Sarah Orne Jewett
Letters of 1907
On Sarah Wyman Whitman -- Two Tributes
1907
S.W.
We cannot lose a friend like
her -- thank Heaven! --such beautiful ready
affectionateness, such self-forgetfulness, and such
eagerness to help her friends at every turn to make
the most of their own conditions and
surroundings and associates -- without any petty love
of power over other lives, or jealousy or
sensitiveness if her way wasn't followed. She told you
what she thought, but there she ended -- and almost
never thought wrong, it seems to me now, or held her
beliefs and opinions more lightly ^or more strongly
either! ^ because others wouldn't accept them. It was
a heavenly sort of patience and self-control in a most
[ Page 2 ]
ardent and impulsive nature -- her advice never seemed
either, to spring from any consideration -- first --of
her own advantage.
[ Page 3 ]
Beloved one! -- Few among our mortal friends
Were ever loved as you! Few when the memory tends
By the cold hand of death to extinguish love
Can, through the dying years thus living, move.
We see your figure still as once you stept
-- As swift, untrammelled, on your way you kept;
Happy in others joy, not for your own.
Waiting for that until lifes day was done.
O lamp of love, good for the tear washed sight!
O flaming heart, we turned us toward your light!
[ Page 4 ]
Sarah Whitman
Beloved one! -- Few among mortal friends
Were ever loved as you! Few when the memory tends
By the cold hand of death to extinguish love
Can, through the dying years thus living, move.
We see your figure still as once you stept
As swift, untrammelled, on your way you kept;
Happy in others' joy, not for your own;
Waiting for that until life's day was done.
2) O lamp of love, good for the tear washed sight!
1) O flaming heart, we turned us toward your light!
Notes
Pages 1-2 of this manuscript contain a draft of an
extract that appears in the Editorial Note for Letters
of
Sarah Wyman Whitman (1907). An unstamped
envelope addressed to Miss S. O. Jewett at 148 Charles
St is associated with this text. This suggests that
the author was not Sarah Orne Jewett, and that the
message was hand-delivered from a local address. On
the envelope are two notes. One reads "with
notes. about SW"; the other appears to be a
quotation, but it is not legible in my photocopy.
For the book, the text has been revised.
"We cannot really
lose a friend like her, thank Heaven! There never
was such beautiful ready affectionateness, such
self-forgetfulness or such eagerness to help her
friends at every turn to make the most of their own
conditions and surroundings and associates; and this
without any petty love of power over other people's
lives, or jealousy, or wounded self-love, if her way
and advice were not followed. She told you what she
thought, but there she ended; and almost never
thought wrong, it seems to me now, or held her
beliefs and opinions more lightly or more strongly
because others would not accept them. It was a
heavenly sort of patience and self-control in a most
ardent and impulsive nature; her advice never
seemed, either, to spring from the least or first
consideration of her own advantage."
Pages 3-4 contain a poetic tribute to Whitman.
Page 3 may be in the same hand as pp. 1-2, but
someone more skilled than I at judging handwriting
should be consulted. Page 4, in another hand, offers a
revision of page 3.
There are some random marks on these pages, which I
have ignored in transcribing.
These manuscripts are held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence
I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Whitman, Sarah (Wyman)
1842-1904. 19 letters; [1888-1897 & n.d.], bMS Am
1743 (234).
This transcription is from a
photocopy held by the Maine Women Writer's Collection,
University of New England, Letters from Sarah Orne
Jewett, 1875-1890, Box 2, Folder 97, Burton Trafton
Jewett Research Collection.
Transcription and notes by Terry
Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Sarah Perkins Cabot
Wheelwright*
Tuesday morning
148 Charles St.
[ January 1, 1907 ]
Dear Sarah
I send you my best new year wishes
-- you and all your house! And this is just to
say that I came yesterday and go to 34 Beacon Street*
this afternoon.
What a flood of rain and what a
bright morning to begin the year! Did you hear
all the bells in the night? ----- I send
[ Page 2 ]
a little card for Hermine --*
I hope that you are well and that I
shall see you very soon.
Sarah
Notes
1907: As of this writing, Jewett's
earliest known letter related to Wheelwright was to
Mary Rice Jewett, 20 October 1889. January 1
fell on a Tuesday in 1889, 1895, 1901, and 1907.
In a postcard of 29 December 1906, Jewett tells Mrs.
Wheelwright that she plans to arrive in Boston on
Monday, December 31.
Wheelwright: While it is not certain that
this letter is addressed to Mrs. Wheelwright, she is
-- among the Sarahs with whom Jewett corresponded --
the one she usually greeted as "Sarah."
34 Beacon Street: The Boston address of
Susan Burley Cabot. See Key
to Correspondents.
Hermine: This person remains
unidentified, but Louisa Loring Dresel speaks of an
Aunt Hermine in her letter to Jewett of 21 July 1888.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Small
Library, University of Virginia, Special Collections
MSS 6218, Sarah Orne Jewett Papers.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Frances Parker
Parkman
Wednesday afternoon
[
2 January 1907 ]*
[ Begin letterhead ]
34 Beacon Street.
[ End letterhead ]
Dearest Frances
My telegram had hardly gone
before your letter came -- and oh what sorrow I
feel for you! We must be thankful that since [
it corrected ] was the last illness,
your poor dear mother* has had to suffer no
longer and that you have not had to see
her suffer -- I have lived through all this
before you, dear, and I am
[ Page 2 ]
so thankful that I
know you are going to
feel nearer to your mother now than you have
ever felt before -- oh it will be
so
different! and she ^will be^ so much more your
mother and your friend.
-- The barriers that lie between us and every
other soul, I sometimes think, are meant to be
strong
er else we should depend
too much upon those who truly love us here --
but when they are gone, how
[ Page 3 ]
close
Ho how
close we
are and to our mothers before everyone else! --
How glad I am to have had the dear gift of that
new and happy friendship with her last summer;
if I had not begun it I should have lost so much
and it is going to be a dear time between you
and me. I cannot write half [
deleted words]
I feel dear, but you know I care very much for
her and I feel a real loss, in spite of being
rich in the thought of such a friendship -- It
comes to me
[ Page 4 ]
again -- What Henry James said of Mrs. Kemble,* -- it
is so touchingly true of your mother that "a prouder
nature never affronted the long humiliation of life."
-- Please give [ my corrected]
affectionate sympathies to your brother Cortlandt --
and I should like so much to have you tell your dear
father that this loss touches my heart very closely
----- though I am one of the very latest of all her
friends we were real friends weren't we?
God bless you and keep you,
dear Frances --
Yours most lovingly
S.O.J.
Notes
2 January 1907: This is the Wednesday
after the death of Elizabeth Parker, the occasion of
this letter.
Bottom left of page one,
circled: "215", the Houghton Library item number for
this ms.
mother: Frances Parkman's mother, Elizabeth Wolcott Stites Parker
(1827 - 1 January 1907). Her younger brother was
Cortlandt Parker Jr. (1857-1917). See Class of 1878, Rutgers College,
p. 10 and Find a Grave.
Henry James ...Mrs. Kemble: American
novelist Henry James. See Key
to Correspondents. For the passage on the
English actor and author, Mrs. Kemble, see James's Frances Anne Kemble, p.
504, cut out of Temple Bar magazine, London,
April 1893.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton
Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Jewett,
Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 17 letters to Frances Parkman;
[190-]-1907. Parkman family, Edward Twisleton, and
Sarah Wyman Whitman additional papers, 1763-1917
(inclusive) 1850-1907 (bulk). MS Am 1408
(214-230). Transcription and notes by Terry
Heller, Coe College.
Robert Collyer to Annie Adams Fields
[ Begin letterhead ]
201 West 55th Street
New York
[ End letterhead ]
January 2 -- 1907*
Dear Friend
This is to wish
you a happy New Year and as many more as you can wish
for, still to come -- And to say I am as usual well
and hearty nor need I explain what that word
means -- Robin* is my sole house fellow just now /*
Gertrude has gone to Dansville -- this state -- to see
her father / Went yesterday and will be home D V on
Friday evening -- He is amending we hear and as we
hope will keep on amending.* We have "called" another
minister -- Mr Holmes* from Dorchester Centre -- A
young man full of enthusiasm, and of what they were
used to call "matter" -- Green perhaps as yet but with
time to ripen for he is only 27.
We heard three candidates two
of the middle age but choose the young one. I am
preaching a lot but he will begin on the first Sunday
in February and then I shall
[ Page 2 ]
be of those who are "at ease in Zion"* I trust without
the "woe be ^to^. It is sad to hear of the fortunes ?
of my dear goddaughter Katharine.* I wish I could see
her and say some word of comfort. Had a lovely letter
from Mary* and with a good report all round. I have
forgot Mrs Cabots* address on Beacon st and want to
send her the Father Taylor* { -- } is it 34 I wonder
but you know.
With love and Benediction
As ever yours
Robert Collyer
Notes
1907: Collyer has drawn a curved
line over the "2" in the date. Presumably this
represents a superscript "d."
Robin: Collyer's son, Robin/Robert Staples
(1862-1928), married Gertrude Savage, daughter of his
Unitarian colleague, Minot Judson Savage (1841-1918).
See Collyer in Key to Correspondents.
/: In this letter, Collyer several times uses what
looks like slash for end punctuation.
D V: Latin: Deo volente, God willing.
amending: Collyer often omits periods in this
letter. I have supplied them where they seem
necessary.
Mr Holmes: American Unitarian minister, John Haynes Holmes (1879-1964).
Zion: See the Bible, Amos 6:1,which begins:
"Woe to them that are at ease in Zion."
Katharine: This person has not yet been
identified.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to Correspondents. Collyer
is especially concerned about her sister, Sarah Orne
Jewett, whose health has been precarious since her
1902 carriage accident.
Mrs. Cabots: Susan Burley Cabot. See Key to Correspondents. Her
address was 34 Beacon Street in Boston.
Father Taylor: American Methodist
minister, Edward Thompson Taylor
(1793-1871), remembered especially as chaplain of the
Seamen's Bethel in Boston.
Collyer's talk on Father Taylor was published in
1907 by the American Unitarian Association.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the
Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T.
Fields Papers and Addenda Box 11: mss FI 1-5637.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Alice Meynell to Annie Adams Fields
[ Begin letterhead ]
4, GRANVILLE PLACE MANSIONS,
W.
[ End letterhead ]
January 13
[ 1907 ]*
My dearest Mrs. Fields
Thank you for your dear and
charming letter. You said in it that you sent me a pin
which you
[ Page 2 ]
had worn, and I should love to wear it. I must tell
you that your sweet gift has not come. I cannot trace
anything as having gone wrong through
[ Page 3 ]
my change of addrefs, -- besides you had my new
addrefs. I am anxious about this, lest a remembrance
of yours to me should have been lost.
[ Page 4 ]
If I could know the date of the posting, and whether
it was in a box, or how posted I might make more
definite enquiries.
I have today heard Carmela and
Grazia Carbone sing their first duets to a London
public. They performed
[ Across the top margin of
page 1 ]
charmingly and evidently pleased the large audience.
Ever my kindest dear friend
Your affectionate
Alice Meynell
Notes
1907: This date is supported by the
report in the note below that the Carbone sisters
performed in London in 1907. This would seem to
connect this letter with that of 17 January 1907,
probably indicating that the lost pin arrived not long
after her letter was sent.
Carbone: Damian Atkinson (2013) says that the
sisters, Carmela and Grazia Maria L. Carbone were
Italian-American singers. Grazia Carbone married
Meynell's son, Everard in 1908. The sisters performed
together at Queen's Hall in London in 1907. See Catholic Who's Who
(1936-1952), p. 61.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the
Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T.
Fields Papers and Addenda Box 47: mss FI 3318, Folder
1. Archival notes on the manuscript have not been
reproduced. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller,
Coe College.
Alice Meynell to Annie Adams Fields
[ Begin letterhead ]
4, GRANVILLE PLACE MANSIONS,
W.
[ End letterhead ]
January 17th
1907
Dearest friend,
I have just returned home to find
your delightful mefsage and the present* that touches
me so much. What a dear remembrance of you and Mifs
Jewett,* and
[ Page 2 ]
how very pretty! Indeed I prize it dearly. And I wish
you from my heart a happy New year.
I was away for more than a month,
including Christmas, making a midwinter journey in an
open motor, in
[ Page 3 ]
Arctic weather. It was really very enjoyable, for we
stayed at cities I had never seen -- Beauvais, Meaux,
Sens, in the north, and Aries, Nîmes, Aix in the
south, and I saw Avignon again after many years. We
ended our journey at Genoa.
I have some hope
[ Page 4 ]
of seeing America again this year. I may spend some
time in New York with the dear Thaws,* who are in much
trouble over the crime of an insane brother. They are
here, and if I go, it will be in the Autumn -- a
long way off. But with how much heartfelt joy I shall
crofs your doorstop again!
Keep well, my dear dear friend till
[ Across the top margin of
page 1 ]
that, to me, happy day. Ever your attached and
grateful
Alice Meynell
Notes
present: It seems likely that Meynell has
received the lost pin of which she writes in her
letter of 13 January, probably also written in 1907.
Jewett: Sarah Orne Jewett. See Key to Correspondents.
Thaws: Damian Atkinson (2013) identifies Dr.
Alexander Blair Thaw (1863-1938) and his wife
Florence. Meynell met them during her 1902 trip
to the United States. Dr. Thaw's half-brother, Harry Kendall Thaw (1873-1947)
was the killer of American architect Stanford White on 25 June 1906.
In his second trial, he was found not guilty by reason
of insanity. In 1915, he was declared cured and
released (p. 224).
Meynell did not visit Fields again
in Boston.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the
Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T.
Fields Papers and Addenda Box 47: mss FI 3317, Folder
1. Archival notes on the manuscript have not been
reproduced. This letter was previously transcribed by
Damian Atkinson for The Selected Letters of Alice
Meynell (2013). New transcription and notes by
Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Alice Meynell
148 Charles St. Boston
January 27th 1906. U.S.A.
[ 1907 ]*
My very dear friend;
We did not have
your address until later, therefore Mifs Jewett* and I
sent to you care of Mr. John Lane* Vigo Street --
giving his* address in full which I do not
stop to look up just now. We cannot give up the hope
that the small packages* will turn up, therefore I
stop for nothing now save
[ Page 2 ]
to say that we hope they will be found in Mr. Lane's
care.
The book "The Queen's Carol"* has
given us both much pleasure, bearing as it does your
inscription. Also there are many things in it we are
glad to see.
What a joy that Mifs Octavia Hill*
[ Page 3 ]
has been able to secure the land by the lake=side* for
the people --
I hope your Queen will advise with her about
intelligent use of her fund! No one knows better
what can and cannot be done --in behalf of the London
Poor!
Thank you -- thank you
[ Page 4 ]
for what you have been to the young Italians* and for
the news of the concert.
I believe the tiny pin and book
will be found in Mr. Lane's hands.
It is most dear to those friends of
the imagination -- but you are both of the real and
ideal -- to [ me ? ] -- and I hope to see you
again.
Notes
1907: Though Fields has dated this letter
in 1906, almost certainly it was composed in
1907. The main supporting evidence is Meynell to
Fields of 17 January, clearly dated in 1907, which
reports the arrival of the gifts Fields discusses in
this letter. Other topics mentioned in this letter
correspond with other letters exchanged between Fields
and Meynell that are at least tentatively dated in
1907.
John Lane: John Lane (1854-1925) was the
British publisher of some of the Meynells' writings.
his: Fields has underlined this word
twice.
packages: This letter responds to Meynell to
Fields of 13 January 1907, in which Meynell reports
she has not received an expected gift from Fields and
Sarah Orne Jewett.
"The Queen's Carol": The Queen's Carol: An Anthology of
Poems, Stories, Essays, Drawings and Music by
British Authors, Artists and Composers (1905).
Octavia Hill: English social reformer Octavia Hill (1838–1912). Among
her projects was helping to set up a British national
trust to preserve undeveloped land in urban areas, to
provide parks for the use of the poor.
Italians: Damian Atkinson in The Selected
Letters of Alice Meynell (2013) says that the
sisters, Carmela and Grazia Maria L. Carbone were
Italian-American singers who became friends of the
Meynell family. Grazia Carbone married Meynell's son,
Everard in 1908. The sisters performed together at
Queen's Hall in London in 1907. See Catholic Who's Who (1936-1952),
p. 61.
This manuscript is held by the Greatham Library, in
West Sussex, UK, owned by Oliver Hawkins, great
grandson of Alice Meynell. A copy has been
provided by independent scholar and editor of The
Selected Letters of Alice Meynell, Damian
Atkinson. Transcriptions and notes by Terry Heller,
Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Henry Green
148 Charles Street
Boston -- 28th Jany
[ 1907 ]*
Dear Elder Henry
I enclose
a cheque for $15. for which will you please ask
Eldress Fanny* to send ^this week^ a selection of
pretty things about like those that were sent before
-- perhaps there might be a few wooden things added{,}
the work-boxes with handles and* a closed
[ Page 2 ]
box [ deletion ] or two. Please direct the
package to
Mrs Henry
Parkman*
30 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston --
and the express shall be paid at this end.
I am much interested in a
fair here for good objects, and my friends were much
pleased with the idea of my getting a box from
Alfred.*
With kind love to all my
Shaker friends, I am ever yours sincerely,
[ Page 3 ]
Please thank Eldress Lucinda for the pleasure I had
in her kind Christmas letter.
Notes
1907: Richard Cary gives is letter a 1900 date in
Sarah Orne Jewett Letters, but he offers no rationale.
Very tentatively, I suggest 1907, on the ground
that this letter may follow another letter to Elder
Green tentatively dated 18 October 1906.
Eldress Fanny: The Alfred, ME., Shaker
photograph collection, ca. 1850-ca. 1940 includes
photos of Elder Henry Green, Eldress Fanny Casey, and
Eldress Lucinda Taylor.
and: Sometimes Jewett writes "a" with a
long tail for "and" I render these as "and."
Henry Parkman: Mary Frances Parker Parkman.
Key to Correspondents.
Alfred: The Shaker community at Alfred,
ME was established 1783-93. Wikipedia.
The manuscript of this letter is held by Colby College
Special Collections, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Richard
Cary included his transcription in Sarah Orne
Jewett Letters.
New transcription and
notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Ellen Chase
South Berwick, 13th
February, 1907.
My dear Ellen, -- I should
like to have a word from you to know if you are well
and not minding the huge heaps of snow! I left Berwick
as brown as a squirrel on all the hills, and came back
to find it very white with snow. I wished to send a
note to you to ask you to come in while I was in town;
but I was very unequal to things most of the time, and
the good days when I dared to plan for a little more
than the day was going to bring, were sadly few. Next
time I hope to be more free, but when I have bad days
with the pain in my head* it makes so much trouble for
other people.
Do you feed the winter
birds, and are there many of those hungry little
companies this year? I don't see anybody but sparrows,
and they seem to take such excellent care of
themselves, -- one does have one's favorites among all
two-footed beings!
I felt very much your kind
sympathy at the time of my aunt's death. She is one to
be most sadly missed -- the last of my three dear
grand-aunts,* and they all died last year, and now
their houses must all be shut, -- dear and beautiful
and full of kindness ever since I can remember. I
often say this to myself with a thankful heart. It was
wonderful to have kept them all so long.
Notes
pain in my head: Jewett suffered frequently
from the persisting effects of injuries in a September
1902 carriage accident.
the last of my three dear grand-aunts: Below
is a list of Sarah Orne Jewett's currently known
grand-aunts. Of these only two died after 1900:
Pamela Stevens Gilman (1902) and Mary Elizabeth Gilman
(1904). As a result, it remains unknown which
grand-aunt Jewett refers to and whether Fields has
accurately dated this letter.
Further, it is important to keep in
mind that Jewett was not necessarily precise in
attributing family relationships. See Sarah
Orne Jewett to Sara Norton, November 12, 1907, for an
example of Jewett naming a grand-aunt who was a deceased
relative, but not exactly a grand-aunt.
Jewett's currently known grand aunts include:
Jewett Grandmothers' families:
Grandfather Thomas F. Jewett married
three wives:
Sarah Orne Jewett
(1794-1819), the mother of Jewett's father, Theodore
Herman, and her bachelor uncle William.
Olive Walker
Jewett (1790-1826)
Eliza Sleeper
Jewett (d. 1870)
None of these wives is known to have
had siblings.
Grandfather Jewett's family: Theodore Furber
Jewett (1787-1860)
Elizabeth Lord Jewett (1 March 1791 -
10 November 1867), wife of grand-uncle Thomas Jewett
(1790-1864).
Maria Philpot Lord
(1796-1887), sister-in-law of Elizabeth Lord Jewett.
Maria Lord Chase
(1797-1883), sister of Elizabeth Lord Jewett.
Susan Jameson Jewett (Jan 1,1788 -
July 19, 1883), wife of grand-uncle Benjamin Jewett
(1792-1883).
Eliza Sleeper (Lang) Jewett (d.
Feb. 9, 1870), first wife of grand-uncle Nathan Jewett
(? - ?), fourth of grandfather, Theodore F. Jewett.
Grandmother Perry's Family: Abigail Gilman Perry
(1789-1850)
Elizabeth Gardiner Gilman
(1798-1838), wife of grand-uncle Nathaniel Gilman
(1793-1858).
Sarah Hudson Gilman (1803-1873), wife
of grand-uncle Nicolas Gilman (1799-1840).
Pamela Stevens Gilman
(1805-1902), wife of grand-uncle John T. Gilman
(1806-1865).
Mary Elizabeth Gilman (1816-1904),
wife of grand-uncle Joseph Taylor Gilman (1811-1862) .
Grandfather Perry's Family: Dr. William Perry
(1788-1887).
Anna Perry Wilmarth (1778-1847).
Salona Perry Richmond (1780-1846).
Sarah Brown Perry (1794-1872), wife
of grand-uncle Gardner Braman Perry (1783-1859).
This letter appears in Annie Fields,
Letters of
Sarah Orne Jewett (1911), Transcribed by
Annie Adams Fields, with notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Bliss Perry
Friday 14th Feb
y [
1907]*
148 Charles Street
Dear Mr. Perry
I meant to answer your kind note
before: please to forgive my delay. I shall
certainly give you the story for the August number
if I can, but I have been very idle about
writing, this winter, and [there
corrected ]
are three or four things which really ought to come
first, promises of last year! If I find that I shall
not be ready
[ Page 2 ]*
for the August number I can at least
let you know in good season.
Yours most sincerely
S. O. Jewett
[ Up the left margin and continued in the top
margin of page 1 ]
And oh, what strength and poignancy there is in Miss
Sinclair's story! One may not speak of it quite yet
but the chapters gather force all the way.
Notes
1907: This date is based upon the
discussion of May Sinclair's novel -- see
below. However, this is problematic, because
it is generally accepted that Jewett ceased writing
for publication after her 1902 carriage accident.
Page 2: In the bottom right corner of page
one is penciled, in another hand, the ms number,
290.
Miss Sinclair's story: British
novelist,
Mary Amelia St. Clair
(1863-1946) wrote under the name of May Sinclair.
Her novel,
The Helpmate (1907)
began appearing in
Atlantic Monthly in
January 1907, and appeared as a book in August of
that year. This was her first novel to be serialized
in
Atlantic.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the
Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Mass. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 8 letters
to Bliss Perry; undated. Perry, Bliss, 1860-1954,
recipient. Bliss Perry letters from various
correspondents, 1869-1942. MS Am 1343 (290-297).
Sarah Orne Jewett to Katharine McMahon Johnson
148 Charles Street
Boston 24
th Feb
y
[
1907 ]*
[ Begin letterhead ]
South Berwick, Maine
[ End letterhead ]
Dear M
rs Johnson
Mrs. Fields*
and I thank you and M
r Johnson so
much for your most kind letters -- so full of
understanding of our loss,* and indeed we are full
of sympathy for your loss too -- you both came very
near to our dear friend's heart and she always wrote
and spoke [ of
corrected ] you with true
affection.
I am writing but a word now just
to enclose Mifs
[ Page 2 ]
King's* letter which will be of deep interest to you
I know.
Please let us have it again when
you have read it as much as you wish. Are not you
thankful to think of King's being with Madame Blanc
in these last weeks?
There is so much that I wish to
say, and to ask you too: you have seen dear Thérèse
often since I saw her last. Last autumn I
longed
to go to her if only for a week, but I knew that I
was not quite fit for it.and might be a trouble
instead of any comfort.
Yours ever affectionately
S. O. Jewett
Notes
1907: Associated with this letter is an
envelope, addressed to Mrs. Johnson at 327 Lexington
Avenue, New York, and cancelled in Boston,. MA on 25
February 1907.
loss: Jewett refers to the death of
Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc on 5 February 1907. See
Key
to Correspondents.
Mifs King's: Richard Cary writes that "
Grace Elizabeth King
(1852-1932) was a writer of local color stories of
Creole life in New Orleans. She recreates her warm
association with Madame Blanc in
Memories of a
Southern Woman of Letters (New York, 1932).
While down South during her 1897 sojourn in the
United States, Madame Blanc stayed at Miss King's
home. Miss King lived in the same house as Madame
Blanc in Meudon during the last few months of her
life."
This manuscript is held by the Harry Ransom
Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at
Austin. MS Johnson, RU Misc. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 2
ALS to Johnson, [Katharine (McMahon)]. Transcription
and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Katharine McMahon Johnson
148 Charles Street
Boston. Feb. 26th
[ 1907 ]*
Dear Mrs Johnson;
Thank you for your kindest and
best of letters. I hope the letter sent on last
night by Mifs Jewett* is in your hands today{.} That
was the first news we had. It seems strange that
there should have been no earlier announcement. Of
her release we can only speak with
[ Page 2 ]
gladness { -- } she has suffered so long and so
sadly -- I trust the reward to those about her will
be seen in M. Edouard's more rational life and some
proper understanding between his father and himself.
It was such a blessing that Mifs King* could be
there. Please thank Mr. Johnson also for his letter.
A French paper called "Les [ Annales
corrected
from Anales], has a pleasant note about our
friend. Pages 106 -- VIII and 110 recall her. It was
pleasant to hear the good result of the Keats=Shelly
evening* in New York also --
[ Page 3 ]
Believe me dear Mrs Johnson
Affectionately
yours
Annie Fields
Notes
1907: Fields writes concerning the
death of Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc on 5 February
1907. Blanc was estranged from her husband.
Their son was Édouard Blanc. See
Key
to Correspondents.
Jewett: Sarah Orne Jewett. See
Key
to Correspondents.
King: Richard Cary writes that "
Grace Elizabeth King
(1852-1932) was a writer of local color stories of
Creole life in New Orleans. She recreates her warm
association with Madame Blanc in
Memories of a
Southern Woman of Letters (New York, 1932).
While down South during her 1897 sojourn in the
United States, Madame Blanc stayed at Miss King's
home. Miss King lived in the same house as Madame
Blanc in Meudon during the last few months of her
life."
Les Annales: Fields refers to
Les Annales
Politiques et Littéraires,
The Political and Literary
Annals (1883-1971).
Keats=Shelly evening: Fields sometimes
places the equal sign where we would place a hyphen.
She refers here to the Johnsons's
fundraising efforts on behalf of the
Keats-Shelly Memorial House in
Rome, Italy. See Robert Underwood Johnson to Fields
and Jewett of 2 July 1903.
This manuscript is held by the Harry Ransom
Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at
Austin. MS Johnson, RU Misc. Fields, Annie, 2 ALS to
Johnson, Katharine [(McMahon)]. Transcription and
notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Henry James to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ Begin letterhead ]
Lamb House.
Rye.
Sussex.
[ End letterhead ]
March 3d
1907
My dear Sarah Jewett.
I have written
to dear Mrs. Bell,* & I bless your name; I now
feel, for having "made" me do it -- though I
ventured not to tell her you did -- but kept all the
credit of it for my own inspiration. I was greatly
moved & enlightened by your [ favouring
?
] ^ -- of [ some
? ] auspicious^ news of
her. May my poor ineffectual words not seem to her
presumptuous or on the wrong string. I always
remember a drollery of dear Mr. Pratt's of long
years ago [ now
? ] when she & Mrs.
Lodge had [ amiably
? ] gone ^with me^ one
May afternoon to see Adelina Patti* in an opera
which rather [ mischanced
? ]
[ Page 2 ]
to be the Traviata.* We came out afterwards in the
^[
unrecognized word ] afternoon brightness
of the Common on our way home; on which we broke out
( after the picture of gilded [ rice
? ]
& its [
unrecognized word ] that we had
been witnessing: "Oh how glad I am to come back
again into the homely,
thrifty way -- how
glad I am that my name is Pratt & that I live in
[
deletion ] ^Chestnut^ st!" The "homely,
thrifty" struck me as such a delightfully
characteristic note of the Sisters & with so
quite an immortal little quality of being [
theirs
? ], that I can't think [
deletion ]
^of the^ dear lady as doing aught but going as
^still & always^ sounding it on the so congruous
sunny slope of Chestnut Street. And Madame Blanc's
deeply wonderful [ mortuary
? ]
faire
part comes to me now with [ another
?
] thud of the [ content
? ] of the dreadful
spade -- it will mean still more, [ much
?
], to Mrs. Fields.* & to
[ Page 3 with letterhead
]
3
you than to me. But I had spent a couple of days,
very charming ones two or three years ago at a house
in the country here ( dear Hamilton Aïdé -- he also
most unnaturally &
prematurely extinct,
though nearer 90 than 80!) & had quickly
attached myself to her beautiful [ benignity
?
] & urbanity?* However I didn't mean to be so
miserably mournful. In fact I haven't time to do
more than wave you a poor empty incoherent hand -- I
am {on} the eve of "taking ship for France" -- of
going abroad for a couple of months (for the [ 10th
? ] time in 7 years!) (My adventures are all
over -- visiting you & Mrs. Fields in the Temple
of [
unrecognized word ] & of Sunset was
really the last of them.) I send my very best
love to your fellow Priestess of the Sunset. And
always
[ Page 4 ]
an affectionate word, please, to both the Mrs.
Howes* (very separately & distinctly please,)
& always one to dear De Wolfe of that set (also
quite to himself.) -- Oh yes, I know dear Mary
Chumley* so well that I've just declined duplex
(invitation from her / dinner & a party --
separate:) she is a great duplex inviter. But it's
her only duplicity: she's a good earnest belated
Shropshire spinster who has discovered London (on
the wings of ^fortunate fiction &^ pecuniary
profit) after the wings of the rest of us, mostly,
have been folded away as worn out with long service.
I can't read ^the fruits of^ her genius ( [ surely
?
] Family Herald for the Front Parlour,) but she's a
good serious, gushing, selling gentlewoman -- of
such is the kingdom of heaven!* ) [ Burn
? ]
this please -- [ burn burn
? ] & believe
me, before I say anything [ worse
? ] [ at
meaning
and
? ] more worthy of the private
executioner, yours all & always --
Henry
James
Notes
Bell: Helen Choate Bell. Later James
refers to her sister, Miriam Foster Pratt. See
Key to Correspondents.
Lodge ... Adelina Patti: Mary Greenwood
Lodge, who died in 1899. See Key to
Correspondents.
Adelina Patti (1832-1919) was
very popular an Italian opera soprano. Wikipedia.
Blanc's ... Fields: Marie Thérèse de
Solms Blanc and Annie Adams Fields. See Key to
Correspondents.
Hamilton Aïdé: French-born British author,
Charles Hamilton Aïdé (1826-1906). Wikipedia.
urbanity?: James seems clearly to have
placed a question mark here.
both the Mrs. Howes: Probably Alice Greenwood
Howe and Julia Ward Howe. See Key to Correspondents.
Mary Chumley: Almost certainly, James
refers to English novelist Mary Cholmondeley
(1859-1926). Wikipedia.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the
Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne
Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne
Jewett.
James, Henry, 1843-1916. 2
letters; 1901-1907. (111).
This transcription is from
a photocopy held by the Maine Women Writer's
Collection, University of New England, Letters from
Sarah Orne Jewett, 1875-1890, Box 2, Folder 99,
Burton Trafton Jewett Research Collection.
This manuscript is quite
disorderly, with a number of marks I am unable to
interpret -- to know precisely where they belong and
what they may signify. My transcription makes
apparent that I have found many parts unreadable.
Should this letter be of serious importance for a
researcher, I recommend looking again at the
manuscript.
Transcription and notes by Terry
Heller, Coe College.
Robert Collyer to Annie Adams Fields
[ Begin letterhead ]
201 West 55th Street
New York
[ End letterhead ]
March 5th 1907
Dear Friend
I am wondering how you are, and
how you have fared in the "winter and rough
weather"* -- I have had my annual bad cold and trust
it will be for keeps -- We are rejoicing in our new
minister Mr Holmes.* He has preached four Sundays
since his election
and with great
acceptance and now I am just resting in no fear of
Sunday by Wednesday -- Mr Savage* is also amending
at the Sanitarium and will leave there in a few days
for Cleveland, where he will stay a spell with his
daughter Helen -- Gertrude -- our -- is in Virginia
by order of the doctor in care of her mother, so
Robin and I keep house our lone and it is rather
lone
some. We converse mainly in grunts, and are very
fond of our books as good boys should be -- Robin
will go on Saturday to fetch his wife home and she
will be delighted to be fetched. She is homesick but
does not let on.
[ Page 2 ]
Yes and I wonder how the Lassies* are and if Sarah
still amends -- I have read "Mary Wilkins"* new
story this week { -- } the Light of a soul? -- and
find it tiresome -- And have been taking good
draughts of Lowells Essays.* Especially
matching his Macaulys with our James's and am just a
mite sorry for I thought his -- James' -- was the
best ever, but it isn't. I think it must have been a
Professors Lecture before it took this shape. Do you
know?
I cannot hear
when they
will open the Library in Ilkley* and
they
don't know so I am bothering over my steamer. My
niece Mrs Roberts* is going with me. They do not
trust me alone and I am content therewith.
In love always yours
Robert Collyer
Notes
rough weather: See British playwright
William
Shakespeare (1564-1616),
As You Like It,
Act 2, Scene 5.
Mr Holmes: American Unitarian minister,
John Haynes Holmes
(1879-1964).
Savage: Collyer's son, Robin/Robert Staples
(1862-1928), married Gertrude Savage, daughter of
his Unitarian colleague,
Minot Judson Savage
(1841-1918). See Collyer in
Key to Correspondents.
some: Collyer omits some periods in this
letter. I have supplied them where they seem
necessary.
Lassies: Sarah Orne and Mary Rice
Jewett. See
Key to Correspondents.
Wilkins: American author,
Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman
(1852-1930). Her novel,
By the Light of the Soul
appeared in 1907.
Lowell's Essays: American poet and critic,
James Russell Lowell. See
Key to Correspondents.
Lowell's essays on various topics were collected in
several volumes before 1906, including
The
Complete Writings.
British historian and author,
Thomas Babington Macaulay
(1800-1859).
Lowell's essay, "Macaulay's 'Lays
of Ancient Rome,'" first appeared in
The Pioneer
in February 1843.
Usually, when Collyer speaks in
terms such as "our James," he means the American
author he deeply admired, Henry James (see
Key to Correspondents).
However, I have failed to locate a Henry James essay
on Macaulay.
Library in Ilkley: A public library (the
Robert Collyer Library) and
town hall building in Ilkley, in Collyer's home
region of Yorkshire, UK, was completed with support
from American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in
1908. Before the building's completion, Collyer was
a guest at its dedication in October 1907.
Mrs Roberts: John E. Roberts married
Collyer's niece, Bertha, who, for a number of his
later years, was Collyer's housekeeper.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the
Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T.
Fields Papers and Addenda Box 11: mss FI
1-5637. Transcription and notes by Terry
Heller, Coe College.
With this letter are images of
two newspaper clippings. The first recounts a
ceremony honoring Miss Stevens, who had been forced
to leave teaching at the local school at Timble --
in Collyer's home area in Yorkshire, UK -- when the
school was closed for lack of funds. The account
ends with an amusing anecdote. When the ceremony was
over, the attendees learned they had been locked in
by a disgruntled caretaker, and they had to lower a
boy from a window to fetch him back. The
second clipping is an image of the back side of the
first, and the content is not relevant to Collyer.
Entry from Annie Adams Fields Diary
11 March 1907
Monday, March 11
th 1907. Dr. John Watson (Ian
Maclaren)* came to luncheon at one o'clock.
