suis [ sur for sûr ], n'est pas
[ Page 3 ]
moins intéressant que les autres sortis de votre
plume; mais je n'ai pas encore eu le temps
de le lire. J'espère pouvoir me donner bientôt
ce plaisir grâce à ma soeur, Madame de Martigny
qui est revenue d'une longue absence à Montréal
et qui va passer l'hiver à Québec. Elle vient à
peu près toutes les après midis passer quelques
temps avec moi: C'est le temps de nos plus belles
lectures, vous voyez que je n'ai pas raison de
me plaindre de ma cécité. Veuillez me rappeler
au bon souvenir de Melle votre soeur, de votre
excellent neveu et me croire votre tout dévoué
et respectueux
Augustus Buell to Sarah Orne Jewett.
The William Cramp & Sons Ship
& Engine Building Co.
Office of the President
Beach and Ball Lts.
Philadelphia
Charles H. Cramp,
President
September 25, 1901.
My dear Miss Jewett:--
I have received your book, and have read it with all the gratification that I anticipated.
Laying aside the license of romance writing, you have in your little book rendered to history a service that is really important, and may be you builded better than you knew. By this I mean that you have brought out clearly and vividly the peculiar conditions of personnel by which Jones was hampered, and at times almost distracted, in the "RANGER".
I was, of course, well aware of these conditions, but I glossed them over in my History because Jones had succeeded in spite of them and I thought it just as well to let by-gones be by-gones, and to forgive his crew, or more particularly the Portsmouth part of it, for their insubordination and their petty "sea-lawyering" for the sake of their courage and efficiency in battle.
You have supplied this deficit. You have depicted to your readers the difficulty, and in fact impossibility, of maintaining genuine man-of-war discipline in such a town meeting afloat as the original crew of the "RANGER" was.
Your character of Dickson is real art. Captain Marryatt* himself could not have drawn so subtle a portrait of the Yankee Sea-lawyer of those days.
I saw, however, with a little regret that by implication of context you include "Sargent" as a member of the Portsmouth town meeting on board the "RANGER". There were two or three "Sargents" in the crew, but this would naturally be taken to indicate the Acting-Master, Nathan Sargent, who was beyond question the most faithful and efficient Warrant Officer aboard.
It is doubtless fortunate that the "RANGER" was not manned wholly by New Hampshire sailors. Her crew numbered all told about 130, and of these about 60 hailed from Philadelphia, Nantucket and other places outside of the Portsmouth region, Some of these had sailed with Jones before. Undoubtedly to their fidelity, steadiness and determination what discipline there was on board the ship must be ascribed. The New Hampshire part of the crew was always an element of unrest and discord and more than once they nearly succeeded in frustrating the real objects of the cruise.
As you will see, I carefully left all this sort of thing out of my work for the reason that I have already indicated; but now I am very glad to see it brought out as you have done. My version of it would have been more forcible perhaps than yours, but yours is better because gentler.
Another point. which I avoided you bring out in a strong light; that is the fact, natural enough and doubtless unavoidable, that our Revolutionary sailors had plunder in view oftener than the public interests or the glory of their flag. Jones' early writings, notably his letters to Joseph Hewes and Robert Morris, are full of complaints and criticisms on this score.
In other respects your book sets a new pace in novel-writing based on the career of Paul Jones. For the first time he is depicted as something besides a mere sea-rover. His faults of temper are treated tenderly, his vanity is "rubbed the right way" and his overweening self-reliance is made to appear what it really was -- an element of greatness.
No cultivated reader can turn to your pages from the pompous hogwash of "Richard Carvel" or the stilted flapdoodle of "The Grip of Honor"* with any feeling other than delight and gratitude.
Very truly yours,
Augustus C. Buell.
Miss Sarah Orne Jewett,
South Berwick, Maine.
Notes
This letter was written on letterhead, so the address is
printed, but the date and text are added. Buell was
the author the author of John
Paul Jones (1900).
The occasion of Buell writing to Fields is the publication,
first in serial and then as a book, of The
Tory Lover (1900-1901). Buell's biography of
John Paul Jones appeared while Jewett was composing and revising
her novel, and she drew upon his work for facts incorporated
into the novel. Fortunately, she was somewhat restrained
in her use of the biography, for subsequent scholarship, as
indicated in Wikipedia,
established that Buell fabricated much of the material in his
book.
Captain Marryatt: Wikipedia
says: "Captain Frederick Marryat (10 July 1792 - 9
August 1848) was a British Royal Navy officer, novelist, and an
acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer
of the sea story. He is now known particularly for the
semi-autobiographical novel Mr Midshipman Easy and his
children's novel The Children of the New Forest, and for a
widely used system of maritime flag signalling, known as
Marryat's Code."
"Richard Carvel" ... "The Grip of Honor": Wikipedia
says: Richard Carvel is a historical novel by the
American novelist Winston Churchill [1871-1947]. It was first
published in 1899 and was exceptionally successful, selling
around two million copies and making the author a rich man.
The Grip of Honor: A story of Paul Jones
and the American Revolution (1900) is a novel by Cyrus
Townsend Brady (1861-1920).
The ms. of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard
University: bMS Am 1743 (31); transcription and notes by Terry
Heller, Coe College.
William Dean Howells to Sarah Orne Jewett
To Miss Sarah Orne Jewett
York Harbor, Me.,
Sept. 25, 1901.
MY DEAR MISS JEWETT:
I am almost wounded more by your supposition that I could let anything in the way of work keep me from answering you than I am by the fact that I never got your letter.
I am going home with an arrow in my
breast that sticks through the back of my coat in a way that
will excite universal comment.* But I hope to pull it before
next summer, and we all hope to see you, for we expect to be
back next summer, for York has done Mrs. Howells good. She joins
Pilla and me in lasting affection to you and yours.
Sincerely yours,
W. D. HOWELLS.
* I shall just say, "Oh! That? Miss
Jewett did it."
Notes
This letter comes from Life in Letters of William Dean Howells, edited by Mildred Howells. New York: Doubleday, 1928. v. 2, pp. 15-16, 41, 146, 391-2.
Mrs. Howells ... Pilla: For Elinor Howells and
Mildred (Pilla), see
Correspondents.
Notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Thomas Russell Sullivan to Sarah Orne Jewett
Boston, 2nd 1901
31 Massachusetts Avenue. [This line is printed letterhead.]
My dear Miss Jewett
How good you were to send me The Tory Lover in his new and splendid garments!* I am sure you know that I shall always value him for his own sake, as well as for his association with the fine old Master,* who remains a living presence to the end, making his descendants more than properly proud of him.
I am re-reading the story with great interest and pleasure, feeling constantly the gain in distinction from this complete, permanent form, to which the chapter-titles and quotations contribute much. I always crave their pleasant suggestion, liking my novels best when they are made in that way, and these introductory bits of yours have significance, freshness and variety which are all delightful.
With many thanks and the warmest regards of these latter-day Sullivans* both, I am
Yours Sincerely
T. R. Sullivan
Notes
new and splendid garments: After the appearance of
The
Tory Lover as a serial in Atlantic Monthly
(1900-1901), the novel appeared as a book in September 1901.
old Master: Master John Sullivan, an important character in The Tory Lover.
latter-day Sullivans: Thomas Russell Sullivan was the great-great grandson of Master John Sullivan, who plays a key role in Jewett's historical novel, The Tory Lover. See Correspondents.
The ms. of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard
University: bMS Am 1743 (206); transcription and notes by Terry
Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mr. Streat*
[ End letterhead ]
I thank you for your kind note, and I should feel much flattered by your proposed [ use ? ] of a story book's name! I congratulate you upon your new piece of woodland and I hope that you and Mrs. Streat will enjoy it even more than [ you expect
S ?]* O. Jewett
Notes
Streat: The transcription of this name probably is correct, but it is difficult to be certain. His identity remains unknown. One may speculate that he has announced his intention of naming a newly acquired woodland "The Country of the Pointed Firs" or perhaps "Marsh Island" or "Deephaven," Jewett's book titles that seem to suggest themselves as names for woodland.
S: The text within brackets in this letter is so faded in the manuscript as to be virtually unreadable. With this manuscript is a handwritten transcription. With the exception of some punctuation, I have accepted that reader's choices, most of which I am certain are correct.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence Box 3 Folder 164. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Abbie S. Beede
I shall send your book* by post dear Miss Beede for I went off and forgot it this afternoon. We hope that you will come join the club!* ---- Just leave blanks where you can't make out the MS! S. O. J.
^We were glad to find that your uncle* was better [ erased word ? ].^
Notes
1901: This note appears on a postcard to Miss A. S. Beede, North Berwick, ME, postmarked 4 October 1901.
your book: Probably, Jewett refers to a copy of The Tory Lover, which Beede had typed at various stages.
the club: Jewett may refer to the Berwick Woman's Club, which held its meetings at her home.
uncle: Kelsey Squire notes that this uncle is Nicholas Alphonso Pinkham (1815-1902). Also see MWWC Abbie S. Beede materials, folder 5, Nicholas Pinkham's will, which bequeaths the rest of his estate to Sarah Abbie Beede and Mary Emma Leighton. Census records from ancestry.com indicate that Nicholas Pinkham was born April 18, 1815 in Durham, Maine and that he died April 7, 1902, in North Berwick. He is buried in the Friends burial ground. His stepmother was Mary Beede (c. 1802-1877).
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0168
Transcription by Kelsey Squire, Ohio Dominican University; edited and with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Francis Churchill Williams* to Sarah Orne Jewett
October 5th.
[ 1901 ]
Miss Sarah Orne Jewett.
Will you accept with the author's compliments, "J. Devlin -- Boss" the first book of one of your steadfast admirers? I have taken the liberty of writing your name in it; and, perhaps, as a story of American life, dealing with one of our most positive figures, it may win your attention. Should you desire some entertainment from Jimmy and his friends, I should be greatly helped by a word of comment on his story.
with regards, I remain,
Francis Churchill Williams
Notes
Williams: American author and editor, Francis Churchill Williams (1869-1945) wrote J. Devlin -- Boss: A Romance of American Politics (1901). He worked for J. B. Lippincott Company 1902-6, for Saturday Evening Post (1907-1927), and for Military Intelligence in World War I.
Jimmy Devlin is the title character.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett. bMS Am 1743 (238).
This transcription is from a photocopy held by the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Box 2, Folder 99, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Henry James to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ Begin letterhead ]
Lamb House.
Rye. Sussex.
[ End letterhead ]
October 5th
1901.
Dear Miss Jewett.
