Jewett Texts

Sarah Orne Jewett Letters of 1872

Kate Birckhead to Sarah Orne Jewett

22 January 1872*

When these dark days come again remember this, that you have within reach the "Friend of friends" that He knows all you are feeling & thinking, and that He will never "grow tired or disgusted with your weakest efforts, so long as they are efforts; After this put by self, and set to work to try & be some thing for some body else! Never mind who or what it is. This is always the best remedy" --------

Notes

1872: Jewett copied this portion of the letter into her diary of 1872.

Transcribed and annotated by Terry Heller, Coe College, with assistance of Linda Heller and Kelly Sanders.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Lucretia Morse Fisk Perry

Sunday evening

28^th Jan^y 1872

Dear Aunty:

Thank you for yr. letter which came in good time -- for we were all depending upon hearing from you -- I was glad to find out about the essay. You will be surprised to hear that Father is going to New York -- ^tomorrow,^ that is, if his cold is well enough -- He [ has corrected ] been quite ill all the week and I knew from former experiences that he would not refuse going to see people now he is better -- and so he would

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be tired out and miserable for weeks to come. Anything is better for him than being here -- and Mother & I have given him no peace & silenced every argument -- & Mary* has written appealingly & he has consented to go, & now quite enjoys the idea -- I know it will do him good. It will if he is at all like me -- for when I last went to Boston I was scarcely able to sit up the day before & had not been "outside the door" for a week with a bad cold 'on my lungs' & that same afternoon

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was out shopping minus any extra wrappings & stayed out until dark in the midst of a December drizzle & half snow storm & have continued in good health to the present time! ----- I can scarcely wait until Saturday to see Mary -- though I gave up missing her long ago -- I 'want to see her' in the same fashion that I do Kate or Grace* -- only more so -- It will be very lonely without Father this week but I have planned a great deal that is to be done -- I do hope Georgie* will not send for me to pass next Sunday with

[ Page 4 ]

her. I promised surely to go down as soon as she came home -- and of course I wouldn't go this week -- I have written her a letter to guard against the invitation's being sent -- if possible -- I did not go the other time that I promised & hardly like to disappoint her plans again -- I am to go Friday & stay until Tuesday, & that would be out of the question when Mary has just arrived. Of course though, now I have written her she will not think of such a thing -- but I feared

[ Page 5 ]

I should have a letter from her before she got mine --

I am overwhelmed at Miss Mathewson's* ignorance of Miss Austen! How much pleasure she has to anticipate -- no -- I don't believe she would enjoy her stories much, do you? Particularly if she has Dumas & George Sand* for her intimates. I don't think I remember Miss Austen very well, in spite of my fondness for her --* It all comes back to me as I read, but, I had forgotten [ the corrected ] stories almost entirely & the last time I read them was not more than

[ Page 6 ]

three years ago -- But the books I read then I do not remember so well as a year or two before & after -- I think one reason was that they were nearly all the same kind of books -- (novels) and there is no effort about reading them -- All the reasoning is done for you and all the thinking as one might say. It seems to me like hearing somebody talk on and on and on, while you have no part in the conversation -- & merely listen -- -- I had a clear idea in my head when I started to tell you my 'views' but I find myself rather involved

[ Page 7 ]

and consider that I had best leave it! But I have quite a grown-up feeling when I try to re-read some story I remember being absorbed in [four corrected from for ] or five years ago -- and find I cannot get up any interest in it. Not that I have objections to a good novel now by any means but -- I do like other things ^too^ & am glad of it -- I am glad Fannie* likes 'the Alice book'* -- it made a great impression on my mind, & I am anxious to read it again.

We all dined at the Doe's'* last Wednesday and had such a jolly time -- The Judge is at home after quite a long absence. There is a prospect of another

[ Page 8 ]

'hostility' after Mary comes -- Mrs. Edith is as anxious to see her as any of us -- I am not very [ brilliant corrected ] this evening, though Uncle William was here to tea & Charlotte and 'Lisha* have been in since, & they were all agreeable. Oh dear! if one could only remember those letters one composes in bed o' nights! I know mine would be so entertaining that my friends would insist upon their "being preserved in a volume!"
     Carrie* was glad you liked the mats -- I am delighted that they are in fashion again{.} I always thought them so pretty -- You know I do not usually appreciate fancy work!

     Love to Grandpa* and 'our cousin' Prim --

     Yr. very aff.

    [ Sallie corrected ]

Notes

Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.

Kate or Grace: Katherine de Costa Birckhead and Grace Gordon Treadwell Walden. See Key to Correspondents.

Georgie: Georgina Halliburton (1849-1910). See Key to Correspondents.

Miss Mathewson's: This person has not yet been identified.

Miss Austen: British novelist, Jane Austen (1775-1817). Richard Cary notes:

Miss Jewett's attitude toward Jane Austen oscillated. In childhood she dodged her father's thoughtful recommendations of Sterne, Fielding, Smollett, and Cervantes for "the pleasant ways of Pride and Prejudice" ("Looking Back on Girlhood," Youth's Companion, LXV [January 7, 1892], 6). At the present juncture, Austen's attraction seems to have faded. In her fifties, the tug of nostalgia brought about another change of heart. "Yesterday afternoon I amused myself with Miss Austen's Persuasion. Dear me, how like her people are to the people we knew years ago! It is just as much New England before the war -- that is, in provincial towns -- as it ever was Old England. I am going to read another, Persuasion tasted so good!" (Fields, Letters, 185.)

Dumas & George Sand: French authors, Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) and Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin (George Sand, 1804-1876). Richard Cary notes:

Miss Jewett's adulation of the Frenchwoman lasted over the years. In May 1888 she ordered a copy of Mme. Sand's letters from a New York dealer...; in December she declared, "I am willing to study French very hard all winter in order to read her comfortably in the spring!" (Annie Fields, Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett [Boston, 1911], 38); in 1890 she cried out ecstatically, "I really know Madame Sand," after reading her letter to Mme. d'Agoult (Fields,Letters, 75); and in 1893 she quoted from Sand's Légendes Rustiques to support her impassioned defense of provincial values (Preface to Deephaven).

