Sarah Orne Jewett Letters of 1887
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
Tuesday night --
[ 1887 ]*
My darling -- The heat has made your hands lame and you must not think of writing for me at present. Mr. Millet* will not return this week. [ Lack ? ] a day! old [ Maryat ? ]
[ Page 2 ]
was knocked down getting off a horse cart and I was sent for! Lo that our other errands had to come before Ellen's* luncheon. Miss Darwin* is an attractive English woman. Mrs Whitman* came in [ after corrected ] luncheon but she evidently
[ Page 3 ]
wanted to interview E- upon something important and I left her there -- Your flowers have been the greatest pleasure.
G. W. Childs* came to town yesterday and called here today while I was out{,} [ leaving ? ] a huge bank of
[ Page 4 ]
flowers which evidently came off the dinner table -- I wish somebody I know could see them!
I am more than pleased that you think the Introduction will answer -- Thank you indeed darling for your suggestions --
[ no signature ]
Notes
1887: This letter must have been composed between 1883 and 1894, the year of George W. Childs's death. See notes below. I have placed it in 1887 on the ground that Fields reports consulting with Jewett about writing an introduction. Though there could be other possibilities, the most likely piece would be Fields's introductory poem to A Week Away from Time (1887).
Millet: Josiah Millet. Key to Correspondents.
Maryat: This transcription is uncertain, and the person has not yet been identified.
Ellen: Ellen Frances Mason. Key to Correspondents.
Miss Darwin: One may speculate that this is a daughter of English naturalist, Charles Darwin (1809-1882), in which case, she would have to be Elizabeth Darwin (1847-1926). However, there is as yet no supporting evidence for this speculation. Wikipedia.
Mrs. Whitman: Sarah Wyman Whitman. Key to Correspondents.
G. W. Childs: Probably this is American publisher, George William Childs (1829-1894). Wikipedia.
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.
Death of Dr. William Perry
Robert Collyer to Annie Adams Fields
New York Jan 6th 1887
Dear Friend
You need not want to be an angel.* You are one. This will be a treasure to [ Turner ? ]* over which he will float. I have warned him [ a slash mark ] not to let it be printed or talked of and I got it because I will do no more begging{,} no not for "his royal highness the prince of Wales and all the royal family" as the prayer book* says.
There was a pleasant sound as of bees in blossoming [ Limes ? ] -- when I read the sentence from your note over the sausage and buckwheats about your possible advent along this spring. The mother murmured oh how nice and the two little girls who are staying with us, dear friends of our darling, for we cannot [ unrecognized word stroll ? ] the empty house, and [ Rob ? ]* is at work stumping away like a Trojan* at seven in the morning across to Green Point.
[ Page 2 ]
I went to Woodlawn the afternoon before Christmas with a wreath of holly and eight roses{,} one for each. And we had all the kith and kin to dinner Christmas day and a tree for the fairies and the elder folk who sat sadly "left" in the way of presents. Lucy and Tom and the two from London were just loaded but I had a jack in the box which I am still hoping was not symbolical but dare not ask.
Gratefully yours
Robert Collyer
Notes
angel: Collyer omits many periods in this letter. I have supplied them wherever they seem necessary.
Turner: The transcription is uncertain, but this is likely to be Collyer's friend and colleague, the British antiquarian, Joseph Horsfall Turner (1845-1915). Among other things, Turner collected autographs. See Collyer to Fields of 14 January 1887.
prayer book: The Anglican Book of Common Prayer, which includes a prayer for the well-being of the British royal family.
darling ... Rob: Almost certainly, the darling is Collyer's daughter, Annie, who died nearly a year before this letter. She is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, NY. While it is not certain why Collyer took 8 roses to the cemetery, my uncertain count numbers his children, surviving and lost, from his two marriages as 8 or 9.
The transcription of Rob is uncertain, but this probably is Collyer's son, Robert or Robin. Two of Collyer's grand-children were Lucy and Tom Eastman. See Collyer in Key to Correspondents.
Trojan: The citizens of ancient Troy had the reputation of being hard workers.
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.
Jewett's maternal grandfather
11 January 1887
Harvard's Oldest Graduate Dead
Cincinnati Enquirer 12 January 1887, p. 5.
Exeter, N.H., January 11. -- Dr. William Perry, the oldest person in Exeter, and the oldest graduate of Harvard College, died this morning, aged ninety-eight years. He was the sole survivor of the passengers of Fulton's first steamboat ride down the Hudson River* seventy-nine years go. He was born in Norton, Mass., in 1788, and was a member of the 1811 class in Harvard. The only surviving member of that class is William R. S. Saver, of Plymouth, Mass. Dr. Perry was one of the most successful and skillful physicians of his day in New Hampshire, with a special knowledge of insanity. He was grandfather of Sarah Orne Jewett, the authoress. He leaves two sons, one of whom is a practicing physician here, and the other, John T. Perry, until within a few years connected with the Cincinnati Gazette, who is now engaged in literary pursuits.
Note
Hudson River: American engineer and inventor, Robert Fulton (1765-1815), with a partner, successfully opened the first steam-boat passenger line on the Hudson River between New York City and Albany, New York, in 1807.
Robert Collyer to Annie Adams Fields
137 E 39th st
New York Jan 14th 1887
Dear Friend
I wish I could get this autograph of Mrs Stowe for Mr Turner* because he helped me to write that book and I helped him. I wrote to H W B a week ago but surmise he didn't open my letter. Can you do anything who can do so many things. Have you a scrap you would like to send me or would you feel able to ask Mrs Stowe for a line or two from a poem say, and her name{?}
I never buy autographs.* I know how it is myself "drat un." But if Turner has gone off his head helping on that book why there you are, and this is usually an incipient sign which is cured by a stroke of the pen. Aint I got two signed this morning first for mercys sake.
I could not get in to see you through that awful storm but am coming DV* to the May meetings. And you are both coming at Easter aint you{?} Saw your own sister Sunday and Miss Burroughs{ -- }* they actually
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like my preaching{,} leastwise Miss Burroughs said she did and when they send me a card to know where they are I will call and we will make tarts { -- } tell my Lady of Marsh Island* { -- } and ask them to dinner.
With all good wishes for a whole Happy New Year
Yours [ allways so written ]
Robert Collyer
Notes
autographs: Collyer often omits periods and other punctuation in this letter. I have supplied periods wherever they seem necessary without remark, but other added punctuation is noted.
Stowe ... Mr. Turner: American author, Harriet Beecher Stowe. See Key to Correspondents.
H W B almost certainly is Stowe's brother, the American clergyman and reformer, Henry Ward Beecher (1813- 8 March 1887).
Mr. Turner was Collyer's friend and colleague, the British antiquarian, Joseph Horsfall Turner (1845-1915). The book they co-authored was Ilkley: Ancient and Modern (1885).
DV: Latin: Deo volente, God willing.
sister ... Miss Burroughs: Miss Burroughs has not yet been identified, and it also is not known which of Fields's sisters attended Collyer's church at the time of this letter.
Marsh Island.: Sarah Orne Jewett's novel, A Marsh Island, appeared in 1885. See 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 Box 10: mss Fl 1-5637. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to S. Weir Mitchell
South Berwick Maine 19 January 1887
Dear Doctor Mitchell
I have been wishing to thank you for the great pleasure your stories have given me, and this note has been put off until I begin to feel fairly ungrateful. I do not know
[ Page 2 ]when I have enjoyed anything so much as I have Roland Blake,* and I hardly know whether to wish that the doctor or the story-teller should claim most of your time. When I read the book I was almost ready to say that
[ Page 3 ]your professional life had been a grand training for the writing of such a story, but after all, though I am a pen-holder myself I am child and grandchild of physicians and as I once made somebody else say, “My heroes are the great doctors”* ----------
Your Miss Octopia is
[ Page 4 ]wonderfully true – altogether a perfectly drawn character. I read her with hungry delight! and the most sincere admiration, and as for the drawing of the marsh country and the tide inlets, I am afraid you do not half know what a beautiful picture you are giving away between these brown book covers. Forgive this long note and believe me
Yours gratefully Sarah O. Jewett
Notes
Roland Blake: Mitchell's novel, Roland Blake, was published in 1886. One of the main characters is a young woman named Octopia.
heroes ... great doctors: See Jewett's A Country Doctor (1884), chapter 21.
The manuscript of this letter is held in the Sarah Orne Jewett Papers, Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Houghton Autograph File to S. Weir Mitchell #5. Transcription by Linda Heller; annotation by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Silas Weir Mitchell to Sarah Orne Jewett
Jan 23
1887
[ Begin letterhead ]
1524 WALNUT STREET.
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Miss Jewett
It is queer -- that only a day or two back I had layed down Deephaven* with a wholesome sense of having been in good & -- wholesome company -- &. really the cleanly -- the [ unrecognized word ], the pure -- the restful believers in the heroic -- are to be made much of -- now-a-days{.}
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I thank you much for -- a great little book -- --
.& am glad also that you like my novels. -- I like that gentle folk should like them -- &. -- am pleased when my people make for me unseen friends -- I like such praise too -- because -- as you may know neither of my books had more than a succés
[ Page 3 ]Notes
d'estime -- *
I wish you would read -- Mifs Hephzibah Guinness* -- -- -- & at the end a Draft on the Bank of Spain -- because you like lowland pictures --
Thanks twice for
your book &
yr praise of mine
Weir Mitchell*
Miss Jewett
Deephaven: Jewett's first novel appeared in 1877.
Mitchell's eccentric use of dashes and periods is duplicated in this transcription.
d'estime: Succès d'estime, French, indicates a book that received good reviews, but not popular success. Though it is difficult to be sure, it appears that Mitchell used the incorrect accent.
Guinness: Mitchell's Hephzibah Guinness, Thee and You; and A Draft on the Bank of Spain (1880), a collection of three novellas. A Google Books copy of an 1887 second edition is stamped on the copyright page as a 1931 gift to the Harvard College Library from Theodore Jewett Eastman, Jewett's nephew. See Key to Correspondents.
Mitchell: Penciled in another hand before the signature: [ Silas ].
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ Begin letterhead ]
EDITORIAL OFFICE OF
The Atlantic Monthly,
BOSTON.
[ End letterhead ]
[ Date added to the right of the letterhead ]
Monday [ Morning ? ].
[ Unrecognized word ]
[ 1887 ]*
Dear Sadie:*
I think "The Courting of Sister Wisby" charming, and shall put it in hand at once. Thanks!
T.B.A.
Notes
Sadie: Aldrich uses his affectionate nickname, "Sadie Martinot." See Key to Correspondents.
1887: Jewett's "The Courting of Sister Wisby" appeared in Atlantic Monthly in May 1887.
The manuscript of this card 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.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Marianne Cabot Devereux Silsbee
148 Charles Street
Saturday 12 February
[ 1887 ]*
My dear Mrs Silsbee
I have just finished reading your little book* and I wish to thank you at once for so much pleasure. I only wish that the chapters had each been a great deal longer, but then I was
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always "reading between the lines," and finding two books in one and both of them delightful.
Believe me always
Yours sincerely,
S. O. Jewett
Notes
1887: While it is not certain that Jewett refers to Silsbee's 1887 A Half Century in Salem, this seems highly probable. And February 12 fell on a Saturday in 1887.
little book: Though Silsbee was the author of several books, almost certainly Jewett refers to A Half Century in Salem, published by Houghton, Mifflin in 1887. In her introduction, Silsbee provides a brief history of her "little book."
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 Eben Norton Horsford
148 Charles St --
[ February corrected ] 15th
[ 1887 ]*
My dear friend
I got out my Pocket Atlas and followed the Barracouta* on that most lovely voyage -- and I have been much tempted to do as you say and join the party. So was Mrs. Fields* I think -- but she has decided that she cannot leave her
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work and more especially her household for so long ---- As for me there are two or three reasons why I must say no -- the most important one being my dear old Uncle* in Berwick who has been very feeble all winter so that I am constantly fearing bad news and feel that
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I ought not to be [ far corrected ] from home -- I go down as often as I dare and I should grow very anxious indeed if I were where I could not hear from home for weeks --
But I dont know when I have cared so much about doing anything as about this voyage with you and the girls, and
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it has not been easy to give it up -- I send back Lebaire's most enticing circular* with many thanks.
Love to all -- especially dear Kate* whom I long to get hold of!
Very affectionately
Sarah --
Thank you so much for thinking about my going.
Notes
1887: This date is a guess based upon Jewett mentioning that her Uncle William may be near death. He died in August 1887,
Barracouta: This transcription is uncertain. Both Barracouta and Barraconta were names for several steamships in the 1880s. At this time, one S. S. Barracouta of the Atlantic & West Indies/India Steamship Company carried cargo, mail and passengers to the Caribbean, with stops in the Windward Islands. It appears that Horsford has proposed a joint voyage to warmer climes during this winter. For a detailed description of such a voyage in the Barracouta, see Thomas Elkinton, "A Cruise Among the Windward Islands: Being Ten Letters Published in the Friend" (1885).
Jewett and Fields later undertook such a voyage in 1896. See Annie Fields, Diary of a West Indian Island Tour (1896).
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Uncle: William Durham Jewett died in August 1887. See Key to Correspondents.
Lebaire's most enticing circular: The transcription of "Lebaire" is uncertain. Presumably this is a travel agency ad for the voyage Horsford has proposed.
Kate: Horsford's daughter, Mary Katherine. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of the letter is held by the Fales Library and Special Collections, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York University. Sylvester Manor Archive 1649-1996, MSS.208, IV: Horsford Family, Box 63: Folder 41. Jewett, Sarah Orne: Maine & Massachusetts. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Edward Augustus Freeman to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ 19 February 1887 ]*
Please excuse a postcard here in foreign parts [ even for both old & new Engl ? ]. Yr letter of Jan. 26. has followed me [ hither somehow ? ]. [ Many thanks ? ] for it. I shall be curious to see how you have dealt with Count Roger, King Roger,* & [ 2 unrecognized words ] out here. A [ unrecognized word ] of Oxford wrote of [ Normans ? ] & left it out. I design to do it in a [ companion ? ] to his Normans in England,* but I find I must go back to Sikels & Sikens,* if I am to tell [ this ? ] story.
E.A.F.
Palermo, Feb. 17. 1887
Notes
1887: This postcard is addressed to Jewett at 148 Charles Street, Boston, Stati Uniti. The cancellations are mostly unreadable, but it is clear that the card was cancelled in Palermo, Sicily, and in New York.
In Palermo, Freeman was researching The Story of Sicily (1892), his contribution to the Putnam series, the Story of the Nations.
Freeman's handwriting is very challenging; much of this transcription is guesswork, even in passages where I sort of believe I am right. The "7's" in his date could easily be "9's." I have concluded that they are "7's" because Freeman indicates that he has not yet seen Jewett's The Story of the Normans, her contribution to the Story of the Nations series, which was published at the end of 1886 and had an 1887 copyright date.
Count ... King Roger: Jewett wrote about Roger, a Norman count who became King of Sicily, in chapter 7 of The Story of the Normans.
Normans in England: I had hoped to find this book in WorldCat and identify its author in order to make sense of text I cannot read, but this exact title does not appear. Perhaps Freeman referred to The Normans in Europe (1869) by Oxford University historian Arthur Henry Johnson (1845-1927), but Johnson gives some attention to King Roger and the Normans in Sicily. And the text where Freeman may name the author does not look like Johnson, but like "A nes."
Sikels & Sikens: Freeman refers to the first Greek settlements in Sicily (Sikelia) around 750 BC. Wikipedia.
The manuscript of this postcard is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Eliza Farman PrattSouth Berwick
24 February 1887
Dear Mrs. Pratt.
I am afraid that this will be too long for the
chorContributor's pages,* but cannot you use it for a stray page in one of the spring numbers -- I have the plea* very much at heart!
-- I shall go back to town in a day or two and
shallhope to see you before long. I have had a busy winter and this is the
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second time I have been at home since I saw you early in January. You will catch a glimpse of a great pleasure I have had lately when you read the little paper. How I wish I could make you and Mr Pratt see the wonderful winter beauty of the woods and hills at Jackson
[ Page 3 ]
where I have been! I shall have a great deal more to tell you about it when we meet --
Yours sincerely
S. O. Jewett
Notes
Contributor's pages: As Jewett was writing to the editors of Wide Awake, she probably refers to a regular column in that magazine, "The Contributors and the Children." Jewett's "Snowshoes for Girls" appeared in that column in May 1887, but this short piece does not speak about winter scenery in the mountains. Still, it is a sort of plea to make it easier for girls to go out walking in the country in winter weather. Jewett is not known to have published any other piece between spring 1887 and December 1888 that describes a winter in the mountains. Her story. "A Christmas Guest" had just appeared in Wide Awake (24:91-101), January 1887.
This letter is held by Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine: JEWE.1. a transcriptionfirst appeared in Scott Frederick Stoddart's Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: Selected Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett, copyright by Stoddart, 1988. New transcription by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to John Greenleaf Whittier
148 Charles Street
4 March
[ 1887 ]*
This is a pretty piece of news, that a Friend should be going round with a black eye! I suppose you will say that it is a quite different thing from his having given anybody else one!
Prize-fighters have great faith in raw beef steak and brown paper as a
[ Page 2 ]
cure for such ailments but I hope you are quite well again now so I will not prescribe. -- I have been meaning to thank you for the little Saint John book* which was both touching and amusing, and more than that, came on a day when I was housed with a cold.* I wish I had time to tell you about the four days A.F.* and I spent among
[ Page 3 ]
the White Mountains ^last^ week. [ deletion ] Alice Longfellow and Mr. Dana and a party of other friends from Cambridge ^beside ourselves^ went to Jackson -- & Eagle Mountain House, high on a great hill slope a mile above the village and we did have a royal good time. I was to tell you all about it some day how wonderfully beautiful the mountains were early and late and at mid-day, and how there were
[ Page 4 ]
four feet of snow on a level so light and fluffy that a stick would go right through and touch the ground, and we went about on snow shoes and among the firs and [ birches corrected ] and beeches and wondered why New Englanders ever letthem^snowshoes^ go out of fashion. A.F. was the [ deletion ] ^queen^ of the company and never had seen a true country winter before. She went tobogganing with a great joy for she never had coasted down [ unfinished sentence? ]
[ Up the left margin and across the top margin of page 1 ]
I wish you would tell Phebe* that I wrote to a friend in Bermuda that she was coming and I hoped to add a little to her pleasure, but the friends father is
[ Up the left margin and across the top margin of page 2 ]
very ill and she wrote me that she was so sorry that she was not able to go to see Phebe after all.
Yours [ affectionately ? ]
Sarah --
Notes
1887: Jewett made a winter trip to the Jackson, NH area in February 1887. See her letter to Eliza Farman Pratt of 24 February 1887.
Saint John book: The identity of this book is not yet known.
cold: Before the next sentence is an "x" in superscript position, probably in another hand.
A.F.: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
Alice Longfellow ... Mr. Dana: For Longfellow and Richard Henry Dana III, see Key to Correspondents.
Phebe: Phebe Woodman (1869-1953), adopted daughter of Whittier's cousin Abby Johnson Woodman (1828-1921). See Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier v. 1, p. 337.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, Pickard-Whittier papers: Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 12 letters to unidentified persons; [n.d.]. Box:12 Identifier: MS Am 1844, (8616).
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Wyman Whitman to Sarah Orne Jewett
March 5, 1887.I have not said to you how very sweet, how comforting and sustaining I found the letter which came to me from your hand, nor have I said that I let it count in my hurrying days; and did distinctly leave undone some things which pressed with the familiar pressure, but which, in a larger vision, were not essential. I live so much under the water as it were, that I am in danger, I know, of mis-calculating weights and measures; and the touch of a friend's hand is a beautiful reminder of first values. . . . Do you know the line from Epictetus?* "Rather than bread let understanding concerning God be renewed to you day by day."
Notes
Epictetus: Epictetus (35-135) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. See The Encheiridion of Epictetus, tr. with notes by T. W. H. Rolleston (1881), p. 59. (Research: Gabe Heller).
This transcription appears in Letters, Sarah Wyman Whitman. Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1907, "Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett: 1882-1903," pp. 61-109.
Annie Adams Fields to Isabella Stewart Gardner
March 6th [1887 ]
[ Begin letterhead ]
148 Charles Street,
Boston
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Mrs Gardner:
Mr. Howells was here last night, full of hope for the Longfellow Memorial by means of an [authors' intended Authors' ? ] Reading of the kind given at the Madison Square Theatre in New York
[ Page 2 ]
for the Copyright League.* He seemed to think that a small committee of ladies to lay plans and invite the authors was all that was required.
I am writing
[ Page 3 ]
therefore to Mrs Agassiz, Mrs Brimmer, Mrs Bell, Mrs Whitman* and yourself, inviting you all kindly to come here next Thursday afternoon at five o'clock to consider what we may do. I pray you to come if possible!
You will be
[ Page 4 ]
wondering about the [Womens' so punctuated ] home, I have thought it better to make it a sine qua non* that she should raise for herself (Miss E,)* a certain small sum. If she cannot do this I think it will be better to drop the matter altogether because it will prove her unfitted from a business point of view to undertake so large a scheme.
Yours with true regard
Annie Fields
Notes
Longfellow memorial ... Copyright League: Fields refers to the Author's Reading for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial, which took place on 31 March 1887.
In his Sarah Orne Jewett Letters, Richard Cary says that in the winter of 1887, Jewett served as secretary of a committee that arranged an impressive Authors' Reading in the Boston Museum for the purpose of raising a Longfellow Memorial fund (see Lilian W. Aldrich, Crowding Memories [Boston, 1920], 255-262, and Colby Library Quarterly, VII [March 1965], 36, 40-42).
The American Copyright League several times used authors' readings to raise funds to lobby for international copyright protection. A reading in April 1885 took place at the Madison Square Theatre in New York. See Modern Culture 12 (1901), pp. 281-2.
Mrs Agassiz, Mrs Brimmer, Mrs Bell, Mrs Whitman:
Mrs. Louis Agassiz: Elizabeth Cabot (Cary) Agassiz (1822 - 1907) "was an American educator, and the co-founder and first president of Radcliffe College. A researcher of natural history, she was a contributing author to many scientific published works with her husband, [Harvard University professor] Louis Agassiz."
Mrs. Martha Brimmer: Marianne Timmins (1827-1906) was the wife of Martin Brimmer (1829 - 1896), an American politician and first president of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. His New York Times obituary (January 16, 1896, p. 5) indicates that he was a graduate of Harvard (1849) and was keenly interested in public affairs.
Mrs. Joseph M. Bell: Helen Olcott Choate Bell. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Henry Whitman: Sarah Wyman Whitman. See Key to Correspondents.
Women's home ... (Miss E.): Miss E. has not been identified; whether this particular women's home succeeded is not yet known.
sine qua non: Latin: essential condition. Fields placed a ^ above the "a" in "qua" and then deleted it.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Fenway Museum, Papers of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fields, Annie (Adams) (Mrs James T. Fields) 1882, 3 M letters, n.d., 1909, and letter from Mary S. Savell [Mary E. Garrett] to Annie Fields, 1903. 1915.
In her manuscripts, Fields often uses "=" for a hyphen and "Mifs" for "Miss" when naming women. I have regularized these usages here.
New transcription and annotation by Terry Heller, Coe College.
William Dean Howells to Sarah Orne Jewett
302 Beacon st.My dear Miss Jewett:
March 7, 1887.
I've done so many things so much worse that I'm rather proud of having forgotten the book you gave me; I wonder I didn't forget myself too, and stay with it. Please give it to the [ bearer ? ], and I will say no more
[ Page 2 ]
about it.
The Chicago "Dial" from which I clip this notice has some of the best criticism now printed. I don't mind saying I wrote this -- though I didn't.
Yours sincerelyNotes
W D Howells.
"Dial": It seems likely that Howells has sent Jewett a clipping from The Dial of March 1887, p. 274, a short laudatory review of The Story of the Normans (1887). Perhaps this is the book that Jewett gave him.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.*
148 Charles Street
Boston 12th of March
[ 1887 ]
Dear Dr Holmes
The necessity of making a special effort to awaken the interest of the public in the Longfellow Memorial* has led certain members of the Cambridge Committee to suggest that an Authors' Reading be given in Boston on the 31st of March: each author to read a selection from his own work. The committee of ladies signing the petition earnestly hope that you will make the occasion a success by your presence, and also by reading for ten or fifteen minutes.
Believe me
Yours sincerely
Sarah O. Jerwett
Secretary for the committee
[An irregular vertical line divides the above words from the next line.]
over
[ Page 2 ]
Mrs. Louis Agassiz
Mrs. T. B. Aldrich
Mrs. Joseph M. Bell
Mrs. Martin Brimmer
Mrs. James T. Fields
Mrs. Arthur Gilman
Mrs. John L. Gardner
Mrs. E. N. Horseford
Mrs. S. R. Putnam
Mrs. J. Turner Sargent
Mrs. G. Howland Shaw
Miss Ticknor
Mrs. Henry Whitman
Mrs. R. C. Winthrop
Mrs. Roger Wolcott
Mrs. Benjamin Vaughan
Notes
Longfellow Memorial: A memorial for American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). That Jewett and the Cambridge Committee were successful appears in journalism on the event. For example, the New York Times (30 March 1887, p. 4) announced:
When the curtain rises on the Boston Museum stage Thursday afternoon those present will look upon more eminent authors than have ever been gathered together for a public entertainment. The cause of their presence will be an "author's reading" for the benefit of the Longfellow memorial fund. Charles Eliot Norton will be master of ceremonies, if such he may be called. Oliver Wendell Holmes will follow with his poem, "The Chambered Nautilus," and Edward Everett Hale will read his ballad, "The Great Harvest Year." George William Curtis will come from New-York, and is expected to read a selection from the "Potiphar Papers," although he has not announced the topic chosen. F. [intended T.] B. Aldrich, if well enough at the time, will choose a chapter from "The Bad Boy," and Julia Ward Howe, James Russell Lowell, W. D. Howells, and Thomas W. Higginson will have little difficulty in finding some delightful sketch for the occasion. The venerable John G. Whittier is expected to journey from Oak Knoll for this occasion, but beyond his presence will contribute nothing to the literary entertainment. Success is assured, as the entire house is taken, a large portion at fancy prices, New-York contributing bountifully in checks and good wishes for the success of the enterprise.According to Publishers' Weekly for 16 April 1887 (p. 538), the Author's reading at the Boston Museum on 31 March 1887 realized $5208 for the Longfellow memorial. Jewett wrote letters to many, perhaps all of the authors, including John Greenleaf Whittier, whose letter also appears here.
It is not yet certain which of the various memorials to Longfellow this reading was meant to support. It seems likely it supported the Longfellow monument in his birthplace, Portland, ME, completed in 1888. The designer was Franklin Simmons (1839-1913). However, several other monuments were established, including in Westminster Abbey, London, where the poet is buried and in Washington, D.C. (1909). The memorial by Daniel Chester French (1850-1931) in Cambridge, MA, though it would seem a likely candidate for this group's support, was not dedicated until 1914.
Identities of the Cambridge Committee
Note that in the various letters Jewett sent out to participants, her list of committee members varied. The list below identifies all the names that appeared on the various lists. On the program for the event, page 4, all of these names appear along with her own.
Mrs. Louis Agassiz: Elizabeth Cabot (Cary) Agassiz (1822 -1907) "was an American educator, and the co-founder and first president of Radcliffe College. A researcher of natural history, she was a contributing author to many scientific published works with her husband, [Harvard University professor] Louis Agassiz."
Mrs. T. B. Aldrich: Lilian Woodman Aldrich. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Joseph M. Bell: Helen Olcott Choate Bell. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Martha Brimmer: Marianne Timmins (1827-1906) was the wife of Martin Brimmer (1829-January 14, 1896), an American politician and first president of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. His New York Times obituary (January 16, 1896, p. 5) indicates that he was a graduate of Harvard (1849) and was keenly interested in public affairs.
Mrs. James T. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Arthur Gilman: Stella Scott Gilman. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. John L. Gardner: Isabella Stewart Gardner. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. E. N. Horseford: Phoebe Horsford. See Eben Norton Horsford in Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. S. R. Putnam: Mary Lowell Putnam (1810-1898) was a linguist and author. She married the Boston merchant, Samuel Raymond Putnam (1797-1861).
Mrs. J. Turner Sargent: Mary Elizabeth Fiske Sargent (1827-1904) became the second wife of John Turner Sargent (1807-1877), a prominent Unitarian minister, remembered for his support of abolition and woman suffrage. Together they founded Boston's Radical Club (1867-1880). She edited Sketches of the Radical Club of Chestnut Street, Boston. See Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier v. 1, p. 194n.
Mrs. G. Howland Shaw: This probably is Cora Lyman Shaw (1828-1922), who married Gardiner Howland Shaw of Boston (1819-1869). See Back Bay Houses, 23 Commonwealth.
Miss Ticknor: Wikipedia says: Anna Eliot Ticknor (1823-1896) was "an American author and educator. In 1873, Ticknor founded the Society to Encourage Studies at Home which was the first correspondence school in the United States.... She served as one of the original appointees to the Massachusetts Free Public Library Commission, which was the first of its kind in the United States."
Mrs. R. C. Waterston: Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy (1812-1899), wife of the Rev. Robert Cassie Waterston (1812-1893). She was the author of A Woman's Wit & Whimsy: The 1833 Diary of Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy, Verses (1863), Together (1863), and Edmonia Lewis (the young colored woman who has successfully modelled the bust of Colonel Shaw) (1866). Mrs. Waterston appears on the Cambridge Committee list with the invitation to Thomas Wentworth Higginson of 18 March 1887.
Mrs. Henry Whitman: Sarah Wyman Whitman. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Roger Wolcott: Edith Prescott Wolcott. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. R. C. Winthrop: Cornelia Adeline "Adele" Granger (1819/20 - 1892), widow of John Eliot Thayer (1803-1857), was the third wife of Robert Charles Winthrop, an American lawyer, politician, and philanthropist. Representing Massachusetts, he was Speaker of the House of Representatives, 1847-49. Her parents were the politician Francis Granger and Cornelia Rutson Van Rensselaer. See also Wikipedia.
Mrs. Benjamin Vaughan: Anna Harriet Goodwin (1838-1919) was daughter of Henry R. and Mary A. Goodwin of Brunswick, ME, where her father was a professor of languages. She married Benjamin Vaughan (1837-1912) and moved to Cambridge, MA, where she was a member of the Associated Charities of Cambridge and an originator of the District Nursing Association. See also "Find a Grave" and the Cambridge Tribune, Volume XLII, Number 34, 18 October 1919, p. 8.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Library of Congress in the Oliver Wendel Holmes Papers, on Microfilm 15,211-3N; Microfilm 15,671-3P, Box 2, Reel 2. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to George William Curtis
148 Charles Street
Boston 12th March 1887
To George W. Curtis, Esqre
My dear Sr
The necessity of making a special effort to awaken the interest of the public in the Longfellow Memorial* has led certain members of the Cambridge Committee to suggest that an Authors' Reading be given in Boston on the 31st of March: each author to read a selection from his own work. The committee of ladies signing the petition earnestly hope that you will make the occasion a success by your presence, and by reading for ten or fifteen minutes.