We were six at table. S.O.J.{,} Agnes Irwin{,} Edith
Wolcott{,} Dr & Mrs W *and myself. He
interested us deeply as he must interest everyone who
[well
corrected] knows and discerns [time
or
him
?]. Toward the end he told us that he
was a born Jacobite.* Among his friends are the
persons who have been living in Glamis Castle and one or
two other old places he called by name but I could not
catch. He told us especially of an old woman, the
wife of an older Colonel in the army of the Scots,
Carnegy by name. Not Carnegie,* and so far as they
know not quite the same family. This Carnegy is a
perfect repository of the most amazing tales of old
Scotland. She smokes, no small [things
?]
or cigarettes, but long strong cigars and many of [these
?] tales have been told in the [
two
unrecognized words], in the smoking room [
two
unrecognized words] of these old places. He
told much worthy of remembrance; only one little tale
stays by me of the covenanter soldier* who had been
slain protecting his own estates. His wife fled
southward to shelter, but at the moment the friends who
bore her away
2
said she must leave her little son and his nurse
behind until a place of safety could be found for
them. Shortly after the castle had been left
desolate. There was a cry that more soldiers
were coming to discover if there were men concealed
in the house. The old nurse seized the child,
ran to the old chapel where the body ^of his father^
was lying covered with a pall before the
altar. She hoped to hide the child somewhere,
but there was no spot for concealment in this bare
stone place! Suddenly she said to the child{,}
I will put you in your father's arms and cover you
with the cloth. Your father loved ye and was good to
ye while he [
deleted word] ^was alive and he
will no harm [you
changed to ye
?]
now he is dead! So she rested the boy's head
in the hollow of his father's arm upon his chest and
told him{,} Lie still now, do not cry nor cough and
they will never find you.
[3
partly circled]
So she covered him with the pall and went away.
Presently the soldiers came
again. They looked into the cold stone
chapel where lay the still cold body under a
pall -- shut the door quietly and went
away. By and by when the men had ridden
away the nurse went to her little boy and kissed
his happy little face as she bore him away from
the ^his^ cold dark hiding
place.
Dr. John Watson (Ian Maclaren):
Wikipedia
says: "Rev. John Watson (3 November 1850 - 6 May
1907), known by his pen name Ian Maclaren, was a
Scottish author and theologian.... Maclaren's first
stories of rural Scottish life,
Beside the Bonnie
Brier Bush (1894), achieved extraordinary
popularity, selling more than 700 thousand copies, and
were succeeded by other successful books,
The Days
of Auld Lang Syne (1895),
Kate Carnegie and
those Ministers (1896), and
Afterwards and
other Stories (1898).
"
S.O.J.: Sarah Orne Jewett.
Agnes Irwin: "Agnes Irwin (December 30,
1841 - December 5, 1914) was an American educator, best
known as the first dean of Radcliffe College from 1894
to 1909 and as the principal from 1869 to 1894 of the
West Penn Square Seminary for Young Ladies in
Philadelphia, later renamed, in her honor, the Agnes
Irwin School."
Wikipedia.
Edith Wolcott:
Edith
Prescott
Wolcott (1853-1934) was the great-granddaughter of
Colonel
William
Prescott, a hero of the American Revolution, and
she married
Roger
Wolcott (1847-1900), a lawyer and Republican
politician who served in several elective offices,
including Governor of Massachusetts (1896-1900).
Dr & Mrs W: Determining which persons
Fields refers to here is difficult. Among the more
serious candidates would be local historian and author,
Reverend Thomas Franklin Waters and his wife
Adeline
Melville
Orswell. See
Key
to Correspondents. Lacking a Doctor of
Divinity degree, however, Rev. Waters may well not be
the right person.
Jacobite:
Wikipedia
says: "Jacobitism ... was a political movement in Great
Britain and Ireland that aimed to restore the Roman
Catholic Stuart King James VII of Scotland, II of
England and Ireland, and his heirs to the thrones of
England, Scotland and Ireland. The movement took its
name from
Jacobus, the Renaissance Latin form of
Iacomus, the original Latin form of James.
Adherents rebelled against the British government on
several occasions between 1688 and 1746.
Glamis Castle:
Wikipedia
says: "Glamis Castle is situated beside the village of
Glamis ... in Angus, Scotland.... In 1034 King Malcolm
II was murdered at Glamis, where there was a Royal
Hunting Lodge." In William Shakespeare's play
Macbeth
(1603-06), the eponymous character resides at Glamis
Castle, although the historical King Macbeth (d. 1057)
had no connection to the castle."
Not Carnegie: Watson and Fields are
distinguishing the Carnegy family from the family of
Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919), "a Scottish American
industrialist who led the enormous expansion of the
American steel industry in the late 19th century. He is
often identified as one of the richest people in
history, alongside John D. Rockefeller and Jakob Fugger.
He built a leadership role as a philanthropist for the
United States and the British Empire."
Wikipedia.
covenanter soldier:
Covenanters
were Scots Presbyterians who took control of the
government of Scotland in the early 17th century.
Thereafter, they frequently found themselves at war, for
example with Oliver Cromwell's army of Parliament at
mid-century and with King James II of England in the
1660s and after. Watson's story apparently is not
specific about the conflict to which his story belongs.
The original of this diary is in the collection of the
Massachusetts Historical Society. This
transcription is from a microfilm, available courtesy of
the University of Kansas Libraries, Lawrence,
Kansas: Annie Adams Fields Papers 1852-1912. Folio
PS 1669.F5 Z462 1986, Reel 2, pp. 23-5 of Diary of a
West Indian Island Tour, 1896 by Annie Fields.
Though clearly not a part of this diary, these pages are
included with other miscellaneous pages that precede the
formal opening of the diary in this folder.
Transcription and annotation by Terry
Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Alice Meynell
Boston. N. S.* 148 Charles St.
March 14
th
[
1907 ]*
Dear Alice Meynell:
Mifs Julia Marlowe and Mifs M
cCracken*
two
young
American
ladies full of talent are going [ to
blotted
] your great world of London. They will try to find
you I am sure if you have the leisure to appoint a
moment; or if you can go to them more conveniently
they will doubtless fit their hours as far as
possible to yours. Mifs Marlowe is to act several
weeks
[ Page 2 ]
in London and as you know her profession is one of [
the
? ], or
the most exacting in the
world: but either on the stage or off, I think you
will be able to see her. She is a fine sweet
creature whom you will sincerely appreciate and
love.
Mifs M
cCracken has a
gift for letters. She has written an excellent book
called I think -- Women in America -- also a paper
(among others) upon the influence of the drama [ on
perhaps corrected from upon ] the young and
untaught whom she has learned to know.
[ Page 3 ]
at one ^or more^ of our "Settlements"* -----
but I must not write more -- this
will bring you the unchanging love of your two
friends* in this house -- Pray come to us again --
Tenderly yours
Annie
Fields.
: The transcription is reasonably
certain, but meaning of these initials is not yet known.
There are several ink blots on this
manuscript.
1907: See Jewett to Meynell of 13 June, probably
1907. This letter of introduction seems clearly to
precede the June letter reporting how Marlowe and
McCracken enjoyed meeting Meynell.
Mifs Julia Marlowe and Mifs McCracken:
Julia Marlowe is the stage name of
Sarah Frances Frost (1865-1960); she was a Shakespearean
actor. McCracken published an article, "Julia Marlow" in
Century Magazine (November 1906), pp.
46-55. In which summer Marlowe traveled in Italy
with McCracken has not been established; Charles Edward
Russell, in
Julia Marlowe: Her Life and Art,
notes that she spent part of the summer of 1908 in
Franzenbad, Bohemia (p. 451). Further, Russell
indicates that Marlowe was on tour in England beginning
in the spring of 1907, though the date of her return to
the United States is not given (pp. 426-50).
For Elizabeth McCracken, see
Key
to Correspondents. Her book
The Women of
America, appeared in 1904. Her essay on the
effects of drama on children has not yet been
identified. She refers to children experiencing drama in
"The Child at Play," Chapter 2 of her book
The
American Child (1913).
"Settlements": The turn of the 20th-century
Settlement movement attempted to
alleviate poverty by fostering interactions between the
poor and the wealthy. This was accomplished mainly by
establishing "settlement houses" in poor urban
neighborhoods, where volunteers would offer aid and
cultural opportunities for local residents.
two friends: Fields and Sarah Orne Jewett.
See
Key
to Correspondents.
This manuscript is held by the Greatham Library, in West
Sussex, UK, owned by Oliver Hawkins, great grandson of
Alice Meynell. A copy has been provided by
independent scholar and editor of
The Selected
Letters of Alice Meynell, Damian Atkinson.
Transcriptions and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Violet Paget / Vernon Lee
March 17
th
148
Charles Street
Boston
[
1907 ]*
[ Begin letterhead ]
South Berwick Maine
[ End letterhead ]
My dear Vernon Lee
I have just read again --
again, again! -- your preface to Hortus
Vitae and* New Friends and Old,* and then I laid
down the book and took up my pen feeling as if you
were new friend and old, together and at once! And now
Madame Blanc* has gone too, and every way I turn I
find one of her letters, in a book, in a desk, as if
she still put them into my hand and still tried to
speak in that way, as if Summers of old spoke in their
withered leaves and pressed flowers, hid in some safe
corner -- We were very near to each other = I
remember the wonder
[ Page 2 ]
of it filling my heart as we were walking along a
favorite bit of road of mine in the country between
two pastures and beside the scattered pines -- {"}What
is this?" she would [ ask corrected probably
from
say ], and I [ would corrected ] say
'juniper' or 'bayberry.' "I have [ read corrected
] of it," and she would smile soberly as if she
met an old friend for the first time; and at last I
got over the wall and picked a handful of scarlet
columbines and on we went again -- the horses now gone
far ahead, but I stopped short and faced her and there
we stood in the narrow road together -- "How did we
come to be walking here together?" I cried -- "I
am made of this spot,* but you! -- --
How came this afternoon to be ours?"
[ Page 3 ]
She smiled at me just as if she knew, but we both
understood that only Those [ who corrected ]
are wiser than we give gifts like that: there we were
close enough, though Berwick and the Quartier
and Saint Cloud might be far enough apart.*
You will know why I write*
all this else I should not have sat here and let my
pen write it. I shall always be missing her as new
things and new days come and go without her, but the
old days -- nine years writing before we met and
fifteen years since, are mine, with all she was and
all the friendship gave me.
I have never forgotten the
day that Mrs Fields* and I went to
take luncheon
[ Page 4 ]
{with} you at Maiano* that Spring day when the
flowers were growing along the banks of your brook
like the foreground of one of Botticelli's* pictures
-- I begged a little flowered Italian bowl of you, and
I keep it on a shelf in my ^bedroom^ for an outward
and visible sign! --
-- And in Paris, again: Mrs. Fields* has seen you
since in Rome, but not long enough or quietly, as she
wished.
I am with her now; we often talk
of you and the more because after a long long illness
after a bad accident* to my head (and heels!) in
driving, I have begun to read, and write a little too
at my letters as I used and I have gathered up your
books that came while I was in a wintry state, and
^now^ come along with you, shyly hoping some day to
really get hold of your hand: but as somebody said
once
[ Page 5 ]
about writers -- we are never so confidential as
when we address the whole world* -- and [ in, perhaps
written
over with ? ] the books I may get closer
than some who are near enough to do the other thing.
And I send you a truly thankful and affectionate
message by this letter. --
Shall you never come
seafaring? -- shall you never come to New England --
not for myrtle and olive ( oh the ashes of those
branches that you brought from Corsica! ) = but
for juniper and bayberry? -- I wish, and Mrs
Fields wishes -- that you would: -- ^come^ summer or
winter, as you like.
Yours I am,
meanwhile, your grateful and affectionate
Sarah Orne
Jewett
[ Page 6 ]
-- And all this I have written -- and of Ariadne in
Mantua* not one word, but I have the most dear
copy of it -- the one with the Italian paper to its
cover -- lying here on my desk.
Notes
1907: Jewett wrote this letter just weeks
after the death of their mutual friend, Marie Thérèse de
Solms Blanc on 5 February 1907. Key to
Correspondents.
Usually, when Jewett used her home
letterhead to write from another address, she deleted
the letterhead, but she has not done so with this
letter. The second sheet of the letter also is on
letterhead, but she turned it upside down, so that the
undeleted print appears upside down on p. 6.
New Friends and Old: Lee's
Hortus Vitae (1904).
Richard
Cary says the book includes "twenty-three 'Essays on the
Gardening of Life'; the preface is in the form of a
letter 'To Madame Th. Blanc-Bentzon'; 'New Friends and
Old' is a philosophical review of the 'joys quite
especial to old friendship'."
One may wonder whether Lee intended
an allusion to Jewett's
Old Friends and New
(1879).
and: Sometimes Jewett writes "a" with a long
tail, meaning "and." I have rendered these as
"and."
spot: What Jewett has written here is a
mystery. It looks like "dnot." Cary's
interpretation, "spot," is a reasonable guess.
apart: Jewett seems sometimes to leave
extra space in a line to indicate something like a
paragraph break. This is a case where her
intention seems ambiguous. I have accepted Cary's
interpretation.
why I write: Cary notes: "Miss Paget also
knew Madame Blanc intimately, had visited her in Paris,
and had been introduced by her to the editor of the
Revue
des
Deux Mondes."
Fields:
Annie Adams
Fields. Key to Correspondents.
Cary says that Paget had a
villa near Maiano.
Botticelli's pictures: The Italian painter
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, known as Sandro
Botticelli (c. 1445 - 1510). Wikipedia.
The flowered Italian bowl Jewett
mentions here appears to remain today on the top shelf
over the fireplace in her bedroom in South Berwick, to
the left of the communion cup.
https://jewett.house/location/sarahs-room/
bad accident: Jewett suffered a
debilitating carriage accident on her birthday in
September 1902.
never so confidential ... address the whole world:
The
source of this quotation is unknown, though it seems to
echo ideas in the opening paragraph of Nathaniel
Hawthorne's "The Custom-House: Introductory to
The
Scarlet Letter."
Mantua: Paget/Lee,
Ariadne in Mantua: A
Romance in Five Acts (1903). Cary says "The
wrapper of eighteenth century paper by Giuseppe Rizzi of
Varese was of geometric design, based upon a floor or
textile pattern. It reflected the rebirth of interest at
the turn of the century in medieval Italian abstract
art."
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.
Grace King to Sarah Orne Jewett
Convent St. Maur
12 rue de l'Abbe Gregoire
18 March 1907
My dear Miss Jewett.
I enclose you M
me
Fliche's* letter -- that you may see what she writes
about your copy of the Souvenirs.* M
me
Blanc's
papers are still sealed -- & I see no chance of her
getting at them in the [ apartement
so spelled ]
at Meudon.
If you direct your copy to me, I will gladly take charge
of it; take it my
[ Page 2 ]
self to M
me Fliche, or to [
1 or 2
unrecognized words ] -- & urge them to return
it as soon as possible -- I have asked about your
letters. They will be returned to you -- I believe the
plan of M. de [ Soluer
? ] -- is to keep
everything as our friend left it -- for some time; &
as Edouard* [ was away
? ] advance him some --
upon his inheritance -- until -- there is left a
possibility for him to execute his [
2 unrecognized
words, possibly French ] of selling all at
auction. --- Edouard is becoming more & more
unsettled in his mind & habits --
Ever Sincerely Yours
Grace King
Notes
Fliche: French author and translator,
Amélie Chevalier (1851-1934), Mme. Paul Fliche, was the
first biographer of Mme. Thérèse de Solms Blanc:
Madame
Th.
Bentzon (1924). Her letter and a translation
follow below. See Key to Correspondents.
Mme. Blanc died 5 February 1907.
Souvenirs: Blanc mentions in a letter to Jewett
(3 May 1906) that she plans to send Jewett the first
part of her memoir, "Souvenirs d'enfance d'une femme de
lettres française." Blanc is not yet known to have
published a memoir in English or in French. In
The
North
American Review 166 (May 1898), Theodore Stanton
presented "Autobiographical Notes by Madame Blanc,"
based on his correspondence with her.
Soluer: This transcription is very uncertain and
the person has not yet been identified.
Edouard: Blanc's son. See Key to
Correspondents.
The manuscripts of these letters are held by the
Houghton Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne
Jewett Correspondence I, Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
King, Grace, 1852-1932. 1 letter;
1907. bMS Am 1743 (124).
Transcription, translation and notes by Terry Heller,
Coe College, with the essential assistance of Jeannine
Hammond, Professor of French, Emerita, Coe College.
The Houghton folder containing this letter actually
contains four distinct manuscripts. In addition to the
above letter, there are three letters in French, one to
King from Amélie Fliche mentioned above, another
addressed to Jewett from one of Mme. Blanc's nephews,
and an undated fragment by Mme. Blanc, presumably
addressed to Jewett.
I have chosen to place the first
three of these letters together. These were composed
after Mme. Blanc's death and deal in part with Mme.
Blanc's memoir of her childhood.
The fourth was composed by
Blanc herself, and I have arbitrarily dated it to the
summer of 1904, where it will be found among the other
letters of that year.
*****
Amélie Chevalier (Mme. Paul ) Fliche to Grace King
This letter was composed in French; a
transcription follows the translation.
Monday 11 March
[ 1907 ]
Dear Miss King,
I was very tired when I arrived here, suffering from my
teeth and from a flux that has left me still weak. I
thank you very much for
De Soto{.}* I haven't
yet had time to read it, being fully occupied with [
unrecognized word ].
Thank you so much for sending me Miss Jewett's reply. I
have no intention of publishing the "Memories."* I
cannot, because Mr. Edouard Blanc alone owns the rights.
I would like
[ Page 2 ]
to have them to read and use for the article I want to
write about our friend. Tell Miss Jewett that I will
say, if necessary, that this article was written for and
appeared in The Century Magazine.* What I really
want is that she send me a copy of the memoir, if you
are willing to ask her. I don't know that we can find
the manuscript here, for all her papers are sealed or in
the possession of Mr. Edouard Blanc. -- For now, even to
assist Miss Jewett, there is no use in asking Mr.
Edouard about the manuscript, as he is unaware of its
existence. All the same, I am not unhappy that this
document has not yet appeared in France, in case I need
to borrow some anecdotes and details from it. Our poor
friend told me she wrote it "all about me." [
Unrecognized
sentence. ]* I'm sorry she was never able to
write her "Reports of a Woman of Letters" as she
intended.
[ Page 3 ]
So, don't mention the manuscript to Kitty*, and beg Miss
Jewett to send me her copy, which I will then return, if
she wishes. The piece I will write is to be fairly
short, to accompany a complete overview of Madame
Blanc's literary work. You will understand that I want
only to read the memoir and that I would not do other
than what I say. Later, if the family wants to
publish it, they would have to negotiate with Miss
Jewett.
I am touched by your offer of
the photo, and I will accept it, provided you have
another, for I would regret depriving you of this
treasured memento.
I think we will leave Nancy
after Easter to take a trip to Sicily. We will be back
around March 20, and at the end of that month
[ Page 4 ]
we go to Paris, where I count on seeing you again.
Then we'll give many things a good talking over. Then I
will see if I can place a translation of De Soto in some
magazine for young readers.
If you receive from America the copy of "Memories,"
perhaps it would be better to give it to my sister, who
will be away only during the fortnight following Easter,
or you could keep it for me, unless it comes before
April 8, for once I leave for Italy, there is a risk it
would be lost, a serious misfortune. I will not
write the article before I return, and my sister could
keep the manuscript rather than expose it to post office
errors.
Believe, dear Miss King, in my kind feelings for you
A. Fliche
Notes
De Soto: Grace King published
De Soto
and His Men in the Land of Florida in 1898.
It appears that King has prepared a shorter piece on De
Soto, suitable for younger readers. Perhaps she has sent
Fliche her third chapter from
Stories from Louisiana
History (1905), "DeSoto's Search after Gold."
Century: Fliche's intended article did not appear
in
Century Magazine before 1910.
sentence: Neither Professor Hammond nor I was
able to recognize any words in this three-word sentence.
Kitty: This transcription is very
uncertain, and the person has not yet been identified.
Transcription
Lundi 11 Mars
Chère Miss King
J'ai été très fatiguée en
arrivant ici, suffrant des dents
et d'une fluxion dont je suis
encore toute abroutie. Je
vous remercie infiniement de
De Soto{.} Je n'ai pas encore
eu le temps de le lire, étant
tout occupée de [
unrecognized word ].
Je vous remercie aussi beaucoup de
me transmettre la réponse de Miss
Jewett. Je n'ai aucune intention
de publier les
Souvenirs. Je ne le
puis pas, puisque M. Edouard Blanc
a seul des droits. Si je veux les
[
Page 2 ]
avoir, c'est pour les lire et les utiliser
comme document, pour l'article que
je veux écrire sur notre amie. Dites
à Miss Jewett que j'indiquerai à besoin
que cet article a été ecrit ^[
unrecognized word
].^ et a paru
dans le Century. Je désirerais en effet
qu'elle m'en envoye la copie, si
vous voulez la lui demander. Je ne
sais pas si nous pouvions trouver
le manuscrit puisque les papiers sont
tous scellés ou dans la possession de M.
Edouard Bl. ---- Actuellement,
même dans l'intérêt de Miss Jewett,
il est inutile d'attirer l'attention de
M. Edouard sur cet article dont il
ne connait pas l'existence. [ Quand ? ]*
même je ne suis pas fâchée qu'il
n'ait paru nulle part en France,
si je dois lui emprunter quelques anecdotes
et quelques détails. La pauvre
amie me disait qu'elle l'avait écrit
tout a fait au part de me. [
Unrecognized 3 word
sentence. ]
Je regrette bien qu'elle n'ait
pas écrit ses "débats de femme
de [ lettres
? ]" comme elle en avait
l'intention
[
Page 3 ]
Ne dites donc rien à [ Kitty ? ]*
de ce manuscrit, et priez Miss Jewett
de m’en envoyer une copie, que je lui
rendrais ensuite, si elle le désire.
Mon article personnel devait être
relativement court et une étude complète
sur l'oeuvre litteraire de M
me
B. Vous
pensez bien que je désire ^seulement^ lire
les Souvenirs, et que je ne m'en
servirai pas autrement que je vous
le dis. Plus tard, si la famille
désire la publier, ce sera à elle
de s'entendre avec Miss Jewett{.}
Pour la photo, je suis très touchée
de votre offre que j'accepte
à condition que vous en ayez une
autre, car je regretterais de vous
priver de cette épreuve.
Je pense que nous quitterons
Nancy après Pâques pour aller
faire un voyage en Sicile{.}
Nous reviendrons vers le 20 Mars
et à la fin de ce même mois
[
Page 4 ]
nous irons à Paris où je compte
bien encore vous retrouver. C'est
alors que nous causerons de
bien des choses. Je verrai si
je puis à ce moment aussi
[ placer
? ]* une traduction du De
Soto dans quelque journal destiné
à la jeunesse.
Si vous recevez d'Amérique la
copie des Souvenirs, le mieux
est peut-étre de les mettre chez
ma soeur qui ne sera absente
que pendant la quinzaine suivant
Pâques, ou de me la garder, à
moins que vous ne les ayez avant
le 8 Avril, car une fois que je serais
partie pour l'Italie, ils risqueraient
de se perdre, et ce serait très fâcheux
Je n'écrivais pas l'article avant mon retour
ma soeur pourrait les conserver, plutôt
que de les exposer aux erreurs de la poste{.}
Croyez, chère Miss King, à mes
sentiments très sympathiques
A. Fliche
*****
Frederick Louis or Joseph or Jean de Solms* to Sarah
Orne Jewett
This letter was composed in French; a
transcription follows the translation.
[ Begin letterhead ]
4, RUE D'ANJOU
[ End letterhead ]
Paris 8/11/07
[ 8 November 1907 ]*
Mademoiselle,
Journalist colleagues lead me to believe
that my Aunt Blanc-Bentzon's memoirs of her childhood*
have been published. I am requesting directly the
numbers of the Century Magazine that interest me,
[ Page 2 ]
but I read English so poorly that I will need help from
a translator. I believe you have kept the
manuscript. Would you make me a copy and let me
know the cost? These memoirs are so closely
intertwined with those of my
[ Page 3 ]
father, that I am currently organizing, that I have a
double reason for wanting to have them in their original
form.
I am sure, Mademoiselle, that you
will appreciate the feelings that lead me to approach
you, and please accept my deepest respect.
And be sure in advance of my gratitude
L de Solms
PS -- The memoir pieces that you translated, will they
be collected in a book someday?
Notes
de Solms: The author of this letter is uncertain
because the transcription of the signature is
uncertain. He identifies himself as a nephew of
Mme. Blanc. Her grand-nieces -- she had no nieces --
were too young in 1907 to have written this
letter. Of her three nephews, Frederick Louis died
sometime in 1907, the same year as Mme. Blanc, but he
may have survived to write this letter. Perhaps
the initial for his given name is "J" rather than
"L." In that case, the author could be either of
the other two nephews, Joseph and Jean.
1907: Associated with this letter is an envelope
addressed to Jewett in South Berwick, then forwarded to
148 Charles St., Boston, canceled in Paris on 8 November
1907.
childhood: Given current knowledge, it appears
that de Solms is misinformed, and that makes this letter
somewhat confusing. The manuscript that he seeks
almost certainly is: "Souvenirs d'enfance d'une femme de
lettres française," "Childhood Memories of a
French woman of letters." Blanc told Jewett in a
letter of March 1906 that she planned to send her about
100 pages of this. No evidence has been found that
this manuscript was ever published. What de Solms
probably has heard about is: "Notable Women: Mme.
Blanc," by Annie Adams Fields in
Century 66 (
May 1903), 134-9. This is the most recent piece
from before 1907 I know of by or about Mme. Blanc to
appear in
Century.
Transcription
[ Begin letterhead ]
4, RUE D'ANJOU
[ End letterhead ]
Paris 8/11/07
[ 8 November 1907 ]*
Mademoiselle,
Des confrères
de Journaux
qui me [ parlaient
? ]* me donnent
à penser que les souvenirs
d'enfance de ma tante
Blanc-Bentzon ont paru.
je demande directement
les Nos du Century qui
m'intéressent, mais je
[ Page 2 ]
li* si faiblement l'anglais
que je serai obligé de me
faire aider par une traducteur.
Je pense que vous avez
conservé le manuscrit, ne
pourriez-vous m'en faire
exécuter une copie et
m'en dire le coût. Ces
Souvenirs sont si intimement
liés à ceux de
mon père, que je mets
en ordre en ce moment,
[ Page 3 ]
que j'ai là une double
raison pour désirer les posséder
dans leur forme originelle.
Je suis sûr, Mademoiselle,
que vous apprécierez les sentiments
qui me dictent ma
démarche près de vous et
je vous prie d'agréer l'hommage
de mon respect.
Croyez à l'avance à
toute mon reconnaissance
L de Solms
PS -- Les Souvenirs que vous avez traduit
paraîtront-ils en volume un jour.
Transcription notes
parlaient: We are unable to identify a word that
fits what de Solms seems to have written, which looks
like "parnemient." We have guessed that he meant
something like "parlaient."
li: Normally, this would be spelled "lis."
Tuesday 19 March 1907
Death of Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Annie Adams Fields to Lilian Aldrich
Wednesday
[
20 March 1907 ]*
Dearest Lily:
Sarah* has just told me how good
it was to have ^see^ the news of
home & children around you -----
May the arms of Love fold you and
comfort you at this supreme moment.
Dear Lily, no words will avail
now!* but my heart follows you from room to room and
you are always a part of my life.
: This date is speculative. Thomas
Bailey Aldrich died on Tuesday 19 March 1907. This
looks like a letter of condolence.
Sarah: Sarah Orne Jewett. See
Key to Correspondents.
now!: The exclamation point if ambiguous; I am
not sure exactly what Fields has written.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton
Library of Harvard University: Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Papers, MS Am 1429, Box 6, Items 1446-1538.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Elizabeth Foster to Sarah Orne Jewett
March 22
nd 1907.
[ Begin Letterhead ]
44 Fairfield Street.
[ End Letterhead ]
My dear Mifs Jewett.
I return the letters herewith. Thank
you so much for saying that I may someday come and have
a talk with you and M
rs. [ Field's*
so
spelled ] about them. Nothing is nearer to my wish
than to get at the feelings of M
rs. Whitman's*
friends about this matter, and is exceedingly kind of
you to say I may come and see M
rs. Fields and you
for consultation.
M
rs. Parkman* may have told
you that I do not undertake to do any writing at
all
[ Page 2 ]
in putting M
rs. Whitman's letters together,
having absolutely no impulse toward expression. What I
agreed to do was to select the letters with a view for
publication, and this I told M
rs. Parkman I
should have to do with three fixed principles. First
that nothing sh
d be inserted which c
d hurt
or offend ^the instinct for privacy of^ any living
person -- and as people are so fanciful that w
d
mean the insertion of no names at all in the body of the
letters ---- whether the names of those to whom the
[ Page 3 ]
letters are sent sh
d be inserted is one of the
things I want to talk over with M
rs. Fields &
you.
Second: that as far as possible it should contain
nothing that M
rs. Whitman would have disliked to
have preserved.
Third: that it should be a small volume on a high level
rather than one which aimed at inclusiveness.
In a public character there is a good
deal to be said on the side of giving the public
everything and letting it do its own weighing, but in
this case every reason seems to me to be against that
plan.
The two touchstones of choice have
been to [ see
? ] first
[ Page 4 ]
the revelation of character, second the striking phrase
from either a literary or artistic or a moral point of
view.
Any day after Easter that you and M
rs.
Fields sh
d appoint I should be only too glad to
come for your counsel, and I am grateful to you for
giving me the opportunity of benefiting by your
experience.
Yours very sincerely
Elizabeth Foster.
I feel very strongly that these letters are for private
circulation only -- a book for friends -- emphatically.
There is not sufficient general appeal to warrant
publication for the outer world.
Notes
Field's: Annie Adams Fields. Key to
Correspondents.
Whitman's: Sarah Wyman Whitman. Key to
Correspondents.
Parkman: Mary Frances Parker Parkman. Key to
Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton
Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Foster,
Elizabeth. 1 letter; 1907. Jewett, Sarah Orne,
1849-1909. Sarah Orne Jewett additional correspondence
1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 (35).
Robert Collyer to Annie Adams Fields
[ Begin letterhead ]
201 West 55th Street
New York
[ End letterhead ]
March 22 --1907*
Ever dear Friend
The Library will
not be ready for opening until sometime in September so
says the [ Comittee
so spelled ] -- So we have
to make new plans to fit in and Bertha* has taken or
will take rooms on the Cunarder that leaves
Boston
on I think the seventh of August, and I shall take rooms
for Emma* and self at the Delphine East Gloucester from
mid July -- when we come down from New Hampshire --
until it is time to take the steamer -- And about the
visit in April, alas my Lassie, I have to come to the
May meeting so says Dr Eliot* and have promised so I
cannot come in April too can I? I have not been to the
meetings since away back in the last Century and he says
I must come so say I -- You will be then on the hill*
smothering in blossoms. But -- Can I not come to
[ Page 2 ]
Manchester sometime in July for a brief spell -- I gave
up my Sunday at the Church when it was evident we should
be in England, and Miss Bartlett* has no doubt filled
her Sundays all and sun-dry but thats all right -- I
have saved the Tribune I was about to mail you with the
obituary and estimate of our dear Aldrich* lest you may
not have seen the paper.
Indeed yours always
Robert Collyer
Notes
1907: Collyer has drawn a curved line over
the second "2" in the date. Presumably this represents a
superscript "d."
Library: A public library (the
Robert Collyer Library) and town
hall building in Ilkley, in Collyer's home region of
Yorkshire, UK, was completed with support from American
philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1908. Before the
building's completion, Collyer was a guest at its
dedication in October 1907.
Bertha: John E. Roberts married Collyer's niece,
Bertha, who, for a number of his later years, was
Collyer's housekeeper.
Emma: Collyer's daughter, Emma
Hosmer. See Collyer in
Key to Correspondents. They
plan to stay at the Delphine Hotel, in East Gloucester,
MA.
Lassies.: Sarah Orne and Mary Rice
Jewett. Key to Correspondents.
Eliot: Mr. Eliot probably was American Unitarian
minister,
Samuel Atkins Eliot II
(1862-1950). Collyer refers to the annual meetings of
the American Unitarian Association.
hill: Fields's summer home in Manchester by
the Sea, stood on Thunderbolt Hill.
blossoms: Collyer omits some periods in this
letter. I have supplied them where they seem necessary.
Bartlett: This may be Alice Jane Bartlett Melcher
(1848-1936), daughter of James Bartlett (1816-99) and
his wife, Nancy Jane (née Watts, 1820-1913). See
Malden Past and Present
(1899), p. 58.
Aldrich.: American author Thomas Bailey
Aldrich died on 18 March 1907. Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington
Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers
and Addenda Box 11: mss FI 1-5637. Transcription
and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to The Writer
[ 27 March 1907 ]
[
Stamped letterhead in maroon, the initials SOJ
overlapping inside a circle ]
Miss S. O. Jewett is not able
to send any answer to the request of The Writer* at this
time.
-- Only her thanks for the Editors and remembrance.
March 27
th
Notes
The Writer:
The Writer magazine was
established in Boston in 1887 as "a monthly magazine to
interest and help all literary workers."
This manuscript is held by the Harry Ransom Humanities
Research Center Book Collection, University of Texas at
Austin. It is tipped in to a copy of Jewett's
The
Tory Lover, PS 2132 T6 1901, attached inside the
front cover. In the upper right corner of the page is a
red date stamp: MAR 29 1907. Transcription and
notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Charles Eliot Norton* to Sarah Orne Jewett
Shady Hill, 25 April, 1907.
My dear Miss Jewett: -- When just now, I took up my pen
to write to you I meant to say that it was not because
the grasshopper* had become a burden to me that I had so
long delayed to thank you for a gift pleasant in itself
and pleasant also in its unexpectedness, but as I wrote
the date it occurred to me to see how the learned
dullard, Professor Haupt* of Johns Hopkins had
translated the delightful phrase in his recent version
of Ecclesiastes. I know enough of his heavy pedantry to
know that he would spoil it, and probably after so
[ Page 2 ]
amusingly stupid a fashion as to tickle one's sense of
humor. And so I find it. The old version of the book may
be like Fitzgerald's quatrains, -- a poets
interpretation of a poet, -- and the new is like the [
deletion
] ^voice of the owl^ to the note of the nightingale{.}
The blessed little grasshopper is changed into a
chrysalis! & the whole phrase is disguised &
transformed, no,
de-formed into "and inert lies
the chrysalis"!
And this is what pedantry, the
Duessa* of learning,
does for us!
Still I am grateful to Professor
Haupt for
[ Page 3 ]
suggestion of the word to account for my delay. You will
kindly ascribe it to the simple
inertia of old
age, -- not to dulness of heart. Every morning
one's heart warms with thoughts of the friend, it says,
'today shall not pass without some affectionate &
grateful expression to her,' but, alas! the day becomes
yesterday, & tomorrow creeps along after tomorrow,*
& the letter is unwritten. 'Well' says [
an
unintended mark ] my heart, 'it is only I that [
deletion
] am hurt. She
did the kind & pleasant deed,
& you allow
[ Page 4 ]
me to seem ungrateful to her! Fie on you & your
inertia! you are not so old that you can claim exemption
yet on that score.'
I admit the truth of this rebuke.*
----*
You gave me a great deal of pleasure
a month or more ago in sending me Mistral's*
entertaining & curiously 'remote' book. I thank you
for it.
Please remember that you are to come
here in the week of lilacs, & celebrate with me the
festival of St. Busbaquius.*
Affectionately yours C. E.
Norton.
[ Up the left margin of page 4]
[ To
or For ] Miss Jewett.
Notes
Norton: See Sara Norton in Key to
Correspondents.
Professor Haupt: Hermann Hugo Paul Haupt
(1858-1926) was a Semitic scholar and translator who
became a professor of Semitic languages at Johns Hopkins
University in 1883. His translation of the
Biblical book of Ecclesiastes appeared in 1905.
Wikipedia.
Norton refers to a passage in
Ecclesiastes 12:5, which in the then familiar King James
Version says: "Also when they shall be afraid of that
which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the
almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be
a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to
his long home, and the mourners go about the
streets....”