Let me not criminally, or
at all events gracelessly, delay to thank you for your charming
and generous present of The Tory Lover.* He has been but
3 or 4 days in the house, yet I have given him an earnest, a
pensive, a liberal -- yet, a benevolent attention, & the
upshot is that I should like to write you a longer letter
than I just now -- (especially as it's past midnight) see my
way to doing. For it would take me some time to disembroil the
tangle of saying to you at once how I appreciate the charming
touch, tact & taste of this ingenious exercise, & how
little I am in sympathy with experiments of its general (to my
sense) misguided stamp. There I am! -- yet I don't do you the
outrage, as a fellow craftsman & a woman of genius &
courage, to suppose you not as conscious as I am
myself of all that, in these questions of art & Truth
& sincerity, is beyond the mere twaddle of graciousness. The
"historic" novel is, for me, condemned, even with
^in^ cases of labour as delicate as yours, to a fatal cheapness,
for the simple reason that the difficulty of the job is
inordinate & that a mere escamotage, in the
interest of [ each ? ], & of the abysmal public naïveté,
becomes inevitable. You may multiply the little facts that can
be got from pictures
& documents, relics & prints, as much as you like -- the
real thing is almost impossible to do, & in its essence the
whole effect is as nought. I mean the evolution, the
representation of the old consciousness, the soul, the
sense, the horizon, the [ vision ? ] of individuals, in
whose minds half the things that make ^ours, that make^ the
modern world were non-existent. You have to think ^with
your modern apparatus^ a man, a woman -- or rather fifty --
whose ^own^ thinking
was intensely otherwise conditioned, you have to simplify back by an amazing tour de force -- & even then it's all humbug. But there is a shade of the (even then) humbug that may amuse. The childish
creditable to no one concerned. You, I hasten to add, seem to me to have steered very clear of them -- to have seen your work very bravely & handled it firmly; but even you court disaster by [ deletion ] ^comp^osing the whole thing so much by sequences of speeches. It's when the extinct soul talks, & the earlier consciousness airs itself, that the pitfalls multiply & the "cheap" way has to serve. I speak in general, I needn't keep insisting, & I speak grossly,
summarily, by rude & [ deletion ] ^provisional^ signs, in order to suggest my sentiment at all. I didn't mean to say so much without saying ^more^, [ & deleted ? ] now I have touched you with cold water when I only meant just lightly & kindly to sprinkle you as for a new baptism -- that is a re-dedication to altars but briefly, I trust, forsaken. Go back to the dear Country of the Pointed Firs,* come back to the palpable ^present^ intimate that
throbs responsive, & that wants, misses, needs you, God knows, & that suffers woefully in your absence. Then I shall feel perhaps -- & do it if only for that -- that you have magnanimously allowed for the want of gilt on the gingerbread of the but-on-this-occasion -- only limited sympathy of yours very constantly
[ Up the left margin of page 8 ]
P.S. My tender benediction, please, to Mrs. Fields.*
Notes
The Tory Lover: Jewett's novel was released in
book form in September 1901.
escamotage: French: juggling, sleight of hand.
consciousness: James has underlined this
word twice.
Pointed Firs: Jewett's The Country of the
Pointed Firs was published in 1896.
In a letter to William Dean Howells of
January 25th 1902, James writes "...and dear Sarah Jewett sent
me not long since a Revolutionary Romance, with officers over
their wine etc., and Paul Jones terrorizing the sea, that was a
thing to make the angels weep."
Leon Edel, ed. Henry James
Letters v. IV, 1895-1916. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1984, p.
223.
In a letter dated January 2nd 1910, James
explains to Fields that he has saved no letters that might be
considered for inclusion in the volume of Jewett's letters that
Fields is preparing. In a postscript, he offers to write an
introduction of reminiscence for the collection: "a thing very
frank, familiar, as a thorough Friend, etc,; and oh so tender
and so admiring -- as I do admire her work!"
Edel, ed. Henry James Letters
v. IV, 1895-1916. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1984, p. 223.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
James, Henry, 1843-1916. 2 letters; 1901-1907. (111).
This transcription is from a photocopy held by the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Box 2, Folder 99, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Silas Weir Mitchell to Sarah Orne Jewett
1901
Dear Miss Jewett --
I have read your Tory lover* with great pleasure & I may add so also have others of my house --
You have given a true picture of Paul Jones --, that most wonderful man -- [ & a far finer one ? ] than that by - Churchill* -- Your people seem to me to stand on
By the way, Is or was a frigate a three decker? -- p. .12, 8,*
& -- is the word "minnying" p. 64 for simmering -- good New England -- which
My sons will like the book because of their descent from Gov. Langdon* & -- for the little lady their great ?-thing -- who made the flag for -- the Bon [ Homme ? ]{.}* I studied Jones with care [ & meant ? ] that Hugh Wynn* should go to sea with him -- but I did not remember the sea well enough.
I shall not try any more historic fiction --
I send you my new book* -- It will have no great luck -- in these days of romances -- but always the pendulum of trash keeps on swinging --
Weir Mitchell --
p. 110 -- where is the quoted heading?
& that on p. 203 -- both good.
Is it -- Sr. Mary Radcliffe* or Redcliffe? I am not sure [ now ? ]
Notes
Tory Lover: Jewett's 1901 novel, The Tory Lover, presented Scottish-American naval captain, John Paul Jones (1747-1792), as a major character.
Churchill: American novelist Winston Churchill (1871-1947) was the author of the historical novel, Richard Carvel (1899), in which John Paul Jones appears as a character.
8: This line may be inserted between lines. The question about decks is a confusing one, depending in part upon what is termed a deck. Some frigates at the time of the American Revolution had 2 gun decks, but there would have been other decks, such as a berth deck for sailors' quarters. Perhaps Mitchell was concerned about a character's reference to Jones's "frigate" in Chapter 2 of the novel. The Ranger was officially termed a "sloop-of-war," which normally had three decks.
Langdon: John Langdon (1741-1819) was the second president and first governor of New Hampshire. Wikipedia.
Homme: After the events shown in The Tory Lover, John Paul Jones became captain of the Bon Homme Richard. According to SeacoastNH.com (1999, 2005), various fictions about flags for Jones's vessels were developed in the 19th century, such as that fabricated by Augustus Buell in his (as was later discovered) largely fictional biography of Jones. The Bon Homme Richard flag probably was a hoax, invented by the Stafford family in the 19th century. Supposedly it was made by a Mrs. H. Stafford, but no evidence of this, except for the flag itself, has been produced.
Hugh Wynn: Mitchell's novel, Hugh Wynn (1897).
book: Mitchell's 1901 novel was Circumstance.
heading: Jewett's heading for Chapter 13 (p. 110) is from Edmund Spenser's "argument" for "October" in The Shepherd's Calendar. That for Chapter 23 (p. 203) is from James Russell Lowell's "Poem Read at Cambridge on the Hundredth Anniversary of Washington's Taking Command of the American Army, 3d July, 1775," the opening of Section VI, Part 3.
Radcliffe: The question about the spelling of "Radcliffe" is puzzling. Jewett's spelling is correct, but she does not mention a Mary Radcliffe, only Charles (and by implication his brother James). Charles's wife was Charlotte Maria.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743 Box 3, Item 155 I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College
Olivia Wentworth Cushing Mansfield to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ October 1901 ]*
To
Miss Sarah Orne Jewett.
South Berwick
Maine.
My dear Miss Jewett: --
Will you kindly pardon my intrusion
upon your time.
My interest in the localities so beautifully described in "The
Tory Lover," as well as the enjoyment given
in reading the story -- has awakened a strong desire to know, where the home of Madame Wallingford stood --*
I am a granddaughter of Madame Cushing who was a daughter of
Col. Wallingford by his third wife, -- Which makes the "Tory
Lover" my great uncle.* Hence my interest in the localities.
Just now I am visiting my aunt
Mrs. John P. Hale* -- and we have ridden about South Berwick, my native place, but could not decide where the Col. Wallingford house stood{.} If not too much trouble, would you kindly inform me --
I cannot close without expressing the great enjoyment your writings have given me.
With kind regards* of Mrs. J. P. Hale
Dover
N. H.
Sincerely
Yours
Olivia W. Mansfield
Notes
1901: See Mansfield to Jewett of 21 October 1901.
where the home of Madame Wallingford stood: Though
the Thomas and Elizabeth Wallingford home was no longer standing
in 1901, it was known to have stood in Madam's Cove, in New
Hampshire, across the Piscataqua River from the Hamilton house
in South Berwick, Maine. See The
Cushings
and the Cushing Mansion and The
First
Permanent Settlement in Maine.
my great uncle: Elizabeth Wallingford had two
children with Thomas: Samuel Wallingford (born 4 February 1755)
and Olive Wallingford, (29 May 1758 - 1853). Olive married John
Cushing of Boston on Tuesday 6 April 1773 ("The Diary of Master
Joseph Tate"), and her son eventually inherited Madam
Wallingford's homestead farm. In "From a Mournful Villager,"
Jewett tells of childhood visits to the elderly Widow Cushing,
who then lived not far from the Jewett home, at the site where
South Berwick's Central School now stands. The Widow Cushing
would be a likely source for Jewett's knowledge of the
Wallingford family history, being a near neighbor and friend of
the Jewett family. Olivia Mansfield says she is the
Widow Cushing's grand-daughter.
Mrs. John P. Hale: Mrs. Hale, was the
widow of John Parker Hale (1806 - 1873), "an American politician
and lawyer from New Hampshire. He served in the United States
House of Representatives from 1843 to 1845 and in the United
States Senate from 1847 to 1853 and again from 1855 to 1865. He
was one of the first senators to make a stand against
slavery.... On September 2, 1834 Hale married Lucy Hill
Lambert (1814-1902) in Berwick, Maine. They were the
parents of two daughters, Elizabeth (Lizzie) (1835-1895) and
Lucy (1841-1915)." Their daughter, Lucy, is remembered as
the betrothed of John Wilkes Booth; her photo was found on his
body after his death. She eventually married Senator
William E. Chandler of New Hampshire. Wikipedia
regards: The manuscript is ambiguous about the
correct placement of this line. The transcription of the
word "of" is uncertain.
The ms. of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University: bMS Am 1743 (145); transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Abbie S. Beede
34 Beacon Street
[ End letterhead ]
Thursday ]
[ October 1901 ]*
Dear Mifs [ Beede corrected ]
Would you be so kind as to type-write this manuscript as quick as you can (conveniently!) and* let me have it again at this address? It is Mrs. Fields's* and I have been working over it with her as you will see, as it was something that I was to do at first + found that I could not altogether. I think
that you will find the notes somewhat blind and difficult to make out, but I hope not impossible.
I haven't forgotten that I am in debt for the last copying of The Honey Tree,* so please let me have all my debts mentioned at once! I have kept thinking that I should see you at the Club* or else where.
S. O. Jewett
You must be sure to keep the 18th in mind, for the Club.
Please send me a postcard to say that you have received this safely -- as I shall be a little anxious -- not being able to register it --
Notes
October 1901: This date is probable given that Beede has recently typed Jewett's "The Honey Tree," which appeared in December 1901.
and: In this letter, as she sometimes does, Jewett has often shortened "and" to an "a" with a long tail. I have rendered all of these as "and."
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The text seems to indicate that the piece Fields and Jewett are working on together was commissioned, perhaps to Jewett first, and then passed along to Fields, with Jewett's assistance. Perhaps, then, Beede was to type "Which are the New England Classics? A Ten-minute Talk," which appeared in Six New England Classics: Talks and Lectures (1901), from the Booklovers Reading Club.
Page 3: Jewett has written the text on this page upside down relative to the page 1 text that appears on the other half of the folded letterhead paper.
The Honey Tree: Jewett's story appeared in Harper's Magazine in December 1901.
The Club: Probably Jewett refers to the Berwick Woman's Club, which held its meetings at her home. In a letter to Susan Hayes Ward of 23 October 1901 Jewett indicates that Ward may have spoken to this club in October 1901, perhaps at the meeting of the 18th that Jewett mentions here. However, Jewett missed that meeting.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0188.
Transcription by Kelsey Squire, Ohio Dominican University; edited and with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Silas Weir Mitchell
[ Begin letterhead ]
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Doctor Mitchell
It is delightful to get a letter from you! I answer your questions with a grateful heart. Minnying* was a favorite word of an old family servant of my grandfather's house. I never looked it up but I shall start for it now. The people of my Berwick neighbourhood have kept many interesting old words alive which I never hear
anywhere else. Mr. Lowell* used to like to hear about them and the local pronunciation Barvick, not 'Berrik' as one hears it in England interested him deeply, for it was the old Danish or Norse way, before Berik came along. Some of our first settlers were Devon people, Mason & Gorges planters* -- the next were Royalists from Yorkshire & the North, sent over in Cromwell's time. The heading on page 110 about the practice of Medicine -- is (I
think) from Sir Philip Sidney* but I can't quite feel sure. The quotation of p. 203 is from a poem of Lowell's. Redcliffe* is the right spelling, but they -- say Radcliffe and sometimes spell it so.