Believe me yours every truly
Sarah O. Jewett
Secretary for
the committee
[An irregular vertical line appears to the left of the above 2 lines.]
over
[ Page 2 ]
Mrs. Louis Agassiz*
Mrs. T. B. Aldrich
Mrs. Martin Brimmer
Mrs. Joseph M. Bell
Mrs. James T. Fields
Mrs. John L. Gardner
Mrs. Arthur Gilman
Mrs. W. D. Howells
Mrs. S. R. Putnam
Mrs. G. Howland Shaw
Mrs. J. Turner Sargent
Miss Ticknor
Mrs. Benjamin Vaughan
Mrs. Henry Whitman
Mrs. Roger Wolcott
Mrs. R. C. Winthrop
Mrs. R. C. Waterston
Notes
Longfellow Memorial: A memorial for American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). That Jewett and the Cambridge Committee were successful appears in journalism on the event. See the notes for Jewett to Oliver Wendell Homes, Sr. of 12 March for more details about the event.
Agassiz: Jewett produced a number of handwritten versions of this list of the committee members. This version leaves out Mrs. E. N. Horsford, and includes a name omitted from some other lists: Mrs. R. C. Waterston. See the notes for Jewett to Oliver Wendell Homes, Sr. of 12 March, where the committee members are identified.
With this manuscript appears a copy of the program for the event, a single page folded. Page 1 gives the title, location and date of the reading and indicates that the printer was the No. Bennet St. Industrial School Press.
Page 2 lists the officers of the Longfellow Memorial Association:
President: James Russell Lowell.
Vice-presidents: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. John G. Whittier, E. N. Horsford, Roger Wolcott, and Charles W. Eliot.
Secretary: Arthur Gilman.
Treasurer: Benjamin Vaughan.
The Committee on Plans: Lowell, Asa Gray, Charles Eliot Norton, Henry Van Brunt, and W. P. P. Longfellow.
The Board of Directors: Lowell, Gilman, Vaughan, C. E. Norton, and William Eustis Russell, Francis C. Foster, James B. Ames, H. P. Walcott, Samuel L. Montague, Alex McKenzie, H. E. Scudder, George Zabriskie Gray, T. W. Higginson, and Stanton Blake.
Page 3 lists 9 participants, with Charles Eliot Norton presiding:
1. Samuel L. Clemens.
2. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe.
3. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes.
4. Mr. George William Curtis.
5. Mr. T. B. Aldrich.
6. Hon. James Russell Lowell.
7. Rev. Edward Everett Hale.
8. Mr. W. D. Howells.
9. Col. T. W. Higginson
The manuscript of this letter and the program copy are held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence Box 2 Folder 145
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
James Russell Lowell to Sarah Orne Jewett
12th March, 1887.
Dear Mifs Jewett,
if anything be left of me, even a voice, I will try. But oh, if you knew how I wish to flee away & be at not!
With kindest regards to Mrs Fields,*
Faithfully yours
J. R. Lowell
Notes
try: Jewett has invited Lowell to participate in the Authors' Readings for the Longfellow Memorial Fund at the Boston Museum: Thursday afternoon, March 31, 1887.
Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Lowell, James Russell, 1819-1891. 3 letters; 1887-1891. (139).
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
[ March 1887 ? ]*
Now that I have seen you here in the flesh, dear, I send an immediate message to ask if you will not come to dinner on a Wednesday at seven o'clk, & meet Mr. Royce? and Mrs. Lockwood
[ Page 2 ]
may also be here. Do, I beg of you: & I will say to you there some of the things there is not space for now.
Yours with love
_SWW_*
Notes
March 1887: This date is only a guess, based upon Whitman writing to others in 1887 about meeting Josiah Royce. The letter is likely to have been written sometime after the gathering upon which she reports in other letters from that month. See notes below.
Mr. Royce: Probably Whitman refers to American philosopher at Harvard University, Josiah Royce (1855-1916). Whitman wrote to other correspondents, notably Minna Timmins, about meeting him in March of 1887.
Mrs. Lockwood: Probably, this is Florence Bayard Lockwood (1842-1898), wife of Benoni Lockwood (1834-1909). Their daughter, Florence Lockwood (1864 - 1944) married American architect, Christopher Grant LaFarge (1862-1938) of Heins & LaFarge; both were friends of Whitman.
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 Stella Scott (Mrs. Arthur) Gilman
148 Charles Street
Boston 12th of March [ 1887 ]*
My dear Mrs. Gilman
You probably know that there is a plan 'on foot' for an author's reading in aid of the Longfellow memorial fund.* I am sure that you will not object to the use of your name on the Ladies Committee which has just been
[ Page 2 ]
formed. I will write you again as soon as further arrangements have been made -- I had a hurried talk with Mr. Howells* yesterday and he assured me that he thought there would be no impropriety in our using the list of names belonging to the Memorial Fund Committee of gentlemen on the invitations which are
[ Page 3, the back of page 2, written in landscape orientation ]
to be sent out. Will you kindly send me the list as it stood at the last meeting as the newspaper in which Mrs. Fields* and I read it has drifted the way of newspapers out of sight!
Believe me
Yours sincerely
Sarah O. Jewett
Notes
1887: The year almost certainly has been added in another hand.
Longfellow memorial fund: According to Publishers' Weekly for 16 April 1887 (p. 538), the Author's reading at the Boston Museum on 31 March 1887 realized $5208 for the Longfellow memorial.
Mr. Howells: William Dean Howells. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
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 Julia Ward Howe
148 Charles Street
12 March 1887
My dear Mrs. Howe
The necessity of making a special effort to awaken the interest of the public in the Longfellow Memorial* has led to the proposal that an Authors Reading be given in Boston on the afternoon of the thirty-first of March: each author to read a selection from his own work. The committee of ladies signing this petition earnestly hope that you will not only be present, but help to make the occasion a great success by reading for ten or fifteen minutes from your poems. Believe me yours sincerely
Sarah O. Jewett.
Secretary for the Committee [ dividing mark ] over*
Notes
Longfellow Memorial: The Longfellow Memorial reading was held at the Boston Museum on 31 March 1887. Howe was one of the readers.
over: The back page contains a list of the members of the committee. See Jewett's letters to Oliver Wendell Holmes and George W. Curtis on the reading for the list of those signing the petition and identifying notes.
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 (119).
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Phoebe Gardiner Horsford
148 Charles St --
Saturday --
[ 12 March 1887 ]*
Dear Mrs. Horsford
There is a plan on foot for an Authors Reading in aid of the Longfellow memorial and your name has been put on the committee of Ladies. I know that you will have no objection to that -- especially as there is very little to do! -- I seem
[ Page 2 ]
to be secretary pro tem and I will write you again when there is anything to say about it and further arrangements [ have written over a word ] been made --
Yours affectionately
S. O. Jewett.
Notes
12 March 1887: This date is inferred from Annie A. Fields to Isabella Stewart Gardiner of 6 March 1887, inviting Gardner to a meeting on Thursday 9 March for the purpose of planning an Authors Reading, which took place on 31 March. Phoebe Horsford was not on the planning committee, but her name, along with those of other prominent Boston area women, probably was added to the planning committee list at the 9 March meeting to give weight to the planned announcements and invitations.
The manuscript of the letter is held by the Fales Library and Special Collections, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York University. Sylvester Manor Archive 1649-1996, MSS.208, IV: Horsford Family, box: 94 Folder 8. Jewett, Sarah Orne: Maine & Massachusetts. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to John Greenleaf Whittier
148 Charles Street
Boston 12th of March [ 1887 ]
To John G. Whittier
Dear Sir:
The necessity of making a special effort to awaken the interest of the public in the Longfellow Memorial, has led certain members of the Cambridge Committee to suggest that an Authors Reading be given in Boston on the afternoon of the 31st of March -- each author to read a selection from his own work -- The committee of ladies signing this petition earnestly hope that you may be able to be present and so make the occasion a great success -- Believe me yours sincerely,
Sarah O. Jewett
(Secretary for the committee) over
[ Page 2 ]Mrs. Louis Agassiz
Mrs. T. B. Aldrich
Mrs. Martin Brimmer
Mrs. Joseph M. Bell
Mrs. James T. Fields
Mrs. John L. Gardner
Mrs. Arthur Gilman
Mrs. W. D. Howells
Mrs. S. R. Putnam
Mrs. G. Howland Shaw
Mrs. J. Turner Sargent
Miss Anna E. Ticknor
Mrs. Benjamin Vaughan
Mrs. Henry Whitman
Mrs. R. C. Winthrop
Mrs. Roger Wolcott*
Notes
Cary's Note
In addition to this formal letter Miss Jewett wrote Whittier a personal note assuring him that he would sit among his friends on the platform, where it would not be draughty, and he could easily slip away by the side entrance at any time if he chose (MS in Houghton Library). Even this was not enough inducement for the shy poet. He did not attend but sent a check for $50. (Cary, "Whittier Letters," p. 17.) The occasion was indeed "a great success." Every seat in the Boston museum was occupied, standing room only, and a crowd in the street turned away. Charles Eliot Norton presided over the program which included Mark Twain, Julia Ward Howe, Holmes, Lowell, Aldrich, George W. Curtis, Howells, Edward Everett Hale, and T. W. Higginson -- "one of the most notable entertainments ever given in Boston." See Mrs. Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Crowding Memories (Boston, 1920), pp. 255-262.
Additional Notes
Mrs. Roger Wolcott: See above for the identities of the Cambridge Committee: Sarah Orne Jewett to Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., letter of 12 March.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA in Sarah Orne Jewett Papers, Misc. mss. boxes “J.” The letter was transcribed and annotated by Richard Cary, and first published in "'Yours Always Lovingly': Sarah Orne Jewett to John Greenleaf Whittier," Essex Institute Historical Collections 107 (1971): 412-50. This article was reprinted at the Sarah Orne Jewett Text Project by permission of the library of the American Antiquarian Society and the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum. Revisions to the transcription and additional notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Oliver Wendell Holmes to Sarah Orne Jewett
296 Beacon St. March 13th
1887
My dear Miss Jewett,
It will give me great pleasure to take part in the readings* of March 31st for the benefit of the object in which I with so many others feel a deep interest.
Very truly yours,
O. W. Holmes
Notes
readings: In Sarah Orne Jewett Letters, Richard Cary says that in the late winter of 1887, Jewett served as secretary of a committee that arranged an impressive Authors' Reading in the Boston Museum for the purpose of raising a Longfellow Memorial fund.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Julia Ward Howe to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ March 1887 ]*[ Begin letterhead ]
241 BEACON STREET,
BOSTON.
[ End letterhead ]
My dear Mifs Jewett,
And I say that I will gladly do all that I can to meet your wishes regarding the proposed Reading* on March 31st ? Yes, of course, I need to say it, but I rarely say "no" to such
[ Page 2 ]
propositions.
Yours sincerely
Julia Ward Howe.
[ Page 3 ]Notes
1887: Howe responds to Jewett's invitation to present at the 31 March 1887 for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial at the Boston Museum.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Charles Eliot Norton to Sarah Orne Jewett
Shady Hill, CambridgeDear Miss Jewett, --
14 March, 1887.
There can be but one answer to such a request as that with which I am honored by the Committee of Ladies interested to promote the success of the Longfellow Memorial,* and which you have been so good
[ Page 2 ]
as to convey to me.
I will do my best to carry out their wishes.
Believe me
Sincerely Yours
C. E. Norton.
NotesMiss Sarah O. Jewett.
Secretary.
Longfellow Memorial: Norton refers to the Author's Reading for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial, which took place on 31 March 1887.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Francis Parkman to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ 14 March 1887 ]
[ Begin letterhead ]
50 CHESTNUT STREET.
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Miss Jewett,
Your letter has just come. I would be more than glad to contribute in any way in my power towards the Longfellow Monument,* but being on the very eve of leaving the country
[ Page 2 ]
for a time, I can offer nothing more than a hasty, though most cordial, expression of good wishes.
Yours very truly
F. Parkman
14 Mar. 1887
Notes
Longfellow monument: Parkman refers to the Author's Reading for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial, which took place on 31 March 1887.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Frank Richard Stockton to Sarah Orne Jewett
The Albert.
University Place & 11th St.
New York, March 16.: 87
My dear Miss Jewett,
I appreciate most highly the compliment paid me by you and the ladies having charge of the Longfellow Memorial* in inviting me to take part in the Author's Reading to be given in Boston, and it would be a great pleasure to me -- indeed I should esteem it an honor --
[ Page 2 ]
to take part in these proceedings. But as I cannot arrange to go to Boston at that time, and as I do not read in public, I am compelled to decline your most flattering proposal.
Regretting, as I do, my inability to take part in exercises in which the associations would give more pleasure to me than anything I could do could possibly give to anyone else, I am still very glad that I have been asked.
With hearty thanks, I am
Yours very truly
Frank R. Stockton
Notes
Longfellow Memorial: The Author's Reading for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial took place on 31 March 1887.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
George Washington Cable to Sarah Orne Jewett
Northhampton, Mass, Mar. 16, 1887.
MIss Sarah O. Jewett, Sect'y &.c.,
My dear Miss Jewett:
I regret exceedingly that I cannot accept the honor and great pleasure it would be to take part in your proposed Authors' Reading.* But the pressure of my work makes it impracticable for me to take from it the two days which my acceptance would necessarily consume. Your noble object is one that I covet the opportunity to assist in. If it would be acceptable for me to contribute [ some corrected ] passage from an unfinished story to be read by some one else, of if your movement should take any additional form that would enable me to respond I shall in either case, or ^in^ both, count it a favor to be used.
Yours truly
G. W. Cable
Notes
Author's Reading: The Author's Reading for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial took place at the Boston Museum on 31 March 1887.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Samuel Longfellow to Sarah Orne Jewett
Craigie House: Mar 17th
[ 1887 ]*
Dear Miss Jewett
Looking over a drawer of my brother's the other day I found in a pocket book the poem which I enclose. I thought it might please you to know that he had cut it out & kept it.
I am not sure but that I send it quite as much because it gives me the opportunity of saying
[ Page 2 ]
-- at a rather late day, to be sure -- with what great pleasure I read last autumn in Portland your little volume of stories, which paint so admirably certain phases & characters of New England life. The fine reserve of the close of the White Heron seemed to me a wonderful touch of art -- if it were
[ Page 3 ]Notes
not rather a touch of nature. Perhaps both in one.
Your debtor
Saml Longfellow
1887: This speculative date has strong support. Longfellow writes after the death of his brother Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1882, and he mentions reading Jewett's A White Heron and Other Stories (1886) the previous autumn. The poem of which he speaks has not yet been identified.
Associated with this letter is an envelope addressed to Jewett c/o Annie Adams Fields at 148 Charles St., Boston. On the front it is canceled in Cambridge, MA on 18 March, and the stamp has been removed. On the back is another cancellation, but it adds no additional information.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Edward Everett HaleThe manuscript of this letter is held by Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, MA, Hale family papers, Sophia Smith Collection, SSC-MS-00071; Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1871, undated -- Correspondence, incoming, Box: 36, Folder: 18.
148 Charles Street
Boston 17 March [ 1887 ]*
Dear Mr. Hale
I sent an invitation to [ you corrected ] to be present at the Longfellow Memorial Fund reading ^(on the 31st March)^, [ deleted word ] the other day without asking as I should have done for an immediate answer as we wish to [ advertise corrected ] the great occasion almost immediately -- I am afraid that you may not be in town, but the committee
[ Page 2 ]
are very anxious that you should read, and hope that no lesser engagements will stand in the way. There are to be only five or six gentlemen beside yourself {--} Mr. Lowell, Dr Holmes{,} Mr. Norton{,} Mr Aldrich & Mr Howells, and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. We have not yet heard from Mr. G. W. Curtis* but hope that he will come -- Please let me hear from you as soon as possible --
1887: In 1887, Jewett, as a member of the Cambridge Committee, helped to organized the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial Author's Reading for 31 March 1887. See Jewett to Hale of 29 March and several other letters Jewett wrote during March 1887 on behalf of this committee.Yours sincerely
S. O. Jewett
Notes
Mr. Lowell, Dr Holmes{,} Mr. Norton{,} Mr Aldrich & Mr Howells, and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe ... J. W. Curtis: For James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Thomas Baily Aldrich, William Dean Howells, and Julia Ward Howe, see Key to Correspondents. Charles Eliot Norton (1827-1908) was an American author and a Harvard professor of Art. George William Curtis (1824-1892) was an American author and public speaker.
George William Curtis to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ Begin letterhead ]
West New Brighton
Staten Island
N.Y.
[ End letterhead ]
March 17th. 1887.
My dear Madame.
I am very much obliged by your kind invitation,* and although I can [ hardly inserted by hand ] find the time to leave my work, I should be very unwilling to be absent upon such a summons, from such company, for such a purpose. I shall therefore hope that nothing will [ prevent corrected from privent ] my coming.
Truly yours,
[ signed by hand George William Curtis. ]
Notes
invitation: Curtis responds to an invitation to present at The Author's Reading for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial, which took place at the Boston Museum on 31 March 1887.
The typescript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens to Sarah Orne Jewett
Hartford, Mch 17 / 87.
Dear Miss Jewett:
I think we can fix it, if you will give me the very first reading in the programme,* so that I shall run no risk of missing the 3 [ 'oclock so spelled ] train for New Haven. That train gets me to New Haven at 7; the 4:30 wouldn't get me there till [ deletion ] 8.33 -- & my audience would then have vanished.
The New Haven date cannot be changed because the article* I am to read there will appear in the "Century" the next morning. I could not use it
[ Page 2 ]
later, because it would be old & the Century will not allow me to use it earlier.
If my proposition is agreeable to you, I will read a brief portion of that same article. [ It's so spelled ] title, if you want it in the program, is "English as She is Taught."
Sincerely yours
S. L. Clemens
Don't fail to give me the first place on the program. I will explain the immodesty of the position to authors & audience.
Notes
programme: The Author's Reading for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial took place at the Boston Museum on 31 March 1887. Clemens was the first reader, followed by Julia Ward Howe, Oliver Wendell Holmes and 6 others.
article: Mark Twain's "English as She is Taught" appeared in Century Magazine in April 1887, pp. 932-36.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Thomas Wentworth Higginson
148 Charles Street
Boston 18th of March
[ 1887 ]
Dear Colonel Higginson
The necessity of making a special effort to awaken the interest of the public in the Longfellow Memorial* [has corrected] led to the proposal that an Authors Reading be on the afternoon of the thirty-first of March. The committee signing this petition earnestly hope that you may be present and will read a selection from your writings. Ten minutes will be allowed to each author or possibly a little more time.
Believe me
yours sincerely,
Sarah O. Jewett
Secretary for
the committeeover
[ Page 2 ]
Mrs. Louis Agassiz
Mrs. T. B. Aldrich
Mrs. Joseph M. Bell
Mrs. Martha Brimmer
Mrs. James T. Fields
Mrs. John L. Gardner
Mrs. W. D. Howells
Mrs. E. N. Horseford
Mrs. Arthur Gilman
Mrs. J. Turner Sargent
Mrs. G. Howland Shaw
Miss Anna E. Ticknor
Mrs. Henry Whitman
Mrs. Benjamin Vaughan
Mrs. R. C. Waterston
Mrs. Robert C. Winthrop
Mrs. Roger Wolcott.*
-----------------------------
Please reply at once by telegraph if you are unable for any reason to be present.
Notes
Longfellow Memorial: The Longfellow Memorial reading was held at the Boston Museum on 31 March 1887. Higginson was one of the readers.
Wolcott: This list of Cambridge Committee members differs from lists in earlier invitations to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., and John Greenleaf Whittier. Absent from this list is Mrs. S. R. Putnam. Added are: Mrs. W. D. Howells and Mrs. R. C. Waterston. In this list, Jewett has varied from the alphabetical order she follows on the earlier lists.
For Mrs. Howells, see William Dean Howells in Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. R. C. Waterston: Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy (1812-1899), wife of the Rev. Robert Cassie Waterston (1812-1893). She was the author of A Woman's Wit & Whimsy: The 1833 Diary of Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy, Verses (1863), Together (1863), and Edmonia Lewis (the young colored woman who has successfully modelled the bust of Colonel Shaw) (1866). Mrs. Waterston appears on the Cambridge Committee list with the invitation to Thomas Wentworth Higginson of 18 March 1887.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Boston Public Library: Folder 70: Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. A.L.S. to Thomas Wentworth Higginson; [Boston, n.d.] 1 s. (3 p.) Old folder #: 73. MS. P. 91.37 (71).
Thomas Wentworth Higginson to Sarah Orne Jewett
Cambridge
March 18. 1887.
My dear Miss Jewett
Thank you for your invitation, which I count as an honor. I will certainly attend the reading* on the 31st, if all goes well; but I really think that the public has had more than enough of me this winter, and that others had better do the reading. This I will leave to you, but shall really think it a credit --
[ Page 2 ]
to your good judgment if you bring forward authors less well known to the eye of the public, and whom all are therefore curious to see.
If I am to read anything I should prefer to have it in prose. I felt myself quite out of place in posing as a poet between Dr Holmes & Mrs. Howe* the other evening.
Let me suggest, in regard to Dr. Holmes in particular, that you should have a voice in the selection of his readings. I have heard him twice &
[ Page 3 ]Notes
[ Each so it appears ] time at least half his selections were of poems for which nobody cares much. To hear him read "The Last Leaf" or "Dorothy Q" or the "One Hoss Shay" is something to remember for a lifetime: but his "verses at the [ unrecognized word ] festival" fell dead ^at Gen. Paine's^ on an audience which [ had forgotten none ? ], [ unrecognized word ] of other things. I heard him say that he [ hated ? ] to have to make the selection. Excuse this hint. I think the reading is a good project to [ arrest ? ] public attention.
Very truly & cordially T. W. Higginson
reading: In Sarah Orne Jewett Letters, Richard Cary says that in the late winter of 1887, Jewett served as secretary of a committee that arranged an impressive Authors' Reading on 31 March in the Boston Museum for the purpose of raising a Longfellow Memorial fund.
Dr Holmes & Mrs. Howe: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., and Julia Ward Howe. Key to Correspondents.
Higginson lists three of Holmes's best-remembered poems. Which poem he believes "fell dead" at General Paine's is not yet known.
General Paine probably is Charles Jackson Paine (1833-1916), a Boston businessman who served as a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Susan Lee Warner* to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ 21 March 1887 ]
My dear Mifs Jewett: --
I am sorry to tell you that my husband is at the present moment in Lower California: and to remain there through next month for the purpose of escaping this deadly
[ Page 2 ]
New England climate. I am sorry he must miss the pleasant occasion of the Longfellow Memorial.
-- With best regards to yourself and Mrs. Fields*
I am very truly yours.
Susan L. Warner
Hartford
March 21. "87.
Notes
[ Across the top margin of page 1 ]
I have just noticed that the date of your letter is the 14th and I have only this moment, (21st) received it. I cannot imagine the cause of the delay.
Warner: See Charles Dudley Warner in Key to Correspondents.
Longfellow Memorial: The Author's Reading for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial took place on 31 March 1887.
Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
John Greenleaf Whittier to Sarah Orne Jewett
Amesbury 3rd Mo 21
[ 1887 ]
To
Sarah O. Jewett
Secy of Com.
My dear Friend
As I may not be able to be present at the Authors' Reading* on the 31st, I beg leave to enclose a check for $50 which may serve, at least, to testify my interest in the object of the occasion.
The monument to Longfellow is due, and is necessary, to ourselves.
[ Page 2 ]
His world-wide fame is secure, and it can add nothing to it. But it will be a fitting expression of our love and gratitude for his beautiful work and life.
Thy friend,
John G. Whittier
Notes
Authors Reading: Whittier refers to the Author's Reading to raise funds for a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial, which took place on 31 March 1887. Jewett acted as secretary for the planning committee.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the the Colby College Library, Special Collections, Sarah Orne Jewett Materials, JEWE.1, Subseries: Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett, John Greenleaf Whittier. 1887-1891. 3 ALS. Amesbury, Oak Knoll, MA. 10 p. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
A previous transcription by Richard Cary appears in "Whittier Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett," in Memorabilia of John Greenleaf Whittier, ed. John B. Pickard (Hartford: The Emerson Society, 1968), pp. 11-22.
Edward Everett Hale to Sarah Orne Jewett
Altamonte Springs
Florida. March 22
1887
Dear Mifs Jewett:
Your note overtakes me at last in my criss-cross rambles through this principality of Ponce de Leon. I wish the poor fellow had had any such palace as this hotel is.
I have telegraphed you tonight to say how gladly I will read,* if it proves that you need me. What I will read is hard to say.
I shall prefer to read
[ Page 2 ]
my ballad of the New England Chevy-Chase.* But I read that, on a somewhat similar occasion last spring, before much the same audience. A story has to be very short for such an occasion.
There is, however, a perfectly burlesque story of mine called
The Survivor's Story*
which can be made longer or shorter at pleasure. I think you had better announce that, -- if you have any programme, -- and we will make our cloth fit the coat.
"The Survivor's Story" is the name which seems to me a little doubtful above{.}
Give my regards to Mrs. Fields* & believe me
always truly yours
Edward E. Hale
Notes
read: Hale refers to the Author's Reading for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial, which took place on 31 March 1887. He read a poem, "The Great Harvest Year." See Jewett's letter to Hale of 17 March 1887.
"The Great Harvest Year" and "New England Chevy-Chase" were collected in Hale's For Fifty Years: Verses Written on Occasion, in the Course of the Nineteenth Century (1893).
Survivor's Story: Hale's "The Survivor's Story" was collected in The Brick Moon (1899), first published in the 1870s in Old and New.
Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Hale, Edward Everett, 1822-1909. 3 letters; 1871-1901. (86).
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.
Eben Norton Horsford to Sarah Orne Jewett
Steamer [ Barracouda ? ] -- March 22, 87
Between Antigua & Nevis --
My dear Sarah, I should never claim forgiveness, if I forgot to write you on this trip, if only to tell you what an addition you provided for the pleasure of the whole party, in giving me the Pocket Atlas. It has been simply invaluable -- I am sorry to find that writing of the transcendent glories about us is as past my power as it is or was past my conception before I came here. Kingsley* in his "At Last. Christmas Vacation in the West Indies,{"} has most nearly approached a picture -- but oh! how inadequate.
We are almost on the home stretch, having only four more islands to visit. Yesterday & last night we [ passed ? ] at Antigua, the day before at Montserrat -- & so sailing or steaming in the main at night, & may go to St. Lucia, Grenada, Barbados, Trinidad, [ Dominca ? ], Martinique -- the most
[ Page 2 ]
glorious of them all. At this island I would advise any one to stop, while the streamer makes the trip farther south. [ Dominica ? ] is muggy -- all [ are ? ] hot. All are [ marvellous so spelled ] interesting & picturesque -- each is unique. But at Martinique you have the refinements of France & a [ garden ? ] that throws all the others of the West Indies, not only, but all Europe into shade.
We are a large pleasant party. I wish you and dear Mrs. Fields* were of us; barring its discomforts, which I confess are somewhat formidable, you would find [ this ? ] the most wonderful thing of your travels.
I looked for Friday as we passed near Tobago -- & Robinson Crusoes* fort & all that, but I did not see them.
In honest truth -- I am [ prepared ? ] to say that of fruits, New York & Boston [ except ? ] in the [ matter ? ] of Pines, are ahead of all the West Indies. The South [ Berwick ? ] Pines are very delicious.*
[ Page 3 ]
2
Lilian & Cornelia are having a very pleasant time. Last night we were entertained on shore at a merchants house, [ very possibly corrected ] pleasantly.
We now hope to reach home a week from next Saturday -- & I will hold this scrawl open for additions --
St Kitts. March 23. -- Blessed letters that came on board at lunch yesterday. I wish I had found one from you.
I hope to show you some of these photographs which are the best aids. -- I have just been having my coffee, [ and eight ? ] monkeys on board came to share it with me, so I poured him out in the [ unrecognized word ] two or three tea-spoonfuls -- or teaspoonsful, and the little creature lapped it up as if it tasted good. We have on board quantities of parrots & macaws -- plants & monstrosities, gathered largely from [ Dominica ? ], Trinidad & Martinique{.} Cornelia has taken quite a number of photographs & two other gentlemen have taken many. I have collected all I could find.
[ 1 circled, possibly in another hand ]
[ Page 4 ]
that seem worth preserving & I shall have great pleasure in showing them to you. The marvels are the coolie maids of [ unrecognized name ] with their arms, ancles, necks, ears & lastly nostrils (!!) loaded down with silver & gold - some of the faces are very handsome. We are not demoralized by the excellence of everything here -- [ Au corrected ] contraire: we think there is nothing here except the natural scenery that [ bewilders ? ]. The vegetation and volcanic islands are marvellous -- indescribable, there is no fruit here except the [ pini ? ]* & that only at [ unrecognized name ] that compares with what you may get in New York or Boston or [ unrecognized name ]. The blacks are repulsive.* The people, hospitable -- [ unrecognized word ] and very charming. Rather [ unrecognized word ] is it not.
Now I should try & put this in the mail at Santa Cruz --
Give my dear love to Mrs. Fields and hold me in your affections for I am affectionately your.
E. N. Horsford.
Notes
Kingsley: English clergyman and author, Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) wrote At Last: a Christmas in the West Indies (1871).
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Robinson Crusoes: Robinson Crusoe (1719) is a narrative by English author Daniel Defoe (1660-1731). Wikipedia notes that the novel is set on a Caribbean island near Trinidad that resembles Tobago. Friday is a character in the novel.
pini: This is what Horsford appears to have written, but what he means is not known. Further, there are several popular fruits native to the Caribbean, including bananas, mangoes and papaya.
repulsive: Such comments are rare in the correspondence in this collection. However, Annie Fields recorded similar reactions in her own tour of the Caribbean in 1896. See her "Diary of a West Indian Tour."
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Horsford, Eben Norton, 1818-1893. 2 letters; 1887. (99).
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 Edward Henry Clement
148 Charles St.
Wednesday [ 23 March 1887 ]*
Dear Sir
Mrs. Fields* thinks that you will like to print this letter which I have just received from Mr. Whittier* and that it will aid in forwarding our enterprise. The letter will not go to the other papers. I wish that a word could be added as to the disappointment everybody will feel if Mr. Whittier is absent. We have not expected him to read for he is hardly strong enough for that, but I think that he means to be present if he is well enough and a word from "the press" might be a good thing!
Yrs very truly
Sarah O. Jewett
To Mr. Clement
Ed the Transcript
Mrs. Fields will have a programme* to send you in a day or two --
Everything is going most prosperously and besides being an indication of everybody's sympathy for the object, I think it is sure to be a most delightful occasion in every way.
Notes
1887: The content of this letter associates it closely with planning for the 31 March 1887 authors' reading to raise funds for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial. See Whittier to Jewett of 21 March 1887. Probably this letter was composed on the Wednesday following Whittier's letter.
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Mr. Whittier: John Greenleaf Whittier. See Key to Correspondents.
The Critic (4 March 1887, p. 129) reports that Whittier wrote a letter "urging that a vigorous effort be made to complete the subscription" for the Longfellow Memorial Association, which at that date had raised about $12,000 toward the proposed memorial.