Fitzgerald's quatrains: Norton refers to a
popular translation of
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
by British poet, Edward FitzGerald (1809-1883), usually
characterized as a loose translation of the Persian
poet's quatrains.
Duessa: Duessa is a duplicitous character,
exemplifying external beauty coupled with an evil soul,
in
The Faerie Queene by British poet, Edmund
Spenser (c.1552-1599). Wikipedia.
tomorrow: Perhaps an allusion to Act 5
Macbeth
by British playwright, William Shakespeare (1564-1616),
where Macbeth expresses his despair as all of his
ambitions are failing.
rebuke: The line following this word slants
up to the right, apparently intended to emphasize the
break between these two paragraphs.
St. Busbaquius: Norton refers to the author of
The
Four epistles of A.G. Busbequius concerning
his embassy into Turkey: Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq
(1522-1592).
Wikipedia says that Busbecq was a
Flemish author, herbalist and diplomat who served as
ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
According to Norton, Busbecq is
credited with bringing the lilac to Europe, "one of the
most precious gifts of the East to the West," he says in
a 22 May 1908 letter to S. Weir Mitchell (
Letters of
Charles Eliot Norton, 1913, p. 406).
Presumably Busbecq was canonized by
Norton.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton
Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Sarah Orne
Jewett Correspondence, bMS Am 1743 Box 4, Item
166. I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry
Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Bliss Perry
South Berwick, Maine
April 29
th [
1907 ]*
Dear Mr. Perry
I must send you a word of thanks.
I [ have
corrected ] found such pleasure in
this almost incomparably good number of
The
Atlantic! No number could be better for any
month of May to which it belonged; full of
"timeliness" and as to manner full of [ the
Atlantics
not underlined] best
tradition and inheritance of good taste
[ Page 2 ]*
and distinction. I must thank you first for your own
fine paper about Mr. Aldrich* -- how he would like
such a number! -- Mr. Pier's story* is very good,
full of charm to me and fresh with a kind of
northern breeze of originality: there is a passage
in the West Point paper* about John Brown, a summing
up of him that might be his greatest epitaph in days
to come. One might speak of many other things on
this months pages! --
Yours most sincerely
Sarah O. Jewett
Notes
April 29th, 1907: This letter
is on two sides of a card with a letterhead on the
upper left of the first page, an image of Jewett's
initials (SOJ) superimposed inside a circle.
The 1907 date is based upon
Jewett's discussion of the May 1907 issue of
Atlantic
Monthly -- see below.
Page 2: In the bottom right corner of page
one is penciled, in another hand, the ms number,
291.
Mr. Aldrich:
Thomas
Bailey Aldrich (1836 - March 19, 1907) was an
American writer and editor, serving notably as
editor of
The Atlantic (1881-1890), a major
period in Jewett's career. Bliss Perry
published a brief tribute to the former
Atlantic
editor in the May 1907
Atlantic (pp. 701-2).
Mr. Pier's story:
Arthur Stanwood Pier (1874 -
1966), an American author of fiction, notably the
St. Timothy's boarding school series. In the May
1907 issue of the
Atlantic, his short story
was "Love and the Machine" (pp. 678-687)
West Point paper: "The Spirit of Old West
Point" Part 4, by Morris Schaff appeared in the May
1907
Atlantic Monthly (pp. 687-701).
John Brown (1800-1859) was an
American abolitionist, who advocated armed
insurrection as a means to ending slavery in the
United States.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the
Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Mass. Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 8 letters
to Bliss Perry; undated. Perry, Bliss, 1860-1954,
recipient. Bliss Perry letters from various
correspondents, 1869-1942. MS Am 1343 (290-297).
Violet Paget / Vernon Lee to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ To the left of the
letterhead: April 29. 1907 ]
[ Begin letterhead ]
IL PALMERINO
S. CERVASIO*
FLORENCE
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Mifs Jewett,
I have been unwell, and away for a fortnight by
the sea, during which time I only loafed, if
clambering up the breathless stone-fanged paths of
Liguria may be called loafing. Any how, that is my
excuse for not thanking you at once for your very
dear and beautiful
[ Page 2 ]
letter.
Dear Madame Blanc* was very fond of you and [ Mrs
Field*
so spelled ]; you know how discreet
she was about her own feelings, & how totally
objective in her mode of speaking of people. But
it was plain that you
, like two,
like one or two other friends in foreign parts
(what
[ Page 3 ]
I wonder has become of the little cropped headed
nihilist and aristocrat whose name I cannot
spell,*
w accompanied by a mute
but sympathising agricultural lady -- ? alas what
has become of all dear Mme Blanc's
monde?)
were one of the consolations of her life, so
cruelly, (& unnecessarily!) tormented by her
French mother's love.
Like you, I knew
[ Page 4 ]
her some years before we ever met; I even
introduced friends to whom she was exquisite for
my unknown sake; and before I had seen her I
believe I had told her more of myself than one
tells one's schoolfriends. In the same manner,
& through her, I got to know Gabrielle
Delzant* long before I ever found
[ Page 5 ]
myself face to face with her. I remember dear Mme
Blanc's amusement at Gabrielle's & my
rapturous excursions in tramways & strolls in
rainy Paris streets. Gabrielle asked her whether
she also, did not
know ^feel^
the
unspeakable ^ineffable^
grandeur of the museum of the Jardin des Plantes*
when shut, and the wild picturesqueness of
[ Page 6 ]
the yellow train in the fog -- "Tout ce que je
sais c'est que vous courrez sous la pluie comme
deux amoureux"* she said with her good ironical
smile --
I am ashamed to think that she on last two
occasions of my seeing her -- the last was, I
think, crossing from Dover, I took up her time
entirely [ &
? ]
[ Page 7 ]
brutally selfishly with troubles of mine, which
any other but she would have thought rubbish
beside those she herself was going through. But
with her, as with Gabrielle Delzant, to be selfish
& selfengrossed became a grace! T'is the
fault, this heavenly sympathy & self-
[ Page 8 ]
forgetfulness, of French women, surrounding them
with such selfishness or[
deletion ] lack
of decent self restraint as Edouard Blanc*
tormented her with -- one would have whipped him,
willingly; but
she on the whole, liked to
suffer for him [
deletion ] & through
him, with that pleasure in birth pangs
[ Page 9 ]
3/ which seems to follow French mothers all
through their life.
Well; and now, save "l'excellente Mme Foulon de
Vaulx"* -- what remains of all that circle of
people one loved, or gnashed teeth at (
Mlle
Blaze* to wit) or was amused by?
The two daughters of Gabrielle Delzant have
[ Page 10 ]
both shed me, one because she ^has^ married an
ambiguous demagogue, the other because she
m
has married "un jeune homme distingué" and
"arriviste"* -- Poor dull old Delzant broke his
neck instead of going
un to
death sleep after dinner over his books -- Edouard
Blanc
[ Page 11 ]
has never written me a word --
Imagine, dear Mifs Jewett, how welcome your
letter has been to me.
Yes. I remember your coming.
You shall have another majolica cup, or even my
best jug, if you will return. I want to
[ Page 12 ]
go to America -- more & more since reading
Wells & H. James* -- but I am what the [
proper
? ] call "turned fifty" --, I have
little health & energy & many, too many
schemes of (not much believed in!) work, and I
have spent a lot of money, wisely no doubt, in
buying
[ Page 13 ]
this little place & discovering its threatened
disasters, the money which one wants for a journey
like that when one isn't young --
So, shall we ever meet ^again^. I mean, in
the flesh. Since you & Mrs Field & I
have
met again in the spirit; & if you allow, will
agree not to separate in that element.
Write to me sometimes & believe me, yrs
gratefully
V. Paget
Notes
CERVASIO: There
may be some confusion about two locations in Italy,
San Cervasio and San Gervasio. S. Cervasio,
according to her letterhead, was Paget's street
address in Florence when she wrote this letter.
She died in 1935 at San Gervasio Bresciano in
Lombardy, about 275 kilometers northwest of Florence.
Madame Blanc: Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc.
Key to Correspondents. She died on 5
February 1907.
Mrs Field: Annie Adams Fields. Key to
Correspondents.
the little cropped headed nihilist: The
identity of this person is unknown.
Gabrielle Delzant: Cary says that Gabrielle
Delzant (1854-1903) and her husband Alidor (1848-1905)
lived in a village in southwest France. He published,
among other items, a compilation of her hitherto
unpublished writing after her death. See Archille
Biron, "
Paget in Paraÿs" (1960). Paget's
negative views of Alidor and the Delzant daughters may
be accurate, but biographical confirmation has proven
difficult to locate. Biron's piece identifies the
elder daughter as Genevieve, quoting a Paget letter
saying that she expected to marry soon after her
mother's death. In this letter, Paget describes one
son-in-law as an
arriviste, recently wealthy,
ambitious, self-centered and as a distinguished young
man; the other she characterizes as a demagogue.
Whether Alidor actually died of a broken neck has not
been confirmed. This information is of interest
because it appears that Paget seems often to speak
negatively of those who are attached to women she
particularly likes.
See Mme. Blanc to Jewett and Fields
of 4 Mary 1906.
Jardin des Plantes ... "Tout ... amoureux":
Paris's
Garden of Plants is the
principal botanical garden in France. Paget's French
translates: "All I know is that you run through the
rain like a pair of lovers."
Edouard Blanc: For Madame Blanc's son, see
Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc in
Key
to Correspondents.
Mme Foulon de Vaulx: Alice Devaulx, in 1872,
married Henri Foulon (1844-1929). Shortly after they
married, they changed their names to" Foulon de
Vaulx." Henri Foulon de Vaulx was a Belgian born
industrialist and historian. Alice became a
translator, notably of work by Hamlin Garland.
Mlle Blaze: By underlining "Mlle,"
emphasizes that she refers to the daughter of
Baroness Blaze de Bury
(1813-1894), Yetta Blaze de Bury. Key to
Correspondents.
I want to go to America ... Wells & H. James:
Cary says that Paget never visited the United States.
While it is clear that she refers to Henry James (See
Key
to Correspondents), which Wells she means is not
clear.
Ida B. Wells (1862-1931), the
American journalist, seems a likely choice.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton
Library of Harvard University, Sarah Orne Jewett
Additional Correspondence, MS Am 1743.1 item 84.
Richard Cary's transcription, with an informative
introduction and notes appears in "Violet Paget to
Sarah Orne Jewett,"
Colby Library Quarterly 9
(1970): 235-243.
Associated with this letter is an
envelope addressed to "Mifs Orne Jewett" at 148
Charles Street Boston, Stati Uniti, America, and then
forwarded to South Berwick. The stamp has been
torn off, but enough of the cancellation remains to
show that it was mailed from Florence. On the back, it
is cancelled in South Berwick on 13 May 1907.
New transcription and notes by
Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
Saturday Eveg
[ Spring 1907 ]*
Dearest -- the house is a garden tonight! but your
flowers
were ^are^ the most plentiful
and most beautiful. I will keep the cards I do not send
to show you. I am sure the old house is lovely. Tell
Mary* I can seem to see how quiet and [
deletion
] fragrant of kindness as well as of flowers it all is!
[ Page 2 ]
you would be glad to know how all our friends rejoice
in your legacy from our dear friend.
Katie Nichols* came first this afternoon. She
said how much she liked Mary{.}* "I've seen her so
little too" she said with the hope of seeing her more
-- so when Mary comes she must make a point of seeing
Katie. Agnes Irwin* came next. She was delightful and
she asked us twice next week
[ Page 3 ]
to meet Sophie* -- We finally fixed upon Saturday at
one a week from today --
How many dear things have been said and thought today
which I wish to share with you but they must go now.
Good night dear. What a happy company is
yours. My love to you all ----
your
Annie.
[
Page 4 ]*
My visit yesterday P.M. was a real
pleasure{.} C.E.N.* inquired especially for
[ you corrected ] and hoped he might see
you { -- } ditto Sally. Mrs Higginson* was there
looking very bright and happy -- also Mrs Grew*
was there! Mifs S. told me how she and A.M.L.*
both came in the heart of the vast storm on
Thursday --
another day for a "letty"
Notes
1907: This tentative date is supported by
the slender thread of Fields mentioning a legacy.
In the 5 July 1907 codicil to her will, Jewett refers to
a legacy from Susan B. Cabot, who died on 23 March
1907. It seems possible that Fields responds here
to the announcement of that legacy from a dear mutual
friend.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See
Key to
Correspondents.
Katie Nichols: Not yet identified.
Agnes Irwin: See
Key to
Correspondents.
Sophie: Fields was acquainted with Sophie Mertens
Eichberg (d. 1927), widow of Boston musician and
composer Julius Eichberg. Wikipedia. At this time, I
know of no other person named Sophie with whom Fields
and Jewett may have been on a first-name basis.
Page 4: This single page appears at this point
the Houghton folder. Perhaps it belongs with this
letter, but that is not certain. BurtonTrafton's note on
a photocopy of this page in his collection at the Maine
Women Writers Collection indicates his view that it is a
separate document, though there is neither a greeting
nor a signature.
C.E.N.: Charles Eliot Norton. See Sara (Sally)
Norton, later called Mifs S, in
Key to
Correspondents.
Mrs. Higginson: Ida Agassiz Higginson. See
Key to
Correspondents.
Mrs. Grew: Mrs. Grew could be Jane Norton
Wigglesworth (1836-1920), wife of Boston businessman,
Henry Sturgis Grew (1834-1910), summer neighbors in
Manchester by the Sea. However, another Boston
neighbor was Annie Crawford Clark (Mrs. Edward Sturgis)
Grew. Edward and Henry Grew were brothers.
See Henry Grew Papers.
One of Jane Grew's daughters was
Elizabeth Sturgis Grew, who married Boylston Adams Beal,
Annie Fields's nephew, son of her sister, Louisa Jane
Adams Beal. See Fields in
Key to
Correspondents.
A.M.L: Alice Mary Longfellow. See
Key to
Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton
Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett
Correspondence I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett. Fields,
Annie (Adams) 1834-1915. 16 letters; 1894-1901 &
[n.d.], 1894-1901 bMS Am 1743 (64).
Transcription and notes by Terry
Heller, Coe College.
Ellen Tucker Emerson to Annie Adams Fields
Milton, May 4
th
1907
Dear Mrs Fields,
I shall be glad to see Lady Mary
and Mr Murray* if I can. I am without servants, have
come here to receive Edith* who lands today and to
spend Sunday and Monday with her. On Tuesday morning
I am to be at the Employment Bureau in hope and
fear.
[ Page 2 ]
Should I succeed in finding two firm feet on which the
household can walk I should be at home all the rest of
the week; otherwise necessity will lead me back to the
search every day. Let the party come when it is most
convenient to them, Miss Richardson or Miss Corning*
will enjoy receiving them and showing them the study and
garden, if I should not be on the spot. I thank
[
Page 3 ]
you for your invitation, which I
desire to accept and I suppose Thursday the 18
th
is the most likely to be available as far as I can
judge beforehand. If I have to frequent the "Bureau"
still, I can give it the morning hours and come to
you at half past twelve with great satisfaction.
Affectionately
Ellen T. Emerson.
: British Australian classical scholar,
translator and author,
George Gilbert Aimé Murray
(1866-1957). He married Lady Mary Henrietta Howard
(1865–1956), daughter of George Howard, 9th Earl of
Carlisle.
Edith: Edith Emerson Forbes. See
Key to Correspondents.
Miss Richardson or Miss Corning: These people
have not yet been identified, and the transcription of
"Corning" is uncertain. Presumably, these are women of
Concord who might show visitors the Ralph Waldo Emerson
family home. Sarah A. E. Richardson is mentioned in
Emerson's biography of her mother, Lidian Jackson
Emerson.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington
Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers
and Addenda, Box 16: mss FI 5637. Transcription
and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Ellen Tucker Emerson to Sarah Orne Jewett
Concord, May 13th
1907
Dear Miss Jewett,
I thank you for taking such a
practical interest in my kitchen's prosperity. I have
engaged two servants today who may prove good as their
word and come tomorrow. If not, I shall be glad to write
to Jennie. Your charioteer on Thursday plied his lash to
[ Page 2 ]
good purpose and brought me to the N. Station with
several minutes to spare. Of course, I enjoyed my visit.
Affectionately,
Ellen T. Emerson
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington
Library, San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers
and Addenda, Box 16: mss FI 5637. Transcription
and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ 14 May 1907 ]*
Children have been obliged to change their dinner to
tomorrow -- ! Tell Mary* my message about [
unrecognized
word ] -- I am sure you forgot it!! And I fear you
are only half as much ashamed as I am{.}
1907: Addressed to Jewett in South Berwick,
ME, this postcard was canceled in Boston, MA on 14 May
1907.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See
Key to
Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton
Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett
Correspondence I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett. Fields,
Annie (Adams) 1834-1915. 16 letters; 1894-1901 &
[n.d.], 1894-1901 bMS Am 1743 (64).
I first transcribed this item from a photocopy held by
the Maine Women Writers Collection, Burton Trafton
Collection, Box 2, folder 88. That copy includes a
second page, which clearly could not have been part of
the postcard, though it is the same size as a
card. The text on this page reads:
"I will file the Moody letter for you in
the case here unless you wish to have it in S.B
--"
Jewett and Fields are not yet known to have corresponded
with anyone named "Moody." A likely possibility is
American poet and dramatist, William Vaughan Moody
(1869-1910). Wikipedia.
Transcription and notes by Terry
Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ 16 May 1907 ]*
Did I say there are two pretty black
plums here at your service [a-waiting
? ]
to be wanted? What a good drive that was for
you & dear H.B.*
This P.M. just as I
was up from sleep Lily A.* telephoned to take me out
in her motor -- so I 'cepted and we were gone an
hour and a quarter -- Very tired but happily
was rested and dressed in season for the dinner. It
was really a most dear sweet company{.} Gertrude
Peabody* was delightful and Esther* was very
handsome and noble to look at -- They were sorry you
could not have been here -- Francis inquired
especially for Mary and recalled his pleasant visit
to S.B. --
[ Up the left margin:
virtually unreadable in the available photocopy
]
said he had heard from Th. J. E* -- from [
unrecognized
word
or name ] -- Your AF.
Notes
1907: Addressed to Jewett in South Berwick,
ME, this postcard was canceled in Boston, MA on 16 May
1907. Several doodles appear on the address side.
Persons mentioned:
H.B.: Probably Helen Olcott
Bell. See Key to
Correspondents.
Lily A.: Lilian Aldrich. See Key to
Correspondents.
Gertrude Peabody and Francis: Though this is
speculation only, these two may be: Gertrude Weld
Peabody (1877-1938) and either her brother Francis
Weld Peabody (1881-1927) or their father, Rev. Francis
Greenwood Peabody (1847-1936, Wikipedia).
Esther: Not yet identified.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to
Correspondents.
Th. J. E : Theodore Jewett Eastman. See Key to
Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton
Library of Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett
Correspondence I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett. 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 Orne Jewett to Sarah Cabot Wheelwright
Tuesday morning
[After Summer 1906]
Dear Sarah
I am grieved about poor little Kim! "The Dachshund
first our little friend!"1 I always
loved Matthew Arnold the better for saying that!
I wish that I could see you dear, but I shall soon. I
shall either get to town this week or the very first
of next. -- I am so sorry to miss the first Club, but
I am kept here this week by many things. This is just
a morning word to say that I love you and think of you
in these troubled days --
S. O. J.
Notes
after summer 1906: Kim, the
Wheelwright's dachshund, is remembered as alive in
Jewett's summer 1906 letter to the Wheelwrights.
our little friend: Jewett misremembers
Arnold's "Kaiser Dead" which reads, "And vouch'd by
glorious renown / A dachshound true" (11.
17-18); and
But all those virtues, which commend
(31)
The humbler sort who serve and tend,
Were thine in store, thou faithful friend.
the first Club: This may be
Mrs. Wheelwright's Emery Bag Club. See Key
to Correspondents.
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. Annotation is by Stoddart,
supplemented where appropriate by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Frances Parker Parkman
June 6
th [
1907
]*
Dear Frances
I am not lost. I have only been
moving to the shore! and this is written at
Manchester -- To tell the strict truth, I have
been lost in another attack of influenza and been
pretty ill -- just crawling about even now -- I
suppose it took hold the more because I had hardly
shaken off the winter one -- but let us hope that
I shall be immune now for a good long stretch of
time! Three weeks ago when this began (the
very day I left home) Mary* and I went to Boston,
to meet
[ Page 2 ]
dear old D
r Collyer* who came for the "May
meetings," and though I spent most of the time in
bed, we all four had a good week, I making the
most of an evening or two. Mrs. Fields* was
very well all things considered, and Mr Park ^
(first church)^ came to dinner, the Dexters: Mrs.
& Katharine who are very old & dear
friends of "Brother Robert" and Alice Howe* &c
-- Then Mary & I went home and the next week
we spent two or three days at Stonehurst with
Helen Merriman* who let the Bryce's
[ Page 3 ]
take her house and possessions chiefly for
friendly reasons and because it would be so good
for "the valley" -- had already begun to feel
homesick, and wondered why she had pulled herself
up by the roots. She has taken the "Sam Eliot
place" at North-East, and is to have her grandson
-- but Roger and Dorothea are going over to
England . . . There I was in bed also,
though I thought the mountain air would drive away
my Cold but I love to be there ^and [ was
or
am
? ] not unused to illness there!^ --
the only great disappointment was that I couldn't
get over to see dear Miss Wormeley* who has been
very ill all the spring. What a pity, for
[ Page 4 ]
this summer would have been full of pleasure with the
Legation at her doors! M
rs James was a [
Shuttleworth
corrected ] and the Shuttleworths
were very old family friends. I dare say that this
thought may be her best tonic -- but at seventy-seven
she is fuller of spirit than most persons of seventeen
-- "The shore" looks much the same, only it is a belated
spring. Mrs. Howe ('Alice') is moving down today, and
she
will be wheezing, poor thing! Mrs. Fields seems pretty
well but lamer than sometimes from being more a-foot I
suppose. We are delighted to have a cable from Miss
Cochrane* saying that she means to come in late July --
It came almost on Mrs. Fields's
[ Page 5 ]*
birthday* and was such a pleasure. Rose Lamb* will be
here the early part of the month, for a good long visit,
and the usual plots and plans seem to be making.
Last year this time I was looking forward to my visit to
you and what a dear visit it was! Mary Wheelwright*
asked Mary and me to sail down on the Hesper with her
from Portsmouth on the 17
th or 18
th.
I didn't know what my sister's feelings might be, but
she seems delighted with the idea and I said
yes
in haste -- I now look forward to it chiefly with the
hope of blowing away the last of my
grippe --
but who knows? -- -- We shall see the Merrimans again,
but I expect to miss you quite sadly dear Frances --
even more than
[ Page 6 ]
in town where I have begun to get a
little* used
to your being away. (I think you would be pleased at the
tribute of Friendship if you know
how little it
is.) ---- There seems to be little news just now except
that everybody has been worried by Gardiner Lane's*
illness -- happily he seems to have made a turn for the
better. I couldn't help thinking of Mr. Higginson
who does really depend upon his younger partner -- I
have not seen the Higginsons for I have not been out all
the week, but the young people seem to be getting on
well so far. Mrs. Fields sends you her love
--Thank you for your most dear letter from Rome. I cant
tell you how I loved it or how good it was to catch the
good rested and freshened tone in it. I do hope that
everything goes on well with all the
[ Up the left margin and across
the top margin of page 1 ]
Parkmans and
Parkermans.* I send my love
to every single one -- but most of all to you my very
dearest Frances with all sorts of good [ Native
?
] wishes!
Sarah
It always seems here as if She
must come driving up the Hill* at any moment.
[ Up the left margin and
across the top margin of page 5 ]
Mrs. Hatch* is in the town house
--and I lately [ saw ? ] Miss Dillon* going
along Charles Street with a milk pitcher so she's
alive!
Notes
1907: This date is supported by the fact
that Mrs. Merriman rented Stonehurst to the British
ambassador in the summer of 1907. See notes below.
In this letter, Jewett sometimes
shortens "and" in various ways, some of which appear
only as "a" with a long tail. I have rendered
these as "and."
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett
. Key to Correspondents.
Dr Collyer: Dr. Robert
Collyer. Key to Correspondents.
Mrs Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to
Correspondents.
Mr Park ... the Dexters: Mrs. & Katharine
...Alice Howe: Mr, Park almost certainly is
Charles Edwards Park (1873-1962),
a Unitarian minister who served for many years at First
Church in Boston, beginning in 1906.
Mrs. Dexter may be
Josephine Anna Moore (1846-1937),
who was the second wife of Chicago lawyer
Wirt Dexter (1832-1890). Her
daughter was
Katharine Dexter McCormick (1875 -
1967), suffragist, philanthropist, and funder of
research for the first birth-control pill.
For Alice Greenwood Howe, see
Key
to Correspondents.
Helen Merriman: Helen Bigelow Merriman. See
Key
to Correspondents. Roger Merriman was her
son. Roger's wife was
Dorothea Foote (1880 -
1970). Mrs. Merriman's only grandson in 1907 was
Roger Bigelow Merriman, Jr. (1905
- 1994). See also
Find a Grave.
Bryce's: James Bryce, Viscount Bryce
(1838-1922), was Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford
University (1870-1893), ambassador to the United States
(1907-1913), and also an author.
Stonehurst Manor, the Merriman summer
home in North Conway, NH, was a regular vacation
destination for Jewett and her friends. According
to
The Story of Stonehurst, "In the
summer of 1907, while the Merrimans were traveling in
England, Stonehurst served as the temporary British
Embassy for the Viscount James Bryce, the British
ambassador to the United States. During that summer,
Stonehurst was at the center of international diplomatic
exchange, along with Bryce’s active and glamorous social
life." This letter indicates that Helen and her husband
did
not travel to England, but that
their son and his wife did.
This explains Helen Merriman being
homesick and her believing that the Bryce's summer stay
would be "good for the valley." It appears that the
elder Merrimans and their grandson stayed at the home of
Samuel Eliot (See Emily Marshall Otis Eliot in
Key
to Correspondents) in Northeast Harbor, ME.
It is not very clear, though, at
which point in summer 1907, Mrs. Merriman surrendered
Stonehurst to the Bryce family, presumably after May.
Miss Wormeley: Katherine Prescott Wormeley. Key
to Correspondents.
Mrs James ...Shuttleworth:
These
persons
have
not
yet been identified.
Miss Cochrane: Jessie CochraneKey to
Correspondents.
birthday: Annie Fields's birthday was 6
June.
Rose Lamb: Key to Correspondents.
Mary Wheelwright: See her mother, Sarah Perkins
Cabot Wheelwright, in
Key
to Correspondents.
page 5: Penciled at the bottom left of this
page: "215", the Houghton Library item number for this
ms.
little: Jewett has underlined this
word twice.
Gardiner Lane's:
Gardiner Martin Lane (1859-1914)
was a Boston banker with Lee, Higginson &
Company. He served as president and in other
offices of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. His
older partner was
Henry Lee Higginson (1834 - 1919),
founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Parkermans: Frances Parkman's maiden name
was Parker.
the Hill: As Jewett writes from Manchester,
the "Hill" must be Thunderbolt Hill, the location of
Fields's Manchester summer home. The identity of
"She" is not certain, but Jewett very likely refers to
their close mutual friend, Sarah Wyman Whitman, who died
in 1904. Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Hatch: Mrs. Hatch appears to be an employee
of Annie Fields, presumably helping to keep the Charles
Street house while Fields is away from Boston. See Sarah
Orne Jewett to Annie Adams Fields, Friday Morning, June
1894.
Miss Dillon: Presumably, Miss Dillon is a cook or
other employee of mutual acquaintances. She has
not yet been identified.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton
Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Jewett,
Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 17 letters to Frances Parkman;
[190-]-1907. Parkman family, Edward Twisleton, and Sarah
Wyman Whitman additional papers, 1763-1917 (inclusive)
1850-1907 (bulk). MS Am 1408 (214-230).
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Sarah Cabot Wheelwright
148 Charles street
Friday Morning
[Late spring 1907]
Dear Sarah
You are quite right to be afeared of the grippe; I like it
less than ever, as the sailor's say of a ship in a squall, "it
lays
her clear down!" I am picking up fast, however, and got
out yesterday for the first time and I shall see you
soon, I think we are all safe to see now, and tomorrow
is Saturday -- I just put in this word to the wise! -- Mary
went home on Wednesday. I am glad that your Mary is
away. I believe very much in little changes.
Mrs. Fields* was delighted with the idea of seeing your
pictures some day. I shouldn't wonder if she could come -- not
just yet perhaps but a little later -- to luncheon and I
should love it myself. -- the drive too, after a few
days. I am not up to it yet much
yet. but the week I was in bed made my broken neck*
quite beautifully comfortable keeping so still, it's an ill
wind blows nobody any good!
Thank you so much for your note and I send love to both of
you. Mary had a most delightful call when A. C. W.* with my
message about the flowers -- I really never saw such beautiful
roses and they lasted a perfectly delightful number of days --
Yours most affectionately,
Sarah
Notes
Late spring 1907: While it is possible this
letter was composed in the summer of 1906, shortly before
Jewett's summer stay with the Wheelwrights on Sutton's Island,
ME, it seems more likely that it comes from late spring of
1907. A main reason for believing this is that Jewett
reports just recovering from a severe cold that she mentions
in other letters from this time.
broken neck: Jewett refers to her persistent
disability following her September 1902 carriage accident.
Mrs. Fields: Annie Fields. See Key
to Correspondents.
A. C. W.: Wheelwright's husband, Andrew
Cunningham Wheelwright. See Key
to Correspondents.
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. Annotation is by Stoddart,
supplemented where appropriate by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Mary Frances Parker Parkman to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ Northeast Harbor,
28 June 1907 ]*
Dearest Sarah --
It is good to get your letter and I am [
sorry
? ] the telephone failed you! -- but you might as
well have tried to telephone to a bird on a twig as to me on
June 26
th! I went to Cambridge early on that day,
arranged the stage (as she used to!)
[ Page 2 ]
presided in the role of critic at the rehearsal of the girls'
chorus singing for commencement; then appeared at commencement,
and [ wound
? ] up with the Alumnae dinner in the large
room at Agassiz House* -- which was beautiful and made me feel
almost transformed into her, so nearly did I feel her enjoyment
of the
fact that there
w is now,
largely owing to her, a perfect place [ for
corrected ]
the reunion of graduates in this way -- There were hundreds
there and it was a great evening -- I took the train that
same night and came here to find a little family all on the
wharf, the house in really good order and filled with Henry
Parkman's* flowers ordered for my coming as the garden is late
-- and all apparently content -- It
is pretty nice
[ Page 3 ]
here, too -- and it was strange yesterday morning as in the boat
I came in sight of Mt Desert hills and the pure air fanned my
cheek, -- as so often I have done coming straight from her with
my mind & heart & soul full of her --, to feel the
instant and strong association which made me believe I had just
left her -- as if the air and the sea & the mountains [
deleted
word are
? ] had held my [ thoughtfulness
?
] and were giving it back! I can't describe it --
[ Text ends; no signature ]
Notes
1907: Dating this letter exactly is complicated by
Parkman's report of attending commencement events at Radcliffe
College on 26 June (see notes below). According to the
Boston
Daily Globe (26 June 1907), Radcliffe's commencement was
held on 25 June in 1907. As no other Radcliffe
commencement was held close to 26 June between 1904, when the
Agassiz House was completed, and Jewett's death in June 1909, it
seems likely that either Parkman or the
Globe has
mistaken the date by a day.
Agassiz House: The Elizabeth Cary Agassiz House (1904) at
Radcliffe College is named for
Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz (1822 - 27
June 1907), the first president of Radcliffe. See
Key
to Correspondents.
It is probable that Parkman refers to Mrs.
Agassiz when she speaks of "her." It also is probable
though not certain that this letter was composed soon after the
death of Mrs. Agassiz. Parkman reports that she was busy with
Radcliffe commencement activities on 26 June. Lucy Allen Paton,
in
Elizabeth Cary Agassiz: A Biography
(1919), indicates that Mrs. Agassiz was in failing health in
June of 1907, and would not have been able to attend Radcliffe's
commencement (p. 393).
Of possible further interest is that a
portrait of Agassiz by Sarah Wyman Whitman may have hung in the
building's living room at the time of Parkman's letter.
While it seems likely that Parkman's
references to an unnamed woman all point to Mrs. Agassiz, it is
possible that those at the end of the letter refer to Sarah
Wyman Whitman (see
Key
to Correspondents), another close, deceased mutual friend
who is sometimes mentioned but not named in letters between
Jewett and Parkman, particularly in 1907, when they were helping
to prepare a volume of Whitman's letters for publication.
Henry Parkman: Parkman's husband.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Parkman, Frances. 6 letters
to Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. Sarah Orne Jewett additional
correspondence 1868-1930. MS Am 1743.1 (85).
Sarah Orne Jewett to Elizabeth McCracken
Uthersyde, Northeast Harbour, Mount
Desert. [
Summer 1907]*
My dear Elizabeth, -- Your note has
reached me here, and indeed, indeed I send my most
affectionate good wishes and blessing to you and Miss
Marlowe.* I am delighted with this plan, especially since you
are going to see Italy in summer, -- so few people do that who
go travelling! You will see the vintage coming on and the
vintage come, and so much more of the true Italy of
the poets, the out-of-door life and living beauty that they
loved, than if you had a comfortable hotel life, keeping warm!
in early spring. I hope that you will go to little plays in
Venice, and see how many of the old traditions live. I wish
that you could come north by Orange, and see a play there, and
I cling to a deep desire that you should sit in the old
historic playhouse in Paris before you get back!* The "Théâtre
Français" ought to belong to both of you! All this last isn't
Italy, but the card I drop into my envelope must carry you to
the door of one who knows her and loves her with the best and
most understanding love (I always insist that love isn't
blind: it is only love that sees!). Miss Paget is Vernon Lee,
and you will remember her exquisite "Ariadne in Mantua."* I
hope that she may be found at home, but at any rate you will
have a charming drive to the old villa just outside Florence.
I shall write her about you, so that this word on a card is
very short (I can fancy Miss Marlowe beautifully in the
Ariadne!). Do send me a word on your way, and put a twig of
olive leaves into the letter. And direct to me at Manchester
by Sea, where I expect to be by and by.
I had a bad month with a second
attack of grippe,* but I am nearly mended after a most
cheerful sailing cruise of eight days from Portsmouth here.
You can't think how good it was to see the pointed firs and
the shady coves again and the great wide reaches of water
between the green islands. O yes, dear, this is just the right
thing, your going, and your going together.#
My sister sends you her love.
#Fields's note: In France.
Notes
1907: Fields places this undated letter with other
letters from these two years. Jewett mentions her severe
case of "grippe" in several letters from this year.
Northeast
Harbor is on the island of Mt. Desert.
Miss Marlowe:
Julia
Marlowe is the stage name of Sarah Frances Frost
(1865-1960); she was a Shakespearean actor. Cary reports that
Jewett wished Marlowe to produce
Ariadne in Mantua (
Sarah
Orne
Jewett
Letters 169). McCracken published an article, "Julia
Marlow" in
Century Magazine (November 1906), pp. 46-55.
In which summer Marlowe traveled in Italy with McCracken has
not been established; Charles Edward Russell, in
Julia
Marlowe: Her Life and Art, notes that she spent part of
the summer of 1908 in Franzenbad, Bohemia (p. 451).
Further, Russell indicates that Marlowe was on tour in England
beginning in the spring of 1907, though the date of her return
to the United States is not given (pp. 426-50).
Italy in summer: Jewett visited Italy during the
summer in 1882 and in the spring of 1900.
Orange ... Théâtre Français: Jewett
probably refers to the Roman
Theatre
in
Orange, Vaucluse, France, built early in the 1st century
AD.
Wikipedia says: "The Comédie-Française ...
or Théâtre-Français ... is one of the few state theatres in
France. It is the only state theatre to have its own troupe of
actors.... The theatre is part of the Palais-Royal complex and
located at 2 rue de Richelieu on the Place André-Malraux in
the 1st arrondissement of Paris."
Miss Paget ... "Ariadne in Mantua": Vernon Lee (Violet
Paget, 1856-1935) published Ariadne in Mantua: A Romance
in Five Acts (1903).
grippe: a cold (French).