Fannie: Richard Cary says "Frances Fiske Perry, daughter of Aunt Lucretia, ...was ten years old at this time and an omnivorous reader. Of serious tendency, she earned the soubriquet "Miss Prim," by which Miss Jewett alludes to her in the last line of the letter.*

Alice book: British author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll, 1832-1898) published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871). Presumably, Alice has recently read the more recent title.

Doe's: Judge Charles Cogswell Doe (1830-1896) and his family, including Jewett's friend Edith Bell Haven Doe. See Key to Correspondents.
Richard Cary notes:

[ Judge Doe was ] appointed associate justice of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire at 29, retained his rustic clothes and manners during sessions. A raconteur of uncommon facility, he punctuated his stories with earth-born phrases and laconic flashes of philosophic insight. Behind his rugged humors lay a vast kindliness and tolerance.
His wife, Edith Haven Doe (1840-1922), formerly of Portsmouth, was the daughter of Mr. George Wallis Haven, and the stepsister of Georgia Halliburton. Of superior intelligence and engaging personality, she was renowned as a helpmeet and hostess. The Doe home at Rollinsford, a frequent anchorage for the Jewett sisters, was about a mile from their own.

Uncle William … Charlotte and 'Lisha: Jewett's paternal uncle, William Durham Jewett and her cousin, Elisha H. Jewett, who married Charlotte Tilton Cross. See Key to Correspondents.

Carrie: Carrie Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.

Grandpa: Dr. William Perry. See Key to Correspondents.

This letter is held by Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine. 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.

Maggie Baker (Hunt) to Mary Rice Jewett

Covington [KY]

Mch 24th 72

Dear Mary

I have just looked at the date of your letter and find that it was written just a month ago. Well 'tis time it was answered surely but I thought it had been in my possession longer than that! I suppose it was because I had it on my mind that I wanted to write you. But haven't I been over head and ears in business. Oh! my! Will you just get those white kids* and pack the rest of your worldly goods and come out here and I will tell what I have been busy

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about. You know you promised to come, didn't you? The Dr.* and I have been engaged over a month and the 30th of April is decided upon for the wedding day (D.V.).* You remember I told you I did not favor long engagements. Of course it gives us a great deal to do in a short time, but I rather like it. I expect Katie W.* in about a week and then wont there be some excitement. Mary I do think I am the very happiest girl in the country. The Dr. is so good and I have so many many blessings. I do wish that you and Sarah could be here, but I can scarcly [intended scarcely] hope for it.

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We may include Boston in our trip and if we do wouldn't you come down to see us? I should love to see you both.

    I expect this letter is scarcely readable, but I hope you will excuse all for I had only a few moments in which to write. I had to write to Katie before I began this and now it is six o'clock and time to dress for supper.

    Father & Mother are both well and join me in love to all.

    Let me hear from you soon.

Truly your friend

Maggie.

Notes

white kids: Wikipedia reports that kid leather, the skin of young goats, typically used for gloves and shoes, is particularly valued for flexibility and thinness.

Dr.: Dr. William Hunt. See Maggie Baker Hunt in Key to Correspondents.

(D.V.): This transcription is uncertain, Baker may mean "Deo volente," or God willing.

Katie W: This transcription is uncertain. In her 1869 diary, Jewett mentions two women named Kate who spent time with her and Maggie Baker in Cincinnati and Covington: Kate Burt and Kate Scudder. This "Katie" appears to be someone else known to both of them.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Columbia University (New York) Library in Special Collections, Jewett. Transcription from a microfilm copy and annotation by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Katherine de Costa Birckhead to Sarah Orne Jewett

[ 31 March 1872 ]

"Trust" (Faber)

"The Right Must Win"

-- -- -- --

"O! it is hard to work for God,
To rise & take His part
Upon this battle-field of earth,
And not some-times lose heart."

-- -- -- --

"He hides Himself so wondrously,
As though there were no God:
He is least seen when all the powers
Of ill are most abroad:"

-- -- -- --

"Or He deserts us at the hour
The fight is all but lost;
And seems to leave us to ourselves
Just when we need Him most."

-- -- -- --

O! there is less to try our faith,
In our mysterious creed,
Than in the godless look of earth
In these our hours of need."

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"Ill masters good; good seems to change
To ill with greatest ease;
And, worst of all, the good with good
Is at cross purposes."

-- -- -- --

"The Church, the Sacraments, the Faith
Their up-hill journey take,
Lose here, what there they gain, and, if
We lean upon them -- break."

-- -- -- --

"It is not so, but so it looks;
And we lose courage then;
And doubts will come if God hath kept
His promises to men."

-- -- -- --

"Ah! God is other than we think;
His ways are far above;
Far beyond reason’s height & reached
Only by childlike love".

-- -- -- --

"The look, the fashion of God’s ways
Love’s life-long study are;
She can be bold, & guess & act,
When reason wd. not dare."

-- -- -- --

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"She has a prudence of her own;
Her step is firm & free;
There is cautious science too
In her simplicity."

-- -- -- --

"Workman of God! O, lose not heart,
But learn what God is like;
And in the darkest battle-field
Thou shalt know where to strike."

-- -- -- --

"O, blest is he to whom is given
The instinct that can tell
That God is on the ~~battle-~~field, when He
Is the most invisible."

-- -- -- --

"And bless'd is he who can divine
Where real right doth lies,
And dares to take the side that seems
Wrong to man’s blindfold eyes!"

-- -- -- --

"O! learn to scorn the praise of men!
And learn to lose with God!
For Jesus won the world through shame,
And beckons thee His road".

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"God’s glory is a wondrous thing,
Most strange in all its ways,
And of all things on earth, least like
What men agree to praise".

-- -- -- --

"As He can endless glory weave
From time’s misjudging shame,
In His own world He is content
To play a losing game".

-- -- -- --

"Muse on His justice, downcast soul!
Muse, & take better heart;
Back with thine angel to the field,
Good luck shall crown thy part!"

