Blackwell Family Alice Stone Blackwell 1891 Henry and Lucy Blackwell8:45 p.m. July 31, 1891. En route in VT. Dearly-beloved People, We are due at Newport in about three quarters of an hour, so I scratch a line to say that we are all safe so far. I thought of Papa a good many times on the journey, after his beloved beaming phiz had disappeared, & longed to hug him. We have had no ad - ventures of any sort - country lovely & such mountains! As we began to get glimpses of their great solid shoulders, coveredwith dense woods, & the beautiful far away blue peaks, how I did wish that Mamma could see them! It is a very picturesque region -- woods with pines & birches, & full of ferns; & winding green valleys with little rivers coming down fast through them, & breaking into little white caps over stones. We have had our supper. I gave Miss Smith part of my tongue, which she praised highly; & she gave me nice cream-cheese, & five delicious big purple plums -- first I have had this year. Her bundles are done up very neatly & shipshape.I have been thinking what a family party you must have to-night Aunt Emily & Harris & Phebe. To think of my just missing Phebe! I write under great difficulties and had better stop. Please see that the mother cat gets fed, & also that poor little mother cat in the barn. My fare up will be only $4.66, thanks to Miss Smith's mileage ticket. I took a her[?]ic across *Lots of love. A.S.B. Georgeville, P.Q. Canada. Aug. 2, 1891. Darling People: It is a beautiful day + I am well + the camp is lovely. There are 17 of us, including several big boys + Mabel's tutor, a young man from Amherst, who is understood to have a sweetheart in Connecticut; so you see we are not without masculine protectors. There is also a good-sized dog, a beautiful Gordon setter of pure breed named Victoria. But Mrs Barrows scoffs at the idea of any protection being needed in this neighbourhood. Then there is a Mr. Peirce a friend [?] of theBarrows; who has an encampment right along side of ours, with his wife & family. And Mr. Barrows is expected to arrived next Thursday. I believe he is to start Wednesday night. If you get this letter in season, you might send up by him my old black jacket. Either of them would do. It is cold enough morning & evening to need an outside sack of some kind, & if I wear my new one all the time, as I am now doing, I am afraid it will get shabby. Let me see if I can remember who our party are. There is Mrs. Barrows, & Mabel, & Mabel's tutor Mr. Story, & little Willie Barrows, & his German governess, Miss Sophie (very nice): & Mrs. Barrows's sister Miss Hayes; & Mrs. Holbrook & her son Ridgeway, & her baby son Jack - a tiny flaxen- haired toddler about two years old, a general pet; & Mrs. Wentworth & her daughter Amy; & Miss Zilpha Smith; & Sydney Clapp & Allen Nowell; & Edith Marean; & I. That only makes 16; who is the other? Oh yes, a small boy named Philip Chase. The party is largely young fry, you see; & they do have good times. But there are enough older ones to be some company, & the older ones have good times too. Edith Marean is 14; such apretty girl! She looks like a picture of Lady Hamilton we saw in one of the galleries in England or on the Continent - I forget where. Amy Wentworth is taller; I should think she might be 16 or 17. Allen, Ridgeway & Sydney are big boys. Mabel is tutoring to make up the Latin & Greek she lost while she had the measles. Oh, this is a most lovely place. I took a walk yesterday afternoon by the path which winds along the shore northward, through the woods along the edge of the water; & it was heavenly. The glimpses of the blue mountains across the lake are even more fascinating when half seen. through the green weaving branches than when you get a clear view of them. Then such beds of moss, such ferns, such thickets of blueberry bushes! Wild raspberries swarm around here; there is a whole firkin of maple sugar, a reservoir of maple syrup, & good milk ad libitum, besides other good things. But oh, how I wish that Mamma could see these mountain views! My tent is set up in the old place - thenicest site in camp. It has been the company tent until I came. Mary Eastman was here & spent a few nights in it. My bed is comfortable, & I seem to have brought everything necessary. No trouble from mosquitoes. The water laps on the shore, & the sun shines, & the leaves flutter, & the people are good-natured, & care seems very far away. I wish you could see it & have a good rest too. With lots of love, Alice Stone Blackwell. Georgeville, P.L. Canada Thursday, Aug. 6, 1891. Dearly beloved People: The weather is still fine. We haven't had a rainy day since I got here. Today Mr. Barrows is expected, & there are great preparations & general delight. I have only time to scratch a few lines. It is pretty to see how fond of him they all are. It appears that Mr. Story, Mabel's tutor, is opposed to woman suffrage & to coeducation & to most other good things. Mrs. Barrows tried to get me to argue with him, but I wouldn't. But that day I put "Eminent Opinions" onthe table in his tent, & yesterday another [/] tract, and to-day I am going to put Mamma's "Catechism." I mean he shall have a fresh tract every day while [he stays] I am here. He thinks it fun. I watch my chance and leave them in the tent when he is not around. Yesterday I rec'd some enclosures from Papa — poems +c Have attended to them all. Allen Norwell, who is here, is the son of our friend Mrs. Norwell of Winchester, & a very nice boy. He takes sides with us strongly on the suffrage question. Shows his mother has brought [*him up right. To-day Papa will be toiling in the printing office. I shall think of him. It is very lovely here. In haste, lots of love, A.S.B.*] P.P.S. Since finishing the enclosed, the Monday mail arrived from the village, bringing a note from Papa, enclosing a poem, & two from Mamma, one with a P.S. by H.B.B. I was very glad to get them; but don't feel obliged to write, darling dears. You are there with all of the work, while I am off gallivanting. It is a pity about the hornet's nest at M.V. I hope it did not arise out of anything I said. What on earth has Aunt Ellen to do with Mr. Whall's debts, any way?Alice I don't quite understand what the row is about, or how she comes to be mixed up in it. Yes, when I saw how Sarah struggled with that big bundle, doing it up twice, & then having to fix over my dress in a hurry & put a fresh braid or it at the last moment, I thought she ought to have something extra. But I have to think of you with the work to do for several days, & perhaps just when Floy is there. However, Beth is a very good little helper. Your graphic pictures of the kitten [*made me homesick to hug it! Floy wrote to me, you see, to [know if it would be] say she was coming if convenient; [for to her to come;] & her letter was forwarded, & I did not get it till yesterday; so I fear her arrival may have been unexpected.