This letter appears in Annie Fields,
Letters of Sarah Orne
Jewett (1911), Transcribed by Annie Adams Fields,
with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Harriet Mann Miller to Sarah Orne Jewett
Ogunquit Farm
Maine. July 6th
[ 1907 ]*
Dear Miss Jewett:
Your note fills me with regrets for I fear
your three [ weeks
? ] absence will [ cover
?
] the time of [ my staying
? ] here. I
have
to be at Point o' Woods -- on the Long Island coast by August,
and
[
Page 2 ]
should leave July 31st
at the very latest. I did think I might return,
but do not now think it probable.
When you are at York Harbor, you are
but eight miles from here (I am told) and if you could
come this way in some of your drives, I should be greatly
pleased. I have so long wanted to know you.
I should like to see your [ "marshes" ?
] -- your things! so anxious for [ unrecognized word
] that they [ unrecognized word ] the electric
light [ unrecognized word ]! If some one would
[ Page 3 ]
put up for us they would probably use
them.
The postman comes and I must close{.}
very sincerely yours
Olive Thorne Miller
Notes
1907: This date is a mere guess, but it has a
little support. The one other known letter between Miller
and Jewett was in March 1904, and that letter looks
introductory, Miller introducing herself to Jewett by sending
her a new book. This letter, therefore, is likely to be
from after 1904.
In 1907, Jewett spent at least the first half
of July at Mt. Desert Island, recovering from a severe
respiratory infection.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743 Box 3, Item
154 I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College
Sarah Orne Jewett to Violet Paget / Vernon Lee
North East Harbour
Mount Desert --
[ July 1907 ]*
[ Begin deleted letterhead ]
South Berwick Maine
[ End deleted letterhead ]
My dear Miss Paget
I have been so ready to thank you
all these weeks that I can hardly feel ashamed [ of seeming corrected
] ungrateful. -- You cannot know how much I loved your letter
and that most loveable chapter about our dear Madame Blanc*
written with such sympathy and discernment, from the perfectly
right point of view; it seems wonderful to me that anyone so
much younger could have taken it who had not lived with her
for long stretches of time. There were so many Thérèses if one
had her for a day or two at a time! The
[ Page 2 ]
great French lady of -- one almost say some centuries
earlier, returned to earth and gracefully adapting herself to
modern conditions, [ deletion] was what everyone could
not see. Oddly enough one of my dearest friends on this side
of the sea was great granddaughter of a young French officer
who came over at the time of the Revolution, and one never
understood her until (and many New Englanders never could!)
one returned to the 1760's and matched her traits to that day
and date and to the habits of people who had to do with courts
and camps. -- But to say how I miss Madame Blanc and see new
reasons for having loved her so much is
[ Page 3 ]
quite impossible. Your memories of her bring her back as
nothing else has done --
I am not forgetting to thank you,
either, for Sister Benvenuta.* I brought that
dear small volume with me in my kit. I doubt if we are
separated for a good while to come, it is a true bit of life
-- it explains many quite un-related things! -- with the charm
that a new flower had the other day (perhaps it was only a
forgotten flower) that I found on a green island on the Maine
coast here where I have been cruising on a comfortable old
sailing yacht with a friend. You would have loved the small
harbours with their villages where we spent the
[ Page 4 ]
nights and* often an evening and clear, still morning. The
birds sang all along the wooded shores and the lambs bleated,
the waves plashed against the rocks after a boat went by, and
one heard no other noises. I had been ill for a month with a
second quite uncalled for attack of influenza, and I certainly
liked those noises better than any. I send you a bit of
'pointed fir'* their new tips look almost as if they had
flowered in pretty fringes. -- The salt air, the fragrance of
these woods make one a little light-headed sometimes -----
The other day I gave a card to two
acquaintances -- lovers of Italy who go to see her for
[ Page 5 ]*
the first time: Miss McCracken,* a
magazine writer of talent, and true, shy, little lover of best
things -- a Southerner by birth, and Miss Julia Marlowe* the
player who has just been having a good season in London { -- }
Viola and Juliet not beyond her. She has had great popularity
in lesser parts -- but I think she has great gifts, unequal as
artists are, but I look to see her gain much from this Italian
summer. They both loved the Ariadne in Mantua.* I
doubt if they are lucky enough to find you for half an hour,
but they can have the drive to your door, and that is giving
them much.*
[ Page 6 ]
= I confess to having lived with you a good
deal, since your letter came and really brought you not only
to my door but inside, to stay. This letter thanks you for
many things. I hoped you would say that this was the summer
when you could come -- to sail over from England in June is
not long, and you should have a tin Bank when you got here and
go home clinking and heavy with savings. You should be
withheld from long journeys and only shown a
[ Page 7 ]
very few places. Autumn is better than midsummer: come in
Autumn!
If I were writing a week later I
should send you messages from Mrs Fields,*
whom I shall see then. She is not very strong nowadays, but
always such a giver of help and pleasure. You would like her
summer house close by the sea, as much as I do, and I hope you
would like my own old house in a country village with a proper
New England garden --
I must stop writing, but please
find all that I write without ink, and
[ Page 8 ]
please, my dear friend, write one day again. I can take your
books, old and new, all for letters now, but that very fact
makes me wish to Hear again --
Yours affectionately,
S. O. J.
Notes
July 1907: This date, assigned by Richard Cary, is
problematic, as Carl Weber suggests in "Three More Letters of
Sarah Orne Jewett,"
Colby Quarterly 3 (1952), note p. 3,
where he discusses the problem of dating Jewett to Paget of 3
January 1908. The main problem is that Jewett's writing from
North East Harbor after a second bout of influenza matches July
1907, but not 1908. However, Jewett seems fairly clearly
to have read Vernon Lee's "La Ferté-sous-Jouarre," which
appeared in
The Sentimental Traveller (1908). The title
refers to the country home of Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc, who
had died on 5 February 1907. Though there is as yet no
evidence to support this, it seems likely that Paget sent Jewett
a copy of her essay. This would not be unexpected, given
their mutual affection for Mme. Blanc. Key to Correspondents.
Benvenuta: Vernon Lee,
Sister Benvenuta and the
Christ Child (1906).
and: Sometimes Jewett writes "a" with a long tail,
meaning "and." I have rendered these as "and."
'pointed fir': Jewett alludes to her 1896 book set
near the part of Maine from which she wrote this letter,
The
Country of the Pointed Firs.
Page 5: The second half of this letter also is on
Jewett's letterhead, the printing appears upside-down at the
bottom left of page 8, below a penciled horizontal line.
McCracken: Elizabeth McCracken.
Key to Correspondents.
Julia Marlowe: Born Sarah Frances Frost (1865-1950),
Julia Marlowe was an English-born American actress, who excelled
in performing roles in William Shakespeare's plays.
Wikipedia.
Mantua: Paget/Lee,
Ariadne in Mantua: A Romance in
Five Acts (1903). Cary says "Miss Jewett ardently
but unsuccessfully urged Miss Marlowe to produce and play in
Miss Paget's
Ariadne in Mantua."
He also notes that "the travelers did
not find Miss Paget in when they called, but Miss McCracken did
meet her later in England."
Mrs Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by Colby College Special
Collections, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1. Richard Cary included his
transcription in
Sarah Orne Jewett Letters.
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller,
Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Emma Collyer Hosmer*
Saturday
5
Thunderbolt Hill
[ 12 July 1907 ]*
My dear Mrs Hosmer:
We depend upon a visit from you tomorrow,
Sunday. Pray come as early as you find it convenient and stay as
late.
Your father seems very well; in good
condition for his European visit.
Mifs Jewett* sends her good wishes with mine.
Most truly yours
Annie Fields.
Notes
Hosmer:
Emma Collyer Hosmer (1851-1927) was the
daughter of Robert Collyer. See
Key to Correspondents.
1907: A slight problem with dating this letter is
that 12 July 1907 fell on a Friday. As the accompanying envelope
seems strongly associated with the letter, I have assumed Fields
erred in her date.
With this letter is an envelope addressed to:
"Mrs Hosmer. Care of Dr. Collyer.
The Delphine,
East Gloucester, Mass
tts". It was
cancelled in Manchester, MA, on 12 July 1907; on the reverse a
"received" cancellation is dated 13 July 1907. Apparently
in different ink and a different hand, in the upper left, is
written: "From Mrs James T Fields also from Sarah Orne Jewett".
The numeral 5 in the upper right corner
probably is in another hand.
Mfs Jewett: Sarah Orne Jewett. See
Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New
England Maine Women Writers Collection, Sarah Orne Jewett
Correspondence Box 3 Folder 199. Transcription and notes by
Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Alice Meynell
Manchester by the Sea Mass
ts
July 13
th
[
1907 ]*
[ Begin letterhead ]
South Berwick, Maine
[ End letterhead ]
My very dear M
rs Meynell
I have had your dear
mid-winter letter in my hand many a time, and I have had the
thought of you often and* often in my heart. We were enchanted
by the thought that perhaps you would come [ over
corrected
] this autumn and I meant to say at once 'Oh
do* come
earlier, before the summer ends, and come to Manchester and to
Berwick where you shall see my old and dear village, and all
[ Page 2 ]
the riverside country toward the sea!' We really
long to
see you again, we are ready to make any offers of sea and shore
between us, A.F.* and I and to plead [ any
corrected ? ]
desperate excuses of your only knowing [ the
corrected ]
weather in New England, to get you back --
I was disappointed not to see little Miss M
cCracken*
--
She
wrote
great letters of delight about your kindness and friendliness to
her and to Miss Marlowe* but I wished to ask things and to hear
more of you. Do you know, that after playing
[ Page 3 ]
for two weeks in New York those two friends were going to start
off at once again for
Italy! [Their
corrected ]
hearts were set upon it from the first. I recommended Paris and
the Comédie Française !! but they will not be in season [ unless
corrected ] they come back later ^in autumn^ than ^a
busy^ player can -- I always believe in
misfits: people
dont get suited with their bodies, and it is really funny that
such a brave adventurous nature as Miss M
cCracken's
should have got into a small body with a timid voice. Usually
the little persons get into giants clothes of bodies: it isn't
[ Page 4 ]
so often that the other thing happens. It makes a good deal of
trouble! If you ever fall upon her book "Women in America" I am
sure you will think of this with a moment's deep amusement. It
is a very good book and ought to be better known. I shall send
it to you if she was too modest to give it --
You will like to know that our dear Mrs.
Fields seems better this summer than for a long time. She is
pretty lame still, poor dear [ friend
? ], but
She
is wonderfully well. I have just come here after being away a
month nearly = much longer than usual! but I have come back
feeling much better{.}
[ Up the left margin and across the top
margin of page 1 ]
{This is only the}* beginning of what I wish to write but I can
at least send a word of unforgetting affection; and thank you
for many things; for your dear hospitality to the two strangers
lately, you could not know how much it meant to them --
yours ever most sincerely
S. O. Jewett
Notes
1907: This date is not certain. Jewett and
Fields corresponded with Meynell during this year, and, as the
note on Miss Marlowe indicates, there is reason to believe this
letter, like that of Jewett to Elizabeth McCracken, tentatively
dated Summer 1907, are from the same year. See also Fields to
Meynell of 14 March, probably in 1897.
and: In this letter, Jewett usually writes "a"
with a tail for "and." I have rendered all of these as "and."
do: Jewett underlines this word twice.
A. F.: Annie Adams Fields. See
Key
to Correspondents.
Miss McCracken: Elizabeth
McCracken. Her book
The Women of America, appeared in
1904. See
Key
to Correspondents.
Miss Marlowe:
Julia Marlowe is the stage name of Sarah
Frances Frost (1865-1960); she was a Shakespearean actor.
McCracken published an article, "Julia Marlow" in
Century
Magazine (November 1906), pp. 46-55. In which
summer Marlowe traveled in Italy with McCracken has not been
established with certainty; Charles Edward Russell, in
Julia
Marlowe:
Her
Life
and Art, notes that she spent part of the summer of 1908
in Franzenbad, Bohemia (p. 451). Further, Russell
indicates that Marlowe was on tour in England beginning in the
spring of 1907, though the date of her return to the United
States is not given (pp. 426-50).
Comédie Française:
The Comédie-Française is a French state
theater in Paris.
She: This word may not be capitalized, and it may
be underlined twice.
only the: Uncharacteristically, Jewett seems to
have left out or implied a number of words here, and I have
filled in what I believe she meant to write.
This manuscript is held by the Greatham Library, in West Sussex,
UK, owned by Oliver Hawkins, great grandson of Alice
Meynell. A copy has been provided by independent scholar
and editor of
The Selected Letters of Alice Meynell,
Damian Atkinson. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Julia Ward Howe
Manchester by Sea
July 17th
[ 1907 ]*
Dearest Mrs. Howe
I have thought of you so many times and*
wished to write to you. So many things have made me think of
you; news of those who have gone and left us, and last of all,
your dear friend and mine, Mrs. Agassiz!* How often it has made
me happy to see you together and to be where you both were! I am
rich and happy in such dear and beautiful memories; this makes
me
[ Page 2 ]
understand how many delightful things come into your mind
whenever you remember those [ most
corrected ] kind and
loving and delightful friend{s}. " --
They are all gone into
a world of light ="* how often we must say that to
ourselves: but I think as I write that it ought to make you very
happy to know how much pride and pleasure and delight you have
given to these friends who have gone, and what
you have
been to the ones who may have a had a lovely patience with
[ Page 3 ]
the dull and thoughtless but who knew so well the difference,
when they had wit and genius and an understanding heart to count
upon!
Mary* and I are here just now with Rose Lamb,
also Brother Robert Collyer is now with us. [
deletion ]
He preached a good sermon last Sunday upon the length and
breadth and height of it being equal and doors being open all
ways! He sails for England on the 6
th ( "not
going to call it a last visit; said
that too
[ Page 4 ]
many times!"* = Since I wrote the last word all the day has gone
but I must finish this page and put my letter in the post
=
Brother Robert asked me to give you his
kind regards but
I cant underscore the two words to give them all the
affectionate emphasis that he did.
Before he came Mary and I had been sailing
the seas eastward, taking eight days to go from Portsmouth to
North East Harbour -- I saw my dear Pointed Firs and got quite
clear of a second bad pull of [ influenza
corrected ]
that had been pulling me down for a month.
We were great sailors and when the winds were light [ we
corrected
] went in a small boat up the rivers and about the bays
[ Page 5 ]
-- I felt sometimes as if all my old power of enjoyment had come
back again.
I saw Mrs. Bell* at York since then,
very
well in spite of [ house
? ] being struck by lightning!
-- the house was damaged a little ^[ the last time
?
]^ but it seemed as if the actual thing were not half so
bad as her dread of it and "Minnie's{"} all these years -- It is
a long time since Mrs. Bell has looked so well, and as if the
anxieties of last year had gone like shadows -- She was so
serene and full of delightful things to tell her listeners, as
always.
Mrs Fields* asks me to give you her love and
a message of love and sympathy to Mrs. Hall* if she is
[ Page 6 ]
with you -- in which I should like to join -- I cannot feel so
near to you without feeling a sense of nearness to her --
through you and Laura* too -- I hope that you are keeping well
and I thank you so much for my share of your dear letter that
came longer ago than I like to remember -- a month at least, and
since then you have gone out of town to the green fields --
Yours always with true and proud affection
and many loving wishes
Sarah
Notes
1907: This date is confirmed by Jewett's reference to the
death of Elizabeth Agassiz. See note below.
and: Sometimes in this letter, Jewett writes "a" with a
long tail for "and." I give these as "and."
Agassiz: Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz died on 27 June
1907. Key to Correspondents.
world of light: Henry Vaughan (1622-1695) was a
Welsh mystical poet who wrote in English. "They are all gone
into a world of Light!" appears in Silex Scintillans
(1655).
Mary ... Rose Lamb ... Brother Robert Collyer: For
Mary Rice Jewett, Lamb and Collyer, see Key to Correspondents.
times!: Jewett's quotation marks seem clear, if not
where expected.
Mrs. Bell: Helen Choate Bell, and her sister Miriam
(Minnie) Pratt. Key to Correspondents.
Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Hall: Florence Marion Howe Hall (1845-1922).
She and Laura Richards were two of Julia Ward Howe's three
daughters. Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743.1
Sarah Orne Jewett Additional Correspondence II. Letters from
Sarah Orne Jewett, Box 4 (119).
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Louisa Loring Dresel to Sarah Orne Jewett
July 19.
1907.*
Dear S.
This is "Aunt Jot's."* I made this photograph
and another and Marianne* had them printed in Germany and I gave
them to "Aunt Jot".
(Turn over please)
[ Page 2 ]
It was
so nice to see you yesterday, and an especial
pleasure to see your sister.* Please tell her so, from me.
Yours
(with affection)
L. L. D.
Notes
1907: This note is written on a postcard of a Dresel
photograph of a house, as explained in the text. The photo is
labeled "Annisquam, Mass." The card is addressed to Jewett in
South Berwick and was canceled in Gloucester, MA on 29 July
1907. Dresel begins the note below the photograph and
continues it in the message space on the other side.
"Aunt Jot's": This person's identify is not yet known.
Marianne: Marianne Theresia Brockhaus. See Key to
Correspondents.
sister: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to
Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters
to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Dresel, Louisa Loring. 2 letters;
1892-1907., 1892-1907. bMS Am 1743 (50).
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 Houghton Mifflin & Co.
South Berwick. Maine
23d July
[ 1907 ]*
Messrs. Houghton Mifflin & Co.
Gentlemen
Will you please change the address of the
copy of the
Atlantic Monthly which has been sent by me
to Madame Blanc Bentzon* Meudon France -- to Mifs Grace
King
Couvent St. Maur
12 rue de l'Abbé Grégoire
Paris
to end this year's subscription only --
unless I give directions to the contrary? --------
I have lately been 'coasting,' eastward in
a friend's boat, and
[ Page 2 ]
when I was shopping for stories at Loring, Short & Harmon's
in Portland,* (that excellent depot of supplies for idle summer
readers!) I found a cheap Crowell & Co. edition for the
first time, and was much interested. Mr. Harmon and Mr. Stevens
two members of the firm, told me that they wished there might be
a [ 50
corrected ] cent copy of the
Pointed Firs
bound* of that sort; they could do well with it. I have
remembered to tell you, because if all negotiations
[ Page 3 ]
with Crowell & Co ^ (Perhaps it is "converted" enough for
the purpose?) ^ are finished, it might be done by the House
itself for another season.
The
Tory Lover
really looked very well. I had asked to have the dedication page
left out, but I found it was forgotten. Please do this in
any future printings. If the page cannot be left blank I can
send another ^inscription^ which should have been used at first.
Could we arrange at this late day a "new
edition" of
Betty Leicester for the holidays? I could
give you some pretty photographs of the river &c four
[ Page 4 ]
or five, or more to use as half=tone ^or photogravure^ '
illustrations'.
The
book
has
done
so well [ these ]* last two or three years that a little lift as
a 'Christmas book{'} -- using the same plates of course -- might
not be unwise -- to come out in Oct
r or early November.
With kind [ regards corrected ]
always
Sincerely yours
S. O. Jewett
Notes
1907: In the upper left corner are stamps over part
of the text. One stamp is red, a box with four department
names: Firm, Editorial, Publishing, Publicity. The first
of these is checked. Last in the box is "Answered by" and
is filled in with initials, possibly F.J.M. The second is
a date stamp in purple ink, 24 July 1907.
Two holes are punched in the top of the page.
A line is drawn in ink through the first
paragraph down diagonally from right to left. At the top of this
line is a note: "noted 7/25/T.S.P." The initials are
difficult; this is a guess.
Madame Blanc Bentzon: Marie Thérèse de Solms Blanc.
See
Key to Correspondents. The occasion
of this letter is the death of Madame Blanc on 5 February
1907. Jewett is transferring her gift subscription of
Atlantic
from Madame Blanc to Grace King.
Grace King: Richard Cary writes that "
Grace Elizabeth King (1852-1932) was a
writer of local color stories of Creole life in New Orleans. She
recreates her warm association with Madame Blanc in
Memories
of a Southern Woman of Letters (New York, 1932). While
down South during her 1897 sojourn in the United States, Madame
Blanc stayed at Miss King's home. Miss King lived in the same
house as Madame Blanc in Meudon during the last few months of
her life."
Loring, Short & Harmon's in Portland: A major
book and stationary store in the Lancaster
Building in Portland, ME. Jewett is likely to have met
Charles Cobb Harmon (1846-1923), who
became president of the firm. An Edward Stevens became a buyer
for the firm, but whether this is the person Jewett met is not
yet known.
See Louis C. Hatch,
Maine: A History. v 4, pp.
88-9.
cheap Crowell & Co. edition: Thomas Young
Crowell (1836-1915) founded
Thomas Y. Crowell Company and began
publishing books in 1876.
Pointed Firs bound: Jewett's
The Country
of the Pointed Firs (1896). The word "bound" is
underlined twice.
Tory Lover: Jewett's
The Tory Lover (1901).
The novels was dedicated to T.J.E., Jewett's nephew Theodore
Jewett Eastman. See
Key to Correspondents. Whether Houghton
Mifflin honored Jewett's request is not yet known. All editions
the editor has seen include the dedication as in the first
edition.
Betty Leicester: Jewett's 1890 novel "for
girls."
None of the three books Jewett inquires about
were issued in new or paperback editions before Jewett's death
in 1909.
these: Jewett has superimposed "this" and
"these." Her final intention is not certain.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University in Houghton Mifflin Company correspondence
and records, 1832-1944, Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 68
letters from; 1870-1907 and [n.d.]. MS Am 1925 (962).
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Louisa Dresel
South Berwick, Maine
Monday afternoon [Summer 1907]
My dear Loulie:
I cannot tell if I wrote you a
letter that I meant to write or whether I waited -- three
weeks ago -- thinking as I did about some other letters, that
I should get it written on a foggy day at sea, or in some nice
Maine harbour. I was just going from Kittery to Northeast
Harbour* but it took eight days to do it! When there were "light
airs,"
as the old log books say, we took the first boat and went
up the rivers, and were on deck, or puffing off in this
fashion all the time. It was truly delightful. I had really
been pretty ill with that last attack of influenza -- grippe
-- for a month, and had run way down but I began at
once to run up in good sea weather and had a delightful visit
after we got to Northeast at the Wheelwrights. You were my
first younger friend and I don't doubt led the way to my
enjoying Mary Wheelwright1 a good deal: before you,
my friends had nearly always been older. I like her and her
family yacht the Hesper,* which-who sails like a
swallow. I don't like to joggle on a steam boat half so well
as to sail free.
I should like to make you see a
picture of Christmas Cove and all the minor coves and harbours
of Boothbay where I saw my dear old Mrs. Murray again after
six years.* It is a beautiful coast to follow slowly in and
out. One might give up the whole summer to it and not get
quite to Eastport or Campobello.
I was sorry to miss you the day I
left Manchester. Now I am going back on Friday and you might
come over to church on Sunday and hear Dr. Collyer2
who preaches earlier this year because he goes soon to
England. Do you remember driving me to dear Mrs. Cabot's door
last summer, the last August Sunday, where alas! we never can
go again to find her?3 I left my umbrella in the
wagon and you had to bring it back. Mrs. Trimble was there --
but this reminds me that I ought to write to that dear friend!
Thank you for wishing that I could
come to stay with you, dear Loulie. I have been very careful
about making any plans for visits this summer so as to be free
to be either here or at Manchester -- whichever seems best.
(My sister was on the Hesper with me so that I was
practically at home!) But when I am at Manchester in August we
can talk about it. I should like to have a good day with you,
at any rate, and that we can be pretty sure of. Will you give
me Marianne's address?* I have had some most kind and friendly
cards from her and I wish to speak back. The old garden here
looked quite beautiful when we came back. I like
to
think
that
you
know
it by sight.
Yours very affectionately,
S. O. J.
Cary's Notes
1Mary Cabot
Wheelwright (1878-1958) was the only daughter of Sarah Perkins
Cabot and Andrew Cunningham Wheelwright of Boston and
Northeast Harbor. Her deepest interest revolved around the
Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and
the South End Music School, Boston, both of which she helped
found and direct. See Jewett's letters to Mrs. Wheelwright in
Fields, Letters, 205, 216, 221.
2Collyer spoke
familiarly of dropping in at "148" in his letters to Jewett:
occasionally called her "Lassie" in salutation; once signed
himself "Brother or Father or Grandpa Collyer."
3Susan Burley Cabot died
on March 24, 1907.
Editor's Notes
Kittery to Northeast Harbor: Kittery, ME, is just
across the state line, north of Portsmouth, NH.
Northeast Harbor, ME is on Mt. Desert Island.
Christmas Cove: Christmas Cove is a coastal
village in South
Bristol, ME., east of Brunswick and of Boothbay.
Mrs. Murray: The identity of Mrs. Murray,
possibly of Boothbay, remains unknown.
Mrs. Trimble: The identity of the Mrs. Trimble
is as yet unknown. In Sarah Orne Jewett to Caroline
Jewett Eastman, December 16-20, 1895, Jewett refer to Mrs.
Cabot's Mrs. Trimble, suggesting that Mrs. Trimble worked in
Susan Burley Cabot's household.
Marianne's address: Marianne Theresia Brockhaus.
See Key
to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton
Library, Harvard University, MS Am 1743 (50). This
transcription by Richard Cary appeared originally in "Jewett
to Dresel: 33 Letters," Colby Library Quarterly 7:1
(March 1975), 13-49, which gave permission to reprint it
here. Notes are by Cary, with additions by Terry Heller,
Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
Tuesday Eveg --
[ Summer 1907 ]*
Dearest -- very tired & going to bed but not without saying
a bit of a 'thank ye' for your dear note and the letters
enclosed{.} How good is Vernon Lee's* -- Dont you hope that dear
E.E's* new venture [ may
corrected ] prove fortunate!
By the way, I am sorry we forgot all about Mrs. John Lane.* It
would have been decent to send cards, but some devil drove the
whole matter out of my head --
I shall look for you next on Saturday -- and I do
[ Page 2 ]
not wish you to forget the meeting in Quincy on the 25
th
-- Now again to bed! O do not forget two nice black plumes for a
hat here which are wasting their sweetness --
By the way -- the Charles Lowell book*
is beautiful when you come to the letters. The little Life lacks
something in the making up. It is
[ Page 3 ]
saddening which he never was and no good book should ever be.
The letters redeem this and it
is a good book --
I dimly remember the portrait of V.P. of which you speak. May it
not be in some of early books which you are [ likely
corrected
] to have.
This is Wed
y dear and my
love is flowing on to you, as ever, this morning
[ Page 4 ]
I was really too tired to finish, even this note. I went
in the P.M. to say good bye to Olive L* -- [ She
? ]
returns to C. House today after a good stay in town.and [ after
? ] to see sister Sarah* -- whose note to you was a model
!! Now, I shall surely expect you and Mary *Sat
y
-- for I think you said
she -- had an engagement
at 10 a.m. [ Tuesday
? ]
Goodbye dear
[
Down the right margin of page 4 ]
O thanks about the tea.
[
Down the left margin of page 4 ]
and thanks again.
[
Up the left margin of page 1 ]
The cherry trees are in blossom
[ Up the right margin of page 1
]
all ready for you
Notes
1907: This date is based upon Fields mentioning
Life
and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell (1907).
Vernon Lee's: Violet Paget. Key to
Correspondents. Below, Fields calls her V.P.
E.E.'s: Probably Ellen Emerson. Key to Correspondents.
During this year, she was looking for a new cook.
John Lane: Probably this is British publisher, John Lane
(1854-1925). He married American author Annie Eichberg
King (1856-1927), daughter of Boston violinist and composer,
Julius Eichberg (1824-1893). Julius Eichberg was a close
friend of Jewett correspondent Celia Thaxter. Wikipedia.
Charles Lowell book:
Life and Letters of Charles
Russell Lowell (1907) edited by Edward Waldo Emerson. A
University of South Carolina Press description of this book says
of the Civil War Union officer: "A native Bostonian, Charles
Russell Lowell (1835-1864) was first in the Harvard class of
1854. He joined the Union ranks a fervent abolitionist and
fought with near-reckless zeal until his death in battle at
Cedar Creek, Virginia, in October 1864." He was a nephew
of American author and Jewett correspondent, James Russell
Lowell.
Olive L.: This person has not yet been identified.
sister Sarah: Probably Fields's sister, Sarah
Holland. See Fields in Key to Correspondents.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Sarah Orne Jewett Additional
Correspondence, 100 letters from Annie Adams Fields, bMS Am
1743.1 Box 1, Item 33.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
Friday Evg --
[ Summer 1907 ]*
It does [ seem
corrected ] a long time now to wait until
Monday P.M.! I have just finished Lowell's ( C. R. Lowell's)*
young life{,} reading it over and over, as I want to get every
note and the lightest word. What an exquisite picture that is of
the two young natures sitting together -- one of the few times
they
could sit together! But the
[ Page 2 ]
bitter sadness of it [ is
corrected ] almost unbearable
even today -- I am so glad you had a word with W.H.* about it --
after all nothing would be gained by more words perhaps. He was
so young -- only 29 [
two slanted lines, perhaps to mark a
paragraph's end ]
I.H.A.* has just telephoned to say would we have luncheon with
her next week -- we three -- I told her after
[ Page 3 ]
dear R.C.* had gone we would be much pleased -- you have not
considered the great question as to when we shall have Josie
& K. or about E.E.H. & E for Wednesday! but no matter! I
will write to Mr. Hale tonight -- also to G. O. K -- and ask
them to luncheon Tuesday --.
O yes! the good rain came in the night, but today it has
[ Page 4 ]
only been dark & damp and at times even slightly cold --
I pray you dear not to go digging in the earth, you & Mary*
while it is so damp. You will be sure to have rheumatism -- and
it is worse than unnecessary to get that -- you were so lame
when you were here last -- R. is neither useful nor ornamental
and what is the fate of [ Sarah
? ] !
Somehow that Will makes [ me
corrected
] sad! Such a hefty culmination to a Life that had [ elements
corrected
] of greatness and affection. We cared for her too much not to
be
[ Up the left margin of page 1 ]
hurt,
hurt. I don't care who she left it to if she
had only
[
Up the left margin of page 3 ]
left it generously to those who needed{.}
[
Up the right margin of page 3 ]
There is no compensation now, for
her lack of
[
Down the left margin of page 4 ]
sympathy with our charities -- Alas! alas! your A.
Notes
1907: This date is based upon Fields mentioning
Life
and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell (1907).
C. R. Lowell's:
Life and Letters of Charles
Russell Lowell (1907) edited by Edward Waldo Emerson. A
University of South Carolina Press description of this book says
of the Civil War Union officer: "A native Bostonian, Charles
Russell Lowell (1835-1864) was first in the Harvard class of
1854. He joined the Union ranks a fervent abolitionist and
fought with near-reckless zeal until his death in battle at
Cedar Creek, Virginia, in October 1864." He was a nephew
of American author and Jewett correspondent, James Russell
Lowell.
W.H.: William Dean Howells.Key to Correspondents.
I.H.A.: Ida Higginson Agassiz. Key to
Correspondents.
R.C.: Robert Collyer. Key to Correspondents.
Josie & K.: Josie Dexter is Josephine Anna
Moore (1846-1937), who was the second wife of Chicago lawyer
Wirt Dexter (1832-1890). She returned to her Boston home after
her husband's death, where she died, though she was buried with
him in Chicago.
"K." is mentioned in a number of Fields's
letters, but her identity remains unknown.
E.E.H. & E: Edward Everett Hale and Ellen Hale. Key
to Correspondents.
G.O.K: Presumably this is the K mentioned in
connection with Josie Dexter. Having more initials has not
yet aided in identifying this person.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Sarah Orne Jewett Additional
Correspondence, 100 letters from Annie Adams Fields, bMS Am
1743.1 Box 1, Item 33.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Sarah Cabot Wheelwright
Sunday
[ Summer 1907 ]*
South Berwick, Maine
My dear Sarah
Your letter was so kind and delightful. I love to hear of
the Hesper's flying to Lubec* like a swallow and I only
wish that you and I had been aboard. I did so wish to go! --
but it also sounded very comfy to hear of you two (2) being at
home together after so much many goings-on
-- I should have liked a piece of that quietness just then --
too and I would have gone down by the boat house and picked up
little stones and played all day and not bothered you a bit!
Dear old Doctor Collyer* made his summer visit at Manchester,
and my sister Mary* was there too and he preached a noble
sermon in the little church about the Follies of Solomon that
led him to thinking All is Vanity* -- it was only
because with all his wisdom, he got naughty and self indulgent
and didn't use life in the right way: and so what he said then
wasn't true! but you must fill into this bad
sentence a splendid observation of the glories of Solomon, and
an appeal to the 'better nature' of a devout little
worshipping congregation. He sang the hymns like a boy, dear
old fellow, and I believed every word he said.
I tried to do a good many things that involved driving that
week or ten days but I have got all w right [ so
transcribed ] again. Now and [ so transcribed ]
my sister and I are going to Newport on Tuesday -- to see her
friend and mine, Minnie Appleton.* Who by the way wrote me
that she knew Miss Ellis,* so that I hope to see her. We come
back at the end of the week. Mrs. Bradley* and some others
come next week. Please let me know when you get near the
time for moving -- for I should not wish to be away, for as
the evenings grow long I am apt to think of Mrs. Fields* if I
find she is alone at Manchester. I would do anything for
you about the Rockinghams* but I think you will only need to
send a note or telegram a little while before, The hotel is
pretty large and seldom gets over full, But if you wish for
special rooms and I can do anything just speak and say what it
is. Oh how I should love to have every one of you here, but
the expresses don't stop in summer as they do in winter and it
would make you trouble. If anything happens to prevent you
there why you must come down later --
With dearest love to all
Sarah
I loved what you said about the stories, dear.
Notes
Summer 1907: In her Summer 1907 letter to
Louisa Dresel, Jewett writes of expecting an early summer
visit from Dr. Collyer.
Hesper ... Lubec: Lubec is a port located just
south of Eastport, Maine, in Washington County. The
Wheelwrights based their yacht, the Hesper, at Sutton
Island, near Mt. Desert, where Acadia National Park is
today. It appears that Mr. Wheelwright has taken the
yacht to Lubec, near Grand Manan Island, another place Jewett
enjoyed visiting.
Collyer: Dr. Robert Collyer. See Key
to Correspondents.
sister Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key
to Correspondents.
All is Vanity: See the Bible, Ecclesiastes
1:14: "I have seen everything that is done under the
sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind."
Newport ... Minnie Appleton ... Miss Ellis:
Presumably
Jewett
refers
to
Mary
Worthen Appleton (12 May 1886 - 15 April 1965), Newport, RI,
a supporter of local arts and philanthropy, and a close
friend was Helen Ellis of Newport (died c. 15 November 1940).
Mrs. Bradley: Mrs. Bradley may be American
painter Susan Hinckley Bradley (1851-1929). Wikipedia.
Rockinghams:
Wikipedia
says: The Rockingham Hotel is a historic hotel building in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire." Opened in 1833,
it "was added to the National Register of Historic Places in
1982."
It seems clear that the Wheelwrights are
planning a stop in Portsmouth upon returning home from Sutton's
Island, and that Jewett hopes to see them, perhaps even have
them as guests at her home in nearby South Berwick.
Mrs. Fields: Annie Fields. See Key
to Correspondents.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Sarah Cabot Wheelwright
Manchester
Friday
[July 1907]*
Dearest Sarah
It was such a joy to get your letter this morning. On
Tuesday I was in town and 'fetched a compass' come by Mount
Vernon Street* to see if your house was open and when it was
and looked so full of sunshine I ran in hoping to find you
looking after it before you went to New York [!] [ so
transcribed]
Then I really did feel consoled for disappointment because
it was a half-dog-day weather with a gusty wind that one could
ill bear in the country and not at all in town streets.
= [ so transcribed] We are only to be here
until Wednesday the 17th{.} Then go to 148 and stay until
Friday when I hope that A. F.* will be ready to go to South
Berwick with me -- perhaps she wont= [ so transcribed]
but
I
think
that
getting
away from Manchester is quite enough at once, and I don't wish
to have her add the getting settled in town to it at once
-- the women can go on without her for awhile and she can put
her own touch to things just as well a fortnight later --
These are great and high philosophies....