-- -- -- --

"God’s justice is a bed where we
Our anxious hearts may lay,
And, weary with ourselves, may sleep
Our discontent away."

-- -- -- --

"For right is right, since God is God;
And right the day must win;
To doubt would be disloyalty,
To falter were to sin."

7. Mary St. Newport, R.I.

Easter. March 31^st 1872

[ Up the right margin of p. 4 ]

Copied for dear "Sally Orne" by her affectionate friend, Kate de C B.

[ Page 6 ]*

You ask
me what
my favorite
"collect"* is?
_________

4^th Sunday
in Advent

_________

1. 2. 3. 4.
After Epiphany

_________

4^th after
Easter -----

_________

Sunday
after Ascension

_________

6^th 7^th 9^th 12^th 21^st
After Trinity

_________

All these

_________

Are favorites
perhaps
"Sunday after
[ Unrecognized word ]" -- = 4^th

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in advent."

_________

12^th 21^st

after Trinity.

2^d Sunday
after Epiphany
Are the
best-beloved

_________

Kate --

Notes

"Trust": This title seems to have been added by Birckhead. "The Right Must Win" is a hymn by Frederick William Faber (1814-1863). Birckhead's transcription differs in minor ways from the text as presented in Faber's Hymns (1894), pp. 108-11: most notably the decorative lines between stanzas, the quotation marks for each stanza, and a few variations in punctuation. Lacking knowledge of her source, I cannot tell which are her enhancements and which appear in her source.

Page 6: This and the following page appear to have been written on two sides of a narrow paper, like a bookmark. I have transcribed showing line breaks to reflect the appearance of the page.

"collect": Birckhead refers to seasons and dates in the Liturgical Year. "Collects" are short prayers appearing in the denominational prayer book, said during particular services during the liturgical year. Jewett and Birckhead would have been using an Episcopalian prayer book.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence Box 1 Folder 039
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Ellen Francis Mason to Sarah Orne Jewett

Easter Day

1 Walnut St

[ 31 March 1872 ]*

Dear Sarah,

You see I keep to our agreement and have discarded the formal Miss. I want to send you an Easter greeting. How I wish that all Christians would adopt the custom which exists in Germany of saying on Easter morning,

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instead of the usual "Good Morning" -- "The Lord is risen"! And then the answer is -- "And hath appeared unto Simon"* --

It is so natural, because that is what must be in the heart of every Christian on this glad day --

The weather certainly is disappointing, but I try to think that if it were always fine on these occasions, we might get to depend too much on sensational emotion, and of course it

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is more spiritual to have it all entirely within us, not affected by anything external. The Churches perhaps looked more charming from contrast with the dismal scene out-of-doors. The flowers were most beautiful. I went this afternoon to "Trinity" to the children's service. Mr Brooks* made a very nice address, telling us about three lessons to be learnt from the teaching of this Easter-tide -- first, that Christ having risen, is always

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with us, then that we also are to rise and live forever, and lastly that there must be a constant resurrection in ourselves -- the good seed being quickened and the higher side of our nature brought out. It does not sound like anything as I have put it, but Mr Brooks had first been paraphrasing the walk to Emmaus, and then told [ of or us ? ] how the disciples must have applied these lessons to themselves, bringing out finally their bearing upon all of us. I did not intend to write so much when I began, but I find it very pleasant to talk with you -- I did not

[ Up the left and across the top margins of page 1 ]

have time to answer your little note which you gave me just before you left. It is very sweet of you to want to give me "Temple Lessons", and I know that I shall enjoy them all the more for their association with you -- Thank you so much.

With love

yr sincere friend

Ellen Mason

Notes

1872: Associated with this letter is an envelope addressed to Jewett in South Berwick, cancelled on 1 April, and labeled "Miss Ellen Mason. Easter." Assuming that the association is correct, this makes it nearly certain that the letter was composed in 1872, when Easter fell on 31 March.
    This appears to be the first letter in which Mason addresses Jewett as "Sarah." Currently, we have no letters between them from before 1873, and in those later letters Mason addressed Jewett as "Sarah."

Simon: In Biblical accounts of the resurrection of Jesus, the first to see him after his return from the dead is Mary Magdalene, who then brings disciples to the tomb, including Simon Peter. Another appearance occurs to two disciples as they walk to the village of Emmaus with a stranger whom they eventually recognize as Jesus. See Luke 24.

Trinity ... Mr Brooks: Phillips Brooks became rector of Trinity Church, Boston, in 1869. See Key to Correspondents.

Temple Lessons: What Mason means is not clear. Perhaps Jewett plans to give her a copy of Walter Field's Stones of the Temple, or Lessons from the Fabric and Furniture of the Church (1871), but this is only a guess.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
     Mason, Ellen Francis, 1846-1930. 4 letters; [1900 & n.d.]. bMS Am 1743 (148).
     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.

Cora Lee Clark to Sarah Orne Jewett

629 [ Marren / Marion Street ? ]*

Boston Highlands

April [ 11th ? ]

[ c. 1872 ]*

Dear Sarah

I was very happy to receive your welcome note, and only sorry that the last time you [ were in Boston ? ] I did not have the pleasure or opportunity of seeing you. I saw you at Trinity church* in the distance on that memorable Wednesday evening, and [ as ? ] I first saw you come in with Grace* was quite startled for I thought you were Georgie.* There is certainly a very strong resemblance between you two girls. I told

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Grace who sat in front of me that I would come in and see you the following day if I possibly could, but the next day I was [ three or four unrecognized words ] at home --

I wanted to speak to you after church but as you sat behind me you had left before I could get out. Thus I think dear Sarah the best thing for you to do, is send me a time the next time you come to Boston and [ and repeated ] I will make it an especial point to come and see you.

I should have answered your note before but I expected to be in possession

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of a photograph which I am going to send you provided you return the compliment when you have a picture to spare. I would like one of [ three or four unrecognized words ] for I think they were so good.

