Jewett Texts

Sarah Orne Jewett Letters of 1894

Sarah Orne Jewett to Henry Oscar Houghton

148 Charles St.

2^nd January 1894*

Dear Mr. Houghton

I thank you very much for this beautiful copy of the Life of Whittier* and for your kind thought and New Year wishes. I wish you many happy new years in return. I have been very ill, but I begin

[ Page 2 ]

to get better now, as the days grow longer, and I hope soon to be about my affairs again. With kindest regards I am yours sincerely

Sarah O. Jewett

Notes

1894: Written at the top left, in another hand: Sarah O. Jewett.

Life of Whittier: Presumably, Houghton would not need to send Jewett a copy of Annie Fields's 1893 book, Whittier; almost certainly he has sent Life and Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier (1894) by Samuel T. Pickard. See Key to Correspondents.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Henry Oscar Houghton papers III. Letters to H. O. Houghton from various persons, Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 7 letters; 1894 & n.d. Box: 9 MS Am 1648, (513).
This transcription is from a photocopy held by the Maine Women Writers Collection, Burton Trafton Collection, Box 2, folder 88.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc to Sarah Orne Jewett
This letter was composed in French; a transcription follows the translation.

[ January 1894 ]*

A happy new year, Dear Sarah! Away with rheumatism and eye trouble! I embrace you with all my soul, and I ask that you convey to my South Berwick friends my sincere best wishes.

Mr. Bok* has sent me a check for 150 dollars in a pleasant letter. I will send the part due the dear translator after I cash the check. I don't leave here until Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, still having to make some essential visits. Everyone has been very kind to me. The most recent news regarding the health of my daughter-in-law* is not very encouraging. She gets too tired.

Miss A French* will meet me in Memphis. Her letter is cordial, delicious; she wishes that you would make one of the party. May it be so! -- I had hoped to see Mrs. Whitman*{;}remember me to her.

To you, darling

TB

[ cross-written down the right half of p. 4 ]

I believe the Milsand* manuscript is accepted. -- It is well understood that you did the [ unrecognized word ]. Let Mr. Jaccaci* arrange everything since he was in charge of this.

Notes

1894: This letter was composed during Blanc's 1893-4 tour in the United States.

Bok: Ladies' Home Journal editor, Edward William Bok (1863-1930). Mme. Blanc's article, "American Mistakes about French Women," appeared in Ladies' Home Journal 11 (April 1894) p. 10. Presumably, this is the piece that Jewett helped translate and for which Blanc has been paid.

daughter-in-law: According to Geneanet, Blanc's son married Madeleine LeBlanc in approximately 1890; they had two children: Christine (1894-1981) and Michel (1895-1965).

A French: American fiction writer, Alice French (1850-1934), who published as Octave Thanet.

Whitman: Sarah Wyman Whitman. See Key to Correspondents.

Milsand: Joseph Antoine Milsand (1817-1886), French critic, philosopher, Protestant theologian, and a close friend of British poet, Robert Browning (1812-1889).
In "Miss Jewett and Madame Blanc," Richard Cary reports that Blanc's essay "A French Friend of Browning -- Joseph Milsand" appeared in Scribner's XX (July 1896), 108-120.

Jaccaci: Auguste Jaccaci (1857-1930) at the time of this letter was art director for McClure's Magazine. He was born in France of Hungarian ancestry. After immigrating to the U.S. he became a decorative artist and an art dealer. In the U.S., he Americanized his name, and so sometimes is referred to as August Iaccaci. See Robert Sellwood, Winged Sabres (2018), the opening of Chapter 20.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda mss FI 1-5637, Box 5. Transcription, translation and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College, with essential assistance from Jeannine Hammond, Professor of French, Emerita, at Coe College.

Transcription

A happy new year,
Dear Sarah! plus
de rhumatisme,
plus de maux
d'yeux! Je vous
embrasse de
toute mon âme
et Je vous charge
pour South Berwick
des vœux les plus
sincères.

[ Page 2 ]

M. Bok m'a fait passer
un chèque de 150
dollars dans une jolie
lettre. J'enverrai
la part du cher
traducteur dès
que J'aurai touché,
Je ne pars que
Mercredi soir ou
Jeudi matin,
ayant encore

[ Page 3 ]

á faire des
visites indispensables.
On a été très bon
pour moi de tous
côtés.

Les dernières nouvelles
de la santé de ma
belle-fille ne sont
pas très rassurantes.
Elle se fatigue trop.

Miss A French

[ Page 4 ]

viendra me
chercher à Memphis.
Sa lettre est que
cordiale, délicieuse
elle voudrait
tant que vous
fussiez de la
partie. En soit
donc! -- J'ai esperé
en voir M^rs Whitman{;}
transmettez-lui mon
souvenirs. A vous, chérie

TB

[ Cross-written down the right half of p. 4 ]

Je crois que le MSS. Milsand
est accepté. -- Il est bien
entendu que vous avez fait
les [ unrecognized word, looks like nortes ]. Laissons M. Jaccaci
tout arranges puisqu'il
s'était chargé de l'affaire.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Silas Weir Mitchell

148 Charles St --

Boston 8 Jan [ 1894 ]*

[ Begin letterhead ]

South Berwick.

Maine.

[ End letterhead ]

Dear D^r Mitchell

I thank you many times for your most charming little Christmas story* -- And I should have said so before but I have been ill -- like other people! I hope that you are quite well again? but just read

[ Page 2 ]

your dear small story two or three times a week to make yourself a pleasure and to see if it wont make you think of another.

= I hope that you are better because I have found that my friend Madame Blanc* has gone to Philadelphia for a short time, when I supposed her to be on her

[ Page 3 ]

way to New Orleans. I wish very much to have her see you. I think that she may already have translated some of your stories or at any rate written about your work in the Revue des Deux Mondes. She is Th. Bentzon of that high company who speak in La Revue. & she is my dear and old friend

[ Page 4 ]

and has come to America for the first time. I only saw her for the first time a year and a half ago, though we have been writing to each other for ten years. She knows English very well ( -- also French !! ) Do be so kind as to go to see her at the Stratford if you and M^rs Mitchell have a minute to spare. My kindest remembrances to Mrs. Mitchell and to you -- yours most truly

S. O. Jewett

Notes

1894: This date is supported by Jewett's references to Mme. Blanc, who visited the United States in 1893-4 and who spent part of January 1894 in New Orleans. It appears that Blanc stayed at the Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, PA, Broad Street at Walnut.

Christmas story: Probably, Jewett refers to Mitchell's 1893 book for young readers, Mr. Kris Kringle: A Christmas Tale.

Madame Blanc: Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc. See Key to Correspondents.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Morgan Library & Museum. MA 2971. Purchase, Acquisitions Fund; 1976. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc to Annie Adams Fields
This letter was composed in French; a transcription follows the translation.

[ 9 January 1894 ]*

[ Begin letterhead ]*

Cable Address. "Boldt Philadelphia".

The Stratford
Geo. L. Boldt.
Philadelphia.

9 J

Hotel Bellevue
N.W. Cor. Broad & Walnut Sts. Phila.
The Stratford
S.W. cor. Broad & Walnut, Phila.
Boldt's Restaurant
Bullitt Building Fourth St. Phila.
The Waldorf
Cor. 53^rd & Fifth Ave. New York
Geo. C. Boldt. Propr.

[ End letterhead ]

Dear Annie, two words to let you know that I am doing well and that I have been admirably received here by the very lovely Williams family,* to whom Mr. McClure* had written on my behalf. They have introduced me to the best people in Philadelphia and have done everything to show me the city. At the Drexel Building, I was able to see again the painter Benjamin Constant,* who was very pleasant with me. Today, I will visit a local college, and tonight I will review our article, which I will send on to you for the latest revisions. Mr. Bok* could not have been be more charming.

[ Page 2 ]

I have not yet touched the money, from which I insist, absolutely, that you take your share. He had promised me only $100; the rest belongs to you. Perhaps Scribner's will pay you less -- we will see -- but you would do me a good service by agreeing, if not to translate, at least to review the translations of the other articles agreed upon by Mr. Bok. I would send them to you in French, and you would send them to him, translated by you or under your supervision. This would be so helpful to me. Will you?

[ Cross-written up the right side of page 2 ]

A thousand tender thoughts, though hurried, to share with our dear friend.* Miss Dunham* has been exquisite through everything.

[ Cross-written down the left side of page 2 ]

Write to me always care of McClure
743 Broadway*

ThB

Notes

1894: This letter was composed during Blanc's 1893-4 tour of the United States.

letterhead: This elaborate letterhead includes a decorative image on the left side, part of which is a bust portrait of William Shakespeare. Blanc has written a date in the empty blank space in the middle: 9 J.

Williams family: It is likely Blanc refers to the family of American activist, philanthropist and photographer Sophia Wells Royce (1850-1928), who married the journalist and educator, Talcott Williams (1849-1928) of Philadelphia. They were hosts to other distinguished European visitors, such as British poet Alice Meynell, another friend of Sarah Orne Jewett and Annie Fields.

McClure: Samuel Sidney McClure. See Key to Correspondents.

Benjamin Constant: French painter Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant (1845-1902), remembered for his portraits and his orientalist subjects. He visited the U.S. several times.

Bok: Ladies' Home Journal editor, Edward William Bok (1863-1930).See Key to Correspondents.
Mme. Blanc's article, "American Mistakes about French Women," appeared in Ladies' Home Journal 11 (April 1894) p. 10. Presumably, this is a piece that both Fields and Jewett helped translate and for which Blanc has been paid.

friend: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.

Dunham: This transcription is not certain, but probably Blanc refers to Helen Dunham, who was the daughter of James Dunham of New York, one of four sisters. She married Theodore Holmes Spicer (1860-1935) of London, England, in 1910. She was a friend of the American painter, John Singer Sargent, who made portraits of Helen (1892) and of her sister Etta (1895).

743 Broadway: This was the New York City address of Scribner's Magazine.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda mss FI 1-5637, Box 5. Transcription, translation and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College, with essential assistance from Jeannine Hammond, Professor of French, Emerita, at Coe College.

Transcription

In this letter, Blanc sometimes abbreviates "pour" as "pr" and "vous" as "vs." We have chosen to show whole words rather than these abbreviations.

Chère Annie, deux mots
pour vous dire que je vais
bien et que j'ai été admirablement
reçue ici par
une très charmante famille
Williams à qui M. M^cClure
avait écrit. Ils m'ont ouvert
les meilleures maisons de
Philadelphia et m'ont
fait tout visiter. J'ai
retrouvé au Drexel building
Benjamin Constant,
le peintre, ce qui m'a
été très agréable. Aujourd'hui
je vais visiter un collège
aux environs, ce soir
je reverrai notre article qui
vous sera envoyé pour les
dernières corrections. M^r Bok
a été on ne peut plus

[ Page 2 ]

aimable. Je n'ai pas
encore touché l'argent
sur lequel je tiens absolument
à prélever votre part.
Il ne m'avait promis que
100 dollars, le reste vous
appartient; peut-être
serez-vous moins rétribué
par le Scribner, nous
verrons, mais vous me
rendrez [ gd for good ] service en
consentant sinon à
traduire, du moins
à revoir la traduction
d'autres articles dans le
[ unrecognized word ] convenu avec Mr.
Bok. Je vous les enverrai
en français et vous les
lui expédierez traduits
par vous ou sous votre
surveillance. Ce sera très
avantageux pour moi.
Voulez-vous? ... ---- Mille

[ Cross-written up the right side of page 2 ]

tendresses à la hâte à partager avec
notre chère amie. Miss Dunham a
été exquise jusqu'au bout.

[ Cross-written down the left side of page 2 ]

Écrivez toujours care of M^cClure.

743 Broadway

ThB

Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett and Carrie Jewett Eastman

Saturday

[ January 13, 1894 ]*

When is the fair going to be? I can send some books as I have done before --

What a nice looking day! The grass has looked so green where the snow has gone on the common that you would think

[ Page 2 ]

it was March ^or April^, and some late snow & ice had come. This is Mrs. Cabots birthday* and I got some flowers and a Tales of New England* for her. I hope Stubs* will have a good Saturday.

Notes

January 13, 1894: This is the first year after the publication of Tales of New England in which 13 January falls on a Saturday. Assuming that Jewett is accurate about stating that the day of composition is Mrs. Cabot's birthday, then this date must be correct.
As this letter lacks salutation or signature, it cannot be determined to whom it is written. An Historic New England archivist has chosen to group it with letters from Jewett to her sisters, Mary R. Jewett and Carrie Jewett Eastman. The content indicates that Carrie is an intended recipient and that Jewett is indeed the author.

Mrs. Cabots birthday: Susan Burley Cabot. See Key to Correspondents. Her birthday was 13 January.

Tales of New England: Jewett's retrospective story collection, Tales of New England was published in 1890.

Stubs: Theodore Eastman Jewett. 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 Mary Rice Jewett and Carrie Jewett Eastman

Sunday morning

[ 14 January 1894 ]*

Dear Mary

All the Sunday bells have done ringing -- it was so pretty to hear them and the Park St. one* had a sound as if it might be the only bell in a village. You never saw any thing lovelier than the view out of my windows out over the Common in the misty sunshine with a splendid row of the four towers down in the Back Bay, Trinity and the pointed steeple of ‘Dr Duryeas” I never know what to call that church and the two campaniles of the trumpet, and the old South.* You see them over the tops of the elms. I dont think there is a lovelier view any where. I often think that it is so funny that people were always going off to see things and that the last gifts of education are in making you see the beauty of what is close to you. But I haven’t got time to preach a sermon no more than to go and hear one apparently. I was out a good deal yesterday and I am going out this evening so I thought best to stay in and read good books and keep company. It is such a pleasure to feel more like more like doing things than I have for a great while, and I must say which ever way I turn I find things enough to do. I went out early yesterday and did much execution at 4 Park St. finding Mr. Houghton & Mr. Garrison* alone and ready to turn their attention my way. They told me that they sent to the Woodburys to illustrate another book -- Timothy’s Quest* I think, and they refused as they were studying etc. I am rather glad that they didn’t undertake just that kind of book next. Thank you for sending the passage about the Only Rose.* Mr. Houghton spoke of it with great pleasure. I went to do an errand or two down town as far as Hovey’s* and I found it was too cold to walk home and my arms began to twinge so I took a herdic* and the funniest thing happened. I found I had left an envelope with Irving and Ellen Terry photographs* that I was [ fessing intended fetching ? ] Mrs. Cabot,* on the stocking counter at Hoveys, so that I hastened to step out of my herdic and thought the man was hardly ready to start but he had gathered up his reins and in half a secon [ so transcribed ] was well out in the road going to 34 Beacon St. when I succeeded in making him see me! He was so astonished & I think it would have been so funny if he had got to 34 Beacon St and proceeded to let nobody out, and no 25 cents nor nothing! It was a big herdic and one in which it was hard to get at the man! -- I believe I told you that we were asked by Dr. Holmes* for the afternoon, so I joined A.F.* who went early in the box and enjoyed seeing Henry VIII* very much though a box isn’t the best place to see from. Dr. Holmes was much pleased -- he hardly ever goes to the theatre: and I was afraid neither his poor old eyes nor his poor old ears would have much chance but he heard excellently their English voices were so clear. Mr. Stoker* the manager came to see us in the box and said that all the company were so excited & delighted at having the little doctor there. He is a charming man (Mr. Stoker) I know people who have known him a good while -- the Fairchilds* etc. and we had pleasant words together. He begged you poor sister as a favor to send at any time if she wanted a box…….. It made me laugh at myself but nobody saw me! Then I went home to Charles St. and had the last of the afternoon. Eva and Trini* were there and Eva was so dear. I had a pretty call on mamma* -- did I tell you? on Wednesday & found her looking well. I had such fun with dear A.F.* I took her round to her boys club at St. Andrews* on my way back and we spluttered with particulars. She has a nice young cook engaged in Bell’s place, some way through Maggies so all is well.* Bell is to marry the Andrews coachman, where she lived the summer we were gone, and is mentioned to be doing well. Poor Bell I hope she will be happy. Your sister has no more to speak of the events of yesterday except that thinking I might not get back the Dodds* were bidden and Sister bravely took a hand at whist during the entire evening & did measurably well considering how many years it is since she played! I quite like it. I dont know but I shall want to play sometime with sisters it seems to fill a place when you are tired or your eyes ache now doesn’t it! We must stick a pin in to remember it. Think of poor Sarah Leah.* I laughed so Carrie* at your speeches about the short wind and the big words, but oh how good it is to think of our aunts so comfortable with their nurses. I do hope all will go well. I think a great deal about it. Little Saltonstalls* are below calling on Mrs. Cabot and I hear them quawking so pretty on the stairs.

11.30 P.M. I have just come from the Fairchilds where I have been dining with Mr. Irving and Miss Terry also Sally* and also A.F. and Mr. T. B. Aldrich and Mr. Alex. Agassiz and Mr. Livermore* and Mr. & Mrs. Fairchild & Lily! It was perfectly charming: about a dozen people came in afterward the Higginsons and S.W. and Dr. Sturgis Bigelow* & so on. It was so nice. Sister a beautiful time but is now as tired a a dog. So good night, with dear love to all from

Seddy*

Notes

14 January 1894: A handwritten note on this transcription reads: 1894? In fact, Jewett refers to a production of Shakespeare's Henry VIII, which she saw during the week preceding the letter's composition. As this production took place during the week of 7 January 1894, Jewett must have written the letter on Sunday 14 January.

Park St.: The Park Street Church (Congregational), built in 1809, stands at the corner of Park and Tremont Streets in Boston. The other churches Jewett mentions are: Trinity Church (Episcopal) which by 1894 had relocated to Copley Square; Central Congregational Church (1867) which is now the Church of the Convenant at 67 Newbury Street, Old South Church (1873) at 645 Boylston Street. The campanile of "the trumpet" is that of the First Baptist Church (1882) at the corner of Commonwealth and Clarendon. A contemporary guidebook points out that a notable feature of the campanile is the upper belt of colossal sculptures, including "angels of judgment at the angles blowing golden trumpets." (p. 148).
Joseph Tuthill Duryea (1832-1898) had been pastor of Central Congregational, 1879-1889, but in 1894 was serving at Congregational Church in Omaha, NE. (See Wynkoop Genealogy, p. 185). Note that nearly all accounts of his life give his birth year as 1832, but his Find a Grave page says that the inscription on his stone gives a birth year of 1833.