I came here last Saturday and went to Boston on Wednde
Tuesday{.} I brought Sally Norton down with me for two or
three days. She goes home this afternoon. I am afraid
that we shall miss seeing dear Mary* here -- To think of the
Hesper!* -- but I am so glad that you were not far from
Rockland* and did not have a long worry of drifting -- I am
quite disabled when I try to write because I wish to just sit
down with you both and talk with you both and talk about
everything -- You wouldn't by any chance have to come to town
on Thursday the 18th? -- !
Mrs. Fields sends you her love and wishes me to tell you
that she has loved the little basket on her table all
summer since I brought it. she was so sorry that she could she
was not at the house when you went there (and I too)
Good bye dear with love from
S. O. J.
I wonder if Miss Ellis would know if Mary Appleton* has come
back{.} I quite long to have her know you -- she has had a
hard time and does not find life easy yet. 'Life' isn't
what one may frankly call easy -- but she has read that
difficult book of readjustment this last year or so -- You
would like Codman house* in its altered -- peculiar state I
think.
Notes
July 1907: The 17th falls on a Wednesday in October
1906 and in July 1907. In another summer 1907 letter to
Sarah Cabot Wheelwright, Jewett indicates that she hopes to see
Miss Ellis when visiting Mary Appleton in Newport.
Mt. Vernon St.: 73 Mt. Vernon Street,
Boston -- home of the Wheelwrights from 1893 until Mary's
death in 1958.
A. F.: Annie Fields. See Key
to Correspondents.
Hesper: The Wheelwright's yacht at their summer
home on Sutton Island, ME.
Rockland: Fishing and commercial city located on
Penobscot Bay. By sea, it is roughly 35 miles from
Sutton Island.
Miss Ellis ... Mary Appleton: >Mary Worthen
Appleton (12 May 1886 - 15 April 1965), Newport, RI, supported
local arts and philanthropy. For example, she and Helen
Ellis (died c. 15 November 1940) served on the board of the
Newport Hospital around 1910 and were members of the Newport
Historical Society.
According to Appleton's
Annual
Cyclopedia
and
Register
of
Important Events for 1899 (pp. 574-6), Appleton
was the daughter of William Henry Appleton (1814-1899) who,
with his father, founded the New York publishing firm, D.
Appleton & Co. However, an Appleton
genealogy
web
site lists Mary as the daughter of his son, William
Worthen Appleton, which better fits her life dates.
Though the reasons for this have not been
established, Helen Ellis apparently was very close to the
Appleton family. A Newport (RI) Mercury story
(22 November 1940, p. 2) following her death indicates that in
her will Ellis left property to Mary's sister, Margaret
Sargent Appleton, as well as to Mary's father and
brother. She also left furniture items to Mary Catherine
Wheelwright, who, presumably, is Mary Cabot Wheelwright.
Codman House: The Codman
House, in Lincoln, Massachusetts, is presently owned and
maintained by Historic New England. The house was purchased
and completely renovated by Ogden Codman, Jr. from 1888 to
1900.
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. Annotation is by Stoddart,
supplemented where appropriate by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Louisa Loring Dresel to Sarah Orne Jewett.
[ 20 July 1907 ]*
It was
so nice to see you yesterday, and an especial
pleasure to see your sister. Please tell her so, from me.
Yours
(with affection)
L. L. D.
Note
The manuscript of this postcard is held by the Houghton
Library, Harvard University, MS Am 1743, Sarah Orne Jewett
Correspondence (Box 1, 50). The card is addressed to
Jewett in South Berwick and was cancelled on 20 July 1907 in
Gloucester, MA. Message and address appear on the same side.
Jewett's surviving sister was Mary Rice Jewett. See Key
to Correspondents.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Katharine Peabody Loring
Sunday, July 21 [ 1907 ]*
[ Begin letterhead]
South Berwick, Maine
[ End letterhead]
Dear Katharine
My pink mallows* are all in bloom, and I
thank you much. They make even more difference in the
garden than I thought they would, and I walk proudly by, and
today Mr. Frank Bartlett* came up with somebody from the
Harbour* and when he saw them he told me that [
his ?]
mallows weren't in bloom yet, whereupon I was prouder
still. We are rich
[ Page 2 ]
in hollyhocks too this year but so many things were
winter=killed* that the garden shows a difference -- almost all
the box* departed, big and little.
= I came home on Friday from Manchester in
all the heat and it was a hot week there so that I didn't get
any farther from the top of the hill* that Mrs. Howe's on the
Point,* and another day I went to Mrs. [Greeds
?].
And
to church to hear Dr. Collyer.* The day I came home I was
basking in the Beverly Station*
[ Page 3 ]
waiting for the 4.05 train to Portsmouth and read in the Beverly
Times about your lecture --* What a
good
Katharine! but I knew that beforehand, no one better! You
wouldn't think of starring it in the Provinces would you? for
the Berwick Womens Club* and then I could get a visit!!!
I find me wishing very much to see you as I
write dear K. in truth I hoped to see you this last week -- but
was disappointed. I am likely to get back to Manchester
within a fortnight or less.
[ Page 4 ]
Wouldn't it be funny if you went to
Stonehurst* to the Bryces this summer without me? You know what
fun we used to have{,} you and Louisa and S. Norton* and I.
There are so many things that I wish to tell
you and to talk about that I can only end my letter in
despair. I had a second attack of influenza for a month
and was way down hill, and then started off with my sister and
Mary Wheelwright in the beloved old Hesper and we took
eight
days to go from Portsmouth to Northeast Harbour.*
Stopping in nearly every cove: Which came near to making
me over new with sleeves quite in the fashion. but I am
now
[Written up the left margin and in
the top margin of page 1]
"a little past" again owing to the hot weather. This is
just the time that I have been at dear Mrs. Cabots these many
years, and I was with Mrs. Fields,* it seemed I
must go
up there and [
deleted word] find her and the house just
as I always did.
Goodbye dear -- this is no letter for an
answer and I hope to
[Written up the right margin near the top
of page 1]
see you soon with much love S.O.J.
[Written up the right margin near the
bottom of page 1]
and love to Louisa
Notes
1907: Jewett reports in this undated
letter that she has recently recovered from a severe attack of
influenza, that she has been sailing down east with the
Wheelwrights, and that she has heard Dr. Robert Collyer (See
Key
to Correspondents) preach the previous Sunday. These
events came together in 1907, making it likely that this letter
is from that year.
pink mallows: Jewett may mean
Malva
moschata, a pink-blooming perennial native to Europe
and southwest Asia. The roughly 30 inch plants produce
multiple, large, attractively scented blossoms through the
summer.
Mr. Frank Bartlett: This person has not been
identified. Which harbor Jewett refers to also is unknown.
winter=killed: Jewett writes her hyphen here to
appear as an equal sign. Annie Fields did this quite
often. See for example her
Diary of a
West Indian Island Tour.
box:
Buxus
sempervirens (common box), according to Wikipedia,
is a "popular ornamental plant in gardens, being particularly
valued for topiary and hedges because of its small leaves,
evergreen nature, tolerance of close shearing, and scented
foliage."
top of the hill: Jewett refers to Thunderbolt Hill,
the location of the Gambrel House of Annie Fields in Manchester,
MA.
Mrs. Howe's on the Point: Alice Greenwood (Mrs. George
Dudley) Howe, who maintained a home on Smith's Point in
Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. See
Key
to Correspondents.
Mrs. [Greeds?]: This spelling is uncertain, though
it definitely looks like Greed, Creed is a more likely
name. The person is unidentified.
Dr. Collyer: Unitarian minister, Dr. Robert
Collyer. See
Key
to Correspondents.
Beverly Station: The Loring family residence in 1907 was
in Beverly, MA. While waiting at the Beverly train
station, Jewett would have been near the Lorings.
Beverly Times ... your lecture:
The
Beverly, Massachusetts
Evening
Times was published 1893-1964. It is not yet
known what public lectures Loring may have been presenting in
1907.
Berwick Womens Club: Jewett and her sister, Mary,
were active members of the South Berwick Women's Club by about
1895. Little is known about the club's activities. Mary
Jewett seems to have presented a talk for the club,
"Recollections of Whittier," sometime after Sarah's death.
Blanchard reports that Julia Ward Howe made regular appearances
to speak at the local women's club (
Sarah Orne Jewett pp.
353-4).
Stonehurst ...the Bryces: Stonehurst Manor in North
Conway, NH, was a regular vacation destination for Jewett and
her friends. It was the home of Jewett's friend, Helen
Bigelow Merriman. According to "
The Story
of Stonehurst," a stay at the manor in 1907 would have
been a special event: "In the summer of 1907, while the
Merrimans were traveling in England, Stonehurst served as the
temporary British Embassy for the Viscount James Bryce, the
British ambassador to the United States. During that summer,
Stonehurst was at the center of international diplomatic
exchange, along with Bryce’s active and glamorous social life."
Louisa and S. Norton: Louisa Putnam Loring, Katharine's
sister, and Sara Norton. See
Key
to Correspondents.
my sister and Mary Wheelwright in the beloved old Hesper ...
Portsmouth to Northeast Harbour: Jewett reports on
this sailing trip to other correspondents. See for example
her letter to Louisa Dresel of Monday afternoon [
Summer 1907].
From
Portsmouth
NH
to
Northeast
Harbor, ME* along the Atlantic Coast is about 200 miles.
Mrs. Cabots ... Mrs. Fields: Susan Burley
Cabot and Annie Adams Fields. See
Key
to Correspondents. Mrs. Cabot died in March of 1907.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Beverly MA
Historical Society in the Loring Family Papers (1833-1943), MSS:
#002,
Series I. Letters to Katharine
Peabody Loring (1849-1943), Box 1, Folder 1, Undated
Letters, A-Z
. Transcription and notes by
Terry Heller, Coe College.
William Perry Fiske to Sarah Orne Jewett
July 25 1907*
My dear Sarah
I thought that right away, I would write you
after the telephone conversation with you on Sunday, for I did
not get the last part of it, but the busy days take one's time
so much that one can't always make connections. I wanted to send
greetings to Uncle Will* for I [ thot
so spelled ] he
might be with you over the birthday, from something Mary* wrote
from Manchester. I hope he did get round to you, however and is
bearing the honors well.
[
Page 2 ]
I got an idea that it was his 85th
but Frances* wrote about the 84th
birthday. Isn't it [ surprizing so spelled ] how
well he is, and if it were not for his deafness, he would
'be real smart.' We are real brisk up here now for
everyone has begun on [ tea's so spelled ] and
neighborhood functions. Very few people at our end of town
have gone away so they ^are^ taking advantage of the
visiting friends to do their prettiest.
Last night I went with the other
members over to the Watkins'* for our evening and we had a
very pleasant time. Many outings are being planned so that
the days
[ Page 3 ]
are filled. Isnt it quite giddy in our
staid [ village.? so it appears ]
I am in the midst of getting my charge*
away from the Hospital to the country and she has set on
Saturday to make the pilgrimage much to my regret, but it
will be a relief to have her away so I can see her so
often. The book* was completed and I sent you a
copy, of the poems many are mere trash but once in a while
you can get some gleam of what might have been --
What a pleasure it must have been to
have seen Mr Collyer at the Fields,* and to think of his
going over to his old home
[ Page 4 ]
to help dedicate the library.
Wouldn't it be a pleasant thing to be nearby to hear the
good things that will be offered{?}
It is such a pleasure to know of the
good summer you have had and I sincerely hope there will
be more of it. Mary* & the children go to York next
week and Abba the week following, so that I shall be relieved
of family duties !!
I must make a pilgrimage to see Susan
Perkins* at Little Boar's Head, and will swing round and
see you if you are at home sometime soon. Give Mary my
best love and to you also.
Affy
Will
Notes
Uncle Will: Fiske's uncle, Dr. William Gilman Perry
turned 84 on 21 July 1907. Key to Correspondents. Find a
Grave.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. Key to Correspondents.
Frances ... Watkins': Frances may be Fanny Gilman,
a Jewett cousin about which little is yet known. See Helen
Williams Gilman in Key to Correspondents.
The Watkins family has not yet been
identified.
my charge: The identity of this person is not yet
known.
the book: The identity of this book is as yet not
known.
Collyer ... Fields ... library: Robert Collyer and Annie
Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
Collyer went to Yorkshire, UK, in July 1892
to dedicate the Robinson Library in Timble.
It seems somewhat odd that this memory was
shared at this time.
Mary ... Abba: In the U.S. Census of June
1900, these people were listed as sharing a household in
Concord, NH. Note that these dates are approximate.
Find a Grave presents some different and probably more accurate
dates.
William P. Fiske, head, born December 1853,
Abby Fiske, sister, April 1862,
John Fiske, brother, October 1864,
Mary L. Fiske, sister-in-law, April 1862,
Dorothy L. Fiske, niece, March 1889
Sarah T. Fiske, niece, July 1894.
Susan Perkins: Susan George Perkins. Key to
Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743 Box 2, Item
67 I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Cabot Wheelwright
South Berwick July 29
[ 1907 ]*
Sunday afternoon
My dear Mary
You were very good to write this
delightful letter about the cruise and* we read both the lines
an 'between the lines' with joy and eagerness. The North Haven
^post^ card brought back that charming spot and I could feel
myself going along again trying to get it by heart, and I am so
glad that you came west by Merchant's Row -- * in fact I do
not exactly stop at the turn offs from our course east
or west but look off down the reaches and out beyond the outer
islands as if I were there all the time. I have been liking our
cruise better
[ Page 2 ]
and better and thinking of it more and more: It really gave me
such a start that it seems as if any minute I might fall to
writing and making up islands to order as I made Green Island
and Poor Joanna's* in the old days! I was fairly homesick to get
to sea only yesterday when my sister and I took my dear old
uncle* along shore by York, and the new trolley line just opened
past Ogunquit, where we stopped for dinner, and round your
favorite Wells Bay back of the marshes to Kennebunk. I declared
my feelings when we had been looking at the blue sea (and white
caps!) for a few minutes and Mary* echoed my cry of home-
[ Page 3 ]
sickness and we sat wishing to be afloat, as you sat last autumn
when we went past York Long- Sands.* I looked off at Boon
Island*
at last as if I were an old acquaintance. When
you come again I mean to take you the same day's journey -- it
is really delightful. This long card is one of the Ogunquit
coves [ close
corrected ] by Mr. Woodburys* region and
his studio;* such a pretty unspoiled place (so far) except that
you do not see the prettiest bit of all from this picture, a
small curving beach where the waves break in from open sea --
the most charming
perfect curve of shore that I ever
saw.
I am going to Mrs
Fields's*
[ Page 4 ]
at Manchester tomorrow -- Miss Cochrane* who is coming over from
Rome for the rest of the summer was to be here now, but she has
been obliged to put off sailing for a steamer or two -- as she
was not well. Miss Lamb* is just leaving, and I am going to
start a [a
repeated ] week or so earlier than I expected
so that dear Mrs. Fields* will not be alone until "Jessie" comes
= I was wishing to write to your mother -- I wonder if she has
heard that the [ Parkman's*
so it appears ] are
coming right home? Perhaps they are at home already, for Frances
heard of her father's very serious illness. I had a hurried note
from her on Friday, and they were sailing within a few days from
Genoa. They will have had two good months or more and carried
out all plans save staying through August
[ Up the left margin and across the top
of page 4 ]
in Cortina --* whence she wrote = they would have had only a
week there. It will not be so easy to make plans for August here
but she will do it. I am so sorry for she loves her father
dearly and this may quite break up the old home.
________
I am so glad to hear of your father's good
[ saily for sailing ] and that your mother seemed
better. I miss you all except that it's next best thing to
think of you if I don't see you --
[ Up the left margin of page 2 ]
I shall write your mother soon -- but she is not to try to write
[ Up the left margin and across the top
margin of page 3 ]
letters to me until she feels stronger and just 'like' it.
Thank you again for the real pleasure of your dear letter.
Yours always
S. O. J.
Your cousin Mary* would send her love too -- and thanks for
the North Haven card{.}
Notes
1907: Associated with this letter is an envelope
addressed to Miss Mary C. Wheelwright, North East Harbour,
Maine, cancelled on July 29. The year is barely readable,
but Scott Stoddart believes it reads 1907, and I agree. On the
back, Jewett has written:
The junk box is delightful! I
"noted" every particular!
and: Jewett sometimes writes "and" as an "a"
with a long tail. I render these as "and."
Merchant's Row: Merchant Row is a channel
between Deer Isle and Isle Au Haut, southwest of Mt. Desert
Island.
Joanna's: Green Island and Joanna's Shell-heap
Island are fictional settings in Jewett's
The Country of the
Pointed Firs (1896).
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. Stoddart notes: "Captain
Joseph Cabot, a paternal grandfather of Sarah Wheelwright,
married Rebecca Orne in 1768. This makes Mary Rice Jewett and
Wheelwright distant cousins." Key to Correspondents.
uncle: Stoddart identifies this uncle as
Dr.
William Gilman Perry (1823-1910). Key to Correspondents.
Long-Sands: A beach 3 miles east of York, ME.
Boon Island: Wikipedia says this is a small, barren
island about 6 miles of the coast near York, ME, the location of
the Boon Island Light.
Woodbury's: Charles Woodbury. Key to
Correspondents.
studio: Jewett's punctuation here is uncertain. It appears
to be a period followed by a semicolon.
Cochrane: Jessie Cochrane. Key to Correspondents.
Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
the Parkman's: Frances Parker Parkman's father,
Cortlandt Parker, died on July 29, 1907, the date this letter
was composed. Her mother, Elizabeth Wolcott Stites had
died on January 1, 1907. Key to Correspondents.
Cortina: Stoddart identifies this as Cortina
d'Ampezzo, a leading summer and winter Alpine resort area in
northern Italy.
This letter is held by Colby College Special Collections,
Waterville, Maine: JEWE.1. A 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. New
transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Sarah Cabot Wheelwright
Manchester by Sea
Wednesday 7th Aug.t [1907]1
My dear Sarah
It is not because I do not think of you very often that I
have not written, but everyday brings its succession of little
hurries, and hours when one cannot write. And then I count
more and more upon the truth that we can 'think to' each other
when we are really friends much better and oftener than we can
write -- When they find out all about wireless telegraphs they
are going to find out how the little batteries in our heads
send messages -- and then we can do it by rule and not by
accident -- it is very nice now however, and we aren't called
up by strangers as we may be in those later and more
instructed days, -- You see that I am here, alone with Mrs,
Fields just now, though we had two young men for Sunday Mr,
Woodbury [Woodberry?] and Mr, Greenslet2
(who wrote for Mr. Lowell's Life last year)3 and
there was no end of talk about book affairs and especially
about book affairs and especially about Sicily -- Taormina
--
3 [so transcribed] where they had all three
been. I listened as if I had been there too having read
them -- and others -- Mrs. Fields had six weeks at Taormina
three years ago, and I know her point of view literally and
figuratively both. She seems pretty well -- but when I first
see her I am always shocked because she looks so little and so
frail -- She gets the fresh air and makes the house and this
dear hill a happy place for people who come, but she cares to
go out less and less. Alice Howe4 is just about the
same -- she has been over to luncheon within a few days and I
am just going to stay to have luncheon with her. She had a
sort of lumbago which made her quite pale last week and there
is a new fog horn on Baker's Island5 that she much
deplores. -- The thing I can tell you that you will care not
about is that I went to town on Friday and met Frances
Parkman. There was no 'Marconi' on the Canopic6
so that [she] was anxious all the way and met the news
of her father's death like a strange shock when she got here.
Her brother Colonel Parker7 was waiting for her and
they delayed the funeral which was a great comfort to her
heart. She is coming home today or tomorrow -- the boys
are going to Laura Richards' camp for the rest of the time,
and the rest of them are going to Rangeley Lakes8
the last of the week. I suppose that they will be near the
Wolcotts -- 9 and it is the best of plans F. wrote
that "Harry" would stay at Rangeley for two weeks straight on.
so that he will have almost the whole of the vacation they
planned at first as they meant to reach home at any rate on
the 5th of September. Mr, Parkman10 looked so
well and well rested and younger than he went away. My poor
Frances was very sad -- she loved her father dearly and she
hoped to be with him before he went. We could not have long to
talk -- she went right on to New York with her brother by the
one o'clock train, and Mr. Parkman with the two younger
children was to follow at night with the others -- and you
have had a new sorrow in these days -- 11 it
has been in my mind all the time I have been writing. I have
had a feeling that it would touch you closely. It's hard to
have people go when [they] take a piece of our lives
with them, I have sometimes felt as if it were I who died and
stopped and not they= "they are all gone into a world of
light" -- as Vaughan says (oh, that most beautiful poem!)12
but it leaves it darker here.
-- I have just been sitting and thinking about you
with my pen in my hand. I wish that I were nearer you,
we could be out in the Solace13 and yet we
needn't try to talk -- Helen Merriman14 wrote Mary
that you had given her a beautiful excursion in the Solace.
I keep thinking of that dear cruise, the
rememberance [so transcribed] of it is a joyful
possession. I wish you had been well enough to go out just
once, but then we did go last year, didn't we?
Are you better dear Sarah? I long to get one word from you to
say so, but don't don't make yourself write a
letter to me, ever, anymore than you would make
yourself talk when we are together.
Mrs. Fields and I are awaiting now for our friend Miss
Cochrane16 who is at last on the sea after many
delays. She will get in next week early to New York which is
tiresome -- she meant to come on the Canopic. I want you and
Mary to hear her play, and I may say, to know her! but I hope
she will still be here when you get back to this part of the
country. She goes on from here to Louisville where she has
aunts! Now I must say goodbye in a hurry! but with love,
and to Mr. Wheelwright and Mary]
Yours ever
S. O. J.
Notes
1 The notes below confirm that this letter was
written soon after the death of Frances Parker Parkman's father,
Cortlandt
Parker, on July 29, 1907. Parts of this letter were
included in Mrs. Annie Fields's
Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett
(1911). Her transcription follows this letter.
2 Mr. Woodberry and Mr. Greenslet (who wrote
Mr. Lowell's life last year): George E. Woodberry
(1855-1930) published Makers of Literature; being essays
on Shelley, Landor, Browning, Byron, Arnold, Coleridge,
Lowell, Whittier and Others in 1901.
Ferris Greenslet (1875-1959) was an editor
with a summer home in White Mountains, near Ossipee, also the
author of The Life of Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1908)
(See Cary Sarah Orne Jewett Letters p. 76).
Greenslet's biography of Lowell
appeared in 1905, James Russell Lowell, his Life and Work.
Note that Stoddart and Fields disagree in
their transcription of Woodberry / Woodbury, the latter
referring to Jewett's friend, Charles H. Woodbury. See Key
to Correspondents. Heller believes that Fields
more likely is correct.
3 Wikipedia
says: "Taormina is a small town on the east coast of the
island of Sicily, Italy, midway between Messina and Catania.
Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th
century."
4 this dear hill... Alice Howe:
The
Fields's
Gambrel
Cottage
sits
on Thunderbolt Hill in Manchester by the Sea, MA.
Alice Greenwood (Mrs. George
Dudley) Howe. See Key
to Correspondents.
5 Another of the Cranberry Islands off the coast
of Maine.
6 Wikipedia
says: "Guglielmo Marconi, ...(25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937)
was an Italian inventor and electrical engineer known for his
pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission and for
his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph
system."
Built in 1900 by Harland and Wolff of Belfast,
Ireland, the Canopic
was a 12,268 ton passenger liner for the White Star Line. It
was retired in 1925. The ship appears not to have had
wireless telegraph in 1907.
7 This is very likely
James
Parker (1854-1934): "Philippine Insurrection Congressional
Medal of Honor Recipient. He rose to Major General in the United
States Army. He was awarded the CMOH while a Lieutenant Colonel
in the 45th United States Volunteer Infantry, for action in
Vigan, Luzon, Philippine Islands on December 4, 1899. His
citation reads 'While in command of a small garrison repulsed a
savage night attack by overwhelming numbers of the enemy,
fighting at close quarters in the dark for several hours'."
8 Located in Maine and New Hampshire, these 6
stream-linked lakes form the basis of a large recreational
area.
Laura
Elizabeth Howe Richards (February 27, 1850 - January 14,
1943), of Gardiner, Maine, was the author of many volumes of
biography, poetry, and children's books, Richards was the
daughter of Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, abolitionist and founder
of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the
Blind. Her mother Julia Ward Howe,was author of
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic." According to the
biographical sketch at the Maine
Women
Writers
Collection, Richards and her husband, Henry, operated
Camp Merryweather, "a summer camp for boys on Great Pond in
Belgrade, Maine, which ran for more than thirty years,"
beginning in about 1900.
9 Stoddart suspects that Jewett has misspelled
the name, intending Charles
Hosmer
Walcott, a prominent Boston area lawyer, and, his wife,
Jessie McDermott Walcott, an illustrator of children's stories
and magazines. However, it seems likely Jewett refers to
relatives of Parkman's mother, Elizabeth Wolcott Stites.
The exact identity of the Wolcotts, however, remains unknown.
The Parkman's sons were: Henry Parkman
(1894 - 1958) and Francis Parkman (1898 - 1990).
10 Henry Parkman, of Boston, husband of Frances.
See Key
to Correspondents.
11 Wheelwright's aunt and a mutual friend, Susan
Burley Cabot, died on 24 March 1907. Also in recent
months, Wheelwright had lost a nephew, the chemist Samuel
Cabot IV (1850 - November 1906), son of Samuel Cabot III; and
a brother, Stephen Cabot (9 December 1826 - 23 November 1906).
See Key
to Correspondents.
12 Henry Vaughan (1622-1695) was a Welsh
mystical poet who wrote in English. The quoted line, which
Jewett altered slightly, appears in Silex Scintillans
(1655) and begins, "They are all gone into the world of light!
/ And I alone sit lingering here; / Their very memory is fair
and bright, / And my sad thoughts doth clear."
13 Jewett often was a guest on the
Wheelright family yacht, Solace, kept at Bar Harbor,
Mount Desert, Maine.
15 Helen Bigelow Merriman (1844-1933), artist
and author. "Mary" probably refers to Jewett's sister,
Mary Rice Jewett; when she refers to "Mary" in the next
paragraph, she almost certainly means Wheelwright's
daughter. See Key
to Correspondents.
16 Jessie Cochrane was a
talented amateur pianist from Louisville, Kentucky, who was a
frequent guest in the Boston and Manchester homes of Mrs.
Fields.,
The manuscript of this letter is in the collection of the
Miller Library of Colby College, Waterville, ME. This
full 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. Annotation is by Stoddart,
supplemented where appropriate by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Annie Adams Fields Transcription from Letters of
Sarah Orne Jewett (1911)
Manchester by Sea, Wednesday, 7
th
August [
1907]
It is not because I do not think of
you very often that I have not written; but every day brings
its succession of little hurries, and hours when one cannot
write. And then I count more and more upon the truth that we
can "think" to each other, when we are really friends, much
better and oftener than we can write. When they find out all
about wireless telegraphy, they are going to find out how the
little batteries in our heads send messages, and then we can
do it by rule and not by accident. It is very nice now,
however, and we aren't called up by strangers as we
may be in those later and more instructive days. You see that
I am here, alone with Mrs. Fields, just now, though we had two
young men for Sunday, Mr. Woodberry and Mr. Greenslet (who
wrote Mr. Lowell's life last year),* and there was no end of
talk about book affairs and especially about Sicily, --
Taormina, -- where they had all three been. I listened as if I
had been there too, having read them -- and others. Mrs.
Fields had six weeks at Taormina three years ago, and I know
her point of view literally and figuratively both.*
You have had a new sorrow in these
days* -- it has been in my mind all the time I have been
writing. I have had a feeling that it would touch you closely.
It is hard to have people go when they take a piece of our
lives with them. I have sometimes felt as if it were I who
died and stopped, and not they. "They are all gone into a
world of light," as Vaughan says (oh, that most beautiful
poem!), but it leaves it darker here.
I have just been sitting and
thinking about you with my pen in my hand. I wish that I were
nearer to you. We could be out in the "Solace,"* and yet we
needn't try to talk.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Frances Parker Parkman
Manchester
Saturday morning
[ 12 August 1907 ]*
Dearest Frances
I hope that this will find you in a place
where you can rest; a place that you like the look of at
first and that there is a big lake and a large still
sky and plenty of shady trees. Perhaps you will not
get to where you enjoy any new place for a little while but
such a piece of country has a way of waiting quietly all
round you until you suddenly find that you have become only
a piece of it instead of a foreign substance thrown into it
by chance, and if
[ Page 2 ]
you keep to one place to go and sit in, this feeling comes
faster and little things keep happening without troubling
you, that you can watch. [ This
corrected ] is the
difference between Out Doors and in a house! Something
always happens ^out doors^ to amuse you; an ant with a
crumb; a bird going up and down a tree, or a little bit of
a tree that stands in front of you until it seems like a
quiet person. ----- Mrs. Fields* and I laughed at
breakfast time to think of any Maine birches in particular
setting themselves up to be a Post office
[ Page 3 ]
-- they certainly feel high above being counted merely as
spoolwood* as most of the poor birches are. You are
just on your way north this morning and as you can see, my
thoughts are flying after you . . . Mrs. William Forbes*
has been here for two or three days -- not at the house
but close by, so that we have seen her much. She has
just been down the coast on the Merlin and she wished me
to go round the Cape to Naushon with her, but we were
looking for Sunday guests -- and I have had one
[ Page 4 ]
of the poor two days of stupid head ache (broken neck!) that
come less and less, but still they come! I couldn't pull
me up to do it but by tomorrow I shall be better and call myself
a goose. I thought I should want to see everybody in each house
on Naushon and how
could I! but when I feel better again
I could very well. I was driving a little too much the first of
the week -- but one must drive sometimes !!
-----
Monday: I had no sooner penned these repentant and
wistful thoughts before M
rs Forbes again asked me -- she
only meant to sail across the Bay and go up to Milton, so I
[ Page 5 ]
said yes at once and went off in the afternoon -- the wind was
dead against the Merlin's big wings but we had a good wind and
beat gallantly sailing at last into Hull and sleeping on board
-- it being so late -- There was a splendid sunset and all the
Nantucket Shore and Hull were lighted as if it were Venice
holding high carnival. Yesterday morning we went up to the
Milton house by trolley train and driving from Quincy and had
luncheon and then I came into town and down here
about
the hottest afternoon that ever was. Oh my! -- but nothing
is going on today and
[ Page 6 ]
I can keep still and get over it -- I mean the travelling of
yesterday for the sail was perfect -- and at any rate I was glad
to have gone, for I found that Mrs. Forbes had really minded
going alone -- Waldo -- with whom she had been [ coming
?
] had had to go down to Naushon Saturday. ----- I am taking it
for granted that you are somewhere near Mrs. Wolcott{.}* I
hope
you are for both of your sakes! And please give her my love.
This carries much love to you dear Frances --
I long to hear more from you -- but dont make yourself write to
me -- now or ever! Yours always with true
affection Sarah
Mrs. Fields sends love --
[ Up the left and across the top margin
of page 5 ]
Mrs. Fields asked Mifs Lily Hoppin* to spend Tuesday but she was
at her brothers on Staten Island and couldn't come. Mifs
Cochrane ought to be in by tomorrow [ on the
? ]
Prinzess
Irene{.}*
Notes
1907: Added in another hand to the date on page 1:
[ 1907 ].
An envelope associated with this letter in
the Houghton folder is addressed to Mrs. Henry Parkman, The
Birches, Maine, cancelled on 12 August 1907.
At the bottom left corner of the front of the
envelope, in another hand and ink is: "Rangeley Lake."
The Birches was a hotel at Rangeley Lake,
about 80 miles northwest of Augusta, ME, an area advertised at
the turn of the twentieth century for its fishing and other
recreation.
In this letter, Jewett sometimes shortens
"and" in various ways, some of which appear only as "a" with a
long tail. I have rendered these as "and."
Penciled and circled at the bottom left of
page 1: 230, the Houghton Library item number for this ms. The
number appears again at the bottom right of page 5 and on the
associated envelope.
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to
Correspondents.
spoolwood: Before the wide use of plastics, sewing thread
for domestic use was sold on small wooden spools. Jewett plays
with Parkman's summer address.
Mrs. William Forbes: Edith Emerson Forbes. See
Key
to Correspondents. Waldo, presumably, is her brother, Dr.
Edward Waldo Emerson.
Richard Cary writes: "Miss Jewett
periodically visited the family of John M. Forbes, the railroad
builder, who owned his own island off the coast of
Massachusetts. [Ralph Waldo] Emerson's daughter Edith was
married to Forbes's son William. The island was a haven for
summer and autumn guests who entertained themselves at boating,
fishing, riding, and hunting. Miss Jewett relished most the
invigorating cruises along the Maine coast in the Forbes
majestic sailing yacht, Merlin" (
Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett,
86).
Mrs. Wolcott: Mrs. Wolcott probably is Edith Prescott
Wolcott. See
Key
to Correspondents. Though it seems likely she is a
relative of Parkman's mother, Elizabeth Wolcott Stites, no
family connection has yet been discovered.
Lily Hoppin: Probably this is
Eliza Mason Hoppin (1847-1927). See
Key
to Correspondents. Her surviving brother was
Henry Parker Hoppin (1839-1921) of Staten
Island, NY.
Mifs Cochrane ... Prinzess Irene:
Jessie Cochrane. See
Key
to Correspondents.
The
SS Prinzess Irene was a North
German Lloyd Lines passenger steamer. In 1907, the ship's route
was New York, Genoa, and Naples. The ship was interned by
the United States during World War I and became the USS
Pocahontas.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Jewett, Sarah Orne,
1849-1909. 17 letters to Frances Parkman; [190-]-1907. Parkman
family, Edward Twisleton, and Sarah Wyman Whitman additional
papers, 1763-1917 (inclusive) 1850-1907 (bulk). MS Am 1408
(214-230). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Bliss Perry
Manchester by Sea
August 13th [1907]*
Dear Mr. Perry
I hope you will pardon me for being so late
in answering your most kind note. I wished so much to say that
I could send you a story -- perhaps even yet I can send a bit
of something or other! but as you see, I am away from any
papers that I might find to look over. I fear
[ Page 2 ]*
I could only climb as high as the Contributors Club* if I try
to write anything new but that would be something!
Mrs. Fields* telephoned late last week
^meaning^ to ask you if you would not come down for Sunday,
but it proved that you had gone to Williamstown.
Please believe how sincerely
[ Page 3 ]
I am ever your friend (and The Atlantics!)
S. O. Jewett
We have been so deeply interested in Mifs
Sinclairs story* -- it has great qualities but now that I have
seen the end, I cannot help a feeling that the heroine abuses
herself ^too^ pitifully. She went by her high instincts: she
fell [
deleted words ] among people of a lower grade,
and
[ Page 4 ]
suffered as men and women of her 'make' always must. And when
such winter repression and control break up it must be always
with spring floods, yet for my part I cannot find her in the
wrong as most readers have -- it is the rest of them that I
dislike, the hero is far the best of them of course! M
rs
Fields does not take Anne's part so much as I do, but still she
take it even while blaming her. How we should like to talk of
the story with you -- but I am afraid there will be some very
trying discussions.
Notes
1907: This date is based upon Jewett's discussion
of May Sinclair's
The Helpmate -- see below -- which
completed its final installment in
Atlantic Monthly in
the August issue.
Page 2: In the bottom right corner of page one is
penciled, in another hand, the ms number, 292.
Contributor's Club: The Contributors' Club in
Atlantic
Monthly consisted of several pages each month of anonymous
short sketches and essays. Jewett is not known to have published
in this column after 1893. Indeed, it is a little odd that
Jewett and Perry are discussing publication of her work, as she
effectively ceased writing for publication after her near-fatal
carriage accident of September 1902.
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to
Correspondents.
Mifs Sinclairs story: British novelist,
Mary Amelia St. Clair (1863-1946) wrote
under the name of May Sinclair. Her novel,
The Helpmate (1907) began appearing
in
Atlantic Monthly in January 1907, and appeared as a
book in August of that year.
Theophilus Ernest Martin Boll in
Miss May Sinclair (1973) says:
From America Mrs. Fields and Sarah Orne Jewett wrote
their praise of The Helpmate, and May Sinclair
answered their letters on August 29...: "I was very glad you
thought The Helpmate bore up to the end. I am not now
quite sure whether the last chapter is more than
inwardly and essentially right, whether Anne and Majendie could
say as much to each other as they do. They would, I'm
convinced, have felt or thought like that -- but there would
not, I'm afraid, have been quite so much conversation. I
wish I could do that part again ...." (p. 80).