I have enjoyed hearing Mr. Brooks* so much this winter. There is something very grand and at the same time very simple in the truths he utters. The strongest intellect can be [ unrecognized word ] and [ unrecognized word ] by his words, and the mind of a child can be strengthened and purified by listening to such a preacher. He is truly a

[ Page 4 ]

[masterful ?] man and the good he must have done to the men and women who have heard him is [inestimable ? ].

    Georgie spent a night with me about a fortnight ago. She is taking [ the remainder of this sentence seems to read: somebody will and appears to be one such grand spirit.]

     Let me know dear Sarah when you publish anything new as I am always interested in what you write and enjoy reading it.

    With much love for your sister* and yourself

Cora Lee Clark

Notes

629 [Marren / Marion Street ? ]: The transcription of the address is uncertain. There is a Marion Street in contemporary Boston, but not in the area of Roxbury, formerly Boston Highlands.

c. 1872: Cora Clark married John Hamilton Rice before the birth of their first son in 1875. As the letter indicates that Jewett has been publishing, it must have been written after 1869, which also was the year when Phillips Brooks became rector at Trinity Church, Boston. Because Brooks has been preaching at Trinity for some time, 1872 is a reasonable guess for the year of composition.

Trinity church: Boston's Trinity Church (Episcopal).

Grace: Grace Gordon Treadwell Walden, though at the time of this letter, she was not yet married. She married in 1885. See Key to Correspondents.

Georgie: Georgina Halliburton. See Key to Correspondents.

Mr. Brooks: Phillips Brooks, rector of Trinity Church. See Key to Correspondents.

sister: Probably Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Columbia University (New York) Library in Special Collections, Jewett. Transcription from a microfilm copy and annotation by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Lucretia Morse Fisk Perry

12 May 1872 [ South ] Berwick

Dear Aunty:

Thank you so much for your letter which I read twice with great speed and interest and have referred to since, at intervals. I think you must have been sent into the world with a natural gift for writing letters! ---- I have enjoyed myself today very much, for the Bishop* preached in Dover this morning and Mary* & I drove over to hear him, & were repaid by a very fine sermon. & this afternoon he preached in Salmon Falls at the little old Episcopal church -- and every body went to hear him and [ were or was ] delighted

[ Page 2 ]

with him, and I was very proud of my Bishop. We had a nice talk with him after church and I think he will come over to-morrow to see us -- He promised to do so if he had time. Only think of Uncle John's going abroad! If it were my Uncle Will* I should 'put in' to be taken along -- (Don't you think he would like to take charge of a party of ladies? ---- ) I wish very much to go travelling, and all the English history which I have been reading this winter makes me wish to go to England more than I ever have before. The Walworths* sail next month

[ Page 3 ]

and are to go directly to England & spend a great deal of time there, because Ella went there last, when she was abroad before -- and could not see so much as she wished -- She is coming down for a day or two before she goes -- I shall not miss her particularly because she is always up to the mountains or somewhere in the [ summer corrected ] and I never think of seeing her. & she will write me just as often, & much more interesting letters probably, so I am to be the gainer after all.

Monday

I did not finish my letter last evening as I [ intended smeared ]

[ Page 4 ]

because Uncle William* and Father arrived from a journey to Wells, and I had to assist in giving them their late tea. Father went to Portsmouth this morning & then I went to Great Falls with him, & he was just on the point of starting for North Conway when he discovered the train does not go farther than Ossipee except in the morning -- & so he must wait. I wish I could go with him -- for I am so fond of the mountains. & and it is so delightful to have them only three hours away, now this railroad has been extended. Mary & I mean to go up to Conway by & by.
I treasure up all you tell me about studying -- and I really have accomplished a great deal

[ Page 5 ]

lately -- I have been translating a French novel, & find I had not forgotten so much as I feared. It was very entertaining one night I threw down my dictionary, ~~and~~ you see I made a rule to 'look out' every word I didn't know -- and read until very late at night for it grew very exciting! I had great misgivings as to whether I ought not to go back and translate it all as literally as I began, but I had not the necessary strength of mind! Then I read a very nice book about ancient Iceland which I have finished, and I have now Ray's Mental Hygiene and Froude's History of Elizabeth, and a book on Instinct in Animals and Men*

[ Page 6 ]

which is one of the most interesting things I ever read & I have learned so much from it. I wonder if I have told you that I allow myself a certain number of pages every day of course exceeding if I like -- I find the English history goes off very fast at fifty pages a day, at any rate, and sometimes a hundred, and I read one of the lectures on Instinct. Last week I had also, Loyola and the Jesuits --* which enlightened my mind a good deal. I am beginning at this late day to see the immense advantage of being systematic. Even the small success I have achieved in my 'lessons' has encouraged me -- and I mean to keep on.

Ellen

[ Page 7 ]

Mason's* busy ways ~~have~~ made me ashamed of myself when I was with her for she seemed to accomplish so much and I -- nothing. She appears both delighted and amazed at finding out that she has had an influence for good over me, for she says it is one of the defects of her character to be restless and 'on the go' all the time and so her using her time more than other people do is more a weakness than anything else -- & it is so strange that [ she corrected from I ] should have done me good -- The girl doesn't take into consideration, you see, that she uses her time better

[ Page 8 ]

than other people, only that she uses it more! I am having a very pleasant correspondence with her just now -- I don't know whether it will be permanent but I enjoy it very much & she seems to, also. She sent me a very sweet letter at Easter which I answered and we have gone on flourishingly since -- though to be sure there have been one or two subjects under consideration, not very important subjects perhaps, but still we wished to communicate -- I was in Portsmouth one day a week or two ago -- & have been expecting Georgie up to Mrs. Doe's,* but I believe

[ Page 9 ]

Mrs. Haven* has had visitors. Mary had quite a long letter from Uncle John today. ^There was no news in it except about some of Mary's & my friends there.^ I was quite astonished to find it was the fifteenth of June that he is to sail. I thought it was the fifteenth of May -- Wednesday! Mother has been better for the last two days and I hope she will have no return of her neuralgia but it has come on twice, after letting her alone for a day or two, which is very discouraging. She has been expecting to see Grandpa -- We enjoyed Willy Fiske's* little visit very much. I do think he is

[ Page 10 ]

one of the nicest boys in the world -- I had a note from Mr. Howells* one day last week asking me to have patience with him, and saying that he should print the Shore House* as soon as he possibly could. If he had not been so kind and seemed so sorry to keep me waiting I should have been provoked at waiting so long -- but he has had good reasons all the time -- But I know other people are kept waiting too, & people whom one would imagine would be "served first"*^-----
I have written you a long letter, but I am afraid not a very interesting one! Goodby -- my love to Fanny, & Grandpa & Uncle Will, and yourself.