Whether the letter Jewett forwards appeared in the Transcript has not yet been discovered.
programme: Almost certainly, this letter concerns the authors' reading to raise money for a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial, which took place 31 March 1887. The New York Times printed the program on 30 March. See Jewett to George William Curtis of 12 March 1887.
This transcription appears in Nancy Ellen Carlock's 1939 Boston University thesis, S.O.J. A Biography of Sarah Orne Jewett. Notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
John Greenleaf Whittier to Annie Adams Fields
Amesbury 3 Mo 24 [ 1887 ]*
My dear friend
I can only think of Lucy Larcom, Nora Perry, Celia Thaxter, Miss Charlotte F. Bates of Cambridge. (Would not Mrs. Whipple go if a ticket were sent her?) Miss Carpenter artist at Hotel Byron,* a friend of Lucy Larcom & myself, might like a ticket.
I dont like to quarrel with Providence but this March weather
[ Page 2 ]
is a strain on my patience, which is very trying.
I see thee are on the Hampton Committee.* I am afraid, with thy many engagements thee will have [ quite ? ] too much on thy hands. The Longfellow occasion will tax the thought [ deleted word -- of ? ] of both of you. I hope it will be successful, but not at the cost of making you ill. You are worth more than all the memorials since the days of the [ Pharaohs ?]. Ever with love thy frd
John G Whittier
[ Page 3 ]
I send a hint of Spring in spite of the cold & snow, which is creditable to the Pussy Willow. Like Frank Tapley it is "j"olly* under creditable circumstances!
W.
Notes
1887: The Huntington Library has so dated this letter, and this is confirmed by Whitter's references to the anticipated Author's Reading for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow memorial fund, which took place on 31 March 1887. For Longfellow, see Key to Correspondents.
Lucy Larcom, Nora Perry, Celia Thaxter, Miss Charlotte F. Bates of Cambridge... Mrs. Whipple ... Miss Carpenter artist at Hotel Byron: Whittier almost certainly has been asked for list of women who should be invited to attend the Author's Reading for the Longfellow Memorial.
Lucy Larcom (1824-1893) was a popular American author and teacher.
Wikipedia says Nora Perry (1831-1896) "was an American poet, newspaper correspondent, and writer of juvenile stories, and for some years, Boston correspondent of the Chicago Tribune."
For Celia Thaxter, see Key to Correspondents.
Wikipedia says that Charlotte Fiske Bates (1838-1916) was an American author, editor and poet.
Mrs. Whipple probably is Rose Gay Higgins Whipple (1843-1918), wife of the owner of Boston's Young's Hotel, John Reed Whipple (1806-1887). They were friends of Fields and regular guests in her home.
Miss Carpenter has not yet been identified. Is it possible that the American painter, Grace Carpenter Hudson (1865-1937), visited Boston in 1887, before her 1890 marriage to John Hudson?
Hampton Committee: Possibly, Whittier refers to a committee to support the Hampton Institute founded in 1861 to educate former African American slaves, now known as Hampton University. However, the Boston Hampton Committee, of which Fields was a member, was not formed until 1893, due to the failing health of its first principal, General Samuel Chapman Armstrong (1839 - 11 May 1893).
Mark Tapley ... "j"olly: Mark Tapley is a character in Martin Chuzzlewit (1842-4), by British novelist Charles Dickens (1812-1870). Tapley famously sets himself the task of remaining jolly in the worst possible circumstances.
Why Whittier has written "j"olly in this way is not clear, though he may be hinting at a comic British pronunciation.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields collection: mss FI 72-4692. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Charles Eliot Norton* to Sarah Orne Jewett
Shady Hill. 25 March, 1887.
Dear Miss Jewett, --
I thank you for your kind note with the pleasant suggestion. I thank you also for the notes which I return, and for the tickets.
I am glad that Mrs. Fields* and you should have such reason for pleasure in the promise of success of the reading, --* and I
[ Page 2 ]
trust that it may do something to lighten the weight of the burden of trouble which the arrangement must bring upon you.
Believe me,
Sincerely Yours
C. E. Norton.
Notes
Norton: See Sara Norton in Key to Correspondents.
Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
reading: Norton unlined the "r" three times.
Norton refers to the Authors' Reading for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial, which took place on 31 March 1887.
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.
Thomas Wentworth Higginson to Sarah Orne Jewett
Cambridge
March 25 1887
Dear Miss Jewett
Thanks for the ticket,* which implies, I suppose, that the readers are only called to the stage to read; and at other times will [ two words superimposed ]* these tickets; or is it meant for the reader's wife?
I suppose the readers will be only notified when & where to present themselves & whether to wear afternoon or evening dress. There should be uniformity in this respect; & I should think
[ Page 2 ]
that afternoon dress [ wd. ? ], make it seem more like an afternoon reception & less like [ professionals ? ]. Personally I don't care.
If the [ writers ? ] are to remain on the stage during the reading, or ^are to be^ shown together at any time, I should hope that there would be a drawing room scene arranged on the stage with tables flowers &c and that the readers would group themselves naturally as guests; rather than be arranged in a semicircle like Ethiopian minstrels* or vice presidents [ or or at ] a public meeting. Excuse my suggestions.
Yrs. very truly
T. W. Higginson
[ In the left margin and across the top margin of page 1 ]Notes
P.S. I mean, in brief, that I think it would all be [ assimilated ? ], as far as may be, to a private reception rather than a theatrical performance.
ticket: In Sarah Orne Jewett Letters, Richard Cary says that in the late winter of 1887, Jewett served as secretary of a committee that arranged an impressive Authors' Reading on 31 March in the Boston Museum for the purpose of raising a Longfellow Memorial fund.
superimposed: Higginson's handwriting is especially challenging in this letter, and there are many guesses not marked as such in this transcription. Here he may have written "take" and "use," one over the other, but I have little confidence in this guess.
Ethiopian minstrels: Higginson refers to minstrel shows, usually consisting of white male entertainers in black face, performing music, dance and comedy sketches portraying racial stereotypes. Typically, the performers sat in a semi-circle on the stage. A specific group centered in Boston before the American Civil War was the Ethiopian Serenaders. Wikipedia.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Edward Everett HaleThe manuscript of this letter is held by Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, MA, Hale family papers, Sophia Smith Collection, SSC-MS-00071; Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1871, undated -- Correspondence, incoming, Box: 36, Folder: 18.
148 Charles St.
29 March [ 1887 ]*
Dear Mr. Hale
Will you please be at the green room of the Museum* at quarter of two o'clock on Thursday? you will find [ some corrected ] one near the box office who will show you the way --
1887: In 1887, Jewett, as a member of the Cambridge Committee, helped to organized the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial Author's Reading for 31 March 1887 at the Boston Museum. See several other letters Jewett wrote during March 1887 on behalf of this committee.Yours sincerely
Sarah O Jewett
Notes
Museum: The Longfellow Memorial reading was held at the Boston Museum on 31 March 1887. Higginson was one of the readers.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Arthur Gilman
148 Charles St --
29 March 1887
Dear Mr. Gilman
I enclose a card, as you desire, and I dare say there will be "last things" to be attended to at the museum -- though Mr. Aldrich* has been arranging all stage matters so far -- The tickets have gone very fast -- I have
[ Page 2 ]
not been able to go out for a few days on account of a severe cold, but the last look I had at the plan of seats was very reassuring -- Thank you, we will surely send word at once if anything calls for your presence in town today or tomorrow --
Yours sincerely
S. O. Jewett
[ Page 3 ]
On further consideration we are going to ask you if you will be near the Box-office and meet the gentlemen who are going to read and show them the way to the green room where they are going to meet before the reading.* Mr. Emery* will show you your way -- first! If you will ask for him.
Notes
Aldrich: Thomas Bailey Aldrich. See Key to Correspondents.
reading: In 1887, Jewett, as a member of the Cambridge Committee, helped to organized the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial Author's Reading for 31 March 1887
Emery: A William H. Emery was listed as a clerk at the Boston Museum in the 1887 Boston Directory (p. 414).
The manuscript of this letter is held by the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Hawthorne-Longfellow Library, Brunswick, ME, Sarah Orne Jewett Papers, Series 1 (M238.1): Correspondence, 1877-1905, n.d.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Thomas Wentworth Higginson
148 Charles St.
29 March [ 1887 ]*
Dear Colonel Higginson
Will you please be at the Museum* on Thursday a few minutes before two o-clock, say ten minutes? You will not need any entrance ticket, but if you go up the Museum stairs nearest Park St. to the
[ Page 2 ]
box office, you will be shown your way to the green room by Mr. Emery* or his deputy or, more likely still, by Mr. Arthur Gilman* --
Yours sincerely
S. O. Jewett.
Notes
1887: This letter fairly clearly concerns arrangements for the authors reading to raise funds for the Longfellow Memorial on 31 March 1887. Jewett was active in organizing this event, serving as secretary for the committee.
Museum: The Longfellow Memorial reading was held at the Boston Museum on 31 March 1887. Higginson was one of the readers.
Mr. Emery: A William H. Emery was listed as a clerk at the Boston Museum in the 1887 Boston Directory (p. 414).
Arthur Gilman: It is not perfectly clear whether Jewett has written Mr. or Mrs. Arthur Gilman. Stella Scott Gilman (1844-1928) was the second wife of the educator, Arthur Gilman (1839-1909). Together, they were the originators in 1879 of Private Collegiate Instruction for Women, known as the Harvard Annex. She was the author of a child-rearing book, Mothers in Council (1884). Mrs. Gilman was a member of the Cambridge Committee that organized the authors reading.
This manuscript of this letter is held by Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library, in the Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Isabella Stewart Gardner
148 Charles St.
Wednesday [ 18 - 30 March 1887 ]
My dear Mrs Gardner
This is a secret advising! -- We* have just been talking over the Great Occasion* with Mr. Norton* who tells us that in introducing Colonel Higginson* he means to speak gratefully and from his heart of what Mr. Henry Higginson* has done for everybody{,}
[ Page 2 ]
grateful or ungrateful! And he confessed that he hoped the audience would respond properly. Will you help us and speak to one or two trusty friends, so that the audience will be led into clapping its hands as one man? -- I should like at least to have Mr. Norton know that
[ Page 3 ]
his tribute is seconded & thirded --
I have had an enthusiastic desire too, that the audience should be got on its feet when the curtain goes up -- do you think it possible? One person can do a good deal with the most clumsy audience -- sometimes!
Notes--- Your sincerely
Sarah O. Jewett
March 1887: This date is somewhat uncertain because the letter may refer to either of two very similar events. In 1887, Jewett, as a member of the Cambridge Committee, helped to organized the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial Author's Reading for 31 March 1887. Jewett's invitation of T. W. Higginson to the reading on behalf of the committee went out on 18 March. However, Shana McKenna, archivist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Boston notes that a centennial celebration of Longfellow's birthday took place on 27 February 1907 at Harvard's Sanders Theater. The main participants in both events were the same, making it difficult to determine to which event this letter refers.
1887 seems the more likely date. See below for more details.
We: Jewett speaks for herself and Annie Adams Fields. See Correspondents.
Great Occasion: Jewett may refer to either of two "great" occasions.
The Longfellow Memorial Authors Reading took place on 31 March 1887. The event is described in The New York Times (30 March 1887, p. 4):
When the curtain rises on the Boston Museum stage Thursday afternoon those present will look upon more eminent authors than have ever been gathered together for a public entertainment. The cause of their presence will be an "author's reading" for the benefit of the Longfellow memorial fund. Charles Eliot Norton will be master of ceremonies, if such he may be called. Oliver Wendell Holmes will follow with his poem, "The Chambered Nautilus," and Edward Everett Hale will read his ballad, "The Great Harvest Year." George William Curtis will come from New-York, and is expected to read a selection from the "Potiphar Papers," although he has not announced the topic chosen. F. [intended T.] B. Aldrich, if well enough at the time, will choose a chapter from "The Bad Boy," and Julia Ward Howe, James Russell Lowell, W. D. Howells, and Thomas W. Higginson will have little difficulty in finding some delightful sketch for the occasion. The venerable John G. Whittier is expected to journey from Oak Knoll for this occasion, but beyond his presence will contribute nothing to the literary entertainment. Success is assured, as the entire house is taken, a large portion at fancy prices, New-York contributing bountifully in checks and good wishes for the success of the enterprise.
The Longfellow Birthday Centennial took place on 27 February 1907. The Harvard Crimson offers this description:
This evening in Sanders Theatre at 7.45 o'clock public exercises will be held, at which addresses will be made by President Eliot, Colonel T. W. Higginson '41 and Professor C. E. Norton '46. Owing to illness Mr. W. D. Howells h.'67, who was to be the principal speaker will be unable to attend, but his address will be read by Professor Bliss Perry of the department of English. For the same reason Mr. T. B. Aldrich will not be present, but his poem will be rendered by Mr. C. T. Copeland '82 of the English department. A special chorus from the public schools will sing the cantata, "The Village Blacksmith."The main reason for believing Jewett refers to the 1887 event is her statement that Charles Eliot Norton intends to honor Henry Higginson, a founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. See below. Various magazine reports, including that of the Harvard Crimson, presented the text of Professor Norton's speech in 1907. Norton does not mention Henry Lee Higginson in his address, and there is no record that he did so while introducing Colonel Higginson.
However, it is also the case that a circumstantial account of the 1887 event in the Cambridge Chronicle (Volume 42, 2146, 2 April 1887, p. 2) does not mention any reference to Henry Higginson.
Mr. Norton: Charles Eliot Norton. See Sara Norton in Key to Correspondents.
Colonel Higginson: Thomas Wentworth Higginson. See Correspondents.
Henry Higginson: Thomas Wentworth Higginson was a distant cousin of Henry Lee Higginson (1834-1919), who was the organizing founder and first financial backer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra began performing in the 1880s and was well established by 1885. The Wikipedia account of his administration of the orchestra suggests why there would have been some ungrateful Bostonians.
He married another acquaintance of Jewett and Fields, Ida Agassiz, daughter of the Harvard biology professor, Louis Agassiz.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA. Transcription and annotation by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Thomas Wentworth Higginson
147 Charles St.
[ March 1887 ]*
Dear Col. Higginson
The ticket is for Mrs. Higginson, and I suppose that the readers will use the stage entrance. Also I take it for granted that afternoon dress will [be corrected ] worn -- The manager at the Museum* seemed to understand what was wanted as to "scenery."[ Page 2 ]
and we have [ have repeated ] it on the list of things to be done that the reading desk &c must be exactly right. The committee is racking its collective brain [ in written over to ] order to make the best possible arrangements for the readers.[ Page 3 ]
You shall have early notice of any change in the minor plans. Every thing has gone capitally so far --
Yours sincerely
S. O. Jewett
Notes
1887: Jewett is confirming arrangements for the Longfellow Memorial Authors Reading that took place on 31 March 1887,
Museum: The Longfellow Memorial reading was held at the Boston Museum on 31 March 1887. Higginson was one of the readers.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Boston Public Library: Folder 70: Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. A.L.S. to Thomas Wentworth Higginson; [Boston, n.d.] 1 s. (3 p.) Old folder #: 73. MS. P. 91.37 (70).
Sarah Orne Jewett to John Greenleaf Whittier [ Fragment ]
148 Charles St.
Sunday morning
[ Before 31 March 1887 ]*
My dear friend
Mrs. Fields* says that perhaps you will know somebody else to whom you will like to give these tickets -- As for your own place we both think as do all your friends who have spoken about it, [ that ? ] you must sit with your friends on the platform. It will be more comfortable
[ Page 2 ]
there by far -- not draughty and quite possible for you to hear the readings as the group of men will be about the reading desk and not in solemn order behind it -- And you can easily slip away by the side entrance if you choose at any time -- I dont enlarge upon the great pleasure it will give people to see their best men together for once, [ nor ? ] how eagerly I have been asked if you
[ Page 3 ]
would not be there -- You will probably have one or two to keep you company in not reading, and I hope with all my heart that for the occasion's sake and for [ deletion ] "the folks" you will find it possible to say yes. -- We think that it is going to be a charming afternoon -- Mr. Hale* was here yesterday afternoon talking ^about his part and also^ so eloquently about his trip to Florida -- Why
[ Page 4 ]
dont we all move down to pleasant [ weather corrected ] when the fast trains make it such a little way off. But I dare say I should be the first one to run home to windy New England --
---- Last night A.F. "had a party" for the little Hindoo woman, [ Pundita Rama bai so it appears ] and asked Mohini* to it -- what do you think of that! There were about twenty here for the little lady is deaf and speaks
[ letter breaks off ]
[ Up the left margin of page 1 ]
A.F. sends love & so does S.O.J.
Notes
1887: In another hand beneath Jewett's date: "[ 1887 ? R. H. W. ]".
Almost certainly, this letter refers to the Author's Reading for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial, which took place on 31 March 1887. In a letter to Fields of 5 April 1887, Whittier says he is glad he did not attend, for "That three hours of sitting would have been too much for my human nature."
Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
Hale: Edward Everett Hale. Key to Correspondents.
Pundita Rama bai ... Mohini: Wikipedia says that Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati (1858-1922) was an Indian scholar and social reformer, who toured often in the U.S. to raise money for destitute Indian women.
Mohini Mohun Chatterji (1858-1936) was a Bengali attorney and scholar who became a prominent representative of Theosophy during the 1880s, taking his message to England, Ireland and the United States. The Theosophical Society had been founded in 1875 in the United States and later established an international headquarters in India. Mohini visited the United States in 1886-7. He was in Boston in March 1887. See Diane Sasson, Yearning for a New Age (2012), pp. 173-179.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, Pickard-Whittier papers I. Letters to John Greenleaf Whittier Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 17 letters; [1882]-1883., [1882]-1883. Box: 3 Identifier: MS Am 1844, (169).
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Lilian Woodman Aldrich
148 -- Wednesday [ 30 March 1887 ]*
Yours ever
My dear Lilian
I meant to write you yesterday to say how sorry we were to hear that you were ill, and also how much we hoped that you would get well fast enough to come to dinner tonight! I am not divided in my hope about Mr. T.B.A's*
[ Page 2 ]
cold either -- for we should be so sorry if he were prevented from coming and it would not involve his ^not^ being hoarse tomorrow! The great day will soon be over and I shall not not be sorry when I wake up Friday morning
[ Page 3 ]
and [ can ? ] think that the glorious occasion was yesterday -- We have had no word yet from Mark Twain Esqre* but still hope to have him to dine with! -- with love from A.F.*
S. O. J.
Notes
30 March 1887: This date is based upon the likelihood that Jewett refers to the Authors Reading of 31 March 1887. See below.
T.B.A.: Thomas Bailey Aldrich.See Key to Correspondents.
Mark Twain: American author, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) wrote under the name, Mark Twain. In March of 1887, Jewett served as secretary to the Cambridge Committee, a group of prominent women who organized an Authors Reading in Boston to benefit a memorial for American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). Among the scheduled readers were Clemens and T. B. Aldrich. The event took place on Thursday 31 March 1887.
A.F.: Annie Adams Fields.See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Thomas Baily 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: 2663.
Celia Thaxter to Annie Adams Fields (Fragment)*
[ March 1887 ]
plished it -- Any how I crept out to the talk about the "Song of Songs"* yesterday & saw Mohini* like a keen ray from the central sun & heard his words of fire that burns not, but saves, fire that heats not, but lights, the mind{.} Do you remember what Schiller* said to the unknown author of the "Bhagavat Gitâ," on first reading the poem? --*
"Thee, first, most holy prophet, interpreter of the Deity, by whatever name thou wast called among mortals, the author of this poem, by whose oracles the mind is rapt with ineffable delight to doctrines lofty, eternal, and divine, -- thee first, I say, I hail, & shall always worship at thy feet."
Notes
fragment: This page was selected and edited for inclusion in Letters of Celia Thaxter, edited by her friends A.F. and R.L. (Annie Fields and Rose Lamb), where it was placed with letters of 1885. However, the letter almost certainly was composed in March of 1887. See notes below.
There are several marginal notes, in pencil and in ink, some deleted; these relate to how the text would appear in the book. The full text of the page is given here, the only slightly different Fields and Lamb transcription appears below. One note specifies that the letter was addressed to Annie Fields, Boston.
On the back of this page appear two lines written vertically in relation to the other side of the page:
Dear Flower
by Pinny
Thaxter, Fields, and Sarah Orne Jewett used these nicknames, Flower for Fields, Pinny for Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Song of Songs: Usually in the United States, this would refer to "The Song of Solomon," a book in the Old Testament of the Bible. However, in this case, Thaxter indicates that the lecture she attended was given by Mohini (see note below); therefore, it is likely that she refers to the "Indian Song of Songs," the Gita Govinda.
Mohini: Mohini Mohun Chatterji (1858-1936) was a Bengali attorney and scholar who became a prominent representative of Theosophy during the 1880s, taking his message to England, Ireland and the United States. The Theosophical Society had been founded in 1875 in the United States and later established an international headquarters in India. Mohini visited the United States in 1886-7. He was in Boston in March 1887. See Diane Sasson, Yearning for a New Age (2012), pp. 173-179.
Schiller: German polymath author Johann Christoph Friedrich (von) Schiller (1759-1805). Thaxter apparently is mistaken about the source of the quotation, as a number of reviewers and editors attribute it to German poet and critic, August Schlegel (1767-1845), translator into Latin of the Sanskrit Hindu scripture, The Bhagavad Gita (Second Century BCE). The quotation varies slightly from source to source. Its origin in the works of Schegel is never given and has not yet been located.
poem: The rest of this page, the quotation from Schiller/Schlegel, is written with red ink.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, California: James Thomas Fields Papers and Addenda (1767-1914), mss FI 1-5637, Box 63 FI 1- 4161. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Fields and Lamb Transcription for Letters of Celia Thaxter
I crept out to the talk about the "Song of Songs" yesterday and saw Mohini, like a keen ray from the central sun, and heard his words of fire that burns not but saves, -- fire that heats not, but lights the mind. Do you remember what Schiller* said to the unknown author of the "Bhagavat Gitâ" on first reading the poem? --
"Thee first, most holy prophet, interpreter of the Deity, by whatever name thou wast called among mortals, the author of this poem, by whose oracles the mind is rapt with ineffable delight to doctrines lofty, eternal, and divine, -- thee first, I say, I hail, and shall always worship at thy feet."
John Greenleaf Whittier to Annie Adams Fields
Amesbury 4 Mo 5 1887
My dear friend
What a wonderful success the Reading* was! If the Longfellow memorial association, after such a lift cannot finish their work without further delay, I shall propose to turn it over to the ladies with Mrs Fields at their head.
I am glad I did not go to the Reading. That three hours of sitting would have been too much for my human nature. I am glad that little [ unrecognized name ] has fallen into
[ Page 2 ]I have been waiting with what patience I could command for the Spring. But this last snow storm discouraged me, as well as the blue birds & robins.
the hands of the Unitarians. Of course [ he ? ] would get little sympathy from the contemplative philosopher Mohini.* He is above & beyond all that. It would be well to put him under the tutelage of Lucy Stone and Susan Anthony* for awhile. For my part I never blamed [ Xantippe ? ]* after knowing Alcott.* Orphic sayings [ deleted word ] are not edifying to the poor wife who is splitting the oven wood.
[ Page 3 ]
I'm obliged to send this to the P. Office before I have said half that I wish to. Tell Sarah* that I am impatient [ of ? ] waiting for her story. With love to you both and wishing I could see you, I am always gratefully thy friend
John G. Whittier
Notes
Reading: Whittier refers to the 31 March 1887 authors' reading to raise funds for the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial. For Longfellow, see Key to Correspondents.
Unitarians: Whittier presumably refers to the American Unitarian Association, a Protestant Christian denomination that split off from the Congregational churches of New England, mainly over the issue of viewing God as one being or as a trinity.
The name of the person Whittier is glad to see joining the Unitarians is not clear, looking like "Pundeter."
Mohini: Mohini Mohun Chatterji (1858-1936) was a Bengali attorney and scholar who became a prominent representative of Theosophy during the 1880s, taking his message to England and Ireland. The Theosophical Society had been founded in 1875 in the United States and later established an international headquarters in India. Among the acquaintances of Whittier, Fields and Jewett, Celia Thaxter showed a good deal of interest in "Mohini." See Key to Correspondents.
John B. Pickard's note on Mohini:
Whittier was much impressed by Mohini (Protap Chunder Mozoomdar), then lecturing in the United States for the second time. In a letter to Elizabeth Neall Gay on February 22, 1887, he said: "Some of my friends in Boston are puzzling themselves with the Buddhist theosophy and have got a Hindu adept, one Mohini M. Chattingi -- a solemn-faced Oriental, to expound its mysteries. And the Society for Psychical Research are gathering up all the stories afloat of signs and wonders, and omens and apparitions, witchcraft and spiritualism -- a competitive examination of ghosts! -- I have rather enjoyed reading the reports of a similar society in England. Their investigations are conducted on strictly scientific principles. I hope some clew may be found to the great mystery of life and death -- and the beyond! -- But I scarcely expect it. We shall still have to trust and wonder and keep our faith" (Columbia University).It appears that Pickard has conflated two Indian spiritual leaders, as Chatterji and Mozoomdar (1840-1905) were different people. Mozoomdar seems not to have visited the United States in 1887 (though he did travel there in 1883), and his work was not closely concerned with Theosophy. See also The Life of Protap Chunder Mozoomdar (1927) by Suresh Chunder Bose.
Lucy Stone and Susan Anthony: The transcriptions of these surnames is uncertain, but the inferences seem probable in context. Lucy Stone (1818-1893) and Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906), both, were prominent American suffragists in the 1880s.
Xantippe: This transcription is uncertain, but the name fits this context reasonably well. Xanthippe was the wife of the ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates, sometimes portrayed as harsh and impatient.
Alcott: Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) probably is best remembered today as the father of American novelist, Louisa May Alcott (1832 - 1888). During his lifetime, he was a prominent Massachusetts educator and reformer. His "Orphic Sayings," short poetical-philosophical pronouncements appeared to widely mixed response in The Dial, a publication of American Transcendentalists, with whom Alcott was associated. In her sketch, "Transcendental Wild Oats," Louisa May Alcott recounts her family's experience at the ill-fated Fruitlands commune, where Louisa's mother performed excessive hard physical labor while her father philosophized.
Sarah: Sarah Orne Jewett. Whittier probably was anticipating the appearance of Jewett's "The Courting of Sister Wisby" in the May 1887 Atlantic. It is possible, though, that he was looking forward to "Miss Peck's Promotion" in the June 1887 Scribner's.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields collection: mss FI 72-4803. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Louisa Loring Dresel
Saturday morning
[ 9 April 1887 ]*
Dear Loulie
I was glad to get your letter yesterday and to know that you will be at home tonight. I shall be thinking of you tomorrow; how delightful your own corner of the world will seem after being in so many strange corners!
I shall be expecting
[ Page 2 ]
to hear the end of the first half of your letter -- it was so funny about the people who looked like their figurines on the best mantel piece --
Did I tell you to please be looking out for the May Atlantic next week? I think that you will like a new story* at least I hope you will. It belongs to the kind [ deletion ]
[ Page 3 ]that you do like generally! but when I saw it in sheets I thought that I should change it if I could.
Did you know that Ellis* most kindly brought us some of your Easter flowers? They were very lovely and it was very good of Ellis -- wasn't it? I still hope to be in town by the middle of next week and I shall
[ Page 4 ]
be hoping to see you one of the first days{,}
Yours affectionately
S. O. J.
Notes
1887: This letter is dated "1891" in pencil, but that is unlikely. I believe April 9, 1887 is more likely. Jewett had stories in Atlantic in May of 1886, 1887, 1891 and 1892. The opening suggests that Jewett wrote on the Saturday before Easter. In 1892 at Easter, Jewett was in Europe. Easter in 1891 fell on 29 March, seemingly too early to expect the May issue of Atlantic to appear the week after Easter.
In 1887, Easter fell on 10 April, making it at least possible that the May Atlantic would appear the following week. If this is correct, then the piece Jewett commended to Dresel would have been "The Courting of Sister Wisby," a story containing a good deal more humor than "A Native of Winby."
It is possible, however, that Jewett wrote the letter in 1886. Easter fell on 25 April, and that year's May Atlantic story was "Marsh Rosemary."
Another clue to the date is the indication that Dresel has been traveling abroad.
Ellis: Dresel's brother. See Dresel in Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is in the collection of the Miller Library of Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Scott Frederick Stoddart's transcription is in his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: Selected Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett,1988.
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ April 1887 ]*
I saw the Queen ^of Sandwich Islands^* by chance today driving in with four horses from Charlestown at full speed. It was a pretty sight. She is really very black which
[ Page 2 ]
disgusts the street children immensely to judge by their remarks.
[ Mrs corrected ] Merriman* said today at Ed* that a new understanding of life and our spiritual relations with it had come to her from Mrs Dresser --* How strange it seems! But I should like my share too!!
My own dear child. God bless you -- Good night{.}
your own Fuff --*
[ Page 3 ]
I shall try to go to the Annex* after the Conference tomorrow and then I shall try to do nothing but my own business at
[ Page 4 ]
home of which I have more than enough for some days to come --
Now to bed!
Notes
April 1887: This date is supported by Fields's report of seeing the Queen of the Sandwich Islands in Boston. See note below.
islands: This insertion appears to be penciled in another hand.
Fields probably refers to Queen Kapiʻolani (1834-1899), who was Queen consort of Hawaii/Sandwich Islands 1874-1891. Wikipedia says that in April 1887, Queen Kapiʻolani led "a delegation to attend the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in London." Their route included traveling across the U.S. with visits to Washington, D.C., Boston, and New York City.
Merriman: Helen Bigelow Merriman. Key to Correspondents.
Ed* : This transcription is uncertain, and its meaning is not yet known.
Dresser: Annetta G. Seabury Dresser (1843-1935) and her husband Julius Alphonso Dresser (1838-1893) were practitioners of the "Quimby System of Mental Treatment of Diseases," a rival and possible precursor of Christian Science.
Annex: The Harvard Annex in Cambridge, MA, founded in 1879, became Radcliffe College in 1894. Wikipedia.
Fuff: A Fields nickname.
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.
Sarah Orne Jewett to the [Boston] Herald
[ 13 April 1887 ]*
My dear Sir
Mrs. Fields wishes me to ask you if it would be possible to insert a line in next week's issue of the Sunday Herald to say [the intending that] the article upon Raphael ^translated by Miss Adams^ was by Prof Hermann Grimm of Berlin* -- It was left out accidentally from
[ Page 2 ]
the heading -- and Mrs Fields thinks it would be of interest to the many admirers of Grimm among our German scholars, as well as [deleted letters] a great satisfaction to Miss Adams whose chief wish was to extend
[ Page 3 ]
his fame!
And when the cheque is ready will you be good enough to send it to Mrs. Fields who will forward it to Berlin? --
Yours sincerely
Sarah O. Jewett
148 Charles St
Boston 13 April
Notes
Herald ... 1887: The Boston Herald was founded in 1846. The composition date of 1887 has been chosen arbitrarily, though it should be close to correct. As the notes below indicate, Sarah Adams was associated with Herman Grimm in Germany from 1877 until 1892. Because Grimm completed his book on Raphael in 1888, that would be a likely year for a translation of an article by Grimm on Raphael to appear. Jewett was in Florida in April of 1888, but she was in Boston in 1887.