4 Park St. ... Mr. Houghton & Mr. Garrison: The offices of Jewett's publisher, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. were at 4 Park St. in Boston. For Henry Oscar Houghton and Francis Jackson Garrison, see Key to Correspondents.

the Woodburys to illustrate another book -- Timothy’s Quest: For Marcia Oakes Woodbury and Charles H. Woodbury, see Key to Correspondents. In 1893, the Woodburys illustrated Jewett's new edition of Deephaven. Timothy's Quest (1890) was a novel for young readers by American writer Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856-1923), who is best remembered as the author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903). That Timothy's Quest appeared in 1890 suggests that Jewett's memory is mistaken. However, it appears that the first edition of the novel was not illustrated and that images by Oliver Herford first appeared in 1894/5, perhaps in a new holiday edition.

the passage about the Only Rose: Jewett's "The Only Rose" appeared in Atlantic Monthly (73:37-46), January 1894. While it is impossible to be sure which passage Mary has sent to Jewett about the Atlantic appearance of her story, it is possible this was from the Guardian of London of 10 January 1894, p. 23: "Miss Sarah Orne Jewett contributes "The Only Rose," a charming short story, full of the delicate, quiet humour which we are accustomed to find in her work." Closer to home, the Cambridge [MA] Chronicle XLIX.2 (13 January 1894) wrote: "The heroine of Miss Jewett's story, "The Only Rose," has been married three times, but it is not through the treatment of any "question" that the story is delightful. Humor and sympathy and skill give it a high place in Miss Jewett's best work."

Hovey’s: C. F. Hovey and Company was a dry goods store on Summer Street in Boston, from 1848 until well into the 20th Century.

herdic: Wikipedia says that a herdic was a closed, two-wheeled carriage with an entrance at the back and seats on the sides, used as taxis in several eastern U.S. cities. The name comes from its 1881 inventor, Peter Herdic of Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.

Irving and Ellen Terry photographs: Henry Irving (1838-1905) was an internationally famous British stage actor, remembered especially for his Shakspearean parts. He often toured in the United States with his partner Ellen Terry (1847-1928) and their business manager, Bram Stoker (1847-1912).

fessing Mrs. Cabot: Susan Burley Cabot had a residence at 34 Beacon St. in Boston. See Key to Correspondents. "Fessing" appears thus in the transcription. If it is not a transcription error, then perhaps Jewett is playfully intending "fetching.

Dr. Holmes: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. See Key to Correspondents.

A.F.: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.

seeing Henry VIII: A Henry Irving production of William Shakespeare's Henry VIII took place the week of 7 January 1894 at the Tremont Theatre in Boston. Reviews of the production appear in King John and Henry VIII: Critical Essays (1988, 2015) by Frances A. Shirley,

Mr. Stoker: Bram Stoker, Irving's assistant and business manager, is better remembered today for his popular 1897 novel, Dracula.

the Fairchilds: For the Fairchilds, see Sally Fairchild in Key to Correspondents. The identity of Lily, who seems to be a Fairchild daughter, sister of Sally, is not certain however. Mrs. Fairchild was generally called Lily, so it seems somewhat unlikely that a daughter would have the same nickname.

Eva and Trini ... a pretty call on mamma: All of the references in this passage are mysterious. Jewett seems to imply that Eva, Trini and "mamma" are closely related. Eva may be Eva von Blomberg. Perhaps von Blomberg's sister was nicknamed Trini? Trini may be a nickname for a Katherine or Katrina, but as of this writing, there is no other reference to Trini in her letters. The reference to an uncapitalized "mamma" cannot refer to Jewett's mother, who had died in 1891. See Key to Correspondents.

her boys club at St. Andrews: Public documents of Massachusetts, Volume 3 (1907) lists the charitable boys clubs of Massachusetts (p. 268). These include The Bunker Hill Boys' Club and the Red and White and Blue Club, in addition to the Federated Boys Clubs, which was a national organization of boys clubs. Neither of these, however, seems to be connected with a St. Andrews. Perhaps Jewett took Fields as far as Wellesley, where St. Andrew's Episcopal Church may have operated a boys club.

Bell’s place, ...Maggies: These employees of Fields and their associations remain unidentified.

Dodds: The Dodds have not been identified. It would be interesting if this were Walter James Dodd (1869-1916) and his wife Margaret Lea (d. 1951), who were residents of Boston and at one time resided in the Back Bay area. Though he eventually completed a medical degree, in 1894, he was an apothecary at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he pioneered the use of x-rays. While the Dodds cannot this couple, because they did not marry until 1910, little has yet been discovered about whether Dodd lived with other relatives and socialized in the Back Bay area before his marriage.
It is possible that Jewett refers to the family of William Goodell Dodd, a Boston banker who died in 1872. His wife was Eliza Fay Dodd, and they had at least one child, Harriet Isabella. However, no evidence has been found that Mrs. Dodd was living in the 1890s or resided with other family members, though she did live in the Back Bay Area.

Sarah Leah: Sarah Leah, apparently of South Berwick, worked as Jewett's typist and is mentioned in several letters. However no details about her identity have been discovered as of this writing. A Sarah Leah Huntress is listed as an 1855 graduate in A Memorial of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Founding of Berwick Academy, South Berwick, Maine (1891, p. 101), but no connection is yet known.

Carrie: Carrie Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.

Little Saltonstalls: This must be speculative lacking corroboration, but it seems likely that Jewett refers to the family of Richard Middlecott Saltonstall (1859-1922) and Eleanor Brooks (1867-1961) of Boston. Their children included Leverett (1892-1979) and Eleanor (19 October 1894-1919). A problem is that only Leverett could have been present in January of 1894. Other letters indicate that Jewett was acquainted with other Saltonstalls, specifically Lucy Sanders Saltonstall (1871-1947) and her sister, Rosamund (1881-1953), but Lucy could not be the mother of children named Saltonstall.

Susan Burley Cabot. See Key to Correspondents.

Sally: Almost certainly, this is Sara Norton, but she could be Sally Fairchild. See Key to Correspondents.

Mr. T. B. Aldrich: Thomas Bailey Aldrich. See Key to Correspondents.

Mr. Alex. Agassiz and Mr. Livermore ... the Higginsons and S.W. and Dr. Sturgis Bigelow: Alexander Agassiz (1835-1910), the son of Louis Agassiz and Elizabeth Cabot, was an American scientist and engineer.
    Of a Livermore who may have been present, only speculation seems possible. Fields was likely acquainted with Mary Livermore (1820-1905) and her husband Daniel Parker Livermore (1818-1899) and, perhaps, Henrietta Wells Livermore (1864-1933) and her husband Arthur Leslie Livermore (1862-1897).
    For the Higginsons, see Ida Agassiz Higginson in Key to Correspondents.
    Dr. William Sturgis Bigelow (1850-1926) was an American physician and art collector with a particular interest in Japanese culture and art.
    S. W. is Mrs. Sarah Wyman Whitman. See Key to Correspondents.

Seddy: One of Jewett's nicknames. See Key to Correspondents.

This text is from transcriptions from mixed repositories in the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Folder 73, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection. For more information about the individual transcription, contact the Maine Women Writers Collection. Preparation by Linda Heller. Notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Louise Imogen Guiney to Dr. Richard Garnett [ selection ]

16 January 1894

Mr. Irving and Miss Terry* have been in town a month. I sat, the other afternoon, close to Miss Sarah Orne Jewett, Mrs. Fields, and Dr. Holmes; the latter with a rose in his coat, and a smile to match it. The play was "Henry the Eighth."

Notes

Garnett: Presumably this is Richard Garnett (1835-1906), a British scholar, librarian, and author.

Terry: See Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett and Carrie Jewett Eastman of 14 January 1894, for details and notes about this performance.

This passage appears in Letters of Louise Imogen Guiney v. 1 (1896) p. 55.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett

Wednesday

[ 17 January 1894 ]*

Dear O. P.

I was glad to find Carrie* when I came home at a little after two. I most forgot to write you this morning!! We went to the theatre and the play was beautiful -- a melancholy tale but it ends in the play better than in the book. There are all sorts of pretty English things in

[ Page 2 ]

it -- the Christmas waits & chimes and all sorts of things. You must see it some time -- but it is a great part for Miss Terry* rather than for Irving --

I am waiting now for Mr. Clough*-- I have heard nothing in answer to my letter to him but I said I should be here and I suppose he will come --

We saw Coolidge* come

[ Page 3 ]

in last night. Carrie said in the course of the evening that she didn't know Mrs. Whitman* was so small, and I said that she might take it in who was sitting by! We both send much love. I think it was so funny about Aunt Sarah's* pinks!

Yours Seddie

& please excuse there being no more letty!*

Notes

17 January 1894: This date is probable. Jewett refers to attending a production with Ellen Terry and Henry Irving. See notes below. Almost certainly this is a production of William Shakespeare's Henry VIII, at that time traditionally offered during the Christmas season. Other letters indicate that Jewett saw the play in Boston around 14 January 1882.
Jewett indicates that the production included mummers (Christmas waits) and was in other ways organized to suit the holiday season.

Carrie: Carrie Jewett Eastman. See Correspondents.

Miss Terry ... Irving: Henry Irving (1838-1905) was an internationally famous British stage actor, remembered especially for his Shakspearean roles. He often toured in the United States with his partner Ellen Terry (1847-1928) and their business manager, Bram Stoker (1847-1912).

Mr. Clough: George Asa Clough (1843-1910), the Boston architect who planned the William Hayes Fogg Memorial Building (1894), which became the main building of Berwick Academy in South Berwick. Whitman, Jewett and her family were deeply involved in planning and designing this building.

Coolidge: Probably Katherine/Catherine Scollay Parkman Coolidge. See Correspondents.

Mrs. Whitman: Sarah Wyman Whitman. See Correspondents.

Aunt Sarah's: Sarah Chandler Perry. See Correspondents.

letty: letter.

The manuscript of the letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection, item MWWC0196_02_00_090_01. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Wyman Whitman to Sarah Orne Jewett

Wednesday

[ 17 January 1894 ]*

Darling, I think old Coolidge & perhaps E. Terry will come to the Studio at about 12 today -- & O perhaps you would look in anytime between 11.30 & 1. [ Wasnt Newport ? ] a long visit?

Yours

_Sw_*

Notes

17 January 1894: This date is speculative, based on Jewett's report in a letter to her sister, Mary, that she dined with Ellen Terry on Sunday 14 January 1894, which at least places Terry in Boston at this time.
This note is on a single page, which was folded closed and addressed on the outside to Jewett at 148 Charles Street. On the reverse of the folded page is a penciled note in an unknown hand: "Typical of Many".

old Coolidge: Probably Katherine/Catherine Scollay Parkman Coolidge. See Correspondents.

E. Terry: Henry Irving (1838-1905) was an internationally famous British stage actor, remembered especially for his Shakspearean roles. He often toured in the United States with his partner Ellen Terry (1847-1928) and their business manager, Bram Stoker (1847-1912).

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.

What a lovely day! I hope that you will have a nice drive and for me, I am going to seize the occasion to step to Cambridge…. I hope that Cousin Maria came all right as you expected her yesterday.* Give her my love and tell her I am sorry to lose any of her visit. Sister Carrie’s letter shored me up about Mrs. Timms but the trouble was in my making it longer as asked by the Century.*

The great interview with the Foggs was all most satisfactory. The only thing I regret is that there is so little time left now. Mr. Clough is going to see Mrs. Whitman today at least he said he should, but I was so glad to hear the way he came out and talking and told Mr. Fogg frankly that “the boys” as he calls Phipps & Slocum -- could do plain leaded work, but knew nothing about colour at all. They are going to have Mrs. Whitman direct the tinting of the walls with especial attention to the great hall which would have been left staring white if it hadn’t been for our stirring round, and there is to be some coloured glass in the huge windows there which I have much longed for. I think it will count so much more than to put all the coloured glass into the library windows where we least want it for practical reasons. One thing we are saved from: Mr. Clough confessed to me that he had given you a wrong estimate about the shelving: the library room as he planned it to you will only hold 6700 with the shelves round the walls, which Mr. Fogg & I said would not be enough, & that it must be alcoved to begin with so you would do well to impress this upon Mr. Twombly. I wish as quick as may be he could be told to write a letter to Clough urging that there should be plenty of shelf room and the alcoves arranged so that they can be added to without having by and by to make a new plan altogether. I liked Mr. Fogg even better than I ever have before and you know how much we liked him in the beginning -- a good plain kind man who has all the dignity of his uprightness and his wife is a nice woman. I know you will say so -- the kind anybody would like to have for neighbours, not up and coming or with any of the faults which are so trying in a woman of her sort. She spoke so nicely of the pleasure Mr. Fogg felt in our interest and in his visits at the house. They are going to Florida and wont be back before April. If they can stop then I should like to ask them to come and stay with us at one house or the other. They had a niece and a cousin (I think it was) and Mr. Clough & me and Mr. Fogg had a beautiful time. We had dinner each being urged to choose what might be preferred and sitting up a round table toward the front of the dining room. It was a splendid occasion Mary! (and Carrie) I wish you could have graced it. But I think we did all that we could do, and now we must keep things in mind, and keep hold of Mr. Clough, more and more as he gets toward the final details. Mr. Fogg said that he insisted to Mr. Brown upon the dedication being in June.*

I shall try to remember much talk and ‘sperience that I can’t stop to write. I told Mr. Fogg that I had no axe to grind that I had never spoken of the matter to Mrs. Whitman and that I knew ~~may ar~~ many artists beside her -- but it was simply because I had seen her work and thought she was the best person to do what we wanted and to do it cheaply. I speired about for old Patrick but I saw nothing of him.* I should ~~think~~ have had to get right up and sit at his table. I wonder if he would have known an old customer.

It did ~~not~~ indeed come near being a bad accident in the old hack. I hope the back [hack ?] itself was busted beyond repair, on Princess’s account. She had some intimations of its fate hadn’t she? I hope Sam Hale will soon be mended up.* You speaked very feeling, Carrie, about his head. Dont say anything but I am afraid that the little doctor is very badly off. A. F. couldn’t see him yesterday.* What a memory we shall have of that dinner! It makes us feel very sad, but he may pick up again all right. Good bye

The new cook is by name Annie Grant and is delightful so far. I send back Auntie’s letter so you can keep it. Wasn’t she funny about Sarah and the parish calls?

Mrs. Timms: "The Guests of Mrs. Timms" appeared in Century Magazine (47:575-581), February 1894.

Phipps & Slocum ... Mrs. Whitman ... Mr. Clough ... Mr. Fogg ... Mr. Twombly ... Mr. Brown: In 1894, Jewett and her family were deeply involved in the design of William Hayes Fogg Memorial Building, which became the main building of Berwick Academy.
    Phipps & Slocum American Glass Company of Boston installed stained-glass windows at the academy. Also in 1894, they did the stained glass in Boston's First Church of Christ Scientist.
    Sarah Wyman Whitman, Jewett's friend, participated in the design of the building and, at Jewett's expense, created a Civil War memorial stained glass window. See Whitman Letters to Jewett, Editorial Note
    Wikipedia says: "George Asa Clough (May 27, 1843 - December 30, 1910) was an architect in Boston, Massachusetts in the later 19th-century. He designed the Suffolk County Courthouse in Pemberton Square, and numerous other buildings in the city and around New England. "
    William Hayes Fogg (1817-1884) was a Maine merchant who grew rich in the China trade. His widow, Elizabeth, left $200,000 and the couple's Asian art collection to Harvard University, the foundation of Harvard's Fogg Museum (1896).
    "Hiram Fogg, a beneficiary [of W. H. Fogg's estate] who lived in Maine, led the team involved in designing the 1894 Fogg Memorial Building, a combined public library and new "state-of-the-art" academy. Complete with science labs and electricity, it was the most imposing public edifice the area had ever seen." Wendy Persig, Old Berwick Historical Society
    "Horatio Nelson Twombly, nephew of William H. Fogg, was born in South Berwick and had graduated from Berwick Academy in the 1840s. He joined and eventually headed his uncle William H. Fogg's China and Japan Trading Company, continuing as president after both Mr. and Mrs. Fogg's deaths. A bachelor who made his home in New York, Twombly spent many years in Asia with the company, including some time in Shanghai overseeing Fogg family business on the Bund during the Taiping Rebellion. In 1886 Twombly became president of Berwick Academy's board of trustees, and oversaw the construction of Fogg Memorial in 1894. The bronze bell in the tower, specially cast in London, was a Twombly gift to the academy." Old Berwick Historical Society
   In The Old Academy on the Hill: A Bicentennial History, 1791-1991 Marie Donahue explains that "Charles B. Brown of Bangor was given the building contract” for the construction of Fogg Memorial. Charles Buckley Brown (1832 - 1909) became a major contractor in Bangor, Maine, contracting for many prominent buildings in Maine. See Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, Volume 1, by Henry Sweetser Burrage, Albert Roscoe, pp. 266-7. (Research assistance, Wendy Pirsig)

I speired about for old Patrick: Probably means “spied?” Patrick has not been identified.

accident in the old hack … on Princess’s account … Sam Hale: Princess, according to Blanchard, was one of the Jewett family horses (117). While details of the accident are not yet known, it seems clear the Jewett horse has pulled this hack in the past and, in Jewett's judgment, has found it wanting. Presumably it was rented and not a family vehicle. Samuel Hale, who was injured in the accident, was a leading businessman in South Berwick. He had been proprietor of the Portsmouth Manufacturing Company textile mill, founded (1830) by his grandfather in partnership with Jewett's grandfather, Theodore Furber Jewett, during the 1880s, until it closed in 1893. In Fibre and Fabric 12:287 (August 30, 1890), he is described as "the gentlemanly agent of the Portsmouth Company of South Berwick." The Electrical World (September 5, 1891, p. 167) announced that he had taken over operation of South Berwick and Salmon Falls Electric Company. A graduate of the Berwick Academy (1869), he was a school committee member for Rollinsford, NH (just across the river from South Berwick), as listed in the American College and Public School Directory of 1893.

the little doctor is very badly off: Almost certainly, the "little doctor" is Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (August 29, 1809 - October 7, 1894), "an American physician, poet, professor, lecturer, and author based in Boston." He was a close friend of Annie and Sarah. Wikipedia

Auntie ... Sarah: Which Aunt is referred to here is unknown, and there are multiple possibilities for the Sarah mentioned here.

The manuscript of this letter is at the University of New England, Maine Women Writers Collection, Jewett Collection correspondence corro83-soj-mj.19. Transcription and notes by Terry & Linda Heller, Coe College.

Boswell nor Johnson: James Boswell (1740-1795) published The Life of Samuel Johnson in 1791. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) was one of the most prominent English literary figures of the eighteenth century.

the Life on the pages: The manuscript is not clear as to whether Jewett meant only to emphatically underline Life or to underline all three words.

Pinny: For Pinny Lawson (P.L.), a Jewett nickname. Fuff is a nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.

(dear Annie): These parenthesis marks and those around the postscript were penciled in by Fields.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.

Tonight I saw the dear little new moon through the elm boughs; and have read part of one of Hawthorne's American Journal volumes but didn't care for it as much as I used to. On the contrary, I found the "Rambles about Portsmouth" a mine of wealth. One description of the marketwomen coming down the river, their quaintness and picturesqueness at once seem to be so great, and the mere hints of description so full of flavor, that it all gave me much keener pleasure than anything I found in the other much more famous book. This seems like high literary treason, but you wait and see. This was a volume of Hawthorne's younger journals, a conscious effort after material and some lovely enough notes of his walks and suggestions for sketches; but these last lack any reality or imagination, rootless little things that could never open seed in their turn, or make much of any soil they were put into, so "delicate" in their fancy as to be far-fetched and oddly feeble and sophomorish. You will find it hard to believe this without the pages before you as I have just had them. But oh! such material as I lit upon in the other book! one page flashes into my mind now as 'live as Kipling and as full of fresh air, and all the touches of brave fancy and quiet pathos. Let an old fellow like Brewster keep at it as he did, and he quietly brings you a ruby and a diamond, picked right up in a Portsmouth street. Such genuine books always live, they get filled so full of life: it's neither Boswell nor Johnson who can take the credit, but the Life on the pages.