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Jewett, Sarah Orne,
1849-1909. 8 letters to Bliss Perry; undated. Perry, Bliss,
1860-1954, recipient. Bliss Perry letters from various
correspondents, 1869-1942. MS Am 1343 (290-297).
Sarah Orne Jewett to Thomas Bird Mosher*
Manchester by Sea
August 17th
[ 1907 ]*
My dear Mr. Mosher
I have lately seen a
very charming little book "Little
Flowers of a Childhood."*
The
record
of
a short life indeed of a little Edinburgh boy. It would gain
by being shortened in its reflections! -- just as Dr. John
Brown* took the first memorial of Pet Marjorie and made it
into its present ^perfect^ shape -- but it is really full of
exquisite
[ Page 2 ]
things . . I thought that you might like to put it on your
list of books to be considered -- (for republication.) The
publisher is Alexander Moring George Street Hanover Square,
London. W --
If I owned it I should gladly send it to
you, but one was only lent me and I am obliged now to return
it.
Believe me yours
sincerely
S. O. Jewett
Pray do not give yourself the trouble to
send any answer to this note.
: It is not known how Maine Women Writers
Collection determined that American publisher
Thomas Bird Mosher (1852-1923) was the
recipient of this letter, but this seems likely to be
correct. He had a reputation for printing fine editions, and
he was based in Portland, ME.
1907: After Jewett's date appears, perhaps in
another hand, "07". Given that Jewett recommends reprinting
a book published in 1906, this is not an unreasonable guess
for the date of this letter.
Childhood:
Little Flowers of a Childhood: the
Record of a Child by Scottish author,
Grace Harriet Warrack (1855-1932), was
published in 1906 by Alexander Moring Limited at George
Street, Hanover Square, Edinburgh. It is not clear why
Jewett gives London as the address.
WorldCat does not list any other
publications of this title, indicating the Mr. Mosher was
not persuaded by Jewett's suggestion.
Brown: "
John Brown ... (1810-1882) was a
Scottish physician and essayist best known for his 3-volume
collection
Horae Subsecivae (
Leisure Hours,
1858), which included essays and papers on art, medical
history and biography.... His dog story, "Rab and his
Friends" (1859), and his essays "Pet Marjorie" (1863), on
Marjorie Fleming, ten-year-old prodigy and "pet" of Walter
Scott, "Our Dogs", "Minchmoor", and "The Enterkine" are the
most notable."
The manuscript of this letter is held by the University of New
England Maine Women Writers Collection, Sarah Orne Jewett
Correspondence Box 2 Folder 148.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Annie Adams Fields to Anne Whitney
August 18th 1907
Manchester by Sea
Dear Anne:*
In spite of my ignorance of your posh office address I must
write at once to thank you for those lovely pictures of your
Adeline. I wish we were nearer that I might assure you of my
love and thought. I hope you have a constant sense of Adeline's
nearness and of her protection. I have learned to feel the
comfort of her guardian angels.
I should like to feel assured also that your
[ Page 2 ]
kind housemates of the winter are summer housefriends also. We
need such friends to speak with and so share and make light the
daily burdens of life. Sarah* has been with me nearly all summer
"off and on", not so much in July when Rose Lamb was with me for
a month but she has been a help and comfort as of old. Now Miss
Jessie Cochrane* whose delightful music you are likely to recall
even if you do not remember
[ Page 3 ]
her personally, has just arrived from Rome and will be here the
rest of the season I suppose.
Mrs. Spofford* has not quite recovered from her second accident
of six or eight weeks ago, therefore she has not been here at
all. But she is better, living chiefly on her piazza and getting
about by means of "a stout stick". She writes cheerfully in
spite of the disappointment of seeing the summer skipping away
and the flowers ripening and dying in Katherine's* garden
without a greeting from her appreciative eyes.
[ Page 4 ]
We feel sorry to think that Secretary Cannon* was false to the
welfare of the N.H. woodland* last winter. The firm of Henry and
[ Coy.
meaning Company ] seems to have committed sad
devastation and irreparable within some generations -- and this
quite lately. I trust before another year some way will be found
to stop their depredations. I do not know "Zealand Lake"* and
hope it is so remote as to have [ lost
? ] the landscape
[ less
corrected from lest
? ] than the
immediate slopes in that vicinity. Goodbye, dear Anne! Remember
me to Mrs [Converse
? ] and her daughter.* Sarah
sends you a message of care. Affectionately your friend
Annie Fields
Notes
Anne ... Adeline: American sculptor and poet,
Anne Whitney (1821-1915) and her recently
deceased domestic partner, American painter,
Abby
Adeline Manning (1836-1906). See also Spofford,
A Little Book of Friends, ch. 3.
Sarah: Sarah Orne Jewett. See
Key to Correspondents.
Rose Lamb ... Miss Jessie Cochrane: See
Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Spofford: Elizabeth Prescott Spofford. See
Key to Correspondents.
Katherine's: According to Alfred Bendixen,
Spofford's frequent companion after her husband's death was her
niece, Katherine Prescott Moseley, daughter of her sister,
Catherine Montague Prescott (1844-1917)
and Edward Augustus Moseley (1846-1911). See
"The Amber
Gods" and Other Stories by Spofford, New Brunswick:
Rutgers UP, 1989, p. xxi.
Secretary Cannon ... Henry:
James Everell Henry (1831-1912) owned and
logged 10,000 acres of White Mountains forest, founding the
logging town of Zealand. See Bill Gove,
J.E. Henry’s Logging Railroads
(1998).
Forestry and Irrigation and Conservation
v. 14 (1908) editorialized on a bill before the U.S. House of
Representatives in early 1908 that, among other things, would
preserve forest in the White Mountains. Notably in opposition to
this effort was Republican Speaker of the House from Illinois,
Joseph Gurney Cannon (1836-1926). While it
is not certain that Congressman Cannon is the "secretary" to
whom Fields refers, this seems likely.
Zealand Lake: Probably Fields refers to what now is known
as Zealand Pond, near
Zealand Notch in the White Mountains of
New Hampshire.
Mrs Converse and her daughter: The
transcription of "Converse" is uncertain. This may be
Mary Parker Converse (1872-1961) and her
daughter, Margaret (1896-1981), of Malden, MA.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Wellesley College
Archives, "Letter from Annie Adams Fields, Manchester,
Massachusetts, to Anne Whitney, Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1907
August 18" (1907). Papers of Anne Whitney (MSS.4):
Correspondence. 683.
https://repository.wellesley.edu/whitney_correspondence/683.
With the manuscript is an envelope addressed
to Mifs Anne Whitney, Shelburne, New Hampshire.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
Thursday
[ 22 August 1907 ]*
I felt a bit anxious yesterday lest you should have gone for it
was pleasant here until the midafternoon but what a quiet sweet
rain we have had. We are going up to K. and L.P. L.* for
luncheon. Jessie* says she cannot play after luncheon today
which I fear will disappoint them -- Give my love to Mrs Tyson.*
I am very sorry she is
[ Page 2 ]
not well. Jessie thinks she has had the best of ^M.D^* advice in
Rome and knows quite well what to do. She thinks she can stay
here until middle Sep
r meantime Eva* can give
me some time after that I believe. I thought you would like to
know something of their plans. I am sending to ask J. L. Smith*
to bring his pictures and talk about them. If he comes you must
run over for the occasion. Dear A. Howe* also seems
much
better. The summer is beginning to tell. By the way, I think the
alcohol is really the best thing I have had
[ Page 3 ]
for my foot. I think it is stronger and with fewer twinges.
A. Howe comes over tomorrow A.M. to talk over
readings and many things.
Goodbye, dear -- This is a worthless little
scrap except that I know you love to hear what is going on if
anything -- Jessie plays by night and
[ Up the left margin of page 1 ]
I think she is gradually getting better --
[ Up the right margin of page 1 ]
I read her the Sedgwick Lowell paper *
[ Up the left margin of page 2 ]
yesterday to her great joy -- Your A.
[ Up the right margin of page 2 ]
Love to Mary* (who will ^I trust^ be ready to come --
Notes
22 August 1907: This date is speculative, but it has some
support.
This letter seems connected to several
letters apparently from about the time of the wedding of Diana
Ward Rockwell, reported in a letter from Fields to Jewett of 29
August 1907. A main connection among these letters is the
report that Jessie Cochrane has been having serious problems
with her eyes. In the 29 August letter, Fields also mentions
Cochrane and Kane, giving the impression that she has just met
Kane.
If these connections hold, then this letter
was likely composed on a Thursday preceding Jewett traveling to
Manchester by the Sea to celebrate her birthday with Fields on 3
September.
K. and L.P. L.: Katherine and Louisa P. Loring. See
Key to Correspondents.
Here and occasionally elsewhere, Fields
writes "a" with a tail to signify "and." I have rendered these
as "and" without comment.
Jessie: Jessie Cochrane, see
Key to Correspondents.
This text indicates Cochrane is having eye
trouble that prevents her reading and entertaining her friends
at the piano during daylight hours.
Mrs Tyson: Emily Tyson. See
Key to Correspondents.
^M.D^: This is one of several insertions in the
letter that may be in another hand, most meant to identify the
persons named. I have omitted the rest, though the
identifications are reflected in these notes.
Eva: Baroness Eva von Blomberg. See
Key to Correspondents.
J. L. Smith: Joseph Lindon Smith. See
Key to Correspondents.
A. Howe: Alice Greenwood Howe. See
Key to Correspondents.
Dear A. Howe: Above this name, someone has inserted
"and E. Tyson also."
Sedgwick Lowell paper:
William Thompson Sedgwick (1855-1921), an
epidemiologist and bacteriologist was among the founders
of the joint MIT-Harvard School of Public Health in 1913. His
"On Epidemics of Typhoid Fever in the Cities of Lowell and
Lawrence [MA]" appeared in the
Twenty-fourth Annual Report
of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts for 1892. It
seem likely that Fields refers to a more popular and widely
available paper on this topic, but such a piece has not yet been
located, though Sedgwick is known to have published in such
magazines as
Century and
Harper's.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See
Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of the letter is held by the University of New
England Maine Women Writers Collection MWWC0196_02_00_002_01.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to George Edward Woodberry
22
d August 1907
[
Begin letterhead ]
South Berwick.
Maine.
[
End letterhead ]
Dear M
r Woodberry
Your letter found me here
. . I meant for you to keep the two little books. I am
sure that you will care enough for them, for reason of
Renouncement
in one volume and*
My Lady Poverty* in the other if for
nothing else! What a picture of Italy that last brief poem never
fails to make before one's eyes! --
I wish
[ Page 2 ]
that we could talk about them while they are still fresh in your
mind.
-- What a joyful time it is to be close to
the end of a long piece of work -- and sad too -- like coming
into harbour at the end of a voyage. The more one has cared to
put one's very best into a thing, the surer he is to think that
it falls far short of the 'sky' he 'meant.' But it is certain
that everything
[ Page 3 ]
is in such work that we have put in. The sense of failure
that weighs the artist down is often
er nothing
but a sense of fatigue. I always think that the trees look tired
in autumn when their fruit has dropped, but I shall remember as
long as I remember anything a small seedling apple tree that
stood by a wall in a high wild pasture at the mountains --
standing proudly over its first small crop of yellow apples all
fallen into a little almost hollow of the soft turf below. I
could
[ Page 4 ]
almost look over its head, and it would have been a heart of
stone that did not beat fast with sympathy. There was Success!
-- but up there against the sky the wistfulness of later crops
was yet to come --
(I* shall be at Manchester again soon. I do
hope that Mrs. Fields* is going to have the pleasure of seeing
you again, and I too. -- She misses so many of the old
companions and lovers of the things she loves best) --
I thank you for your letter and beg you to
believe me
Yours sincerely
S. O. Jewett
: Jewett often writes "and" as an "a" with a
long tail. I render these as "and."
"My Lady Poverty": These poems are by Alice Meynell. See
Key to Correspondents.
"Renouncement" appeared in
Poems
(1893), "My Lady Poverty" in
Other Poems (1896)
Renouncement
I must not think of thee; and, tired yet strong,
I shun the thought that lurks in all delight -
The thought of thee -- and in the blue Heaven's
height,
And in the sweetest passage of a song.
O just beyond the fairest thoughts that throng
This breast, the thought of thee waits hidden yet
bright;
But it must never, never come in sight;
I must stop short of thee the whole day long.
But when sleep comes to close each difficult day,
When night gives pause to the long watch I keep,
And all my bonds I needs must loose apart,
Must doff my will as raiment laid away, --
With the first dream that comes with the first
sleep
I run, I run, I am gathered to thy
heart.
My Lady Poverty
The Lady Poverty was fair:
But she has lost her looks of late,
With change of times and change of air.
Ah slattern! she neglects her hair,
Her gown, her shoes; she keeps no state
As once when her pure feet were bare.
Or -- almost worse, if worse can be --
She scolds in parlours, dusts and trims,
Watches and counts. O is this she
Whom Francis met, whose step was free,
Who with Obedience carolled hymns,
In Umbria walked with Chastity?
Where is her ladyhood? Not here,
Not among modern kinds of men;
But in the stony fields, where clear
Through the thin trees the skies appear,
In delicate spare soil and fen,
And slender landscape and austere.
I: The parentheses were penciled in, probably by
Fields, to mark the portion of the letter she wished to omit
from
Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett (1911).
Mrs. Fields: 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. 3
letters; 1891-1907., 1891-1907. George Edward Woodberry
correspondence and compositions I. Letters to George
Edward Woodberry Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909. 3 letters;
1891-1907., 1891-1907. Box: 4: MS Am 1587, (121).
This transcription is from a photocopy held
by the Maine Women Writers Collection, Burton Trafton
Collection, Box 2, folder 87.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Annie Fields Transcription
Part of this letter appears in
Letters of
Sarah Orne Jewett (1911)
South Berwick, Maine, 23d August, 1907.
Dear Mr. Woodberry, -- Your letter
found me here. -- I meant for you to keep the two little books.
I am sure that you will care enough for them -- for reason of
"Renouncement" in one volume and "My Lady Poverty" in the other,
if for nothing else! What a picture of Italy that last brief
poem never fails to make before one's eyes! I wish that we could
talk about them while they are still fresh in your mind.
What a joyful time it is to be close to
the end of a long piece of work, and sad too -- like coming into
harbour at the end of a voyage. The more one has cared to put
one's very best into a thing, the surer he is to think that it
falls far short of the "sky he meant." But it is certain that
everything is in such work that we have put in. The sense of
failure that weighs the artist down is often nothing but a sense
of fatigue. I always think that the trees look tired in autumn
when their fruit has dropped, but I shall remember as long as I
remember anything a small seedling apple tree that stood by a
wall in a high wild pasture at the White Hills, -- standing
proudly over its first small crop of yellow apples all fallen
into a little almost hollow of the soft turf below. I could look
over its head, and it would have been a heart of stone that did
not beat fast with sympathy. There was Success! -- but up there
against the sky the wistfulness of later crops was yet to come.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ 24 August 1907 ]*
Saturday
The noble box of"green growing thing^s^ came safely and were a
cause of rejoicing in both "departments" of the house, I am
quite rested this morning, yesterday being a [ dim
? ]
day --
[ Page 2 ]
The dentist came, the day before, immediately after our return
from the Lorings* and I was quite "used up" as to my small
forces. Today is rather cold and cloudy but restorative! I send
you Howells* dear letter! How good it is -- Did I say that
Jessie* will stay
[ Page 3 ]
until the 16
th or 17
th of
September and then goes West and last of all to Washington. If
she should let her apartment she will stay later with her people
---- Mrs Grew has sent me another letter to read from Georgie*
with lovely glimpses of the English
[ Page 4 ]
places and life ---but dearest I must not write -- We have
talked together! What a boon it is! The funny English lady, very
lively and modest -- appreciative and a rather fat [ dumpy
? ] but excellent daughter kept Jessie & me
[ Up the left margin of page 4 ]
busy in the P, M ---
[ Up the left margin of page 1 ]
Love to Mary* and best "thanks." I am so glad you can both
[ Up the right margin of page 1 ]
be here for the 3
d and Mr. H. = too{,} Your A,
Notes
24 August 1907: This date is speculative, but it
has some support.
This letter seems connected to several
letters apparently from about the time of the wedding of Diana
Ward Rockwell, reported in a letter from Fields to Jewett of 29
August 1907. A main connection among these letters is the
report that Jessie Cochrane has been having serious problems
with her eyes.
If Fields to Jewett of 22 August is correctly
dated, then this letter fits well into the chronology.
On 22 August, Fields indicates a plan to
visit the Loring sisters for lunch. In this letter, Fields
reports visiting the Lorings two days previous and seeing the
dentist after.
Lorings: See Katharine Peabody Loring. Key to
Correspondents.
Howells: William Dean Howells. Key to
Correspondents.
Jessie: Jessie Cochrane. Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Grew ... Georgie: Georgie could be Georgina
Halliburton, or Georgina Lowell Putnam. See
Key to Correspondents. Putnam's
uncle, American poet
James Russell Lowell, was U.S. Minister to
England 1880-1885, during which time his niece may have visited
him there.
Mrs. Grew is Jane Norton Wigglesworth
(1836-1920), wife of Boston businessman,
Henry Sturgis Grew (1834-1910), summer
neighbors in Manchester by the Sea. However, another
Boston neighbor was Annie Crawford Clark (Mrs. Edward Sturgis)
Grew. Edward and Henry Grew were brothers. See
Henry Grew Papers.
One of Jane Grew's daughters was Elizabeth
Sturgis Grew, who married
Boylston Adams Beal, Annie Fields's
nephew, son of her sister, Louisa Jane Adams Beal. See Fields in
Key to Correspondents.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of the letter is held by the University of New
England Maine Women Writers Collection MWWC0196_02_00_007_01.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Julia Ward Howe
Manchester by Sea
August 27
th
[
1907 ]*
[ Begin deleted letterhead
]
South Berwick.
Maine.
[ End deleted letterhead ]
Dearest Mrs. Howe
I have had a piece of a letter lying on my
desk here and* at South Berwick for ever so long and almost
every day I have been taken with a little fit because I could
not finish it! -- I have torn it up to begin again and the first
thing I wish to say is that I have let you feel as if the late
October visit to Berwick -- the Club and everything -- were
[ Page 2 ]
quite off your mind all these weeks, but I have by no means felt
as if I need throw away my hope of seeing you there, or of
hearing the tale of your wedding journey* in Italy as was kindly
promised. You had a right to be tired to pieces after a
series of birthday celebrations and Club Federation* days in
that strange hot weather -- but perhaps you feel like me; a
little cooler and less completely discouraged owing to a good
old fashioned northeaster such as is now blowing. At any rate we
can leave it a month
[ Page 3 ]
or so longer and then see! I have the 'refusal' of Laura all
safe to come if you can.
But while I say this I long to say too:
Do
dear, take the comfort, for it is a comfort of thinking there
isn't anything you really
must do! One ought to have
time for the things one chooses, and strength enough, but I
believe it is a great pity to waste time on some things that are
expected{.} One has a pride about it I will allow but I have had
so many hard times since my accident* in trying to drag through
plans that other people made for me.
[ Page 4 ]
= it is better for dear friends and
all [ deletion ]
round to do the best about voluntary things -- we ought to
know best what we wish to do and can do! (These be solemn
reflections)
= Mary and I are here, also Brother Robert Collyer* who preached
a wonderful sermon on Sunday last. Mrs. Fields* is looking much
better than in the spring and has had a good summer. I have
never told you about our most dear and delightful visit to Laura
in June, Mary's and mine -- but when I see you I shall tell all
sorts of things -- -- I thank you for your letter which I love
and cherish. Please give my love to Maud* if she's truly there {
-- } I have no word for it but the newspapers! Dr Collyer and
A.F. and Mary and
[ Up the left margin and across the top
margin of page 1 ]
I all send our love and praise -- and by and by I shall ask
again unless you just want to say no right off or
yes
and be done with it! -- on a post card.
Yours very affectionately
Sarah
Notes
1907: This guess is based upon other letters from
1907 indicating that Robert Collyer visited Fields at Manchester
by the Sea in the summer of that year.
and: Sometimes in this letter, Jewett writes "a"
with a long tail for "and." I give these as "and."
wedding journey: When Howe was married in April
1843, she and her husband traveled to Europe. Probably this is
the story Jewett hoped to hear from her.
Club Federation: Howe was a founder of the General
Federation of Women's Clubs as well as a number of individual
clubs for women. Wikipedia.
Laura: Laura Richards. Key to Correspondents.
my accident: Jewett's permanently debilitating carriage
accident of September 1902.
Mary ... Collyer: Mary Rice Jewett and Robert
Collyer. Key to Correspondents.
Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
Maud: Maud Howe Elliot, daughter of Laura
Richards. See Richards in Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743.1
Sarah Orne Jewett Additional Correspondence II. Letters from
Sarah Orne Jewett, Box 4 (119).
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ 29 August 1907 ]*
Dearest -- although we could say so little after all, it was a
real satisfaction to hear your dear voice which sounded much
better than the day before.
As I had time enough I wrote to Frances* asking her to come
either Monday or Tuesday night. Di Rockwell's* marriage went off
very happily. She had rivers of
[ Page 2 ]
flowers and all Alice's garden* and I sent as many oak boughs as
she could have used for the house and John* helped to put them
up! Florence Kane, Jessie's cousin will continue to stay
over tonight -- She is a fine young woman, spirited, clever and
a lady -- a niece of dear S. W. & Florence Lockwood.* What
pleasure to remember that Monday you will be here{.} My love to
Mary. I trust that Katy* will get back. By what train will you
come{?}
[ Penciled in the left margin of page 2
]
Your A.
Notes
29 August 1907: While the exact day of composition is not
certain, this guess is reasonable. The Tuesday following
the Rockwell wedding would be Jewett's birthday, 3 September.
Fields wrote this note on the back of a
wedding invitation, which reads:
Dr. and Mrs. John Arnold Rockwell
have the honour to announce
the marriage of their niece
Diana Ward Rockwell
to
Mr. Eliot Sumner
on Wednesday, August twenty-eighth
nineteen hundred and seven
Manchester by the Sea
Massachusetts
Diana Ward Rockwell (1873-1936) was the
daughter of
Alfred Perkins Rockwell (1834-1903) and
Katharine Virginia Foote. Her husband was
Eliot Sumner (1873-1941), who became
an executive of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He was the son of
sociologist William Graham Sumner (1840-1910). Diana
Rockwell's father was brother to
Dr. John Arnold Rockwell (1840-1924). See
also the Connecticut Historical Society, "
Rockwell Family Papers."
Frances: This could have been several people. Perhaps
most likely is Fields's sister-in-law, Frances Kidder Adams,
widow of Dr. Zabdiel B. Adams, Jr. See Fields in
Key to Correspondents.
Alice's garden: While Jewett and Fields had several
friends named Alice, this is likely to be Alice Greenwood Howe.
See
Key to Correspondents.
John: Fields's employee.
Florence Kane ... Jessie's cousin ... a niece of dear S.
W. & Florence Lockwood: S.W. is Sarah Wyman
Whitman, and Jessie is Jessie Cochrane. See
Key to Correspondents.
Florence Bayard Lockwood (1864-1944)
married American architect, Christopher Grant LaFarge
(1862-1938) of
Heins & LaFarge. See also
Stedman Families Research Center. The
details of the family connections between Florence Kane, the
Lockwoods, the Whitmans and the Cochranes have not yet been
discovered. The identity of Florence Kane also remains unknown,
but it seems likely she is connected with Florence Lockwood's
sister,
Mabel Bayard Kane Bird (1838-1897),
through her first marriage.
Mary ... Katy: Mary Rice Jewett and Katy
Galvin. See
Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of the letter is held by the University of New
England Maine Women Writers Collection, MWWC0196_02_00_001_01.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
May Sinclair to Sarah Orne Jewett
4 The Studios
Edwardes Square
Kensington. SW
Aug: 29. 1907
My dear Miss Jewett
I was indeed delighted when I found that M
rs
Fields* last letter enclosed one from you. I have been long in
answering it -- but I have been very busy getting into a new
flat with all my old household [ jobs
? ] -- some
[ Page 2 ]
new ones. It is a solemn & tremendous thing to do
single-handed. Now I am all alone, in an enormous studio (in
proportion to me) [ w
h ?
]
serves for everything except a
bath-room & bedroom.
(I've turned the tiny dining-room into a bath-room) -- it is the
funniest flat you ever saw,
but it's nice & nobody but
me can get into that bath. You don't know what that means,
if you have not lived, as I have, for ten years in rooms
[ Page 3 ]
-- other people's rooms. And there is joy & pride &
general up-liftedness in the possession of y. own front-door.
I am so glad my Majendie Tale* interested
you. I can't tell you how much your letter & M
rs
Fields did for me. I have been in despair over its reception
here, the reviews have been so bad -- but, after all, they don't
matter, & it's only been out a week.
I do agree with you in sympa-
[ Page 4 ]
thizing with Anne. I think it was awful for her. So awful,
that I felt that she c
d n't help
being like that. Very few of my critics, so far, have noticed
that I have made her softer as the book goes on, that she is
capable of great tendernesses [ through
? ] her maternal
nature, & that half the time, her conscience is fighting
with her tenderness.
I wish indeed I c
d
see dear M
rs Fields in her country setting. I
am glad the summer has been so good to both of you.
I feel that these are but [ scrappy
?
] letters, but I want to catch
[ Up the left margin of page 1 ]
this mail. I will write again. With much love
[ Up the right margin of page 1 ]
always affectly y
s May
Sinclair
Notes
Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to
Correspondents.
Majendie: Sinclair's novel,
The Helpmate (1907), began
appearing in
Atlantic Monthly in January 1907, and
appeared as a book in August of that year. This was her first
novel to be serialized in
Atlantic. After Anne and
Majendie marry, she learns that he is not the man she was led to
believe and that marrying him was a mistake.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Sarah Orne Jewett
Correspondence, bMS Am 1743 Box 4, Item 198. I. Letters to
Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Mary Amelia St. Clair to Annie Adams Fields
4 The Studios
Edward's Square
Kensington
London. W
Aug: 29. 1907*
My dear M
rs Fields
I have been a long time in answering yr. dear
letter w
h came with Miss Jewett's enclosed. You cannot
think what pleasure these letters gave me. I was very glad
you thought the
Helpmate*
[ Page 2 ]
bore up to the end. I am not now
quite sure whether the
last chapter is more than inwardly & essentially right,
whether Anne and Majendie
cd* say as much to each other
as they do. They wd., I'm convinced, have felt or thought
like that -- but there wd. not, I'm afraid, have been quite so
much conversation. I wish I c
d ^do^ that part
again.
All that you say is most generous. It is a [
little
? ] odd,
[ Page 3 ]
but my dear friend, M
rs Field [
so
spelled ] who cares immensely that I s
d do nothing
that is not first-rate, cannot find one good word to say for
this book; whether she has quite understood it, or whether it
has simply offended her taste, I do not know, but her letter [
unrecognized
word grieved
? ] me. She was [
unrecognized
words puzzled and
? ] pleased that
you had
taken it differently.* I
am very anxious about it in
this country. My reviews
[ Page 4 ]
have been as bad as bad c
d be. However it has gone into a
second edition in the first week in spite of them w
h
looks hopeful.
I wish I c
d see you. I am looking
forward to coming over perhaps early next autumn, but I cannot
come before. I must work hard first & get some more short
stories done.
I have taken a studio flat in a dear old
fashioned square in Kensington. I think it is going to be very
nice. But I miss my
[ Up the left margin and then across the
top margin of page 1 ]
Hampstead friends & the beautiful Heath. I hope you
are will after y
r summer in the country.
[ Up the right margin of page 1 ]
With much love & many, many thanks for all that you are to
me -- always affectionately y
s May Sinclair.
Notes
1907: Though this letter is addressed to Annie
Fields, she seems to speak to Jewett directly on page 3.
Helpmate: Sinclair's novel,
The Helpmate (1907), began
appearing in
Atlantic Monthly in January 1907, and
appeared as a book in August of that year. This was her first
novel to be serialized in
Atlantic. After Anne and
Majendie marry, she learns that he is not the man she was led to
believe and that marrying him was a mistake.
cd: This abbreviation for "could" has the "d" in
underlined superscript; then the whole abbreviation is
underlined twice.
differently: For Jewett's view of this difference
of opinion, see her letter to Bliss Perry of 12 August 1907.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library,
San Marino, California: James Thomas Fields Papers and Addenda
(1767-1914), Letters of Sinclair, mss FL 1-5637.
May Sinclair, when she abbreviates a word, as
well as with some titles, places some of the letters in
superscript position. I have elected not to duplicate this
practice in the transcriptions of her letters.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ 1 September 1907 ]*
Have you seen Janet Ross's vegetable book?* I cannot find it
here and I can't think what has become of it.
Also if you have one or two more of the
Japanese balls for children* will you put them in your kit --
Saturday -----
Dearest. Jessie and Miss Kane* have just gone to town, Jessie to
see Dr. Morgan*
[ Page 2 ]
again who has served her wonderfully to all appearance at
present about her eyes.
The Smiths* are coming this morning though
they go out to luncheon today and tomorrow have dinner at the
Lanes*
[ Page 3 ]
with "Miss Jess". I shall stay at home until the P. M{.} when I
go with them to A. Howe's.*
The rain yesterday was a benediction indeed
and this morning is radiant. I have seldom seen it so dry in our
little world as yesterday P. M. when the earth was like dust and
the leaves hung down lifeless from vines and small trees
everywhere --
[ Page 4 ]
I liked Mifs Florence Kane. Some day you will see her and I will
tell you about her when we meet on Monday --
Your own
A. F.
Notes
1 September 1907: This date is speculative, but
it has some support.
This letter seems connected to several
letters apparently from about the time of the wedding of Diana
Ward Rockwell, reported in a letter from Fields to Jewett of 29
August 1907. A main connection among these letters is the
report that Jessie Cochrane has been having serious problems
with her eyes. In this letter, Fields mentions that Jessie
Cochrane and Florence Kane have been visiting, and indicates
that this visit is Fields's first acquaintance with Kane.
In the 29 August letter, Fields also mentions Cochrane and Kane,
giving the impression that she has just met Kane.
Janet Ross's vegetable book:
Leaves from our Tuscan Kitchen, or, How to
Cook Vegetables (1900) by British author,
Janet Ross (1842-1927).
Japanese balls for children: These may be
Temari, toys made from used embroidery.
Jessie and Miss Kane: For Jessie Cochrane, see
Key to Correspondents. Florence Kane
has not yet been identified.
Dr. Morgan: Probably this is
Dr. John Morgan (1845-1920), an oculist
practicing in Boston for much of his medical career. See also
The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal,
Volume 183, p. 447.
Smiths: In this context, it is likely but not certain
that Fields refers to Joseph Lindon Smith and spouse Corinna
Haven Putnam.Key to Correspondents.
Lanes: These people have not been identified. A
likely candidate is the family of
Alfred Church Lane (1863-1948), a
geologist at Tufts College.
A. Howe's: Alice Greenwood Howe. Key to
Correspondents.
The manuscript of the letter is held by the University of New
England Maine Women Writers Collection MWWC0196_02_00_003_01.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Sarah Cabot Wheelwright
Manchester by Sea Thursday --
[September] 5th [1907]1
My dear Sarah
I have been thinking of you every day. I suppose that Mary
*has gone on her Eastward voyage and I only hope that she has
had better weather than if she had sailed west-ward. It has
been foggy and sticky here, dog days of a sort, and no good
wind, but I hope the Hesper2 is out of reach of
such con=ditions [so transcribed]. Mary and I are
always talking of our most delightful fortnight in June -- it
is a constant pleasure, I might say an always growing
pleasure, and I wish to thank you every time I remember it.
Mary* and I came over here on Monday and celebrated my
birthday on Tuesday, and yesterday she had to go home, but I
am staying on a few days longer. Our friend Miss Cochrane3
is here and her Music is a true delight. I wish you were
all three here just for all evening and when she didn't play
Mary Wheelwright could sing and vice versa !! Mrs.
Fields seems pretty well, I think she has gained strength this
summer and I do hope that we can make some plan so that she
need not be shut up in the house so much this winter. I must
not forget to give you her love.
Thank you ever so much for your dear last letter. I
wish that I could see you and know ever so many things -- but
first of all, how you are . . . Mrs. Fred Dexter4
came to Mrs. Tyson's5 the last of the week and we
went down to luncheon, so I had a little news of the North
East -- - 'Dear' Miss Sophy Agnes6 asked me
to come to them for this week but I was promised here, and
there were some other people coming and my birthday which was
attended with suitable exercises so that I couldn't make
another plan. I was so sorry; and then there was the
long journey to think of beside. I could write a long time but
this is the morning for Mrs. Fields' and Mrs. Higginson's7
and Alice Howes' reading, and a few others that come and must
be on hand. Give my love to Mr. Wheelwright and little Mary
When she gets back, I send my dear love to you,
Yours ever
S. O. J.
Stoddart's Notes
1 Jewett's birthday fell on a Tuesday during
these years only in 1895.*
2 The Wheelwrights' yacht, once used as a pilot
boat, docked always at their summer cottage "Otherside", in
North East Harbor, Maine.
3 Jessie Cochrane of Louisville, Kentucky, was a
talented pianist and protege of Annie Fields. She often
visited both the Charles Street and Manchester addresses of
Fields and Jewett.
4 Mrs. Fred Dexter: This identification is
uncertain. Frederic Dexter (1841-1895), a Boston
cotton merchant, was married to Susan Chapman Dexter
(1843-1917). Both are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in
Cambridge. Mrs Dexter lived at Beverly Farms as well as
in Boston's Back Bay area, and so might easily have been known
to Fields and Jewett.
5 Emily Tyson (1846-1922) and her daughter Elise
purchased and renovated the nearby Hamilton House in South
Berwick, Maine, now owned by Historic New England -- the
current caretakers of Jewett's home.
6 Miss Sophy Agnes: It is possible
Jewett refers to Agnes Irwin
"(December 30, 1841- December 5, 1914) [who] was an American
educator, best known as the first dean of Radcliffe College
from 1894 to 1909 and as the principal from 1869 to 1894 of
the West Penn Square Seminary for Young Ladies in
Philadelphia, later renamed, in her honor, the Agnes Irwin
School.... Irwin was born in Washington, DC, the daughter of
[Pennsylvania] Congressman William Wallace Irwin. Her mother
[was] Sophia Arabella Bache...." While this identification is
completely speculative, Miss Irwin did correspond with both
Jewett and Fields in letters dated after 1900 (See the
Houghton Library finding guides for Jewett correspondence).
7 Ida Agassiz Higginson (1837-1935), daughter of
Jean Louis Agassiz, the naturalist. She aided in the
development of Radcliffe college with her stepmother,
Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz. With her husband, Henry Lee
Higginson, she helped found the Boston Symphony as well.
Editor's Notes
1907: While 1895 is a possible date for
this letter, because of Jewett's 3 September birthday falling
on a Tuesday, this also happened in 1901 and in 1907.
The mention of the Tysons places the date after 1898, when
Tyson purchased Hamilton House. Given Jewett's
familiarity with the Wheelwrights' summer sailing plans and
her reference to having been with them in the previous June,
this letter almost certainly was composed in 1907.
Mary ... Eastward: This is Mary Cabot
Wheelwright. When Jewett later wishes all three were
present to hear Miss Cochrane, she means to include Mr.
Wheelwright. See Key
to Correspondents.
Mary and I: Mary Rice Jewett. See
Key
to Correspondents.
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. Annotation is by Stoddart, supplemented where
appropriate by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Margaret Thomson Janvier to Sarah Orne Jewett
Moorestown
Burlington County
New Jersey
September 12th,
1907
My dear Miss Jewett.
It
seemed
extraly provoking to have missed you by so
little.
I was only in Beverly a week, & had to
spend part of that time picking my self up after a hot &
tiresome journey from Portland.
But I had a beautiful
[ Page 2 ]
little voyage from Boston to Philadelphia.
I will not give you up as a Myth just yet -- but the evidence
begins to point that way, & I can't make you any realler by
crying, so I will hope instead -- & "watch out" for the
story.