*] 1 Georgeville, P.Q. Canada. Friday, Aug. 7, 1891. Dear Papa & Mamma: Yesterday came Mamma's note of Tuesday, enclosing proposed title page. Also a letter from Papa, & a poem, to be "used or returned at once." I have attended to all those that Papa has forwarded, & it is wonderful how much is adds to one's peace of mind & self-respect to get them off the same day. The Life of Lord Lawrence, which I am reading now, is as interesting as a novel, & it is full of good lessons. He was a tremendous worker,and in his letters, a great many of which are included in the "Life," he is always exhorting his subordinates that the only possible way for them to avoid being swamped is to do every day what comes before them that day — to let the work of the office run into it & out of it again like the water of a running stream, + not to let arrears accumulate. I am taking the good advice to myself, & trying to act on it. Every summer I have repudiated all my business correspondence during vacation, & so have begun with an accumulated pile in the fall. It is not a good way. A very few minutes a day is enough to turn off these things & [to] [?] I hope it will enable me to start square. Mr. Barrows arrived yesterday, amid great rejoicings. He brought with him two Appolonia boys, friends of Allen Nowell, who is consequently in Clover. I am well. Mr. Barrows brought the parcel entrusted to him. It did not occur to me at first that [?] there might be a letter in it, so I did not open it till this morning. Then Ifound Mamma's, which is the fourth I have had from her. I was delighted that she put in an apron; it is almost the only thing I have felt the need of, & I meant to ask for one to be sent by Mr. Barrows, but forgot to till it was [to] too late. The felt hat will also be useful to save my red one on rainy days. To-day is rainy — the first rainy day we have had since I came to camp. Last night Mr. Story rapped at my tent door & delivered an elaborate written document in opposition to woman suffrage. The gist of it was that W.S. was just but inexpedient, because women would have to neglect their homes, &c. I have put into his tent a Wyoming tract, with the passages marked in which the various governors & judges declare that the women don't neglect their homes. And I am writing to Miss Wilde to send me a copy of Mr. Pellew's "Woman & the Commonwealth: A Question of Expediency." What a lot of things you have on hand, dear little mother! I ought to be there to help. But I am eating & sleeping & getting brown, &preparing to take hold with a will when I do come home. As to those mysterious 1200 addresses, let Miss Wilde find out (by consulting the Postal Guide) what State they belong to, & then I guess I can tell who sent them, for I know whom I have been writing to for names, in the different States. Am sorry you should have any trouble about them but I do think it is good seed-sowing. I am sorry Mrs. Garrett did not come. But it was gracious to invite her, at any rate. With lots & lots of love, Alice Stone Blackwell Georgeville, P.Q., Canada. Aug. 12, 1891. Dear Papa & Mamma: Yesterday we had a lovely picnic. We went to Sargent's Bay in boats. Sargent's Bay is a long arm of the Lake that runs up for several miles behind Gibraltar. We went in boats, & I had the good luck both to go & come in the boat with Allen Nowell. whom I particularly delight to watch. In the morning, Zilpha Smith & I went in the boat with him & Philip Chase, & in the afternoon I came home with him & Sydney Clapp & Ridgeway Holbrook. It was fun to see the good will with which that youngster pulled, & the way the beads of perspiration stood out on his face, almost as thickas the freckles. I wished his particular chum Bob, the smaller of the Apollonio boys, had been along too. He is another urchin I like to look at. He has a queer face, which somehow reminds me of a pug dog, from the funny way in which he wrinkles it; but honest and nice. But he went in one of the other boats. Mrs. Barrows arranged the order of the procession. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, & pretty hot. Zilpha Smith having suggested that the boys shouldn't wear their hats at table, they have taken a kink not to wear them at all; so they pulled across the lake bare-headed under the blazing sun. It was enough to give them sunstroke; however, they wet their hair. We came around under the high promontory they call Gibraltar - such a picturesque shore, steep rocky banks going up almost perpendicularly, & all sorts of beautiful trees growing over them, pines, & arbor vitae, and noble white birches - huge big ones, such as we never see at home. Then we began to row up Sargent's Bay, & the water was clear & still, Gibraltar shutting off the wind, which had been against us. Then Miss Smith & I proposed to row, as we had got to where there was easy pulling. (It is a little mortifying to see how it is everywhere regarded as proper that the hard part of the work should be done by boys, even by rather small boys, rather than by full grown women in good health, like Miss Smith & me.) So she & I rowed the rest of the way, & enjoyed it.The boys proposed to take the oars again, but we objected, + Allen said in a tone of conviction, "Miss Blackwell would never give in till the Day of Judgment", which tickled me, for I have been under the impression that a want of firmness was one of the principal weak points in my character! The shores were very pretty, and at the end of the day we came among water-lily pads, + were able to pick a few lilies. We could have got plenty of yellow ones, but we only cared for the white ones. It was a pretty place where we landed; + presently the other boats began to arrive, one by one. First came on of our boats which had been around by Georgeville + got the mail. We had seen it following us up the bay over the shining water as we rowed along, + we knew the mailbag was on board, + wondered what was in it for us. There was a great batch of mail, lots of newspapers for different people. My mail was very satisfactory. Besides the Journal + Column, I had three letters - one from Mamma, giving a graphic picture of my black kitten up an apple tree, trying to play with a red-cheeked apple, and an interesting account of home doings. Then there was a letter from a South Carolina man. Did I tell you that just before I left home I received seven pages of indignant protest from one of those S.C. gentlemen to to whom we are sending the Column (a member of the Legislature, I think), because of an article headed "Practical Southern Chivalry," which he took for a skit on the South? He thought that the heading was used in sarcasm, + that it referred to a case mentioned in the article of a Virginia man who abused his wife. But it was used in earnest, + referred to a law lately passed by the Virginia Legislature, giving wives the right to their earnings. I wrote him from camp, a placatory letter, explaining; and this was his reply, full of amiability and penitence. He says if w. s. is advocated by persons with my "kindliness of heart and magnanimity" (I had put in some amiable remarks about the South), it cannot fail to win converts, although he does not expect to be one of them, because he is afraid the refined women would stay away, + the ignorant women + regressed would swamp everything. I hope Mamma will save