It would fill me with joy were you to come see me, stopping at the Hotel Kensington. I will join you at any hotel you like, and we could spend a few days together before my departure, which cannot be until after Easter, this week being dedicated to rest and Holy Week to frequent attendance at church, (which -- it goes without saying -- leaves time for friendship.) Most definitely, I will take the steamer for Le Havre, departing the Saturday after Easter, that is to say, toward the end of the month.

Your sister is very sorry that you will get no letter from her tonight, but there was only a little time this morning and Mr. Holman* came to eat up a big piece of that, so I had no more than time to put back the things in my trunks that I had got out yesterday. It is enchantingly beautiful here today. I wish you were to see it -- such a blue sea and sky full of white clouds and sights of birds and the trees a little less forward than with us -- but all in such a pretty green. I shall look for a letter this afternoon from you. I had such a dear one from Sister Carrie* yesterday which was most welcome. . .

1894: The tentative composition date for this letter rests upon the assumption that it refers to a meeting between Louis A. Holman and Jewett regarding the publication of "The Old Town of Berwick," which appeared in New England Magazine in July 1894. Holman was art editor at the magazine, and Jewett's essay is richly illustrated.

This text is from transcriptions from mixed repositories in the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Folder 74, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection. For more information about the individual transcription, contact the Maine Women Writers Collection. Preparation by Linda Heller. Notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

I return the new drawing which has good points, but does not seem to me to obviate any of the difficulties. Not that I have written to Mr. Eliot* I think we had better wait and see what he says. I dont think the effect of this oval or indeed the whole arrangement would be so good as Mr. Clough’s plan* though it looks prettier and is so much better done on paper. I will send you word the minute I hear. We need to have somebody of taste look at the ground. I dont believe we can do better than we have done. Mr Clough’s man hadnt seen it, and the trees especially want to be considered on the spot. This new play ought to have the oval come so that the trees would stand regularly in it at the same distances if they stand there at all which could be done by swinging the avenue a little. I will see about the paper today or tomorrow. We had a lovely drive yesterday thanks to Mrs. Cabot* but I couldn’t get the errands done that I meant to afterward so I am feeling hurried, and haven’t got to the library or to H. & M8S* yet, only I found almost all the books I wanted here up in the top room, Indian histories* and all which was a convenience. I am in such a provoked state at not feeling well in this moment as Therese* would say.

Mary, & Carrie,* the little doctor* isn’t well again but it to be speaked of. There are those who are going to see him today, for a few minutes. We are hoping for a letter from Therese tomorrow to go back to her. I thought I saw Mr. Quick? at the Monnet-Tully* play. I wonder if I did.

Cora* came just here -- and now I must fly. She is going down to York about the 24^th to stay until well on in June when her tenants come. She sent ever so much love and seemed very well.

April/May 1894: A handwritten note on this transcription reads: April 1894? This seems likely to be correct given the letter's reference to events coming in June and to the planning for the Fogg Memorial Building at the Berwick Academy.

Mr. Eliot: It seems clear that Jewett is consulting about landscaping for the Fogg Memorial Building at Berwick Academy (see note below). Therefore, she almost certainly refers to Charles Eliot (1859-1897) the landscape architect. He was the son of another Jewett acquaintance, Charles W. Eliot (1834-1926) the President of Harvard University (1869-1909),

Mr. Clough's plan: Almost certainly, Jewett refers to the work of "George Asa Clough (May 27, 1843 - December 30, 1910), the Boston architect who planned the William Hayes Fogg Memorial Building (1894), which became the main building of Berwick Academy in South Berwick.

H. & M8s: A typographical error, probably by the transcriber, intending H. & M's, in reference to Jewett's publisher, Houghton, Mifflin & Company.

Carrie ... the little doctor: Carrie: Carrie Jewett Eastman and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. See Key to Correspondents. Holmes died October 7, 1894.

Mr. Quick? at the Monnet-Tully play: Presumably the question mark indicates that the transcriber was uncertain about the word "Quick." This person and the play have not yet been identified.

to put the end indefinitely far off; but she ^or rather the effort of her!^ did me great good and the writing of her went more easily ^in itself^ that anything else I have ever done. I wonder where the newspapers got their story of "five years". From first to last I was sixteen months about her; but practically not much over a year.

weeks in Italy, through such a spring of sun & flowers as never was, & with two children whose fresh delight in everything was a perpetual [ minister to ? ] their parents! We came back to cold & rain, but still even here the spring is extraordinarily beautiful and we were very loth to leave Stocks* last week & shut ourselves up in London. I wish there was any chance of your being here this year? If not, I must cherish the

Marcella: Ward's novel on themes of social reform in 3 volumes was completed in 1894. Possibly the "five years" idea arises from this novel appearing about 5 years after controversial 1888 novel, Robert Elsemere.

Mr. Ticknor's Life: Probably Ward refers to Anna Eliot Ticknor's (1823-1896) biography of her father: Life, Letters, and Journals of George Ticknor (Boston, 1876). George Ticknor (1791-1871) was an American scholar of languages, particularly of Spanish literature and culture, at Harvard University for a number of years before leaving to devote himself to writing. He also gave himself to public service, particularly on behalf of the Boston Public Library.

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, Mary Augusta (Mrs Humphry) Ward. 1894-1898. 2 ALS. London, England. 7 p. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
The manuscript includes an envelope addressed to Jewett, postmarked in London on 24 May 1894, which was forwarded to the summer home of Annie Adams Fields at Manchester-by-the-Sea.

I cannot find a suitable picture of the old academy building* for direct reproduction -- but will you be so kind as to make a sketch from the enclosed stereoscopic view, gate & all, which will serve our purpose and be of [ greatest corrected ] interest to most of our readers.

academy building: This letter, addressed to the art editor of the New England Magazine, concerns illustrations for Jewett's essay, "The Old Town of Berwick," New England Magazine, n.s. 10 (July 1894), 585-60. Among the illustrations for this publication is a drawing of "The Old Academy." Richard Cary notes that Holman made this and 3 other drawings that were included in the total of 22 illustrations, the rest being photographs.

Hayes: Francis B. Hayes (1819-1884), president of the Board of Trustees of Berwick Academy. Cary notes that he supervised the rebuilding of the academy "after the fire of 1851.He was a lawyer, judge, member of the State Legislature, and a financier noted for his philanthropies."

Mead: Cary identifies Edwin D. Mead (1849-1937), editor of the New England Magazine from 1889 to 1901: "An active advocate in the causes of world peace and good citizenship, he was also biographer of Luther, Emerson, and Carlyle."

I was forced to omit a letter to you yesterday morning by reason of great haste, but I will now say that I had a very nice time at Nahant.* We saw Mrs. Agassiz* and found her house just as dear and delightful as I used to think it in my visits there. It is built on the slope above the sea and is two stories on the down side but as you come to it it is not only one story & low looking but the trellises slope right down with the roof and it looks almost as if you must creep under but really you go up steps, and then one room opens out of another -- every one seems to have at least three doors out of it & you look through from room to room, so picturesque and half foreign & half old fashioned too. I haven’t been in Nahant for five or six years certainly. Then it was very nice at Mrs. Beals* and we had a beautiful luncheon, and only Mr. & Mrs. Beal were at home & Boylston’s wife* who is staying there just now. She was nice and young & pretty, and poor thing! she didn’t know about the little smooth red stones & the green stones on the beach before, so your sister went with her and has got things to bring home, and show you. Some she slied in her pocket, and she hasn’t got as many as if you and she had gone together, but she has got some. They have been smoothing themselves ever since she was there before. When we were driving into Lynn I thought there was another mob* -- a lot of men & women after then ran before us up the street and into a narrow street and there were cries, but I saw no more of them except a bunch of fellows going very bold along the station platform. Poor Evie Clark!* I was much affected by her writing for us. I am sorry we are both so situated that we cant take a conveyance and make her a long passing call. Thank you so much for your dear nice long letter yesterday. I got it when I came home and read it with so much pleasure. I send a note to Frances* which you will please hand her!! With much love

My great mind has been reflecting upon the Coal question:* do you think it would be a bad plan for John* to look about and lay in good stock of winter wood? Even if things get settled and the price falls within a few weeks everybody is going to be wanting coal at once and it is foolish to think that every body can get all they want at once. We could burn wood and provide enough for both kitchen & furnace so as not to be unduly troubled. It really looks like a bad time before winter is over. Every body will be after wood presently if this state continues, and there wont be any wood either!

If you do come by the early train I think you had better get a carriage at Murphy’s stable* and drive down. I forget whether it is ?2.50 or 3, [so transcribed ] but it saves you nearly two hours waiting and you have a pretty drive into the bargain! I think you will be so tired waiting and then have to scuttle after you get here, that it is more than worth while.

I went up to Mrs. Cabot’s* today as I was going on to Loulies* to hear the singing, and found the Trimbles* pretty well but Mrs. Cabot was rather down. She was so satisfied to know you are coming! No word of trains from your brother R.* Oh what a nice lettie from Thiddy* with great expression. I feel as if nothing had ever given him more good or pleasure. We had heard of Buster’s bread pan from Essie* who was dying of laughter, Buster having set forth the interview.

Will you bring me a little money? ten or fifteen dollars if I have got so much! I must be low but there’s more coming presently.

I missed you by one minute to-day! and could not show you the white roses still shining as they shone when they came to me Saturday; and the laurel stood up proudly and spoke of strife and heroes, and all that long story that the laurel tells.

This transcription appears in Letters, Sarah Wyman Whitman. Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1907, "Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett: 1882-1903," pp. 61-109.

25 Jefferson St.

Newton, Mass. Aug 12/94

Dear Miss Jewett

I will send you tomorrow (Monday) by Goodwin's Express, the book I promised to send you: while not pertaining very much to affairs of Berwick, you will find a good deal relating to an old Berwick family, viz. the Goodwin family --*

I will here state that the Goodwin house at Old Fields, with the exception of the addition built a few years since is one hundred years old: the former house on this same site was a Garrison house, where my father, Dr. James S. Goodwin (deceased) was born in 1793, and was burned when he was an infant -- At Great Works was a Block house --

I trust that you will find the book interesting, and be in no hurry about returning it, as long as you may wish to consult its pages

I am very truly Yr. Abt. Svt.

Geo. I. Goodwin

P.S. It was a very enjoyable ride I had with your nephew, to the burying ground, at Old Fields, where we found the stone of Mehitable Goodwin*

Fragment [n.d.]

I have been told by my father, who was a son of Genl. Ichabod Goodwin, that the name of "Executive" came to the Goodwin Est. in Berwick from this fact, viz. before the separation of the Colonys from Great Britain, the English Government claimed the right to all timber that was fit for spars for the Royal Navy, and when such were found were marked with the broad Arrow: such trees were found, and so marked on this estate, but the owners, having the idea that what was theirs, belonged to them, utilized such timber to their own use, which caused a disagreement and suit, And Executive: whence the name -----

Tom Tinker

I have had it from the same source, that Tom Tinker was a negro, who had committed some crime, and fled to, and lived a sort of Hermits life, and feared by the people in the vicinity

It was Genl. Ichabod Goodwin, and not Capt. Ichabod, who was Sherif ----*

Very Truly --

Geo. Ichabod Goodwin

Notes

Goodwin's Express: Goodwin Express, a New England delivery service founded by American War of 1812 veteran, Colonel William Goodwin (d. 1885). See The Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder, Volume 9 (1898), pp. 323-4. The book George Ichabod Goodwin sends to Jewett is not yet known. One likely possibility is: The Military Journal of Colonel Ichabod Goodwin, by Ichabod Goodwin; William Augustus Goodwin; Massachusetts infantry. Gerrish's regt. (1778), published by the Maine Historical Society in 1894. Another is The Goodwins of Hartford, Connecticut, Descendants of William and Ozias Goodwin (1891). More information is welcome.

old Berwick family: Goodwin writes to Jewett in response to her essay, "The Old Town of Berwick," New England Magazine (16 [new series 10]:585-609), July 1894. In the essay, Jewett recounts a good deal of Goodwin family history.

your nephew ... Mehitable Goodwin: Jewett's only nephew was Theodore Jewett Eastman (1879-1931), the son of Caroline (Carrie) Jewett (1855-1897) and Edwin (Ned) Eastman (d. 1892). Key to Correspondents. See below for Mehitable Goodwin.

Tom Tinker: Jewett mentions Tinker in "The Old Town of Berwick," but does not identify his race.

Genl. Ichabod Goodwin: Gen. Ichabod Goodwin (1743-1829), militia leader and sheriff, "was the rebuilder of Old Fields in 1797 and the man most often associated with the home [at 1 Old Fields Rd. in South Berwick], [and] was the grandson of Mehitable Goodwin, a woman whose story Jewett relates in “Old Town of Berwick.” Captured by Indians in 1675, she was rescued only after being taken to Canada."
In "The Old Town of Berwick," Goodwin implies, Jewett erroneously identifies General Goodwin's father, Captain Goodwin as having been the Sheriff of York.
The manuscripts of these letters are together at the University of New England, Maine Women Writers Collection, Jewett Collection correspondence corr038-o-soj.23. Transcription and notes by Terry & Linda Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Sarah Wyman Whitman

15th August 1894*

Ashfield*

Others are travelling about the world: I was to Ashfield when I wrote you this and sitting* on the little piazza looking across at the red gate and the Curtis* field when your dearest letter came last night. I didn't tell you that I was coming, or had been thinking of it for a good bit of time now -- it ought to have been put into a letter! -- but I had just decided that I had better go to Richfield Springs* again when Sally Norton's* letter came and it seemed a delightful thing to take this by the way and I said yes with much pleasure, the more because -- and you said the same once -- I have so often had to say no when they asked me to do pleasant things -- To-day was the Academy dinner* with much

[ Page 2 ]

talk about Mr. Curtis of course, and Mr. Warner is here & made a charming speech while Mrs. Warner* plays enchanting accompaniment for Sally's violin whenever there is a bit of time -- (She played at Berwick too over at the other house which added much to that visit likewise!) Mr. [ Warner written over Norton] is so cheerful and hopeful on the whole, and I have had some quite enchanting talks with him which will [ be to ? ] think about -- Today at the dinner he was urging the cultivation of the imagination so heartily that I thought of you in haste and with remembrance and must have seemed to smile in quite the wrong place! It is altogether a visit that makes me miss you all over

[ Page 3 ]

again and from a new and Ashfordian point of view. Mr. Norton & Sally are quite by themselves this summer. She has two friends here for a long visit, but I find it (as Thérèse* would say) a [ unrecognized word ] dear place -- such a high country in every sense. You will like to know that I am here -- it is good for a poor fellow.

I am not going to Richfield* because I am ill (this is what I was going to say:) but because I wish to keep from another illness like last year and I have been growing creaky in the hinges of late and feel as if one might carry too heavy a burden of tiredness. So here I am since Saturday morning{,} no 152 Spring House, with my little writing table set out and going

[ Page 4 ]

like a little mill right by the window. And what it does for an old and battered person to have only herself to think of and her sulphury bath and three meals -- to have even written up the answers to a huge heap of stray letters, and to sit down and read a Clark Russell sea story* at practically one sitting! -- I am beginning to find out. It would work woe and shame to let this lack of responsibility as citizen and parishioner go on too long, you and I know, but how a fellow loves it for a little while! Come to think I guess we never did have much taste of it before and at this moment Richfield is as good as Nancy and as free a country as Rheims* and so we just shake hands and understand all over again.

To go way back: one day at sundown in Manchester Mr. Whitman* and the little niece and Miss Lord* a-visiting all came

[ End of this manuscript ]

Notes

1894: This letter has been marked, presumably by Annie Adams Fields for possible inclusion in Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett (1911). However, Fields seems to have determined to include no parts of this letter in her volume. It is sometimes unclear which revisions are hers and which are Jewett's. Those that seem ambiguous are noted below.

Ashfield: Charles Eliot Norton (1827-1908) was co-editor of the North American Review (1863-1868) and then professor of literature at Harvard University. He and his daughters' summer home was in Ashfield MA. See Sara Norton in Key to Correspondents.

sitting: The first three lines of this letter have been revised in pencil, but the letter is written in pencil, and it is unclear whether the revisions are Jewett's or in another hand. I have presented the original version; the revised version is: (Others are travelling about the world: I was to Ashford) When I wrote you this) I was sitting....

Curtis: Along with Charles Eliot Norton, George William Curtis (1824 - 31 August 1892) was a supporter of the Sanderson Academy. A writer, abolitionist, and public speaker, Curtis was a co-founder of Putnam's Magazine. Curtis and his wife, Anna Shaw (1836-1923), sister of Robert Gould Shaw, summered at Curtis House in Ashfield.

Sally Norton's: See Key to Correspondents. Norton's name also has been revised by someone. The name is crossed out, and inserted above it is "S. N."

Richfield Springs: Richfield Springs, NY, was known for its sulfur springs, where 19th-century patients sought relief for various conditions, rheumatism in Jewett's case.

Academy dinner: Charles Eliot Norton presided at the Sanderson Academy dinner in Ashfield, MA on 15 August 1894. Now a public school, the academy was opened as a co-educational institution in 1816 under the direction of Rev. Alvan Sanderson (1780-1817). Norton led in organizing fund-raising dinners for the academy, 1879-1903, which gained a world-wide reputation for their discussions of events and issues. See, for example, a report in The Critic of Norton's address in 1894.

Mr. Warner … Mrs. Warner: Charles Dudley Warner. See Key to Correspondents.

Thérèse: Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc . See Key to Correspondents.

Richfield: With this word, Jewett changes from pencil to ink.

Clark Russell sea story: William Clark Russell (1844 - 1911) was a British novelist known for his melodramatic novels of adventures of "the mercantile side of ocean life."

Nancy … Rheims: Nancy is a city in northeastern France, east of Paris, not too far from Rheims, a city northeast of Paris.

Manchester Mr. Whitman … the little niece … Miss Lord: Whitman's husband, Henry, has visited Jewett and Fields in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. The identities of the niece and Miss Lord are unknown and problematic. Henry and Sarah Whitman had siblings, but no known nieces. Jewett, who also had no nieces, was acquainted with far too many Lords to be able to identify this one without more evidence.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge. MA: Whitman, Sarah (Wyman) 1842-1904, recipient. 25 letters; 1892-[1900] & [n.d.]. Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence, 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 (126). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Harriet Jackson Lee Morse*

Monday. 148

Charles St.