Yes, you have my brother Tom's* address right.
They are moving about, & it seemed safest.
[ Page 3 ]
I am not anything much to look at, my own
self, but if you could only "sense" the Literary Opportunities
of this pace, you could surely come in October, & gather a
whole winterful of Short Stories! This climate is so much milder
than that of Maine, that you might even consider Moorestown as a
Winter Resort.
Believe me affectionately yours
Margaret Janvier
Notes
Tom's: Thomas Allibone Janvier (1849-1913) also was a
writer of history and short stories. Wikipedia.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters
to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Janvier, Margaret Thomson, 1844-1913. 2
letters; 1901 & [n.d.]. (113).
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.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
Wednesday
[ 1907 ]*
A very hot morning which is agreeable here! The night however
was a hard one with [ musquitoes
so spelled ] {.}
Yesterday Mr. Howells* sent an agreeable
English gentleman to me, Mr. Gill* graduate of Oriel, cousin to
Thomas Brown (Fo'castle [ yards
corrected ]) and
otherwise related to Crabbe, knew Fitzgerald's wife* --
appreciates his transactions as we do !!!! He, a scholar too --
He stayed until 9:30 and then I fear lost the train. However
there was one later.
I go to Alice's* this A.M. Remember me warmly to Mifs Ward
and Mrs Bradley* --
[ Page 2 ]
Perhaps Mrs Cabot* would like to see these letters and so
we can take them there and read
spots otherwise I do not
care to keep dear Esther's* -- the others* may be useful
sometime to someone --
[
No signature ]
Notes
1907: Mrs. Bradley first appears in the
Jewett-Fields correspondence in 1906. In a letter to Sarah Cabot
Wheelwright of 21 September, probably in 1907, Jewett reports
receiving Mrs. Bradley in South Berwick. For this reason,
I have placed this letter after that one.
Howells: William Dean Howells. Key to Correspondents.
Gill: Fields and Jewett were acquainted with
Anglo-American businessman and philanthropist Robinson Gill
(1829-1897), but this clearly is a different person. He has not
yet been identified.
Thomas Brown ... Crabbe ... Fitzgerald's wife:
Crabbe probably is British poet, physician and clergyman, George
Crabbe (1754-1832). Wikipedia.
Fitzgerald probably is British poet and
translator, Edward Fitzgerald (1809-1883), who married and
separated from Lucy Barton, the daughter of Quaker poet, Bernard
Barton. Wikipedia.
Which Thomas Brown Gill is related to has not
yet been determined. Fields's remark on "Forecastle Yards"
might seem to point to
Forecastle Tom: Or The Landsman Turned
Sailor (1845) by Mary Dana Shindler, but this is only
speculation, there being no obvious connection there with a
Thomas Brown.
Alice's: Alice Greenwood Howe. Key to Correspondents.
Ward ... Bradley: Miss Ward probably is Susan Hayes
Ward. Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Bradley may be American painter Susan
Hinckley Bradley (1851-1929). Wikipedia.
Cabot: Susan Burley Cabot. Key to Correspondents.
Esther's: Esther has not yet been identified.
others: Penciled in the left margin next to the
final lines of this page are two vertical lines.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Sarah Orne Jewett Additional
Correspondence, 100 letters from Annie Adams Fields, bMS Am
1743.1 Box 1, Item 33.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Sarah Cabot Wheelwright
South Berwick
Tuesday 21
st Sept
r
[
1907 ]*
My dear Sarah
I could not help
thinking that you were wise not to break the journey to
town, but I do so wish that I could have had you -- all --
for a first visit while this old garden was in bloom. I
shall be glad to get you any time of year, but I like to
have my dear Berwick make a good impression -- Last week
(week before, I mean) Mary* and I left the garden in
full
bloom -- such splendid colours! and when we came back from
Newport where we spent four or five days the touch of autumn was
upon everything. It has grown very dry and* even windy and
everything looked as if it were tired out and had
got
through! Newport was at [ its
corrected ] most
beautiful moment -- the grass and trees and Mrs. Charles
Perkins's* scarlet lilies were all a wonder -- I had not been
there since I went with dear S.W.* last, the winter before I was
hurt,*
almost five years ago -- I thought often of her you may be sure
and when I went to the Woolseys,* it was pretty hard work --
(Miss Appleton with whom I was staying spoke of Miss Ellis* and
said that she had told her of my coming and I should [
two
deleted words ] have liked to [ see
correction from seen
? ] her, but there was some misunderstanding between them
I think -- Miss Ellis was not quite sure when I was coming, or
something like that -- It was very hot until the last day, and I
did not get out except to Ellen Masons* to luncheon on Thursday,
and on Friday I had a drive with her & saw Mrs. Perkins, and
went to the Avenue on a trading voyage with Mary Appleton --
Then I spent Sunday with Mrs. Fields,* and my sister came home
to find one guest already arrived and last week this old house
was as full as it could be -- Counter currents from the North
east & the coast this side, and two friends from Newport,
&c. We had two nights from Susan Bradley, a real
pleasure --
[ Up the left margin and across the
top of page 1 ]
I shall be looking forward for a chance to see you{.} I wish I
could have you for a little visit while Mrs. Fields is here. I
doubt if she stays in Manchester much after the tenth or twelfth
--- but that depends upon weather{.}
[ Up the left margin and across the top
of page 2 ]
I shall like to think of you in Newport all the more because I
have a fresh picture of it. I wish that I were at Northeast*
with
you this morning!
With ever so much love
S.O.J.
Dont get too tired dear!
Notes
1907: Dating this letter is complicated despite
Jewett providing explicit information. She says she was
"hurt" almost 5 years before the letter. She refers to her
debilitating carriage accident on 2 September 1902. This should
date this letter in 1907. But she seems fairly clearly to have
written the date of Tuesday 21 September on page 1. 21
September did not fall on a Tuesday in any year during the rest
of her life after 1902. Almost certainly, then, she is
mistaken, probably in dating the letter, though perhaps she
mistakes how long it has been since her accident. In 1907,
21 September fell on Saturday; the following Tuesday was 24
September. While Jewett's handwriting is ambiguous in her
date, it does not look much like she intended to write 24
September.
I have decided to assume she was mistaken in
writing 21 September and to place this letter in 1907,
recognizing that it could be from 1906 or 1908.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See
Key to Correspondents.
and: Many of Jewett's "ands" in this letter appear
in a short-hand version, "a" with a long tail.
Mrs. Charles Perkins's: Edith Forbes Perkins. See
Key to Correspondents.
S.W.: Sarah Wyman Whitman. See
Key to Correspondents.
hurt: Jewett refers to her carriage accident of 2
September 1902.
Woolseys: Probably Sarah Chauncy Woolsey and her younger
unmarried sister, Dora, who spent summers together in Newport.
See
Key to Correspondents.
(Miss Appleton ... Miss Ellis: Mary Worthen Appleton (12
May 1886 - 15 April 1965), Newport, RI, supported local arts and
philanthropy. For example, she and Helen Ellis (died c. 15
November 1940) served on the board of the Newport Hospital
around 1910 and were members of the Newport Historical Society.
According to
Appleton's
Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events
for 1899 (pp. 574-6), Appleton was the daughter of William Henry
Appleton (1814-1899) who, with his father, founded the New York
publishing firm, D. Appleton & Co. However, an
Appleton
genealogy
web site lists Mary as the daughter of his son, William
Worthen Appleton, which better fits her life dates."
The open parenthesis appears to be in another
hand, and it is not closed.
Ellen Masons: Ellen Mason. See
Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See
Key to Correspondents.
Susan Bradley: This may be the American painter,
Susan Hinkley Greenough Bradley
(1851-1929).
Northeast: The Wheelwrights had a summer home at
Northeast Harbor on Mt. Desert Island, ME.
This manuscript of this letter is held by the Princeton
University Library, Princeton, NJ: Robert H. Taylor Collection
of English and American Literature RTC01, Box 10, Folder 12.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Houghton Mifflin & Company
Manchester by Sea
Sept 27th -- [ 1907 ]
[ Begin deleted letterhead ]
South Berwick, Maine.
[ End deleted letterhead ]
Messrs. Houghton Mifflin & Co --
Gentlemen -
Mrs. Fields and I send these cheques for the
Aldrich Memorial Fund* and our warm interest with them.
Your sincerely
S. O. Jewett
[
In another hand and different ink ]
9/27/07
Receipts sent by
Mr. Greenslet
H. M. & Co.
[ Unrecognized
initials A.L.B. ? ]
Notes
Aldrich Memorial Fund: T. B. Aldrich died on 19 March
1907. See
Key
to Correspondents and
Publishers Weekly (72, 5 October
1907) p. 1012.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Papers, 119 letters of Thomas Bailey and Lilian Woodman Aldrich,
1837-1926. MS Am 1429 (117). Transcribed and annotated by Terry
Heller, Coe College.
At the bottom left of page one, in another
hand, is a circled number: 2768.
Annie Adams Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
Monday Eve
g
[
September 1907 or 1908 ]*
Dearest: it makes it so easy to write to you with a pencil
by the evening light! It is more like a talk and no real
effort in the matter!
Your note of Sunday was full of your happiness in Helen's*
visit. You made me feel as if I were really there! And you
knowing the old "Braddon"!* who drove them up and
all!
Isn't it good that Alice ^W^ should be turning out so
well after all! If dear Aunt Helen never does anything else
she has helped to do this.
O what a lovely month this September has been. Whatever man
may do, the Lord who reigns has made himself a glory
this day, and man one would think must be the better for
such a glorious
[ Page 2 ]
framework [ of his
? ] life and deeds --
Mr. Paine and his sister* came today {--} otherwise there has
been neither sound nor shape upon the hilltop all day -- I
finished the great Dante* poem and have had a lovely day. By the
way Mr. Paine goes to town tomorrow to meet the rest of the
Committee about the placing of the Phillips Brooks Monument.*
They hope it will be cast and put up now before many months. Mrs
Saint-Gaudens had it finished by the students in his studio, it
has been recommended for acceptance by Bela Pratt & Kenzar
Cox and they hope the end of the work is near.
I loo forward to Thursday. Hope you will not miss
Your own loving A.F.
[ Up the right margin of page 2 ]
making your visit while the weather
[ Upside down in the top margin of page
2 ]
is so good{.} I will try to find the address of Mifs C.
Notes
1907 or 1908: This letter was composed after the death of
Augustus Saint-Gaudens and before Jewett's death, hence either
in 1907 or 1908. I have arbitrarily placed it in 1907.
Helen's: There are several "Helens" to whom Fields and
Jewett referred by first name. This particular one
could
be Helen Choate Bell, who was the aunt of Alice Ellerton Pratt
Burr (1866-1945). Could this be the "Alice" later
mentioned as "Alice W?" Clearly this speculation is less
than satisfactory.
Braddon: This person has not yet been identified.
Mr. Paine and his sister: Probably this is American
philanthropist Robert Treat Paine (1835-1910). Paine had at
least four unmarried sisters: Frances Jackson Paine (1837-1901),
Sarah Cushing Paine (1838-1924), Marianne Paine (1843-1916),
Helen Paine (1851-1933).
Dante: Italian poet Dante Alighieri ( c. 1265-1321),
whose great poem was
The Divine Comedy. Wikipedia.
Phillips Brooks Monument: For Phillips Brooks (1835- 23
January 1893), see Key to Correspondents. The monument at
Trinity Church in Boston was dedicated in 1910; an image appears
in the Brooks Wikipedia article. It was designed by American
sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848- 3 August 1907).
Bela Pratt & Kenyon Cox: American sculptor Bela Lyon
Pratt (1867-1917), and American painter Kenyon Cox
(1856-1919). Wikipedia.
Mfs C: This person has not yet been identified.
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.
David Douglas to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ Begin letterhead ]
TELEPHONE
No. 710
_____
A. S. BRIDGEFORD,
PROPRIETOR
|
TELEGRAMS:
"HOTEL,"
CLOVENFORDS.
|
Clovernfords Hotel,
Clovenfords, N.B.
[ End letterhead ]
Oct 10. 1907
Dear Miss Jewett
You will see by the heading of this note that
we are away from home at a somewhat unusual time, but we have
had a dull summer which hindered us from [ taking
? ]
our usual holiday in Fifeshire{.} My dear wifes only brother
died after a painful illness and she herself was afterwards
confined to her room for nearly the whole of August and
September -- the result of her loving attention to the poor
sufferer -- Our kind doctor thought that a change would do her
good, -- late in the season though it was -- and so we came here
on the 2
d October -- and have enjoyed the place very
much{.}
2
I daresay you remember that Wordsworth* and his sister visited
this Inn during the autumn of 1803; his room is still [ shown
?
] -- The country is very beautiful and I am of the opinion of
the woman at the village door who in reply to Dorothys remark
that she lived in a pretty place, said "---
Aye! The water
o' Tweed is a bonnie water" --
[ Tis
? ] a delightful neighborhood and we are never
wearied of rambling by the riverside as far as Gairbridge* --
about 3 miles -- passing [ . Fernal
ie
so it appears
] where the author of the Flowers of the Forest* was born and [
marked
or many
? ] spots immortalized by Scott*
-- Last night I shall not soon forget; darkness had overtaken my
daughter and me before we got home but in the early gloaming, it
was a most impressive sight to watch the full river flowing
between its green banks drumly and dark on its way downwards --
This is a most cosy little house
3
kept by a newly married English couple who came here from
Cumberland in May last and we have a comfortable sitting
room where beside a good fire and lamplight we have always
an hours reading. -- One book my daughter has been reading
to us which has amused me and which I think may interest Mrs
Fields* and you -- It is called 'Conclusions of an Everyday
Woman' --
I do not know if her criticisms apply to your society as
closely as they do to ours -- The book undoubtedly is clever
and [ good natured
so written ]. The writer is a
young English woman who came to Edinburgh a short while ago,
and to our astonishment without any previous warning in the
way of newspaper or [ journalistic writing
? ]: has
suddenly come before the public -- If you & Mrs Fields
like the book, perhaps you may speak of it -- She writes
under her real name and is an
4
attractive & good wife and mother --
I hope you have had a good summer and are as well as when I
had the pleasure of hearing from you --
I was sorry not to see Mrs Fields [ friends
? ] but
I heard
of her from Mr [
unrecognized name ]
-- in August. I hope when any of your friends come to
Scotland you will not hesitate to give them a note to us --
--
My wife & daughter join me in [ fondest
? ]
regards to you & Mrs Fields -- begging you to pardon
this scribble -- from yours very sincerely
David Douglas
Notes
Wordsworth: British poet, William Wordsworth (1770-1850).
Wikipedia.
His sister, Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855),
recounts her encounter with the "woman at the village door" in
her
Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland
(1874). Wikipedia.
Gairbridge: This transcription is uncertain, but it
seems clear Douglas refers to Guardbridge in Fifeshire,
Scotland. Wikipedia.
Flowers of the Forest: This song laments the defeat
the the Scots at the Battle of Flodden. There are various
versions of the lyrics. Douglas later quotes the lyrics of
Allison Cockburn (1712-1794), who wrote in her version of "The
Flowers of the Forest,"
I've seen Tweed's silver streams, glittering in the
sunny beams,
Turn drumly and dark, as they roll'd on their way.
She was born at Fairnilee House in the Scottish Borders.
Wikipedia.
Scott: Scottish author, Sir Walter Scott
(1771-1832) wrote of the Battle of Flodden in his epic poem
Marmion:
A
Tale of Flodden Field (1808).
Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
Conclusions of an Everyday Woman: The copyright date for
Hildegard Gordon Brown's book is 1908. Brown (1870-1956)
authored a number of other books after 1908. "Artist
Biographies" says: "Painter about whom little is known. She was
born Hildegarde Muspratt in Seaforth a suburb of Sefton near
Liverpool."
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Miller Library,
Special Collections, Colby College, Waterville, ME:
JEWE.1. Associated with this letter is an envelope
addressed to Jewett in South Berwick, cancelled there on 21
October 1907 and in Clovenfords on 10 October 1907.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Katharine Prescott Wormeley to Sarah Orne Jewett
Thorn Hill
Oct 12. 1907
My dear S.O.J.
I have been thinking I should hear from you for some time --
and, now another sense is provided for by sweets
from
the Sweet* -- for I am confident that an anonymous box of
Bailey's candies is from you. Thanks ever so much.
I leave here tomorrow morning, to be gone
till November. I wanted to give my good maid a long holiday.
This has
[ Page 2 ]
been a trying summer -- The weather -- I dont know what -- all
sorts of trying things.
I have been very quiet -- automobiles and
weakness in the legs [ has
so written ] kept me at home.
The automobiles have become a vulgar craze. The hotels are
finding out that they have injured their business. So many [
middleclass
so written ] people who used to bring their
families for several weeks now hire automobiles for a couple of
weeks and live "on the road" --
The horrid things have rushed over Thorn Hill in flocks -- so
that I gave up driving and sold the horse that was afraid of
them. I persuaded the [ see-lecmen
so spelled ] to put
up notices that automobiles
[ Page 2 ]
were forbidden -- but having no legal right to do so, the
villains only laughed at them. Nobody but the British Embassy
minded them.
It has been one of my summer worries that I
was unable to go to see Mrs Bryce.* We exchanged one visit and
that was all. She is
charming -- so sweet, and happy,
and humorous and both she & Mr Bryce have been very happy
here this summer.
W
m James* came to see me
this last week. Very well and cheerful. He seems to enjoy
getting out of his professoring.
Adieu, give my love to your sister*
and
believe me your affectionate friend
KPW.
Notes
Sweet: An allusion to William Shakespeare's tragedy,
Hamlet
Act 5, Scene 1, the funeral of Ophelia.
Mrs Bryce: James Bryce, Viscount Bryce (1838-1922), was
Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford University (1870-1893),
ambassador to the United States (1907-1913), and also an author.
According to
The Story of Stonehurst, "In the summer of
1907, while the Helen Merrimans [ see Key to Correspondents ]
were traveling in England, Stonehurst -- in North Conway, NH --
served as the temporary British Embassy for the Viscount James
Bryce, the British ambassador to the United States. During that
summer, Stonehurst was at the center of international diplomatic
exchange, along with Bryce’s active and glamorous social life."
James: William James. See Key to Correspondents.
sister: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to
Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University in Sarah Orne Jewett, Correspondence, MS Am
1743, Item 245, Wormeley, Katherine Prescott, 1830-1908. 7
letters. This transcription is from a photocopy held by
the Maine Women Writers Collection, The Burton Trafton Papers,
Box 2, Folder 98. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller,
Coe College.
Associated with this letter is an envelope
directed to Jewett in South Berwick and redirected to Manchester
by the Sea, MA. It was canceled in Jackson, NH, on14
October 1907.
Violet Paget / Vernon Lee to Sarah Orne Jewett
Oct 25. 1907
[ Begin letterhead ]
IL PALMERINO
S. CERVASIO*
FLORENCE
[ End letterhead ]
Dear Mifs Jewett --
I have been wanting for months to thank you
-- to tell you how enchanting I felt your letter to be; and I
haven't. I have been busy, anxious, my poor brother has at
last been
reborn ^saved^ from the sword of
Damocles* suspended over him but saved by a kindly
[ Page 2 ]
un & silent death. I have been very busy, a
little out of sorts away. In short, I haven't written to you.
And instead of writing now, in any decent
sense of the word, I am merely doing to bore you with a very
troublesome commifsion. I want to make an
English
Writer's Notebook on England,* but I want
[ Page 3 ]
to be paid for it, & therefore to [ publish
? ]
through a serial. The
Atlantic Monthly took the two
installments I am sending herewith, but it has refused the [
remainder
? ] which I had
laboriously
[ had
repeated ] laboriously copied out. The only people
wanting to read about England are Americans & America
doubtless contains magazines besides the
Atlantic. But
[ Page 4 ]
my ms is [ colossaly
so spelled ] big, on heavy paper,
& moreover it is my only copy save the half [
unrecognized
word ] scrawls in my pocketbooks. I don't want to send it
about with the risk of loss. This printed sample shows exactly
what I am offering. There are four numbers each about the size
of the printed -- i.e. Things of the Past, Things of the
[ Page 5 ]
2/ Present, The Celtic West and "Some Cathedrals and Oxford" --
Will you offer the
serial copyright (book copyrights all
reserved)
to of these to anyone you think
likely to take them?
If I get a If I get them
accepted
in principle (i.e. on the supposition of their
being equal to
[ Page 6 ]
the printed sample) I will send the rest to America. As to terms
American payment is always handsome.
The point is that [ a
decision ? ] can be perfectly come to on
the printed specimen.
Dear Mifs Jewett, what a bother for you. But
I have no one else to
[ Page 7 ]
help me, or no one except you I really care to ask so great a
favour.
And to you I can say that my brother's death
has left me, for the next few months, rather out of pocket,
& that I am therefore trying to sell whatever finished ms I
have to pay off a loan I have had to make. A kind friend, toward
[ Page 8 ]
whom [ indebtedness
? ] about
an additional
a pleasure, is taking me with her for a month to Greece, where I
never expected to go; & after than I am going for a
fortnight to Cairo.*
I shall not be back for two months from the moment when you
receive this letter, so do not write to me yet. And don't be
angry with me for bothering you.
I am sending you this Tauchnitz
Hortus Vitae* with the
letter to M
me Blanc.
Yours gratefully
V. Paget
[ Page 9 ]
Mem:*
Vernon Lee wishes to sell the
serial rights (no others)
of 4 numbers of
"An English Writer's Notes on England"
of which the accompanying n
o, published in the
Atlantic Monthly, is a specimen
for as
regards subject & treatment. These n
os are
entitled --
I Things of the Past. II Things of the Present, III The Celtic
West," ( Cornwall -- Wales, Ireland) -- IV Some Cathedrals &
Oxford.
Notes
CERVASIO: There may be some confusion about
two locations in Italy, San Cervasio and San Gervasio. S.
Cervasio, according to her letterhead, was Paget's street
address in Florence when she wrote this letter. She died
in 1935 at San Gervasio Bresciano in Lombardy, about 275
kilometers northwest of Florence.
Damocles: The sword of Damocles in a Greek fable
hangs over the throne of a king, held only by a single
horse-hair, likely to fall upon and slay the king at any moment.
Wikipedia.
Paget's brother was Eugene James Lee-Hamilton
(1845- 9 September 1907). Find a Grave.
Notebook on England: Richard Cary explains:
"An English Writer's Notes on England" had appeared
in the Atlantic Monthly, LXXXIV (July 1899), 99-104,
and LXXXVIII (October 1901), 511-519. Miss Jewett, now
inoperative for over five years, was unable to place the
others, but Miss Paget ultimately succeeded in disposing three
of them to Scribner's, which presented them under the
same title, with the following subheads: "Things of the Past,"
LIV (August 1913), 177-194; "Things of the Present," LIV
(November 1913), 609-619; "The Celtic West," LIV (December
1913), 712-724. Neither the sixth essay, titled "Some
Cathedrals and Oxford," nor the projected volume was ever
published.
Cairo: I confess to being puzzled about the matters
of loans and indebtedness in the preceding sentences.
Tauchnitz Hortus Vitae: Vernon Lee's
Hortus
Vitae
(1904). The book is dedicated "To Madame TH: Blanc-Bentzon."
and opens with a letter addressed to Marie Thérèse de Solms
Blanc (Key to Correspondents). The letter begins "The
first copy of this little book was, of course, to have been for
Gabrielle Delzant. I am fulfilling her wish, I think, in
giving it instead to you, who were her oldest friend; as I,
alas! had time to be only her latest." The rest of the
letter eulogizes Delzant.
Alidor (1848-1905) and Gabrielle Delzant
(1854-1903) resided in Paris and at Parays
(Lot-et-Garonne). He was a lawyer, a bibliophile, editor,
and author and wrote, among other works, a biography of the
brothers Goncourt.
Richard Cary notes that Gabrielle was
cited by Violet Paget for the "admirableness of her brains" and
her "extraordinary charm of high breeding." Madame Delzant, an
aspiring author, compiled extensive memoranda and rough drafts
of books on Port Royal and the Princesse de Liancourt but did
not live to publish them. Her husband edited
Lettres de
Gabrielle Delzant (1906), for which Mme. Blanc wrote a
preface.
See also "Paget in Parays" (1960) by Archille
H. Biron.
Mem: This page appears to be in Paget's handwriting
rather than Jewett's.
The manuscript of this letter is held by Colby College Special
Collections, Waterville, ME: JEWE.1.
An envelope associated with this letter
is addressed to Jewett in South Berwick, Stati Uniti,
America. It was cancelled in Florence, Italy, on 26
October and in South Berwick on 6, or perhaps 16, November 1907.
Richard Cary's transcription, with an
informative introduction and notes, appears in "Violet Paget to
Sarah Orne Jewett"
Colby Library Quarterly 9 (1970)
235-243. (1970): 235-243.
New transcription and notes by Terry Heller,
Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Julia Ward Howe
Monday morning
[ Late October 1907 ]*
Dearest Mrs. Howe
I am so glad that you left this beautiful
lecture -- I have had such a
beautiful time reading it
without leave! I only wish that I could have heard it; but
nothing is better than knowing that certain persons in your
happy audience did --
With love always
Sarah
Notes
1907: This date is a guess. It clearly comes
from the period after 1902, when Jewett typically signed her
first name only on letters to Howe. Other letters believed to be
from 1907 show Jewett encouraging Howe to attend and say a few
words, at least, to the South Berwick women's club.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743.1
Sarah Orne Jewett Additional Correspondence II. Letters from
Sarah Orne Jewett, Box 4 (119).
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Agnes Irwin to Sarah Orne Jewett
[ 1 November 1907 ]*
Cambridge
O dearly beloved Sarah! how can I say to you
how sorry I am that I cant possibly go to you for Sunday next or
even the Sunday after, when I am tied here with a great many
knots -- not the Gulliverian threads,* but good strong cords and
straps! ? There is to be a week of the Collegiate Alumnae
[ Page 2 ]
and we are preparing for them like anything; then on Sunday 10
th
I go to New York to a meeting of students, and on to a meeting
at a country house, where I spent much of my youth, which is to
be sold, and I go for a last visit of a day or so. (This is not
so sad as it sounds; it is really because all those who are left
have their own houses elsewhere and, like
[ Page 3 ]
them a great deal better; but it is the closing of a long
chapter)
I could talk with you about that and many
things, and perhaps when I return on and after the 14
th,
there will be Sundays or weekdays, and perhaps Mrs. Fields* will
still be there.
Your handwriting looks so firm and
[ Page 4 ]
fine that I think you must be
well and I hope so,
indeed. I am still regretting that you couldn't come to
N.L.* But next summer we must have you, if you and I are
both on this side of the Atlantic.
And this carries my love to you and dear Mrs.
Fields and the Sister Mary.*
Agnes Irwin
Nov. 1. 1907
Notes
1907: Irwin's handwriting makes this date somewhat
uncertain. However, her placing Sunday on the 10th helps
to confirm that she was writing in November 1907.
Gulliverian: Part 1 of
Gulliver's Travels (1726)
by
Anglo-Irish author Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) tells of Lemuel
Gulliver's voyage to Lilliput, where after a shipwreck, he finds
himself in a land of tiny people. While he slept after being
washed ashore, the Lilliputians tied down this fearsome giant
with many strong threads.
Mrs. Fields: Annie Adams Fields. See Key to
Correspondents.
N.L.: This transcription is uncertain and the
meaning of this abbreviation is not yet known.
Sister Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to
Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters
to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Irwin, Agnes. 1 letter; 1907. (110).
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 Frances Parker Parkman
South Berwick
Monday afternoon
[ November 1907 ]*
My dearest Frances
I now state (but with a strange pen found
on Mary's* desk) that Please send 2d Revise to -- is
the form of words -- And after a bad night and day, made
doubly trying by little problems about those dear proofs,* I
begin to cheer up because you say that you will come on
Thursday. I wish
[ Page 2 ]
it could be by the 1 o'clock Eastern Division to South
Berwick; after that is the 3.30 ^arriving -- 6 o'clock^
and they are both slow trains, but we feel sadly
provincial and rustic since the fast expresses that
usually stop here or at Salmon Falls all winter, now have
made a new schedule and go right by. There is a
nice
1.15 train to Dover where I could meet you at 3.03 --
either driving or by trolley. If you can stay ^long
enough^ you can go to
[ Page 3 ]
York by trolley = (this bait has been used before without
being noticed by Frances . --) --
-- I just opened an October
Spectator
that I hadn't seen and here, in a Review of the Queen's
Letters* some wise person says:
"We realise of course that it is exceedingly difficult . .
. to print Documents ^Letters^ entire owing to reasons of
space.
At the same time it cannot be [
doubted
corrected ]
that a letter is a living thing
with an individuality of its own, and if the head and
tail are cut off, and two or three pieces taken out of
[ Page 4 ]
the body, that individuality is lost."
This is my own strong instinct -- Miss Foster
has chosen beautifully often and often, but the extracts often
suffer from being taken out of their setting -- I think she
carefully avoids the
funny letters, there is one I
cannot bear to miss ^even all dashes^ about Coolidge &
Cunliffe & Co -- And there are too many scraps about the
pressure of everyday work and claims. I have felt Her at my
elbow so often in reading these proofs that it has been hard not
to follow [
our corrected ] dislikes and
preferences but I would not for anything [ be
corrected
]
prepotente* and trying
[ Page 5 ]
to Miss Foster. I think we should think of the Author
first
however in every case. That's our plain duty;
especially
I must say that my only thought about the unsympathetic is that
we must give them S.W.'s very best to judge from!!
But so few of us Know what a stern judge
print
is in itself; what a sifter and weigher of values, how
astonishing its calm verdict when a book is
done -- none
of these preliminary stages can forecast it -- and I do so
[ Page 6 ]
want this to be her best -- what
she would wish it. Miss
Foster's choosing costs the letters dear, they sometimes do not
read like letters at all in these unrelated statements -- and I
cannot
help keep myself from thinking how
beautiful she made them, often each was like one of her own
sketches. She brought all her Art to letter writing when she was
at her best and ^
many many ^ [ such
corrected
] letters could have been printed with
very little cut
out; sometimes nothing at all -- But she would say
we
must make them stand as well as we can: and not make her book as
if we took brushes
[ Up the left margin and across the top
margin of page 1 ]
and colours and Knives to cut the canvas smaller and altered all
her Sketches -- This
is too severe but it is only said
to you, by your loving
S. O. J.
Notes
1907: Penciled near top right of page 1: 1905. This
also is the date given the letter by Annie Fields in her
collection of Jewett's letters. However, it almost certainly
comes from autumn 1907, when Jewett and Parkman were completing
their work on
Letters of Sarah Wyman Whitman (1907)
Penciled and circled at the bottom left of
page 1: 226, the Houghton Library item number for this ms.
In this letter, Jewett sometimes shortens
"and" in various ways, some of which appear only as "a" with a
long tail. I have rendered these as "and."
Mary's: Mary Rice Jewett. See
Key
to Correspondents.
proofs: Jewett and Parkman are working on proofs for
their volume of
Letters of Sarah Wyman Whitman (1907).
October "Spectator":
The Letters of Queen Victoria: a
Selection from Her Majesty's Correspondence Between the Years
1837 and 1861 appeared in 3 volumes in October 1907.
The review to which Jewett refers, "The Letters of Queen
Victoria" appeared in
The Spectator (London) of October
26, 1907, pp. 611-612.
Miss Foster: Elizabeth Foster. See
Key
to Correspondents.
Coolidge & Cunliffe & Co: This Whitman letter has
not yet been discovered, and these personages remain
unidentified. Among Jewett's correspondents were:
Katherine/Catherine Scollay Parkman Coolidge and Sarah Chauncey
Woolsey, wrote under the name of Susan Coolidge. See
Key
to Correspondents.
prepotente: Jewett uncharacteristically uses
an Italian (and Spanish) word, which translates as arrogant or
overbearing.
this is: Jewett has underlined this word
with a flourish that amounts to 3 lines.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Jewett, Sarah Orne,
1849-1909. 17 letters to Frances Parkman; [190-]-1907. Parkman
family, Edward Twisleton, and Sarah Wyman Whitman additional
papers, 1763-1917 (inclusive) 1850-1907 (bulk). MS Am 1408
(214-230). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Annie Fields's Transcription
Part of this letter appears in Annie Fields,
Letters of Sarah
Orne Jewett (1911) p. 203),
South Berwick, Monday afternoon,
1905
My dearest Frances, -- I now state
(but with a strange pen found on Mary's desk) that "Please
send 2d Revise to" is the form of words, and after a bad
night and day made doubly trying by little problems about
these dear proofs."# I begin to cheer up because you say that
you will come on Thursday. We feel sadly provincial since the
fast expresses have made a new schedule and go right by, but
there is a nice 1.15 train to Dover where I could meet
you, and if you can stay long enough, you can go to York by
trolley (this bait has been used before without being noticed
by Frances).
I just opened an October "Spectator"
that I had not seen, and here in a Review of the Queen's
Letters some wise person says: "We realize of course that it
is exceedingly difficult to print Documents or Letters entire
owing to reasons of space. At the same time it cannot be
doubted that a letter is a living thing with` an
individuality of its own, and if the head and tail are cut
off, and two or three pieces taken out of the body, that
individuality is lost." This is my own strong instinct.
I have felt Her at my elbow so often in reading these proofs
that it has been hard not to follow our dislikes or
preferences, but I would not for anything be prepotente.
I think we should think of the author first however in every
case. That's our plain duty.
But so few of us know what a stern
judge print is in itself; what a sifter and weigher of
values, how astonishing its calm verdict when a book is done.
None of these preliminary stages can forecast it, and I do so
want this to be Her best. What she would wish it. Too much
choosing has cost the letters dear; they sometimes do not read
like letters at all in these unrelated fragments. I cannot
keep myself from thinking how beautiful she made them, each
was like one of her own sketches. She brought all her Art to
letter writing when she was at her best. She would say we must
make them stand as well as we can. . . .
This is only said to you by
your loving
S.O.J.
#
Fields's note
Mrs. Whitman's Letters.
David Douglas to Annie Adams Fields
Confidential
[
Begin Letterhead
Underlined portion filled in by hand. ]
DAVID DOUGLAS
PUBLISHER
10 Castle Street
Edinburgh Nov 7. 1907
[
End Letterhead ]
My dear M
rs Fields
I send you by today's mail a book which, I am
sure, will interest you containing, as it does, so many letters
of the author of "Rab."* -- I need not say that I have no
responsibility regarding its publication or editorship{.} The
latter seems to be very fairly done though I am doubtful of so
many letters in such close print will be read by a 'general
public' who had
[ Page 2 ]
not the pleasure of knowing the writer. One letter regarding you
& Mr Fields brings back some very pleasant memories of our
first meeting.
This was more than 25 years since D
r
Brown died and my relations with his son never cordial -- have
not improved in the interval -- so that I was precluded from
offering any letters of mine to an unknown editor, -- who has
however done his work as carefully and as well as a man could
do,
3
who knows so little of
Dr Brown.* I daresay you will
find something to interest you in the volume and perhaps Miss
Jewett* also --
I forgot whether I told you that after a somewhat closely
confined summer and autumn in town, we managed to have a
delightful ten days in Tweedside at Clovenfords -- (by "we" I
mean my dear wife 'The sine qua non'* as Dr Brown used to term
her & my daughters) --
You, of course remember its association with [
unrecognized
word ] & Wordsworth.* Our daily walk [ on
? ]
the riverside to [ Gair
? ] bridge* will not be
forgotten for a while.
I trust your friends who were unable
4
to cross the Tweed to our old city got home safely --
With kind regards ^to^ Miss Jewett if she is with you* ^from
Drummond Place^
I am yours very faithfully
David Douglas
Notes
'Rab': "
Rab and his Friends" (1859) is a story by
Scottish author and physician,
Dr. John Brown (1810-1882).
Letters of Dr. John Brown edited by
"by his son,"John Brown, and D.W. Forrest, D.D. was published in
1907. Letters mentioning Fields are an 1869 letter on p.
196 and an 1876 letter on p. 354. Mr. Fields's death is reported
in an 1882 letter from Oliver Wendell Holmes, p. 359.
Brown: In this instance, Douglas appears to have
underlined "Dr" twice.
Miss Jewett: Sarah Orne Jewett. Key to
Correspondents.