carefully the things relating to the Column, as Miss Wilds sends them to her each week. Among them are the addresses of the members of the S.C. House of Representatives, who have lately been put on the list. When I get home I want to send each of them a copy of Papa's "Solution of the Southern Question." The S.C. senators have already had it. My third letter was to Miss Shaw, + said she had given up her intention of visiting Mrs. Dietrick, as she had so many lecture engagements in August. I had timed my visit to Wianno for the last week of August, so as to be there when Miss Shaw was there. But as Mrs. Dietrick will probably stay on well into Sept., I think I can arrange to run down there for a few days in Sept. instead, and fill out my four weeks here. Don't you think it will do if I get home Aug. 28 or 29? [There will be and] I hated to think ofleaving here so soon, and was quite relieved to find that it probably would not be necessary. So my mail was very satisfactory. After all the boats had come up + unloaded, there were 25 of us, including Peirces + Holbrooks. We sat or lay about under the trees by the lake, + watched the fluttering leaves, and enjoyed the new view of the mountain peaks, which seemed to have shifted their position, because we had shifted ours. There was one tree, perhaps a maple, but I am not sure, that stood on the slope behind us against the sky line, and the wind turned the underside of all its leaves up, and it was lovely to see that cloud of silver grey leaves up against a pale blue sky. Mail [?] going. Goodbye. Lots of love, Kubbe Saturday Aug. 8, 1891. Georgeville, P. Q., Canada Dear Papa + Mamma: This is another beautiful day - couldn't be lovelier. I am well. It is nice to have the Mr. Barrows here. Since he + the Apollonia boys came, the schedule is made out, dividing the housework among us. My share is to set the breakfast table every morning, + put the cabin in order before breakfast. After that I am excused for the day. I bespoke this for my share, being one of the few early risers. Mrs. Barrows *quantities of proof sheets in the intervals. Dearly beloved people, be good to my folks. I carry you in my heart all the time. With lots of love, Alice Stone Blackwell comes out first, about six or soon after. Then Allen Nowell + I appear on the scene, about simultaneously, he to clean + fill the lanterns, I to set the breakfast table + do the cabin. Then the others come stringing along one by one. The Holbrook family has built a log cabin for itself at a little distance, perhaps a quarter of a mile, + gone there to live, so we have only 15 at table now; but they come over + visit a good deal. Last night Mr. Story told a yarn to the children; they piled up on the sofa, + sat at his feet on the floor, a heap of interested young humanity ,+ Zilpha Smith + I came + listened too. He has a great reputation in camp as a spinner of original stories; but between you + me, the story couldn't hold a candle to Papa's. I just wish I had Papa here to show them! Don't be alarmed; I don't take long walks into the woods. Hav'n't been more than ten minutes' walk from the camp since I came, except the day we went across the lake to pick raspberries, + then there were a party of us. Ah yes, I have been once to the Holbrooks' cabin, but in company. But Zilpha Smith goes about alone, + Mrs. Barrows regards it as perfectly safe. They have been here for years, + never a tramp. I don't go off for walks, because I enjoy better being lazy, + sitting about under the trees near the cabin, reading the Life of Lord Lawrence or nursing the kittens. I hope my black one is well. I am glad on the whole that Florence has taken a satisfactory little boy, though she will find him lots of trouble in her state of health. Poor Mrs. Barrows is working like a horse, writing up her report of the Conference of Charities + Corrections from her short hand notes. It is precious little rest she gets. When she has cooked our meals, she goes up the ladder to the loft where her type-writer is, + clicks away at it for dear life; + read enormous Monday, Aug. 10, 1891 Georgeville, P.Q. Canada. Dear Papa + Mamma: Yesterday I had a chance to send a short letter home by way of Newport, as some of the campers drove over there. We had service in the cabin yesterday. Mr Barrows read portions of a sermon by Phillipe Brooks, + we sang hymns, + the cabin wasdecorated with ferns + flowers, + the Holbrooks + Peirces came over, so that it made quite a congregation. The boys occupied the gallery, i.e. they went up the ladder into the loft, + stirred about so there during the service that the sawdust came through the cracks in streams on the people beneath. Pretty little Edith Marean, who has strained her back + has to lie in bed for the present, was brought into the cabin on her cot, + the two kittens attended service with a reasonable degree of attention + propriety. In the afternoon I watched Bob Apollonio + Allen Nowell playing tennis again, till they lost of of their balls in the raspberry bushes, + got so absorbed in eating raspberries when they went to look for it that it seemed doubtful [if] when they would go on with the game. I took a nap after dinner, + am having a lazy time generally. In the evening Edith's cot was brought into the cabin again + we sang hymns till bedtime; + as I lay in bed I could see through the tent-door a great big starshining in the sky; + the wind blew through the leaves, + the water splashed along the shore in the most soothing + sleepy way. It is hard not to be lazy here. I forgot to say that we had athletic sports after supper the boys being the chief performers. They are not lazy, at least about play. It was great fun to watch them. The rest of us took part a little, but the boys did most of it. At one time pretty much all the campers were lying on their backs on the grass, practising getting up or being picked up. Afterwards they jumped over poles. It is pretty to see how fond they are of the baby (little Jack Holbrook), + what a pet they make of him. * No special news. I am well. Oceans of love. Alice Stone Blackwell. Georgeville! P.Q. Canada Aug. 14, 1891 Dear Papa + Mamma: Yesterday we sat under the trees + watched Allen Nowell + Mr. Story playing tennis, and I am glad to say Allen came out ahead. (There, another party is just starting for the tennis ground, + I am going out to look on while I write). This time Miss Smith + Amy are the players, while Allen acts as teacher to Amy, + Sophie + I look on. Mr Barrows has agreed to go over with me to Newport when we have out little suffrage meeting. He is so well known + well liked in Newport that I think it will be a fine thing for the meeting. The date is not fixed yet. Yesterday afternoon I read *note from both Papa + Mamma almost daily. Oceans of love. Alice Stone Blackwell.Sir Charles Grandison awhile to Mrs. Wentworth & Miss Smith. I try to open my mouth while reading & I think it is good practice. Once I forgot to open it, & Mrs. W. (who had promised not to look, in order not to embarass me) asked me if I had not stopped opening it; she said the voice sounded different. Mrs Wentworth is very