[ Before 21 August 1894 ]*

Dear Mrs. Morse

It is so hard to think I must say no a second time and beside seeing you and Fanny I should be perfectly delighted to see D^r Emerson* whom I have not seen in a very long time -- I am expecting a friend to come on Thursday ^She is to be in town this week^ and stay for a day or two -- a New York friend whom I do not very often see. Beside this

[ Page 2 ]

dear Mrs. Fields* is still in bed and still seems very poorly. I think she was very much over tired and run down -- I hope it is nothing more though her cold troubles her a good deal. She sends her love and so do I --

It delighted my heart

[ Page 3 ]

to have your little postscript on the cover about you and Gwen* reading Deephaven* for a Sunday book!

We have been openly admiring your Paris note paper!

Notes

Morse: See Frances (Fanny) Rollins Morse in Key to Correspondents.

1894: This guess is based upon Jewett reporting in a letter to Morse of 21 August 1894 that she has had a conversation with Gwen Morse about Deephaven. This seems somewhat odd, for Gwen was only 8 years old.

Emerson: Probably Dr. Edward Waldo Emerson (1844-1930), son of American author, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Key to Correspondents.

Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.

Gwen: Frances Rollins Morse was the sister of Dr. Henry Lee Morse (1852-1929). He married Jessie Frances Lizzie Scott (1860-1909). Their only known child, Harriet Morse's granddaughter, was Gwendolyn (1886-1968). Family Search.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743.1 (123) Box 4, II. Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett and Carrie Jewett Eastman

Monday

[ 20 August 1894

Richfield Springs, NY ]

Dear Sisters

It sounds very pleasant at the Albracca: and Stubby* [ going ? ] to ride with a Boy, and Dancing [.] Yesterday was a dog day here but a noble thunderstorm. I begin to feel rested at last but it is such a satisfaction not to have much to do. I have written up my letters when I felt like it for I brought a huge pile along. This morning I had a charming letter

[ Page 2 ]

from old Mrs. Alexander* who has gone from Florence up to Lugano for the hot months -- It shows a little forgetfulness in spots, but has plenty of remembrance -- I sent it right off with a long letter to little Aunt* -- asking her to send it on to you when anybody was writing. I thought it would make her such a pleasure that I couldn’t stop a minute! She ^Mrs. Alexander^ spoke a message to little Aunt being delighted “to know she was unchanged among so many changes” --

-- I went to drive Saturday with

[ Page 3 ]

Mr. Proctor & his wife and a Colonel Gardner* who is a great member of Historical Societies & very nice but I got tired -- it was dusty and I was tired to begin with. I somehow feel as if these roads were like a book that you don’t want to read over again, and I have been feeling lamer than usual until today -- but having well complained I pass on to saying that Sister Carrie little knows how splendid New York & the west can array its sinful shape of clay* until she beholds the ladies now at the

[ Page 4 ]

Spring House -- and the Table is all that could be desired. I never shall [ get corrected ] over it that she wasn’t at the Bryant Centennial!* We should be all the week getting over our punches.

Miss [ Loring ? ]* appears to be in such good health that I ventured to speak of it and was received, [ deleted word ] and a well appearing bell boy asked for you, Mary, in the entry Saturday. Mrs. Phillips* came for my washing this morning and might well make a poor mouth this year having her arm in a sling and her hand and arm both broken. Poor old thing! but when she made her poorest mouth and said she had “only had two little dribs of washing

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

this season” I thought of you! With love to all three

Sarah.

I am going to send a Clark Russell* story to Theodore as soon as I accumulate paper to do it up --

Notes

20 August 1894: An envelope associated with this letter in the MWWC folder was cancelled on this date and addressed to "Mifs" Mary R. Jewett at the Hotel Albracca, York Harbor, ME. It was postmarked from Richfield Springs, NY.

Stubby:Theodore Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.

Mrs. Alexander: Lucia Gray Swett (Mrs. Francis) Alexander (1814 - 1916) was a translator from Italian to English. Her father was the American portrait painter, Francis Alexander (1800 - 1880). In the 1850s, the family moved from Boston to Florence. Their daughter was the American illustrator Frances / Fanny "Francesca" Alexander (1837 - 1917).

little Aunt: This may be Aunt Mary Elizabeth Gray Bell, See Key to Correspondents.

Mr. Proctor & his wife and a Colonel Gardner: These persons have not yet been identified.

Bryant Centennial: The centennial celebration for American poet William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) took place at Cummington, Massachusetts, on 16 August 1894.

Miss Loring: Probably either Katharine Peabody Loring or his sister, Louisa Putnam Loring. See Key to Correspondents.

Mrs. Phillips: Presumably a laundry woman serving residents of the Spring House at Richfield Springs. Further identification has not been discovered.

shape of clay:While this phrase sounds biblical or perhaps from a sermon, the only source so far known is Jewett's own story, "The Taking of Captain Ball" (1889).

Clark Russell: Prolific British author, William Clark Russell (1844-1911), is best remembered for his nautical novels. Likely titles that Jewett may have sent her nephew, published near the date of this letter, are: The Tragedy of Ida Noble (1893),
A Three-Stranded Yarn (1894), The Good Ship Mohock (1894).

The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection: Jewett Correspondence MWWC0196_02_00_116_01.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Harriet Jackson Lee Morse and Frances (Fanny) Rollins Morse

21 August

[ 1894 ]*

[ Begin letterhead ]

SPRING HOUSE.
RICHFIELD SPRINGS, N.Y.

[ End letterhead ]

Dear Mrs. Morse and Fanny

How many times I have thought of you and wished to answer your dear letters! -- indeed I did begin a letter once or twice and never finished it. But I have had a busy summer and as one might say a scarcity of eyes! and time! and somehow I was [ waiting corrected ] for just this nice quiet time instead of writing you a letter when I was writing a handful of others -- You see that I have come to Richfield again but it is rather [ ~~more~~ ? ] for a preventive then a cure

[ Page 2 ]

though I have been rather lame and "creaky in the hinges" all summer. It seemed best to take a turn at the baths before cold weather and so here I am and for a fortnight at least -- all alone and pretty well contented on the whole for I know the "people of the house" and some of the old stand-by guests who are pleasant to say good morning to --

= I haven't had a great deal of time at Manchester so that I was sorry to come away from there, but I had time to see your dear little Gwen!* and to grow very fond [ of corrected ] her -- she is such a dear little thing and we became fast friends at once and held hands and sat a long while in the bay window at Mrs. Higginsons* and she spoke

[ Page 3 ]

with unexpected approval of Deephaven* which pleased me very much. We spoke of Grandmamma and Aunt Fanny you may be very sure. What a warm little heart and sweet little face it is! Mrs. Fields* was so sorry that they couldn't come for a little visit to her but Mrs. Morse was just going away in another direction -- to Dublin I think.

I ought to go farther back to tell you of the great event of the summer, the dedication of our library and school building at ^South^ Berwick* -- It was the last day of June and a lovely day and Mr. Warner and Dr. Tucker of Dartmouth came out and made a speeches and we had a noble luncheon for invited guests and it all went

[ Page 4 ]

off splendidly. Mrs. Whitman* had designed some windows which you may be sure add a great beauty to the building -- and I should be pleased to show them for sixpence a head to any ladies! with much guide book information thrown in. The building stands very high on a hillside with a beautiful view over the country -- I must say that I like my own corner of New England better than the country here -- There are beautiful hills and lakes and wide valleys -- but to me it is like a book that I liked very well but dont care about reading over again while -- I never get tired -- in all these years of the roads about home.

The Howes ("George & Alice" -- not Julia Ward!)* sailed last Saturday{.}

[ Up the left margin of page 1 ]

Counting upon hearing all about things when you come home -- with dear love and good wishes

yours always affectionately

Sarah O. Jewett

Notes

1894: Jewett was at Richfield Springs in August 1894, the year of the dedication of the new Fogg Memorial Building at the Berwick Academy.

Gwen: Frances Rollins Morse was the sister of Dr. Henry Lee Morse (1852-1929). He married Jessie Frances Lizzie Scott (1860-1909). Their only known child, Harriet Morse's granddaughter, was Gwendolyn (1886-1968). Family Search.

Deephaven: Jewett's 1878 novel.

Higginson: Ida Agassiz Higginson. Key to Correspondents.

Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.

Berwick: The Fogg Memorial Building at the Berwick Academy in South Berwick, with windows by Sarah Wyman Whitman, was dedicated on 30 June 1894. Among the speakers at the dedication were William Jewett Tucker (1837-1926), the ninth president of Dartmouth College, and Jewett correspondent Charles Dudley Warner.

Whitman: Sarah Wyman Whitman. Key to Correspondents.

The Howes ...not Julia Ward: Alice Greenwood and George Howe, not Julia Ward Howe. Key to Correspondents.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743.1 (123) Box 4, II. Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

August 25, 1894
Death of Celia Thaxter

Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields

[ Begin letterhead ]

SPRING HOUSE.

RICHFIELD SPRINGS, N.Y.

[ End letterhead ]

Monday afternoon

[ August 27, 1894 ]*

Dearest Fuff -- *

I dont know what to say about this sad sad news which came to me in a telegram (repeated from Berwick) from Roland's wife.* I have to keep looking at the telegram to make it true. My first thought was to pack my trunks and fly for Manchester -- to get to Appledore* with you, but when I went to look at the time table I found

[ Page 2 ]

that I had just missed the train which would have got me to Boston sometime tonight -- & that now I should have to leave here at past nine and catch a midnight train at Utica which delays at Albany and so doesn't get to Boston until eleven tomorrow morning. Then the best that I could have done would be to take an afternoon train and afternoon boat and not get [ out corrected ] to the Shoals until

[ Page 3 ]

early evening when everything would have been over -- Alas alas -- it was not wise but I am one who belonged with those who will be there and stand near and it makes me feel very lonely and separate and as if I were denied something that is my right.

Few losses can [ corrected word -- touch ? ] us so nearly as this -- and you cannot think how I treasure the remembrance of my week at the island this early summer when we were together as we

[ Page 4 ]

had almost never been before. I told you much of our pleasures then, and I ~~could~~ ^count^ them over to myself now most sadly and lovingly. How she showed me the dear places of her childhood one by one, and talked about her early married life at Star Island: she seemed to turn leaf after leaf of her history as if she had finished it and could read it like a book -- Dear generous heart -- unfaltering love {--} how we shall miss her now -- it is like

[ Page 5 on another letterhead page ]

having no more May now or no more September in the year, she so belonged to the certainty of life and affection -- and so belongs! I dread the slow time until I hear. It seems to me very hard to be here and not there tomorrow -- but you will write me as soon as you can and tell me every thing -- Good night darling and heaven [ bless corrected ] you -- if any soul can speak again back from the shadows I believe it will be her's{.} What courage

[ Page 6 ]

patience of faith she has had! I can see it all tomorrow -- the throngs of people, the sky, the sea, the look of ended summer{.} I am glad she was at Appledore ^and^ in her own place. I keep hoping that you will have Rose* to go with-- at any rate she will be there.

Yours with dear love

S. O. J.

Dear you know I would have come if I could -- it is so much harder to stay!

Notes

August 27, 1894: Fields penciled "August 27, 1894" in the upper right of page 1. In 1894, 27 August fell on a Monday. As the notes below indicate, this is the correct date.

Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.

Roland's wife: Roland Thaxter is one of the sons of Celia Laighton Thaxter (1835 - 25 August 1894). See Key to Correspondents.

Appledore: Celia Thaxter helped to operate a summer resort on the island of Appledore in the Isles of the Shoals, off the coast of Portsmouth, NH. Star Island is nearby.

Rose: Rose Lamb. See Key to Correspondents.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Annie Fields (Adams) 1834-1915, recipient. 194 letters; 1877-1909 & [n.d.] Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, 1861-1930. MS Am 1743 (255). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Wyman Whitman to Annie Adams Fields

[ After 25 August 1894 ]*

It was of you that I thought first and most when Mrs. Thaxter's* valiant soul went on its lone way to find heavenly cohorts of waiting friends afar.... Now that I am once more in Paris, I hope to see Madame Blanc-Bentzon, but the lovely country holds its lovers, and those who can linger are unwilling to return to the little chop-sea of Parisian life as it is just now. I am cheered by having Clemence hard by... and many other friendly faces bloom on neighboring bushes. But I am haunted by the "sensations d'Italie," and a dream from which perhaps one never awakes.

Notes

1894: Celia Thaxter died on 25 August 1894. See Key to Correspondents.

Blanc-Benzon: Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc. Key to Correspondents.

Clemence: This may be Clemence Haggerty (1841-1912), wife of James Mason Crafts (1839-1917), an American chemist, who taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

This letter fragment appears in Letters of Sarah Wyman Whitman, Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1907.
Notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields

[ Begin letterhead ]

SPRING HOUSE.

RICHFIELD SPRINGS, N.Y.

[ End letterhead ]

Tuesday night

[ 28 August 1894 ]

(Dearest Annie

I send you this telegram from Mary* which [ settles corrected ] the plan in my mind. And so I shall look for you to meet me at four-fifteen on Monday in Albany. ^you take the 10:30 train Albany road.^ I will telegraph and write to her -- As to your closing the house I cannot but think you will be glad to have it open when you get back and I shall try to spend part of "Sister Sarah's" visit, and, as I wrote a day or two ago,

[ Page 2 ]

as much time as possible while you are there -- The only thing is that I must help to re-establish things at home. I long to see you and talk to you) -- +* I wish so to see you tonight and long so for tomorrow and next day's letters to know about dear Sandpiper.* It has been a very sad day to me as you will know. It seems as if I could hear her talking and as if we lived those June days over again. Most

[ Page 3 ]

of my friends have gone out of illness and long weeks of pain -- but with her the door seems to have opened and shut and what is a very strange thing I can see her face -- you know I never could call up faces easily and never before that I remember have I been able to see how a person looked, [ who corrected ] has died, but again and again I seem to see her -- That takes me a strange step out of myself. All this new idea of Tesla's:* must it not like everything else have its spiritual

[ Page 4 ]

side -- and yet where imagination stops and consciousness of the unseen begins, who can settle that even to one's self! (Goodnight darling Fuff* -- I hurry to send you { a } telegram so you can be making your plans --

Your most loving

S. O. J.)

Notes

28 August 1894: Fields penciled "Aug 28" and 1894 in the upper right of page 1. In 1894, 28 August fell on a Tuesday. As the notes below indicate, this is the correct date.
Parenthesis marks in this letter were added by Fields, this one in pencil, the rest in blue ink.

Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.

you) -- +: The parenthesis mark by Fields is in blue ink. The + mark in pencil, also by Fields, marks the beginning of the passage she included in her 1911 collection.

Sandpiper: Celia Thaxter (June 29, 1835 - August 25, 1894). See Key to Correspondents.

new idea of Tesla's: Probably the new idea in this case refers to wireless communication, one of many inventions upon which Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) worked during his life. Tesla's best-known invention probably was alternating electrical current.

Fuff: Nickname for Annie Adams 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.

Annie Fields transcription

This passage appears in Annie Fields, Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett (1911), p. 110.

Spring House, Richfield Springs, N. Y.

I wish so to see you tonight and long so for tomorrow and next day's letters to know about dear Sandpiper. It has been a very sad day to me as you will know. It seems as if I could hear her talking, and as if we lived those June days over again. Most of my friends have gone out of illness and long weeks of pain, but with her the door seems to have open and shut, and what is a very strange thing, I can see her face, -- you know I never could call up faces easily, and never before, that I remember, have I been able to see how a person looked who has died, but again and again I seem to see her. That takes me a strange step out of myself. All this new idea of Tesla's: must it not, like everything else, have its spiritual side, and yet where imagination stops and consciousness of the unseen begins, who can settle that even to one's self?

Louise Imogen Guiney to Annie Adams Fields

[ 28 August 1894 ]

Dear Mrs. Fields:

I have just packed for you a little box of ^early^ fruit from the Guiney farm, which goes to you at break of day by Adams-Express, with love from the farmeresses. Some of the pears, and all the tiny peaches, will have to be laid away in a drawer for a few days where they will grow toothsome. I did not put in any grapes as samples of our vineyard, for fear they might 'squash'. What is left in the box is like the sender, homely but sound, poor but honest, hard but hearty! Yours, and Miss Jewett's,*

[ Page 2 ]

with thanks for all the books (and jealous hope that you liked some Bridges and all Meynells)*

L. I. Guiney.

28^th August, 1894: Auburndale, Mass.

Notes

Adams-Express: The 19th-century freight and cargo company was part of the pony express system. It became an investment company, Adams Funds, in 1929.

Miss Jewett's: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.

Bridges ... Meynells: British poet, Robert Bridges (1844-1930).
For Meynell, See Key to Correspondents.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields collection Box 25: mss FI 1601 . Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett

Shoals -- Tuesday 6³⁰ A.M.

[ 28 August 1894 ]*

Dearest: All is well here, but as you will know, at this hour a strange silence and sorrow seems to cover everything. You will have seen the papers long before this -- I met Mrs. Laighton Cedric's wife and children going home and they did not know it! The brothers are silent and manly and tear=stained* -- Karl came out early yesterday morning and when people asked how his mother was, [ believed ? ] she had one of her attacks of pain on Friday night)* he said "she is eternally well" -- The house is very full of people, but Mr. Winson* is not expected to live through the day -- I saw Dr. Warner* last night{.} Everyone asks after you. You

[ Page 2 ]

have left a sweet memory behind you here --

I am called now.* Mr. Winson died this morning. Mrs. [ unrecognized name ] the day before at [ Jamaica ? ] Plain -----

Mary and Carrie* are here{,} the former with a little [ unr ]* in her "funerary" ? ] [ poor child ? ]. So [ 8 unr ] after which [ she ? ] will be [ perhaps 4 unr ] -- I rejoice [ to have been able to come yesterday because ? ] the morning [ perhaps 5 unr ]

[ Page 4 ]

Celia's room with Rolands wife who has [ shown ? ] herself to be the [ jewel ? ] Celia has always thought her and [ part by ? ] Rose* who arrived early having passed the night in [ Ptsmouth so written ]. It is a most shocked and saddened household of course but everything is done to make the occasion as little like an [ ordinary ? ] funeral as possible ---- [ Mrs ? ] Cedric, Rose & I are now [ presently ? ] to take [ something ? ] to eat and then we two return -- Rose will [ 2 unr ] with me -- [ perhaps 3 unr ] -- There has been a cast taken of the face which is perfectly [ successful ? ]

[ Page 3 ]

Going so suddenly, her face retained its natural [ appearance ? ] and her [ cast ? ] is I hear unusually successful --

Of course dearest Miss [ unrecognized name ] will [ unr ] something different to cast one of [ unr ] but she is an older [ friend to me ? ] than to anyone here and [ almost ? ] closer I think; (and love to think ) just now!) I have nothing but a stump of a pencil to write with so forgive{.} While I waited at

[ Page 4 ]

Beverly yesterday I wrote a long paper about her which I sent to the Transcript* -- I am not sure if it will appear but you shall keep watch for it if you have the paper or I will send it if you do not see it --

Would you were here but I never supposed you would think of it{,} being so far away --

[ Perhaps 2 unr and an unrecognized name ] or Hassam* are to [ stand ? ] and

[ Page 5 ]

were the [ unr ] with [ unr ] ---- There will be a few flowers inside{.} Rose has gone over to see the [ fall or face 2 unr ] and to put a rose near her, inside. I can do nothing but suggest and advise here and there when I have a [ unr ] --

Lucy [ Derby ? ]* is most efficient here and there and many others -- Good bye dear -- your Annie

Notes

1894: The occasion of this letter is the death of Celia Thaxter. To review the members of her family mentioned in this letter, see Key to Correspondents: Karl and Roland were her sons, Cedric her brother.

tear=stained: Fields often doubles her hyphens.

night): Fields appears to have place an end parenthesis here.