I am not going to write any more historic fiction either, but I have wished for many years to write this story. I began it the year that you were writing Hugh Wynne,* but I ^was ill &^ had to put it by. You were at the
head of the procession with your great Hugh Wynne and I am trailing at the end, but I am just as ready to cheer my leader as -- I ought to be!
I thank you for the kindness of your letter. You do not know how great a pleasure it has given. I am just now staying with Mrs. Fields* who is sure to send many affectionate messages with mine.
Sarah Orne Jewett
Notes
1901: The final installment of the Atlantic serialization of Jewett's The Tory Lover (1901) appeared in August 1901. This, then, would be the earliest year in which Mitchell could have written this letter.
Minnying: This word appears in Chapter 8 of Jewett's The Tory Lover (1901), where a slave woman uses it to refer to the motion of water beginning to boil.
Mr. Lowell: Jsmes Russell Lowell. See Key to Correspondents.
Mason & Gorges planters: Jewett recounts the story of the early settlement of her home county in her essay, "The Old Town of Berwick" (1894). Much of the information she offers here is repeated from that essay.
page 110 ... Sir Philip Sidney: The epigraph for Chapter 13 of Jewett's The Tory Lover (1901) is actually from Edmund Spenser's "argument" for"October" in The Shepherd's Calendar, where he says that poetry is a "worthy and commendable" art, "or rather no art, but a Divine gift and heavenly instinct not to be
gotten by labour and learning, but adorned with both, and poured into the wit by a certain ...celestial inspiration...."
p. 203 ... Lowell's. Redcliffe: The epigraph for Chapter 23 of Jewett's The Tory Lover (1901) is from James Russell Lowell's "Poem Read at Cambridge on the Hundredth Anniversary of Washington's Taking Command of the American Army, 3d July, 1775," the opening of Section VI, Part 3.
Hugh Wynne: Mitchell's novel, Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker (1897).
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Autograph File, J. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Julia Ward Howe to Sarah Orne Jewett
Rhode Island
Oct. 19th 1901
Oh! Alas! My dear Sarah,
I should be glad to speak to your new club, but on Nov. 10th the pupils of the Inst. for the Blind,* at North Boston, are to hold a Jubilee celebration of the centenary of dear Dr. [ Howe''s ? ] birth. My presence will of course
will be obligatory on this occasion, and I should not dare to speak in South Berwick on the day previous. Cannot you let me come some other time? [ If or no ? ] you must find out for me what I spoke about at Somersworth, so that I may not bring the lecture already heard there.
The [ unrecognized word or words ] the kind messages of your sister and your [ heart ? ], and tearing
my hair in my despair at my inability to [ serve ? ] you this time, I am always
Julia Ward Howe.
Notes
blind: The Perkins Institution, now the Perkins School for the Blind. Howe's father, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe (10 November 1801-1876) was the first director of the school. Wikipedia.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Howe, Julia (Ward) 1819-1910. 8 letters; 1901-1905 & [n.d.] (103).
This transcription is from a photocopy held by the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Box 2, Folder 99, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College
Sarah Orne Jewett to Abbie S. Beede
[ October 1901 ]*
I hope you can make your way through this! Mrs. Fields* is coming within a few days and I shall report to you about her manuscript.
-- I shall be glad to have the copy of this as soon as convenient.
S. O. J.
Notes
October 1901: This date is a guess based upon knowing that Beede was typing a manuscript for Fields, with Jewett as intermediary, probably in October 1901.
However, it is possible the letter was written almost anytime between autumn 1900 and August 1902.
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0189.
Transcription by Kelsey Squire, Ohio Dominican University; edited and with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Olivia Wentworth Cushing Mansfield to Sarah Orne Jewett
October 21st 1901
My dear Mifs Jewett --
Many thanks for your very kind note with its interesting information, and cordial expressions of interest.
It would give Mrs. Hale* and myself much pleasure to meet you in your dear old home.
Mrs. Hale does not make calls, nor
does she drive unless it is a warm bright
sunshiny day. I am much afraid there will be no weather suitable for her to go out, before I finish my visit, and return to Hotel Nottingham Boston, where I make my home.
Should there be a day, we will
certainly avail ourselves of your kind invitation. Mrs. Hale
would be pleased to see you in her own home, where she remains
until about the middle of November, then [ leave so it
appears ] for Washington with
her daughter Mrs. Chandler.
I am the daughter of J. L. T. Cushing and Eliza Hale. I think your father brought me into the world. My mother often referred to Dr. Jewett, saying he always called her Eliza Hale, and said "though not handsome as a young lady, would make a fine looking grandmother." A prophecy that was fully realized.
Mrs. Hale's great grandfather was
Thomas Wallingford,* a son of Col. Wallingford by his first
wife. So a blood relative as well
as one by marriage. --
Mrs. Hale is eighty seven years old -- and laughingly tells me, she is of a younger generation than myself --
Again thanking you for your courtesy
Believe me
Sincerely
Yours
Olivia
W.
Mansfield
(Mrs. Ezra, Abbot Mansfield)
Mrs. John P. Hale: Mrs. Hale, was the widow of John Parker Hale (1806 - 1873), "an American politician and lawyer from New Hampshire. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1843 to 1845 and in the United States Senate from 1847 to 1853 and again from 1855 to 1865. He was one of the first senators to make a stand against slavery.... On September 2, 1834 Hale married Lucy Hill Lambert (1814-1902) in Berwick, Maine. They were the parents of two daughters, Elizabeth (Lizzie) (1835-1895) and Lucy (1841-1915)." Their daughter, Lucy, is remembered as the betrothed of John Wilkes Booth; her photo was found on his body after his death. She eventually married Senator William E. Chandler of New Hampshire. Wikipedia
Wallingford: Elizabeth Wallingford and her son, Roger, are among the main characters in Jewett's The Tory Lover (1901). Both are fictionalized, but based upon historical persons. The historical Mrs. Wallingford (1718-1810) was the widow of Thomas Wallingford (1697-1771).
The ms. of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University: bMS Am 1743 (145); transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Wyman Whitman to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ 22 October 1901 ]*
No, dearest, it was not Mr Walker* happily. He is still weak, and I fear in for a long pull of dubious recovery: but the terror is past -- & his spirits are better. It is 7 weeks now, & I have had a heavy pull, but this morning I think I said my last word to the window* -- & it is to go to Hyde Park on Thursday, that I may see it there in time to amend if need be shortcomings which may make themselves manifest when it is in loco.
But I can think of but one thing today. Last night I wrote to Kate Haut,* asking her to come to me when Sarah was here -- & this morning a letter from Newport tells me that Esther's death had just been telegraphed -- that was all they knew. Only [ Heaven ? ]
2
and Kate's heart so much in it, can make it possible to bear this blow. ----
And yesterday Mrs Dorr was set free, after so long a captivity, and now one may believe, walks freely in that sky at which she has sat [deleted letters ] looking for these months past. ----
The days accordingly go on with slow dramatic foot-steps: and one goes with them. or glad or sad: but in any case strenuously set to the self-same task. And Nature had taken such a hand at the Game this Fall. I have never known such splendors and symbols, such announcements of "liberal friendship" and of high augury.--- My work has of necessity been in the shop,* but I have listened and, I hope,
[ Page 3 ]
learned somewhat of these adorable open secrets of
the wide air.
I do not move to town so long
as I can stay here -- not, I think, till the 5th. And I
have longed many times to see you -- and to be within the safe
walls of the old mansion. But you will know this: and will be
coming up this way before long. Why not for a night with
Coolidge?* Perhaps Friday of next week?
And will you embrace dear A.F.*
sitting in the sun -- and give to Mary* my love.
Thine
__Sw__*
Old Place, October 22, 1901.
Notes
22 October 1901: The envelope associated with this letter was cancelled on 23 October 1901 and addressed to Jewett in South Berwick.
Mr Walker: Mr. Walker has not been identified. One possibility is Boston-born painter Henry Oliver Walker (1843-1929), who was almost certainly known to Whitman and Jewett, as he and Whitman both exhibited at the World Columbian Exposition in 1893.
window: It is not yet known what window Whitman created for installation in Hyde Park in 1901. Presumably, she means Hyde Park, MA, but Hyde Park, New York is another possibility.
Kate Haut: This transcription is uncertain. The identities of Kate, Sarah and Esther remain unknown.
Mrs. Dorr: Ronald H. Epp, Director of the University Library & Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southern New Hampshire University has provided this identification of Mrs. Dorr.
Mary Gray Ward (1820- 21 October 1901) was the daughter of Thomas Wren Ward, a well-known Salem, MA merchant, who acted as the American agent for the London-based Baring Brothers, the Bank of America of the early 19th century. His daughter Mary was widely known among Boston feminists even before she married Charles Hazen Dorr (1821-1893) and bore two children, William and George Bucknam Dorr (1853-1944). Their son, George B. Dorr graduated from Harvard (class of 1874), where he was closely associated with the Golden Age of American Philosophy under William James, Josiah Royce, Santayana, etc. In 1901 following the death of his mother, George became the central agent in a new land conservation organization called the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations under the direction of Harvard University President Charles W. Eliot. The land they secured through gifts for public use became in 1916 Sieur de Monts National Monument (on Mount Desert Island, Maine) and four years later Lafayette National Park (renamed in 1929 Acadia National Park). Mr. Dorr was its first superintendent, serving until his death.
Mary Gray Ward Dorr was a celebrated hostess at 18 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, and later at Old Farm, the Bar Harbor "cottage" visited by U.S. Presidents, political figures, and celebrated literary and artistic persons during the last two decades of the 19th century. The Massachusetts Historical Society contains the Papers of Thomas Wren Ward which were transcribed by George Dorr and that contain letters to and from Mary Gray Ward Dorr.
the shop: In A Studio of Her Own (MFA: Boston, 2001), Erica E. Hirshler says that after 1892, Whitman maintained the Lily Glass Works at 184 Boyston St., near Park Square, about half a mile from the Fields house at 148 Charles St. (p. 39).
Coolidge: Probably Whitman refers to Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, who published her "Katy" stories under the name of Susan Coolidge.
A.F.: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
__Sw__: Whitman has double underlined her initials.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Whitman, Sarah (Wyman) 1842-1904. 92 letters; [1884]-[1903] & [n.d.] Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence, 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 -107. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Transcription from Letters of Sarah Wyman Whitman (1907)
Part of this letter appeared on p. 107.
And yesterday Mrs. Dorr was set free after so long a captivity, and now one may believe walks freely in that sky at which she has sat looking for these months past.
The days accordingly go on with slow dramatic footsteps, and one goes on with them or glad or sad, but in any case strenuously set to the selfsame task. And Nature had taken such a hand at the Game this Fall. I have never known such splendors and symbols, such announcements of "liberal friendship" and of high augury. My work has of necessity been in the shop, but I have listened and, I hope, learned somewhat of these adorable open secrets of the wide air.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Silas Weir Mitchell
Dear Doctor Mitchell
I have had such a pleasure in reading your new story!* The characters are wonderfully drawn and there are such things said all along the pages! I found my self laughing aloud when I met Dr. Soper in a way that would surprise him -- this doctor's child and grandchild who now writes you is able to feel such fine art of writing
as very few can, and to delight in such a writer - how did you happen to be such a writer and such a doctor too is what this instructed person would like to know!
The adventurers, the broken old man your delightful Mary and a 'Kitty' who for once seems to tumble down hill instead of proudly going up: they have all given me some enchanted hours. How much I have to thank you for! I feel as if I were holding on to the
proud claim of being the most delighted of all your readers.