good to me. Mrs. Barrows said to me yesterday when we were around together before breakfast, before the rest of the camp were up, "Do you know how fond Mrs. Wentworth is of you? There is hardly a day but she says to me, ' I do like Miss Blackwell so much!' " This is as bad as Harriet Byron writing home the compliments people pay her, which makes us laugh in Sir Charles Grandison. But it is just to my home folks. They went in bathing as usual, & it was fun to see them. And afterwards they lay about in the sun & were fed with crackers. - At this point the writing was interrupted. Allen was mending his stockings as he sat watching the tennis game. He was stitching immense big holes together with thick linen thread such as we sew on shoe buttons with. I persuaded him to let me have them, & I spent the rest of the morning darningand looking at the tennis and laughing at the antics of the young people. They are a perpetual circus. That Bob has such a funny face that it makes you want to laugh even when he is not cutting up; & when he is cutting up, it is irresistible. Two of the big boys, Sydney & Ridgeway, set upon him today and seemed bent upon destroying him. Of course it was all play; they were all fooling together, & he enjoyed it as much as they did. But they pounded him to see if his chest was sound, & they made a pillow of him - at least, Ridgeway did; Sydney lay down bodily on top of him, & Bob so appreciated Ridgeway's moderation in merely using 2 him to lay his head on that he declared "Ridgeway is a gentleman; he doesn't lie all over a man!" - the man in question being a chubby youngster the mere sight of whom is enough to make a cat laugh. He says last night they threw him into a brush heap. Last night was the house-warming over at the Holbrooks' new cabin - "Jack's Cabin." they call it, from the two year old youngest hope of the family. The cabin looked very nice. It was decorated with ferns & goldenrod & waterlilies + cardinal flowers, & the words "Jack's Cabin" were written up in evergreen letters. We dressed up, so faras the means at our command permitted. (My dressing up was limited to parting my hair) There was home-made cake + candy + ice=cream, + a spelling match, which broke up in confusion before we had spelled once around; and our camp presented to that camp a pair of andirons, designed by Sydney Clapp and made by the village blacksmith at Georgeville. Just before supper Mrs. Barrows asked me to make a "poem" to accompnay the andirons; + as the housewarming was to be at 7, I had to "fly around lively" to get it done, but I did. I had to stay behind to copy it when the rest had started; + Mrs Wentworth waited for me. Her fifteen year old daughter Amy rowed back for us, + we went on board + took Mrs. Wentworth's gray kitten Moxie (her name is Maximiliana Something, but she is pronounced Moxie); + we tied a bow of ribbon around her neck so as to dress her up, + we went over together, Amy rowing us. Mrs. Barrows read the "poem". Coming home, part went by boats, + part walked back by the path that winds through the woods along the lake-shore, lighting our footsteps by the colored Japanese lanterns which had adorned "Jack's Cabin". Each of us carried a lantern, + Moxie trotted at our heels, + the moon shone, + the evergreens smelled good; + when I got home + looked back + saw the processionof lanterns still winding along the shore + glimmering through the trees above the water, it was as picturesque as anybody could wish. That Allen is a very nice boy - always volunteering to run everybody's errands. This morning as we were watching the tennis I went + got some cushions; + when I came back with them Allen said "Why didn't you send me for those, Miss Blackwell? That's what I'm built for!" And he really seems to think he is. He pops up twenty time a day to run for everybody. Another pretty thing to see is Mr Holbrook carrying Jack. He is a silent person, a saint like Uncle Sam; + he makes himself a slave to little Jack, + "sits under him" to any extent. Aug. 15. Who know what a day may bring forth? Allen Nowell + I are at war! At least, I expect we shall be. Yesterday afternoon, the weather being lovely, Mr. Story and Sophie started out to fish, intending to take a picnic supper afterwards on Lord's Island (an uninhabited round wooded island lying about a mile up the lake from us). Then Edith and Amy thought they wanted to go too; + one after another added themselves to the party, till no one was left in camp ex-(ex)cept Mrs. Barrows, Mrs. Wentworth, Mabel, Willie, the two Apollonio boys + me. For Mr Barrows had gone off fishing also, with Miss Smith + little Philip. So Mrs Barrows proposed that after supper we should row up to the island + join them, + we hurried through the supper + the dishes + set out in two boats - Mrs Barrows, Mrs Wentworth, Willie, + Harold Apollonio in one, Mabel + Bob Apollonio + I in the other. And I sat in the stern + steered, so that I had the full benefit of Bob's funny [?] as he rowed, much to my satisfaction. We took along the bugle, + a fishhorn, + the cymbals, + a tin pail and two flags - the British + American,-+ when we neared the island Mabel clashed the cymbals + the people who understand musical instruments blew them, + I pounded on the tin pail, + waved the flags. Well, those people received us like pirates + cut-throats. Instead of welcoming us, they received us with a chorus of execrations; they denounced us for coming; urged us to begone; [Jack, "sits under him' to any extent] + generally acted in a most inhospitable manner. They said it was dreadfully mean of us to come + spoil their pic-nic. They had build a fire on the shore + were preparing to broil their fish. They warned us that there was not supper enough to go around, + we told them we had had supper; [but] but they still beahvaed with the most inexcusible rudeness; + when we shook off the dust of our feet against them + retired to 5 our boats, + departed from that inhospitable coast, Allen + one or two others of the nimble ones danced a war-dance of insulting joy, + they all cheered. Their antipathy to our company was no marked that in our boat we laid schemes of vengeance as we rowed back. Bob advocated putting sand in their beds, as the best thing in his experience for serving people out. Mabel and I agitated various projects. The other boat passed us just before we got to our camp, + apparently thought we were racing them; for Mrs. Wentworth told me that the excitement of racing was becoming to me, + that if my mother could have seen how red my cheeks were, + how bright my eyes, she who have been convinced that camp life was doing me good. But I was hardly conscious of the race; the animation of my looks was due to unholy emotions; I was revolving schemes of vengeance. To our disgust, we found that in the other boat they were planning to heap coals of fire on their heads by having hot chocolate for them on their return! Bob, Mabel and + preferred the other method; but Bob + Mabel rather succumbed when they found no sympathy in Mrs Barrows + Harold. However, Mabel did put a lot of Greek + Latin books into Mr. Story's bed. She [did] could not put anything into Edith's very well (little Edith had been on of the most venemous of the party) because Mabel + Edith sleep together. Also, as [Mabel] Any shares their tent,Mabel was afraid that Edith + Amy would both of them set upon her + maul her, + she should be outnumbered. But I was bound to do something to Allen. So I put [a] the tin pail on his bed, bottom up; + a branch of cedar + a big thistle; + I put another cedar- branch under the sheet at the foot, where I hoped his feet would find it; + put the cymbals in his bed, + pinned to the pillow the extract Mamma send me about "the Lively Boy", after underscoring the place where it says that the 6 lively boy is not always agreeable; and I made his tent-mate, little Philip, point out Allen's night-dress + I filled the breast-pocket of it with thistle-buds. Then I retired to bed with sweet satisfaction, + waited for them to come home. They came, singing an Eton boating song that is rather popular with them - "We'll all pull together, Our bodies between our knees." And by + by Mr. Story begin to make remarks from his tent , + I could hear the Apollonio boys protesting their [ignorance +] innocence; and then Allen began to call across the campus from his tent to Mr. Story, and to make remarks to Mabel. Her tent is near his, and he took it for granted she was the author of the disturbances in his tent. He found one thing after another. By and by he began to clash the cymbals, showing that he had found those. Then he called across to Mr. Story, "Do you find anything the matter with your night-dress?" Mr. S. said "No, and Allen said, "You are lucky then." Mabel called to Allen, "Why, is there anything the matter with yours?" He said "No." He thought she had done it, and he was not going to own up. Before that, when he first found the burs, he began to call out to Mabel that it was "lucky he didn't sit on it", and she said on what, and he said on the pocket of his nightdress; and she said he must be smart if he could sit onthe pocket of his nightdress; she couldn't sit on the pocket of hers! or something to that effect. Afterwards Allen + Phillip talked in their tent, + I could catch a sentence here + there. Philip told Allen Mabel did not do it; + later I heard Allen say "Miss Blackwell had the pail in the boat," + I suspect his suspicions were veering around to me. He is sure to find out that I did it, + then 7 he will play off some diabolism upon me. I only hope he wont put snakes in my bed. There are more or less snakes around here, + Mabel + the boys handle them without scruple. What came for me in [this] the wrapper of which you enclose a piece? It is from Harriet Taylor UptonAug 14 /91 It is raining to-day, but that doesn't much matter, as the dining tent does not leak anymore. We shall read novels + write up our letters. I have finished Lord Lawrence + am going to begin on Walter Scott's journal. All the young fry here are reading Frances Hodgson Burnett's "Vagabondia". I get a Georgeville, P.Q. Canada. Sunday Aug 16. 1891 Dear Papa + Mamma: The air here does not agree with my ink, so I think I will write in pencil, it is so much easier. Yesterday evening the grand performance at Georgeville came off, + everybody went. It was not a Methodist Bazar, as I wrote you before, but a Church of England Bazar. It was held in a big room at the hotel at Georgeville. They hold their entertainments in the summer, so as to utilize the talent *stupid letter, I am afraid; but not much goes on here except the daily pranks of the children. With lots of love, Alice Stone Blackwell.of the boarders, a good many of whom can sing, or do something. Mr Barrows + a chorus of our young people had agreed to sing negro melodies for them. They have been rehearsing for some time, + it has been great fun to hear them, especially one song that begins "Peter, Peter." It goes on about Daniel in the lion's den, + Gabriel blowing his trumpet, + the whale swallowing Jonah, + is wonderfully lively and absurd. It always brings down the house. At the rehearsals I have made a point of stationing myself where I could watch Allen Nowell. He can hardly keep still any more than my black kitten. He is either winding himself up in the big hand-towel, or doing something else. At the final rehearsal over at Mr Holbrook's cabin yesterday afternoon, he [was] amused himself by hanging from the balcony head downwards by this feet, in the intervals of the songs. Well, we rowed over to Georgeville, + paid 15 cts admission (performers + all), + found such a poor little fair going on - a big room with a few tasteless decorations in red + whitebunting, + a few tables in corners, + a few things on them - it made my heart ache; + I thought of our coming fiar, + bought myself a white apron _ a bag of cany in order to help them a little. The seats were just boards brought in for the occasion + laid across low supports. The one in front of us was so wet it couldn't be sat on - had been out in the rain, I suppose. But as the time for the entertainment came, people began to come in + come in till the big room was crowded; we hadn't supposed that Georgeville + its environs 2 could produce so many people. They were a most hilarious + enthusiastic audience. Various boarders performed, + were wildly applauded; Mr Barrows + his chorus performed their first two pieces with a fair amount of applause, but the last one, the "Peter, Peter," brought down the house. I enjoyed hearing the increase of chuckles between each successive verse. After it (the Peter song) was over, we were all going to leave, for it was very late; + Mrs Barrows had gone home with Willie some time before. But the rector, a funny, soft-spoken man, called to Mr. Barrows to stop, + made a little speech, expressing the gratitude of Georgeville to him for all he had done for the village, improving their library + giving them things to read in the long winter evenings, etc etc And he called upon the audience to give three cheers for Mr Barrows; + then you ought to have heard them shout! They are very fond of him; + shows their good taste. Then we went to the P.O.; the mail comes in about 9.30 or ten; + we thought we would get our letters. The wagon with the mail drove up to the door while we waited; + the bags were carried in; + through the window we could see the man distribute it, putting everything into the proper boxes. He sorted papers first, then letters, + we watched our box, knowing which it was, + saw three letters go in for us. One of them was Mammas to me, written Aug. 13. I am so glad the microscope arrived on the day: I was afraid it wouldn't. That was my present. Don't you remember when you came home from Gardner, Mamma, you spoke ofthe one Howard had, + said someone must make our household a Christmas present of one? So I wrote to Emma + found out what microscope it was. I am glad, darling dear, that you "don't feel so very old." I wish your body could stay as young as your heart has! This morning we had service, + Mr Eliot (of Meeting House Hill) conducted the service. He arrived a day or two ago, + I guess I forgot to mention it. My soul is mostly absorbed in