Mr Winson: The transcription is uncertain and this person has not yet been identified.

Dr. Warner: Charles Dudley Warner. See Key to Correspondents.

now: From this point on, Fields writes in pencil. The script is very light and difficult to make out. This rest of the transcription is, therefore, not reliable.

Mary and Carrie: Mary Rice Jewett and Carrie Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.

unr: So much of this text is inaccessible that I use this abbreviation to mark the parts I cannot make out.

Rose: Rose Lamb. See Key to Correspondents.

Transcript: This piece appeared in the Boston Evening Transcript on 1 September 1894 (p. 12):

AN ARTIST'S NOTE ON CELIA THAXTER.

    A peaceful death, a beautiful ending to the bravest and most affectionate life -- Celia Thaxter's.
    She loved everything well, loved all things the loveliest, with her fine nature. Her affection was boundless and always, I think, endless. Loyal and lovely forever to all she liked best, she gave all of an exceptionally fine nature to whatever she did -- never a narrow thought.
    Her funeral, from the bay branches that made a great crown about the casket in her room filled with flowers, to the island grave, was beautiful and unique, like her life.
    From music, with the short, simple service, the long, flower-laden procession, to the grave of bays, into which, from every loving hand fell flowers from her garden -- with many a modest pimpernel, and spray of island golden-rod, all was affection and tenderness.
    There the loving, reverent group of friends, the quiet, tender afternoon of softly filtered sunlight, so softly the sunlight falls that looking up to heaven the sun appears as a great glorious pink poppy from her own garden; and far away, through the diaphanous gray veil about the bay-covered islands, the sea pulsates peacefully on the eternal rocks.
    This is the simple, beautiful burial of the poet -- of the woman. She would have loved it all. It was genuine, direct, and above all next to loving, picturesquely beautiful in its simplicity.
    Such simplicity she had herself; she was direct and believing like a child. I have heard her say, "Above all things I admire the beautiful wherever I find it."
    She did. She made her room beautiful and everything in it beautiful, from music, painting and poetry, to her own beautiful affection for her friends.
    Her flowers were almost her life; she loved them as a child of nature, wholly and with all her energy.
    This island grave, heaped green with bay, where she was laid by loving hands, and warm with the flowers from the hearts of her friends, covers a noble, beautiful woman.
    Appledore, her lovely island, is itself one great crown of bays, that shall hold her forever.

Though the sentiment probably expresses Fields's feelings, she almost certainly did not write it, at least not at Beverly, MA, on her way to Thaxter's funeral, since it describes the burial as accomplished. Whether Fields's piece appeared in the Transcript is not currently known. She contributed an essay, "Celia Thaxter," to Atlantic Monthly in February 1895.

Hassam: American painter, Childe Hassam (1859-1935). Wikipedia.

Lucy Derby: This may be Lucy Derby Fuller (1851-1925), who married Rev. Samuel Richard Fuller in 1895. Her home in 1894 was 405 Beacon St. in Boston, not far from Fields's home on Charles St. Back Bay Houses.

This manuscript is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University -- Sarah Orne Jewett correspondence, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett, MS Am 1743, Box 2: 64. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Sarah Wyman Whitman

29 August 1894

[ Begin letterhead in blue ink ]

SPRING HOUSE*
RICHFIELD SPRINGS N.Y.

[ End letterhead ]

( And the little Doctor's birthday at Beverly Farms.)* Here is a letter from Alice Warren as characteristic a missive after a long silence as if her thoughts had taken time to crystallize in good earnest. But what joy in looking like her thin portrait again. She made me laugh in a sad day! -- though I am sorry it was such an illness on the part of herself & Townsend* that brought her to it! And you are likely to see the dear old thing long before I do, as you will see by the letter. She would step up to London I think if you were there for a day or two! I should have seen her and 'seen her off' too, on my own chosen bark The Cephalonia* -- [ two or three deleted words ] if I had been in that part of the country on the 8th.

[Written at the top left of the page, with a line drawn to indicate an insertion at this point ] Somehow this letter looks quite terrible as I fold it which is like all the people that you dont know here in the hotel! There aint no landmarks! [ End of insertion ] I must write you, out of loneliness and pretty deep down sadness tonight. I had a telegram Monday morning that Celia Thaxter* had died -- dear old 'Sandpiper' as was my foolish and fond name these many years. We were

[ Page 2 ]

more neighbors and compratriots than most people: I knew the island,* the Portsmouth side of her life better than [ the or did ?] others, and those days we spent together last month brought me to know better than ever a truly generous and noble heart. When her old mother lay dying she called her boys and said "Be good to sister: she has had a very hard time" -- and it was all true. She was past it all when I was with her in July. life [not capitalized] had come to be quite heavenly to her and ---- oh how often I think of Sir Thomas Browne -- his way of saying: "And seeing that there is something of us that must still [live corrected] on, let us join both lives together and live in one but for the other ------"*

I wonder if you know those islands? with their gray ledges and green bay^berry^ and wild roses -- the lighthouse that lights them and the mainland far enough away to be another country? -- I suppose you do: at any rate her little book* about them is [deleted word] another White's Selbourne* and will live

[ Page 3 ]

as long. Poor A. F!* I have had a sad little letter already -- She & Rose Lamb* were there, but to A.F. it is a great loss. You know poor Celia was there when Mr. Fields died* and they have known many years together ----- On Monday I meet her (A.F.) at Albany where [we corrected] go together right up into the Adirondacks for a week [or corrected ] two with Mary Garrett.* Did I tell you this before? but this will remind you that I am there while you are a-reading: at least I hope --* What a solitary place a great hotel can be! I felt it as I have not before yesterday with the thought of Appledore in my heart. But there are sights of friends to say good morning to ^even if there are few to say good night^-- Mrs. Weston* for one and we are very friendly indeed like ships that pass* &c and even show signals in the dark -- and have to talk more next time always -- but so far have not, but she gave me some lovely roses one day ^with^ which I have been keeping company. To tell the truth I have been ^a^ nice unfriendly kind of hermit these ten days, and have read

[ Page 4 ]

the Three Guardsmen* like an idle schoolboy and the petty routine of baths and things can take any amount of time. And I by this time quite unexpectedly limber, a right hand for instance working well and proofs now offered!! but you know Charles Lamb mentioned that his would go on awhile by itself, as chickens walk after their heads are off -- *

Darling I do begin to long dreadfully to have you come home. I used to feel quite pleased about you being away earlier in the summer -- but I just dont any more. *And if you are ^to be^ back in England before you sail, which I dont know, wont you try to run right up to York ^& Cambridge^ to see the old glass there?* -- I think you would care about it dreadfully -- You get such a feeling of the glass being the structure with just the ribs and spaces of stone between which doesn't count much -- it's not like a stone thing with places for glass -- And it is -- some of it -- such lovely greens: ~~and~~ as lovely green as the blue is lovely in the chapel at Cambridge.* Good night{.} I think of you with such love and joy every day dear fellow!

ever your* S. O. J.

Notes

Spring House: Since before the Civil War, the sulphur springs at Richfield, New York, provided spas and curative water treatments. Jewett writes from the Spring House Hotel, which burned in 1897.

little Doctor's birthday: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was born on August 29, 1809. See Key to Correspondents.

Alice Warren ... Townsend: These people have not been identified. Jewett mentions an "A. Warren" in a letter of 22 March 1888 to Mary Rice Jewett.
Alice Amelia Bartlett Warren (1843-1912) 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.

The Cephalonia: The Cunard line SS Caphalonia was in service from 1882 to 1900.

Celia Thaxter: Thaxter died on 25 August 1894. See Key to Correspondents.

the island: Appledore in the Isles of the Shoals.

Thomas Browne ... the other: Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682). Jewett uses this quotation in at least two other writings: "The Foreigner" and in her father's obituary. In the final paragraph of Browne's "Letter to a Friend," (1690), he says:

Time past is gone like a shadow; make Times to come, present; conceive that near which may be far off; approximate thy last Times by present Apprehensions of them: live like a Neighbour unto Death, and think there is but little to come. And since there is something in us that must still live on, joyn both Lives together; unite them in thy Thoughts and Actions, and live in one but for the other. He who thus ordereth the Purposes of this Life, will never be far from the next; and is in some manner already in it, by an happy Conformity, and close Apprehension of it.

"Letter to a Friend" was largely reproduced in Christian Morals (1716), where the passage occurs in the last paragraph, this time somewhat closer to Jewett's wording:

Time past is gone like a Shadow; make time to come present. Approximate thy latter times by present apprehensions of them: be like a neighbour unto the Grave, and think there is but little to come. And since there is something of us that will still live on, Join both lives together, and live in one but for the other. He who thus ordereth the purposes of this Life will never be far from the next, and is in some manner already in it, by a happy conformity, and close apprehension of it. And if, as we have elsewhere declared, any have been so happy as personally to understand Christian Annihilation, Extasy, Exolution, Transformation, the Kiss of the Spouse, and Ingression into the Divine Shadow, according to Mystical Theology, they have already had an handsome Anticipation of Heaven; the World is in a manner over, and the Earth in Ashes unto them.

    (Research by James Eason, University of Chicago.)

her little book: Celia Thaxter's An Island Garden (1894) was her last book, published shortly before her death. According to Allen Lacy's introduction to the 1988 reprinting, the book is characterized by her "lyrical descriptions of the hollyhocks and poppies and scarlet flax in her tiny garden on Appledore, one of the Isles of the Shoals off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire." The book itself was a work of art, with a design by Sarah Wyman Whitman and paintings by Childe Hassam.

White's Selborne: Gilbert White (1720-1793), though a fellow at Oriel College, Oxford, lived most of his life at Selborne, in England, as a curate, where he could follow his avocations of naturalist and writer. The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne appeared in 1789.

Poor A.F!: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.

Rose Lamb: See Key to Correspondents.

when Mr. Fields died: Husband of Annie Adams Fields, James Thomas Fields died on 24 April 1881.

Mary Garrett: See Key to Correspondents.

Mrs. Weston:   Jewett's fellow boarder has not yet been identified.

ships that pass: Jewett quotes from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Theologian's Tale" IV,

    Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
    Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness; ...

Three Guardsmen: The Three Guardsmen, Or, the Feats and Fortunes of a Gascon Adventurer is the English title (trans. 1851) for Alexander Dumas (1802-1870), Les Trois Mousquetaires or The Three Musketeers (1849). A popular play in English, The Three Guardsmen. published in New York in 1850 was based on this novel.

Charles Lamb ... as chickens walk after their heads are off: Charles Lamb (1775-1834) was an English writer of fiction, poetry, essays, and drama. The Letters of Charles Lamb by Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd appeared in 1849. In a letter to Bernard Barton of January 9, 1824, Lamb complains that he is suffering from lethargy: "I have not volition enough left to dot my i's, much less to comb my eyebrows; my eyes are set in my head; my brains are gone out to see a poor relation in Moorfields, and they did not say when they'd come back again; my skull is a Grub Street attic to let, -- not so much as a joint-stool left in it; my hand writes, not I, from habit, as chickens run about a little when their heads are off."

And if: Inserted between lines at this point are the words in pencil "Ever your S. O. J."

York ... Cambridge ... old glass there: While it is difficult to be sure which specific sites Jewett has in mind, a strong possibility is King's College Chapel at Cambridge University. In a letter to Whitman of 20 August 1892, Jewett reports attending afternoon service at King's College Chapel.

chapel at Cambridge: Probably in this case, Jewett may refer to stained glass in Harvard University's Memorial Hall. Whitman's own contributions to the stained glass in this building were installed in 1898 and 1900, so Jewett is likely referring to those by other artists, such as John LaFarge's "Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi" (1891) or "The Battle Window" (1881).

ever your: This phrase may have been added in another hand in pencil.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge. MA: Whitman, Sarah (Wyman) 1842-1904, recipient. 25 letters; 1892-[1900] & [n.d.]. Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence, 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 (126). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

        Annie Fields included part of this letter in Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett (1911). She has left marks on the original manuscript, which I have ignored in the above transcription. The Fields transcription follows.

I must write you out of loneliness and pretty deep-down sadness tonight. I had a telegram Monday morning that Celia Thaxter had died, dear old Sandpiper, as was my foolish and fond name, these many years. We were more neighbours and compatriots than most people. I knew the island, the Portsmouth side of her life, better than did others, and those days we spent together last month brought me to know better than ever a truly generous and noble heart. When her old mother lay dying, she called her boys, and said, "Be good to sister, she has had a very hard time"; and it was all true. She was past it all when I was with her in July. Life had come to be quite heavenly to her and -- oh, how often I think of Sir Thomas Browne, his way of saying, "And seeing that there is something of us that must still live on, let us join both lives together and live in one but for the other." I wonder if you know those islands? with their grey ledges and green bayberry and wild roses, the lighthouse that lights them and the main-land far enough away to be another country? I suppose you do. At any rate, her little book about them is another White's Selborne, and will live as long.

What a solitary place a great hotel can be! I felt it (as I haven't before) yesterday, with the thought of Appledore* in my heart. But there are sights of friends to say good-morning to, even if there are few to say good-night.

To tell the truth I have been a nice unfriendly kind of hermit these ten days, and have read the "Three Guardsmen" like an idle school-boy, and the petty routine of baths and things can take any amount of time, and I am by this time quite unexpectedly limber, a right hand for instance working well and proof now offered. But you know Charles Lamb said that his would go on awhile by itself, as chickens walk after their heads are off.

Sarah Orne Jewett to William Dean Howells

[ Begin letterhead ]

SPRING HOUSE
RICHFIELD SPRINGS, N.Y.

[ End letterhead; Jewett's date appears to the right of the letterhead ]

Aug 29^th

[ 1894 ]*

Dear friend May I speak a word of sympathy -- I know so well how much you loved your father and that you could be to him what you can be to nobody else. And so long as our father or mother lives so long do we keep the feeling of being taken care of, and

[ Page 2 ]

of childhood -- so long is one kept from feeling alone or feeling old --

But at least let us both be thankful for the lovely gift of so long a childhood! and as I write this I am forced to remember what a lovely thing it is also to [ find ? ] the slight barriers that were left, all broken away

[ Page 3 ]

by death -- the things that we misunderstood in them and they in us in one moment made plain. We become like the earthly parents of their heavenly childhood and growth, and have something of the sacred faith and knowledge and expectation [ deleted word ] which we suddenly know that they felt for us here. It is a tie that cannot be broken between parent and child, it seems

[ Page 4 ]

to me, least of all when, as now, a son and his father were also [ best or dearest ? ] of friends. But the shadow that falls between is a dark shadow, and I know only too well what such a sorrow is. I wish that John were not so far away -- he is the closest and he would understand a good deal -- Please give my love to him when you write and to Pilla{.}* And I send much love to you and Mrs. Howells. Pray do not write this note any answer{.}

Yours affectionately S. O. J.

Notes

1894: This date is confirmed by its response to the death of Howells's father, William Cooper Howells (1807- 28 August 1894).

John ... Pilla: Howells's son and daughter. See Howells in Key to Correspondents.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library, Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 1 letter; [n.d.]. Howells family papers, 1850-1954. MS Am 1784 (630). Houghton Library.

Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett

August 30^th 1894

My dearest: thank you for your dear letter of this morning -- I mean to leave the station (Albany) as you advise at 10.30 on Monday --

I have been trying all day to get a moment to write you but Mifs O'Brion* and Ross Turner* being here, I have found it difficult to arrange a quick moment -- Mrs Higginson* came to hear some music this afternoon and the [ unrecognized name ] -- I shall try now to be rested a little before starting. Mifs O'Brion will go to Mrs Higginson on Sunday afternoon and I shall then make ready for the next day's start.

Thank you for sending back the magazine* -- I at once sent one to my two elder sisters --

I must stop writing now

[ Page 2 ]

in spite of this being such a poor little note because I have more proofs to correct. Did you see the bit in the Transcript about Celia* -- People seem to like it here --

Good night, darling --

from your Annie Fields.

Notes

O'Brion: Mary Eliza O'Brion (1859-1941?), Boston-based concert pianist, private teacher, and instructor at Wellesley College. Her name appears regularly on programs as a piano soloist and accompanist with various groups and orchestras. She often performed with the Latvian immigrant composer and pianist Olga von Radecki (1858-1933).

Turner: Ross Sterling Turner (1847-1914), one of CeliaThaxter's painting mentors, "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." Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Higginson: Probably this is Ida Agassiz Higginson. See Key to Correspondents.

magazine: At the time of this letter, Fields was engaged in a number of projects. Probably, she here refers to her September 1894 Scribner's article, "Third Shelf of Old Books." She may have been working on proofs for articles on Celia Thaxter and Oliver Wendell Holmes that appeared early in 1895, and/or one or more of three books: A Shelf of Old Books (1894), Letters of Celia Thaxter (1895), and The Singing Shepherd (1895).

Celia: Celia Thaxter died on 25 August 1894. Presumably the Boston Transcript has published an obituary or a memorial piece.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett. Fields, Annie (Adams) 1834-1915. 16 letters; 1894-1901 & [n.d.], 1894-1901 bMS Am 1743 (Box 2: 64).
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Wyman Whitman to Sarah Orne Jewett

September 5, 1894. (Day after Labor Day.)*

Well, there is one thing to be said of this summer, it has been "all of a piece;" and to those who demand continuity as a prime factor in affairs, I doubt if any scheme of events could suit better. It would make you merry if I might rehearse the history of yesterday, par exemple; beginning with a series of breakfasts for a series of blood-relations; and at 9.30 flying to the Roman Catholic Church to witness the wedding of Ford the gardener's daughter. It was by the way a very extraordinary spectacle to one who stepped in off a simple Beverly Farms highway,* and found a little glittering mass of candles and incense and holy water and genuflecting men and boys. Seven prelatical persons and a large choir did it take to marry Louisa Ford! and the lace and little acolytes made a middle-age picture so strange as never was; and I seemed in the space of that hour to think through more facts about the human heart and life and death and all things, than in years of less acute meditation. O how wonderful it all is, and how the pulse of humanity is beating like a trip-hammer in every crevice and under every tree. Well, that is the way my day began, but I must take you through its convolutions. Suffice it to say that in the early morning I had asked myself why this new festa had not been called felicitously Play Day; but in the stilly night I perceived that the Fathers were wiser than I; for a day more full of Labor (there were so called "Sports" going on for hours) I had never known. . . . Also there was a sound of coming Bourgets* in the air; and a sort of Gallic stir within me, as well as a New England fear of all the consequences involved by their approach. . . . Just now I am returning from a morning of jobs of an altruistic sort, with one little shy at the glass-work thrown in.