I wonder why there should be two schools: if there are any real differences between the historical novel and the realistic? Is there any distinction between last summer and last century? and why cannot we feel and think one as we do the other. You know this wonderfully drawn adventuress this Sydney Archer just as well as you knew Hugh Wynne* but no better, and I can't find any difference in the realities of Madam Wallingford & Mrs.
Todd of Dunnet Landing:* if we can get atmosphere between ourselves & them: perspective; illusion of a sort; we get hold of Art in regard to them and do our work well. Mr. Henry James and I are now writing letters to each other, and he always believes in an 'extinct soul' of the last century but I do not. (How could I, when one of my most intimate early friends was a Harvard man of the class of '05, and I have seen fashions far back into the 1700's parading up the aisle of our old Berwick Church?) But I am trying to begin a talk -- and this alas -- is only a letter. I must send you my most
affectionate thanks and be done. I hope that you and Mrs. Mitchell have had a good summer? I send this letter to Bar Harbour hoping that your 'summer' is not quite ended.
Yours most truly
Sarah O. Jewett
Notes
1901: This date is tentative. The Literary News of October 1901 (p. 295) announces the publication of Weir Mitchell's Circumstance. Jewett must have obtained and read her copy immediately. It's quite unlikely that Jewett read the novel and wrote to Mitchell in October of 1902, when she was severely incapacitated by her September carriage accident. It may be, therefore, that Jewett wrote Mitchell much later, perhaps in 1903. Still, it seems clear that she is thinking about the 5 October 1901 letter she received from Henry James.
new story: Jewett has been reading Mitchell's novel, Circumstance (1901). Dr. Sloper and Dr. Sydney Archer are characters, as are Mary and Kitty.
Hugh Wynne: Mitchell's novel, Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker (1897). This is a historical novel about the Free Quakers of the 18th Century, contrasting with the more contemporary setting of Circumstance in Philadelphia soon after the American Civil War.
Madam Wallingford & Mrs. Todd of Dunnet Landing: Central characters in Jewett's The Tory Lover (1901), a historical novel set in roughly the same period as Circumstance, and The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896), set in contemporary New England.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Autograph File, J. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Susan Hayes Ward
[ Begin letterhead ]
South Berwick.
Maine.
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Susy
I have been wishing to write you -- yesterday and many days before that! -- to tell you how much I missed you when I came home and found you no longer here except for that minute in the morning as you drove by. It has been so dear to me to have your visit "to keep" as children say, that I am almost ungrateful to
this old roof -- I have been saying to myself lately how unsatisfactory some old friendships can be, however glad one may be to talk about very dear days of the past -- if there isn't some new treasure of association to put beside the old. One must have some immediate some near and present and growing friendship or a very few hours of sympathy about childish associations prove to be quite enough! I love to think how close you and Mary* and I are in our present interests and hopes -- it makes the old friendship twice as dear, and twice as comfortable.
I have been at my library meeting at the academy* this afternoon, and I must tell you how sorry I am that we did not manage to go up there together. It was very pleasant in the library with the late sunshine all along the floor. Mr. Stebbins* came to the meeting which pleased me very much. I cant help hoping that it means a great deal. Mr. Mower* managed it in the easiest way by not "managing" at all and Mr. Stebbins just came as if he had been there the
fortnight before, so all is well.
Last week was a busy one. I brought Miss Cochrane home with me on Tuesday afternoon, and my dear friend Sally Norton* came at six, fiddle in hand and made music in the evening. I was afraid at first that it would be too much for my aunt,* but the music proved to be the best & pleasantest thing possible & she went away next day well & happy & glad to have had her visit as we were to have had her. Then I got a piece of writing done (in spite of everything!) and on Sunday morning I drove to Dover and got Mrs. Fields,* who had been hindered & came down there by an express train. She is here still until next Wednesday I am
glad to say, and wishes that she might have seen you.
I hear the most delightful praises and much appreciation of your talk at the Club,* but nothing can make me any sorrier than I was in the beginning that I had to miss it. Do plan to stay a long time in Berwick next year! I have seen your uncle* two or three times "out & about" since you went away, and he wears a different look -- so much more cheerful and happy because he had your visit.
Forgive such a long letter, but I just wanted to send a word after you to carry my love and blessing!
Sarah O. Jewett
Of course I send my love to your brother & dear Hetta.*
1901: I am tentatively placing this letter in
1901, with another letter on the topic of Jewett's work for the
Boston Public Library. See notes below.
Notes with this transcription read: AMERICAN
ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, WORCESTER, MASS. [To
Susan Hayes Ward].
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
library meeting at the Academy this afternoon ... Mr.
Stebbins ... Mr. Mower: Richard Cary says: "The Fogg
Memorial Library, housed in a wing of the Berwick Academy, was
the only public library in South Berwick at this time. It was
administered by a committee of Academy officials and
townspeople, of which Miss Jewett, her sister Mary, and nephew
Theodore Eastman were members."
See Jewett to Fields on Wednesday morning,
April 1901.
It appears that Jewett became involved with
printing an updated library catalogue for the Berwick Academy.
Mr Stebbins very likely is Frank Stanley
Stebbins (1866- ), a Harvard law graduate (1893) who served as
principal of the Berwick Academy (1898-1902). See The Stebbins Genealogy (1904),
p. 974.
For Mr. Mower see Reverend Irving Bemis Mower
in Key
to
Correspondents.
Miss Cochrane ... Sally Norton: Jesse Cochrane and Sarah Norton. See Key to Correspondents.
my aunt: Though this will likely remain uncertain, Jewett may well refer to Helen Gilman or to Mary Long. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key
to
Correspondents.
talk at the Club: Jewett seems to imply that Susan
Ward has given a talk at the South Berwick Women's Club, in
which the Jewett sisters were leaders. More information is
welcome.
your uncle: It is difficult to know to which uncle
Jewett refers, the Hayes siblings having many uncles on their
mother's side (Mehetable Lord Ward Hayes 1815-1842).
Most likely are Augustus
Lord Hayes (1826-1906) and General Joseph Hayes (1835-1912), who are
buried in South Berwick, ME. Less likely are William Allen
Hayes (1817-1891) and Francis Brown Hayes (1819-1884), both of
whom are buried in Cambridge, MA. Least likely is Dr.
Charles Cogswell Hayes (1823- 1910), who is buried in Madison,
WI,
Two of their mother's sisters died before
this letter was composed: Constantia (1832-1851) and Mary Osgood
(1830-1844). The others may have married and resided in
South Berwick, but this is not yet known: Mehetable Lord
(1815-), Susan (1821-); Sophia Elizabeth (1824-); and Charlotte
Haven Lord (1828-)
Their father, Rev. James Wilson Ward (1803-1873)
had only one brother, Jonathan (1800-1826).
brother & dear Hetta: See William Hayes Ward in Key
to
Correspondents.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Lilian Woodman Aldrich
[ Begin letterhead ]
South Berwick.
Maine.
[ End letterhead ]
I am so grieved to hear about Charlie's illness!* I do not know how it happens but I missed reading about it in the papers, and everybody seems to have known about it before I did. Do give my love to him & his wife -- I wish that I were near enough to be of some use or comfort to any of you! -- but I hope that things are already better and more comfortable and that your anxieties are much
less. How hard it was for you to come home and find him so ill! I keep thinking a great deal about you all and I should be so glad if you could write a line or ask someone else to write and let me know how Charlie is. It seems so little while ago that I had such a nice bit of talk with him on Park Street* about you and his father and Talbot, on such a hot summer day and now here it is autumn again and everything so different!
I shall be in town next week when dear A.F.* goes back (-- She is spending a week or two with us after closing the house at Manchester.) Then I shall try to hear some good news of you through Mrs. Richardson* or perhaps Tal may be in Town. Dear Lilian you dont know how sorry I feel! -----
It must have been a fine sight at Yale, and I proudly welcome a brother Litt.D.* I should like to see dear "T.B."* in his gown and hood. You
must give him my love and say that I expect his next book to have all his academic and other titles: Prince of Storytellers and all -- on the little page -- I wonder if you could go with him to New Haven? -- Do not forget that I am always yours most affectionately
Notes
1901: In October of this year, T. B. Aldrich received his second honorary degree from Yale University. See below.
Charlie's illness: The Aldriches' twin sons, Talbot and Charles were born in 1868. Charles was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1902, and he died two years later in March 1904.
Park Street: Boston offices of the Atlantic Monthly and Houghton Mifflin publishers at 4 Park St.
A.F.: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Richardson: According to George Carey's "The Rise and Fall of Elmore," The William Richardsons at Seawoods and the Aldriches at the Crags were neighbors during summers at Tenants Harbor, ME. See Key to Correspondents.
Litt.D. ... T.B.: Jewett received her Doctor of Literature degree from Bowdoin College in June 1901. After receiving an honorary A.M. degree from Yale University in 1881, Thomas Bailey Aldrich received a Litt.D. degree in October 1901. Literary Digest 1901, p. 622.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Thomas Bailey Aldrich Papers, 119 letters of Thomas Bailey and Lilian Woodman Aldrich, 1837-1926. MS Am 1429 (117). Transcribed and annotated by Terry Heller, Coe College.
At the bottom left of page one, in another hand, is a circled number: 2762.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich to Sarah Orne Jewett
Ponkapog, Massachusetts.
Dear Sadie:*
Our boy has been very, very ill. Three days before our return the doctors did not think he would live to get to the Adirondacks. But he rallied a little and was moved to Saranac Lake, where the wonderful air immediately began its magic work. At first it was not thought advisable for us to go to him, but later we went and stayed a week and had the joy of seeing him gather strength
Lilian sends you her love, and her thanks for your sweet letter. When you write to Annie Fields*
T.B.A.
I have read "A Tory Lover"* two thirds through and find it wholly charming and dramatic in a fine sense. The saluting of the flag and the interviews ^between^ Franklin and Paul Jones are noble episodes. If my pen were not in such a hurry that it drops out words I would write you a dozen pages about the book. ------------------------
Notes
Sadie: Aldrich uses his affectionate nickname, "Sadie Martinot." See Key to Correspondents.
Charles: The Aldriches' son, Charles, died of tuberculosis in 1904. Key to Correspondents.
degree: After receiving an honorary A.M. degree from Yale University in 1881, Thomas Bailey Aldrich received a Litt.D. degree in October 1901.
Annie Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
A Tory Lover: When Aldrich wrote this letter, Jewett's final novel, The Tory Lover, had recently appeared as a book, following its serialization in Atlantic Monthly.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett. bMS Am 1743 (4).
This transcription is from a photocopy held by the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Box 2, Folder 99, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Theodore Jewett Eastman to Mary Rice Jewett and Sarah Orne Jewett [ fragment ]
Dear Aunts --
I have much to tell of my wanderings and only little time this evening in which to tell it. To begin: I worked on Friday until nearly six and then dashed over to the station and got my train for Buffalo. Of course the train was late in arriving at Buffalo, but only an hour so I had a good long day there. I got to the fair grounds at about 10 and left twelve hours later, with the result that I saw a good deal. One of the things that I liked especially about it was that the fair* was small, so that one could see it. I wandered through nearly all the buildings, lingering a good
I never imagined anything could
Notes
fair: Eastman attended the Pan-American Exposition world's fair held in Buffalo, NY, 1 May through 2 November 1901. Wikipedia.
"Maid of the Mist": Eastman visited Niagara Falls, where the Maid of the Mist continues to provide sightseeing boat tours into the 21st century.
The manuscript of this letter is held by Historic New England, Jewett Family Papers, Folder 11.8 GUSN-301902.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Bliss Perry
[ Autumn 1901 ]*
South Berwick, Maine.