Tweedside ... Clovenfords ... Gair bridge:
Clovenfords, Scotland, is about 35 miles south of Edinburgh,
near the River Tweed. The transcription of "Gair" is
uncertain, and the location of this bridge is not yet known.
sine qua non: Latin: the indispensable person.
Douglas appears to have written some sort of accent over the
"a."
Wordsworth: English poet
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) in
Memorials of a Tour in Scotland (1803), XI
and XII writes of a walking tour along the River Tweed and
arriving at Clovenford, as the name is spelled in the poem.
you: Douglas appears to have written a period here
before writing his insertion over it.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library,
San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda, Box
16: mss FI 5637. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller,
Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Sara Norton
South Berwick, Maine, November
12, 1907.
My dearest Sally, -- I have just
tied up a little book for you. It may not 'like you' as much
as the "Hortus Vitæ,"* but I find many charming things in it.
I suppose that I am made like Vernon Lee;* it gave me a little
thrill the other day when I came upon this in still another
book called "Limbo": "As some persons are never unattended by
a melody, so others -- and among them your humble servant --
have always for their thoughts and feelings an additional
background besides the one which happens to be visible behind
their head and shoulders."* -- I must lend you "Limbo" some
day, or find it for you. I always fancied that you may like,
even better than I (because you are a closer friend), to have
these brief sketches open their windows toward Italy.
I ought not to write on and on to a
busy autumn Sally in this way, but the thing I really had most
in mind when I began was the story of an Indian summer*
afternoon last week, when I went on a little pilgrimage by
trolley car down the Kittery shore, to a dear old house on the
river just opposite Portsmouth, where my sister and I used to
visit a delightful old grand-aunt -- by courtesy and of
courtesy -- when we were children. You go down a deep lane
from the main road and (I ought to tell this to Dr. James)* I
was possessed by a sudden terror of a huge Newfoundland puppy
who used to run and jump at me when I was six years old. I
never have been so afraid of anything since. I was not
thinking of him [so transcribed] after a comparative
safety of above fifty years. There's a persistent sensation
for you! The old house was standing empty and somebody let us
in to stay as long as we liked. It is a huge old place, I
can't quite remember all the rooms now! and the sun was
shining in, and the dear ghosts: Aunt Anne and Cousin Marcia
were both there.* It is far too long to write after all, but
the sound of Portsmouth bells across the water woke many
things in my heart. And in the old garden, as if Aunt Anne
would even now not let us go empty-handed away, there was the
last old St. Michael's pear-tree that I know,* with its
harvest dropped for us on the grass. I wrote a story about
this old house once, called "Lady Ferry," -- it was when I was
about twenty and still very young, and Mr. Howells would not
print it. I can always show him the scar to his great
amusement! I put it into my second small book, "Old Friends
and New," and you might just look at it; I still think that he
made a mistake (I can hear him laugh!), but it was my whole
childish heart written in.* I have only seen dear Mr. Howells
two or three times all summer. They were just going away when
Mrs. Fields was here, when he generally comes up for an
afternoon or so. He looks very well, I think much better than
a year ego or two. Was not his "Atlantic" paper full of kind
and delightful things, and Mr. Norton's so exactly right! and
Miss Francis's in the last "Contributors' Club" about Mr.
Fields those were the days when I began!*
Dear Sally, forgive all this, but I
have been playing that I really saw you and your dear father.
The trouble is that you have not known it and told me instead
the things that I would so much rather hear. I am sure that
you were both glad to get back to Shady Hill, and I hope that
you are both equal to many pleasures and to the things you
wish to do.* You and Mr. Norton are two of my very dearest
little company of friends; I can never help thinking of you
both very often and always sending my true love.
Notes
the "Hortus Vitæ": By Vernon Lee (Violet Paget,
1856-1935). Paget was a writer of English parentage who lived
and wrote near Florence, Italy. Hortus Vitae (1904) is
a collection of essays on self-cultivation. See next note.
Vernon Lee ... another book called "Limbo": It
is likely that Jewett is giving Sara a copy of Lee's The
Enchanted Woods, and Other Essays on the Genius of Places
(1905), which contains a number of pieces on Italy. The
quotation from Limbo and Other Essays (1897) appears
in "The Lie of the Land," at the beginning of section VI,
which opens, "This same power of sentiment and fancy, that is
to say, of association, enables us to carry about, like a
verse or a tune, whole mountain ranges, valleys, rivers and
lakes, things in appearance the least easy to remove from
their place. As some persons are never unattended by a melody;
so others, and among them your humble servant, have always for
their thoughts and feelings, an additional background besides
the one which happens to be visible behind their head and
shoulders. By this means I am usually in two places at a time,
sometimes in several very distant ones within a few seconds"
(here quoted from The Bodley Head, 1908 edition, 62).
Indian summer: In North America, a period of warmth
following the first hard frost of the autumn.
Dr. James ... persistent sensation: Probably Jewett
refers to William James (1842-1910), the American philosopher
and psychologist. In an examination of James's chapters in Psychology
(1890) on Sensation and Memory, I did not find the term
"persistent sensation." Still, James discusses the sensation
of the presence of an amputated limb, to which the term
"persistent sensation" has been applied. Or Jewett might
easily have been thinking of James's presentation of the
phenomena of memory. More precise information would be
welcome.
Aunt Anne and Cousin Marcia: Blanchard in Sarah
Orne
Jewett (1994) identifies Aunt Anne as Anne Rice (pp.
39-40). It is notable that Jewett calls her a
grand-aunt, though Blanchard says that Jewett's "blood"
relationship with Anne Rice was more distant.
St. Michael's pear-tree: U. P. Hedrick, in The
Pears of New York (Albany: J. B. Lyon, 1921), says that
the White Doyenné pear was called the St. Michael's pear in
the Boston area in the 19th century, when this variety was
considered one of the best for eating, though difficult to
cultivate. As pears became increasingly a commercial product,
this variety disappeared along with many others of the more
than 120 that Hedrick describes as having grown in New York
and the Northeastern United States.
I wrote a story about this old house once, called "Lady
Ferry," ... Mr. Howells would not print it: William Dean
Howells was editor at The Atlantic when Jewett
completed her story, "Lady
Ferry." The story appeared in Old Friends and New
(1879). Key to Correspondents.
Was not his "Atlantic" paper full of kind and delightful
things, and Mr. Norton's so exactly right! and Miss Francis's
in the last "Contributors' Club" about Mr. Fields those were
the days when I began!: Jewett refers to the November 1907
issue of
Atlantic Monthly, which was the fiftieth
anniversary number. Charles Eliot Norton contributed "The
Launching of the Magazine." William Dean Howells' "paper" to
which she refers, was "Recollections of an Atlantic Editorship";
Howells acted as editor from 1866 until 1881, thus including the
beginning of Jewett's professional career. Miss Francis is
almost certainly Susan Moore Francis (1839-1919), essayist and
book reviewer for
Atlantic. The unsigned piece on James
T. Fields' editorship of
The Atlantic that Jewett
attributes to Francis was "The Atlantic's Pleasant Days in
Tremont Street."
Shady Hill: The Cambridge, MA residences of Sara
Norton and her father, Charles Eliot Norton. Key to
Correspondents.
This letter appears in Annie Fields,
Letters of Sarah
Orne Jewett (1911), Transcribed by Annie Adams
Fields, with notes by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Frances Parker Parkman
Dearest Frances
You gave me a kind of shock about the
books!*
-- If you knew what a joy it has been to
think I could do anything like that -- and something that
had to do for ^with^ her: -- At any rate I
could not come in for Authors Copies ^ (as Mifs F. ought to
do), or wouldn't now, if you will be so good a Frances: only
I wish you would give [ me ? ] a copy from you
and our names in it all for loves sake -- And if [ deleted
word ] you would rather have it so, dear, just put
this cheque
[ Page 2 ]
down for general expenses -- and I can let you have more
the first of January or no doubt before that, if you want
to square up all or part of it to H.M. & Co ----- --
It looks wintry here -- there was a
flurry of snow on Thanksgiving Day morning and it seems to
stay on. I found it at night when I got home from Exeter
where I had a long but very dear and pleasant day with my
"Uncle Will"* and some dear old cousins of his and my
mother's -- You would
[ Page 3 ]
love Cousin Fanny!!*
Fanny & the boys
^as^ they are always spoken of in the family, the oldest
of two bachelor brothers, (there used to be three) now
being just past his 87
th birthday.
Look out for a story called
The
Broken Road,* very interesting and a touch of
greatness in it -- East Indian & English. -- Brothers
in the Army would like it. I shall come back on
Saturday ("with Jockey* to the fair!"){.} I almost got to
the end of me last week, there were
[ Page 4 ]
so many ways to run but I hope Mary* will come for a day or two
at least, this time -- not sure until later but I must make a
descent upon Hallison avenue* in her able company. Good by
dear Frances
S. O. J.
Notes
1907: Added in another hand to the date on page 1:
1904. December 3 fell on a Monday in 1906, and this would seem
the more likely date. But Jewett speaks of the new
publication of Sarah Wyman Whitman's letters (1907) and the
newly published
The Broken Road (1907). As the Sarah
Orne Jewett to Parkman letter of Autumn 1907 shows, Jewett and
Parkman were completing their work on the Whitman letters at
that time. Almost certainly, then, Jewett mistakenly dated
her letter, as 3 December fell on Tuesday in 1907. She did
sometimes mistake a date. And there is an envelope associated
with this letter in the Houghton Library folder, showing a much
blurred cancellation, with the reasonably clear year: 1907.
Penciled and circled at the bottom left of
page 1: 225, the Houghton Library item number for this ms.
the books: Jewett refers to the 1907 publication of
Letters by Sarah Wyman Whitman,
their mutual friend. Jewett wrote an introductory note for this
volume.
Mifs F is Elizabeth Foster. Key to
Correspondents.
The expenses to which Jewett contributes a
check are likely to be printing expenses for the Whitman volume,
as it probably was published with the idea that it would have
limited sales.
Uncle Will: Uncle Will is Dr. William G. Perry
(1823-1910), husband of Lucretia Fisk Perry. Fanny is their
daughter. Key to Correspondents.
The Broken Road: British author and
politician, Alfred Edward Woodley Mason (1865-1948) authored the
novel,
The Broken Road (1907).
Goodreads says it is "one of two books by
the author set in British India. It is an exciting adventure
story involving the Indian Army, Rajas and secret agents."
Jockey: Sometimes spelled "Jocky," probably a
Jewett dog.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. Key to Correspondents.
Hallison avenue: See Sarah Orne Jewett to Mary Rice
Jewett, Tuesday morning after Christmas, December 1903.
There being no Hallison Avenue in Boston, one may speculate that
Jewett refers to a Chinese speaker's likely mispronunciation of
Harrison Avenue, the location of Boston's Chinatown. It is
not yet known what drew Jewett to that area of Boston.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Jewett, Sarah Orne,
1849-1909. 17 letters to Frances Parkman; [190-]-1907. Parkman
family, Edward Twisleton, and Sarah Wyman Whitman additional
papers, 1763-1917 (inclusive) 1850-1907 (bulk). MS Am 1408
(214-230). Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Sarah Orne Jewett to Sara Ormsby Burgwin Holland
Dec'r -- 4rth [1907]*
[ Begin letterhead ]
South Berwick.
Maine.
[ End Letterhead ]
Dear Sara
I meant to thank you at once for the
photograph -- it is so nice to have it, and I like to remember
that pleasant day and to have your 'likeness' too -- I think it
does us both more credit than many such portraits do! It
was so nice to see you and Arthur the other day, only I wish we
could have met before your cousin Annie* got tired -- just at
that last minute. She
[ Page 2 ]
soon rested however and I think it didn't do her a bit of harm
only
good rather -- as we had taken it very quietly --
We had laid a great plot to go by ourselves in tourist fashion
-- it is so pleasant to see the people as well as the museum
itself -- but Mrs. Gardner* had caught us with great
amusement. How wonderful and interesting it all is! I had
only seen it once
by moonlight before I was ill when
Mrs. Gardner wanted us to come and see it first,
[ Page 3 ]
until last week, and then I went twice the day I saw you and
with an English friend another day. I hope that I shall
meet you there again -- With love to both and thanks for the
photograph yours ever affectionately
Sarah O. Jewett
Notes
1907: The envelope associated with this letter appears to
have been cancelled in December of 1907. It is addressed
to M
rs Arthur Holland, Main Street, Concord,
Massachusetts.
Annie: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
Mrs. Gardner: Isabella Stewart Gardner. Key to
Correspondents. It seems likely that Jewett speaks of the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, then
called Fenway Court, which opened in 1903.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Small Library,
University of Virginia, Special Collections MSS 6218, Sarah Orne
Jewett Papers. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller,
Coe College.
Robert Collyer to Annie Adams Fields and Sarah Orne Jewett
201 West 55th St
New York
[ December 1907 ]*
Dear Friends
The doctor forbids my
using my eye yet so Bertha is helping me to tell you in some
particulars what a good time I had over yonder from start to
finish. The first thing I want to tell you is about the Turner
pictures at Farnley Hall.* A gentleman in Otley who owns an
automobile offered it for any
time I wanted to go any
where
so I told him about Farnley, how I wanted to see the Turners
& about sending that book to the new Squire. He said "I will
write him at once" which he did & at once an answer came
"Come to lunch, see the pictures & the Hall &
everything". So we went on a forenoon, were met with a
great welcome from the Squire who turned out to be very much
like a body's self, frank & free & folksy. He is a man
of 30 to 35 who has seen the
[ Page 2 ]
world and been, among other places, far away into darkest Africa
but is very modest about it all. The lunch was as good as I get
at 148 Charles St or on Thunder Hill* & what can I say more?
The Squire's two sisters were our hostesses & made us very
welcome. The Turners were well worth the visit though we have
seen otherwheres the best. Still one of the best I've ever seen
was there & a great wealth of smaller studies, one with a
curious cloud formation which is the squire's patent joke. As
Turner was doing the picture a drop of black paint fell above
the skyline, he smutted it with his finger & it still
remains. He says a great many people come asking to copy some of
the smaller studies ^so^ he always gives them that for one &
tells them to be sure and copy the cloud with their brushes
& it's always a dead failure whereat he chuckles down his
boots with delight.
[ Page 3 ]
The old part of the Hall is early 17
th
century, has a magnificent staircase of carved oak & a
wonderful mantel also carved oak, which one of the earlier
squires had brought from a hall, since abolished by the family.
Hanging high on the wall of the great hall is the hat Cromwell*
wore at Marston Moor{.} The view from the house is magnificent
but we didn't see it owing to the dense fog. It was however a
delightful visit altogether. You remember Myddleton Lodge* above
Ilkley on the north side of the river? The house of the
Myddletons for over 600 years. A gentleman of wealth has taken
it on a 99 years lease & made a complete renovation of the
whole interior. Found two great [ old
corrected ]
fireplaces that had been boarded up & lost{.} The [
Myddleton's
so written ] didn't know they were there.
Had all the old oak panelling & staircase scraped &
restored (it was covered with a coat of paint), opened up old
passages long disused & what should they find but the
priest's hiding place{,} priest's hole as they called it. These
are to found in most of the old
[ Page 4 ]
halls belonging to the Catholic families. It was when in times
of persecution the priest would come to England at the risk of
his life that they would hide him in these holes. My host &
hostess Mr & Mrs [ Kallett
? ]* poured hospitality
on me without stint (also on me.* Bertha{,} Mrs K -- is
very much interested in Anne Clifford almshouses* that you will
remember. She goes rather often to visit the old ladies &
once a year brings them all to the Lodge for an afternoon. Now
we must bring this long letter to a close, & when I get
better I'll write some more or ask Bertha to give me another
lift{.}
Always yours
Robert Collyer
We had dinner at the Dickensons* and Mrs
John asked all about both of you and sent Mary* kind
messages.
[
Pencil notes on the back of page 4
]
[ top center ] Robert
Collyer
[ down vertically in right bottom
corner ]
Birthday 8th Decr
1907
Notes
1907: This date is suggested by the penciled notes
on the back of page 4. Collyer recounts incidents of his
recent 1907 trip to England.
Farnley Hall:
Farnley Hall in North Yorkshire, UK. In
the early 19th century, British painter
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851)
resided there, with his friend, Ramsden Fawkes, then owner of
the property. Fawkes became the owner of a large number of
Turner's works, mostly in watercolor. While this is not certain,
probably Collyer's host at Farnley Hall was
Frederick Hawksworth Fawkes (1870-1936).
Among his 7 siblings were
four sisters.
Hill: Annie Fields's residences on Charles St. in
Boston, on Thunderbolt Hill in Manchester by the Sea, MA.
Cromwell:
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) was an English
general and statesman, commander of the army of the Parliament
against King Charles I in the English Civil War. After
victory in that war, Cromwell became head of state in England
from 1653 until 1658. His heroic performance at the battle of
Marston Moor contributed to the success of Parliament in the
war.
Myddleton Lodge:
Myddleton Lodge photo.
Kallett: This transcription is uncertain, and
Collyer's hosts have not yet been identified.
Anne Clifford almshouses:
Lady Anne Clifford (1590-1676) was a
patron of the arts and a philanthropist. She founded
St. Anne's Hospital at
Appleby-in-Westmorland in 1653 as a home for widows and
spinsters. If Collyer was staying in Ikley, he was about 75
miles by road from Appleby.
me: I opine that in this confusing half parenthesis,
Bertha Roberts means that the hosts had been very kind to her,
the scribe of the letter, as well as to Collyer, its author.
Dickensons:
John Dickinson (1844-1912) kept diaries
that were edited to become
Timble Man: Diaries of a Dalesman
(1988). They provide a history of the village, mainly
1878-1912. His wife was Fanny Holmes (1859-1927).
While most other sources spell his name "Dickinson," Collyer
prefers "Dickenson."
Mary.: Mary Rice Jewett. Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library,
San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields Papers and Addenda Box
11: mss FI 1-5637. Transcription and notes by Terry
Heller, Coe College.
Louise Imogen Guiney to Annie Adams Fields
[ 12 December 1907 ]*
Dearest Mrs. Fields:
I must wish you and dear S.O.J.* the
Merriest Christmas in my imagination; and that gives me a
chance to do what I never have done yet: thank you for
sending to me Mr. Karl Young.* A charming fellow, and a
genuine scholar, sure of distinction. (Hasn't he the worst
vox humana, though?) I was sorry that he wandered off to
Germany: they all do! but I think he liked Oxford immensely.
We were always running into each other at the Bodleian.*
Just before he came, Mr. Witter Bynner* had sent me his
first book, "An Ode to Harvard' &c., and as I mightily
approved of that honest young art which hits exactly what it
aims at, I went about saying so to divers and sundry, Mr.
Young among the rest. He was amused, being, as it turns
[ Page 2 ]
out, the bosom friend of the bard, whom I never saw, but
whose uncle Mr. Lasseter Bynner, I used to know and to like
greatly, long ago. There has been a great outburst of praise
and regret over poor Francis Thompson.* You will have seen
Mrs. Meynell's beautifully written article in
The
Athenaeum.*
I came down here to be quite alone,
for hackwork, and shall stay several weeks yet. It is
wonderfully mild, the Cornish winter; the sea and coast are
exquisite, though there is no beauty inland like
Devonshire's. My little study is on a rock in the sea, with
surf running in straight from Labrador, (only warmer and
perfumed on the way), on the calmest day. Also, -- an item
which pleases me almost unduly, there is an array of
gulls outside, surely the wildest of wild crea-
[ Page 3 ]
tures elsewhere? who bang my window-sill, and bully me out
of half my hermit's fare. I am doing several articles for
the new Catholic Encyclopedia* (Chaucer, Crashaw, &c.)
Imagine me setting up for a wiseacre! And just now, in
addition, a book about Edmund Campion.* All my own
work has long been hung up by the gills: scared, possibly,
by the lone goggle-eyed 25c which represents my total income
from all my books for 1907 !!! But the muse is a hoyden
bound by no circumstance, and lit upon my fist lately after
a prodigiously long absence: whereof you may see some trace
anon in
McClure's and the ever-beloved
Atlantic.*
My poor Marmee* is puzzled to know what
to do with our vacant house at Auburndale and has even
harbored a plan to
[ Page 4 ]
recall me, and move back into it, a not very practicable
thing, now ^that^ we haven't a shred left of our furniture,
and all the books are in Oxford with me. So I was not sorry
to get a nice little letter from her yesterady, cancelling
that for the present. But I wish we were together. A
fifty-year-old cousin of mine is with her now.
Well, Well! Dr. Clarence Blake* is a bridegroom, and my dear
Mary Blake is nearly a year in Paradise. One cannot be long
away ^from home^ without inheriting a certain fear of
changes there. Do you two ladies of my heart, at least, keep
well, forget me not, and live for ever!
Yours always,
Louise I. Guiney.
Dec. 12.
C/O Mrs. Grenfell, Warrent, St. Ives,
Cornwall
[ Upside down in the top margin
of page 1 ]
I mustn't omit to tell you my housemate Harriet Anderson
and I enjoyed Miss Marlowe* and her delicate adorer, who
might have come out of Jane Austen.*
Notes
1907: This date is supported by Guiney's
mention of the recent death of Francis Thompson and by her
report on her 1907 royalties; see notes below.
S.O.J.: Sarah Orne Jewett. Key to Correspondents.
Mr. Karl Young: American theater historian
Karl Young (1879-1943) was
particularly interested in liturgical drama.
Vox humana is a reed stop on a pipe
organ, named for its resemblance to the human voice.
Bodleian: The
Bodleian Library is the main research
library of Oxford University.
Mr. Witter Bynner: America poet and translator,
Harold Witter Bynner (1881-1968). His
An Ode to Harvard and Other Poems was published in
1907.
His uncle was American author
Edwin Lassetter Bynner (1842-1893).
Information about him available on-line is scant and not
consistent. WorldCat lists a number of his books. An account
of his funeral appears in the
Boston Daily Globe of
9 August 1893, p. 9.
Francis Thompson: English poet and Catholic mystic,
Francis Thompson (1859 - 13 November
1907).
Mrs. Meynell's: Alice Meynell. See
Key to Correspondents.
While I have not found an article on
Francis Thompson with Alice Meynell's by-line in
The Athenaeum (London) in 1907,
I did find an article by her husband, Wilfred Meynell
(1852-1948, see
Wikipedia): 23 November 1897, pp.
654-6.
Catholic Encyclopedia ... Edmund Campion:
The Catholic Encyclopedia was first
published 1907-1912. Guiney's contributions on Chaucer and
Crashaw should be in volumes 3 and 4, published in 1908.
The 2007
Catholic
Answers on-line publication includes Guiney's article on
Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340-1400), but
nothing by her on
Richard Crashaw (1613-1649), both British
poets. Also in the online version is her entry on her father,
Patrick Robert Guiney (1835-1887).
Guiney's
Blessed Edmund Campion
appeared in 1908.
McClure's ... Atlantic:
Two
of
Guiney's
poems appeared in
McClure's Magazine in 1907-8, "To a
Served Ideal" (28: 534) and "His Angel to His Mother" (30: 338).
Her "Beati Mortui" appeared in
Atlantic Monthly in
January 1908 (101: 105-6).
'Marmee': Guiney often calls her mother Marmee in her
letters. Presumably she alludes to
Little Women by
American author
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), where the
mother of the little women is called Marmee.
Dr. Clarence Blake ... Mary Blake:
Dr. Clarence Blake (1843- 29 January
1919). His second wife was
Mary Alice Houghton Blake (1863-1919).
According to
Back Bay Houses, they married in September
1907, his first wife, Frances, having died in 1902.
Almost certainly Mary Blake Guiney refers to
is Irish-American poet
Mary Elizabeth McGrath Blake (1840-1907).
Harriet Anderson ... Miss Marlowe: Miss Marlowe may
have been the Shakespearean actor, Sarah Francis Frost
(1865-1960), whose stage name was
Julia Marlowe. If Julia Marlowe is the
right person, she may have been traveling in the company of her
fellow actor, Edward Hugh Sothern (1859-1933).
Harriet Anderson of New York, appears in
Guiney's
letters, as her housemate in Oxford
beginning in November 1904 through January 1909, where she is
described as joining with Guiney in efforts to support
Catholicism in Oxford. Probably, she was the author of
"Woman," an essay in
Atlantic Monthly 90, August 1912,
177-183.
Jane Austen: British novelist,
Jane Austen (1775-1817).
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Huntington Library,
San Marino, CA, in the James T. Fields collection Box 26: mss FI
1576 . Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Katharine Prescott Wormeley to Sarah Orne Jewett
Jackson, NH.
Dec 22nd
1907*
My dear S.O.J.
The sweeties & card came last night.
Thank you, dear, for remembering me, while I, up here, can
remember no one except mentally, or I should say heartily{.}
It looks like a beautiful Christmas. My
nephew, Ralph Latuner,* is coming on. He came last winter when I
was ill, and was so
amazed & enchanted with the
beauty and comfort of everything and the delightful [ air
?
] that he [ vowed
? ] he would
[ Page 2 ]
never go through a winter without coming to the White Mountains.
Two or three weeks ago the head lawyers on both sides of a will
case wanting my deposition, came up here from Newport and
Providence and were so delighted that they have written for
rooms to come back on a lark.
Well, it is enchanting, and nobody knows it
till they live in a northern country in winter.
I suppose you have the same winter delights
in South Berwick.
Give my affectionate regards to your sister*
-- and believe me, with love, your friend
KPW
Notes
1907: This year appears to have been added in another
hand.
An envelope associated with this letter is
addressed to Jewett in South Berwick and then forwarded to 148
Charles St., Boston, MA. It is cancelled on 23 December
1907.
Latuner: This transcription is uncertain.
Wormeley is known to have a nephew, Ralph, son of her sister,
Ariana, and Daniel Curtis. He was a painter based in Italy. This
appears to be another nephew, but that is uncertain. Nothing is
yet known about this person.
sister: Mary Rice Jewett. See Key to
Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University in Sarah Orne Jewett, Correspondence, MS Am
1743, Item 245, Wormeley, Katherine Prescott, 1830-1908. 7
letters. This transcription is from a photocopy held by
the Maine Women Writers Collection, The Burton Trafton Papers,
Box 2, Folder 98. Transcription and notes by Terry Heller,
Coe College.
Sophie B. Douglas* to Sarah Orne Jewett
[
Begin letterhead ]
22 DRUMMOND PLACE
EDINBURGH
[ End letterhead ]
Christmas Time
1907
Dear Miss Jewett
We often speak of you in this household and
hope you are keeping stronger, and that Mrs. Fields is well. I
am making a little opportunity to send a few lines to you, this
Christmas, enclosing a rough tiny drawing -- a remembrance to
us, of one week this autumn by Tweedside, at Clovenfords.*
The time
[ Page 2 ]
was a great pleasure to us and the district so full of romantic
associations was new though at so short a distance from
Edinburgh. The inn we stayed at, was very comfortable and I am
only sorry my poor attempt does not represent it fully to give
it a more
imposing appearance for the sake of its
Landlord! but I
[ Page 3 ]
wanted the cross roads and only the window included of the house
Sir Walter Scott* occupied before Ashestide, so the x over
his,
the one disappearing end the old part. My dear father enjoyed so
many walks by the ever beautiful Tweed, and we saw the river in
all aspects rolling 'drumly and dark'* and at
[ Page 4 ]
times silvery and lovely. I am glad to tell you he is well and
cheerful and interested in so much.
Our days are becoming darker each week now, but
we have
cosy fireside afternoons either with reading aloud if no friend
comes in, or pleasant talk if they do. Our kind
remembrances accompany this. from
yours sincerely
Sophie B. Douglas
Notes
Douglas: Daughter of David Douglas. See Key
to Correspondents.
Associated with this letter is a card,
apparently in Sophie Douglas's hand.
"
---
And when we came to Clovenfords,
Then said my winsome Marrow
'What-e'er betide we'll turn aside'
And see the Braes of Yarrow.'
Pages 25-1 - 25-2
Dorothy Wordsworth's
Tour in
Scotland
English author Dorothy Mae Ann Wordsworth (1771-1855) was
the sister of the poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850),.
Wikipedia.
Also associated with this letter is an
envelope addressed to Jewett in South Berwick.
Clovernfords: The Clovenfords Hotel (1750) is remembered
in part because Scottish author Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
often stayed there.
Tweed ... 'drumly and dark': Scottish poet Alison
Cockburn (1712-1794 ) wrote in "The Flowers of the Forest,"
I've seen Tweed's silver streams, glittering in the
sunny beams,
Turn drumly and dark, as they roll'd on their way.
See Wikipedia.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University: Sarah Orne Jewett Correspondence I, Letters
to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Douglas, Sophie B. 1 letter; 1907, bMS
Am 1743 (49).
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.
152
===
Roger Bigelow Merriman* to Sarah Orne Jewett
[
Begin letterhead ]
175 Brattle Street,
Cambridge.
[ End letterhead ]
Xmas Day 1907.
Dearest Aunt Sarah: --
It was dear of you to send us that
delightful little book. Ive* heard much of it, through my dear
friend, Chester Noyes Greenough,* who taught at Harvard till
last year
[
Page 2 ]
^when, alas!^ he was called to Urbana:
the book is dedicated to him. But I had never seen it
before -- and it is lovely that I am to make my first
acquaintance with it through you.
We do so want you to come out and see
the new (built in
[ Page 3 ]
1747) house. We do hope youll like it. I
just had the lovely ink stand you gave me on my 21
st
birthday cleaned and polished, and it is installed on my
new desk now.
Ive got to go to Wisconsin to read a
paper tomorrow -- but
[ Page 4 ]
shall be back at New Years. Do come out and see us when
next you come to town.
With lots of love to Aunt Mary* and
yourself from us both and a most merry Xmas and Happy New
Year{.}
Your affectionate
Roger.
Notes
Merriman: See Helen Bigelow Merriman in Key to
Correspondents.
Ive: Merriman avoids using apostrophes in this
letter.
Chester Noyes Greenough: Greenough (1874-1938)
served as professor of English and Dean at Harvard
University. He was head of the Department of English at
the University of Illinois (Urbana) 1907-1910. Wikipedia,
Find a Grave.
It is not yet known what book Jewett gave to
Merriman.
Mary: Mary Rice Jewett. Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743 Box 3, Item
152 I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College
Sarah Orne Jewett to Lilian Woodman Aldrich
South Berwick
Thursday [
26 December 1907 ]*
[ Letterhead consisting of initials
SOJ intertwined inside a circle in green ink.]
Dear Lilian
I was so sorry not to come
to the Christmas tree -- you must make [my
corrected ]
excuses and deep regrets to Mr. Bailey!* -- but I was coming
down to have Christmas with Mary by the early train 8 ---- iv
-- I shall be back
[ 2 ]
soon and hear all I can about it -- Thank you thank you dear,
for the beautiful bag you sent me and your unforgetting
Christmas remembrance
Sarah
: The envelope associated with this letter was
cancelled on 26 December 1907.
Mr. Bailey: As Lilian's husband, Thomas Bailey
Aldrich, had died in March of 1907, this Mr. Bailey must be a
relative of his mother. No further information has yet
been discovered.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Papers, 119 letters of Thomas Bailey and Lilian Woodman Aldrich,
1837-1926. MS Am 1429 (117). Transcribed and annotated by Terry
Heller, Coe College.
At the bottom left of page one, in another
hand, is a circled number: 2769.
Charles Eliot Norton* to Sarah Orne Jewett
Shady Hill, 26 Dec. 1907.
My dear Miss Jewett: --
You have given me at one time or another
beautiful things from Japan which are a daily delight to my
eyes. Today I offer to you not a beautiful thing but an
interesting one from that strange land. It is a
[ Page 2 ]
copy of a translation of Emerson's "Letters to a Friend."* How
incredible at the time they ^were^ written would such a
translation have appeared! and the Friend is still alive
to whom they were written! He sent to me a letter last week
quite worthy of those which were addressed
[ Page 3 ]
to him sixty years ago.
You will read enough of the little book to
understand that it carries to you my affectionate good wishes
for Christmas & the New Year.
Always most truly Yours
C. E. Norton.
Notes
Norton: See Sara Norton in Key to Correspondents.
Emerson's "Letters to a Friend": Norton published
Letters
from Ralph Waldo Emerson to a Friend, 1838-1853 by
American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) in 1899.
In 1901, a Japanese translation appeared by Tōkyō Kokumin
Shinbunsha. The Hathi Trust has made Norton's copy of the
translation available on the Internet.
The "friend" goes unnamed in the book, and I
have not been able to identify him. In his introduction, Norton
says that the friend was 9 years younger than Emerson, and so
born in about 1812. For the recipient to be living in 1907, he
would have to be 95 years old.
Probably Emerson scholarship has identified
this friend.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Sarah Orne Jewett
Correspondence, bMS Am 1743 Box 4, Item 166. I. Letters to
Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.
Wilson King to Sarah Orne Jewett
4922 Wallingford St.
Pittsburgh
Decr 31st 07
Dear Miss Jewett
Lady Moncrieff* gave me the accompanying little book, to give
you when I came away. I then expected to go to Boston with my
old friend Mahaffy* who was to lecture there. Unfortunately he
was prevented from leaving home by the serious, and I fear
mortal, illness of his wife, and I shall consequently not go
to Boston at all during this visit to America. I am now
visiting my brother and I shall probably go from here to Old
[
Page 2 ]
Point Comfort to visit my sister, and I
expect to sail from New York on January 21.
I am terribly disappointed at missing
my visit to Boston but it would be such an anti-climax for
me to go alone after having expected to go with so
brilliant a companion.
Kindly give my best wishes for the new
year to Mrs Fields* and believe me to be
Yours most truly
Wilson King*
I met M
r & Mrs Arthur Holland,* now of Concord,
at dinner last week. They are among my oldest friends, but I
only now learn that they are also old friends of yours and that
he is a relation.
Notes
Lady Moncrieff: This person has not yet been
identified. Possibly she was Lucy Vida Moncrieff, wife of
James Arthur Fitzherbert Moncrieff, 4th Baron Moncrieff
(1872-1942). Nor is it known what book Lady Moncrieff has
sent.
Mahaffy: John Pentland Mahaffy (1839-1919) was an Irish
polymath and classicist. Wikipedia.
Fields: Annie Adams Fields. Key to Correspondents.
King: The following obituary of Wilson King appeared in
The
American Foreign Service Journal 7 (March 1930, p. 89)
Mr. Wilson King, who was American Consul at
Birmingham from 1879 to 1885, died in that city on January 21,
1930, in his eighty-fourth year. Mr. King was born at
Pittsburgh, Pa., on May 26, 1846, and was the son of Josiah
King, one of the proprietors of the Pittsburgh Gazette. After
education at the Western University of Pennsylvania, and in
Germany he joined the staff of his father's newspaper and
later become a sub-editor. On March 25, 1872, he was appointed
Consul at Dublin by President Grant; on February 25, 1876, he
was transferred to Bremen, and on June 3. 1879, he went as
Consul to Birmingham. England, where he served until 1885. He
then engaged in business at Pittsburgh. but in 1890 he
returned to England and resided at Birmingham until his death.
He acted as British correspondent of the Pittsburgh Gazette
for many years, lie traveled extensively, and in his eightieth
year made his seventieth crossing of the Atlantic. He is
described as having had rich literary and artistic
attainments, which, with his great charm of manner, brought
him large circles of distinguished friends. His wife (formerly
Miss A. R. Albright, of [ [ Birminghame so it appears
] ) died a year ago; he is survived, however, by a married
daughter, Mrs. Estelle King Giles, and two grand children.
He was the author of
Chronicles of Three Free Cities:
Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck (1914), introduced by Mahaffy,
with illustrations by Mrs. Wilson.
In the folder with this letter is an envelope addressed to
Jewett in Boston, but canceled in 1899; it cannot be the
envelope in which this letter was delivered.
Also in this folder is a note that reads:
inc. [
unrecognized mark ]
& begin .
[ to SOJ ? ]
Yes "Miss Pinny"
The author of this note is not known. "Pinny" is a Jewett
nickname.
Arthur Holland: See Sarah Ormsby Burgwin Holland in
Key to Correspondents.
The manuscript of this letter is held by the Houghton Library of
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. bMS Am 1743 Box 3, Item
125 I. Letters to Sarah Orne Jewett.
Transcription and notes by Terry Heller, Coe
College.