The article to which Jewett refers has not been located.
Mrs Fields: For Annie Adams Fields and her sister, Sarah Holland Adams, see Fields in Key to Correspondents.
Hermann Grimm: Herman (sometimes Hermann) Grimm (1828-1901) was a German professor and writer. His father Wilhelm and uncle Jakob are remembered as the philologists and collectors of the "Brothers Grimm" folk tales. He worked much of his life on a biography of the Italian Renaissance painter, Raphael, publishing a first incomplete edition in 1872 and a "complete" version that Sarah Adams translated for publication in 1888.
According to Rita Gollin (Annie Adams Fields, p. 13) Sarah Adams befriended Professor Grimm soon after her arrival in Germany in 1877 and became his translator, completing several books as well as articles, such as the one mentioned in this letter, before she returned to Boston in 1892.
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.
***
Eben Norton Horsford to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ Begin Letterhead ]
27. Craigie Street.
Cambridge.
[ End Letterhead ]
Apr. 19. 87.
My dear Sarah,
I send you my [ Zeisberger's ? ] [ unrecognized word ] which, and which you know a little of, and Newichawannack* which you know [ reams ? ] of, and about which I have been more or less busy for two years -- with my love. It is a nice little primer, is'nt it?
We are slowly resting up. We often talked of you when in the midst of the tropical splendor, and wished that you and dear Mrs. Fields* might see what we were looking upon.
I am coming to see you
[ Page 2 ]
very soon. My dear wife, thank you, is slowly regaining her strength after the prostration which pneumonia brings{.}
with love to Mrs. Fields
I am affectionately yours
E. N. Horsford
Notes
Newichawannack: Native American place name for the area of Jewett's hometown of South Berwick, ME. Spellings vary, and I am unable to determine which spelling Horsford uses here.
Though Horsford published a good deal about Native Americans in New England, I do not know whether the piece he names was published.
He edited Zeisberger's Indian Dictionary: English, German, Iroquois, Algonquin, Cambridge Massachusetts (1887). I am not perfectly sure that he wrote "Zeisberger's" but the first four letters seem right.
Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Horsford refers to his family's recent tour of the Caribbean. See Horsford to Jewett of 22 March 1887.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Horsford, Eben Norton, 1818-1893. 2 letters; 1887. (99).
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 Thomas Bailey Aldrich
148 Charles Street
Friday afternoon [ 29 April 1887 ]*
My dear Friend
I am afraid that I shall [ deleted word ] ^let^ you keep the Landscape Chamber story* (unless you do not care to print it for some time) because I have a good deal of work to do on the other one -- It is all written but I have not even begun to copy it; and have put
[ Page 2 ]
it away for an industrious season in the summer -- Besides, it will be a good deal longer than the L.C. -- More than twice as long I should think.
-- I hope that I was not grasping about the verses? A.F.* had $30. for her last one in the Atlantic -- at least I think she did -- I hate all
[ Page 3 ]
this business part of my work and have had such hot and cold fits about big prices and little prices that I am going to let my ink bottle dry up and all my Esterbrook J. pens* get rusty and fall on the floor and be one-legged for ever afterward. I should like Mr. Houghton* to know how many times I have been paid $200. for short stories -- then
[ Page 4 ]
he could not think that I was the heartless mercenary I now appear. -----
In the meantime read what the Nation says about your poems in the May number.*
I hope that you and dear Lilian* will have a lovely week in New York and that she will come back "'earty" [ ! ? ] I shall be looking forward to a day with you both in Lynn early in June.
Yours affectionatelyNotes
S. O. J.
29 April 1887: This date is supported mainly by Jewett's indication that Aldrich has accepted "The Landscape Chamber." 29 April is the first Friday that year after which she was likely to have read the review of Aldrich she mentions. See notes below.
Landscape Chamber story: Jewett's "The Landscape Chamber" appeared in Atlantic Monthly (60:603-613), November 1887.
The other story Jewett mentions may be "Law Lane," one of her longer stories. It appeared in Scribner's Magazine (2:725-742), December 1887. Another longer story that Jewett published in 1888, but did not place in a magazine was "A Village Shop," which first appeared in The King of Folly Island (1888).
A. F.: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents. According to Judith Roman's bibliography in Annie Adams Fields (1990), Fields's most recent poem in Atlantic would have been "Deisidaimonia: (Holy Fear)" in March 1884. Jewett's next poem in Atlantic was "A Caged Bird," (59:816-817), June 1887.
Esterbrook J. pens: Richard Esterbrook (1812-1895) was an American steel pen manufacturer. The Esterbrook J was an early fountain pen.
Mr. Houghton: Henry Oscar Houghton. See Key to Correspondents
May number: Probably, Fields refers to the 28 April 1887, number 1139, of The Nation, a weekly, (p. 367). There in the notes column, the magazine reviews Aldrich's set of poems appearing in the May 1887 Atlantic: "three sonnets and an epilogue ... written with unusual elevation and with a width of view that place it almost in the class of reflective poetry.... [I]n compass of meaning and closeness of execution it is not rivalled by any recent contributions from our poets of distinction. It is in a vein seldom worked by its author, who is known too exclusively as a writer of lyrics; but work of this sort is nobler, and is, besides, perfectly modern and contemporary."
Lilian: Lilian Woodman Aldrich. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Thomas Baily 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: 2695.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Francis Rives Lassiter
[ April-May 1887 ]*
Dear Mr. Lassiter
I shall be at home late this afternoon at any time after four o'clock, and very glad to see you if you care to come then --
Yours sincerely
S. O. Jewett
148 Charles St.
Tuesday --
Notes
1887: Almost certainly this letter was composed during 1887 and sent from the home of Annie Adams Fields at 148 Charles St., Boston. During this period, Lassiter was practicing law in Boston. This appears to be from early in Lassiter's acquaintance with Jewett, which likely began in the spring of 1887.
In early 1888, Lassiter returned to his home in Petersburg, Virginia, where Jewett and Fields visited him in April.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Rubinstein Library, Lassiter Family Papers, Duke University. Box 53. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Nathan Appleton*
[ Letterhead in red ink of SOJ initials superimposed ]
[ 10 May 1887 ]*My dear Mr. Appleton
Since the picture reached Berwick and was hung in its place I like it a great deal better than ever, but I am afraid that I have never half thanked you for it.-- I enjoy it more and more every day and you do not
[ Page 2 ]
know what a pleasure it is --
I have often noticed this about Mr. Appleton Brown's paintings: people are sure they have known the same bits of landscape! and it happens that there is a place 'downriver' which has grown dear to my heart, and which seems to have
[ Page 3 ]
stood for this faithful portrait. When Mrs Fields* and I went to Richards'* (a day before I saw you there) I showed her this likeness with great delight and we both went back to look at it again and again.
I must thank for a great deal else beside this picture: and this winter's talks
[ Page 4 ]
and little feasts with you have made me 'read between the lines' of your books-- -- I wish you a delightful summer on land and sea and I am
Yours sincerelySouth Berwick Maine
Sarah O. Jewett
10 May ----
Notes
Appleton: At this writing, this letter appears in a Colby Special Collections folder with a letter to John Appleton Brown. However the greeting is to Mr. Appleton, and Appleton Brown is the subject of the letter.
I cannot be certain that Nathan Appleton (1843-1906) was indeed the intended recipient, but he fits the facts here reasonably well. He was a Boston author and art collector who gave dozens of objects to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, including many paintings.
1887: Scott Stoddart says "This letter has been dated '1889' in pencil by a Colby curator." That date no longer appears on the manuscript or in Colby's finding guide. There is a rationale for dating the letter to 1887. Retired Jewett House Museum guide, Lorrie Eastwick, notes that the engraving remains in Jewett's bedroom, where it can be viewed today, to the left of the main door upon entering. It is visible at this web page: https://jewett.house/location/sarahs-room/ .
The engraving has three notes below the image. It is signed lower left in heavy pencil by J Appleton Brown. Lower right in somewhat lighter pencil appears another note that may read: Comp Dana -- Secy, or perhaps Com P Dana -- Ley.
Below these notes and more centered appears this text in very light pencil:
To Miss Sarah Orne Jewett,(Research assistance: Nancy and Gary Wetzel).
with the complements of the ingraver
June 29 / 86
The June 1886 inscription to Jewett implies that the engraving was presented to Jewett in that year. It appears that by the following May, at the earliest, she may have had it framed and in her possession. This leaves a number of unanswered questions, such as: why did it take nearly a year from the inscription to her taking possession? What was Mr. Appleton's role in the transaction? Was Appleton Brown the engraver? Who was "Dana?"
Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
Richards: Scott Stoddart notes: "According to the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, 'The Doll & Richards gallery originated in Boston in 1866 as an art gallery and framing shop owned by Charles E. Hendrickson, E. Adam Doll, and Joseph Dudley Richards. The gallery was a well-known Boston establishment for over 100 years that represented William Stanley Haseltine, Winslow Homer, William Morris Hunt, and Andrew Wyeth, among many other notable American painters, sculptors, and printmakers."
The manuscript of this letter is in the collection of the Miller Library of Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Scott Frederick Stoddart's transcription is in his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: Selected Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett,1988.
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Thomas Niles to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ Letterhead in circle, upper left corner, shows a young angel seated on a globe, reading a book. Beneath the child's feet is a Latin motto: "QUI LEGIT REGIT."* In a circle around the image and motto, around the top, beginning center left: "ROBERTS BROTHERS,"; around the bottom, beginning on the left: "PUBLISHERS." ]
[ Letterhead continued, to the right of the seal, the underlined portion handwritten. ]
Boston, ____May 11 1887.
[ End letterhead ]*
Dear Mifs Jewett
I mail you an early copy of "A Week Away from Time"* a little work in wh. you are interested.
I could not print Mrs Lodge's preface wh. was an apology for herself as the writer of the "padding", a misnomer of her applying, & for the writers of the stories, on the ground that they were all amateurs, because the book is too clever to need apologies.
I enclose her letter wh. will explain the object of mine{.}
Yrs very truly
T. NIles*
Notes
QUI LEGIT REGIT: Latin: The one who reads also rules.
letterhead: Above the letterhead, this stationery also contains a printed text:
"There must be an international copyright arrangement. England has done her part, and I am confident the time is not far distant when America will do hers. It becomes the character of a great country, firstly, because it is justice; secondly, because without it you never can have, and keep, a literature of your own.” — CHARLES DICKENS (from a speech).Time: Mary Greenwood Lodge was compiler of A Week Away from Time (1887), new stories, translations, and verses, to which Mrs. Fields and Owen Wister contributed. Key to Correspondents.
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 165. I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
Monday Morning --
[ May 1887 ]*
Lily* came with her two handsome daughters! They are indeed beautiful girls -- They are pictures of fresh girlhood -- and were all ready for some artist to paint. I wanted to be the one!
[ Page 2 ]
Meanwhile Alice Warren* came to pass Tuesday with Mrs. Whitman* and I went there for half an hour after Lily went away at 9.30 because Ellen* wanted me to go there again to luncheon today and I could not well spare the time. A.W. sent love to you. She wished me [ the promise ? ] to go to [ Mattapoy ? ]* this week
[ Page 3 ]
but I do not see how I can go at all.
My darling, God bless you! The Linnet* passed Saturday Evening here and thought he saw your hand in the prologue to [ the ? ] G. L. book* -- (He does not know it is hers!) Found me out with a glance!
I shall send you the L. book
[ Up the left margin of page 1 ]
and we will carry it to [ all ? ] --
[ Up the right margin of page 1 ]
Ever and ever your own A.F.
Notes
Spring 1887: This date is based upon the likelihood that Fields refers to the recently published book, A Week Away from Time. See notes below.
Lily: Elizabeth (Lily) Nelson Fairchild and her daughters, Sally and Lucia. See Lily Fairchild in Key to Correspondents. American painter John Singer Sargent painted Sally Fairchild several times.
Alice Warren: This may be Alice Amelia Bartlett Warren (1843-1912), who traveled often in Europe and moved in the same social circles as Fields and Jewett, being a friend of Henry James and Ellen Emerson, among other Jewett correspondents. See the introduction to Little Women Abroad: The Alcott Sisters' Letters from Europe, 1870-1871 (2008), edited by Daniel Shealy, pp. lxii-lxiii.
Mrs. Whitman: Sarah Wyman Whitman. Key to Correspondents.
Ellen: Ellen Frances Mason. Key to Correspondents.
Mattapoy: This transcription is uncertain, and this apparent location has not yet been identified.
Linnet: Thomas Bailey Aldrich nickname. Key to Correspondents.
G.L. book: Probably this is A Week Away from Time (1887) edited by Mary Greenwood Lodge. Key to Correspondents. All contributors were anonymous. There is no evidence that Jewett herself contributed directly to the volume, though Annie Fields composed an introductory poem.
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.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ Late June 1887 ]*
My darling: They have all gone to bed in the house and I find today's envelope with your letter has not gone, by mistake, so I sit up for a brief space to tell you that the lilies arrived this evening -- I never saw such a river bank full as you have sent! How your time and patience held out I cannot imagine. Do thank your sister and John* -- for her roses were still lovely when the box was opened --
[ Page 2 ]
They came in such a good season too, for I had been rather low and sad all day but your dear love is always reaching out just at the right time and in spite of my [ non=deserts ? ].
Coolidge* returned from town at 12 m when we had early lunch and went over to see Alice and Mary at five P.M. They have both been ill (slightly) and we seemed welcome visitors -- Mary spoke of her happy
[ Page 3 ]
meeting with you. The air was exquisitely beautiful as we drove. Coming home we stopped at Mrs Dexter's* and finding a good chance I told her about Appleton Brown's* picture. Wouldn't it be delightful if* ---------------
She seemed to take to the idea --
I shall have a good morning tomorrow dividing the lilies and sending them everywhere, or as far as we can --
Mrs Towne* invited you and all to tea there tonight -- We could not go but it was kind of her all the same.
I have had a note from E.S.P.* tonight -- she has had all
[ Page 4 ]
kinds of ill news and misadventures, among them a "crazy [ cork or cock ? ]" -- I find I shall have to go with them to Gloucester. They have sworn not to set foot outside without me again -- So Wednesday we go --
Did I tell you how delighted they were with their visit to the Danas!* The children were exquisite indeed. We all lost our hearts to them.
How thankful I am that Mary & Uncle William* have gone to York! How did you go for to do it -- I fancy from what you say that you have given up your own visit there. [ How ? ] about poor Carrie* --
Good night -- my darling {--} We must hold to each other
your own A.F.
Notes
1887: Almost certainly this letter was composed near June 1887, in the final months of the life of Jewett's Uncle William Durham Jewett. See notes below.
sister and John: Mary Rice Jewett and John Tucker. Key to Correspondents.
Coolidge ... Alice and Mary: Sarah Chauncey Woolsey (Coolidge), Alice Greenwood Howe, Mary Greenwood Lodge. Key to Correspondents.
Dexter's: Josephine Moore Dexter. Key to Correspondents.
Appleton Brown's: John Appleton Brown. Key to Correspondents.
if: Fields has drawn a long wavy line following this word.
Towne: Fields's old friend, Laura Towne (1825-1901), was a homeopathic physician and educator who, during the Civil War, had established a clinic and school on St. Helena's Island, South Carolina, for its large population of freed slaves.
E.S.P.: Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (later Ward). Key to Correspondents.
Danas: The family of Richard Henry Dana III. Key to Correspondents.
Uncle William: William Durham Jewett declined into his final illness in the summer of 1887, dying on 4 August.
Carrie: Carrie Jewett Eastman. Key to Correspondents.
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.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
Wednesday evening.
My darling: You cannot think how much pleasure your lilies gave -- The [ twins ? ] had some -- Mrs Rockwell* came to call and was given a very few !!
Mrs George Wigglesworth, Mifs Eustis nice bunches -- Mrs. Whitman the best of all -- Dr. Holmes -- Mifs Howes (and she was delighted with [ hers ? ] -- indeed they did look most lovely in the centre of her drawing [ deletion ] room) and we had enough to keep beside -- Oh I forgot we sent two large boxes to Bridget's Aunt and sister at the two hospitals ---
[ Page 2 ]
After we came home last evening and were sitting up round a small fire, we found the express had brought us some packages{.} When I opened mine what should it contain but the beautiful Symonds book* which my darling had sent --
Really nothing my own dear Pinny* could give me more pleasure! I am [ truly ? ] delighted to have it --
Mrs Cabot and Mifs Howes were so kind yesterday
[ Page 3 ]
and gave Coolidge such a perfect [ indian so it appears] fan that she and Dora were quite taken off their feet. Their [ one or two unrecognized words ] was a great success there. Today we go to Gloucester after an early luncheon at home but I have kept away this morning that I might write a word to you and have a [ mouthful ? ] of quiet --
I cannot tell you how beautiful the early morning was!
I am delighted you found something in the verses dear -- I am sure they
[ Page 4 ]
need much correction [ mark like an apostrophe ] and I will take them in hand and when I have done all I can to them we will talk them over.
O my dearest child! Do try to keep well for my sake.
My love to all and thanks to your mother for the roses and smaller flowers --
your own
A.F.
Notes
June 1887: This date is a guess, based on the possibility that this letter refers to the same gift of lilies.mentioned in Fields to Jewett of late June 1887.
Mrs Rockwell and other recipients of lilies: This may be Katharine Foote Rockwell (1839-1902), wife of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of mining, Alfred Perkins Rockwell (1834-1903).
twins: If this transcription is correct, then Fields refers to Helen Choate Bell and her sister (not a twin) Miriam Choate Pratt, Key to Correspondents;
Mrs George Wigglesworth -- George Wigglesworth (1853-1930) married Mary Catherine Dixwell (1855-1951);
Mifs Eustis -- This may be Elizabeth Mussey Eustis (1858-1936), a resident of Boston, who years later, fortunately survived the Titanic disaster of 1912;
Mrs. Whitman -- Sarah Wyman Whitman, Key to Correspondents;
Dr. Holmes -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Key to Correspondents;
Mifs Howes -- Probably this is Elizabeth Howes, sister of Susan Burley Cabot. See Mrs. Cabot in Key to Correspondents;
Bridget's Aunt and sister -- Probably the family of a Fields employee.
Symonds: Presumably Jewett has sent Fields a book by John Addington Symonds Jr. (1840-1893). His new book in 1887 would have been an English translation of Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. But Fields would have been interested in several of his earlier books, particularly those about travel in Italy. Wikipedia.
Pinny: Jewett's nickname.
Cabot: Susan Burley Cabot. Key to Correspondents.
Coolidge ... Dora: Sarah Chauncey Cabot (Coolidge) and her sister, Theodora. Key to Correspondents.
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.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Francis Rives Lassiter
148 Charles St.
[ Before 27 May 1887 ]*
Dear Mr. Lassiter
I remember the story perfectly now and I am glad you thought that I wrote it! It certainly was most spirited and beautiful --
We did not know that you were our
[ Page 2 ]
near neighbor at first -- Do you remember that you are the books' neighbour as well -- Mrs. Fields will be very glad to have you use them and learn to find your own way along the shelves --
Believe me
Yours sincerely
Sarah O. Jewett
Monday noon --
Notes
1887: Almost certainly this letter was written during 1887, before the end of the year, when Lassiter was practicing law in Boston, when he apparently was a near neighbor, residing perhaps at 84 Charles Street.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Rubinstein Library, Lassiter Family Papers, Duke University. Box 53. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Thomas Bailey Aldrich
South Berwick
27 May 1887
My dear Friend
I approach with feelings of awe and apprehension Mr. T. B. Aldrich in his capacity as Editor -- A person who read me ^part of^ a story some weeks ago, now says that he is going to send ititto the Atlantic
[ Page 2 ]
and implores my aid and advice -- I cannot tell him that I would not send it there because what I heard of the beginning of the story interested me a good deal with its picture of an old -- Virginia! house -- I must say that I speak of Mr. Lassiter.* I must even confess that he is cousin to the unreliable Miss Rives*
[ Page 3 ]
but then he does not know Miss [ Rives corrected ] at all so let us forgive him that, and forgive him his odes and sonnets. -- if we can, likewise his story if we must.
I dont know why young writers begin by wishing somebody to serve as go-between, but they always do. I wonder if we did? it seems so long ago!
-- I have been meaning
[ Page 4 ]*
to thank you for your beautiful poem in Harper* -- indeed before that I meant to write because I was in such a fright about your new poems when I heard of the fire in Park St.* I imagined that you had left them all in the old desk and that they were burnt alive -- unless the cherubs on the slate headstones outside had flown in to their rescue. I make clumsy jokes about
[ Page 5 ]
it for I had such a miserable pang at the time. Do print them soon so that I shall make sure of them.
I am going to town next week to be moved to Manchester with A.F.s* other impediments* and perhaps I shall see you and Lily* -- Please let this letter be forgotten by that time --
Yours affectionately
S. O. J.
Notes
Mr. Lassiter ... the unreliable Miss Rives: While this is not certain, Jewett's description suggests that she refers to Francis Rives Lassiter (1866-1909), a lawyer who eventually served as U. S. Representative from Virginia. He was the author of Arnold's Invasion of Virginia (1901). If this is correct, he would have been a young man of 21 in 1887. He published no fiction in Atlantic in 1887 or 1888.
Ellery Sedgwick in The Atlantic Monthly, 1857-1909 (pp. 174-5) describes the unreliability of Miss Rives regarding the March 1886 publication of "A Brother to Dragons," by Amélie Rives Troubetzkoy (1863-1945), a new and soon to be sensational and notorious author from Virginia.
poem in Harper: Aldrich's "A Petition" appeared in Harper's Monthly, June 1887, p. 414. The poem's speaker begs his muse that he "may not write verses when I'm old," then goes on to ask as well that his Muse delay his aging and, when it comes, to break it to him gently.
fire in Park St.: 4 Park Street in Boston was the address of publisher Houghton, Mifflin and of Atlantic Monthly. The building was damaged by a fire on 17 May 1887. While there were substantial losses of books in the press's salesroom, The American Stationer reported that the most valuable documents were off site at the time (May 19, 1887, p. 817).
The offices overlooked the Old Granary Burying Ground -- with its 18th-century graves --, in which lay, Aldrich once commented, "those who would never submit any more manuscript." See Sedgwick, The Atlantic Monthly (1994) p, 170.
Page 4: At the top left of this page, penciled in another hand appears: 42m-1836.
A.F.: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
impediments: Jewett may have written "impedimenta."
Lily: Lilian Woodman Aldrich. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Thomas Baily 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: 2706. This mark also appears at the bottom left of page 5.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Francis Rives Lassiter
South Berwick Maine
27 May 1887
Dear Mr Lassiter
I am writing Mr. Aldrlch* today and have spoken of the story as you desire. I hope that it will find a place in the Atlantic but Mr. Aldrich has a very distinct idea
[ Page 2 ]
of the sort of article that he wants and is always carrying out some plan or other as a good editor should -- I still think that Harper's Magazine would be more likely to find a place for A Virginia Love Story,* and if Mr. Aldrich proves
[ Page 3 ]
not to want it I surely should sent it to Mr. Alden* --
Have you see A Week Away from Time* -- of amateur authorship? I dont know when I have enjoyed a book so much -- it has charming work in it, and I have been so long in the search and am so fond of some of the authors that
[ Page 4 ]
I can hardly wait for all the world to read it!
You ought to find your way to Mrs. Fields's* garden now, for the lilacs must be all in bloom --
Pray believe me always
Yours sincerely
S. O. Jewett
Notes
Aldrich: Thomas Bailey Aldrich. See Key to Correspondents.
A Virginia Love Story: Lassiter is not yet known to have published fiction. Jewett's letter to Aldrich of 27 May 1887 indicates that, while she liked this story, she was not optimistic about it being published.
Alden: Henry Mills Alden. See Key to Correspondents.
A Week Away from Time: Mary (Mrs. James) Lodge (1829-1889) edited A Week Away from Time in 1887. Annie Fields provided a "Poetical Prelude" for this collection of pieces by a number of prominent contemporary authors, not including Jewett. Though the authors remained anonymous, they were not exactly amateurs.
Fields's: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Rubinstein Library, Lassiter Family Papers, Duke University. Box 21. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
Wednesday eveningI was so much obliged by the Longfellow volume* which came this morning. I have read most of it already and enjoyed it very much -- So much of 148* in it isn't there! and how dear and good what it says of your Memorial volume! Yes -- think of the Linnet!* I was so afraid at first that
[ Late May 1887 ]*
Dear Fuff*
[ Page 2 ]
his new poems were burnt up! -- What are you sending me to read I wonder? It didn't come with the postcard that announced it, but if it is a parcel I shall probably [ find corrected ] it at the post office in the morning --
(I wrote a short story today [deleted word ] suggested by something that John Tucker said this morning about a war experience.* I wonder if you will like it. I am getting at my work by degrees but it is very logy weather.
-- How good about the horse!
[ Page 3 ]
for I think that you would have more than the extra dollars worth of bother if he were left at Patrick Boyle's* -- and then he has been at the Masconomo Stable* so long, and Mrs. Dexter* probably arranged just how he must be kept -- I suppose she and Mrs. Tyson* are fairly launched in London dont you?
Do you hear anything more of A Week Away from Time?* I long to know what you think of it -- It was so dear to find your pencil marks
[ Page 4 ]
in the Longfellow book -- Alice* will be starting her pilgrimage to Mount Vernon* before very long -- Did you see her that day at the Annex?* Good night dear mouse -- I am sleepy now and have "reasons best known to myself" like yours of last night --
Your own Pin )*
Notes
Late May 1887: This date is confirmed by Jewett's reference to the fire at the Atlantic offices in Boston that occurred on 17 May 1887.
Parenthesis marks in this manuscript were penciled by Fields.
Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. Near the end of the letter, Jewett uses another nickname for Fields, "mouse." See Key to Correspondents.
Longfellow volume: Given Jewett's report that she read most of it on the same day that she drafted a short story, one would expect this book to be comparatively short. Perhaps it is Authors' Readings for the Longfellow Memorial Fund at the Boston Museum: Thursday afternoon, March 31, 1887, published in Boston by the Longfellow Memorial Association. Notes in the WorldCat entry for this volume credit Jewett with organizing the reading, though she actually was secretary to the committee that organized the reading.
However, Jewett mentions the degree to which Fields herself appears in the volume and particularly, a compliment to her "Memorial volume." Therefore, it seems more likely that Jewett has received the much longer Final Memorials of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1887) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Samuel Longfellow. This book contains a number of the poet's letters to Mr. and Mrs. James T. Fields. And in that volume (p. 305), there is a specific compliment on Annie Fields's memorial volume to her husband, James T. Fields (1881).
148: Annie Fields's Boston home at 148 Charles Street.
your Memorial volume: Probably this is Annie Fields's James T. Fields (1881).
the Linnet: The Linnet is Thomas Bailey Aldrich. See Key to Correspondents.
The building housing publisher Houghton, Mifflin and Atlantic Monthly at 4 Park Street in Boston was damaged by a fire on 17 May 1887, when Aldrich was editor of Atlantic. While there were substantial losses of books in the press's salesroom, The American Stationer reported that the most valuable documents were off site at the time (May 19, 1887, p. 817).
John Tucker ... war experience. See Key to Correspondents. In Jewett's "Peachtree Joe," The Californian Illustrated Magazine 4:187-191 (July 1893), Tucker recounts a Civil War experience.
Patrick Boyle's: Presumably, Boyle operated a stable in Manchester by the Sea or in the nearer Boston area, but this is not yet known.
Masconomo Stable: Whether there was a stable of this name in Manchester by the Sea, MA is not yet known, but there was a Masconomo Street.
Mrs. Dexter: Josephine Anna Moore (1846-1937) was the second wife of Chicago lawyer Wirt Dexter (1832-1890). She returned permanently to her Boston home after her husband's death.
Mrs. Tyson: Emily Tyson. See Key to Correspondents.
A Week Away from Time: Mary (Mrs. James) Lodge (1829-1889) edited A Week Away from Time in 1887. Annie Fields provided a "Poetical Prelude" for this collection of pieces by a number of prominent contemporary authors, not including Jewett.
Alice ...Mount Vernon: Which "Alice" Jewett means is uncertain: probably Alice Longfellow, but possibly Alice Greenwood Howe. See Key to Correspondents.
Likewise, which Mount Vernon Street home in Boston Jewett means also is in question. Friends who lived there included the Aldriches, the Whitmans, the Claflins, and the Wheelwrights.
the Annex: Stella Scott Gilman (1844-1928) was the second wife of the educator, Arthur Gilman (1839-1909). Together, they were the originators in 1879 of Private Collegiate Instruction for Women, known as the Harvard Annex.
Pin: 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 Annie Adams Fields (fragment)
Sunday evening, [ June 1887 ]*I have been reading "Pendennis" with such pleasure. What a beautiful story! I long to read some pages to you, for the humanity -- the knowledge of life and the sympathy with every-day troubles is more and more wonderful. It all seems new to me, and to follow Thackeray through the very days when he was at work upon it, as we can in the Scribner letters, is such a joy. I got "Law Lane" in proof yesterday in excellent season for the Christmas number, one would think. Mr. Burlingame hoped that I could shorten it a little,* and I have been working over it. He has great plans for his Christmas number and there are many things to go in. He seems pleased with "Law Lane," so is its humble author, but you are not to tell. I have not been out today, except to the garden to pick myself a luncheon of currants.
Notes
June 1887: Fields dates this letter to 1889. However, internal evidence. though confusing, proves an earlier date, almost certainly 1887. The evidence in other letters of this year is fairly strong that Jewett re-read Pendennis in the late spring and early summer of 1887. It is problematic though the Jewett seems to have the proofs so early in the year for "Law Lane." It is possible that the material on "Law Lane" is from another letter. This fragment comes from a part of the Fields 1911 collection, and this paragraph may combine parts of two letters.
Scribner Letters: William Makepeace Thackeray's (1811-1863) novel Pendennis appeared 1848-1850. A Collection of Letters of Thackeray, 1847-1855 (London 1887) was published by Scribner in 1888. In 1887, Jewett is likely to have been reading "A Collection of Unpublished Letters of Thackeray," in Scribner's Magazine (April 1887), p. 387 ff.
Mr. Burlingame: Edward Livermore Burlingame (1848-1922) was editor of Scribner's (1887-1914). Jewett's "Law Lane" appeared in Scribner's in December 1887 and was reprinted in The King of Folly Island in 1888.
This letter appears in Annie Fields, Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett (1911), Transcribed by Annie Adams Fields, with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
A Fragment from Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
Annie Fields includes this paragraph in Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett, pp. 42-3, dating it to 1889. Though none of the rest of this letter is currently known to be available, most of this paragraph clearly belongs about here in the chronological sequence of Jewett's correspondence.
However, the sentence about Miss Preston is problematic, and it may be from a different letter. Jewett to Fields of Friday Morning, June 1887, shows that Jewett almost certainly finished re-reading Pendennis in June, well before her uncle William Jewett's death in August. She could not have read Preston's article on Russian novels until late July of 1887.