Dear Mr. Perry
I find that my disappointment of last Saturday grows darker and deeper. -- I must tell you how sorry I was when I came home from Hamilton House* and found that you had been standing on my doorstep while I was away! You should have had the warmest
I own to a great feeling of envy when I think that somebody else could drive you about my own country and show you
the river. I confess to a feeling of mean satisfaction* because you saw the river at low tide: indeed, indeed I wish that I could have had five minutes of such a first visit if no more. Do someday make it all up to me!
Mrs. Fields* sends her best remembrances to you and Mrs. Perry with my own. (She has come for her autumn visit between Manchester & town.)
Believe me
S. O. Jewett
Notes
Autumn 1901: This date is speculative, based upon Jewett's references to her novel, The Tory Lover, as having recently appeared in book form. The novel was published soon after the August 1901 completion of its serial publication, overseen by Perry, in Atlantic Monthly.
Hamilton House: See Emily Davis Tyson in Key to Correspondents. The 18th-century mansion, Hamilton House, became a place to visit in South Berwick after 1900, when Tyson completed her restoration of the property. Jewett's novel, The Tory Lover (1901), is set partly at the Hamilton House.
Page 2: In the bottom right corner of page one is penciled, in another hand, the ms number, 296.
Miss Eastman: This person has not been identified.
Paul Jones: The American Navy commander, John Paul Jones (1747-1792), is a main character in Jewett's novel, The Tory Lover (1901).
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
feeling of mean satisfaction: Jewett first wrote "mean feeling of satisfaction," then indicated she wanted "mean" moved to the new position.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 8 letters to Bliss Perry; undated. Perry, Bliss, 1860-1954, recipient. Bliss Perry letters from various correspondents, 1869-1942. MS Am 1343 (290-297).
Alice Meynell to Annie Adams Fields
SAN FRANCISCO.
[ 1901 ]
I have given you a great deal of trouble in return for your kindnefs to me.
Owing to the illnefs of the friend* I came out to see, my return to England will probably be delayed
until April. If all goes well with her, we shall have the great pleasure of going to see you in Boston in that month, and I shall then be delighted to meet your friends.
Looking forward very much to the spring I am
Very sincerely yours
Notes
friend: Damian Atkinson (2013) reports that this letter was addressed from the home of American poet, Agnes Tobin (1864-1939), who accompanied Meynell on part of her 1901-1902 American lecture tour. The tour began in September, with a plan to end in December.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda Box 47: mss FI 3307, Folder 1. Archival notes on the manuscript have not been reproduced. This letter was previously transcribed by Damian Atkinson for The Selected Letters of Alice Meynell (2013). New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Maine.
Messrs Houghton Mifflin & Co.
Gentlemen
I send a list of small corrections to be added to those already made in the plates of the Tory Lover: they are the results of a talk with an English friend who thought them all important.
-- I am delighted to see this morning in the Herald* your announcement of good news from The Turn of the Road!
S. O. Jewett
page 280* 13th line from top -- [ unknown mark De ? ] Lord
" 325 7th line from foot of page
read wife instead of Lady
" 326 5th from foot: for Honorable read far-famed.
" 328 12th line from foot, Darwentwater should be Derwentwater
" 331 9 " " foot same correction: Der for Dar
" 331* 15th from top first word: read wife instead of lady.
" 381 7th from top,
(next made mayor)
The Tory Lover
____________
page 154: middle of page 2nd paragraph
erase from rebel leaving the paragraph "added the old Irish rebel."*
omit who had seen with his own eyes &c. And leave space leaded
Notes
1901: This date is confirmed by Jewett's providing final corrections for the book publication of her 1901 novel, The Tory Lover. Also, in the top left corner is a faint Houghton Mifflin date stamp that reads 23 November 1901.
Usually, Jewett writes letters on a singe folded sheet: the right side of the front is page 1, the two sides of the back are pages 2 and 3, and the left side of the front is page 4.
This letter varies from that pattern.
Page 1 is the right side of a sheet.
Page 2 is the right side of the back of same sheet.
Page 3 is the front of a second half sheet.
Page 4 is the back of the second half sheet.
Each sheet has two holes punched in the top margin. The first sheet was folded when the holes were punched, so when open, there are four holes visible.
On page 1, top middle, in pencil, is the circled number 3. To the right of the addressee are initials, which may read F.J.G. for Francis Jackson Garrison. See Key to Correspondents. A diagonal line is penciled from the initials to the bottom left of the page.
On page 2, there is a check mark inked before each item in the list. Presumably these were made by the letter's reader rather than by Jewett.
At the bottom of page 3 appear again the initials that may be F.J.G.
On page 4, probably in another hand, in the upper right corner: "Jewett".
Herald: The Boston Herald newspaper was founded in 1846. The Turn of the Road (Houghton Mifflin, 1901) by Boston author, Eugenia Brooks Frothingham (1874-1971). See also "Representative Women of New England."
According to "Books and Their Writers" in the Louisville (KY) Courier Journal for 28 December 1901, p. 5: "Houghton, Mifflin & Co. in Boston say that the best selling book they had last spring was "The Turn of the Road," by Eugenia Frothingham, and that the best selling book of the autumn season was "The Tory Lover" by Sarah Orne Jewett, although Mr. Fisk's book entitled "Life Everlasting," is nearly as large a seller. It may be said, in connection with these books, that it is not so much that they sell so well, as that they deserve to sell even better than they have sold, this house being especially noted for the quality of its works."
Page 2: None of the changes Jewett requests were actually made.
280: Though I am only guessing at Jewett's mark, it seems likely that she wanted to delete the word "Lord."
331: Someone -- possibly Jewett -- has drawn a line between the two page numbers, on the left side, separating them from the ditto marks.
rebel: Someone -- possibly Jewett -- has circled the period in this line. This change also seems not to have been made, for on p. 154, the sentence continues after "rebel," leaving the words she had asked to cut.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University in Houghton Mifflin Company correspondence and records, 1832-1944, Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 68 letters from; 1870-1907 and [n.d.]. MS Am 1925 (962). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Louise Imogen Guiney to Annie Adams Fields
Dearest Mrs. Fields:
'It is ages', isn't it? I wonder how you are and can always see you sitting behind the delicate tea-cups on Saturdays, with the waves and the sunset light to the starboard. Mrs. Meynell* will have written you, long since; so you will know how it came about that T. Whittemore* sent your letter to her in my care, his heart misgiving him, at the last moment, about her exact address. I do hope you two will meet, for you belong together. I suppose you have fallen across Mr. Archer's anthology,* with its inexcusably hideous woodcuts of Mrs. Meynell and other exquisite people? Anything more like ^a^ hardened criminal than Mr. Stephen Phillips, or Dora Shorter, or Fr. Tabb,* I never look to see. Critically, I find the book inter-
esting and diverting. As all my best-beloveds have been asked to that party, I wish they had provided a wedding-garment for Guiney! (Isn't that envious of her?) But the left-out are so worthy a group, including Prof. Woodberry, Miss Thomas, Miss Cone, Miss Reese, Mr. Lionel Johnson, "A.E." (George William Russell), and Mme Darmesteter,* for example, that I think said Guiney would as well be content ^if allowed^ to play with these children in their garden! I dearly love and much believe in some contemporaries, as next best to the crystal Carolians.*
Please tell Miss Jewett* that a Yorkshire bookseller named J. R. Tutin (of Great Feneste, Bedale),* a great lover and student of our elder poets, is thinking of 'doing up' our old favourite Orinda,* in one of his pretty two-shillling editions. She has never, you know, been reprinted; there are only the inaccessible folios of 1664 and 1667. This
[ Page 4 ]
May I have a line or two, by way of a ^unique^ Christmas gift, to say that you and our dear magician of Piscataqua* keep strong, and have had a happy summer? My mother, moored at 601 Tremont St.,* (very near the spot where she lived when she was first married,) seems 'altogether fit', as the English say, and has sent me a barrel of New England apples, for which I am ^now^ on the watch, with a most carnal eagerness. If all goes well, I look forward to re-entering President Teddy's Republic* by next July. Love to you: and to all them that love you, from
Louise I. Guiney
12 Walton St., Oxford.
Notes
1901: As the content of this letter indicates, it was written during the first year of Guiney's stay in England that began in 1901.
Mrs. Meynell: Alice Meynell. See Key to Correspondents.
Mr. Whittemore: American scholar and archaeologist, Thomas Whittemore (1871-1950).
Mr. Archer's anthology: Scottish writer and theater critic William Archer's (1856-1924) Poets of the Younger Generation (1901). Alice Meynell's portrait appears after page 264.
The poets who were included and whose portraits Guiney deprecated were:
Stephen Phillips (1864-1915), an English poet and dramatist.
Dora Maria Sigerson (Mrs. Clement) Shorter (1866-1918) an Irish poet and sculptor. After her 1895 marriage, she published as Dora Sigerson Shorter.
Father John Banister Tabb (1845-1909), American poet and priest.
The poets she believed deserving, but were not included in Archer, in addition to herself, were:
George E. Woodberry (1855-1930). See Key to Correspondents.
Edith Matilda Thomas (1854-1925), American poet.
Helen Gray Cone (1859-1934) American poet and professor of English literature.
Lizette Woodworth Reese (1856-1935), American poet and teacher.
Lionel Johnson (1867-1902), British poet, essayist and critic.
George William Russell (1867-1935), Irish poet and artist, wrote under the initials, A.E.
Agnes Mary Frances Robinson (1857-1944) was known as "Agnes-Marie-François Darmesteter after her first marriage, and Agnes Mary Frances Duclaux after her second," She also produced fiction, essays, criticism and translations.
crystal Carolians: "Carolian" may be a Guiney coinage, suggesting perhaps carolers or members of a choir.
Orinda: Guiney edited Katherine Philips, 'The Matchless Orinda': Selected Poems (1904), Thomas Stanley: his original lyrics, complete, in their collated readings of 1647, 1651, 1657 (1907), published by J.R. Tutin. This may be John Tutin (1863-1961), of Bedale, a market town in Yorkshire, UK, north of Leeds. "Great Feneste" or possibly "Teneste" has not yet been identified.
Katherine Philips (1631/2 -1664) was an Anglo-Welsh poet and translator.
Vaughan: Welsh poet Henry Vaughan (1621-1695). Wikipedia says:
With Gwenllian Morgan, Guiney prepared materials for an edition and biography of the seventeenth-century Welsh poet Henry Vaughan. Neither Guiney nor Morgan lived to complete the project, however, and their research was used by F. E. Hutchinson for his 1947 biography Henry Vaughan [ Oxford University Press].Bodleian: The Bodleian Library is the main research library of Oxford University.
Hunt: Chief of Cataloguing at the Boston Public Library in 1900 was Edward Browne Hunt (1855-1906). See Library Journal 31 (1906) p. 189. Guiney worked at the Boston Public Library before beginning her 1901 stay in England.
magician of Piscataqua: Sarah Orne Jewett, whose home town of South Berwick, ME, stands at the headwaters of the Piscataqua River. See Key to Correspondents.
Tremont St.: This is a Boston, MA, address.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields collection Box 26: mss FI 1574. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
Ah! dearest!
There was no letter ^from me^ yesterday! Will you please reply to Mr. Updike's* questions at once by mail --
There is so much to say -- but first let me thank you for Saturday's flowers which were fresh and delight=bringing
and your constant letters! Bless you all Thanksgiving Day. I am sure you and Mary* being so resourceful at home keeping that you will get bravely through the day, but I'm sorry indeed about Katy.* If she bears the journey and this colder weather does not affect
Breakfast
Notes
1901: Evidence in the letter offers some support for this year. After 1897, only Mary and Sarah remained of their family, residing together in their ancestral home in South Berwick. Their orphaned nephew, Theodore, was at Harvard in 1901. Katy Galvin, if she is the "Katy" of this letter, came to work for the family in about 1899. In 1901, Daniel Updike worked with Jewett to publish a booklet of her story, "An Empty Purse."