Affly -- S.O.J.

[ Up the left margin of page 1 ]

Mary has just informed me that she wrote you today! You will have all the news! No matter!

Notes

Bishop: Richard Cary writes:

William Woodruff Niles (1832-1914), Canadian-born clergyman, became the second Protestant Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire in 1870. He demonstrated literary capacity as joint editor of the Churchman and as a member of the commissions for revising the prayer-book and the marginal readings in the Bible. Although born in a Congregationalist family, Miss Jewett was baptized and confirmed an Episcopalian in her twenty-first year.

Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.

Uncle John's … Uncle Will: Uncle Will is Dr. William Gilman Perry, husband of Aunt Lucretia. See Key to Correspondents. Of Uncle John, Richard Cary notes that "John Taylor Perry was another of Miss Jewett's maternal uncles. After twenty-five years as editor and part owner of the Cincinnati Gazette, he returned to his birthplace, Exeter, New Hampshire, where he resided until his death."

Walworths: Ella Walworth Little. See Key to Correspondents.

Uncle William: William Durham Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.

Ray's Mental Hygiene ... Instinct in Animals and Men: Richard Cary has identified the books Jewett mentions:

The book about ancient Iceland is possibly The Story of the Volsungs and Niblungs (London, 1870), translated by Eirikr Magnusson and William Morris. The other books are Isaac Ray, Mental Hygiene (Boston, 1863); James Anthony Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth (London, 1856-1870, 12 vols.; P. A. Chadbourne, Instinct: Its Office in the Animal Kingdom and its Relation to Higher Powers in Man (New York, 1872); Stewart Rose, Ignatius Loyola, and the Early Jesuits (London, 1870).

Ellen Mason's: Ellen Francis Mason. See Key to Correspondents.

Georgie … Mrs. Doe's: Georgina Halliburton and Edith Bell Haven Doe. See Key to Correspondents.

Mrs. Haven: Susan Hamilton Peters Haven. See George Wallis Haven in Key to Correspondents.

Willy Fiske's: Richard Cary identifies Willy: "Mrs. Perry's nephew William Perry Fiske was the son of her brother Frank Fiske, who had married Abigail G. Perry. Some members of this family used the final e in the cognomen, some did not."

Mr. Howells: William Dean Howells. See Key to Correspondents.

Shore House: Jewett's "The Shore House appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, XXXII (September 1873), 358-368.

This letter is held by Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine. 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 Theodore Herman Jewett

Wednesday morning

[ 4 September 1872 ]*

I am so glad you are having a good time: this dogday weather has been horrid and not one of us has felt like doing anything. I dont think there is anything to call you home. I have had my saddle fixed so I would rather have it than a new one. We all went to ride yesterday at different times -- I had a very nice birthday indeed. Perhaps we should have driven down today if it had been pleasant. --

With much love Sarah

Notes

1872: This date is speculative, but it has some support. Jewett writes on what appears to be the day after her birthday, 3 September. If she wrote on 4 September, that date fell on Wednesday in 1867, 1872, and 1878. In September 1878, her father was in very ill health, dying on 20 September. 1867 also is unlikely, for then Jewett had just turned 18 and typically wrote in a more childish voice. Though the card could easily have been written almost any year between 1870 and 1877, 1872 seems highly likely.
This postcard is addressed to Dr. Jewett at Atlantic House, Wells Beach, ME.

The manuscript of this postcard is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743 Box 6, Item 265.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Theophilus Parsons to Sarah Orne Jewett

Cambridge -- Nov 4 / 72

My dear Miss Jewett --

I have been ill, too ill to write, and am not well now. This is one reason why I have delayed answering your very interesting letter. Only one reason however. I was also quite willing that time should do a little of its work. I hoped you would think over some of the topics you wrote of: and I thought you would think about them [2 stricken words] to more advantage, if I let you alone.

One error under which you labour, was perhaps inevitable. Nothing that you knew of the history of religion, prepared you for viewing the New Church* system of belief, as anything but another sectarian system; taking its place with [Episcopal], or Orthodoxy or Unitarian, and accepted or [respected ?] as it seems better or more than they. If accepted, to be taken as a whole which sets aside the rest; if not so accepted [then to be respected ?].

This is true of all the other forms of Christian faith of which you know anything; but it is not true of this. For this is a universal system; it is a new way of thinking about every possible topic of thought. True it has its essentials; but they are few and simple. The divinity of our Lord, the sanctity of the Word, & the necessity of a life in accord with the Word. These are all. And all these you believe now. But if these are all, what more can there be? My answer is this. Every thing else is subordinate to these, & for the sake of these. All other truths are intended to enlarge & clarify our comprehension of these truths, to strengthen our belief of these, & help us to live what we believe. This is an infinite and eternal work. But it is not just the same work for any two persons; they can no more think just alike, than they can occupy the same space physically. They may repeat the same word, or subscribe the same creeds. But each one must be himself or herself.

You have read enough already to recognize the truth, that man has a twofold nature, one affectional, one intellectual; & these however related or conjoined, are still distinct.

You have read too, & perhaps will understand me when I remind you, that man has a yet another twofold nature, the natural & the spiritual. It may be that you will understand me, when I say that Christianity in none of its forms or developments, has ever appealed to or offered food to the spiritual intellectual, while in all of them it has appealed to & nourished the spiritual affectional. Let me try to present this intelligibly. Every form of Christianity has declared that there was a God, & has presented the truth that to love Him with the whole heart & soul is the one thing needful. [It has?] invested the Scriptures with a sacredness, which until our own days, was almost universally acknowlegded & respected. And it taught the commandments of the Bible as laws of life.