watching the antics of Allen Nowell + Bob Apollonio. They are playing tennis now, + 3 I am looking on . Bob's big brother Harold has scruples about tennis on Sunday, + so is not here - for which I respect him, thought I think the tennis is no harm. At dinner today, Allen stuffed his breast pocket with olives till it bulged out; he is extravagantly fond of olives, + is eating them now out of his pocket while he plays tennis - the young sinner! He has just fed one to Bob. This morning he + Bob walked down to bathe, wearing their rubber coats, turned inside out, over their bathing suits. They looked like twins - such a funny pair! Bob wears a white woolly coat that give him the aspect of a young white bear. Willie Barrows was making a picture of himself, sailing his little ship, in his bathing dress; + Mrs B tookhim with her Kodak. When I went to the brook this morning for the milk-pail (the brook is our refrigerator) there was a big brown rabbit sitting on its tail right by the tennis nets; it was not very shy, for it hopped a little way, + remained sitting. And a squirrel came into the log cabin today, + ran all about it, while there were several people sitting there. I think Allen knows or suspects that it was I who put those things in his tent, + I am expecting some trick from him, but he has done nothing yet. Last night, when we got home late from Georgeville, after a beautiful moonlight row, Harold Apollonia lighted me to my tent door with a lantern + warned me to look in my bed before getting into it. I should have done that, anyway. But the bed was all right this time, + the nightgown too, though I shook it out carefully, + felt in the sleeves. He will play off something upon me yet, I guess; but at present he makes no sign. Aug 16 A glorious day. Poor Mrs Wentworth is in trouble with one of her eyes - inflammation of the iris, Mrs Barrows thinks it is. Yesterday we went out on the lake after supper to sing, + to see a wild + wonderful sunset. But a threatening thunder storm drove us in, + we had our sing in the cabin. Mr. Eliot is quite an addition to the bass. Bob got into the hammock, + Allen went after him, + there was a circusas usual. I looked at them so much that Bob noticed it + asked me what I did it for. I told him is was because it gave me great amusement. He is such a funny youngster! I think I shall ask Mrs Barrows to snap him with her Kodak someday when he is upon the full grin, so that I may bring you home a picture of him. The curious white woollen jackets that he + his brother wear are called "sweaters", it seems. When the steam launch passed our boats the other day, the people on board her were heard to say, "There is that boy with the sweater again." The garment appears to be new to Georgeville, + excites attention. Well, this is a Georgevill, P.Q. Canada Aug. 18, 1891 Dear Papa + Mamma: Not much news. Yesterday was a beautiful day. I did not have a chance to watch the tennis as much as usual, for the boys went fishing. Allen Nowell has decided to save up his money to buy two things - a "sweater" such as the Apollonio boys wear - those queer white jackets I told you of- & a flitch of dried beef! There is more or less illness in camp, but I am well - Mrs Wentworth has an inflamed eye, Mabel was in bed yesterday with a headache, the elder Apollonio boy had one also, & Mr Story came down with the colic. All are now convalescent, however. Mr. Elliot is very good-natured & obliging about helping. Yours announcing the sending of my dress came yesterday. It will be all right. Oceans of love. A.S.B.Georgeville, P. L. Canada. Saturday, Aug. 22, 1891. Dear Papa & Mamma: I dated my letter wrong yesterday; it should have been Aug. 21 instead of Aug. 20. There is a regular warfare of tricks now begun. On the picnic to Fitch Bay, Sophie, Willie Barrows's little German governess, who is inordinately fond of fishing, sat on the little projection at the back of the boat & trailed her line in the water. Allen, who sat or lay beside her, twitched her line several times, making it will end in a better acquaintance. I am well. Weather pleasant again. Oceans of love, Alice Stone Blackwell.her think she had bites. At last she caught him at it; and afterwards when she kept watch of his hands, he twitched the line with his feet - being full of tricks. I told her she would have to so something to serve him out, and she quite agreed. So when he got home, she sewed up the sleeves of his bathing dress, at my suggestion, + also sewed up the sleeves of his nightgown, out of her own head. He has not found out about the bathing dress yet, as he has not been in since; but of course he found out about the nightgown that night. It seems that Amy Wentworth (a nice good-natured girl of 15, the daughter of the Mrs. Wentworth who has rather paired off with me) - a girl whom they call the "chaperon" - ) regarded herself as affronted by some teasing on the part of Harold Appolonia, Bob + Philip, + sewed up their table napkins by way of vengeance. So there was great discussion as to who did it, + who sewed Allen's nightgown sleeves up. And thereupon little Philip incautiously let out that I had asked him which Allen's nightgown was, afterthat excursion to Lord's Island. He had promised not to tell; but he thought Allen had found out before this. But he hadn't. My character is so good - as Mrs Barrows [says] said at the time, "Miss Blackwell is so demure no one will ever suspect her!" So nothing had been done to me, though I examined my bed carefully every night. But when once Allen went on the wawr=path he did all sorts of things. Oh, when it came out at the breakfast table, owing to [my] Philip's incautious remark, that I had been the author of that mischief, there was a general howl all around Aug 22 - 2 the table, + I could feel myself turn as red as a beet. The boys threatened all sorts of things; + from not attributing anything to me, they now lay at my door everything that is done, whether I did it or not. Well, as I was saying, Allen went on the war-path; he did all sorts of things in Sophie's tent, + he sewed Amy's pillow to the cot bed, + mine to my bed-clothes. It was a rainy day, + he had scope to exercise his ingenuity. Amy had also sewn up the sleeves of Mr Story's nightgown, but he took it coolly, + made no sign. After supper therewere charades, + pretty Sadie Tappan came over with the rest of the party from the Holbrooks' + Bob hovered about her + worshipped at her shrine as usual, like some grotesque gnome squatting by a fairy princess + gazing up into her face. Bob Apollonio had been abetting Allen in what he did to you pillows, we strongly suspected; + he looked guilty - but then his natural face is so roguish that he generally looks guilty, whether he is or not, when he laughs with his eyes. So when he + Allen went off to see Sadie + the other girls home, Amy + I went over with a lantern to the Apollonio boys' tent, in order to play some trick on Bob; but while we were looking about for something to do, Bob's big brother descended upon us, in company with little Phil. + blew out our lantern + drove us forth ignominiously. We fled - but on our