If this date is correct, then Fields's lecturing guest almost certainly was Alice Meynell, who was touring in the U.S. in 1901 and 1902. Key to Correspondents.
Updike's: American printer and historian of typography, Daniel Berkeley Updike (1860-1941). He was the founder of Merrymount Press, publisher of two Jewett texts, An Empty Purse (1901) and Verses (1916), a posthumous collection of her poems.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. Key to Correspondents.
Katy: Probably Katy Galvin. Key to Correspondents.
Trimble: The identity of Mrs. Trimble is as yet unknown. A likely candidate is a known Fields acquaintance, Mary Sutton Underhill Trimble (1826-1908) of New York City, and her banker husband, Merritt Trimble (1824-1903).
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Sarah Orne Jewett Additional Correspondence, 100 letters from Annie Adams Fields, bMS Am 1743.1 Box 1, Item 33.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Rudyard Kipling to Sarah Orne Jewett
THE ELMS,
ROTTINGDEAN,
SUSSEX.
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Mifs Jewett
Behold me, with a beast of a cold sitting down to answer your good letter. What I waited for was The Tory Lover* and now that I've got it I perceive that Allah did not intend me for a literary artist. (Here let us thank Allah!)
I think [ its so it appears ] the biggest thing you've done yet and also I think that you've pulled it off -- [ deletion ] a result that not always attends the doing of big things. But what -- apart from its felicities -- interested me as a fellow craftsman was the amount of work -- solid, laborious dig that must have gone to its making, and the art with which that dig is put away and disguised. I love that sort of work where only the fellow-labourer can see where his companion went and how far, for the stuff that
seems to turn up so casually and yet so inevitably in the fabric of the weaving. There's a fine [ confusion ? ] of metaphor for you! but one wants to be accurate with a grossly unedited catarrh and a handkerchief that won't stay hanked, as well as a nose which (to me at present) is the most prominent fact in the universe.
Don't I know too, the feeling of detachment you speak of, when one has dig into a period or a country [ resolutely ? ] for a long time and is soaked with the ideas & thoughts & the turns of speech of it. Then one returns to work to hear dear kind friends say: "but why don't you give us this or that or the other thing -- same as you did before? You being a woman can't answer those people according to their wisdom and I confess it is hard [ even ? ] for a man to throw back a sufficiently tart answer exempli gratia* I am slowly coming to the surface after a beautiful fortnight spent on a nice, low, coarse [ long ? ] yarn
-- all about ships and sailors and steam & torpedoes -- where one mistake of fact would be as bad as a thousand. I've been living with weird books & consorting with weird sailors to get my own impressions of certain facts accurately checked. Comes now Eliphaz the Ternanite ( or Bildad* was it,) and wants to enquire when I'm going to finish some verses about the Wessex downs? Bless the Wessex downs! I [ live him ? ] and some day will finish those verses but now is not the time you understand?
I got a dear sweet letter from Mr Norton* the other day about Kim* at which he is leased, very pleased. I have grown in my boots since the reading because praise from Norton is not what you might call common as some other things; and he does not say a thing for any sake of the mere saying. Likewise Henry James* liked it!
We hope to be getting down at the good [ hem ? ] of the cape at the end of the year. This English winter is a terrible thing and we take as little of it as we can.
Both our babes are well and the wife after a bad turn this fall is much better. She has been persuaded to go up to town tonight for a small jaunt with the [ Cullen's so it appears ]* who were so good to me in New Jersey when I was sick. Likewise (I believe this is the real reason) she wants [ me ? ] to lunch tomorrow in her fine new enlarged redecorated club. There's a deal of masculine nature in a woman. Give my best Salaams to your nephew{.}* If it wasn't [ infringing ? ] the Whole [ Constitution ? ] of the U.S. [ plus ? ] the Dingley tariff* and giving them a lot of bother to sign certificates I'd send him a pipe for that one he left behind{.} I hope he'll have luck and be worthy of his aunt.
Now I will steep myself in camphors and [ benzoin's so it appears ] and the abominable drugs of the merchants.
Rudyard Kipling.
Notes
1901: In his transcription, Thomas Pinney ed. The Letters of Rudyard Kipling v. 3, pp. 78-9. University of Iowa Press, 1996, reads the date as 25 November.
Tory Lover: The Tory Lover (1901) was Jewett's final novel.
Associated with this letter is an envelope with stamp and cancellation removed, addressed to Jewett c/o C. E. Norton at Shady Hill in Cambridge, MA, U.S.A. In another hand inside the remains of the envelope: R. Kipling.
exempli gratia: Latin: e.g., for example.
Eliphaz the Ternanite... Bildad: Eliphaz appears as the first console of Job in the Bible, Job 2-4. Bildad ws another of Job's comforters, appearing in Job 8, 18 and 25. Wikipedia.
Mr. Norton: Charles Eliot Norton. See Sara Norton in Key to Correspondents
Kim: Kipling's 1901 novel.
Henry James: See Key to Correspondents.
Cullen's: These people have not yet been identified.
Dingley tariff: An 1897 tariff act that imposed the highest tariffs in history on some goods imported into the United States. Wikipedia.
benzoin's: Benzoin ointment is used for treating cracked skin, as in fingers and lips.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Alice Brown to Sarah Orne Jewett
Montpelier, Vermont.
[ November / December 1901 ]*
My civility is long in coming, dear Miss Jewett. But I do thank you for the Tory Lover* and I am grateful for that species of spar away the débris of fiction* that fondly thinks itself the same kind. Yet I grudge every
minute you spend away from your old stamping grounds. You see, having done the perfect thing in one way, you spoil us ---- me, at least. I would { have } the same kind of story with the same refrain. And "The Honey Tree"!* It is a
beauty, isn't ^it^ from tip to root? It is very wonderful that you are going on doing more [ beautiful corrected ] things all the time. Please go on! Please don't get "used to " life! I believe that is why the fountain fails -- when it does fail.
I am wicked enough to want to tell you
I know you didn't like Margaret Warrener,* although you did find things to commend. Sometime -- if there is leisure and it would help me -- will you tell me why? (Heavens! there are plenty of reasons -- but which one?) I like a "bare bodkin"* in the right hands. And I am so sorry you are tired nowadays. I send you my thanks for the book and many things ---- and my love.
Notes
1901: Brown could have read "The Honey Tree" as early as late November of 1901. See notes below.
Tory Lover: Jewett's final novel was The Tory Lover (1901).
fiction: Brown has written "of" in a way that makes it appear underlined with the line extending after.
"The Honey Tree": Jewett's story appeared in Harper's Magazine in December 1901. It was eventually collected in Richard Cary's Uncollected Stories of Sarah Orne Jewett (1971).
Margaret Warrener: Brown's 1901 novel.
"bare bodkin": In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1, young Hamlet is undecided about whether to suffer under his murderous usurper uncle or to fulfill the request of his murdered father's ghost. This leads him to consider escaping this hard choice by committing suicide. Why suffer, he asks, when "he himself might his Quietus make / With a bare Bodkin?"
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Brown, Alice, 1857-1948. 4 letters; [1901 ?], bMS Am 1743 (28).
This transcription is from a photocopy held by the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Box 2, Folder 99, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc to Annie Adams Fields
This letter was composed in French; a transcription follows the translation.
The Hermitage near Pontoise
3 December
Most dear Annie, you have heard from Sarah* the news of my return to Paris, marking the end of a too short vacation. That was as expected. I can no longer escape my worries except through flight. As soon as I arrived, I found myself enveloped in the sadness of many friends who had lost members of their families. This autumn
of 1901 was a killer, and still they fall around us like cut grass. Closest to me is the continued failing of my brother.* I stay near him, on a pretty property my nephew has just purchased on the banks of the Oise; and I tell myself that he will not long enjoy this sweet retirement, nor the care I can give him.
It is strange to admit that I miss the Steppe,
Immediately upon my return, I wrote to the young protégé of Mrs. Agassiz,* who probably had left Paris already, as she did not reply. At least, my letter will have followed her. Now I will visit the young Johnson* household, my new neighbors. The Gilders* wrote me about the sudden disappearance of M. de [ Rorthays ? ]* [ Unrecognized name or pronoun ] doesn't know what happened to him.
Write to me, my dear Annie.
I send you all my tenderness.
Notes
Sarah: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
brother: Christian de Solms died in 1902. See Blanc in Key to Correspondents.
M. Brunetière: Ferdinand Brunetière (1849-1906), editor of Revue des Deux Mondes.
Mme de Beaulaincourt: Sophie de Castellane, Marquise de Contades, then Beaulaincourt, Countess Marles (1818- 25 December 1904). See also Geneanet. Blanc traveled to Russia in 1901, where she researched the conditions of women. See Mme. Paul Fliche, Mrs. Th. Benzon p. 122.
Mrs. Agassiz: Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz. See Key to Correspondents.
Johnson: Probably the family of Robert Underwood Johnson. See Key to Correspondents.
Gilders: Richard Watson Gilder and Helena de Kay. See Key to Correspondents.
M. de Rorthays: This transcription is uncertain, but in a letter of 12 September 1902, Blanc mentions Vicomte Constant Emmanuel Gilbert de Rorthays (1875-1949) -- anarchist, art critic and dealer. He married G. de Saint-Hilaire, actress at the Comédie Française (1881-87). The incident of his disappearance remains unexplained.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda mss FI 1-5637, Box 5. Transcription, translation and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College, with essential assistance from Jeannine Hammond, Professor of French, Emerita, at Coe College.
145
Transcription
Blanc sometimes abbreviates "pour" to "pr" and "vous" to "vs." Such instances in this letter are rendered as "pour" and "vous."
145
L'Hermitage près Pontoise
3 Décembre
Bien chère Annie,
vous avez eu par
Sarah les nouvelles de
mon retour à Paris qui
a marqué la fin de
mon repos trop court.
Je m'y attendais d'ailleurs.
Je n'echappe plus à
des préoccupations de
toute sorte que par
la fuite. A peine arrivée
Je me suis trouvée comme
envelopée par la tristesse
de nombreux amis dans
les familles desquelles était
entrée la mort. Cet automne
de 1901 a été meurtrier
on tombe encore autour
de nous comme l'herbe
fauchée. Ce qui me touche
de plus près c'est l'affaiblissement
toujours croissant
de mon frère. Je suis
auprès de lui, dans une
très jolie propriété que
mon neveu vient
d'acheter sur les bords
de l'Oise; et je me dis
qu'il ne jouira pas
bien longtemps de
cette douce retraite ni
des soins que je puis lui
donner. C'est pour
moi une cause de
profond chagrin. Je
resterai près de lui autant
que possible jusqu'au
1er Janvier, en transportant
ici mes habitudes de travail.
M. Brunetière ne va pas
bien, il a une mine
affreuse; ce qui ne l'a
pas empêché de faire
à Lyon un admirable
discours sur les Raisons que
nous avons d'espérer.
Tout le monde en parle
c'est une belle et
bonne oeuvre, mais il
semble que l'orateur
donne sa vie en
même temps que
son éloquence -- Hier
était le jour de
naissance de Mme de Beaulaincourt
aujourd'hui c'est celui
de ma mère. Les deux fêtes
célébrées autrefoisà peu
près en même temps me
rendent toujours triste.
J'avais apporté à notre
amie des produits rustiques
de la petite industrie
russe qui l'ont amusée.
Elle gardera jusqu'à la
fin une heureuse disposition
à jouir de tout.