All this appears to & nourishes the affections & the life.

But what has been told, what known, intellectually about any of these things? I have not space to exhibit this at any length. But must ask you to reflect, & tell yourself, how much any religion has told to the reason of man, clearly, definitely, & satisfactorily, of the Father or the Son, or the relations between them; of God & man or their relations; of the other life, & its nature, laws & forms.

But for all this mankind [one or two deleted words] were preparing. And in the fullness of time, the fullest information has been given on all these points, and on all topics connected with them.

We may [deleted word] now, if we will, profit by this information. Especially may we learn not only that but how we live here to prepare for angelic life; & we may [deleted word] learn just what angelic life & character are, that we may turn to account the opportunities afforded us for acquiring that character; and we may learn too & see that our life on earth is composed of & consists wholly of such opportunities, poorly and feebly as we profit by them.

We may learn all this. Shall we? None will learn much, few will learn anything. It may be that many will learn a very little, & turn that little to account. Men & women will go on, improving their spiritual affectional nature, as they have done, & more than they have hitherto done, from the indirect effort of these new revelations. I see evidence of this all around me.

But who will profit by [them?] as to their spiritual intellectual nature? Only they whose love of truth cannot be satisfied with merely natural truth boundless as are its stores in arts & science, & the true & the beautiful on its own plane. Only they who want something more than this; and want it enough to [ pay/face ?] the cost of it.

Are you one of these? I do not know, and let me say you do not know yet. I believe you are, although for a time you may be led to reject or disregard these opportunities. The enemies of your soul will present every obstruction in their power. But your friends are more than your enemies. They will not do your work in your stead. But they will protect your freedom, & help you if you will accept their help. And I [hope,?] faithfully [ ys ?]

Theophilus Parsons.

Notes

New Church: Wikipedia says: "The New Church (or Swedenborgianism) is the name for several historically related Christian denominations that developed as a new religious movement, informed by the writings of Swedish scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772)."

The ms. of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: bMS Am 1743 (174). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Theophilus Parsons

Green Bay. Wis. 14 Nov. '72.

Dear Prof. Parsons --

Your letter reached me here yesterday and I am so glad to have heard from you. You understood exactly the spirit in which I wrote you and I am so glad, for I must confess I have had some fear lest what I said might have seemed a definite and final rejection of these new -- and yet old -- ideas, and a misunderstanding of the whole thing. I suppose I have looked at it as merely 'another sect,' but before your letter came and even before I sent mine I was not so sure of that point. I could not help seeing that I had been wrong and while I was writing the thought flashed into my mind. I am sure that your judgment is better than my own in this, and I see that my heart is taking hold very strongly upon what I learned from you personally and from 'The Infinite and the Finite.'* I mourn every day that I left that book and the book of Essays at home.* I put them together and then left them after all -- and I am so sorry for I am afraid of forgetting and confusing the things they taught me. I did not have time to read much of the last book for I came away suddenly just after I wrote you last. I was in New York ten days and since then I have been travelling about from one place to another. I am farther West now than I have ever been before, and before I 'go back to my subject' I must tell you of a new and delightful experience I had last Sunday. I went out to the Oneida settlement which is about twelve miles from here.* There is an Episcopal church and the congregation is ["is" appears to be written over "are"] all Indians. I never had seen many before and these looked so like the Indians in my picture books when I was a little girl, that I half expected to hear the war-whoops and to be scalped and tomahawked before I knew it! They were very devout and are said to be a most pious community but they certainly do not look so. The rector told me he had lived there twenty years. I had a very nice talk with him. The Sunday before I was at Grace Church in New York,* and I was very much struck with the contrast in the two congregations!

I do not know what has made me hesitating and uncertain -- to go back to your letter and my own -- was it very natural that I should be? Is it the uncertainty that is apt to assail us -- the usual difficulty when there is a decision of this kind to be made? It was no outside influence which made me lose any interest, but I thought it over and over -- and I grew afraid. You know the reputation which the doctrines of the New Church* have -- that they are intricate and visionary: that they are adopted by comparatively few people. If you ask nine persons out of ten what they think they will tell you something of this kind, and very likely follow many of its teachings without the least idea that they know the first step of the way. There was one hindrance: then I found a good deal of discouragement for myself. It was all so plain and 'came home' to me so thoroughly when you talked to me and when I read your book. But I tried some of those tracts you gave me and they did confuse me very much and I did not like them half so well. I had read some of them -- The statements of the doctrines and the Ribbon of Blue and one or two others, and liked them as I told you, but the extracts from Swedenborg's writings and the rest -- I suppose I did not understand or interpret to myself and I had the feeling that it was no use to try to go any farther -- that there was enough in that book of yours, and I would not try to puzzle out the details. I think you will say that I am particularly sensible in expecting to take in the whole grand idea, in one short fortnight -- to ~~learn~~ know the whole journey in its details and most minute characteristics, because I have found out that there is such a journey and have taken a few steps! This is my fault is not it? I have learned a great deal; I have begun my journey -- I have enough to show me the way for the present. That is all right; when I need more God will teach me and so I will get on as fast as I can. There is always that verse of mine: "If any man will do His will, he shall know the doctrine."* Certainly if I am a very useless girl, very careless about pleasing God and contented to be letting the chances for growing better go by me -- Oh, how much good that chapter of your book has done me! He never will make me very wise or [give me any extraordinary knowledge of Himself. It worried] me very much at one time. I feared that I should disappoint you and that you would think I had no heart in the interest I had shown.* I am so sorry you have been ill and I hope by this time you are quite well again. I shall probably not be in Boston or at home until the last of January or February. I am travelling with some friends and may possibly go quite far south and there are some visits to be made in Brooklyn and Phila. after my return. The first time I am in Boston I shall try very hard to see you if only ["only" is erased in the manuscript] for a few minutes. I so often wish to ask you questions, but after all perhaps it is better for me to be alone. It has always been so; I know when I first thought of being good at all it seemed so hard that I so seldom saw the one or two people I depended upon, but I see now how much better it was. Kate Birckhead told me so once when I had written her a most wretched letter telling her how much I wished I were with her and it seemed so hard at first to believe that she was right.* I began a letter to you while I was in New York one day after I had had a great discussion with a gentleman a friend of Father's who knows a great deal and could easily upset my arguments. It was not what he said but what he suggested that I could not answer. It is so hard sometimes not to envy some of my friends who never in all their lives had a question of that kind which gave them any uneasiness, whereas I am always instinctively doubting and am sure to be aware of all the opposite side. It takes very strong effort to say 'I believe' when there is such an avalanche of 'unbelief.' But I have seen the clouds go away and the sunshine out so many times that I seldom get much discouraged now as to the result. You have said in your letter just what I needed and I have read it over and over. I brought the first one with me and like it more every time I read it. It was only yesterday that I said to some one some of the things you said to me. Do you remember that you wrote me that suffering never came when there was no chance of its doing any good? I had quite a 'gift of preaching' yesterday, and I really think that I did a very unhappy person whom I happened to fall in with, some good.