way we ravaged the tent which Philip + Allen share together + pulled Philip's bed all to pieces. You should have heard his remarks when he came back + found it! When Allen + Bob came back, they + Philip came to my tent in a body, bent on destroying me. I heard them whispering at the door, + put out an arm& clutched a close cropped head, but could not hold it, the hair being too short. Thereupon they dragged me out by main force, tearing the tent in the process ( I was all dressed), and were preparing to massacre me when Aunt Isabel peremptorily despatched them all to bed. I hear them threatening vengeance. Allen's "last good night" being the assurance that he would "do me brown", which I requited with a promise to "do him black". After he & Phillip were in their tent, I could hear them talking,& Philip said something about getting up very early some morning & doing something to me. So this morning I got up early & filled the pocket of my waterproof with damp sand, & parted their tent curtains & peeped in. Allen was fast asleep & looked so lamb like. I had hardly the heart to do anything to him. But he was preparing to "do me brown", & of course it was necessary to keep up my end. So I took good aim at his face with a handful of sand & let fly. It fell all around his head but he did not stir & I fled, thinking he would find it when he woke, anyway In a few minutes I saw his head stuck out of histent door, like the head of a turtle, + gazing earnestly up toward my tent. Pretty soon he dressed + came out. I was sweeping the cabin industriously, + congratulated him on his early rising. I have just learned that we went around my Amy's tent + threw sand over her, to pass it on. He has now gone out fishing to calm his mind, with Uncle June. I am sorry to learn from Philip that Allen was really "huffy" when the sand woke him. I didn't mean to make him mad, only to have a little fun. Well, whatever he does to me for this, I'll try to take it good naturedly, + perhaps *I have an unexpected chance to send this to Newport, so close in haste. Oceans of love. A.S.B. Georgeville, P.Q. Canada Sunday Aug. 23 1891 Dear Papa + Mamma: Miss Smith came home yesterday from a visit to Newport , + brought my dress. It is all right, but there was a little delay about getting it ; hence I did not receive Mamma's good letter, enclosed in the package, until now. The meeting will probably be next Friday evening, + I expect to take the Saturday morning train for home, getting to Boston (or at least being due there) about fiveo'clock P. M. Yesterday I had a good time watching the tennis - Allen Nowell, Bob Apollonio, Sydney Clapp + Philip Chase playing. But Allen + Bob are the two I like to watch. Allen is so graceful + Bob so funny that I never get tired of looking at them. Bob is a poor player, + when he misses balls or hits them wrong, his face + gestures are a circus in themselves. Sometimes he lies down flat on his stomach; sometimes lies on his back + elevates his legs; sometimes sits on his [wickit] racket. Allen is a good player. He is almost as graceful as the black kitten; as Mrs. Barrows says, he seems to be "all joints." There is something almost feline in his motions, as he goes backward 2 + forward looking out for the balls. So whenever I get a chance to watch the tennis, I take a chair out + sit under the trees + look on till they get through. Often there is a little supplementary circus among the other young fry who are looking on, + who get up small fights or small flirtations among themselves, sitting on the carpet of pine needles. I believe I wrote my last letter before breakfast yesterday, when I had just waked up Allen with a handful of sand. He shook part of it over on to Philip in shaking it off; + in retaliation for this + for our pulling his bed to pieces the night before, Philip got a pail of earth + forthwith scattered it over Amy Wentworth,who sleeps with her head near the door of her tent. Philip is the smallest of our boys, + also the most vindictive. He further relieved his mind by putting a peck of sand + a dozen or more thistle heads between my sheets - where I of course found them when I came to make [up] my bed - + he threatened further proceedings later. Though of course it was mainly as a lark. He wasn't seriously mad. And afterwards either he or Bob put my rubber boots among the bed-clothes, + a book. They were all considerably apprehensive as to what they might find in their own beds that night; + Harold Apollonio, Bob's big brother, was careful to explain to me that his clothes were hung in the front part of the tent, + Bob's in the back part; so that if I were meditating any vengeance upon Bob, it might not fall upon him instead by [any] 3 mistake. After Allen's threat to "do me up brown," the night before, + after the handful of sand bestowed upon his morning slumbers, I expected something direful from him; but instead, to my surprise, he proposed that we should call it square, + mutually pledge ourselves not to do anything more to each other. He had made a similar treaty with Sophie after serving up pretty much everything in her tent. I agreed, of course - being something more than even with him - + as the tricks had gone about far enough + somebody might be getting mad next, I put under Philip's pillow the little bag of candy bought at the Georgeville Fair, + on Bob's a paper of dried beef, + in Allen's bed dried beef + a bottle of olives, of which he is excessively fond. Philip fully expected something dreadful in return for his sand + thistles, + I laughed to see the care with which he felt of + examined his bed from head to foot when he went to histent for the night. He did it with his door open + a lantern burning, so I saw him from my tent. When convinced that there was no diabolism there, but only candy, he was as tickled as possible; hurried over to the cabin to proclaim the fact, + then came + expressed his thanks outside my tent. But the grand row came when Allen's bottle of olives was discovered. Allen + Bob had been out on the lake with Bessie Holbrook, whom Allen is sparking; + they stayed out pretty late, + most lugubrious music came to us from the old bugle, which they had with them - either they or two of the bigger boys who were out in another boat. They none of them know how to play it except Mrs. Barrows, + their efforts are funny. They came in after I had gone to bed, + the riot when the olives were found was amazing. I lay in bed + laughed. Afterwards noise like a whole Sabbat of witches arose in Amy Wentworth's tent. She has a beautiful big tent, which Mabel Barrows + Edith Marcan occupy with her. Amy, excited by the general hilarity, 4 was moved to dance the can can, + this gave rise to energetic remonstrances from her roommates, Edith uttering prolonged squeals till you would have thought a whole menagerie was loose in there. They finally put her (Amy) out of the tent, + she danced upon the campus. Papa needn't imagine that I have "a dull time" because so many of the campers are children. I don't know when I have been as much entertained during any vacation as I have this year. You see, I have no responsibility for any of them, + have only to be amused at their pranks. They are a perfect circus. If it was to last three months longer, I believe I might even grow fat, they make me laugh so much.