Figurez-vous que la
Steppe me manque,
les horizons sans bornes
le calme, la paix
le défilé des troupeaux
ces ciels qui se déroulent
sans que rien les interrompe
au-dessus de l'immensité
plane. J'en ai une sorte
de nostalgie et je
me complais à en
écrire, ne pouvant
plus les voir. En Crimée
vous retrouveriez la
Grèce, et le musée des
antiquités crimériennes
à Petersbourg est un
des plus beaux, des
plus curieux qui existent.
Retournons-y un
jour ensemble,
voulez-vous? --
J'ai écrit, aussitôt
débarquée à la jeune
protégée de Mme Agassiz
qui probablement
avait déjà quitté Paris
car elle ne m'a pas répondu.
Ma lettre du moins
l'aura suivie. Je vais
voir maintenant le
jeune ménage Johnson
devenu mon voisin.
Les Gilders m'ont écrit
la disparition soudaine
de M. de [ Rorthays ? ] [ Unrecognized name or pronoun ]
ne sait ce qu'il est devenu{.}
Écrivez-moi, bien chère Annie.
Je vous envoie toutes mes tendresses.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Robert Underwood Johnson
[ 1901 ]*
Maine.
[ End Letterhead ]
Dear Mr Johnson
I am afraid that I cannot write about
Madame Blanc!* Mrs Fields does such things
better than I ever could, should you care to ask her.* and I
would lend a hand if my hand were needed. I do not forget that I
am to send you a sketch by and by -- the best that the winter
crop has to
offer, but I have been so idle of late that no green shoots are
yet appearing through the snow.*
I hope that you received a Tory
Lover* in good Tory red or Patriot blue: one was
to be sent to you. He is doing very well indeed, I am glad to
say. Some persons say that he should have been a second Country
of the Pointed Firs, but how could the willingest of old
story writers make two books just alike? (!) ----- Please
give my best messages to Mistress Katharine.*
Yours always most truly
Sarah Orne Jewett
Notes
1901: Richard Cary assigned this date, presumably
because of Jewett's report of good sales for The Tory Lover,
which appeared in book form in 1901.
Blanc: Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc. See
Correspondents.
Richard Cary notes that "Notable Women: Mme.
Blanc ('Th. Bentzon')" by Mrs. Fields appeared in Century in
May 1903.
Tory Lover: Jewett's novel, The Tory
Lover, was published in book form in 1901. Her friend,
American author Henry James, was among those who found the book
less than satisfactory and urged her to return to doing what she
did best, as in her 1896 novel, The Country of the Pointed
Firs. See his letter of 5 October 1901.
Katharine: Katharine McMahon Johnson. See Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by Colby College Special
Collections, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Richard Cary included his
transcription in Sarah Orne Jewett Letters.
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller,
Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc
December 6th 1901
What a dear and delightful letter my dear friend! It gives me the greatest joy as I read it and* feel that your journey has done you good -- I feel so distinctly all that refreshment of mind and body which you have gained. Oh, do not get cold now! -- be very careful of yourself and take the best care, as you would of somebody else! You will write as fast as a steam engine, and miss the free air which you have had in all those weeks! And you must
take care of you for my sake.
Now we shall be looking for your chapters in the Revue which will make us share in your great Russian experience.* This letter and the one that came before have given me much already, but I am eager for more -- and more!
-- I am sorry that I was so unmindful about the Tory Lover affairs. I remember that you asked about a traducteur,* but I have known and heard nothing. -- you said a most kind word* in the Revue. I did indeed
see that! and I believe that I must have thanked you! I wonder if you really think that it would interest enough French people? After all there is much ^of^ France in it,
these. If you had not so much to do that is more immediate and important, I should have loved your doing with the book as you did long ago to my endless profit, (a blessing in a friendship!) with the Country Doctor!*
----- I see that Col. Higginson* is having your paper about him put into an English edition{ -- } someone has translated it -- you can hardly think what a pleasure it has been to him in every way.
--- I wish that you would fly to Berwick this very night! Mrs. Howe* is coming for a visit of two or three days this evening -- tomorrow she has promised to speak to a woman's
club here in which Mary and I are much interested. Laura Richards, her daughter comes too, and it will be very gay for you. Oh what joy if I could see you here again -- I am [ already & ? ] wondering when it can be; but tonight I promise you very good company which might not always happen, as you know, in Berwick! Annie* has been very well -- she was here last week [ again corrected ] to spend Thanksgiving with us, and I was to go to town on Monday and then to Hartford for two nights to Mrs. Warner,* but two things broke up my plans
-- first we had news of the sudden death of my uncle in Exeter,* and I must go to the funeral, and at the same time I felt so ill with an attack of la grippe that I could hardly ["manage" corrected ] to get there and get home again -- and to my bed! but I [ am corrected ] getting on much better today and Mrs. Howe will prove a good medicine for such a case!
--- I have not yet turned to my work again; I cannot muster much energy yet, and all my magazine affairs are sadly behind hand. I must get hold of things before long; next
month I hope to be much in town, and to have some quiet weeks with Annie;* after I make my annual visit to Mrs. Cabot* in the early part of January I shall go to Charles Street to stay. In this busy, almost hunted year, I have been able to take very few quiet days -- but it has happened that Annie has been [ deletion ] alone very seldom -- with Miss Cochrane's* long visit and others which would keep her from being uncompanioned.
Theodore* is working very hard in the Medical school -- he is
always much pleased by your kind messages -- and Mary* too, who is very busy as usual, and very cheerful in all her kindnesses{.} We are going to Charles Street next week.
Dear friend, write to me as often as you can -- it is a great pleasure to hear from you, and to have such a letter as this is a gift of diamonds! I cannot tell you how it delights me to read it, and to read it again --
S. O. J.
Notes
and: Jewett sometimes writes an "a" with a long tail for "and." I render these as "and."
Russian experience: Richard Cary notes Mme. Blanc's pieces in Revue des Deux Mondes that resulted from her trip to Russia:
"En Petite-Russie," n.s. 8I (April 1, 1902), 595-637, followed by a second installment, n.s. 9 (May 15), 357-399.
"En Russie," n.s. 13 (February 15, 1903), 878-905.
Tory Lover ... traducteur: Jewett's final novel was The Tory Lover (1901). Blanc has been looking for someone to translate the novel into French.
kind word: Richard Cary says:
In "Dans la Nouvelle-Angleterre," Revue des Deux Mondes, CL (December 1, 1898), 544, Madame Blanc wrote: "South Berwick eut la bonne fortune de produire un romancier qui sait intéresser l'ancien monde comme le nouveau à une population si différente de ce que les étrangers ignorans croient être, en bloc, le peuple américain: un ramassis de gens très vulgaraires, très durs et de provenances mêlées. Lisez les esquisses de Sarah Jewett; vous verrez que le caractère des citoyens de la Nouvelle-Angleterre est avant tout la dignité: dignified, cette épithète revient souvent, et en effet elle exprime mieux qu'aucune autre les aspirations, la tenue, la conduite de chacun."Translation:
South Berwick had the good fortune to produce a writer who knows how to interest the old world as well as the new in a people so different from what ignorant foreigners believe to represent Americans as a whole, a conglomeration of hard and vulgar people. Reading sketches by Sarah Jewett; you will see that New Englanders are characterized by their dignity, a recurring epithet that expresses better than any other the aspirations, the appearance, the behavior of everyone.The French translation of The Tory Lover proved complicated and dragged on until 1905, when Le Roman d'Un Loyaliste was published in Paris by Hachette et Cie.
Country Doctor: Mme. Blanc reviewed and translated Jewett's 1884 novel, A Country Doctor.
"Le Roman de la Femme-Médecin" appeared in Revue des Deux Mondes 67 (1 February 1885). She included in an 1890 book along with a selection of nine short stories.
Higginson: Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Key to Correspondents.
Mme. "Un Américain représentatif -- Thomas Wentworth Higginson," appeared in the Revue des Deux Mondes, n.s. 3 (1 June 1901). Cary notes that it was collected in Blanc's Questions Américaines (1901) and that the English version was "a small book translated by Emily Mary Waller, ... A Typical American: Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1902)."
Mrs. Howe ... Richards: For Julia Ward Howe and Laura Richards see Key to Correspondents.
Cary says:
On December 13, 1901, the Somersworth (N.H.) Free Press reported her talk to the Berwick Woman's Club: "She spoke of Whittier, the farmer boy, of Longfellow, telling of his love for beautiful Fanny Appleton, many memories of Oliver Wendell Holmes and James Russell Lowell as 'A Man's Man, not a Woman's Man.' Before the program the Rev. I. B. Mower sang [Mrs. Howe's] 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic' very expressively. Mrs. Laura E. Richards accompanied her mother and they were guests of the Misses Mary R. and Sarah Orne Jewett until Monday."For Rev. Mower and Mary Rice Jewett see Key to Correspondents.
Annie: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Warner: Mrs. Charles Dudley Warner. Key to Correspondents.
uncle in Exeter: John Taylor Perry. See Sarah Chandler Perry in Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Cabot: Susan Burleigh Cabot. Key to Correspondents.
Cochrane: Jessie Cochrane. Key to Correspondents.
Theodore: Theodore Jewett Eastman. Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Richard Cary included his transcription in Sarah Orne Jewett Letters.
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College. Jeannine Hammond, Professor of French Emerita, provided essential help with the French translation.
William DeWitt Hyde to Sarah Orne Jewett
Dec.10. 1901.
My dear Miss Jewett:
I thank you most heartily for the good friends you kindly sent to keep me company in leisure hours -- Mary and Roger
and Paul Jones, and the dear old Master* with all the virtues and failings of our noble profession.
I am sending our catalogue: and deem it a happy coincidence that this which contains your name
is our first really beautiful and artistic catalogue.
I can't send you real live human beings such as you sent me: but I will send you a poor skeleton of abstractions which tries to show the framework on which wise souls are constructed.
Thanking you again for The Tory Lover, and proud to have its author on our college roll,
Believe me
Notes
Master: Jewett has sent Hyde a copy of her final novel, The Tory Lover (1901). Mary, Roger, John Paul Jones, and the schoolmaster, John Sullivan, are characters in that novel.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Hyde, William DeWitt, 1858-1917. 3 letters; 1901-1903. (108).
This transcription is from a photocopy held by the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Box 2, Folder 99, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc to Annie Adams Fields
This letter was composed in French; a transcription follows the translation.
Dear Annie,
Sarah* will tell you of all the sorrows that overwhelm me at this time. So, saying no more about them, I just send you all my best, heartfelt wishes for you this Christmastide. I spend the sad holidays in this pretty house, the Hermitage, where my brother could have had years of peaceful, happy retirement, but where he soon will die.
How various are the ways of suffering! When those with whom we have spent our lives depart, we feel hollowed out, and nothing can fill that terrible void; when we lose those relatives from whom life's circumstances have separated us, the regret for those lost years is heartbreaking. -- My brother and I dearly loved each other in our youth; today, so close to his end, it
she resumes the tastes of her youth, she needs to see horses, she says, and so she will settle down at the corner the Champs Elysées, and if she reduces the size of her apartment, this is because she intends to establish at Acosta an institution of nuns to provide shelter and medical care for young children. For this purpose, she will alter a few things, the amenities one needs at 80 years of age, when one is used to such things, and she doesn't want people to know. So in this moment, I am being indiscrete. She continues to be surrounded
by people and interested in the spectacle of her times, and she holds her own in all conversations. Mme. Coignet* winters in Algeria. Thank God that Mme. Delzant* is doing wonderfully, having to care for her youngest daughter, who suffers from a serious nervous illness. I hope soon to see the young Johnsons* again, who live nearby, and I really enjoyed our first meeting. He seems very intelligent, and she is charming. ----
Did you know that there are two newly established American boarding-houses here for young girls wishing to learn French? I really like one of them, that begun by Miss Wallace,* formerly a professor at the University of Chicago. She has located at 79 Rue Notre Dame des Champs, so the girls have easy access to courses at the Sorbonne and all that intellectual Paris has to offer, without having to reside in the Latin Quarter. This Miss Wallace is very pleasant and distinguished: a Gainsborough!* according to my old, recently deceased friend, the poet, Grenier.*
You will have heard of the magnificent lecture that M. Brunetière* gave in Lyon on the reasons for hoping -- you will have read his article: "Do We Need a National Church?"
and you wouldn't suspect that he is more ill than ever. He often speaks of you.