I shall be glad [ gald ] to get back to my hills again. These prairies are like reading the same page of a story book over and over. It seems as if the world I have been brought up in was all cleared away. Here is another long letter after all. I wish they did not seem so long. People can talk by the hour, but a dozen written pages are a great bore to most people -- Not to me! and I am not reflecting upon even that dear girl who once wrote me somewhere near forty! I was 'sort of' moralizing!

Yours sincerely

S.O.J.

Notes

Scott Frederick Stoddart also has transcribed Jewett's letters to Parsons: “Selected Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett: A Critical Edition with Commentary” (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, 1988). His transcription of this letter differs from the one presented here (pp. 41-46), but my examination of the manuscript leads me to conclude the Cocks transcription is correct. The key difference I note between the two is in this sentence: "They were very devout and are said to be a most pious community but they certainly do not look so." Stoddart substitutes "decent" for "devout." Jewett appears to have marred the "v" in the word, making it somewhat difficult to read.

The Infinite and the Finite … book of Essays: The Infinite and the Finite (1872), Essays, first series (1845) and second series (1866) and third series (1868).

Oneida settlement: The Oneida Native American community of Duck Creek remains today about 12 miles west of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Jewett visited relatives in Green Bay in the fall of 1872. See her story, "Tame Indians" (1875).

Grace Church in New York: Wikipedia says: "Grace Church is a historic parish church in Manhattan, New York City which is part of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. The church is located at 800-804 Broadway, at the corner of East 10th Street.... The church ... is a French Gothic Revival masterpiece designed by James Renwick, Jr."

"If any man will do His will, he shall know the doctrine": In the King James Bible, John 7:17 reads: "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."

[give me any extraordinary knowledge of Himself. It worried]: The words between these brackets contain an illegible correction in the original manuscript.

Kate Birckhead: For information on Jewett's friendship with Birckhead, see Paula Blanchard, Sarah Orne Jewett, pp. 71-73, and her index for further references.

The original of this letter is held by Special Collections at Colby College. It was transcribed by the owner of the manuscripts before they were given to Colby College, Henry Ellicott Magill (b. 1902) of Pasadena, CA, who also may have made handwritten corrections to the transcriptions. Further corrections, notes and annotations by Terry Heller, Coe College, with assistance as noted.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Caroline Jewett Eastman

Sherman House -- Chicago

18 Dec. 1872

Dear Carrie

I got up earlier than common this morning and was nearly dressed when the boy came to wake me, so I think I will write you until the others are ready for breakfast. I am in a great hurry to get a letter from you telling me about your Boston visit. I received Mary's* [ yesterday corrected ] and I enjoyed it so much. I am so sorry Ella* is ill. I had not heard from her but I thought [ deletion ] that ~~after the~~ she had had no letter from me after my first one & perhaps that might account. Did Grace*

[ Page 2 ]

seem to mind because I have written her so little? I really do not have much time and if there is any time, I like to write home. You see I have not left yet. Mr. Furber* said yesterday when he came home that he really had not had a chance to go & get my tickets. Miss F. goes home to-night at 8, and I shall start at five. If I cannot go to-night I think I shall go [ to corrected ] Wis. for I should get into New York Saturday and I don't like that for aside from any detention & my getting there at an unseasonable hour I very likely should not get my trunk

[ Page 3 ]

until Monday. Night before last [ we corrected ] went to the theater to see The Lady of Lyons* which I have read but never saw played before. The theatre is such a beauty, and this remark reminds me of a compliment I had for you yesterday from Mrs. Furber. She said that you were the handsomest girl at her wedding; that she looked up and saw you & asked Will who that lovely [ girl corrected ] was & then you came up and spoke to her -- Every body was wondering [ whom so written ] you were & asking -- So now you owe one to Piffy --* I read what you said about your cards

[ Page 4 ]

to them in Cincinnati & Uncle John in particular was highly amused. You know you said there were enough to last you always unless you went gadding as often & stayed as long as I do! I did laugh so when Mary told me that she & Mrs. Burleigh* were going to the North Ch. fair! So John Micajah* has been has he? Don't you think the day I left Cincinnati I had been out all day, first over to the Bethel fair & kiting round generally -- with Madam Hunt & then out to Walnut Hills with H. Burt.* [ Unrecognized word ] you think when

[ Page 5 ]

I got in town I discovered that my tickets back to Chic. were for the half past six train instead of the eight, & my eyes! didn't I go for Covington! When I reached the house I looked into the hall & a gentleman sat there with his back to me whom I took for Papa Bates & consequently knocked on the glass. Whom do you suppose it was but Dr. Freeman!* And Piffy never knew him at first which was heart-rendering as Maggie says* -- I told him the state of mind I was in & what a snip of time I had to get ready -- & so he went away very [ plisant ? ] but evidently disappointed! ~~Uncle J~~ Mr. Bates