Notes

1894: In Whitman's Letters, this letter is dated from 1895. The authority for this date is unknown. However, it almost certainly was composed in 1894. In Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court, Morris Carter recounts the extended visit of Paul Bourget and his wife to the United States in 1894. He notes that on 10 September of that year, the Bourgets dined with Isabella Stewart Gardner, with Sarah Wyman Whitman and Oliver Wendell Holmes as the other guests. In November, the Bourgets returned to Boston, at which time they met many of the Jewett-Fields circle of friends, including Thomas Bailey Aldrich (pp. 139-40).

Beverly Farms highway: The Old Place, Beverly Farms, between Beverly and Manchester-by-the-Sea in MA., was the location of the Whitman summer home.

Bourgets: Paul Bourget (1852-1935), who was elected to the French Academy in 1894. His Discourse de Réception à l'Académie Française appeared in 1895.

This transcription appears in Letters, Sarah Wyman Whitman. Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1907, "Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett: 1882-1903," pp. 61-109.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett and Carrie Jewett Eastman

Monday morning

[ September 1894 ]*

Dear Sisters

It has been such hot weather! I really long for a good north wind but this is a fine rainy morning with promise of [backing ?] round so I shall muster patience. Night before last I had a splendid time. Two of the guides{,} John and Jerome,* took me deer hunting and though they didn't shoot any I enjoyed it very much -- We started between eight and nine and went two or three miles across the lake and then two or three miles more up an inlet. The moon was going down and made a lovely track along the water and of course we could easily be seen so all of a sudden we heard a great splash and breaking of twigs and a [swinging ? ] trot and a big deer that had evidently been watching us until we got pretty close to {it} and then left. We could hear him sniffing and snuffing up through the woods, and went on our way most regretfully

[ Page 2 ]

because we might have got him if it had been dark enough. They come down to the streams at night to eat the lily pads. When we got up to the head of the inlet we waited until the moon was down and presently a great cloud covered even the stars and one of the men paddled and then sat in the bow on a bit of board he put across with the gun across his lap and a little bulls-eye lantern* with a cover which he sometimes put over his head with a strap. You were afraid to move or wink it was so perfectly still -- there was no wind, and the sedge and the dry larches (in the strip of dead wood which the over flowing made) were still for once without rustling or creaking. When we thought we heard deer Jerome would turn his little search light along the bank, but we only got ~~pretty~~ near to one more deer who went away with a great plashing. There were lots of muskrats that plopped now and then and some queer sounding birds that quawked to each

[ Page 3 ]

other, and a huge old owl whoo-whooing ever so far off. My feet went to sleep I tried to keep so still -- and there was a fine shower that you could hear coming over the woods long before it got to you -- and you could hear crickets and seldom a frog. It was tremendously exciting -- We passed another boat and it was just like seeing ghosts because they were as still as we. We got home just before two and I crept in on the pine boughs quite sleepy and comfortable and am anxious about talking too loud ever since or making my chair squeak! They begin to hunt with with dogs today: at the [beginig meaning beginning] of Jack-hunting* like ours [salurday meaning Saturday] night{.} The deer stand & watch ^the light^ and are comparatively easy to get, but not now. We all went out last night but there was for the first time a little damp mist. It was too hot to go anywhere all day. -- I have just got your letter enclosing Twombly's.* I am deeply interested in the old Warren

[ Page 4 ]

house. I dont believe I ever passed it without wishing that I could go in -- I am sorry [that looks like about] the "Armine Warren house" is all burnt up.* It was such a [ unrecognized word ] little old house, and Pound Hill* generally is one of the places that look just as they always have. I had a nice letter from Alice Howe* who had a pretty good voyage and was glad beyond common to get ashore. I must close because I want to get a little walk before dinner. There is a path for a little way along the shore -- but no roads any where near except perhaps where you go in winter when these swamps are frozen. I hope that you caught the mouse and that she didn't do great damage ----

With much love to everybody
Sarah.

Notes

Much of the information about the Durant's camps and environs in these notes comes from Alfred Lee Donaldson, A History of the Adirondacks, v. 2 (1921) Chapter 36. Page numbers are from this title, unless otherwise indicated.

September 1894: In Sarah Orne Jewett (1994), Blanchard says that Jewett, Fields and Garrett stayed at Raquette Lake during September of 1894 (p. 270). This is confirmed by Jewett's 29 August letter to Whitman above, announcing her plans for the Adirondack trip.

John and Jerome: John may be John Copland, who was a local guide in 1875, p. 104, but presumably there are severak other possibilities. Jerome is probably Jerome Wood (1848 - after 1920), son of the first settler on Raquette Lake in the center of the Adirondack Mountains of New York, p. 88.

bulls-eye lantern: The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica says: "The “ bull's-eye ” lantern has a convex lens which concentrates the light and allows it to be thrown in the shape of a diverging cone."

Jack-hunting: Horatio C. Wood, M.D. writes in "Reminiscences of an American Pioneer in Experimental Medicine": "Jack-hunting consists in being paddled by a guide noiselessly over a lake at night, while the hunter sits in the bow of the boat or canoe behind a large piece of bark, to which a small lantern is attached, making it possible to see deer without being seen by them" p. 230.

Twombly's: It is likely that this is Horatio Nelson Twombly, nephew of William H. Fogg. This probably is correspondence relating to the Fogg Memorial Building at the Berwick Academy, which was in progress at this time.

old Warren house: The area east of Hamilton House in South Berwick belonged to members of the Warren family for generations after they settled in the area in the 17th century. This included Pound Hill (see note below).

"Armine Warren house" is all burnt up: Reading Jewett's handwriting at this point is problematic. She seems to have written "Armine," but there is as yet no evidence that such a person lived in the South Berwick area. But America Warren is a known resident, a brother of Columbia Warren. Both are important characters in Gladsy Hasty Carroll's story of the South Berwick Warren family, Dunnybrook (1943). To date, no other record has been found of the loss of a South Berwick Warren house in September 1893.

Pound Hill: No map has been found identifying this area in South Berwick, ME. Jewett says in The Tory Lover (1901) that when the bringers of news from Portsmouth leave the Lower Landing, "The messengers were impatient to go their ways among the Old Fields farms, and went hurrying down toward the brook and around the head of the cove, and up the hill again through the oak pasture toward the houses at Pound Hill." This would seem to place Pound Hill east of Hamilton House. Norma Keim of the Old Berwick Historical Society has located the actual hill on what is now Fife's Lane, which once was part of the main road from Old Fields to York. This location is just east of Old Fields. See The Maine Spencers, A History and Genealogy by W. D. Spencer (Concord: Rumford Press, 1898) p. 108. It is quite likely that the name derives from the location of the village livestock pound. In the colonial period, many New England villages had pounds where strayed livestock would be kept at village expense until the owners claimed them and payed their fine or pound fee. (See John R. Stilgoe, Common Landscape of America 1580-1845. New Haven: Yale UP, 1982, p. 49).

Alice Howe: Alice Greenwood Howe. 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 Ernest Dressel North

Raquette Lake Adirondacks

14 September

[ 1894 ]

[ Begin letterhead ]

South Berwick, Maine

[ End letterhead ]

Dear Mr North

I have been at Richfield Springs and later here. And your note hid itself away soon after it came, so safely that it has only just now appeared to view in a travelers disorderly writing-case --

I think you very

[ Page 2 ]

much for being so kind as to remember about the illustration to Betsey Lane.* It was full page portrait of the heroine advancing across the fields, and was published (I think) in the August number of 1893

Yours most sincerely

Sarah Orne Jewett

Notes

Betsey Lane: Jewett's "The Flight of Betsey Lane" appeared in Scribner's Magazine (14:213-225), August 1893, with illustrations by W. T. Smedley. The first illustration is the one Jewett describes.

The manuscript of this letter is held in the W. Hugh Peal manuscript collection: 1997ms474: University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett and Carrie Jewett Eastman

Tuesday Morning
[ September 1894 ]*

Dear Sisters

We are going to get our breakfasts as fast was we can and then start on an expedition over to the next lake but one with two long carries to make and five miles to go first by boat -- a great 'spedition and fine clear day at last which makes me thankful. Some people who have had a great camp these many years on that lake wanted something a little wilder! and they have set up another establishment where we were asked to spend the night but compromised on passing a day. They can hear bears growl over there Carrie! and are now after one with cubs. [Unrecognized word]

[ Page 2 ]

-- I suppose that we shall not be likely to get back until late this evening. I have been wishing that I had brought my great boots for which this would have been just the day, but I am much better shod than on the other expedition. Perhaps someday when Theodore* is oiling up -- he will put a dab on those big boots for I am afraid when I do wear them they will soak water through being dry. I dreamed such a bustling dream last night that Stubs had got orders to West Point* and was ll dressed up in his uniform and we thought he looked fine. How sorry I am to miss seeing Susy Ward!* I know you must have had a good time with her and I shall hope to hear tomorrow. The mountains are nearly all blown clear round the lake this morning and there is a clear fallish wind -- and blue sky. It has been so sticky and

[ Page 3 ]

hot that we are delighted to be a little cool. A.F.* and I wish so much that we could start away Thursday or Friday so as to get home Saturday both of us. She is expecting sister Sarah! but it is a difficult [ink blot] thing to start ones little caravan as you may guess and I am afraid the chance is that we shall all start together Sunday morning to catch an express that leaves North Creek* at night -- the only fast train. Mary* seems to be laying her plans for that and ^for her^ to make [unrecognized word] sets of plans is asking a good deal. We both enjoy it here I needn't say but I am so anxious to get home and back to my papers and my own affairs. All the summer up to the first of August when I came away counted for nothing and now I must get things & be looking them over. However there's all October and November to count upon before snow! ----- Now I must run, and get my things together

[ Page 4 ]

to start. Here comes Mary from her breakfast which got belated so that we finished first. Now it is clouding over!

Ever so much love to all
from Sarah --

[ Post script written on the bottom of page 4 down vertical in center ]

I had this note from Triem* a little late [for corrected] the birthday, but none the less welcome.

Notes

September 1894: This date is inferred from Jewett's continuing account of her week in the Adirondack mountains with Annie Fields and Mary Garrett.

Theodore: Theodore Jewett Eastman, also called Stubs. See Key to Correspondents.

West Point: The United States Military Academy, about 50 miles north of New York City.

Susy Ward: Susan Hayes Ward. See Key to Correspondents.

A.F.: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.

Sarah: Sarah Holland Adams. See Annie Fields in Key to Correspondents.

express that leaves North Creek: From Raquette Lake, NY, where Jewett, Fields, and Garrett are vacationing, North Creek is about 45 miles east.

Mary: Mary Garrett. See Key to Correspondents.

Triem: This person remains unidentified, though the name appears in several letters. Also, this spelling is uncertain. Jewett's birthday was 3 September.

The manuscript of this letter is held by Historic New England in the Jewett Family Papers MS014.02. Transcription and annotation by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett and Carrie Jewett Eastman

Wednesday Morning
[ September 1894 ]*

Dear Girls

We had an awfully good time yesterday -- quite an ideal day for seeing something of the life here. Mrs. Durant* sent a little steam launch for us about ten and we went up across the lake{,} getting caught in a great squall by the way so that we had to [maneuver corrected] some time to get into the narrow mouth of the South Inlet* where I went hunting the other night -- but we finally succeeded & went two miles up the inlet and landed at a carry where we footed it two miles through the wood, and I measured one ^pine^ tree that was thirteen feet around about four feet from the ground -- just the size of the biggest Jack and Olive's* one though it looked larger even. It was not such an even trunk and so really it wasn't quite so big -- At the end of that Carry was a lake which we were rowed across and came to one of the Durants hunting camps a most lovely place with a nice yellow-haired Sweeny* who was the keeper. These

[ Page 2 ]

camps are built of big spruce logs rough outside and squared nicely with the broad axe inside and everything is kept plain and all the furniture made while the house was building -- all the crockery on open dressers and a long ^[dining ?]^ table with nice scoured wooden benches along side, and a store closet and an open camp for the guides to sleep in and another one for company with such a view of the great pine tree and the lakes and mountains. ~~You~~ There is always an ice house and a work shop and a shed all built of logs in the most picturesque way. You cant imagine such a combination of roughness and perfect luxury! -- At this camp we took a buckboard{,} a heavy comfortable thing and were hauled across most of the way, because the rain had made the carry so muddy. I forgot to say that we found some horses at the landing with what they call a jumper* -- like a low pung on runners, and our wraps & things came over in that. we walked part of the way{--} it was such a delicious fresh day for walking and finally came to Mohegan Lake* where we were again rowed across

[ Page 3 ]

and came to the Durants big camp there which makes you think of what the old northmen must have had. There is a great hall with seats all about and cushions on springs so that you never felt anything so [comfortable partly blotted out] especially after a long walk! And a [huge partly blotted out] stone fireplace and all the bear traps and fox traps hanging on the wall at one end and a great buffalo skin and deer skins on the floor and a big round table in the middle and queer seats and chairs scattered about and 'pelts' of all sorts of beasts hanging in bundles, and great long windows on two sides, with books about and lots of room -- it must have been quite thirty feet square if not more. There was a much larger cluster of out buildings -- a big laundry and kitchen and store houses, with the dining room just down the slope. It is a kind of patriarchal life with such troops of people about. We had the best of dinners. ~~little~~

[ Page 4 ]

^soup, and little^ trout cooked in a delicious way and a haunch of venison with all sorts of delicious vegetables and such an eminent dessert of little cream cakes heaped up [about ?] whipped cream and bedecked with [ snips ?] of candied fruit -- There is a man cook and nothing could excel his dinner. We were hungry enough to like anything. Then we [strayed ?] about and saw the establishment and Mrs. Durant saw to housekeeping before we started. There is this camp and the Shedd Lake* one and one on another lake called Sumners* -- about the same size and then the one over opposite here on Raquette* called Pine Knot -- which is nearly as fine as the one where we dined. Sometimes they have parties at each one hunting and fishing, and then there [is corrected] the great house boat riding at anchor! but they live here all the time except for going down to New York for a few weeks sometimes and sometimes to California where Mrs. Durant's mother* lives

[ Page 5 ]

They say (they being the guides) that the Uncas Camp* where we went & which was built last year, cost fifty thousand dollars. It was so interesting to see it all! -- We got belated and it was sunset on the first lake we crossed and moonlight almost at Shedd but we stopped there and had tea! and sights of cakes and things that Sweeny set forth with pride and then it was so dark that most of us were put into the jumper which earned its name and bumped about like a ^stone^ drag* running away so that we had to hold on hard to each other to keep from spilling. The little steamer was waiting and we got home toward nine and it had turned clear cold so that there was a fine white frost this morning and for once I was so cold out in the open camp that I crawled out of my cocoon of blankets and mended up the

[ Page 6 ]

big fire. It was the most beautiful night out there that we have had -- the moonlight through the trees and the bright moon and stars. I like so much better 'sleeping out' when it is cool. I found a lot of letters when I got home from Mrs. Russell at Naushon* and Ellen Mason* who says she has come home so well and S. W.* and both of you -- Sister knows that old rat that pounded over head -- but upon second thought she has thought before that he had come to [a blotted] sad end and heard him clunking the very night after! There are so many things that I shall be remembering to tell you when I get home. I wish I could have managed to be there Saturday but A.F. and I conclude that it is not possible though we both are anxious and [intended to ?] get together and talk about it! You dont say anything about the girl who had been at the Halls.* I wonder if they cant be got hold of, these friends of whom Mary McSorley* passes news? Mary Garrett* & A.F. send love & so does SOJ.

Notes

Much of the information about the Durant's camps and environs in these notes comes from Alfred Lee Donaldson, A History of the Adirondacks, v. 2 (1921) Chapter 36. Page numbers are from this title, unless otherwise indicated. On the Google map below, Raquette Lake is at the balloon, northwest of Saratoga Springs, NY where Durant family had their permanent home.

Raquette

September 1894: In Sarah Orne Jewett (1994), Blanchard says that Jewett, Fields and Garrett stayed at Raquette Lake during September of 1894 (p. 270).

Mrs. Durant: It seems likely that Jewett refers to Janet L. Stott Durant.
Heloise Hannah Timbrell (1824-1901) was the wife of Dr. Thomas C. Durant (1820 - 1885), who left the practice of medicine for the railroad business and property development. Their children were Heloise Durant Rose and William West Durant (1850 - 1934). William Durant became a main developer of the area near to which his father had built a railroad and where he accumulated property. Purchasing more property, the younger Durant built popular summer and winter camps for vacationers. He married Janet L. Stott (1865-1931) in 1884, and they divorced in 1898; then he married Annie Cotton (1873-1962) in 1906.

South Inlet: On the Google satellite map below, the South Inlet of Raquette Lake enters from the southeast part of the lake, east of the town of Raquette Lake.

Jack and Olive's one: This is somewhat obscure. Jewett may refer to the Jack Pine, a common eastern North American pine tree. And she may refer to a large pine in South Berwick, associated perhaps with Olive Grant. See Key to Correspondents.

Sweeny: Identified as the camp keeper and perhaps also the cook.

jumper -- like a low pung on runners: Wiktionary provides this definition: "A crude kind of sleigh, usually a simple box on runners which are in one piece with the poles that form the thills." Wiktionary also defines "pung": "A low box-like sleigh designed to be pulled by one horse."

Mohegan Lake: This lake's name has changed to Uncas and back again to Monhegan. It is about 2 miles southeast of Sagamore Lake, bottom left on the Google satellite image below.

Shedd Lake: Shedd Lake has been renamed Sagamore Lake (p. 93), the small lake at lower middle of the satellite image.

lake called Sumners: Sumner Lake has been changed to Lake Kora (p. 93). Bottom right of the satellite map below, about two miles south of Shedd/Sagamore Lake.

Raquette called Pine Knot: Pine Knott on Raquette Lake was the home of William and Janet Durant.

Mrs. Durant's mother: Helen Elizabeth "Lizzie" Lathrop Stott (1837-1907), wife of Comm odore Francis Horatio "Frank" Stott (1832-1900) was the mother of Janet Durant. It seems odd that she would live apart from her husband and large family, and so it is possible Jewett means Mrs. Durant's "mother-in-law," Heloise Hannah Timbrell Durant (1824-1901). It is not yet known whether this Mrs. Durant resided in California after her husband's death. OR, it may be that we do not have the correct date for this letter.

Uncas Camp: Camp Uncas on Mohegan Lake, completed in 1892, was for the personal use of William Durant, but financial difficulties forced him to sell it to banker J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1896. The camp was named after the Native American character in James Fenimore Cooper's, Leatherstocking Tales, particularly The Last of the Mohicans (1826).

a ^stone^ drag: a sledge for moving heavy objects, such as stones that must be cleared regularly from New England fields.

Mrs. Russell at Naushon: This may be Mary Hathaway Forbes (1844-1916) married Henry Sturgis Russell (1838-1905). She was the daughter of John Murray Forbes (1813-1898) a wealthy Massachusetts businessman and philanthropist. Her brother was William Hathaway Forbes (1840-1897) who married Edith Emerson, daughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson and friend of Jewett and Fields. The Forbes family summered on Naushon Island, MA, just off Cape Cod.

Ellen Mason: See Key to Correspondents.