[ June 1887 ]
I am almost through "Pendennis."* I do wish you would read it pretty soon! perhaps next winter! And a story which has been lagging a good while is beginning to write itself. Its name is "A Player Queen,"* and it hopes to be liked. Miss Preston's article looks very interesting in the "Atlantic,"' about the Russian novels,* but I have not found the right half hour to read it. Oh, my dear, it is such a comfort to think of you in the dear house, with the sea calling and all the song sparrows singing by turns to try and make you sing, too.
Notes
Pendennis: Jewett was reading the 1848-50 novel by British author, William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863).
"A Player Queen": "A Player Queen" was published in America 1 (July 28, 1888) 6-8. It was missed in later bibliographic studies and rediscovered by Philip B. Eppard, who reprinted it with his short essay, "Two Lost Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett," in Gwen Nagel, ed., Critical Essays on Sarah Orne Jewett (1984).
Miss Preston's article ... about the Russian novels: Harriet Waters Preston's "The Spell of the Russian Writers" appeared in The Atlantic in August 1887, pp. 199-213.
Celia Thaxter to Annie Adams Fields
Shoals. June 12th (87
My dearest Annie:
Thank you for sending the "Schloss Pallans"* letter. How are you on your hill top? I think your poem* is lovely in Scribner & the sequence of rhyme most rare & charming. How did you come to find it? -- Well, my weddings are over, thank fortune, & K.* & I anchored. I hope for the summer, tho' I have to go over to the farm once more before bride no.l returns, to train up the vines over the house in the way they shd. go* -- I had to wait for the painting of the house to do this.
Wedding No.2 was most lovely. Roland & Mabel had a bright, beautiful day -- they were married at Mabel's half sister's in Newton, the house was most charming, opening on every side with broad piazzas upon green lawns & blossoming vines & trees, & filled
2
with a most beautiful company of young people, principally, all in various stages of prettiness & pretty costumes. The little bride looked lovely in plain cream white silk & full long plain illusion veil, very simple & charming, carrying a bouquet of wild yellow azaleas. The house within was a wilderness of flowers masses of fire colored azalea, do you know it? & pale yellow & white, so fragrant! from the woods, -- fresh blackberry vines in full bloom of bridal whiteness, -- the bay window bowered in wild locust dropping its perfumed white spikes of flowers in a beautiful fringe above & creamy white guelder roses massed for background, mixed with green -- And by the fire azalea a mound of purple Iris -- I never saw any thing so pretty{.}
3
Sam Longfellow* was dear & beautiful in the simple service, all was bright & fresh & sweet. Roland looked like a shadow, but a happy one! & they drove off in a storm of old shoes for good luck, & have been heard from, happy as birds --
Karl & I went from the wedding at five oclock over to see the Waters in West Newton & dined there & had a lovely time coming back in the evening -- It was delightful to see Mohini again & I wished we could have [ stayed corrected ] longer. I am so sorry for all this stuff which only hurts him because it is of course a trouble to the Waters, & he is so sorry to be even indirectly any cause of trouble for them & so so sorry for Hodgson!* which to my extremely undeveloped Christianity is a carrying out of the spirit of Christ almost incredible. I should be very angry with any one who circulated lies about me.
[ Page 4 ]
The Waters are undisturbed to a degree because they know all about the matter{,} Mr. W. making a thorough search into the whole matter in London before asking Mohini to come to them -- & being entirely satisfied. Dear me -- so much mischief can one insane woman do! so much discomfort & vexation she can concoct. Insane, I say -- foolish would be a better word, since she lost her head & having no principle of right within her, sought to revenge herself on the creature who had neither eyes nor ears for her absurd passion.
Write, dear Annie, I pray & tell me of your garden, your hill top & sea & best your dear self --
Ever & ever your loving
C.
Notes
Schloss Pallans: Though Thaxter appears to have written "Pallans," perhaps it should read "Pallaus." Castel Pallaus is located in Brixen, Italy, near the Swiss border.
Fields's hill top refers to her summer home in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA.
your poem: Fields's poem, "Preparation," appeared in Scribner's Magazine 1 (June 1887) pp. 744-5. Fields collected the poem in The Singing Shepherd (1895).
weddings ... K.: K is Karl, Thaxter's disabled eldest son. See Key to Correspondents.
Her middle son John Thaxter (1854-1929) married Mary Gertrude Stoddard (1858-1951) in June 1887.
Thaxter's youngest son, Roland Thaxter, married Mabel Gray Freeman (1858-1952) also in June 1887.
shd. go: See the Bible, Proverbs 22:6.
Sam Longfellow: Samuel Longfellow (1819-1892), brother of the American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), was a Unitarian clergyman and author. Presumably, he presided at the wedding of Roland Thaxter and Mabel Freeman.
Waters ... Mohini ... Hodgson: Wikipedia notes that in 1886, the Indian scholar who had acted as a missionary for Theosophy in Britain and the United States, Mohini Mohun Chatterji (1858-1936) became involved in a scandal with female Theosophists. One of these women threatened to publish letters exposing him. As a result, he resigned from the Theosophical Society and ceased his missionary work.
Hodgson almost certainly is Richard Hodgson (1855-1905) an Australia-born lawyer living in England, who became an active member of the Society for Psychical Research. Representing the SPR, Hodgson traveled to India in 1884 to investigate the leading Theosophist, Helena Blavatsky's claims of psychic power. His 1885 report exposed her as a fraud. Partly as a result of this scandal, Mohini broke with Blavatsky.
It seems unclear to which scandal Thaxter refers in this letter, whether the accusing woman or Blavatsky is the woman who has done so much damage. However, it seems likely that Mr. Waters would have made his inquiries soon after the Hodgson report and before the later scandal became public.
The Waters are Edwin Forbes Waters (1822-1894), author and owner of the Boston Daily Advertiser, and author and traveler, Clara Erskine Clement (1834-1916). According to Gopal Stavig, Western Admirers of Ramakrishna and His Disciples (2010), the Waters hosted Mohini for a year in 1886-7 (pp. 452-3).
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Boston Public Library, Rare Books Department, Celia Thaxter correspondence with Annie Fields, 1869-1893,
MS C.1.38 Box 2 Folder 5 (250-269) https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/qb98p5394
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
Friday MorningDearest Fuff --*
[ June 1887 ]*
I am sorry that this letter will not get into the morning post and so you will not have a word from your affectionate and lazy Pinny this rainy day -- I was tempted to sleep [overly ? ] late this morning -- It is a circus day too and I might have been on my way to Dover by this time.
[ Page 2 ]
(Carrie* and I meant to go and convey her son -- [ deleted word ] by which statement you will understand that Mother & Carrie came home from Wells yesterday. They are both bright and well and in the best of spirits -- & I believe they mean to go again by and by. I have not seen Mother so well in a long time. Fuff dear, you know about
[ Page 3 ]
The Working Girls Vacation Fund* dont you? and may I send a bit of money to it? It is Mr. Allen's ^ F. B.'s^ and I was so much interested in the appeal for it this morning in an old news-paper that I saw{.}
I am beginning to think about coming! If all goes well I mean to go to town Tuesday and hunt for a girl again with renewed zest, and
[ Page 4 ]
determination -- I think the best way is to go early to the C. Union or the E. & I.* and [ dwell corrected ] there until the right one appears. That seems to be the fashion -- The bright little woman at the C. Union told me so I believe -- at any rate I was too early one day and too late another.
But you must not think that we have been in despair. I have so confidently expected news of Miss M's woman* that I hated to commit myself
[ Page 5 ]
afternoonto anybody else -- )
This day there has been a high enterprise of currant wine and we have been much engaged as a family. Uncle William* sits by (it was in the old house kitchen)* and talks about what he means to do next year -- and is not satisfied [exactly corrected ] because we are not making [ a period appears here ] enough for this year -- Poor hopeful human nature! it seems so utterly
[ Page 6 ]
improbable that he will be here at all next year --
[An X is penciled in here ] I have finished Pendennis* with deep regret for I have enjoyed it enormously -- It is truly a great story -- more simple and sincere and inevitable than Vanity Fair. It seems as much greater than Tolstoi's Anna Karenina* as it is more full of true humanity -- it belongs to a more developed civilization, to a far larger interpretation
[ Page 7 ]
of Christianity -- But people are not contented at reading Pendennis every few years and with finding it ^always^ new as they grow more able to understand it -- Thackeray is so great -- a great Christian. He does not affect -- he humbly learns and reverently tries to teach out of his own experience. Pendennis belongs to America just now more than it belongs to England -- but we must
[ Page 8 ]
forget it and go and read our Russian -- yet he has a message too, but most people understand it so little that he amuses them and excites their wonder like Jules Verne --* (What a long letter to a dear busy Mouse. I long to see you and to say all sorts of foolish things, and to be as bad a Pinny as can be! and to kiss you ever so many times and watch you going about and to be your own
P. L.
Notes
1887: Fields dates this letter from 1886 in the upper right of page 1, though she has erased 1889. 1887 seems the more likely date, because in other letters apparently of this year, Jewett reports re-reading favorite Thackeray novels. That she does not expect her uncle William Jewett to live long also confirms 1887. See notes below.
Fuff: Fuff and Mouse are nicknames that Jewett and Fields used with each other. Jewett signs the letter with one of her nicknames, P.L., for Pinny Lawson. See Key to Correspondents.
Carrie: Carrie Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.
This parenthesis mark and all others in this letter are by Fields in green pencil.
Working Girls Vacation Fund: An organization that helped New York City single working women to take rural vacations during their summers from about 1889. A history of its founding in The Outlook 51 (25 May 1895) pp. 860-2, traces the beginnings to 1886, when contributions to the Christian Union -- a previous name of The Outlook -- funded a few such vacations.
Jewett published two stories during her career on the theme of providing vacations for women and children in need of rest or fresh air in the country: "A Visit Next Door" (1884) and "Miss Esther's Guest" (1890).
Mr. Allen's: Rev. Frederick Baylies Allen (1840-1925) was an Episcopalian clergyman who became involved in multiple social and moral reform organizations in Boston, including the local Shamut Working Girls Club.
C. Union or the E. & I: It is not clear whether Jewett is seeking a woman to work for her family or a "working girl" to take a vacation in South Berwick. The C. Union may be the Women's Christian Union, with which Annie Fields had connections (Gollin, Annie Adams Fields, p. 180), but its location and purpose have not been discovered. The E & I was the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, founded in Boston in 1877; Annie Fields was a founding member (Gollin p. 179). Jewett could have gone there either to hire someone or to choose someone to vacation in South Berwick.
Miss M's woman: Miss M has not been identified.
Uncle William: William Durham Jewett died in August 1887.
old house kitchen): The parentheses around this phrase are Jewett's. The old house is now the Sarah Orne Jewett House Museum in South Berwick. Next door is the house her father built for his family, now a part of the museum complex. At this time, Jewett's uncle lived in the old house, while Jewett, her sister, Mary, and her mother lived in her mother's house.
Pendennis ... Vanity Fair: William Makepeace Thackeray, an English fiction writer, published Vanity Fair in 1847-8 and Pendennis in 1848-50.
Tolstoi's "Anna Karenina": The Russian novelist, Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) published his novel, Anna Karenina 1875-1877.
Jules Verne: French author Jules Verne (1828-1905) is considered one of the inventors of science fiction. Many of his novels have been adapted to film, including Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870, Eng. trans. 1873) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873, Eng. trans. 1873).
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 Adams Fields Transcription
Field's presentation clearly brings together fragments from several letters. To date, paragraph three has been discovered to be part of the letter above, composed in 1886, probably in late spring or early summer. The remaining parts have not yet been located.
This letter appears in Annie Fields, Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett (1911). Though the whole letter has been included here, parts of it that belong elsewhere have been repeated at what probably is their correct locations.
Thursday evening, [ probably June 1886 and/or October 1897 ].*This table is so overspread with the story of the Normans that I can hardly find room to put my paper down on it. I started in for work this afternoon, having been on the strike long enough, as one might say; but I only did a little writing, for I found that I must read the whole thing through, I have forgotten so much of it.
Do read Miss Preston's paper about Pliny the younger in the "Atlantic." It is full of charming things, and as readable as possible. It sent me to my old favorite, the elder Pliny's "Natural History," but I couldn't find it in any of the book-cases downstairs, and I was too lazy to go up for it. Oh, you should see the old robin by my bed-room window a-fetching up her young family! I long to have you here to watch the proceedings. She is a slack housekeeper that robin, for the blown-away ruffles that she wove into her nest have suffered so much from neglect, combined with wind and weather, that they ravel out in unsightly strings. But oh, the wide mouths of the three young ones, -- how they do reach up and gape altogether when she comes near the nest with a worm! How can she attend to the mural decorations of her home? I am getting to be very intimate with the growing family. I hate every pussy when I think what a paw might do. I waited by the window an hour at tea-time, spying them.
I have finished "Pendennis" with deep regret, for I have enjoyed it enormously. It is truly a great story, more simple and sincere and inevitable than "Vanity Fair."* It seems as much greater than Tolstoi's "Anna Karenina" as it is more full of true humanity. It belongs to a more developed civilization, to a far larger interpretation of Christianity. But people are not contented at reading "Pendennis" every few years and with finding it always new as they grow more able to understand it. Thackeray is so great, a great Christian. He does not affect, he humbly learns and reverently tries to teach out of his own experience. "Pendennis" belongs to America just now more than it belongs to England, but we must forget it and go and read our Russian. Yes, he has a message too, but most people understand it so little that he amuses them and excites their wonder like Jules Verne.
I am writing before breakfast. I have finished "Hugh Wynne"* and loved it, with its fresh air and manliness, and -- to me -- exquisite charm. Don't you know what Tennyson said: "I love those large still books!"
Notes for Fields's Transcription
1896: Annie Fields dates this letter in 1886. David Schuster points out the inconsistency between the publication date of Mitchell's Hugh Wynne (1896) and the apparent date of this letter. Furthermore, the quotation from Tennyson at the end of the letter comes from letters of Edward Fizgerald published in 1895 (see below). Mitchell's novel was serialized in Century Magazine (November 1896 through October 1897). Jewett seems quite definite that she has finished reading the whole book; therefore the final two paragraphs could not have been written before October of 1897.
However, the first two paragraphs probably come from spring of 1886 and 1887. Jewett reports trying to return to work on The Normans, which appeared at the end of 1886, and the Preston paper she recommends appeared in June 1886. Jewett reports researching on Normans as early as 1885 in a "Monday Evening" letter to Fields.
While it is possible that she has forgotten work she was doing a year or more earlier, she sounds as if she is returning to writing she has completed before after being "on strike." This might suggest that she is working not on the original book, but on a later related piece, such as "England After the Norman Conquest," prepared for an 1891 Chautauqua course on British History and Literature. Based on her history, this piece appeared in The Chautauquan 12 (1891):438-442, 574-578, 707-711.
However, the first two paragraphs seem clearly to have been written in the spring, when robin hatchlings are being fed. It is possible that Jewett was working on the Chautauqua piece six months before it was due, but we know that she did not start work on minor revisions to The Normans until December of 1890 (See G. H. Putnam's letter to Jewett of December 17, 1890).
To add to this confusion, Jewett again reports reading Thackeray's Pendennis in what seems almost certainly to be June of 1887. In 1887 she was reading proof for "Law Lane," which appeared in December 1887, but June seems an early date for that.
Until we are able to see the original manuscripts, it would seem we cannot confidently explain this letter. For this reason, the whole of this transcription appears in two different years: 1886 and 1897.
Miss Preston's paper about Pliny the younger in the "Atlantic": Harriet Waters Preston (1836-1911), a writer and translator, was one of those from whom Jewett sought advice early in her career. See Blanchard, pp. 108-9. Pliny, the Younger (62-113) was a Roman official who published several volumes of official and private letters that provide rich pictures of aspects of Roman life. Preston's article was "A Roman Gentleman under the Empire," Atlantic 57 (June 1886) 741-761.
Pliny's "Natural History": Pliny the Elder (c. 23-79) was a Roman encyclopedist. His "Natural History" consisted of 37 books, ten published in his lifetime, on all aspects of contemporary science.
"Hugh Wynne": Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker (1896) is a novel by Silas Weir Mitchell, M.D. (1829-1914), perhaps best remembered for his "rest cure" for hysteria. This novel was first published as a serial in Century Magazine, November 1896 - October 1897.
The quotation from Tennyson appears in Letters of Edward FitzGerald to Fanny Kemble (1871-1883), by Edward FitzGerald (1895), p. 138.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
Friday.
[ June 1887 ]
My darling:
Thank you for all-- I could not catch a moment to write yesterday, but I am grinning about your [ wonder ? ] -- yet patient waiters etc --
Mr. [ Feuer ? ]* the artist is to be here a few days{.} He dropped [ anon ? ]! Lassiter & A.B. have [ quit ? ] These winds almost blow us away --
Do you know dear
[ Page 2 ]
whatever [ strictures ? ] we may have about E.S.P.* her [ Jack ? ] is a great story{.} I have seen nothing like it -- it is absurd to talk of faults of style -- they may be thick as blackberries but the grant point is there -- Let us listen to it.
[ Page 3 ]
We are well here thank God! Though it is silent and sad enough without you ---- and yet it is good to be here --
I have everything to say but only good bye and I love you [ ever ? ]
your own
A.F.
Poor Uncle William!*
Notes
June 1887: This date is supported by Fields mentioning Jewett's poor Uncle William, who was suffering his final illness in the summer of 1877, and by the apparent mention of Phelps's novel, Jack the Fisherman, published the same year. Also, this letter seems to precede Fields to Jewett of Saturday June 1887.
Feuer: This transcription is unlikely to be correct, and this artist has not been identified. See also Fields to Jewett of Saturday (Summer 1887).
Lassiter and A.B.: Francis Rives Lassiter gave up his Boston law practice in 1887. Key to Correspondents.
A.B. has not yet been identified.
E.S.P.: Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward. Key to Correspondents.
The transcription of "Jack" is uncertain, but if it is correct, Fields refers to Phelps's Jack the Fisherman, a temperance novel, published in 1887.
William: Jewett's uncle, William Durham Jewett, died on 4 August 1887.
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.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
Saturday --
[ June 1887 ]*
My darling: your dear [ bright ? ] several letters about the currant wine, etc; was "a balm to hurt minds" -- We, Laura* and I, are enjoying the rain today. We have bade farewell to Mr. Feuer* this morning and are settling ourselvesto^for^ talk and reading by and by -- I was sorry to let Mr. F. go -- He has done beautiful work and has made himself most agreeable{.}
[ Page 2 ]
He has lived about the world enough to [ enjoy a home ? ] and to bring to it the [ results ? ] of trained observation.
O my darling! let us have a day together shall we? Get the woman -- do the charity work and then Pinny to come back?
I have had a note from Mifs Mitchell* which is not very satisfactory{.} She does not speak of any particular
[ Page 3 ]
persons but hopes in time to find somebody! How strange and vague! I wonder if she really has got hold of a woman with any hope.
But Laura is waiting to see me and I must go --
your own
A.F.
Notes
June 1887: This letter seems to follow the one to Jewett of Friday Morning June 1887, with its discussion of currant wine.
minds: In William Shakespeare's (1564-1616) Macbeth (Act 2 Scene 2), Macbeth reflects that sleep is such a balm. Wikipedia.
Laura: Probably Laura Richards. Key to Correspondents.
Feuer: Fields noted his arrival in her letter to Jewett of Friday, June 1887. The transcription is not certain, however, and this artist has not yet been identified.
Pinny: A Jewett nickname.
I: This word is underlined twice.
Mitchell: This person has not yet been identified. Among Fields's acquaintances was the American astronomer at Vassar College, Maria Mitchell (1818-1889).
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.
John Greenleaf Whittier to Annie Adams Fields
Oak Knoll
6 Mo 18 1887
My dear Friend
It is long since I have heard from or written thee but the thought of thee has been with me constantly. I am wondering whether thee are alone. I see that Sarah* is reported at S. Berwick. I
[ Page 2 ]
have been in Amesbury most of the time since the 1st of May. My niece Mary Patten* is very ill with consumption, and I have been trying to save what is left of her property for the two children. I have just returned from a visit to Portland. Our Friends Yearly Meeting was in
[ Page 3 ]
session there but I was not able to take much part in it. Much of it was uninteresting, and some of it distasteful to me. There was little of the old quiet and reverence, which formerly characterized our meetings. Theolddoctrine of the Divine Immanence* was ignored by many of the speakers, especially those from the West. In one of the meetings there was a melancholy attempt at singing by a woman who had no music in her soul.
[ Page 4 ]
We had one eloquent woman there -- Mrs. Weaver* of New York. Her speeches were the best by far.
It* looks as if the Board of Visitors to Andover Seminary, have decided against the professors. No man is to be a missionary who does not hold fast the comfortable doctrine of the utter damnation of nine tenths of the human race!*
Is not Sarah's last story, the "Promotion of Miss Peck"* admirable? Dr. Leslie and I enjoyed it greatly.* I wish I could see you both. With grateful love thy friend
John G Whittier
Notes
Sarah: Sarah Orne Jewett.
Mary Patten: John B. Pickard says that Mary Patten died on July 28, 1887. See Mary Whittier Caldwell, her mother and Whittier's sister, at "Find a Grave," where Mary Elizabeth Caldwell Stevens Patten's death date is given as 26 July 1887.
Divine Immanence: The belief that the divine is present in the world in some way. Whittier presumably refers to the idea that a Quaker meeting should proceed in silence, open to the presence of spiritual inspiration. Instead of a pastor delivering a homily or sermon, members of the congregation would speak when moved by the spirit.
Whittier appears to have written "Devine" rather than "Divine."
Mrs. Weaver: John B. Pickard says "Mary Jane Brown Weaver (1833-1924) from Batavia, New York, a recorded minister of the Society of Friends, worked as an evangelist and was active in the temperance movement."
It: An "X" is penciled at the beginning of this paragraph. Also, penciled at the top center of page one is "7."
human race: John B. Pickard writes: "The faculty and the board of the Andover Theological Seminary were then in conflict over the Andover Creed of 1808. Both the president and many of the faculty wanted to liberalize the old Calvinist tenets, but the board decided against the president in June and he was removed." Wikipedia notes that in 1887, Andover president, E. C. Smyth was investigated and dismissed because of his liberal views on predestination.
"Promotion of Miss Peck": Jewett's story, "Miss Peck's Promotion," was published in Scribner's Magazine (June 1887).
Dr. Leslie: John B. Pickard writes: "Horace Granville Leslie (1842-1907) was a doctor in Amesbury for almost forty years, besides representing the town in local and state legislatures and performing many civic duties." See The Granite Monthly 39 (1907) p. 326.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields collection: mss FI 72-4799. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
This letter has been transcribed previously by John B. Pickard, Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier. v. 2.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
Monday --
[ June 1887 ]*
(Yes dear, I did send Marigold* the Scribner, when we first got to Manchester, and marked both the story and the poem. I was glad to hear about Mrs. Blake* whom we like ever so much, dont we? I have just laid out the Memoir of Norman MacLeod* which I promised her, so that I shall have it when I go back. It is a great clumping green book, an American republication --)
-- I am so interested in Law Lane* that I long to tell
[ Page 2 ]
you all about it and to work at it another hour or two tonight though I have done forty pages today. I am taking a Christmas turn with it [ deleted word ] and begin to have hopes that it will fit Scribners -- The last of it is very hard to do -- The place of it is two families who for generations have lived on adjoining farms and have quarreled about the right of way through a lane and at last there is a son and
[ Page 3 ]
daughter in each house who fall in love! There is a good deal to it though it will not be very long -- that is not more than a hundred & fifteen or twenty written pages -- twelve or thirteen printed.
I have been weeding in the garden with great industry since tea -- and the portulacca [ so written ] bed is clean as a whistle -- much transplanting is also done this day by me and sister! or I should have properly & honestly said -- sister
[ Page 4 ]
and me -- ( Dear Fuff* how I think of you and love you -- I am always afraid something will happen to trouble you -- and that I might see to it if I were only there -- Do tell me as many little things as you can{.} Fuff does! but I wish I knew more. ) What lovely weather it is and what a clear sky with a "keen bright star" as Shelley* says. Is it 'bright'? I know he calls it keen. Good night dear dear mouse -- from
your own Pinny --*
Notes
June 1887: Jewett reports that she is drafting "Law Lane" in another letter of June 1887.
Fields has penciled in the upper right corner of page 1: "Find the date of Law Lane for this note".
Parenthesis marks in this manuscript were penciled by Fields.
Marigold: Mary Langdon Greenwood (Mrs. James) Lodge. See Key to Correspondents.
It seems likely that Jewett is speaking of the June 1887 issue of Scribner's Magazine. In that issue, Jewett's "Miss Peck's Promotion" appeared, as did a poem by Annie Fields, "Preparation." Fields's poem was collected in The Singing Shepherd (1895). It opens:
LAY thy heart down upon the warm, soft breast,Mrs. Blake: This person remains unidentified as yet. Among Fields's Back Bay neighbors at this time was Alice Spring Blake (1845-1923), wife of banker James Henry Blake (1842-1889).
Of June and take thy rest;
The world is full of cares that never cease,
The air is full of peace.
Memoir of Norman MacLeod: Memoir of Norman MacLeod (1876) by Donald MacLeod. Norman MacLeod (1812-1872) was a Scottish clergyman and author.
Law Lane: Jewett's "Law Lane," Scribner's Magazine (2:725-742), December 1887.
sister: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. Later in the letter, Jewett uses another nickname for Fields, "mouse." See Key to Correspondents.
"keen bright star" ... Shelley: Probably, Jewett is thinking of "To Jane: 'The keen stars were twinkling'," by British romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) and perhaps also of fellow poet John Keats's (1795-1821) sonnet, "Bright star! would I were stedfast as thou art." Shelley's poem opens:
The keen stars were twinkling,Pinny: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
And the fair moon was rising among them,
Dear Jane.
The guitar was tinkling,
But the notes were not sweet till you sung them
Again.
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 Fieldsgibraltars: Wikipedia says that Gibraltar rock candy, associated with Salem, MA, was the first commercially manufactured candy sold in the United States, beginning in 1806.Friday --
[ June 1887 ]*
(That was George's* dollar for his straw hat! No embezzlements if you please, ladies! But here are two for the vacation school* with great pleasure. I meant to send five, but I think this is better for my purse).
-- This* morning Carrie* and I started for York armed with a bundle of large peppermints [ deleted word ] for Miss Mary Barrell* -- but Sheila* began to limp and grew so lame when we reached the woods that there was nothing
[ Page 2 ]
to do but bring her home step by step. Poor Sheila! she kept looking round at me as if she wished to say she felt very badly on my account -- and her foot ached beside! I am going to turn her out to pasture for awhile and I am afraid it means giving her up altogether, though I had such seasons before and bade her farewell once or twice only to have her come out
[ Page 3 ]
fresh again. -- She went pretty well yesterday -- and looked so handsome when we started this morning --
I am so glad that your [ Mrs ? ] Nichols* came down -- What a lovely thing to have such a pleasure to give -- as you have in asking people to Manchester -- and once in* a while when the right timescomes as it did now, it is such a sweet sort of change from the other purpose of your being there.)You feel defrauded
[ Page 4 ]
a little just now of your reading and quietness -- but the hungrier you are for it the better it will taste and the more good you will get -- Yes; a preaching Pinny* to be sure. ---- ) I have been doing twenty things since I wrote the first of this letter -- driving a little way with Mary* and writing away at Law Lane* and watering the garden. It is a lovely June night and I hear the birds singing in the trees -- a melancholy pee wee for one. I never said until to night that the noise of all
[ Page 5 ]
the milldams on the two rivers is almost exactly like the sound of the sea as we hear it at Manchester -- And when it is loud we say that it means rain just as a weather wise Fuff* does -- It didn't rain much on our dry garden last night though your letter this morning and Mother's from Portland both [ speak corrected ] of wet weather -- Dont forget the gibraltars* in the drawer over the tool drawer -- you may have
[ Page 6 ]
callers who would be pleased with such entertainment.
(Our Exeter 'aunty' -- Fanny Perry's mother,* is coming tomorrow to spend Sunday. Which will be very pleasant -- [ deleted words, possibly he is going ] ) Good night dear darling -- it is time to finish this scattering letter. I hope that you will have a most blessed Sunday and send a thought to your Pin ---- Do read the Shelley!*
)
Notes
June 1887: Jewett reports that it is a June night, and "Law Lane" was published in December 1887.
Parenthesis marks in this manuscript were penciled by Fields.
George's: This seems likely to be an employee, but that is not certain. He remains unidentified.
This: Before this word, Fields or perhaps someone else has penciled and apparently deleted an X. Above the word, someone has penciled: "Begin". Though Fields's editorial marks appear in many letters in the file from which this one comes at the Houghton, these marks happen to correspond to a transcription of a selection from this letter held by 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 that individual transcription, contact the Maine Women Writers Collection.
Carrie: Caroline Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.
Mary Barrell: Jewett is speaking of visiting Mary Barrell (c. 1804 - June 6, 1889), who lived in what is now the Sayward-Wheeler House in York Harbor, ME. for much of the 19th century. For many years, her sister, Elizabeth Barrell (c. 1799 - November 12, 1883), resided with her.
Sheila: Jewett's first horse, purchased in 1877.
Nichols: This person has not yet been identified. Among Fields's acquaintance was Susan Farley Nichols (1810-1892), wife of a Ticknor and Fields proofreader, George Nichols (1809-1882).
once in: It is not certain that Jewett intended to underline these words.
Pinny: Nickname for Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Law Lane: Jewett's story appeared in Scribner's in December 1887.
Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Exeter 'aunty' -- Fanny Perry's mother: Almost certainly this is Lucretia Fisk Perry. Her daughter was Frances (Fanny/Fannie) Perry Dudley.
Shelley: British romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822).
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 Unknown Person
July first 1887Dear Madam
I am sorry to say that I have no indelible ink at hand, and I am afraid that you can make no use of this autograph written in ordinary ink.
However, I send it.
Yrs very truly
S. O. Jewett
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. New transcription by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Note
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
Friday afternoon
[ Summer 1887 ]*
My dear Fuff*
(It was too bad that [ deleted word ] Jessie* couldn't come but we were always doubtful about her leaving her aunt -- There ought to be a spare cousin at hand always to stay by --
I hope that you and Alice* had some songs at any rate and that it was a pleasant little visit ----- Things are going on well enough here -- Mary*
[ Page 2 ]
will stay away until Monday ) {--} I have been reading that book of Stevenson's (just before dinner) -- the Men and Book,* and find it more and more delightful every time I take it up. I mean to send to you when I have finished it or bring it when I come next --
-- I am glad that you have been driving to the [ word deleted ] ^stone^ house ^at Prides^*. Why some artist doesnt go up there and
[ Page 3 ]
paint it against a grey sky or a sunset not too bright colored I don't know -- for to me it has an individuality and suggestiveness beyond any house or place I
knowcan think of. It gives one in reality all that the very best of Millet's pictures* do. There is an absolute identity of the house itself and the land it stands upon -- The house is the
[ Page 4 ]
natural outgrowth somehow, as a tree might be -- But doesnt it look as if it had been built, however unconsciously {,} for somebody to live ^in^ through a great sorrow [ deleted word, possibly in ] ?