- At this point the bugle blew for church. Being a pleasant day, the service was held out doors, among the arbor vitae trees. We carried out benches + chairs, + a little table to serve as the desk of the pulpit; + they put up a lot of golden rod in the arbor vitae branches behind where Mr. Barrows was to sit, which at once served for ornament, + [hef] helped to shade his manuscript from the sun. It was a good sermon - from the text about being changed from glory to glory, beholding as in a mirror, +c. A few villagers came over, or boarders - boarders, I guess - + we had a nice little congregation. It was a hot still day, + the lake lay still + smooth, showing through the trees. Now they are going in to bathe, + I must be present at the circus. Poor little Miss Sophie tries to dive, but is not expert, + they make all sorts of fun of her. Yesterday Mr. Barrows invited me to row him out in the boat to dive from. Generally it is some one of the bathers who rows it; but this time there was none of them handy; so of course I was delighted to go. Before diving, he wanted to fix the buoy. He has buoyed two submarine rocks near here, + it is very interesting. You get a long pole - the trunk of an arbor vitae, stripped of its branches - + fasten a heavy stone to one end + a white flag to the other, + sink the stone where the rock is, letting the pole lean against the rock; + the stone anchors it + keeps it steady. It is a primitive fashion of buoy, I suppose, but it answers the purpose. But sometimes the pole gets slewed around so as not to rest against the rock, + then theflag barely shows above the water, the pole not sticking up as high as it should. That had happened to one of the buoys near our encampment; so we rowed out to fix it. A shower was coming; big black clouds were rolling up, + the wind had risen, + made big waves that pitched us, but we rowed round + round till we got the buoy straightened up. Then Mr. Barrows dived; + afterwards Allen (who had been delayed in getting into the water by finding the sleeves of his bathing dress sewn up - done by Sophie before they made their treaty of peace; + when she commented on his being late he told her he had to wait to arrange his neck-tie!-) Allen swam out to the boat + climbed on board + dived; + Bob likewise swam out + held on, looking like a funny new kind of fish, but did not care to climb in. It was fun, though they splashed. Last evening Georgeville, P.J., Canada. Aug. 24, 1891. My dear People: Not much news. We are all well. Yesterday afternoon it rained, + I took a nap, + then lay + was lazy. Allen Nowell + Bob Apollonio went to Newport, so that the circus was temporarily interrupted. They are coming back on the boat this morning. Mrs. Barrows says it seems "preternaturally still" without Allen.The Sunday evening sing was held in the Holbrooks' cabin last night; & as it was rainy, & there would be no circus in the absence of Bob & Allen, I didn't fancy tramping through the wet woods in the dark with lanterns, & stayed at home with Mrs. Wentworth & Sophie & the two kittens. I am reading Sir Walter Scott's Journal, & leading a lazy but agreeable life. Saturday evening we had a lovely row on the lake - water golden, mountains purple, sky primrose - yellow over beyond the black woods on the further shore, & the tiny crosses of the balsam firs standing out clear against the sky. There were severalboats of use. The mountains sometimes of an evening put on a wonderful rich purple softness, like the bloom on a plum. How I wish you could see them! Mrs. Henry's poem is really impossible, I think - perfectly distressing. And it is such a pity, for she is a nice little woman + a good friends of ours. All well. *Oceans of love. Look for me Saturday evening. Alice Stone Blackwell. Georgeville, P.Q. Canada Tuesday, Aug. 25, 1891 Dear Papa + Mamma: Yesterday afternoon we picked off twigs from a great pile of fir-balsam in the study tent (the boughs having been brought by Philip + Harold from the other side of the lake), + filled rough bags with them, to be afterwards covered with something nicer + made into [B] balsam fir pillows. The whole tent was sweet, + Mrs. Barrows could smell the fragrance clear down to the cabin. Mr. Barrows + Mrs. Wentworth went out fishing + were late for supper. When they finally arrived, the word quickly spread that they had a "lunge" - one of these big lake trout. We rushed down to congratulate them, but when Mrs. Wentworth mounted the steps + exhibited the lunge, it was so small a one that our enthusiasm was rather damped. There were some slightly comtemptuous remarks, + somebody proposed to weight it with the letter scales. After letting us exhaust our remarks, Mr. Barrows, who had remained discreetly in the background, came forward with a perfectly enormous lunge, weighing about thirteen pounds. Then there was wild uproar. Our camp yelled so vociferously that the members of the Peirce party quickly streamed over + arrived on the scene to see what wasthe matter. Allen + Bob, after adding their yells to the chorus, at the full stretch of their lungs, + performing upon the bugle, started off at full speed to the Holbrooks' cabin (about a quarter of a mile away) to convery the glorious news. They ran like deer, but quiet Amy Wentworth had started first, + got there five minutes before them, with the first tidings. Then the younger members of the Holbrook party hastened back, + the big fish was weighted + admired by lantern-light - for it was after dark before Uncle June + Mrs Wentworth returned. And you may imagine how they crowed over us, + retorted our uncivil remarks about letter scales etc. As it was a rainy afternoon, I had left Mrs. Wentworth Papa's old felt hat to go fishing in, + she was a figure in it. Mrs. Barrows told Mr Story that is was the woman suffrage hat that had brought the fishing party luck. They tease him about suffrage. Yesterday Mrs. Barrows + most of our party made a trip to Magog on the steamer Lady of the Lake, + those of us who stayed at home went down to the shore to salute them as the steamer passed by our camp. We waved towels, + blew the bugle + the fish horn, + Mr Story tied a yellow afghan to a long pole + waved it, + was greatly teased for having unknown to himself, waved the suffrage colors. Last night I found in my bed a beautiful basket woven by the Indians of scented grass. Our three smallest boys, Allen Nowell, Bob Apollonio + Philip Chase, clubbed together to present it to me, Mrs Barrows says. It is almost breakfast time now,I must go out + thank them. I set the breakfast table + swept the cabin, + then came back to write to you. Had a good time watching tennis again yesterday - also the bathing. Lots & lots of love. Alice Stone Blackwell. After the arrival of the big fish yesterday evening, Allen sat down forthwith + wrote his mother a letter describing it - also postal cards to various dear friends. He writes an unconscionable number of letters.