S. W.: Sarah Wyman Whitman. See Key to Correspondents.

A. F.: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.

the Halls: This seems to be a family, perhaps in South Berwick.

Mary McSorley: This person has not been identified.

Mary Garrett: See Key to Correspondents.

The manuscript of this letter is held by Historic New England in the Jewett Family Papers MS014.01.04. Transcription and annotation by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice Jewett and Carrie Jewett Eastman

[Manchester 2 October 1894 in another hand]
Tuesday morning

Dear Girls [Mary and Carrie in another hand]

I had such a nice time last night & yesterday -- "Mary O'Brion"* and a Miss Hall* who sings beautifully came down from town and Sally Norton* played her violin and we had a beautiful music! Mrs. Bell & Mrs. Pratt* came over and a few other friends, and it was a lovely afternoon with

[ Page 2 ]

such a sunset and a new moon, and then after tea we had a lot more music.

They are all going today so that we shall be left to ourselves and I must do some writing. Only to think of Dilly!* and I can imagine how she looks forlorn but with her excellent appetite and Frances care* [apparently stray marks in right margin that may indicate 's or perhaps an apostrophe and a comma] I dont think she will be long in regaining her beauty.* I wonder if Mary*

[ Page 3 ]

will get home today. I am sorry there is such a row going, but the great thing is for us to keep quiet and not discuss our part of it with anybody now, neither defending ourselves nor accusing other people. It is much better so than to get them fighting back with us. They can go on with the library to a certain extent and they had much better do it. I feel above fighting at any rate: lets keep on with our own affairs. People

[ Page 4 ]

will be coming to call to know what we say -- and I dont mean to gratify them. I dont think it is dignified, and the silly business will stop the sooner if we keep still. As for writing Mr. Fogg* I dont want to -- just yet. I shall think about it today however and if there is anything I think I can say I will say it!

I had such a nice letter from Mrs. Whitman{;}* how soon she will be back now. Sailing this next Saturday. She wrote coming from Venice to Milan*

[ Page 5 ]

and her letter makes me feel as if I were seeing it over again with the mulberry trees and the little yellow cities up on the tops of the hills beyond the plain. Mary O'Brion was so funny about Mrs. Stanley Pullen.* Poor old [Friem ?]* wasnt so far wrong about {her;} Mary O'Brion is more bea-aut-ful than ever! She has grown very fine [looking corrected]. The company is

[ Page 6 ]

going, so I cant stop to write any more, but send much love to both of you and Frances, and hopes, in with even this poor letter from -- fond Sister.

Notes

"Mary O'Brion": Mary Eliza O'Brion (1859-1941?), Boston-based concert pianist, private teacher, and instructor at Wellesley College. Her name appears regularly on programs as a piano soloist and accompanist with various groups and orchestras. She often performed with the Latvian immigrant composer and pianist Olga von Radecki (1858-1933). Among von Radecki's compositions is a setting of Jewett's poem, "Boat Song." Possibly her grave.

Miss Hall: It seems likely this was Miss Marguerite Hall, who appears in the Boston Musical Year Book (v. 1) Season of 1883-84, in numerous vocal and piano performances. While an internet search finds her name in many performances in the United States and abroad through the early 20th century, it yields as yet no further information about her.
Mary O'Brion and Olga von Radecki also appear multiple times in the 1883-84 yearbook. As Boston-based, female musicians in the 1880s and 1890s who regularly performed with the Boston Symphony, they were likely to be acquainted and to engage in private performances together.

Sally Norton: Sara Norton. See Key to Correspondents.

Mrs. Bell & Mrs. Pratt: Probably Helen Olcott (Choate) Bell and her sister Mrs. Ellerton Pratt. See Key to Correspondents.

Dilly ... Frances care: Probably this is Frances Fisk Perry, daughter of Jewett's aunt, Lucretia Perry. See Key to Correspondents. Dilly remains unidentified, but that this is a Perry family pet or horse seems likely.

Mary: Since it seems clear that the letter is addressed in part to Jewett's sister, this would seem to be another Mary, but it may be that Mary Rice Jewett is currently away from home.

silly business ... Mr. Fogg: The Fogg Memorial Building at the Berwick Academy was in progress and under discussion throughout 1894, with difficulties emerging at various times.

Mrs. Whitman: Sarah Wyman Whitman. See Key to Correspondents.

Mrs. Stanley Pullen: Elisabeth Jones (Mrs. Stanley T.) Pullen (1849-1926). In 1885 she married Nino Cavazza of Modena, Italy, who died within a year after their wedding. She is the author of Don Finimondone: Calabrian Sketches (1892), as well of of translations, short fiction, essays and poetry. After her second marriage in 1894, she resided in Portland, ME, with Stanley Thomas Pullen (1843-1910), a writer for the Portland Daily Press and the Boston Literary World. He was the founder of the Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals. After remarrying, she usually published under the name Elisabeth Pullen, but sometimes as Elisabeth Cavazza. See also, Meredith L. McGill, The Traffic in Poems (2008), pp. 166-7.

Friem: Versions of this name appear in several letters, but this person has not yet been identified.

The manuscript of this letter is held by Historic New England in the Jewett Family Papers MS014.01.04. Transcription and annotation by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Wyman Whitman to Sarah Orne Jewett

[ 9 October
about 1894 ]*

Darling. I hope that Miss Arnold* is coming on ~~Thu~~ Friday, & that we may have a little singing in the early afternoon. But in any case will not you and dear A.F.* come [ deleted word ] "at or about" 3 & stay till at or about 6, because nothing less could satisfy. One [ who ? ]

[ Page 2 ]

is in great need of seeing you both for personal and general Reasons, except a clear Space of Time.

Thus praying I remain as so often before your devoted

_Sw_

Oct. 9.

Notes

About 1894: This letter is placed in 1894 only because Whitman mentions "Miss Arnold," as she does in another letter believed to have been written in February 1894.

Miss Arnold: Miss Arnold has not been identified. She appears here to be singer.

A.F.: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to Correspondents.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Whitman, Sarah (Wyman) 1842-1904. 92 letters; [1884]-[1903] & [n.d.] Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence, 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 -107. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Mssrs. Bacheller Johnson & Bacheller

[ Begin letterhead ]

South Berwick, Maine

[ End letterhead ]

[ 10 October 1894 ]

Mssrs. Bacheller Johnson & Bacheller

Gentlemen

I beg to

acknowledge with thanks your cheque for ^$175, mailed to me on October 5^th. I do not see my way clear just now toward writing a long^er^ story for your syndicate{.} I find myself very busy as autumn comes

[ Page 2 ]

on, as I have been obliged to defer and to neglect the keeping of some promises to the magazines that I made long ago. But I shall certainly keep yours ^and Mr Stedmans^* kind proposition in mind.

Believe me with much regard

Yours sincerely

S. O. Jewett

Manchester Massachusetts

10 October 1894

[ Page 3 ]

I think that Mr. Stedman may like to know that Miss Woolsey* (Susan Coolidge) will be returning from England & France about Nov^r 1^st. I [ think ? ] that she may possibly have some interesting material on hand -- She has been in Norway again and it is just possible that she may have done some sketches &c{.}

Notes

Mr. Stedman's: Edmund Clarence Stedman. See Key to Correspondents.

Woolsey: Sarah Chauncey Woolsey. See Key to Correspondents.

This manuscript is held in the Sarah Orne Jewett miscellaneous file. Manuscripts and Archives Division. 1894, Oct. 10, A.L.S. to Messrs Bacheller, Johnson and Bacheller, 3 pp., New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.
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, the Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Sara Norton

[ October 1894 ]*

I forgot to ask you to be sure to read M^r Warner's Editors Study* papers in the November Harper's --

S. O. J.

Notes

1894: This postcard was addressed to Norton at Shady Hill, Cambridge, MA. Though the cancellation is faint, one may read that it was cancelled in South Berwick in October 1894.

Study: Charles Dudley Warner. Key to Correspondents.
Scott Stoddart notes that Warner's column appeared regularly in Harper's Monthly at this time:

This particular column argues for maintaining "the few remaining country academies" and speaks against the notions of "The New Woman": "I am tired of reading about Woman in all periodicals and newspapers as if she were a newly discovered species" (960-4).

The manuscript of this letter held by the Miller Library Special Collections at Colby College, Waterville, ME. JEWE.1. A transcription appears in Scott Frederick Stoddart's Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: Selected Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett.
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Wyman Whitman to Sarah Orne Jewett

[ 22 October

About 1894 ]*

Darling, you was terrible dear to write me that splendid letter: & I was a good deal cheered by it: for I am still separated from my little ancestors and the sea is lonely.

And such ridiculous work to be done o' nights, because this seems

[ Page 2 ]

the only time I have -- (and one night -- Wednesday -- not getting to bed till 4.39, quite old & chilly -- ) so I cant tonight say All I would, but one thing I will say. I am going to spend one day with Coolidge perhaps one with Ellen* on or about the 3rd, and I am wondering as only owls can wonder if you couldn't really go this time, instead of always talking & pretending to go: which would be much Fairer, & more to the mind of SW. You will

[ Page 3 ]

speak of this -- & after the 26th I believe as well as hope that 77 will be my habitat.

This is a Shabby thing to the eyes: but one who writes it has still some signs of [ gratitude ? ] within!

So no more, but a Kiss of love

[ No signature ]

October 22

Notes

about 1894: This letter provides little clue to its composition date. Its intimacy suggests that it is not from the earliest years of their correspondence. 1894 is merely a guess, based upon its small similarity in form -- October date at the end -- to a 9 October letter to Jewett that also may be from 1894.

Coolidge ... Ellen: Probably Coolidge is Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, who wrote under the name Susan Coolidge.
The identity of this Ellen is not yet known. A likely candidate is Ellen Francis Mason. See Key to Correspondents.

77: The Whitman winter residence at 77 Mt. Vernon St.

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.

Louise Imogen Guiney to Annie Adams Fields

[ 23 October 1894 ]

Dear Mrs. Fields:

The little book of dove-colored verses in this post is for you. Who 'A.E.'* may be I know not; but London is a-talking of him, her, or it, and a good wind blows me two copies. I find ~~most~~ modern verse a curious thing; and this is most modern, melancholy-wise as Leonardo's angels.* I got home a week ago from a late but joyous vacation, which dropped suddenly on me from the skies. Such a wild Paradise of a time never was, far down on the enchanting lovely Maine coast, not five miles from Mr. Aldrich's new roof-tree.* It was Indian summer for three (the aunt, the dog, and me) with no neighbors, and cold, c .. c.. o .. o .. o ..... ld sand-beaches for bathing, and chick-

[ Page 2 ]

en lobsters, and a big hearth-fire evenings for roasting of mushrooms and chestnuts. And while I was shouting up and down that hilly solitude, in the sun, you were at dear Dr. Holmes' grave* at home. It was a shock to me to come back and find him gone from the world. But I rejoice that we saw him so lately 'of the sweetness and zest of his happy life possessed.'* So will he be when next we say good-morrow!

Post-officedom has swallowed me up; but I mean to try the famous latch on whatever Saturday I may, between this and Christmas. Meanwhile I send love to you and Miss Jewett,* and remain ever, though moribund and suburban,

Your faithful

L. I. G.

October 23^rd 1894.

Notes

A.E.: Irish poet and artist, George William Russell (1867-1935) wrote under the initials, A.E. His first volume of poems, Homeward Songs by the Way, appeared in 1894.

Leonardo's angels: Italian polymath, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). A probably apocryphal story recounts his assisting his painting master. Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488), by contributing a pair of angels to Verrochio's "The Baptism of Christ," and so impressing his master that Verrochio gave up painting. Perhaps Guiney refers to these angels and considered their expressions "melancholy-wise."

Mr. Aldrich's new roof-tree: Thomas Bailey Aldrich. See Key to Correspondents. In the summer of 1893, Aldrich built "The Crags," a summer home in Tenant's Harbor, ME.

Dr. Holmes' grave: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. died on 7 October 1894. See Key to Correspondents.

possessed: Guiney quotes from John Greenleaf Whittier, "In Memory: James T. Fields", stanza 2:

Of the sweetness and the zest
Of thy happy life possessed
Thou hast left us at thy best.

For Whittier, see Key to Correspondents.

Miss Jewett: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields collection Box 25: mss FI 1602 . Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

John Sanford Barnes to Sarah Orne Jewett

Lenox Mass.

Oct, 25^th 1894.

My dear Miss Jewett:

    Your note of 22^d [ was ? ] received today.

    It will give me much pleasure to show the Log Book at any time that may suit your convenience, after my return to town. No doubt that through my son the matter can be arranged{.}

    The log was commenced on board the "Serapis" immediately after the engagement with the "Bon Homme Richard."* The original log of the latter probably sunk with her at the close of the battle. It continues as the log of the "Serapis," until Jones was compelled to give up his

[ Page 2 ]

prize, and transfer himself, officers & crew, to the "Alliance{.}" It further contains the log of the "Alliance" while Jones commanded her -- also of the "Ariel" -- in his command of which Comm^o Jones returned to America.

L^t Richard Dale was the first Lieut, or "executive officer" of all these ships, and the supervision & care of the ships log fell to him{.} Some portions of it are in his handwriting -- It is an hourly chronicle of wind, weather and events, which go to make up the rather monotonous life of a sailor who does not indulge in much "fine writing{.}" Here and there are curious items showing the strong personality of Com^o Jones.*

The book also contains the log of "Queen of France", a "letter of Marque" filled out from

[ Page 3 ]

the port of Philadelphia, & placed under the command of Captain Dale, upon his return with Jones in the "Ariel{.}" This log is entirely in Dales handwriting. It passed from a member of the Dale family to Mr Brevort* a celebrated collector of Americana in N. Y. who paid $100. for it -- from him it passed to Mr. S. L. Barlow at the sale of his collection, for the sum of $600. -- and at Mr. Barlows sale I bought it for $1250. -- I only mention these figures as an interesting instance of the appreciation of such relics in this country by collectors.

There are many men who have made Paul Jones the object of their pursuit, and his autograph letters and original

[ Page 4 ]

early portraits have become very rare & very costly. His life is a romance, and his character unique. Smuggler, slave trader, almost a pirate and early in life an outlaw -- always in adventurer -- without a country save by adoption -- a soldier or rather a sailor of fortune -- rough to brutality with men, tender and sentimental with women, vain of his person and accomplishments, given to poetry and flowery composition{,} brave to recklessness -- always seeking combats & fighting like a fiend when found -- a dreaded foe and a troublesome acquaintance -- Hating England he fought his own country, as it were with a halter awaiting his defeat and capture, a mercenary who did yeomans service for his employers, revolted colonists French or Russians{,} Still America claims him as one of the heroes of the Revolution & rightly ---

Yours very [ truly ? ]

John S Barnes

Notes

Barnes: John Sanford Barnes (1836-1911) was a United States Navy officer and naval historian. Wikipedia.
    This letter indicates that by this date, Jewett was thinking about and gathering material for her final novel, The Tory Lover (1901), in which John Paul Jones is a main character.

"Serapis" ... "Bon Homme Richard": The logs Barnes describes relate, as he says, to the service of John Paul Jones in the newly formed American navy during the American Revolution. Jewett presents a novelistic version of his exploits with the Ranger in 1777.
    Wikipedia notes that in 1779, Jones was given command of the Bon Homme Richard. He led a small squadron that engaged with British Royal Navy ship, Serapis, off the east coast of England. Jones captured the Serapis, but lost the badly damaged Bon Homme Richard. One of the ships in his squadron was the Alliance. See also John S. Barnes, The Logs Of The Serapis-Alliance-Ariel, Under The Command Of John Paul Jones, 1779-1780, With Extracts From Public Documents, Unpublished Letters, And ... With Reproductions Of Scarce Prints, available at Project Gutenberg.

Richard Dale: Richard Dale (1756-1826) was an American naval officer who served with John Paul Jones in the American revolution, including on the Ariel. After a brief time as a prisoner of war, he was first officer on the USS Queen of France, a privateer with a Letter of Marque to attack British vessels. Wikipedia.

Com^o Jones: Barnes varies his spelling. The superscript "o" is uncertain; possibly he wrote a "d."

Mr Brevort ... Barlow: In Barnes's edition of The Logs Of The Serapis-Alliance-Ariel, he names S. L. M. Barlow of New York as his source for the original logs. There he says that Barlow "acquired the book through Mr. Harrisse or Mr. Stevens, of London, some time previous to 1869." According to Wikipedia, Samuel Latham Mitchill Barlow was a prominent lawyer in New York City. Further information about Mr. Brevort, Mr. Harrisse, and Mr. Stevens has not yet been discovered.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
    Barnes, John Sanford, 1836-1911, bMS Am 1743 (16).
    Associated with this letter is an envelope addressed to Jewett on South Berwick, cancelled on 26 October 1894. A note upper left reads: Jones & Barnes.
     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 Mary Rice Jewett

Sunday afternoon

[ October 1894 ]

Dear O. P.*

      ………..…Corbett licked didn't he Carrie!! Shall you ever forget the little Doctor!*

Notes

October 1894: The letter seems to imply that Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., has recently died. His death was 7 October 1894. In that same year, James Corbett, the boxer, won two important matches. The first was a title defense on 25 January. The second, on 7 September, was an exhibition match with Peter Courtney, which was, according to Wikipedia (see below) only the second boxing events to be filmed. It is possible that Jewett and her sisters have seen this film when she writes this letter.
   The line of points presumably indicates an omission from the manuscript.

O.P.: A family nickname for Mary Rice Jewett.

Corbett ...Carrie ... little Doctor: Almost certainly, Jewett refers to James J. Corbett (1866-1933), a famous Irish-American boxer of the 1890s.
    Carrie is Caroline Jewett Eastman. See Key to Correspondents.
    Jewett and others often referred to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. as "the little Doctor." See Key to Correspondents.

This text is from transcriptions from mixed repositories in the Maine Women Writer's Collection, University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Undated Letters, Folder 75, Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection. For more information about the individual transcription, contact the Maine Women Writers Collection. Notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett

Wednesday morning --

[ November 1894 ]*

Dearest -- The lovers came last night and wanted to see you too! Mr. [ B _____ ? ]* has a great appreciation of Pinny's* work -- They were going to a party at Mrs Whitman's to meet Nikisch* and so hurried off after about three quarters of an hour -- I could not make much of her and I find myself wondering what he saw that made her his ideal -- He is a man of real talent and his appreciation of our Stuart* was beautiful to see{.} We got the encyclopedia to read about him "728 pictures" he murmured "what a lot! [ inconceivable corrected ]{.}" If they were to live in Boston we should often see them -- a note from Mrs Whitman this morning saying that

[ Page 2 ]

the Italian things lag -- I have answered that it was lack of movement and advertisement and too high prices -- that if Mifs P.* cannot manage it she should ask for help -- all of which is a sad truth with a bitter result --

What a cold windy day -- one of the cutting kind -- I think I will not send the E. E. Hale book* after Mifs Bradbury because she has enough at present{.} We will send it to her at xmas perhaps! -- How near it all seems. Do not get cold dear in this change and give yourself time to rest now before you do anything beyond copying. We have been doing so much of late and it is the being not the doing which the world needs of us after all (old but true) Good bye for today dear

from your own A.F.