I wish that I had a picture of it -- I think that Mrs. Whitman* would sketch it in pastels before it changes the least bit with trees & bushes growing.
--(Uncle W. ^illiam^* is very comfortable today and had a good night{.}
[ Up the left margin and across the top margin of page 1 ]
I cant help sending you bulletins, for everything depends upon what kind of a day it is with him whether I have a bit of liberty now and then or must stay where he is and help him as best I can to pull through the sad hard hours. I
[ Up the left margin and across the top margin of page 2 ]
hope that you will have [ another corrected ] pleasure today in the new visitors, you and Alice { -- }
Goodby from a most loving Pinny --*
Notes
Summer 1887: This speculative date is based upon Jewett's suggestion that her Uncle William Durham Jewett is on his deathbed. See notes below.
Parenthesis marks in this manuscript were penciled by Fields.
Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Jessie: Jessie Cochrane. See Key to Correspondents.
Alice: Which "Alice" Jewett means is uncertain: probably Alice Longfellow, but possibly Alice Greenwood Howe. See Key to Correspondents.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Stevenson's ... the Men and Book: Scottish author, Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) published Familiar Studies of Men and Books in 1882.
[ word deleted ] ^stone^ house ^at Prides^: It appears that Fields has made the deletions and insertions in this passage. The deleted word may be "Gardner." Both "stone" and "at Prides" are inserted in pencil.
Prides is Prides Crossing, MA.
Perhaps Fields wrote these notes after William Amory Gardner, son of Isabella Stuart Gardner (see Key to Correspondents), built the Stone House that is now College Hall at Endicott College. However that house was built in 1915-17, after the deaths of Whitman and Jewett.
Millet's pictures: Jean-François Millet (1814 -1875) was a French painter of the Barbizon school.
Mrs. Whitman: Sarah Wyman Whitman. See Key to Correspondents.
The Boston Museum of Fine Arts holds two paintings by Whitman that may suggest what Jewett had in mind: "Sunset" and "A Warm Night."
(Uncle W. ^illiam^: William Durham Jewett died 4 August 1887. See Key to Correspondents.
Fields has penciled in and then deleted the parenthesis mark. She also probably has inserted "illiam" in pencil.
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 Abigail Langdon AlgerThe manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence Box 2 Folder 139
[ 14 July 1887 ]*
Dear Aa!*
I have not been able to find Mr. S. S. McClure's* address until this very minute -- It is Tribune Building New York City --
Please remind him that he and I talked together about you! and that will bring to mind
[ Page 2 ]
his wish that you should do this very thing -- He is a scurrying little man but I like him and hope that his venture is proving what elegant linguists call "a big thing" -- I have had to keep you waiting
[ Page 3 ]
so long that you must have this tardy note by the next post
Yours affectionately
S.O.J.
South Berwick
Thursday July 14 --
He has had other addresses and I had to be sure to get the latest --
Notes
1887: This date is probable, but not certain. 14 July fell on a Thursday in 1887, 1892, 1898, and 1904. 1892 and 1898 are impossible because Jewett was traveling in Europe. 1904 is unlikely, because at that time, Jewett was not actively engaged in publication and less likely to be in contact with S. S. McClure. By process of elimination, 1887 becomes the more probable year for this letter.
Aa: In a sticky note, dated 11/16/2002, included with this ms., Kent Bicknell identifies "Aa" as Abby Alger.
McClure's: Samuel Sidney McClure. See Key to Correspondents.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Included within this manuscript folder is a torn away half page of handwritten French. There is as yet no explanation of its presence here. It appears to be a fragment of a letter reporting personal news. Coe College Professor of French Emeritus Jeannine Hammond and I have puzzled over it, finding the handwriting difficult. It would be reasonable to suppose it to be part of a letter from Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc, Jewett's main acquaintance likely to write to her in French. I doubt that the text is of great significance, and I will not attempt transcription and translation. The purpose of this note is to inform readers that this fragment exists.
Edward Augustus Freeman to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ Begin letterhead ]
Somerleaze,
Wells,
Somerset
[ End letterhead ]
[ The date is to the right of the letterhead ]
July 17th
1887
Dear Madam,
I must thank you for your book of the Normans which I found on my return from Oxford about three weeks back. I dare say it had been waiting a good while. It is a fate that besets dwellers in two houses that, whichever one it is, everything goes to the other.
In my present frame of mind I literally looked to the Sicilian part even before
[ Page 2 ]
(July 18th) Falaise and [ unrecognized name ]. I see you leave it to me, but that should not be. I [ touch ? ] the Normans from the Sicilian side -- you should touch Sicily from the Norman side. But I must ask you to re-write pp. 139 & 190* and not call George Maniakes Maurice or [ place ? ] the Norse of 1040 at Amalfi instead of Melfi. I know you have been led astray by A. H. Johnson,* in defiance of good old Areto who foretold the mistake 800 years back and gave warning against it. Not only
[ Page 3 ]Notes
Johnson calls Maniakes Maurice! And that is all aNorjumble of GeoffreyofMeleterre; look even in William of Apulia, & you will see that it was not Merickês but Michael* Dokeiclos who beat Hardric & defeated the Norse of [ his day ? ]. I am just doing all this: so I am full of it and must make my protest: so please forgive me.
Believe me yours faithfully
Edward A Freeman
Falaise: Falaise was an early center of Norman culture and influence in Normandy, the birthplace of William the Conqueror. Wikipedia.
190: Freeman's explanation of why he wants Jewett to rewrite two pages of The Story of the Normans (1887) is difficult to transcribe. Unable to read his handwriting with confidence, I have filled in several of the names he gives, using the spellings that appear in Wikipedia, leaving unchanged only those that seem clear.
His explanation also proves confusing next to the Wikipedia account of the contests for control of southern Italy and Sicily in the 11th century. For example, the encyclopedia says that Michael Dokeianos, a Byzantine military leader, was sent to Italy to fight local rebels confederated with Normans mercenaries, where he was defeated in March 1041. The Norman leader in Sicily at the time was William I of Hauteville. I leave it to the better-informed to sort out what Freeman means and how that squares with contemporary knowledge of these events.
Perhaps more important here is the effect Freeman's criticisms had upon Jewett. One may imagine her chagrin at being upbraided, almost as if she were an undergraduate submitting an essay, by an Oxford University historian, by the man who had been her main source as she researched her popular history of the Normans. How was she to rewrite pages in a book currently in print and selling rather well in the United States?
In fact, she did get an opportunity, for only in 1891 did T. Fisher Unwin decide to add a British edition of her book to their list for the Story of the Nations series. At that time, Jewett was able to make corrections, and she heeded Freeman's advice. Following are comparisons of the relevant parts of the two texts:
1887, p. 139
After a while Sicily was conquered, but the Normans were not given their share of the glory of the victories; on the contrary, Maurice, the governor, was too avaricious and ungrateful for his own good, and there was a grand quarrel when the spoils were divided.
1891, p. 139
After a while Sicily was conquered, but the Normans were not given their share of the glory of the victories; on the contrary, the Lombard governor was too avaricious and ungrateful for his own good, and there was a grand quarrel when the spoils were divided.
1887, p. 140
Twelve counts were elected by popular suffrage, and lived at their capital of Amalfi, and settled their affairs in military council.
1891, p. 140
Twelve counts were elected by popular suffrage, and lived at their capital of Melfi, and settled their affairs in military council.
In this letter, Freeman does not specify why he wants p. 190 rewritten, and Jewett seems to have made no changes on that page.
Freeman particularly criticizes The Normans in Europe (1869) by Oxford University historian Arthur Henry Johnson (1845-1927), saying his errors led to Jewett's confusion. The other sources Freeman mentions are:
[ Areto ? ]: This transcription is almost certainly incorrect, and I have failed to find a likely author with a similar name;
Geoffrey Meleterre: Almost certainly Freeman means Goffredo Malaterra, an 11th-century Benedictine monk and historian based in Sicily. Wikipedia.
William of Apulia: an 11th-century chronicler. Wikipedia.
Michael: Penciled insertion next to this word, probably in another hand: "Paphlagonian IV".
Michael IV the Paphlagnian was Byzantine Emperor 1034-1041. This note is mysterious, for Freeman seems clearly to refer to the Byzantine general, not to the Byzantine emperor.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library, Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Katherine Horsford*
South Berwick
25 July 1887
Dearest Kate
Your letter gave me a great pleasure and yet it makes me sorry too for I do not see how I can go so far away from home in August. My uncle* is more and more feeble all the time and though he still gets out to drive once a week
[ Page 2 ]
or so, he cannot walk across the room alone and Mary* and I are with him a great deal of the time -- I am going over to Manchester for a little rest this week and I hope that Mary who is chief nurse, will be able to get away next week for a few days but after that I feel very doubtful about our being willing to leave him again --
[ Page 3 ]
-- I have thought many times about Shelter Island and its dear people, and I have been meaning to write to Kate* to tell her that I have grown more afraid every week that I shall not take a voyage on the Sunshine* this year. I am so glad that I saw you at Manchester and I only wish that you could have come home with
[ Page 4 ]
me for a day or two. Sarah's garden is very full of hollyhocks this year and she has had enormous luck with her French nasturtiums.
Give my love to 'Papa' in particular with my best thanks for the interesting papers he sent me -- and love to mamma too & Lilian and Cornelia --- and Kate!
from her
Sarah --
Notes
Mary Katherine Horsford: Eben N. Horsford's daughter. See Key to Correspondents. Also mentioned in this letter are two of Kate's sisters, Lilian and Cornelia.
My uncle: William Durham Jewett died on 4 August 1887. See Key to Correspondents.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Kate: Jewett seems to be talking about Kate Horsford in third person, as she does herself in reference to her garden.
Sunshine: A sidewheel paddle steamer that worked along the New England coast in the 1880s. An account of a serious accident appears in The Day of New London, CN of 4 August 1890, p. 1. If this is the right vessel, it appears that it also may have carried passengers to the Shelter Island vicinity.
The manuscript of the letter is held by the Fales Library and Special Collections, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York University. Sylvester Manor Archive 1649-1996, MSS.208, IV: Horsford Family, Box 100: Folder 7. Jewett, Sarah Orne: Maine & Massachusetts. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Elizabeth Spaulding Jewett Shafter to Sarah Orne Jewett
Montpelier [ Vermont ]Dear Cousin Sarah,
July -- 25 -- 1887 --
[ Comeing ? ]* in contact with a letter of yours, gave me the past remembrance of my relation to you and the incidents which I cherished relating to my fathers family --
The Jewetts can claim longevity -- I am sure, I passed my 87 birthday the [ 14 ? ], of January -- And Mr Jewett the 5-- of June -- I am writeing with glasses to aid my sight. As none will be of use.* You will excuse this defect and I am grateful that I can have the sight given me, to use my pen -- [ obscured word ] in memory of this event --
[ Page 2 ]
My [ very ? ] first visit to Maine was the event of my youthful days -- Cousin Thomas* remarked. It was long journey for a female to take { -- } it might be for those days considered.
Its incidents are fresh in memory as of yesterdays occurance -- My visit in Portsmouth with Mrs Orne Jewett whose father and Husband were about on their voyage to the Sandwich Islands -- conveying the first missionaries Judson and Merrell,* to their destination -- The home was a pleasant one -- & Mifs Orne a maiden Lady was its guest I was told and company for Mrs J --
The beautiful dining Set of [ glafs rivets ? ] my memory. The gift of a gentleman of [ Genoa ? ] who was ill on the ship and cared for by Dr. J --
[ Page 3 ]
was this memento given. It was seldom used, this pure{,} thick and clear as it was. I have never seen any specimen like it -- It would be kept in the family, as the heirloom{,} a [ choice ? ] treasure. If no one is conscious of it but myself -- "A thing of beauty is a joy forever" --*
I have been reading a Book of Stories of yours -- dedicated to sister Mary --* I am delighted with your writing -- You never exagerate -- You are truthful -- and your descriptions are wonderful acurate -- They pafs before me as life like -- You have been likened to Hawthorne -- I like your subjects better -- The Gray man, he describes, haunts me -- I can never shake him off -- There are others he describes more desirable companions
[ Page 4 ]
A little of the present history I will relate -- Mr and Mrs Jewett and Ruth you saw in their visit to Maine. Ruth was married to Dr. John W. Burges* of Columbia College -- a year or more ago -- They are now in Europe -- The dear baby boy and nurse are with us -- He bears his grandsire name -- Elisha Sayre Jewett --
You will infer he is a pet for all the household as he is --
My niece Julia R. Shafter whose mother was my sisters child from Cal -- is our guest -- It is pleasant to see her --
Mrs [ Neally ? ]* has kept me posted on events and her sad bereavement which calls my deepest sympathy and has it.
In love to you, and yours I am [ thine ? ] -- E. S. J. Shafter --
Notes
Comeing: Shafter's handwriting, usage and spelling are eccentric. Though I have marked a number of words about which I am very uncertain, many of my guesses are not marked. Shafter seems generally to handle gerunds in the same way as here. I have chosen to leave unremarked most unconventional spellings as they appear.
use: Perhaps Shafter intended a comma after this word?
Thomas: Thomas Jewett (1789-1864) was brother to Jewett's grandfather, Theodore Furber Jewett (1787-1860). Other family members mentioned in this letter are:
Mrs Orne Jewett probably is Sarah Orne Jewett (1820-1864, daughter of Thomas), who married her cousin, Elisha H. Jewett (1816-1883), son of Benjamin Jewett (1792-1856), a sibling of Thomas and Theodore Jewett.
The "Miss Orne Jewett" who was their guest has not yet been identified.
American artist Ruth Payne Jewett (1865-1934) married American political scientist John William Burgess (1844-1931). Her parents were Elisha Payne Jewett (1801-1894) and Julia Kellogg Field (1829-1890). He may be the "Mr. Jewett" to whom Shafter refers.
Ruth and John Burgess named their child after his grandfather, Elisha Payne Jewett, who was a brother of Elizabeth Spalding Jewett Shafter (14 January 1798-1897), the author of this letter.
Merrell: The transcription of this name is uncertain. Further, no one named Judson or Merrell appears in the few accounts I have examined of early Protestant missionaries in Hawaii / Sandwich Islands. Adoniram Judson (1788-1850) was a well-known Protestant missionary from New England, but he served mainly in Burma. Wikipedia.
Missions to the Sandwich Islands began in the 1820s, and the most prominent among these were Hiram Bingham (1789-1869) and his wife, and Lucy Goodale Thurston (1795-1876) and her husband. Wikipedia.
The accuracy of the rest of this account remains uncertain.
joy forever: Shafter quotes from British poet John Keats (1795-1821), the opening line of Book 1 of "Endymion." Wikipedia.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. Key to Correspondents.
Jewett dedicated her 1886 story collection, A White Heron, to her sister. Included in the volume was "The Gray Man," which was published first in this collection.
Shafter seems first to say that American author, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) wrote this story, but she seems clearly to understand that Jewett was the author.
Neally: Probably this is Mary Elizabeth Jewett Nealley (1817-1890). She was a daughter of Thomas Jewett. See above. Her husband, John B. Nealley died on 23 November 1886. Find a Grave.
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 197. I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
4 August 1887Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett and Carrie Jewett Eastman
Death of Jewett's paternal uncle, William Durham Jewett
A FORTUNE FOR MISS JEWETT.
New York Times 11 December 1887, p. 3
SOUTH BERWICK, Me., Dec. 10. -- Miss Sarah Orne Jewett, the authoress, who is a native of this place, has come into possession of a snug little fortune by the recent death of an uncle.
Dr. Helen Morton to Sarah Orne Jewett
Aug. 5.
[ 1887 ]*
Dear S.O.J.
I don't like it. Will you try to get this preparation of [ Cinnamon, & Quinine ? ], & see whether that will not prevent you from waking up in the morning &c.? And will you let me hear again when you
[ Page 2 ]
have or have not taken it?
And don't "hurry" -- nor "over do". It is not allowed. I've had some Sabbatia this week which, if ^Smith Express^ [ my mind ? ]* had any value, would have reached you two pretty creatures. But time waits for no man
[ Page 3 ]
nor flowers for no women, & the dear days of the Sabbatia are done, & I only shall send you my love & the hope of S. for another summer.
Yrs. always
H.M.
Notes
1887: An envelope appears in the folder with this letter, addressed to Jewett in South Berwick and cancelled on 5 August 1887.
Circled in the left bottom margin is a penciled numeral 2.
sabbatia: A species of ornamental plants. Wikipedia.
my mind: This transcription is uncertain.
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 159. I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Saturday
[ August 1887 ]*
Dear Sisters
A long and pleasant Thidder* arrived betimes last night and has now set sail in great majority for town hoping to meet Mithter Black* as we did last Saturday. He and Katy Coolidge* seemed pleased to meet and Ants* received him warmly. I shouldn't think there would be any trouble about the tailor but who can tell?
My hat came yesterday and is such a beauty so refined and nice & handsome and fit for winter when Sister Carrie is so kind as to place a velvet top on it!
I haven't
[ Page 2 ]
much to tell today, but I sent you some grapes yesterday which you can add on to the letter! You had better not count on their keeping many days for they are ripe as they can be. I expect now to come home Tuesday afternoon -- going to town in the morning to see S. W. !!* I had a dear letter from her day before yesterday as if from a sea post office! but it was written from the train two or three days before she was to sail. I wish you were to be here Mary, to see the Vicar & go to church! I tease A. F. * about the early service.
[ Page 3 ]
Katy has to go that morning and so I must go and sit with her. But please find much love in so poor a letty.
from Seddie.*
Notes
August 1887: This date is tentative. The letter seems to precede that of 25 August 1887 to Jewett's sisters, which also mentions the association of Theodore with George Nixon Black.
Thidder: Theodore Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.
Mithter Black: It seems probable that Jewett refers to George Nixon Black, Jr. (1842-1928). His mother, Mary Elizabeth Black (1816-1902) may also have summered with him at Kragsyde, which was built in 1883-85 and demolished in 1929: "a Shingle Style mansion designed by the Boston architectural firm of Peabody & Stearns and built at Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. Although long demolished, it is considered an icon of American architecture." The landscaping was by the Olmsted firm.
Katy Coolidge: Katharine Parkman Coolidge. See Key to Correspondents.
Ants: Humorous rendition of Aunts?
S. W. : Sarah Wyman Whitman. See Key to Correspondents.
Seddie: A Jewett nickname. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by Historic New England in the Jewett Family Papers MS014.02.01. Transcription and annotation by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Eleanore Arnold*
South Berwick Maine
7 August 1887
My dear Nelly
And Kaiser* is dead! I read him affectionately in the Fortnightly and know him better than ever though I never shall see him dear doggie -- -------
I have been meaning to write to you because I wish so much for another letter -- Last spring it was a great
[ Page 2 ]
pleasure to hear from you, and not long afterward I
[ Breaks off. No signature ]
Notes
Arnold: Though this is not certain, it is likely that Jewett addresses Eleanore Arnold (1861-1936), daughter of British poet and critic, Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), who was familiar to Jewett and known as Nelly.
Kaiser: "Kaiser dead: April 6, 1887" is Matthew Arnold's poetic lament upon the death of his family dog, Kaiser. It first appeared in the Fortnightly Review 62 (July 1887).
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743 Box 6, Item 268.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Jules Cretin*
South Berwick Maine
12 August 1887
My dear Sir
I am greatly annoyed that by the misplacing of your note just before I left home, I have not been able to answer it until today -- As for the dates of publication of my books (nine in number) I cannot do better than
[ Page 2 ]
ask you to send a note to Messrs Houghton Mifflin & Co 4 Park St. Boston who published the firstseven and the n^eight^ of them -- I do not remember the dates of any exactly except ^the first^ Deephaven in 1877{,} Play days in 1878 and A White Heron in 1886 --
-- Messrs J. P. Putnam's Sons published The Story of the Normans in 1887* ----
--- As for further notes biographical and other [ will ? ] I have very little to give -- My father ^Theodore H. Jewett A.M. M.D.^ was a widely known surgeon & physician, & professor [ in corrected ] the Maine Medical School{.} My mother is Caroline F. (Perry) Jewett.* I was born in South Berwick, Maine in the old ^colonial^ house belonging to my father's family 3rd of September 1849 -- and spend my summers here and my winters in Boston -- I
[ Page 4 ]
have been once in Europe spending some time in England Ireland France Norway & Italy. I have done a good deal of writing for The Atlantic -- Harpers and Scribners magazines{.}
It is very hard to know what to say of a quiet New England life, but I hope that you will find something in this note to serve your end --
Yrs very truly
S. O. Jewett.
To
M. Jules Cretin --
Notes
Jules Cretin: This person is completely unknown. One might expect him to be a reviewer with some record of publication, but to date such a person has not been discovered. There was one contemporary of this name who has left a record: Jules C. Cretin was born in France in 1843, married Viola Emma Walter in 1886 in Newark, NJ, and died in 1923 in Brooklyn, NY. FamilySearch gives his occupation as Real Estate Sales.
Normans: Jewett gives the correct dates for her first book, Deephaven, her collection of children's stories, Play Days, her story collection, A White Heron, and her popular history, The Story of the Normans.
Jewett: See Theodore Herman Jewett in Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence Box 2 Folder 140.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Caroline Jewett Eastman and Mary Rice Jewett
[ 25 August. Pride's Crossing 1887 ]*
Thursday Afternoon
Dear girls,
I am going to be betimes with my letter for there is so much walking and talking in the morning and John wailing by the time I get three quarters through. There is no sign of me coming home Saturday{.} I said yesterday at my [lamest ?] that I thought we might stay over Sunday and there were those young persons who stepped themselves as far as Mr. Blacks* this afternoon and gave their word to be present
[Page 2]
at half past one on Sunday to an early dinner .... They thought I had said so, so I acceded and all is well. He went on to the Howes* to carry a book for me and had a pleasant call and saw the parrot --- It is one of his little times dear Stubby. I shouldn't be surprised to find a pounded stone occasion on the front piazza tomorrow morning! Sister hopes you didnt let Cal. Plaisted go home with two good baksits [ so written ] -- How nice about Tucker's
[Page 3]
going to drive, but dont risk him with Jane Ann until he is entirely well* --- I wouldn't let him drive anybody but Dicky!!
-- I am sorry you couldn't go to York today which brings me to say that I thought I explained about Mrs. Merriman.* It is at home I want to be next week, and to go to York and do something. I was feeling so lame and poor elbowed that the thought of racketing was not so alluring. I am much better today except one arm which is indisposed but much limberer than it was this morning.
[Page 4]
Since my throat got well my knees set in, but I have got on pretty well until three or four days ago and I dare say it was this storm coming -- It wasn't your being busy that was unnoticed [but ? looks like hit ] you said that it was a beautiful morning and we would go somewhere if I were at home, and I thought it was more for you to go anyway and I afterward found that you did, so I laughed. But I always think the fuller we can make our lives when we are apart the more we have to give when we are together. Which has a didactic tone, but you will please excuse.
[Page 5]
Think sometimes people who are a great deal together get to be each one legged ^when they are apart^ -- and it is not useful to be one-legged. It is a great visit from Jess. They have gone off to Mrs. Whitmans much dressed. When A. F.* wanted to send Theodore [for written over something] I forgot about the Shackfords.* Perhaps this storm will keep on and they wont come after all. You must give my kind remembrances if you get this letter in season. So no more at present. Give my love to Hannah and Annie.*
Sarah
All send love
[on the back of p. 5]
I thought you would like the notice{.} I thought it was [beautilly ? ]
Notes
1887: The date, 25 August 1898, appears bracketed on the upper right corner of page 1, added by a Historic New England archivist. However, this cannot be correct, as Jewett and Fields were in Europe from Spring until mid-September of 1898 (Blanchard, Sarah Orne Jewett p. 310).
August 25 falls on a Thursday in 1887 and 1892 as well as in 1898, but in 1892 Jewett also was in Europe in August.
Theodore Eastman (born 1879) has accepted an invitation from Annie Fields to join her in Manchester, apparently at the same time that Jewett visits Susan Burley Cabot in nearby Prides Crossing, MA. Stubby's interest in the Howe's parrot and his boyish behavior suggest his youthfulness. Some of the party pay a call at Mr. Black's nearby home, which, if correctly identified, was completed in 1885.
This would seem to place the letter in 1887.
Mr. Blacks ... the Howes: While this is speculative, it seems probable that Jewett refers to George Nixon Black, Jr. (1842-1928). His mother, Mary Elizabeth Black (1816-1902) may also have summered with him at Kragsyde, which was built in 1883–85 and demolished in 1929: "a Shingle Style mansion designed by the Boston architectural firm of Peabody & Stearns and built at Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. Although long demolished, it is considered an icon of American architecture." The landscaping was by the Olmsted firm.
Almost certainly, Jewett refers to Alice Greenwood (Mrs. George Dudley) Howe, who spent summers at her home, the Cliffs, in Manchester-by-the-Sea. See Key to Correspondents.
Stubby ... Cal Plaisted: Stubby is Theodore Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.
Calvin Plaisted was "a well-known basket maker of Cape Neddick, ME." His death at South Berwick is reported in the Lewiston Evening Journal of 12 April 1904, p. 4.
Tuckers ... Jane Ann ... let him drive anybody but Dicky: Richard Cary says "John Tucker (1845-1902) was the Jewetts' hostler and general factotum. He came to work for Dr. Jewett on a temporary arrangement around 1875 but remained for the rest of his life, trusted and treated like a member of the family." Dicky and Jane Ann appear to be horses.
Mrs. Merriman: Helen Bigelow Merriman. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Whitmans ... When A. F: Sarah Wyman Whitman and Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Shackfords: In a diary entry of Monday, August 2, 1869, Jewett records visiting "Shackfords" in the area of South Berwick.
It is possible Jewett refers in this letter to Charles A. Shackford (1848-1903). Shackford is believed to have been staying with a cousin in South Berwick in the 1850s, when he attended the Berwick Academy. He is listed in Jewett's Memorial of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Founding of Berwick Academy, South Berwick, Maine. In the 1880s, he and his wife, Adelaide Josephine Clark, and his three children were residing in Indiana and Ohio:
Edna Grace Shackford (1879-1958) -- married William Oliver Driskell and moved to Los Angeles
Alice Mary Shackford (1880-1969) -- married John Mark Lacey
Mabel Frances Shackford (1881-????) -- married Edmond Franklin Smith.
It is possible that the Shackfords were distant relatives, there being a Mary Shackford among Jewett's 18th-century ancestors on their father's side.
Hannah and Annie: Jewett family servants in South Berwick, Hannah Driscoll and Annie Collins. See Annie Collins in Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by Historic New England in Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett to Caroline Augusta Jewett Eastman and Mary Rice Jewett, Jewett Family Papers: MS014.01.02.01. Transcribed by Tanner Brossart, edited and annotated by Terry Heller. Coe College.
Celia Thaxter to Annie Adams Fields
Shoals Aug 31st (87
My dearest Annie:
In a room full of people with the divinest music going on I seize this block to begin a note to you, so desperate am I for a moment,* & kept up so late at night & rising before five in morning & busy every minute, the time for writing never comes -- dear me, I have so wished to write you for so many weeks! Thanks for your dear letter, thousand & one thanks! Such a rich summer as we have had! full of artists & musicians & appreciators, & heavenly weather & all kinds of enchantment! Ap. Brown* spent a month here -- sold ten pastels of my garden (75 dollars each) -- E. Robbins* sold hundreds of dollars worth of water colors, Mr. Ross Turner* & his wife are here { -- }
[ Page 2 ]
he is painting beautifully too -- He has sold four or five or more & lovely water colors & they all are so in love with the place that they have laid plans for all summer next summer -- Mr. Paine* has played Beethoven for us grandly. Wm Mason no end of Schumann & Chopin & things, & Heimendahl's [ three corrected ] hundred year old violin with its wondrous tone in the Mozart sonatas was too heavenly. [ Now corrected ] we have Grace Gorham* playing so beautifully! & Arthur Whiting* who is superb at the piano & a most delightful creature{. }
3
Yes, Mrs. Newman* was most interesting. I have much to tell you, but I fear I can't get to you, my dearest Annie, there is so much I have to attend to -- as soon as the season ebbs, this end (west) of my room is to be taken down & the room carried out its full length again, & more, & room given the musicians & artists, this doesn't begin to be big enough, & I have & shall have so much to do! I am full of sympathy for Sarah* & her family & thankfulness that the poor soul is at rest at last, poor man{.}
[ 4 written over 3 ]
My dear old Ingersoll Bowditch* is failing so fast that it makes my heart ache -- he sinks toward the earth daily & changes toward his great & final change visibly. His daughter Lily grows better & better! It is a miracle -- today the Dr. who came down to see her yesterday, allowed her to bear her weight upon crutches & walk a step or two -- Her father's quiet thankfulness is so pathetic!
O the glorious music that is going on while I write! It stirs me all up -- it is hard to write but I never, never get time -- In Charles St I hope to see you, dearest. My best love to Sarah. Rose* sends
[ Page 5 ]
love to you -- She goes back to her old father tomorrow. I hardly know how to do without her.
-- This melodious storm on the piano! Prof. Peirce* & the Ross Turners & two Charlotte Danas & Rose & the Lawrence Huttons & Grace Gorham sitting about Arthur Whiting playing -- as I said before magnificent is the only word for it -- These grand variations by Brahms on [ themes corrected ] of Handel* -- the musicians Paine & [ Mason corrected ] are so delighted listening to them -----
Pardon the incoherent note! You know I never forget you dear & always love you
Your C
Notes
moment: This letter is hurriedly written, a number of the words merely suggestive scrawls. I have taken the liberty of interpreting words like this one without being certain they are correct and without comment. I have accepted the readings of a previous transcriber, EKC, except where I was seriously doubtful.
Ap. Brown: John Appleton Brown. See Key to Correspondents.
E. Robbins: Ellen Robbins (1828-1905) was an American watercolorist best remembered for her botanical paintings.
Mr. Ross Turner: Ross Sterling Turner (1847-1914) "was a painter, watercolorist, and illustrator, active in the Boston area, known for his landscapes and floral subjects. ... Loosely associated with the 'Duveneck boys' after about 1879, Turner painted in Venice and Florence, and he also worked in Rome. In 1882 he settled in Boston, exhibiting more watercolors than oil paintings."
Thaxter took some painting lessons from him.
Mr. Paine ...Beethoven ... Wm Mason ... Schumann & Chopin ... Heimundahl's ... Mozart sonatas ... Grace Gorham ... Arthur Whiting:
John Knowles Paine (1839-1906) was an American composer who also served as professor of music at Harvard University. His wife was Mary Elizabeth Greeley (1836-1920).
William Mason (1829-1908) was an American composer and pianist.
Werner Edward Heimendahl (1858-1910) was a German-born American composer, director and teacher, who worked in Boston in the 1870s, before moving to Chicago, and New York, and eventually Baltimore.
Grace Gorham (1853-1926) married Arthur B. Whiting in May 1889. See Boston Sunday Globe, 26 May 1889, p. 13.
Arthur Batelle Whiting (1861-1936) was an American pianist, composer, and music critic. See also Wikipedia.