M. Boutet de Mauvel* has gone south again, [ mais mieux partout.]*
I embrace you, dear Annie. To banish bad dreams and the sad thoughts insomnia brings, I have attached to the headboard of my bed the photograph from Manchester, where I was happy in your midst, to lunch with you and Sarah, and with the tea things that I owe to your friendship.* You help me from afar. May God bless you.
Notes
1901: Huntington Library archivists interpret "Xbre" as December, and assign the 1901 date. Presumably, the month is based upon the derivation of the word, "December," with its reference to the number 10, the Roman numeral X. The year is based upon the death of Blanc's brother, Christian, in 1902, and the publication of Brunetière's essay on an established church. See notes below and Blanc in Key to Correspondents.
Sarah: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Mme. de Beaulaincourt: Sophie de Castellane, Marquise de Contades, then Beaulaincourt, Countess Marles (1818- 25 December 1904). Whether she established a shelter for children at her estate, the Château d'Acosta, is not yet known.
Mme. Coignet: French moral philosopher, educator and activist, Clarisse Coignet (1823-1918).
Mme. Delzant: Alidor (1848-1905) and Gabrielle Delzant (1854-1903) resided in Paris and at Parays (Lot-et-Garonne). He was a lawyer, a bibliophile, editor, and author and wrote, among other works, a biography of the brothers Goncourt.
Johnsons: Probably the family of Robert Underwood Johnson. See Key to Correspondents.
Miss Wallace: A Miss Elizabeth Wallace (1865-1960) taught Romance Languages at the University of Chicago, but we have found as yet no evidence that she established a school for girls in Paris.
Gainsborough: Possibly Grenier referred to the British portrait painter, Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788).
Grenier: Probably French poet and diplomat, Edouard Grenier (1819- 4 December 1901).
Brunetière: In 1893, Ferdinand Brunetière (1849-1906) became editor of Revue des Deux Mondes, where he continued until his death. His essay, "Voulons-nous une Église Nationale?" appeared in Revue des Deux Mondes 6 (15 November 1901), pp. 277-94.
Boutet de Monvel: French artist Bernard Boutet de Monvel (1881-1949).
partout: We are very unsure about this transcription, and we are not able to translate this phrase.
friendship: The transcription of Blanc's memory of lunch with Fields and Jewett at Fields's home in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA, is uncertain, and it is not clear to us exactly what is shown in the photograph and whether, indeed, Fields gave Blanc some tea-making apparatus on that occasion.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda mss FI 1-5637, Box 5. Transcription, translation and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College, with essential assistance from Jeannine Hammond, Professor of French, Emerita, at Coe College.
Transcription
Blanc sometimes abbreviates "pour" to "pr" and "vous" to "vs." Such instances in this letter are rendered as "pour" and "vous."
15 Xbre
Chère Annie,
Sarah ne vous dira que
trop les chagrins qui
m'accablent en ce moment.
Je me borne donc sans
vous en parler davantage
à vous envoyer tous les
voeux que du fond du
coeur je forme pour vous
en ce temps de Noël.
Je passe de tristes fêtes
dans cette jolie maison de
l'Hermitage où mon pauvre
frère aurait pu vivre
avoir des années de
retraite paisibles et heureuses
où selon toute apparence
nous allons bientôt le perdre.
Combien sont diverses
les manières de souffrir!
Quand s'en vont
ceux avec lesquels nous
avons passé notre vie
un vide terrible se
creuse que rien ne
remplit plus; quand
disparaissent ceux ^de nos proches^ que
les hasards de l'existence
ont longtemps séparés
de nous, le regret de
ces années perdues s'impose
déchirant. -- Nous nous
sommes tendrement aimés
dans notre jeunesse, mon frère
et moi; aujourd'hui
si près de la fin, il
semble qu'il ait besoin
de moi plus que de personne.
Que le dénouement tarde au
se précipite, je compte
passer une grande partie
de cet hiver à la campagne
auprès de ces affligés.
Avec les feuilles sont
tombés cette année
plusieurs de mes plus
anciens amis, de ceux
qui avaient connu
et aimé ma mère.
Après le beau songe si varié
si absorbant que j'avais
fait en Russie le réveil
a été cruel. Heureusement
Mme de Beaulaincourt
tient ferme. Elle compte
changer d'appartement
sans [ peur ? ], elle reprend
les goûts de sa jeunesse,
il lui faut dit-elle,
voir des chevaux, pour
cela elle s'installera
au coin des Champs
Elysées et si elle réduit
les dimensions de son
appartement c'est qu'elle
compte établer à Acosta
des religieuses gardes-malades
et gardiennes de petits
enfants. Pour cela elle
retouchera [ q. q. for quelques ] choses
aux commodités dont on
a besoin à 80 ans quand
on en eut toujours l'habitude
et elle ne veut pas qu'on
en parle! Je commets en
ce moment une indiscrétion{.}
Du reste toujours entourée
par le spectacle de son
temps et à la hauteur
de toutes les conversations{.}
Mme Coignet est en
Algérie pour y passer l'hiver{.}
Mme Delzant se porte à
merveille, dieu merci,
ayant à soigner sa plus
jeune fille très sérieusement
atteinte d'une maladie
nerveuse. -- J'espère avoir
bientôt le temps de
revoir les jeunes Johnson
qui demeurent tout
prés de moi et m'ont
beaucoup plu à prémiere
rencontre. Il paraît très
intelligent et elle est
charmante. ----
[ deletion ] pensions américaines pour
y recevoir les jeunes
filles désireuses d'apprendre
le français viennent
de se fondre? L'une
d'elles me plait beaucoup,
c'est celle de Miss Wallace
ancien professeur de
l'université de Chicago.
Elle s'est installée 79 rue
Notre Dame des Champs, de
sorte que les jeunes filles
sont à portée des cours de
la Sorbonne et de tout ce que
Paris offre d'intellectuel sans
habiter pour cela le quartier
Latin. Cette Miss Wallace est
très distinguée et agréable:
un Gainsborough! a dit d'elle
mon vieil ami, le poëte Grenier
qui vient de s'éteindre.
Vous aurez entendu parler du
magnifique discours que M. Brunetière
a prononcé à Lyon sur les raisons
d'espérer -- vous aurez lu son
article: Faut-il une église nationale?
suis sûre qu'il soit plus malade que
jamais. Souvent il me parle de vous.
M.Boutet de Monvel est reparti
pour le midi, [ mais ? ] mieux partout.
Je vous embrasse, chère Annie.
Pour chasser les mauvais rêves et
les tristes pensées de l'insomnie j'ai
attaché à mon chevet la photographie
de Manchester où je fus heureuse et
[ des ? ] le [ milieu ? ] je vous ai à déjeuner Sarah
et vous sous forme d'objets pour le thé que
je dois à votre amitié. -- Vous m'aidez de loin.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett
[ 1901 ]
Dear Mary
----------------- A long letter from Ella Ricker* yesterday with Albany considerations which I must answer to-day, but first speak with Mr. Littlefield* about the matter! I can see that Dr. Lewis* is such a help already. Mr. Mower’s* great gift on the committee was that he knew about childrens or young people’s books, having young people of his own -- but even in these two or three letters from Ella I find how distinctly Mr. Lewis’s larger knowledge counts. I shall make a point now of finding out the good juveniles and it looks to me as if we had “done well.” I wish that you would say something of this to Mr. Hobbs* some day. He has been invaluable from the first. I can’t count the good permanent books, he has suggested, with such a sense of building the library properly. -----------------------------------------
Sarah
Notes
1901: This date is supported by Jewett's
discussion of work she was doing in 1901 for the South Berwick
public library.
Richard Cary says: "The Fogg Memorial
Library, housed in a wing of the Berwick Academy, was the only
public library in South Berwick at this time. It was
administered by a committee of Academy officials and
townspeople, of which Miss Jewett, her sister Mary, and nephew
Theodore Eastman were members."
See Jewett to Fields on Wednesday morning,
April 1901.
It appears that Jewett became involved with
printing an updated library catalogue for the Berwick Academy.
Also, however, Jewett served on the Examining
Committee for the Boston Public Library from 1900 through 1902,
where she gave particular attention to children's books and
services. See Annual Report of the Boston Public Library
(1900), especially pp. 55-6.
Ella Ricker ... with Albany considerations: Two of
Jewett's South Berwick neighbors were Maria Louisa deRochemont (Mrs. Shipley/Shepley
Wilson) Ricker (1838-1921) and her daughter, Ella Wilson
Ricker (1856- ). Mr. Ricker (1827-1905) operated a fancy
goods store in South Berwick.
It is not yet known what the "Albany
considerations" are.
Mr. Littlefield: This is likely to be Charles Edgar Littlefield (1851 -1915), a
United States Representative from Maine.
Dr. Lewis: George Lewis. See Key to Correspondents.
Mr. Mower’s: Reverend Irving Bemis Mower. See Key to Correspondents.
Mr. Hobbs: This probably is Charles C. Hobbs
(1835-1917), local historian in South Berwick. He is a
grandson of Olive Wallingford Cushing of South Berwick.
This text is from transcriptions from mixed repositories in
the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England,
Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Folder 74, Burton
Trafton Jewett Research Collection. For more information about
the individual transcription, contact the Maine Women Writers
Collection. Preparation by Linda Heller. Notes by
Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Mary Katherine Horsford
Boston
Christmas-tide
1901
You have indeed surprised us! I thought you were in Europe for the winter! and now you have no Christmas present!
Thank you for this exquisite little basket the history of which you will one day tell me I hope.
Pray come in some day a little later when Sarah* is here and tell us about yourself --
I am indeed sorry we did not know where you were!
Affectionately yours,
Notes
Sarah: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Mary Katherine Horsford was a daughter of Eben Norton Horsford. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by Archives and Special Collections, Folsom Library, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. MC50 box 50, folder 3. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ 1901? ]
Dear Annie
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This report being made I shall proceed to say that Isabel's*
-- Yesterday I did not get anywhere except for two brief runs at morning & night[.] It grew too chilly for a drive. I tried some writing but it wouldn't go, and I got very lame in my shoulders all of a sudden, and had to go and sit by the fire. Whereupon there came an interesting old native of Berwick who lives in Rochester N. Y.* & who happens along once in two or three years. Much fuller than most who stay at home of stories of old times. He seems like a day of childhood returning! So I sat and talked with him through a long visit . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Notes
1901?: This date is very tentative. Evidence in other correspondence suggests that Jewett would be unlikely to refer to Isabel Stewart Gardner by her first name before 1900, and Jewett reports that she is trying to write, which she did not after September 1902. It seems likely that this letter was composed within the 1900-1902 period, if "Isabel" really refers to Gardner.
The ellipses at the beginning and end of the transcription indicates that this is a selection from the manuscript.
Isabel's: This is likely Isabella Stewart Gardner. See Key to Correspondents.
interesting old native of Berwick who lives in Rochester N. Y.: Among Jewett's correspondents, the only one known so far to have been born in South Berwick and resided in Rochester, NY was John Marr. See Key to Correspondents.
This text is from transcriptions from mixed repositories in the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Folder 72, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection. For more information about the individual transcription, contact the Maine Women Writers Collection. Preparation by Linda Heller. Notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.