Notes

1894: I have arbitrarily placed this letter in the middle of the three years during which Arthur Nikisch conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

B: It seems likely this person was an artist. I cannot decipher Fields's handwriting beyond the B, and have been unable to guess who he might be.

Pinny's: A nickname for Jewett.

Whitman's ... Nikisch: Sarah Wyman Whitman. Key to Correspondents.
    Arthur Nikisch (1855-1922) was a Hungarian conductor who performed internationally. He was conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra 1893-1895. Wikipedia.

Stuart: Almost certainly this is American painter Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), a prolific artist producing about 1000 portraits, including the first six U.S. Presidents. His unfinished portrait of George Washington is one of the best known images of that President.

Mifs P.: This person has not yet been identified.

E. E. Hale .'. Mifs Bradbury: Edward Everett Hale. Key to Correspondents. Hale appears to have published as many as a dozen books of fiction, biography and history during the years 1893-1895, including The Story of Spain (1894) in the same Putnam series in which Jewett's The Story of the Normans appeared.
    Presumably, Miss Bradbury is Kate Bradbury. Key to Correspondents. It is not yet known whether she visited the United States in the 1893-1895 period.

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.

Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc to Sarah Orne Jewett
This letter fragment was composed in French; a transcription follows the translation.

[ 1 November 1894 ]*

Mr. Jaccaci* writes me that Scribner's Magazine is not interested in the delicious memoirs of this female Dangeau called Mme. Octave Feuillet* -- Before I undertake this translation project in England, please look into it and tell me whether America really doesn't want this curious book that mixes history and psychology. Mme. Feuillet has been very good to me.

At the same time as your letter came another from Miss Ticknor,* and from the west, cordial testimonials. Imagine this -- all the friendly Galesburg professors* went with their wives to the president's house to hear the young French instructor translate my article, for which they expressed their gratitude. It will interest you that many French women emulate these American women and follow their lead and this is an author's just reward, a good royalty, don't you think? Tell me, please, whether I have expressed this well.

Mme. de Beaulaincourt* is very pleased that her portrait is in our hands, and the other day when I dined with her, she made me talk about America to her young nephew, Stanislas de Castellane,* through the whole of the evening. She said, "It will do him good and give him strength of character." At her house, I met a Bostonian, Carter Chadwick,* who presented a description of the Charles River. Finally, everything reminds him of his American childhood!

{ Had a } delightful letter from Miss Dunham,* sent from Varese, with a portrait by our famous photographer, Otto;* { you should } ask her {about it}. It's a dream!

Notes

1894: Dating this letter is somewhat problematic. Huntington folder 547 appears to contain two letters mixed together. The reference to events at Knox College in the notes below supports 1894 as a composition date. Also in the folder with this letter is an envelope, addressed to Jewett in South Berwick and cancelled at La Ferté sous Jouarre on 1 November 1894.

Jaccaci: Auguste Jaccaci (1857-1930) at the time of this letter was art director for McClure's Magazine. He was born in France of Hungarian ancestry. After immigrating to the U.S. he became a decorative artist and an art dealer. In the U.S., he Americanized his name, and so sometimes is referred to as August Iaccaci. See Robert Sellwood, Winged Sabres (2018), the opening of Chapter 20.

Feuillet: Valérie Dubois Feuillet (1832-1906), whose memoirs included Childhood Memories (1891) and A Few Years of My Life (1894). She married Octave Feuillet (1821-1890), French novelist and dramatist.
    Philippe de Courcillon, Marquis de Dangeau (1638-1720), was a French officer and author, best remembered for a long diary kept 1684-1720, published as his Memoirs.

Miss Ticknor: Probably Anna Eliot Ticknor. See Key to Correspondents.

Galesburg professors: During her 1893-4 visit to the United States, Blanc spent more than week in Galesburg, IL, where she gave special attention to Knox College as an example of coeducation for American women. She published an account of this in Revue des Deux Mondes of 15 October 1894: "La Condition de la Femme aux États-Unis. Notes de Voyage. III. Les Collège de Femmes. La Co-Éducation. L'extension Universitaire," by Th. Bentzon, pp. 872-902. This essay was then included in her book, The Condition of Woman in the United States (1895), the section on Galesburg being pp. 191-218. This book appeared in English a translation by Abby Langdon Alger in 1895. Note, then, that after 1894, there would be little point in having a special gathering at Knox College to hear a translation of Blanc's article.

Mme de Beaulaincourt: French Wikipedia says that Sophie de Castellane, Marquise de Contades, then Beaulaincourt, Countess Marles (1818- 25 December 1904) was a writer and kept a salon. Her father was Esprit Victor Elisabeth Boniface de Castellane, Comte de Castellane (1788-1862), a French military officer and ultimately a Marshal of France. Madame Blanc included an account of the Marquise in an essay that Sarah Orne Jewett helped to translate, "Conversation in France," Century 48:4 (Aug 1894): 626-634.
    Jewett and Fields met Madame de Beaulaincourt in France in 1898.

Castellane: Stanislas de Castellane (1875-1959), French politician.

Chadwick: Carter Chadwick has not yet been identified.
    Fields's Boston home at 148 Charles Street, backed onto the Charles River.

Miss Dunham: Probably, this is Helen Dunham, daughter of James Dunham of New York, one of four sisters. She married Theodore Holmes Spicer (1860-1935) of London, England, in 1910. She was a friend of the American painter, John Singer Sargent, who made portraits of Helen (1892) and of her sister Etta (1895). She was a friend of Isabella Stewart Gardner, also close to Fields and to Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.

Otto: With apparently just a first name, this person is difficult to identify. A strong candidate, known to several of Jewett's and Fields's friends was German artist Otto Greiner (1869-1916).

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda mss FI 1-5637, Box 5. Transcription, translation and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College, with essential assistance from Jeannine Hammond, Professor of French, Emerita, at Coe College.

Transcription

[ Page 1 ]

M. Jaccaci m'écrit que
Scribner ne se soucie point
des délicieux mémoires
de ce Dangeau femelle
qu'on nomme Mme
Octave Feuillet -- Avant
que je donne suite
à un projet de
traduction en Angleterre
informez-vous donc
si vraiment l'Amérique
ne veux pas d'un
livre curieux qui est
de l'histoire et de
la psychologie. Mme
Feuillet [ unrecognized word
looks like luset à le, where a été would seem to make sense ]

[ Page 2 ]

bien bon pour moi. Je reçois
une lettre ravissante de Miss
Ticknor en même temps
que la vôtre, et de là-bas,
de l'Ouest des témoignages
d'une telle cordialité. Imaginez
que tous les amiables professeurs
de Galesburg se sont
venues avec leurs femmes chez
le principal pour se
faire traduire mon article
par la jeune maitresse
de français; après quoi
ils m'ont envoyé des
remerciements collectifs{.}
Ce qui vous intéressera
c'est l'émulation chez
beaucoup de françaises
de marcher sur les traces
des américaines { -- } [ c'est ? ]

[ Page 3 ]

bons droits l'auteur
a good royalty, c'est
le mot, n'est-ce pas?
Répondez-moi là-dessus
Je vous prie.

Mme de Beaulaincourt
est très flattée [ qu' cela for que ce ? ]
portrait d'elle soit entre
nos mains et l'autre
soir, tandis que Je dînais
chez elle m'a fait toute
la soirée raconter l'Amérique
á son jeune neveu, Stanislas de Castellane
en disant: "Cela lui fera du bien, il y
prendra les forces et
du caractère."-- J'ai vu chez elle un Bostonien
Carter Chadwick que la

[ down the left margin of page 3 ]

description de la Charles River a [ énue ? ]
Enfin tout est en lui rappelant son enfance [ l'Amérique ? ]!

[ cross-written up the left side of page 3 ]

Lettre délicieuse de Miss Dunham datée de Varese avec un portrait par notre fameux photographe Otto; demandez le lui{.} C'est un [ rève ? ]!

Sarah Orne Jewett to Louise Imogen Guiney

[ Begin letterhead ]

South Berwick, Maine

[ End letterhead ]

6 Nov^r

1894

My dear friend

I threw down my pen an hour ago and took up your Roadside Harp* and the one having seemed to be rusty it did my heart good to find the other in tune -- And after I had read again those ^poems^ I know and care about best and most, and had made those lovely discoveries which one can always make

[ Page 2 ]

in true "poetry books" -- of new things that seem old and old things that seem new and the poem that one likes so much that she believes she never can have read it before! -- I began to wonder if I had ever really told you how much I thank you for your work! We [ New corrected ] Englanders are apt ~~for~~ to wait for Christmas -- a lucky Christmas at that! -- before we dare to speak out, but to me the chance appears today -- I

[ Page 3 ]

believe so thoroughly in your lovely gift and in your skill and depth of feeling in the use of it. I am so proud of your background of scholarship and ever-growing knowledge of "the best that has been thought and said in the world"* that I feel every year surer of what you may ^do^ the next year and the next. It is the lack of this same background of scholarship and knowledge of literature that has worked much woe to the gifts of our writers -- no matter how clear and swift the stream if it doesn't come

[ Page 4 ]

from the great fountains. [deletion but from tributaries ? ] The heavens may flow into it on its way and every field and pasture give it a rill, but the mountain springs are those that never fail.* One must know the world's best knowledge of itself, its gathered waters of truth, else the stream grows shallow -- but why do I write this to you? The rusty pen has found its way into my hand again!

If I can only make it say what is in my heart or if I could only make you

[ Page 5 ]

feel how heartily I would throw all pens away if you were here and give you my hand instead, I should be so glad!

We are fellow workers in our great craft these many years now, and I like to do you honor and to bless you on your way; I thank you with warm affection for your beautiful work in verse and prose. I am so glad to hear that Mrs. Fields* is to have some little visits from you and that you are to go to

[ Page 6 ]

the concerts together, for I know she will like it so much. Please give my best regards to your mother and believe me always

Yours most sincerely

Sarah O. Jewett

I must not forget to say how much I like the Little English Gallery. It was a charming idea to put the essays together and into their green cover --

[ Top of page 1 from the left margin ]

How uncommonly good Miss Alice Brown's story was in the October Atlantic.* I liked it very much, and we must talk about it when we see us again!*

Notes

the best that has been thought and said: See Matthew Arnold's preface to Literature and Dogma. "Matthew Arnold, b. Dec. 24, 1822, d. Apr. 15, 1888, was a major Victorian poet, the principal English literary critic of his generation, an important commentator on society and culture, and an effective government official. His father was Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School." (Source: Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia).

the mountain springs are those that never fail: Phrases about the reliability of mountain springs are fairly common in literary texts and scriptures. Well-known in the 19th-century may have been Flavius Josephus, who writes of the landscape of Perea: "It is also sufficiently watered with torrents, which issue from the mountains, and with springs that never fail to run...." (The Works of Flavius Josephus, 1856, p. 296). See also Isaiah 58:11.

Little English Gallery: Lucey writes: "A Roadside Harp, A Book of Verses, published in 1893 by Houghton, Mifflin & Company, was dedicated to Dora Sigerson (Mrs. Clement Shorter) of Dublin, Ireland. Louise told Dora that Miss Jewett was "one of our best-known American writers, and a most lovely and lovable woman."
Wikipedia says, "Dora Maria Sigerson Shorter (1866-1918) was an Irish poet and sculptor, who after her marriage in 1895 wrote under the name Dora Sigerson Shorter." Sigerson and Guiney were frequent correspondents.
A Little English Gallery (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1894) is a volume in the American Essayist Series and is dedicated to Edmund Gosse. Wikipedia says that Sir Edmund William Gosse (1849-1928) "was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhood in the book Father and Son has been described as the first psychological biography."

Atlantic: For Alice Brown (1857-1948) see Key to Correspondents. "Heartease" is the title of her short story in the October 1894 issue of the Atlantic.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Dinand Library of Holy Cross College in the collection of materials of Louise Imogen Guiney, Box: SC007-GUIN-004, Folder: 40. A transcription by William L. Lucey, S. J. appeared in "'We New Englanders': Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett to Louise Imogen Guiney." Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia 70 (1959): 58-64.
The manuscript includes penciled marks and page numbers apparently added in another hand.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Sarah Orne Jewett to Harriet Jackson Lee Morse*

[ Begin letterhead ]

South Berwick, Maine.

[ End letterhead ]

4 Nov^r

1894

My dear M^rs Morse

How good you are! I had such a pleasure when I came home last night and found this little box with the charming handkerchiefs, and knew that you had been remembering me in your far away journeyings. I believe that

[ Page 2 ]

the pleasure of having a gift from 'abroad' is just as great or perhaps even greater than when I was a child -- but almost the pleasantest part it is that I am sure you are safe at home again! I shall be so eager to see you and dear Fanny and the first time I go to

[ Page 3 ]

town you will hear me knocking at your door.

As for my dear and pretty handkerchiefs you cant think how I like them or how affectionately I thank you.

Please to give my love to Fanny and to Gwen* and believe me with love

Yours ever truly

Sarah O. Jewett

Notes

Morse: See Frances (Fanny) Rollins Morse in Key to Correspondents.

Gwen: Frances Rollins Morse was the sister of Dr. Henry Lee Morse (1852-1929). He married Jessie Frances Lizzie Scott (1860-1909). Their only known child, Harriet Morse's granddaughter, was Gwendolyn (1886-1968). Family Search.

The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743.1 (123) Box 4, II. Letters from Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

Your letter interests me very much and I shall certainly give you the best advice I can.

In the first place you make a great mistake in thinking that Editors are careless about new writers. I believe that "new blood" counts for more in this profession than any other. You see that a new writer of real talent usually wins success at once for the newspapers and magazines are

It is, after all, a business like any other and a writer must go into its market and learn the laws of that -- and what I might almost call the personality of the different magazines and the line of ~~the~~ articles which seems to naturally [ belong corrected ] to them. While ones personal experience

Now then! I should advise you to try some of your work and see what it does for itself. I think that the Portland Transcript pays something and Mr. Pickard* is a most appreciative and valuable man as [ it's so spelled ] editor. And the Youth's Companion prints a great

Pickard: Samuel Thomas Pickard. See Key to Correspondents.

as they are: Richard Cary points out that Jewett included this quotation in "Looking Back on Girlhood," Youth's Companion (7 January 1892).

I have read your short story and the Chapter and the verses and I do not think they are by any means as good work as you with your experience of life ought to do. The verses have so much simplicity and dramatic touch that they interested me a good deal, ~~but~~ especially in your sense of fine art in the way you used the [ deletion ] refrain, -- But they lack finish --

-- I am sure that one should always try to write of great things in a great way and with at least 'imaginative realism.' There is nothing so good in what

Now I am going to advise you to try some short sketches in this direction. Remember that the typical man or woman is better than the specimen in such work: try to make use of your own experience -- in your studies, in your illness and

Notes

Chaplin: Richard Cary writes: "Heman White Chaplin (1847-1924) was the grandson of the Reverend Jeremiah Chaplin, first president of Colby College. Miss Jewett is referring to his pseudonymic volume on Massachusetts fishermen and country folk, Five Hundred Dollars, and Other Stories of New England Life (Boston, 1887), which ran into several editions. Under his own name, Chaplin turned out books on legal problems and industrial relations."

Fawcett: Life of Henry Fawcett (1885) by Leslie Stephen. Wikipedia.
Cary notes that "Miss Jewett's two letters to [ Floyd ] were incorporated by his daughter Olive Beatrice Floyd in "Sarah Orne Jewett's Advice to a Young Writer," Yale Review XXVI (December 1936), 430-432. With understandable constraint Miss Floyd omitted from her published version Miss Jewett's harsher strictures and her references to Chaplin and Fawcett."
In Colby folder with the Floyd letters is a letter from Olive Floyd, transcribed below.

The manuscript of this letter is held by Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Richard Cary included his transcription in Sarah Orne Jewett Letters.
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.

I send you the story¹ but I hope to make it still better when I have the proof to work upon. I hope that you will like it, and that I shall like it better when I see it again! Just now I have been working over it too long, which always seems a pity, or rather makes the story itself seem a pity!

Notes

¹ "The Life of Nancy," Atlantic Monthly, LXXV (February 1895), 175-187; collected in The Life of Nancy.

This letter is edited and annotated by Richard Cary in Sarah Orne Jewett Letters; the ms. is held by Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine.

I thank you so much for your note and I should have answered it at once, but I have been ill with a very bad attack of bronchitis which keeps me in bed yet. I send the cheque for Mr. Newman's^* picture -- oddly enough I found your note about it a fortnight ago just as I left home, speaking

of the price &c -- and said to myself that Mr. Newman must have forgotten it. I shall be very glad if you will send it here.

I am sorry about the "Sad Captains."* I shall be so glad if they do get printed & done with at last! I was just in the middle of a fine spin of work when I was

Mrs. Fields* is very well and sends her best regards with mine and kindest Christmas wishes to you and Mistress Kate.*
Ever your sincere and affectionate friend

Notes

Newman's: Richard Cary's note: Presumably Henry Roderick Newman (c1843-1918), American artist who spent most of the last half-century of his life in Florence, Italy, and in Egypt. In high favor among amateurs, he specialized in water colors of architectural subjects, landscapes, and flower pieces. A gifted conversationalist, he counted among his friends Ruskin, Browning, Henry James, and Hawthorne.

Sad Captains: Jewett's "All My Sad Captains" appeared Century in September 1895 and was collected in The Life of Nancy. Richard Cary notes: "Johnson had evidently accepted the story but then reported that there would be a delay of some months before it could be published."

[ 1894 ]*

Dear Sarah

I must give you Katy's* message before I forget it -- "Please tell Mrs. Wheelwright I appreciate it very much and I am very thankful for her kindness" -- I have seldom seen our dear old Katy so touched and pleased and this gave me as great a pleasure myself for which I thank you too, dear. -- And for the ~~pitice~~ pencil which I shall hope to feel put to good use -- and will you thank dear Mary for the work=apy as I used to call my tires -- (I believe you ought to spell them tvres but please forgive!) It makes me almost begin another sailor's scarf this day. But best of all, dear, is the pleasure of keeping Christmas with you -- closer than we have been before and with so much happiness to remember in the year -- I ought to write this note with the gold pencil!

Notes by Scott Frederick Stoddart, supplemented by Terry Heller, Coe College.

1894: The only year during Jewett's intimate acquaintance with the Wheelwrights when Christmas fell on a Tuesday.

Katy: Katy Galvin, the Jewetts' maid for a number of years.

The manuscript of this letter is in the collection of the Miller Library of Colby College, Waterville, ME. The transcription first 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.

"There's rosemary that's for remembrance
pray love, remember and there
is pansies, that's for thoughts."

Accept my sincere thanks for your kind remembrance of me. The warm brief words of Christmas greeting in your own well remembered hand made my Christmas bright. The dainty mignonette [earlier?] brought fragrant memories of sunny days passed at "The Old Elms" where spicy odors from flower beds and the genial welcome of warm hearts made the time passed there ever to be remembered.*

With warmest love and wishes for a bright and happy New Year to you and yours from your old Friend