The composers named are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Robert Schumann (1810-1856), and Frédéric François Chopin (1810-1849).
Mrs. Newman: This person has not been identified. According to Richard Cary, Jewett was acquainted with Henry Roderick Newman (1843-1917), an American painter associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who spent much of his career in Europe. His wife was Mary Watson Willis (1842-1924).
Sarah: Sarah Orne Jewett's uncle, William Durham Jewett, died 4 August 1887. See Key to Correspondents.
Ingersoll Bowditch: Dr. Henry Ingersoll Bowditch (1808-1892) owned a cottage on Appledore. His wife was Olivia Jane Yardley (1816-1890), and their daughter was Olivia Yardley Bowditch (1842-1928).
Rose: Rose Lamb. See Key to Correspondents. Her father was Thomas Lamb, Jr. (1796- 25 October 1887).
Prof. Peirce ... two Charlotte Danas ... Lawrence Huttons: While this cannot be certain, it is possible Professor Peirce is Benjamin Osgood Peirce (1854-1914), a professor of Mathematics at Harvard.
One of the Charlotte Danas, may have been Ruth Charlotte Dana Lyman (1844-1939), daughter of American author, Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (1815-1882). The other may have been Ruth Charlotte Dana (1814-1901) as sketched in The Correspondence of Washington Allston (2015), edited by Nathalia Wright, p. 545. She was the daughter of Richard Henry Dana, Sr. (1787-1879).
Laurence Hutton (1843-1904) was an American essayist and critic. At the time of this letter, he was literary editor at Harper's Magazine in New York City. His wife was Eleanor Varnum Mitchell (1848-1910). Probably Thaxter has misspelled his first name.
Brahms ... Handel: "Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel" Op. 24 (1861), composed by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). The theme was provided by George Frederick Handel (1685-1759).
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Boston Public Library, Rare Books Department, Celia Thaxter correspondence with Annie Fields, 1869-1893,
MS C.1.38 Box 2 Folder 6 (250-269) https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/qb98p546j
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Lilian and Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Manchester by the Sea
Sep. 5th 1887
Dear friends:
We are rejoiced to know that the boys are safely at home with you once more -- It was a bad voyage I hear! I am sorry enough for Mr. Pierce* but even a shaking up has its good side sometimes!
Sarah* is with me again and we have had hopes and "views" with respect to Lynn. Unfortunately we cannot see our way
[ Page 2 ]
there just yet.
Meanwhile I have read "Les Contes Choisis"* with real delight and love to find a new one of the little idyls whenever I have a spare moment --
Sarah may be hobnobbing with T.B.A. even as I write. She is in town this lovely day I am sorry to say having gone to Mrs Vincent's*
[ Page 3 ]
funeral.
You will observe that I did not lament the voyage for the boys' sake -- I fancy everything was rose=color to them especially the home=coming.
I am indeed thankful that you have them in your arms once more!
affectionately yours
Annie Fields.
Notes
Pierce: Henry Lille Pierce. See Key to Correspondents.
Sarah: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Choisis: Selected Stories by French author Charles Perrault (1628-1703).
Vincent's: Mary Ann Farlin Vincent (1818- 4 September 1887), a British born Irish-American actor. She joined the stock company of the Boston Museum theater in 1852, where she continued until her death
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: MS Am 1429, Box 6, Items 1446-1538. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Francis Hopkinson SmithSouth Berwick Maine
24 [ September corrected ] 1887
My dear Mr. Smith
I must send a word to tell you that I was perfectly delighted to find that you have really published the new edition of Well-Worn Roads.* I sent for a copy at once and here it is; a truly
[ Page 2 ]
charming little book for which I wish all the good fortune it deserves.
With best regards to Mrs. Smith, I am
Yours sincerely,
Sarah O. Jewett
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 revised notes is by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Notes
Roads: Well-Worn Roads of Spain, Holland, and Italy (Boston, 1887). Cary says the book is "adequately described by its subtitle, Traveled by a painter in search of the picturesque."
Sarah Orne Jewett to Emma Harding Claflin Ellis
Boston Friday --
[ Autumn 1887 ]*
Dear Mrs. Ellis
I am much pleased to send you the dress. I hated to let it go out of fashion in a dark closet and I did not wish to have it worn by a foe! -- But you may not like it when you see it and you must
[ Page 2 ]
not hesitate to send it right back again -- $20. was what I named it seems to me, but if it is not going to be worth that to you just make your own estimate -- and I shall be contented.
[ Page 3 ]
I am only here for a few days ( -- we moved [up ?] from Manchester last Saturday --) so I was particularly glad to get your note today and to be able to see about the frock myself. Mrs. Fields* sends love and we both thank you
[ Page 4 ]
for the dear and wise things in your letter --
Yours always affectionately
S.O.J.
Please remember me to Mr. Ellis & when you see Mr. Valentine* to say how pleased I was with [his written over a word] note & because he liked The Landscape Chamber --
Notes
Autumn 1887: This date is inferred from Jewett mentioning her story, "The Landscape Chamber" which appeared in Atlantic Monthly in November 1887.
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields, whose summer home was in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. See Key to Correspondents.
Mr. Valentine: The identity of this person is unknown. The Massachusetts Claflin and Valentine families were connected by marriage. So, this could reasonably be George Albert Valentine (b. 1846), whose parents were John T. and Mary Claflin Valentine. This family resided in the Newton, MA area, as did the Claflins.
The manuscript of this letter is held by Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in the Governor William and Mary Claflin Papers, GA-9, Box 4, Miscellaneous Folder J, Ac 950. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Azariah SmithThe manuscript of this letter is held by Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, MA, Letters --Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1890-96, undated. New England Hospital for Women and Children records, Sophia Smith Collection, SSC-MS-00339.
Manchester by the Sea.
30th September
[ 1887 ]*
Dear Mr. Smith
I have just found a charming paper called Le Naturalisme Aux États-Unis, in Revue des Deux Mondes,* which deals with the publications of Messrs H. M. & Co. in a most flattering manner.
[ Page 2 ]
-- I, myself, take great pleasure in what is kindly said of A White Heron,* but I think that you may find a good many usable sentences and at any rate, it is only fair to call attention to such a careful article -- I dare say
[ Page 3 ]
that you read the Revue always but I only see it occasionally and I was greatly pleased at finding this paper --
Believe me with best regards
yours sincerely
Sarah O. Jewett
Notes
1887: Jewett refers in this letter to Th. Bentzon's (Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc) essay, "Naturalism in America," which appeared in Revue des Deux Mondes 83 (1887), pp. 428-451. See Key to Correspondents.
Written in another hand and underlined twice in the upper right of page 1: "Sarah O. Jewett AS."
A White Heron: Jewett's story was rejected by William Dean Howells for the Atlantic, but Jewett made it the title story of her 1886 collection.
Edward Everett Hale to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ Begin letterhead ]*
FROM[ End letterhead ]
EDWARD E. HALE
39 HIGHLAND ST.
ROXBURY MASS. October 11, 190 1.
Dear Miss Jewett: --
Three times have I been hurried by South Berwick on my return from the wilds of northern New Hampshire. So many times have I wanted to escape from my keepers to the hospitality of your home. So many times have I been thwarted by that fate which survives the Greek tragedies.
I am going now to make my own fate, and I beg you to come around on the 20th of November, at half past three in the afternoon, to the Fair which the Hale House people are going to have at the Hotel Vendome and hear me read twenty of the New England Ballads, and then preside at one of our tables, either for tea or coffee or chocolate, as these may order.
If you can do this you will show your interest in Hale House, and you have so
[ Page 2 ]
kindly expressed your sympathy for this that I am bold enough to ask you to come. Pray do and oblige us truly,
Always yours
[ Signed by hand Edward E. Hale ]
If I had written this note with my own hand you would not be able to read it, so you must pardon the "type-writer."*
Notes
letterhead: The bold portions of the letterhead were typed in my Hale or his typist.
type-writer: Hale has written in the quotation marks by hand.
The typescript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Hale, Edward Everett, 1822-1909. 3 letters; 1871-1901. (86).
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.
Mary Greenwood Lodge to Sarah Orne Jewett (Fragment)
[ Autumn 1887 ]*
2.
the sign of the cross with the fellows just before she put the match to the faggots!
They are dear folks, these Italians! As the conductor put us into the first class compartment at the Milan Station, he said the Signora might rest tranquil, no on else should [ come ? ] in there -- (I think no one else tried to, but still, his promise was pleasant.) As we got out at the Certosa Station,* I heard a voice say "per la Signora!" and there was the young conductor, with two moss-rosebuds in his hand for me -- I had not given him a cent, & whether he [ hooked ? ] these rosebuds out of the atmosphere, like an esoteric
[ Page 2 ]
Buddhist, or picked them there by the way, while the train was in motion, I know not --
We took the train which passed the Certosa Station to go back to Milan, at six o'clock, P.M. and as I was helped out of the carriage at Milan, it was again by the same youth, who again said with a beaming smile, "Per la Signora," and produced this time quite a bunch of roses! And as I thanked him, I said to myself, "are we in Paradise? Oh no! only in Italy" I send my Pinny* a photograph from one of the Cloisters. And I send her my dearest truest love, and thanks{.}
[ Page 3 ]
I went, under your sheltering wing, to see [ Niles? so it appears ]* And how nice he was, and how he kept smiling, with that brunette smile of his, and how you augured well from his dark blandness?
[ The middle of page 3 is blank; the following is at the bottom ]
There are no monks at the Certosa now, you know -- Otherwise Marigold* could never have got in!
Notes
1887: This speculative date is supported by the knowledge that Lodge traveled to Europe in 1887, returning on the Pavonia from Liverpool to New York on 13 November. See Jewett to Louisa Dresel of 13 November 1887. During the period of the known Jewett-Lodge correspondence (1881-1889), this is a likely date.
Certosa: Certosa di Pavia is a monastery in northern Italy, about 30 km south of Milan.
Pinny: A nickname for Jewett.
Niles: This person has not yet been identified.
Marigold: A nickname for Lodge.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743 Box 3, Item 134 I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Charlotte Fiske Bates*
148 Charles Street
Boston 25th October
[ 1887 ]*
Dear Mifs Bates
It will be impossible for me to read in Sanders Theatre or even to be present as I am leaving town in a few days and [ deleted word shall ? ] do not return for a permanent stay
[ Page 2 ]
until late in December -- But I am sure that you understand how great my interest is in the Memorial Fund.
Believe me with best wishes
Yours sincerely,
S. O. Jewett
Notes
1887: See notes below.
Bates seems to have solicited Jewett to read for the Longfellow Memorial event on a date before Christmas 1887. The event did not occur, however, until late February of 1888. Perhaps the date had to be changed.
By the end of February 1888, Jewett and Annie Adams Fields had decided to travel south for Fields's health, making it difficult for Jewett to participate on 27 February.
Charlotte Fiske Bates: Miss Bates (1838-1916) was an American author, editor and educator. She partnered with American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) in producing several volumes. After Longfellow's death, she labored to raise funds for the Longfellow Memorial Association.
Sanders: The subject of this letter is an Authors Reading organized by Bates as a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow birthday celebration to raise money for the Longfellow Memorial Fund. It took place in Harvard University's Sanders Theatre on 27 February 1888 as reported in the Boston Daily Globe of 28 Feb 1888: p. 2.
Jewett may have been somewhat reluctant to take a lead role in Bates's project because she and Annie Fields, along with other friends, had organized a major event of the same kind and purpose in March of 1887.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections; Cairns Collection of American Women Writers, Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Eben Norton Horsford
Friday afternoon
[ 28 October 1887 ]*
[ Begin letterhead ]
148. Charles Street.
Boston.
[ End letterhead ]
My dear Prof. Horsford
Here I was yesterday when the pretty white book came, and here I am still "waiting with my things on" to go to Fanueil Hall* tomorrow -- staying over Sunday on purpose -- We, (Mrs Fields* and I) came up
[ Page 2 ]
from Manchester a few days ago -- and I am having a busy few days before I go home on Monday for some weeks. I want to see you all and shall hope to see Lilian & Kate* tomorrow & be near enough to speak. I ought to have written to you and them long
[ Page 3 ]
ago, but I am only just beginning to creep out from under the shadow of so great a sorrow and loss* as came to me this summer -- I was very grateful for all your kindnesses, old and new!
And tomorrow I shall listen as with three ears!
Yours always
[ Page 4 ]
affectionately, with love to dear Mrs. Horsford --
Sarah O. Jewett
Notes
28 October 1887: This date is confirmed by Jewett's reference to the coming lecture by Horsford, which took place on Saturday 29 October 1887. See notes below.
Fanueil Hall: Horsford eventually published Discovery of America by Northmen: Address at the Unveiling of the Statue of Leif Eriksen, delivered in Faneuil Hall Oct. 29, 1887.
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Lilian & Kate: Horsford's daughters. See Key to Correspondents.
sorrow and loss: Presumably, Jewett refers to the death of her uncle William Durham Jewett on 4 August 1887. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of the letter is held by the Fales Library and Special Collections, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York University. Sylvester Manor Archive 1649-1996, MSS.208, IV: Horsford Family, Box 63: Folder 41. Jewett, Sarah Orne: Maine & Massachusetts. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
Sunday afternoon
[ 31 October 1886 ]*
Oh dear Fuff* to think of my going to the great day* after all! -- I am so pleased that I can find no words -- ( I have been writing to Lilian* to know about times and seasons and I ventured to say that perhaps you and Mabel* and she and I could go together. I will come Saturday but I shall have to get back Tuesday for Mary* will be in Portland and I shall be importanter than usual.)
I wrote a very little note of thanks to Dr. Holmes* for
[ Page 2 ]
sheer joy, and put no answer on the envelope very neatly so that he can open it without a pang -- Oh Fuff think of us sitting together with cold shivers going down our backs!
-- I have been writing Marigold* today and telling her we are going -- (What rainsome weather it is nowadays though I did get quite a walk up the street and was chased home by a shower and felt so much better for it -- just before dark. John* hovered about the house this morning after giving delightful
[ Page 3 ]
hints about the high surf that must be beating the Wells shores and the cliff* but I was afraid to risk the dampness and at last [ consoled corrected ] him by saying that we had seen it splashing over the Cliff as high as ever it went and we smiled together and contented ourselves with reminiscences.)
I have been reading Christopher Norths Genius and Character of Burns -- Father's old [ Wiley corrected ] and Putnam copy -- with such delight and this evening I got down the poems and longed to have them with you. We dont read
[ Page 4 ]
Burns half enough do we? And when I read again the eloquence of the Wilson book, I wondered at the dull placidity that was lately hinted in the Atlantic* -- yet I was most grateful to it for freshening my thought of the big Scotsman -- Do let us read bits of the Burns essays* together sometime just for the bigness of his affection and praise!
)*
(Good-night dear, dear Fuff. Tell A.A.* about our pretty excursion to meetinghouse hill -- but I shall have to tell her how the little bonnet man tried bonnets on you with the mere tips of his fingers!
Your own S. O. J.
[ Up the left margin and across the top margin of age 4 ]
Did you have time to read the [ last corrected ] Nation you sent? I thought it was uncommonly full of good things. See this first rate news from Lieut. Cushing!* Pinny* a good doctor ladies!)*
Notes
31 October 1886: Exact as it is, this date remains speculative. It seems likely that the "great day" to which Jewett refers was the awarding of an honorary degree to John Greenleaf Whittier, during the celebration of Harvard's 250th Anniversary. For Jewett's proposed travel schedule to work out, she would have had to have written the Sunday before the weekend of the event. See notes below.
Parenthesis marks in this manuscript were penciled by Fields. Some marks are in green pencil, and some are in black. The first pair is in green; the remaining green marks are noted below.
Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
great day: On November 5-8, 1886, Harvard University celebrated the 250th anniversary of its founding. The festivities included awarding an honorary degree to John Greenleaf Whittier, an oration by the poet James Russell Lowell and an original poem read by Oliver Wendell Holmes. They appeared together in the the Sanders Theatre on the morning of Alumni Day, Monday 8 November. Holmes presented an occasional poem specifically for the celebration, concluding his first stanza with this question:
That joyous gathering who can e'er forget,Lilian: Lilian Aldrich. See Key to Correspondents.
When Harvard's nurslings, scattered far and wide,
Through mart and village, lake's and ocean's side,
Came, with one impulse, one fraternal throng,
And crowned the hours with banquet, speech, and song?
Mabel: Mabel Lowell Burnett. See Key to Correspondents.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Marigold: Mary Langdon Greenwood (Mrs. James) Lodge. See Key to Correspondents.
John: John Tucker. See Key to Correspondents.
the cliff: York Harbor, ME is known in part for "The Cliff Walk ... an ancient shoreline path lined with beach roses, [that] winds along Eastern Point ledges above the surf."
Christopher Norths Genius and Character of Burns: John Wilson of Elleray (1785-1854) was a Scottish author and critic, who published often under the pseudonym Christopher North in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. In 1861, under his own name, he published The Genius and Character of Burns: An Essay and Criticism on His Life and Writings, with Quotations from the Best Passages.
Wilson book ... Atlantic: Jewett probably refers to "A Literary Athlete," by Edward F. Hayward, an article on John Wilson/Christopher North, as poet and critic in Atlantic Monthly 58 (October 1886) pp. 456-62.
Burns essays: Fields has deleted "essays" in pencil.
praise!): Fields penciled the parenthesis mark in green, then deleted it in black pencil.
A.A.: This person has not been identified. Among women whom Fields knew with these initials: homeopathic physician and Charles Street neighbor, Alice Ahlborn (1865-1957); author, ethnologist and translator, Abigail Langdon Alger (1850-1917); Anna Powell Grant Sears Amory (1813-95) wife of Boston merchant William Amory (1804-1888); and Alice James's friend Anne/Annie Ashburner (1807-1894).
Lieut. Cushing: Lieutenant Frank Hamilton Cushing (1857-1900) was a lifetime student of the American Indian and an employee of the Smithsonian Institute and the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Jewett's reference to him is uncertain. Wikipedia says that ill health cut short Cushing's work with Zuni Native Americans in 1887. Perhaps she has received good news about his health. I have not been able to find references to him in The Nation during 1887.
Pinny: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
ladies! ): This parenthesis mark is in green pencil.
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
[ Autumn 1887 ]*
(Dear Fuff* wouldn't Noon in the first line begin a new sentence well and have a capital N by rights? I think all that beginning is a little long ^for one sentence^ -- If I thought enough people would read it I should speak for your "Singer old and gray" -- At any rate it would be republished in other papers -- Which ones did Mr. Burlingame* keep?
Goodnight Fuff -- I love you dearly and this is
Pin* - )
Notes
Autumn 1887: This date is guess, based on circumstantial evidence. See notes below.
Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
This and the other parenthesis marks in this letter were penciled in green by Annie Fields.
"Singer old and gray": Jewett seems to be speaking of a poem Fields has submitted to Scribner's Magazine.
None of her published poem contains the phrase "Singer old and gray." Fields published two poems in which the word "Noon" appears in the opening lines. Neither appeared in Scribner's.
"The Winging Hour" appeared in Century 35 (December 1887, p. 212). It opens: "Stay not! Pause not! / The noon is near; / The sun hath climbed the height."
"The Way" appeared in Harper's 78 (February 1889, p. 373). It opens: "I lay within a little dusky wood / Withdrawn from men; the noonday sunlight faint / Peeped rarely down through the o'erhanging hood / of interlacing boughs, ...."
While "The Winging Hour" seems to fit Jewett's description better than "The Way," the latter currently has the more complicated opening sentence.
Whether either is the poem to which Jewett refers is not known.
Also relevant is that Fields published, soon after, four poems in Scribner's, 2 in 1888 and 2 in 1889, which shows that she was submitting numbers of poems to the magazine at this time. In 1891, however, she placed 3 poems in Scribner's.
Mr. Burlingame: Edward Livermore Burlingame (1848-1922) was editor of Scribner's (1887-1914).
Pin: For Pinny Lawson, a Jewett nickname. 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 Thomas Bailey Aldrich
South Berwick 6 November [ 1887 ]*
My dear friend
I send you this sketch with many fears that you will think I have tried something quite beyond me -- It is the sort of thing that you could do beautifully! and perhaps the other S. Jewett* would be better fitted than I -- I loved it very much in the beginning and then
[ Page 2 ]
put it away to cool and now as I have worked over it it seems to have cooled too much! ----
But please look it over, and if you cant use it, I will have something else ready for you pretty soon ----
[ Page 3 ]
I mean to go to town soon for two or three days and shall hope to see you & Lilian.
Yours affectionately
S. O. J.
Notes
1887: This tentative date is based upon Jewett mentioning "the other S. Jewett." Almost certainly this would be the actress, Sara Jewett, as explained below. Jewett's only known story to deal directly with acting is "The Player Queen," which appeared in America on July 28, 1888. Given the likelihood that this is the story she is presenting to Aldrich, it seems probable that she submitted it to him in November of 1887, that he chose not to use it in Atlantic Monthly, and that she then found a place for it in America the next year.
other S. Jewett: Richard Cary in Sarah Orne Jewett Letters (1967) writes:
Sara Jewett (1847-1899) was the leading lady of Augustin Daly's Union Square Theatre Company. Miss Jewett of South Berwick recounts drolly that upon several occasions during her travels she was mistaken for Miss Jewett of New York, then considered one of the most beautiful women in America. In an ironic extension of the parallel, illness and enforced retirement became the lot of both thespian and literary Jewett. Sara Jewett's last appearance as an actress took place in the spring of 1883. (46)The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Thomas Baily 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: 2654.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Louisa Dresel
South Berwick, Maine
November 13, 1887
My dear Loulie:
I have been considering the photographs and wondering which I like best! Indeed I think that they are much better than the pomps of Dresden* which you know I never would accept at all. I believe that of these two I like the profile but I must see the other one before I quite make up my mind.
I was very sorry not to see you when you came to Charles Street.1 I only stayed a little while after we came up from Manchester and I was so busy with put-off shoppings, etc{.}, that I did not find the days any too long. I may be in town again before I 'move'* but it will only be for a day or two; I count upon these November days and have been much grieved because a bad cold has had the better of me almost ever since I came home.
I have been reading a good deal though and one book I am sure Mrs. Dresel will like -- The Coleorton letters -- written by Coleridge, Wordsworth, Scott and Southey, and especially my beloved Dorothy Wordsworth, to their friends the Beaumonts.2 You don't know how delightful the pages are until you read them! I am just beginning now an Irish story called Ismay's Children3 which beguiles me very much as Ireland always does. I must have had an Irish grandmother way back in the prehistoric times.
I have been watching the papers most eagerly these last two or three days, for the arrival of the Pavonia with dear Mrs. Lodge.4 I am so glad for Mrs. Fields's sake that she is coming home again.
Now Loulie, was it not "The Landscape Chamber"5 that I was to send to Miss Brockhaus? and how shall I manage it unless you help me, for I don't know her address. I will order one sent to you: no, I will wait until I come and then get you to add the house number; for if I let you direct it, how will our friend know that it is sent by another!!
Please give my love to Mrs. Dresel. Tell me how the painting gets on! You know how unconvinced I am of the mirror frame (!) but how affectionately I am always, most sincerely your friend
S. O. J.
Cary's Notes
1Mrs. Fields's Boston home at No. 148 overlooking the river, a veritable salon frequented by most of the English and American authors published by her husband, and by many others eminent in the arts.
2Memorials of Coleorton (Edinburgh, 1887), 2 vols., edited by William Knight, being Letters from Coleridge, Wordsworth and his sister, Southey, and Sir Walter Scott, to Sir George and Lady Beaumont of Coleorton, Leicestershire, 1803-1834. Beaumont, a wealthy patron, met Wordsworth in the home of Coleridge in 1803 and favored him generously thereafter.
The Editor adds that while these volumes appeared in 1887, they were not reviewed in Atlantic until February 1888. This suggests that this letter could have been composed in 1888. See also below the note on "The Landscape Chamber," which first appeared in the November 1887 Atlantic. While Jewett could have obtained and read these materials as soon as they appeared, it seems likely that more time would have passed.
3These sketches of life in Dublin by May Laffan Hartley were published anonymously, "By the author of Hogan, M.P., Flitters, Tatters, and the Counsellor, etc." (Macmillan & Co.: London, New York, 1887). Not unlike Jewett's sketches of life in Maine, "the photographic literalness of commonplace detail," said the Dublin Review critic, is "redeemed by the glow of poetic imagination." Hence the attraction, which may have been more deeply subconscious than Jewett realized.
4Mrs. James [Mary Greenwood] Lodge (1829-1889) was fulsomely eulogized by the Boston Evening Transcript on January 3, 1890 as "the Queen Vashti of Persia, as she was, too, Priscilla of the Puritans." She was in fact a woman of considerable presence, wit and learning, who compiled A Week Away from Time (Boston, 1887), new stories, translations, and verses, to which Mrs. Fields and Owen Wister contributed. She had a keen sympathy for the poor and outcast, active with Fields in founding and operating the Associated Charities of Boston. Jewett nicknamed her "Marigold" and dedicated Betty Leicester "With love to M. G. L., one of the first of Betty's friends." Jewett's eagerness about the Pavonia was based not solely on her fondness for Mrs. Lodge but also on the fact that rough weather had delayed its scheduled arrival for two days. Lowell and Louise Chandler Moulton were among the other passengers.
5One of Jewett's sketch-stories in a mood of Gothic mystery and veiled terror, first published in Atlantic Monthly, LX (November 1887), 603-613; collected in The King of Folly Island and Other People (Boston, 1888).
Editor's Notes
pomps of Dresden: Dresden, Germany was among the places Dresel visited while in Europe, the residence at some point of her German friend, Marianne Theresia Brockhaus. See Key to Correspondents. What is meant by the pomps of Dresden is not yet known.
before I 'move': Sarah and Mary Jewett moved from the house where they grew up into the house next door, now known as the Jewett House, in 1887, after the death of their uncle William Jewett.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Am 1743 (50). This transcription by Richard Cary appeared originally in "Jewett to Dresel: 33 Letters," Colby Library Quarterly 7:1 (March 1975), 13-49, which gave permission to reprint it here. Notes are by Cary, with additions by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Edward Augustus Freeman to Sarah Orne Jewett
[Printed letterhead]
16. St. Giles.
Oxford
[to the right of the letterhead]
November
20th, 1887
Dear Madam,
I forget what I could have said to make you say that you have found Eremburga.* There can be no doubt about her as Count Rogers second wife, quite distinct from Judith his first, though Geoffrey Malaterra makes it a little confusing by leaving out Judiths death and Eremburgas marriage. But there is no doubt about it. I have given a long note to it. But what can be the use of
[page 2]
of [repeated] Hares Cities of Southern Italy and Sicily. I tried it but hes worthless [there?] on the spot. I don't believe He has ever [been?] at Spoleto. Murrays volume (by George Dennis) is far better and [Grell-fels?] better again.
Maurice must be some odd
confidesconfusion with [unknown word] or [McGrice?], or both. It never does to trust second-hand writers. I don't want anybody to trust me. Even in this little Sicily, where I shall not be able to give definite references, I shall give[Written sideways on the other side of the folded sheet.]
a heading of authorities to each chapter.
Believe me yours faithfully
Edward A Freeman [The three parts of his signature are connected into one word.]
Notes
Eremburga: Freeman refers to their correspondence about her work on The Story of the Normans (1887). Freeman's book in the same series as The Story of the Normans was The Story of Sicily (1892).
Malaterra: According to Wikipedia, Geoffrey Malaterra "was an eleventh-century Benedictine monk and historian, possibly of Norman origin."
Dennis: According to Wikipedia, George Dennis (1814-1898 "was a British explorer of Etruria; his written account and drawings of the ancient places and monuments of the Etruscan civilization combined with his summary of the ancient sources is among the first of the modern era and remains an indispensable reference in Etruscan studies."
Probably, Freeman refers to A handbook for Travellers in Southern Italy and Sicily: comprising the description of Naples and its environs, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Vesuvius, Sorrento; the islands of Capri and Ischia; Amalfi, Pæstum, and Capua, the Abruzzi and Calabria; Palermo, Girgenti, the Greek temples, and Messina. Originally published in 1853 by Octavian Blewitt; the seventh edition of 1874 listed George T. Dennis as co-author.Maurice: Jewett refers to Freeman solving the mystery of Maurice in a card she received from him in her letter of December 1888. See letter 20 in Fields. However, what this was about has not yet been determined.
The ms of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: MS Am 1743 (68) Freeman, Edward Augustus, 1823-1892, 1 letter; 1887. Transcription and annotation by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ Begin letterhead ]
EDITORIAL OFFICE OF
The Atlantic Monthly,
BOSTON.
[ End letterhead ]
[ Date added to the right of the letterhead ]
Nov.. 24 ' ' 1887.
Dear Sadie:*
"The Player Queen" is charming and lives, but I always like to have from you the kind of story which nobody else can tell. This is not quite one of those, So I'm going to wait for that other one you speak of. Do you want "The Player Queen" to "make her appearance" at South Berwick, or shall I keep her until you come to town? -- over leaf I sent you some verses* you mustn't let
[ Page 2 ]
go out of your hand until they are printed in The Independent. The editor of the Atlantic declined them for that stuffy magazine.
Ever affectionately yours,
T.B.A.
Notes
Sadie: Aldrich uses his affectionate nickname, "Sadie Martinot." See Key to Correspondents.
Also, his handwriting here results in many shortened words, such as "you" for "your." I have chosen to render these as I believe he intended them to be read. Anyone wishing to see his exact text should consult the manuscript.
The Player Queen: "A Player Queen" was published in America 1 (July 28, 1888) 6-8.
verses: With this letter is a copy of Aldrich's poem, "A Mood." The title is double-underlined. In the first line, where Aldrich has written "cloud," published versions say "gloom."
A blight, a cloud, I know not what, has crept upon my gladness --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).
Some vague, remote ancestral touch of sorrow, or of madness;
A fear that is not fear, a pain that has not pain's insistence;
A sense of longing, or of loss, in some foregone existence;
A subtle hurt that never pen has writ ^n^or tongue has spoken --
Such hurt perchance as Nature feels when a blossomed bough is broken.
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 Thomas Bailey Aldrich
South Berwick Maine
25 November 1887
Dear Friend
I proudly agree with your decision. The Player Queen* must come back to be mended in her ways. Once I was defeated and put down for a wrong estimate of Dulham Ladies,* but nothing can be said of my
[ Page 2 ]
opinions as to literary merit now! The sketch which I am just at work upon is of a solemn sort* but I think there is a good bit of reality in it and characterization. Lets see what you will think! and if this doesnt do, I can only say that my head is buzzing full of stories and [ I corrected ] am only afraid
[ Page 3 ]
that there wont be winter enough to write them in --
Thank you for the poem.* -- the last line gave me a strange thrill as I read it again. How many times I have remembered it and said it to myself since your first said it to me! ---- With love to Lilian* I am ever
Yours affectionately
S. O. J.
[ Page 4 ]*
Please to like Law Lane in the Scribner!
Notes
The Player Queen: "A Player Queen" was published in America 1 (July 28, 1888) 6-8. It was missed in later bibliographic studies and rediscovered by Philip B. Eppard, who reprinted it with his short essay, "Two Lost Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett," in Gwen Nagel, ed., Critical Essays on Sarah Orne Jewett (1984).