[ Page 6 ]

went over to the Gazette office with me & aunt Sarah* was there. You don't know how pleasant she has been. I was going up there to dine if my train had gone later-- Uncle John went down to the station with me & seemed so sorry to have me leave -- They are delighted with your liking the presents. He told me to tell Father he mustn't clear out that pipe with anything sharp as he would any other kind for he would poke a hole right through it. He had that fate himself --

These last two days Mrs. Furber and I have been enjoying

[ Page 7 ]

ourselves together particularly. We really have seen almost nothing of each other -- for I was skylarking round with the girls at Green Bay & out half my time. I wish I had been with her while she was sick for she says she was so forlorn -- I am so sorry you were frightened about that railway accident. I dislike the air here in Chicago very much and there is a queer dust* blowing all the time { -- } I think it is partly ashes or something of that kind. It is a most disagreeable city to walk in at present for you have to climb over blocks of stone & piles of mortar and there are

[ Page 8 ]

several alarming derricks to go under with big stones dangling about over your head, or else a man goes before you with a hod of brick [ tipped corrected ] backward as if they would all slide down on your feet in a minute!

I must stop writing now -- I hope I shall have a letter today before I go away. You both write me such nice letters. You don't know how shocked I was to hear Lizzie Trafton* is dead. I had not the slightest idea she was so ill as that. I wonder if it would be considered polite if I wrote Mrs. T. a note? Tell me when you write. Give my love to Cousin Charlotte* and ever so much to Mrs. Doe. Kate Burt* & Carrie Bates are great friends & I was going to see her that next day. Did I tell you that I was

[ Up the left margin of page 8 ]

asked to Mrs.Pitt Burts to dine that day & Kate & I were to spend the night with Cicely. Wouldn't it have been fun! They were so disappointed.

[ Up the left margin of page 5 ]

We were going to the Sibley's as well as the Bates's -- but though I didn't have time to call on the Sibleys I had the good luck to meet Mrs. Sibley

[ Up the left margin of page 6 ]

& Miss Hastings* in the street one day when I had on my good [ clothes corrected ] Mary! Piffy was considered very genteel of a girl!

[ Up the left margin and across the top margin of page 7 ]

I am glad to hear Hannah is better { -- } give her my love & tell her so. I am not going to forget the "Swede Story booths{.}"

With ever so much love to you all

your aff sister

Piffy

[ Up the left margin of page 1 ]

Please send me one of your cards.

Notes

Mary's: Mary Rice Jewett. Key to Correspondents.

Ella: Ella Walworth Little. Key to Correspondents.

Grace: Grace Gordon. Key to Correspondents.

Mr. Furber: The Henry Furber, Sr. family of Green Bay, WI. See Cynthia Irwin Furber in Key to Correspondents. Identifying some family members mentioned here is problematic. When Henry Furber, Sr., married, in about 1862, Carrie would have been about 7 years old, and Furber's son William, of course, was not yet born. Therefore, the Mrs. Furber who complimented Carrie Jewett cannot be Mrs. Henry Furber or Furber's mother. The Miss Furber whose departure is anticipated also is not yet known.

The Lady of Lyons: The Lady of Lyons; or, Love and Pride is an 1838 romantic melodrama by British author and playwright, Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873). Wikipedia.

Piffy: A Jewett nickname.

Uncle John: From Jewett's Cincinnati family. Richard Cary notes that "John Taylor Perry was another of Miss Jewett's maternal uncles. After twenty-five years as editor and part owner of the Cincinnati Gazette, he returned to his birthplace, Exeter, New Hampshire, where he resided until his death." His wife was Jewett's Aunt Sarah.

Madam Hunt ... H. Burt: Madam Hunt is Margaretta (Maggie) Baker Hunt. Key to Correspondents. For H. Burt, see the note on Kate Burt.

Bates: Papa Bates, Cassie and their family have not yet been identified.

Dr. Freeman: A Cincinnati physician. Nothing else has yet been learned about him. He is mentioned in Jewett's 1869 Diary.

Maggie: It is not clear whether this is the same person as Margaretta (Maggie) Baker Hunt, mentioned above.

queer dust: Jewett's descriptions of Chicago reflect the city's recovery from the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871.

Lizzie Trafton: Lizzie Trafton has not yet been identified. However, Frances F. Seaward Trafton of Kittery Point, ME, died on 1 December 1872.

Cousin Charlotte ...Mrs. Doe. Richard Cary in Sarah Orne Jewett Letters identifies Cousin Charlotte as Charlotte Tilton Cross, second wife of Elisha Hanson Jewett (1816-1883), first cousin to Jewett's father.
    Mrs Doe is Edith Bell Haven Doe. Key to Correspondents.

Kate Burt: Kate Burt is from the family of a Jewett favorite, Cecily Burt Sibley (1844-1932). Cicely Burt married James H. Sibley on 22 December 1869. Her parents were Andrew Gano Burt (1810-1874) and Anne Green Thompson (1818-). Of Cicely's family, Descendants of Henry Burt, p. 109, says: "Mr. Burt was a man of a cultivated taste, fond of literature, a collector of paintings, fond of his garden, a strong character, quiet, gentlemanly, widely known and appreciated, a friend of Henry Clay. Mrs. Burt was from London, Eng. ... James H. Sibley of Cincinnati, husband of Cicely, was born Aug. 17, 1841; their children : Henrietta, b. Aug. 20,1871 ; James Whitelaw, b. Dec. 27, 1873."
    Cicely had two older brothers and two younger sisters: Pitts H (b. 1837), Andrew Sheridan (b. 1839), Kate (b. 1846) and Henrietta (b. 1850). Andrew Burt became a Union infantry officer during the Civil War and after was a Brevet Major in the "Indian Wars" in Wyoming (p. 189). Major Burt married Elizabeth Johnston Reynolds in 1862. Their children in 1869 were Andrew (b. 1863) and Edith (b. 1867).

Miss Hastings: Miss Hastings probably was Mary / Molly Hastings of Cincinnati. Little has yet been learned about her.

Hannah: Probably a Jewett employee in South Berwick. "Swede Story booths" have not been identified.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743.1 Sarah Orne Jewett Additional Correspondence II. Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, Box 4
    Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.