BLACKWELL FAMILY
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL

BLACKWELL, ANNADorchester, Mass.
July 14, 1889.
Dear Aunt Anna:
I am afraid
that owing to my trip to 
Vermont, Papa's departure 
for the west, and other
things which have come
to interrupt the usual
even tenor of our ways,
I have not yet acknowledged
the receipt of 
your letter containing
the photograph.  It seemed
to me a very good 
likeness.  Nevertheless, 
several persons have 

[* She enjoyed her visit at Triel very much, especially a
walk she took on the hill with her sisters.  Please remember
me to all, including Felicia. Sincerely,
Your niece Alice. *]

 made, independently, the
same curious comment
upon it - "How much it
looks like Mrs. Julia Ward
Howe!" Mamma took
it for Mrs. Howe when
she first saw it. I do
not see the resemblance
myself, but it must be
there, so many people
perceive it. Mary, however,
our handmaiden, on
inspecting it, observed
that it "looked like the
picture on the wall of
Mr. Blackwell's chamber,"
where a handsome portraitof you hangs. Mary has a good eye. However,
no one need be annoyed at being thought to
look like Mrs. Howe.

I hope you have not been having such
disagreeable weather as we. All through June we
had regular dog-day weather, hot, heavy, sultry,
sticky, muggy, oppressive - such weather as we
do not look for until August. I felt like
those unfortunate evil spirits in the Scripture,
who objected to [crossed out] being tormented before
their time. It didn't seem fair to have August
weather in June; besides, one could not helpwondering if it were not the precursor of a cyclone
or an earthquake, or something uncanny. Fortunately,
nothing of the sort has followed as yet.

Your big garden must be in its glory now.
I wish I could drop in & take a turn with you
around it, & eat some of your nice fruit. Probably
you are busy now with the extra correspondence
resulting from the exposition. From all that we
hear of the crowds & the [pain], we are glad on the
whole that our people did not choose this
year for going over. We led a quiet life here,
just Mamma & myself in this big, cool, comfortable
house. The white raspberries & blackin New York by some repairs
to her house. Aunt Ellen
is at the Vineyard, Emma
at Gardner for a week,
preparatory to joining Uncle
George at the Vineyard. He is
going to take down his horse
& carriage, so as to be able to
drive about. Howard has
spent a week with us, &
left yesterday for Gardener.
He is an unusually intelligent
and gentlemanly boy, with
winning manners and
remarkably handsome black
eyes. He will make havoc
among the hearts of the
young ladies if he lives to
grow up.

I hope that the summer
heat does not provoke you to
carbuncles, or Aunt M. to
extra dyspepsia, or Frances to
boils, or little [? Chadie?] to rabies.
Aunt Elizabeth wrote us thatthimble-berries are ripe in the garden; currants are still abundant, & huge water-melons are to be had in the market at a moderate price, as well as spicy pine-apples. Papa sends frequent bulletins from his Western travels, & Mamma watches the mail for them like a girl looking out for the letters of her lover. He has been having a touch of summer complaint, but says in his last letter that he is beginning to feel like himself again. He will probably not be home before August.
 Aunt Emily is detained