Dulham Ladies: Jewett's "The Dulham Ladies" appeared in Atlantic Monthly in April 1886.
solemn sort: Jewett refers to "Miss Tempy's Watchers," a story about watching at a deathbed, which appeared in Atlantic Monthly (61:289-295), March 1888. See Jewett to Fields of 25 November.
Page 4: At the top left of this page, penciled in another hand appears: 42m-1836.
Jewett's postscript on this page is written parallel to the right margin at the bottom.
the poem: Aldrich might have read Jewett almost any of his poems. However, in December 1887, his "Pauline Pavlovna" (76: 50-56) appeared in Harper's. It is a romantic dialogue of mistaken identity set in contemporary St. Petersburg, Russia. The final lines are spoken by the woman whose identity has been mistaken:
Count Sergius Pavlovich,Lilian: Lillian Woodman Aldrich. See Key to Correspondents.
Go find Pauline Pavlovna -- she is here --
And tell her that the Tsar has set you free.
[ She goes out hurriedly, replacing her mask.
Law Lane: Jewett's "Law Lane" appeared in Scribner's Magazine (2:725-742), December 1887, with eight illustrations by W. L. Taylor.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Thomas Baily 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: 2707.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
Friday evening
[ 25 November 1887 ]*
My dear Fuff*
I think this is such a charming letter from Mrs Dugdale.* I long to have you go to see her and to smuggle in a nice Pinny!* The Author of Law Lane* if you please which came tonight and looks very uncommon good and there is a poem of Edith Thomas!* in the last of the magazine
[ Page 2 ]which I liked very much but I haven't half read it. I am delighted with the Law Lane pictures. I have been writing a little this afternoon, and sewing a good deal. You will like my waist and little black dress, and look it right off my back I fear, in spite of a weeping Pinny. I did not tell you that I got some braid trimming for it at
[ Page 3 ]
Stearn's* one of the mornings when I was downtown. Fuff ought to have seen! No reading today to tell you about, but if I only can I am going to write and write! Alex McHenry* comes tomorrow for Sunday. Always a pleasure to the whole family. Alex is a little one you know. A dear note from the Linnet* but he doesn't like A Player Queen,* that is he thinks
[ Page 4 ]
it "charming and clever, but not the kind of story which nobody else can tell" which was consoling of the Linnet. I am curious to know whether he will like the next. It is very real and solemn. The name is Miss Tempy's Watchers{.} I dont believe I ever told you.
Good night my dear Fuff. I hope little Smithy* will be better and I am your own Pinny.
Notes
25 November 1887: This date is based upon Jewett indicating that T. B. Aldrich has kindly rejected her story, "The Player Queen." 25 November fell on a Friday; probably she wrote this letter on the same day she replied to Aldrich's letter. See Jewett to Aldrich of 25 November 1887.
Fuff: Jewett's nickname for Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Mrs Dugdale: Alice Frances Trevelyan (1843-1902) was the wife of William Stratford Dugdale (1828-1882), who died heroically attempting to rescue miners after a British mine explosion. He was a beloved pupil of Benjamin Jowett at Oxford, who maintained a friendship with Mrs. Dugdale after her husband's death. See The Life and Letters of Benjamin Jowett (1897).
Pinny: Nickname for Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
The Author of Law Lane: Jewett's story, "Law Lane," appeared in Scribner's Magazine (2:725-742), December 1887, with eight illustrations by William Ladd Taylor.
a poem of Edith Thomas: Edith Matilda Thomas (1854-1925) was an American poet. Her poem, "Atys" appeared in Scribner's Magazine (2:767-792), December 1887.
Stearn's: Wikipedia says: "Richard Hall Stearns (1824-1909) was a wealthy tradesman, philanthropist, and politician from Massachusetts whose self-titled department store became one of the largest department chains in Boston and the surrounding area." He established his store in the 1840s and it continued well into the twentieth century.
Alex McHenry ... a little one: Tracing Jewett genealogy is quite complicated, but it seems clear that the Jewett sisters were connected with some McHenrys through their grandmother, Sarah Orne. It appears that the Odiorne Bible (pp. 16-17) was passed to Sarah Orne, daughter of Sarah Moore Orne, upon her death in 1875, then to her daughter, Roxalene Orne (1818-1887), who had married Alexander R. McHenry (1814 - 1874).
Their second son also was Alexander R. McHenry (1849-1899), of whom no marriage is known. Why he would be called "little" Alex is unknown, as he is the same age as Jewett, but he may be the person mentioned here.
Another McHenry son was Edward Orne McHenry (1855-1910); his spouse was Hannah Mason Smyth McHenry (1863 - 1917). Their known children were Edward and Kathryn.
The identity of "little" Alex, therefore, remains uncertain.
Linnet: The Jewett-Fields circle's nickname for Thomas Bailey Aldrich who, in 1887, was editor at Atlantic Monthly. See Key to Correspondents.
A Player Queen: "A Player Queen" was published in America 1 (July 28, 1888) 6-8. It was missed in later bibliographic studies and rediscovered by Philip B. Eppard, who reprinted it with his short essay, "Two Lost Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett," in Gwen Nagel, ed., Critical Essays on Sarah Orne Jewett (1984).
Miss Tempy's Watchers: Jewett's "Miss Tempy's Watchers" appeared in Atlantic Monthly (61:289-295), March 1888
little Smithy: This person is mentioned in several letters between Jewett and Fields, and so far there are few clues to her identity. One wonders whether she might be American classical scholar, Emily James Smith Putnam (1865-1944). Though there is no evidence that she and Annie Fields were acquainted, they shared interest in classical Greek studies. In 1887, Smith was a student at Bryn Mawr College. In 1899, she married a Jewett correspondent, the publisher George Haven Putnam. 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 Thomas Bailey Aldrich
South Berwick MaineDear Mr. T.B.A.
29 November -- [ 1887 ]
I have been working over A Village Shop* and I think it is as good ^a^ picture of old fashioned village life as I have done, but I fear it needs shortening (though not I hope, from the pie-crust aspect of shortening!) It will make twenty Atlantic pages there being in the neighborhood
[ Page 2 ]
of 14000 words, and this may be terrible to contemplate. I am tired of it now, and I dont wish to work on it anymore for fear of growing unjust. Will you look at it some day at your convenience and see what you think and then we will talk it over ^as to improvements^. It is so long that I shall keep to my $10. a page ----
[ Page 3 ]
The other sketch I am tempted to send you because I believe it is good of its kind, but I don't know that it is the Atlantic kind -- It is about 4500 words I think and I should mark it $80. --
If you dont like any of them please put them by until next week when I shall be in town for a day or two -- or send them
[ Page 4 ]
to 148 -- if you can do it just as well as not.
Yours ever affectionately
S. O. J.
Notes
1887: This date is supported by the fact that Jewett is submitting "A Village Shop," which she was unable to place with any magazine and, therefore, included in her next collection in the summer of 1888.
While there is little certainty about the other sketch she submitted, the next story she published of about 4500 words was "Miss Tempy's Watchers," Atlantic Monthly (61:289-295), March 1888, the most recent of her stories to be included in The King of Folly Island.
However, the short sketch she mentions may be "Fair Day," which she actually sent him a few weeks later. See 12 December 1887.
A Village Shop: Jewett's "A Village Shop" was first published in her collection, The King of Folly Island and Other People (1888).
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Thomas Baily 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: 2691.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Louisa Loring Dresel
South Berwick
5 December 1887
My Dear Loulie
I take my nearest pen in hand to thank you for your dear letter which gives me a real [ ' perhaps a stray mark ] pleasure. I am so glad that you have liked Law Lane.* To tell the truth I am quite overset myself every time I come to "Oh git me home Mis' Powder!"*
[ Page 2 ]
and it was a very pleasant story to write. Dont you think that some of the illustrations are good?
-- I am so much interested in this winter's painting and I hope to know very soon just what you are doing. I am going to town as you know for a day or two this week and then I shall be at home again until just
[ Page 3 ]
before Christmas. Then we must begin to play together.
Dear Loulie I cant stop to write a long letter but I could not help saying how gladly I listen to all that you have to tell me, and [that written over what] I always thank you for writing, even when I don't [ say possibly underlined ] so at once. I am so sorry to hear of Mr. Dresel's illness. I have found it an excellent
[ Page 4 ]
season for early rheumatic [kinks ?], but on the whole I have been getting on very well -- and have had some good pasture tramps, which are always my delight you know -- [ink blot]
With best love to Mrs. Dresel{,} dont forget how affectionately I am always
Yours affectionately
S. O. J.
Notes
Law Lane ... Mrs. Powder: Mrs. Powder is the protagonist of Jewett's "Law Lane", which appeared in Scribner's Magazine (2:725-742), December 1887, with eight illustrations by W. L. Taylor.
The manuscript of this letter is held by Columbia University Libraries Special Collections in the Sarah Orne Jewett letters, Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College, from a Columbia University Libraries microfilm copy of the manuscript.
Annie Adams Fields to Eben Norton Horsford
148 Charles St.
Dec. 5th '87
My dear friend:
How can I thank you for helping me on as you do! I can only remember that such a giver* does not desire words; but it is ^a^ great help and pleasure to feel you, as it were, by my side --
Sarah* will be here for the winter in three weeks now when we hope to find you all in Cambridge some day.
[ Page 2 ]
Meanwhile I shall nourish a pleasant hope of seeing you here in some outward or inward journey.
Believe me
gratefully and
affectionately your
Annie Fields.
Notes
giver: Presumably Horsford has given a donation to help with Fields's work at Associated Charities of Boston.
Sarah: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of the letter is held by the Fales Library and Special Collections, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York University. Sylvester Manor Archive 1649-1996, MSS.208, IV: Horsford Family, Box 59: Folder 35. Fields, Annie Adams: Connecticut, Maine & Massachusetts. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Thomas Bailey Aldrich
South Berwick
12 December [ 1887 ]*
My dear friend
The name of this last sketch at first was Mother Bascom and I think itwas^is^ better than Fair Day -- but not so good as I wish it were -- I shall be in town again next week, and if you dont
[ Page 2 ]
want [ the corrected from it ] ^sketch^ I will tuck it into my packet and bring it away, or you can send it down to Charley Street.*
= I couldn't forgive myself after I came away for not having said a word about the Russian poem* which is too fine indeed for me to dare to talk
[ Page 3 ]
about, and as for the Minor Poet* my heart gave leaps of joy at every line -- I have been longing that somebody wanted to tell just the truth [that corrected ] you have told in that beautiful poem. I wish that I could make you know the pleasure your work gives me and it grows more and more every year or else I
[ Page 4 ]
am learning to understand it better. Do write all the poems you can and all the prose! There is so little of their kind, and so many careless and ignorant writers push their wayto the front-- I humbly wish that I could ever learn the lesson that your work sets --
Yours gratefully
S. O. J.
Notes
1887: Jewett's "Fair Day" appeared in Scribner's Magazine (4,2: 199-205) August 1888. This letter indicates that she almost certainly submitted it to Aldrich the previous December.
Charley Street: 148 Charles St., the address of Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Russian poem: It would appear that Aldrich has shared with Jewett his poem, "Batyushka," which later appeared in Harper's Magazine, June 1888, p. 129. A note to the poem explains that title translates as "Dear little father." It refers to the Tsar, who appears in the poem as seemingly deaf to the suffering cries of his "children" in the dungeons of St. Petersburg.
Minor Poet: Aldrich seems also to have shown Jewett his poem, "At the Funeral of a Minor Poet." When the poem first appeared is not yet known. It was included in Aldrich's The Sisters' Tragedy (1891).
It is possible Aldrich's subject in this poem is Edward Rowland Sill (1841-1887) an American poet Aldrich admired and memorialized upon his death in "The Letter: Edward Rowland Sill, died February 27, 1887."
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Thomas Baily 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: 2692.
Sarah Orne Jewett to W. Morton Fullerton
South Berwick Maine
13 December 1887
Dear Mr. Fullerton
Thank you for the charming paper* which I had already read once and now read over again with even greater pleasure than before --
I shall be in town toward the end of the
[ Page 2 ]
month for my long winter visit and I hope that you will find time to come now and then to 148 Charles Street.
Believe me
Yours sincerely
Sarah O Jewett
Notes
charming paper: This paper has not been identified. As a founder and contributor to The Harvard Monthly before his graduation in 1886, he may have shared his essay in the November 1885 issue, "'L'Art pour L'Art'" Again" (72-77). Jewett almost certainly would have found it interesting. His main point is: "It really must sooner or later be admitted that literature which does not teach, which, in a word, has no moral, (and I use this word moral in no odious namby-pamby sense,) has no reason for existence. "
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.
John Greenleaf Whittier to Sarah Orne Jewett
Oak Knoll
12 M/ 15 1887*
My dear Sarah
Among a thousand letters poured on me thine was welcomed from my heart. I cannot tell thee how much I have thought of thee during the last few months, and how glad I am to be so kindly remembered. I am crowded with newsletters
[ Page 2 ]
letters, telegrams and visitors, and it looks as if day after tomorrow will be quite too much of a good thing. Amidst all this racket I feel as if { I } were a good deal of a fraud, & trading under false pretenses and then it is bad enough to be as "old as the hills" without being twitted of it.
[ Page 3 ]
I have just got a letter from dear Annie Fields,* God bless her!
I have not seen thy new story in Scribners yet. Will thee not have a new volume soon under the name of "The King of Folly Island!"* I have no time or strength now to write a letter, but I must say a word to thee, and thank thee for all the pleasure & comfort thee have given
[ Page 4 ]
me and for the dear delight of loving thee.
Ever affectionatelyNotes
thy old friend
John G Whittier
12 M/ 15 1887: Whittier's date is difficult to read. This is the date Cary reads in his transcription, and it is confirmed in part by it being 2 days before Whittier's 80th birthday, which is one of the topics of this letter.
Annie Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
"The King of Folly Island!": Jewett's story collection, The King of Folly Island appeared in 1888; the title story had appeared in Harper's Magazine in December 1886. Jewett's Scribner story for December 1887 was "Law Lane," also collected in The King of Folly Island.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the the Colby College Library, Special Collections, Sarah Orne Jewett Materials, JEWE.1, Subseries: Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett, John Greenleaf Whittier. 1887-1891. 3 ALS. Amesbury, Oak Knoll, MA. 10 p. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
A previous transcription by Richard Cary appears in "Whittier Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett," in Memorabilia of John Greenleaf Whittier, ed. John B. Pickard (Hartford: The Emerson Society, 1968), pp. 11-22.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ 1887 ]*
[ A fragment with missing material at the beginning ]
( you may know about her going on -- dear Sally,* how I should love to see her! but I am afraid she is too busy to think of a little visit.))
= I have now taken to reading Mr. Pepys* and find him very charming but so busy in the first volume with the King's return* that I shall be glad to get to where there are more reports of his new clothes and cheerful companions. I wavered between him & Boswell's Johnson* and I am by no means sure that [ Mr corrected ] Pepys has finally won the day. But they was great folks to read about, and one as good
[ Page 2 ]
as the other in being terrible interesting.
- ( I am just slipping these one cent stamps into the envelope for you to put [ deleted word ] on the pamphlets &c which have to be remailed. They wontsend^remail^ "second class matter" without a second-postage as they will letters and I get cards from the postmaster that there is something waiting -- you tell Cassie* about it. Sometimes they kindly stamp it 1 cent due & send it along: I should think they might all the time.
Good night dear
with ever so much love from
Pinny*
Notes
1887: This date is a guess, based upon Jewett first mentioning Samuel Pepys in another letter from 1887, so far as is currently known.
Parenthesis marks in this manuscript were penciled by Fields.
Sally: Probably this is Sara Norton. See Key to Correspondents.
Mr. Pepys: Samuel Pepys (1633 - 1703) was British civil servant and Member of Parliament, best remembered for his diary of 1660-1690, covering quite eventful years in England.
King's return: Charles II became King of England after eleven years during which England was without a king after the execution of his father, Charles I in 1649.
Boswell's Johnson: James Boswell (1740-1795) is most famous as the Scottish biographer of British author, Samuel Johnson (1709-1784).
Pinny: Pinny Lawson (Pinny / Pin) was an affectionate nickname for Jewett, used by her and Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Cassie: Presumably a Fields employee. No further identification has been found.
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 Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
Tuesday.My darling: Though the wind has [ "backed around" ? ] we do not seem less likely to be drenched this A.M. { -- } by and by perchance we may see light -- Last night Dr. & Mrs [ Barton ? ] dined here. He is a queer old soul reminding me of all the world of [ our Devonshire Major ? ]* -- But
[ December 1887 ]*
[ Page 2 ]
I must not forget to tell you when you come! How I wish I were there to help about the books!
It is a great, great piece of work --
I do hope you will get moved during the visit. I think too it may be easier for you to be*
[ Page 3 ]
in the other house and to get things from this one --
What an excitement with that thing with a tail! We had a very little mouse and I saw Howells* skit rehearsed among the kitchen people but I think he is rather too hard on the [ pastor ? ]! I am so grateful that
[ Page 4 ]
you are equal to the fray this week --
God bless you dear{.} I hope and hope for Sunday -- the little bride is smiling and smiling and so* dutiful it is indeed touching. She cannot do enough [ or ? ] too well --
your own
A.F.
The Cake is beyond words.
Notes
December 1887: This date seems probable, because the letter suggests that Jewett is moving into the house where she was born. See note below.
Barton: This transcription is uncertain, and these people have not yet been identified.
Devonshire Major: This transcription is uncertain, and its meaning obscure.
be: This word is underlined twice.
other house: Sarah and Mary Jewett moved from the house where they grew up into the house next door, now known as the Jewett House, late in 1887, after the death of their uncle William Jewett.
Howells: William Dean Howells. Key to Correspondents. The "skit" has not yet been identified. In 1886, Howells had published The Minister's Charge: or The Apprenticeship of Lemuel Barker, but whether this is relevant is as yet undetermined.
little bride: This person has not yet been identified.
so: This word is underlined twice.
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.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields
[ December 1887 ]*
Saturday
Dear Fuff*
I had a prosperous journey -- that is a very nice fast train to come by. And I reached home to find a [ splendid corrected ] occasion of Cousin Frances Gilman of Exeter with [ with is double underlined ] Cousin Alice* and so we had a beautiful evening and spoke much of the past! This morning
[ Page 2 ]
I was too lazy to get up for breakfast but I mean to make up for it presently. I thought Mary* would be going down street early so I would be sure to have my letter read. I hope you had a good time last evening and that Jessie* will be there tonight. Do give my love to her! I put in a postcard, so if she doesn't appear it wont be that!
[ Page 3 ]
-- Mary just came up for a crack o' conversation and has been sitting on the foot of the bed talking Christmas and other things. Her latest discovery is an excellent time keeper of a watch in one of the old desks!* and for [whom corrected] ^now in eternity^ it once kept time nobody can imagine. Mary being now the virtuous owner of four beside her own watch is a splendid sight -- but isnt it strange to be the ones to whom all the treasures and belongings of so many people come
[ Page 4 ]
sifting down! It is a vast thought to a comfortable Pinny* in bed, with live company down stairs! Well, good bye dear Fuff with ever so much love from your own affectionate
Pinny
Notes
December 1887: This date is highly speculative. It is based upon the fact that Jewett's sister Mary has found a watch, bringing her collection to five. In Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields [ December 1887 ] below, Jewett reports that Mary is being teased about her possessions as she prepares for Christmas.
Fuff: Jewett's nickname for Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Cousin Frances Gilman of Exeter ... Cousin Alice: Though it is known that Jewett was related through her mother to the Gilman family of Exeter, the identity of Frances Gilman has not been established. Cousin Alice probably is Mrs. Alice Dunlap Gilman. See Key to Correspondents.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Jessie: Jessie Cochrane. See Key to Correspondents.
desks: Jewett and her sister have recently moved from the Jewett-Eastman House, where Jewett grew up, to the house in which Jewett was born. Both are now included in the complex of the Sarah Orne Jewett House Museum and Visitor Center.
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 Annie Adams Fields
[ December 1887 ]*
Thursday evening
My dear little Fuff*
It has been a good day and a good walk over "the other hill" where we went once, and across the country to the Junction road* and so home as Mr. Pepys says! I [ had corrected ] a nice time with Carrie* and we managed to have some fun and amused
[ Page 2 ]
our companions which was good -- I have been sewing a little and thinking a good deal and we planned our little plans and were altogether friendly and comfortable together all of us -- Mary* has begun her Christmas work. It is a great pleasure just now to tease Mary about her possessions as you know --
[ Page 3 ]
------ Dear Fuff I wonder if you are at home yet from [ Judys ?] * and if you wished for Pinny* when you came in? -----
------ I feel better today, last night I had a bad time with my aching legweg, but it seemed to disappear by daylight and I hope that this tiff of [rheumatism ?] is over and that I shall be let alone for a while.
-- I am going to say goodnight
[ Page 4 ]
partly because my ink bottle is almost dry and partly because I am sleepy -- I shall be so glad to get your letter tomorrow.
Your own Pinny
To think I forgot my beach bag.
Will you please askKaty^Christy^ to give the clothes I left to George for Mary to wash?*
[24 circled, in another hand, lower left corner of page 4.]
[ Up the left margin and down the top margin of page 1]
I have got the "newspaper notices" to the Landscape Chamber* and they are really amazing good and make much of it. [ That all would believe! ? ] I asked them at Houghton to let me see them{.}
Notes
December 1887: This date is inferred from Jewett reading notices of the November 1899 publication of her story, "The Landscape Chamber." See notes below.
Fuff: Jewett's nickname for Annie Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
Junction road: Though it is not certain which hill is Jewett's "other hill," presumably this is a hill east of the Jewett homestead on Portland Street in South Berwick, ME. The Junction Road branched off eastward from Portland Street, north of the Jewett homestead, to the South Berwick Junction Depot. See Pirsig, The Placenames of South Berwick (2007), pp. 223-235.
Jewett recounts an almost identical tramp in almost the same words in Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields, Wednesday morning. [Summer 1889]. It is unlikely, however, to be the same walk as that one takes place in summer and this one apparently as Christmas is approaching.
Mr. Pepys: Samuel Pepys (1633 - 1703) "was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is most famous for the diary that he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man." The phrase "and so home" occurs with some frequency in his Diary of Samuel Pepys (1660-1669).
Carrie: Caroline Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Judys: While this has not been confirmed, it seems likely that this is Judith Drew Beal, stepdaughter of Annie Fields's sister, Louisa Adams Beal. See Annie Fields in Key to Correspondents.
Pinny: Nickname for Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Katy ... Christy ... George ... Mary: Katy is deleted because she probably was a Jewett employee at the time of this letter, whereas the other three are likely employees or associates of Annie Fields. Katy may be the long-time Jewett servant, Catherine Drinan. See Key to Correspondents.
Landscape Chamber: Jewett's story, "The Landscape Chamber," appeared in Atlantic Monthly (60:603-613), November 1887. Various publications at this time would describe other magazine issues as they appeared. It seems likely that Jewett has asked to see clippings of these notices, to see whether her stories are mentioned.
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.
John Greenleaf Whittier to Annie Adams Fields
12/23
[ 1887 ]*
Dear Annie Fields
I send thee two little books so that thee & Sarah* can have light reading for Christmas. I forgot to give them to you when you hurried off yesterday{.}
Your visit, brief as it was, was worth more than all the parade of Saturday [ unrecognized mark ] Thanks for it!
John G Whittier
Notes
1887: The Huntington Library has provided this date. Probably this is correct, for it is the case that Whittier's birthday, 17 December, fell on Saturday in 1887, a day for which he often expressed dread in his later years, because so many people visited and wrote to him at that time.
Sarah: Sarah Orne Jewett.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields collection: mss FI 72-4796. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Louisa Loring Dresel
Saturday morning [ Christmas season 1887 ]*
South Berwick
My dear Loulie:
IT
was
SUCH
a
stockingI began to eat my way down with the prune and then curiosity and appreciation got the better of appetite and when I came to my silver clasp I had a great moment. I needed it so bad for my best everyday cloak. I shall now go to Salem in proper trim. And the smaller the bundles grew the more beautiful they were after that: I am not sure that there aren't several too small for my fingers to find, and more beautiful than any yet. I am hoping to keep on the right side of the seated figure with long red hair, she being a witch person but well disposed. The four-leaved shamrock and the frizzy wig and the nice cat will be my allies.
I send you my, love and thanks (wish you happy Christmas next year!).
Dear A. F.1 was so delighted and touched at the heart by the Sappho. I like to tell you though I know she will. Yours with many thanks,
S. O. J.
I put my stocking all in again and showed to those here who were good enough last night.
Cary's Note
1Annie Adams Fields (1843-1915), widow of the publisher James T. Fields, became Jewett's inveterate companion after his death. They traveled frequently together in the United States and Europe, and Jewett spent a good part of each winter and summer in the Boston and Manchester-by-the-Sea homes of Mrs. Fields. Shortly after Jewett's death Mrs. Fields edited Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett (Boston, 1911).
Editor's Notes
1887: Dating this letter is difficult. The clue that Louisa Dresel has given Fields a text of Sappho suggests the possibility that she chose a recently published translation. WorldCat lists two likely titles. Sappho: Lyric Fragments translated by T H Rearden and William E Loy, published in San Francisco, appeared in 1886. Sappho, Memoir, Text, Selected Renderings and a Literal Translation by Henry Thornton Wharton was published in London in 1887.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Am 1743 (50). This transcription by Richard Cary appeared originally in "Jewett to Dresel: 33 Letters," Colby Library Quarterly 7:1 (March 1975), 13-49, which gave permission to reprint it here. Notes are by Cary, with additions by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Louisa Loring Dresel
[ 1887. in upper left corner of page 1, probably in another hand ]*
Monday evening --
[ December 1887 ]*
Dear Loulie
I must send a word of thanks at once for these two nice letters which have come in the same envelope. I am very glad to read what Miss Brockhaus* says -- it is really a great help to have such clear sighted eyes come to ones aid. Do tell her when you write, how her
[ Page 2 ]
letter has interested and pleased me. -- I am very sorry not to have seen you yet but I unfortunately caught a cold last week and have been shut up entirely against my will -- It is a barking cold which makes
[ Page 3 ]
me feel like a little naughty dog. Roger* looks up with astonishment, as if to say that it is bad manners to bark in the house!
Goodbye, with thanks from both A.F.* and me for the letters --
Yours ever
S.O.J.
Notes
Monday evening: See Jewett to Dresel of 13 November, which indicates that Jewett was planning at that time to send Miss Brockhaus a copy of her newly published story, "The Landscape Chamber." This letter may indicate that Brockhaus read and commented on the story. If this is correct, then this letter would have been composed near the end of 1887.
Brockhaus: Marianne Theresia Brockhaus. See Key to Correspondents.
Roger: A Jewett family dog, an Irish Setter. See Sarah Orne Jewett's Dog (1889).
A.F.: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by Columbia University Libraries Special Collections in the Sarah Orne Jewett letters, Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College, from a Columbia University Libraries microfilm copy of the manuscript.
Undated Letters Probably from 1887
Sarah Orne Jewett to Louisa Loring Dresel
[ 1887? in upper left corner of page 1, probably in another hand]*
Wednesday morning
Dear Loulie
I have enjoyed the letters very much. Especially the second one which is by the Loulie I know best -- Mrs. Fields* is better again (having had a second pull-down since I saw you --) She sends her love to you & Mrs. Dresel and returns this little
[ Page 2 ]
pin which has been waiting to go back to its owner many days but I always forgot it when I saw you and Ellis* too --
I am going to Berwick for two days as soon as I can cheerfully think that A.F. is almost well again, but when I come back I am going to see you{.}
Yours ever affectionately
S. O. J.
Notes
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields, A. F. See Key to Correspondents.
Ellis: Ellis Dresel, Louisa's brother. See Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by Columbia University Libraries Special Collections in the Sarah Orne Jewett letters, Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College, from a Columbia University Libraries microfilm copy of the manuscript.
Annie Adams Fields to Lilian Aldrich
[ Penciled ] The bearer will wait for reply to the last sentence
[ Begin letterhead ]
148. Charles Street,
Boston.
[ End letterhead ]
[ Penciled 1887 ]*
My dear Lilian:
To think I did not find opportunity yesterday to thank you for those exquisite white roses which have been such a delight to us!
I can only feel sure that you knew that I appreciated your loving thought. I long to see you both
[ Page 2 ]
and to hear more of the death of Mr. [ Unrecognized name Jill ? ]* who is a real loss to literature.
Lovingly yours
Annie Fields.
By the way!
The gist of my note is left out. Sarah will go with pleasure tonight but we want you to come to dinner with us and drive from here.
Notes
1887: The origin of this penciled in date is not known. In the absence of any other usable evidence, I have accepted this as the composition year for this letter.
Jill: This transcription is uncertain, and the person has not been identified.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: MS Am 1429, Box 6, Items 1446-1538. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Francis Rives Lassiter to Sarah Orne Jewett
84 Charles St.
Sunday night.
[ 1887 ]*
Dear Mifs Jewett --
I have been to bed but cannot sleep thinking of the story I attributed to you. It has just occurred to me that it is by Mary [ Halleck so it appears ] Foote.* I know nothing about her work -- except this story,
[ Page 2 ]
but I am sure you will not feel harshly toward me when you have read it.
Faithfully yours,
Francis R. Lassiter
Mifs Sarah Orne Jewett.
Notes
1887: Almost certainly this letter was composed during 1887 when Lassiter was practicing law in Boston and resided near Annie Fields. Lassiter's acquaintance with Jewett probably began in the spring of 1887. In early 1888, Lassiter returned to his home in Petersburg, Virginia, where Jewett and Fields visited him in April.
A note in another hand appears at the bottom of the blank half page next to page 1: "Taken from Wyndam Tavern, by T. B. Aldrich, B. & N.Y. 1890".
Mary Halleck Foote: American author and illustrator Mary Hallock Foote (1847-1938) wrote mainly about life in the mining communities of the American West. 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.
Lassister, Francis R. 1 letter; [1890]. (129).
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.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ Begin letterhead, underlined portions filled in by hand ]
Boston Office,
4 Park St.New York Office
11 E. 17th St.
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO., Publishers,
SUCCESSOR TO
HOUGHTON, OSGOOD & CO.
Boston Dec. 31 188 7
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Sadie:*
The little story is rich in those delightful things which you manage to tuck into many ms (in order to perplex me!) but as I cannot have every mortal page you write, I want to take my "pick" and get your best best. "Fair Day" is charming, but I would rather have something with a more decided motif. If I didn't have the Watchers,* which is a little master-piece and goes first in the March No, I would let this return to you, except in
[ Page 2 ]
proof. I shall see you and our dear friend early next year. I pray it to be a happy one for you both!
Affectionately,
T. B. Aldrich.
Notes
Sadie: Aldrich uses his affectionate nickname, "Sadie Martinot." See Key to Correspondents.
"Fair Day" ... Watchers: "Miss Tempy's Watchers," as announced here, appeared in Atlantic Monthly in March 1888. "Fair Day" came out in Scribner's Magazine in August 1888.
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.
Edited by Terry Heller, Coe College.
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