BLACKWELL FAMILY Kitty Barry Jan - Sep. 1888 ALICE STONE BLACKWELLDorchester, Mass. Jan. 8, 1888. My dear Kitty: The amount of family news from the various branches this week amounts to a note from Emma, a card from Aunt Ellen, & a scrap from Agnes to Ethel, which is wholly about the neighborhood boys & girls. However, it indicates that all the family at El Mora were well, or something would have been said to the contrary. Aunt Ellen says (Jan. 6): "I have been suffering great inconvenience & considerable pain from rheumatism, I think a sprain in one knee. I have found great comfort from Allcock's porous plasters. It seems to surround [*Affectionately, Alice Stone Blackwell. Did an envelope come with a long extract from the N. Y. Sun about cooperation in America?*]the aching part with a comforting warmth, & to give support to its weakness. I think I should have been laid up without them. She urges mother to try them, & continues: "My new girl does it nicely; a great comfort. Aunt Eliza looking very well. I think Lawrence agrees with her." Ethel is in- volved in examinations at Tech., but found time to go to a dance yesterday, which she greatly enjoyed. When the examinations are over she will have about a fort- night's vacation, & is casting longing looks toward El Mora, though she does not really think it will be best for her to take the expense of going home for so short a vacation. Just think, neither she nor Edith had heard a word of Uncle Sam's increase of salary! Our first news of it came through Emma. Edith has set out to read "Les Miserables" in French. You remember the edition I got in Paris with pictures & large print. It wont hurt her eyes, at all events. Agnes & Grace have had their photos taken, & you have doubtless received copies. We think Gracie good, but Agnes's expression not her best. Edith "sat" yesterday, to a real photogra- pher, in the city. The result is not yet to be seen, but she feels sure that her ex- (ex)pression will be unsatisfactory. Papa is variously busy, with his new house, which is now roofed & begins to look like quite a building, & with the W.J., & his chemical experiments, & a plot that he has with Mr. Edwin Dudley of the Law & Order League to organize an "anti- saloon" movement in the Republican party. He will forget to eat his lunch, & will run for trains, which is bad for him: but otherwise he is pretty well. Mother has been very well indeed, thus far: & if she only gets through the spring without a bad cold, I shall be delighted. Though that is really hardly to be hoped for. She ought to go away the first of February, but there is [to] no plan to that effect as yet. Emma's last note to my mother, dated Jan. 5, says: "We are all as well as usual, the baby a little better. He really has somewhat improved since Jennie began to supply him. He does not cry as much, nor hic. as much. He still throws up his food in great quantity, & has altogether irregular bowels, but he has been put on imperatively three hour intervals for his eating, & as he grows bigger, may get strength to digest better. He grew five ounces last week, which the New York Dr. Parker told George was the average weekly gain of the average baby. He has for some time noticed color, being obviously interested in a pink paper adornment which Anna made at kindergarten, & a bright yellow ribbon has been known to stop his crying when the pang was not very severe, You will thus seethat he inherits your liking for yellow; or perhaps the jasmine at Thomasville had an influence. I will enclose another letter, several weeks old, which I could not find to send it to you at the time. With your omnivorous interest in letters, perhaps you may still care for it. Have I sent you yet a photo of the crazy group of us threatening Aunt M's landlord? I keep for getting what photo has been sent to whom. Perhaps it would be as well to mention each one received & then I shall not get so mixed up. You see I am sending more or less photos to you, & Aunt M., & Florence, & some of the relatives on this side: & I lose count & get quite bewildered! There is remarkably little news here. We are all the time busy, but not with matters that it would interest you to hear about. I continue to take pleasure in Mr. Eable's Bible class, & am making an effort to overcome my disorderly ways, which are such a nuisance to Papa; but do not succeed very well as yet. Goodbye. Dorchester, Mass. Feb. 26, 1888 My dear Kitty: No special news this week. I enclose letters from Aunt Emily & Emma. Mrs. Livermore wrote to me a few days ago asking when & where Aunt B. graduated, how long it was before another woman graduated in medicine, & whether there was any authentic sketch or biography of Aunt B. I passed the questions on to Aunt Emily; & this explains the remarks at the beginning of her letter. I believe Mrs. L. is preparing a paper on "Women in the Professions." A letter from Emma to Mamma, dated Feb, 24, says: "We are offering this house for rent, but [have] have not told the people in our former house that we [*sides, till the transatlantic members of the family can get a complete idea of it. No news. Affectionately Alice Stone Blackwell*]shall want it. If we stay in Orange, however, we mean to occupy it, & I suppose must soon decide whether they are to be dispossessed or not. The whole question hinges on family health. Can the children bear the northern winters, & especially the seaboard winters, with so much dampness with the cold, & such variations of temperature, now a zero wave sweeping down from the pole, & again a warm fog drifting up from the South. They have all been sick, Anna crying with headache & a sore ear, & her appetite reduced to zero. Baby is recovering from a ten days' cold, & has a tender ear like Anna's. Howard at present is in his usual health, & gets up early every morning to skate before the sun thaws the icy snow on the fields. Anna, too, is better; but a week ago we had a regular hospital. It is a decided pecuniary advantage to George to be here, but health is better than money to the children, if one were sure of improving it by taking them away. A fire day before yesterday turned one of G's tenants out of his house, but it was insured, & G expects to get it ready for habitation again in a month. He has several houses to rent this spring, no less than six; but the large house, which is the elephant, is set for five years. We improved Washington's birthday by taking four photographs, family groups, all bad - mother& Celara Barlow, particularly, are libels. Our household are much as usual. Papa has the organization of an Anti-Saloon Republican League on the brain, & flies about, seeking to form one. Speaking of photos, Papa's houses at the foot of the hill show nicely in the background of some of the recent family groups. Also, I developed on Washington's birthday a couple of photos taken just before starting for England, & never finished. One [refr] is of Papa, sitting reading in a rocking-chair in the front yard. The other is of the house, with Papa & Mamma standing on the veranda. Papa was called from his sugar experiments to be taken, & holds a bottle in his hand. The view of the house is taken from the flower garden, & gives the summer aspect of the house better than the big photos sold at the Suffrage Bazaar, although of course as a photo it isn't nearly so good. Edith & Ethel have just reached in their biology lectures the part of the course which treats of parasites - after which, for a time, the students always call for their meat extremely well done. Professor Hyatt strongly condemns dried beef, as highly likely to contain the eggs of tapeworms &e.; & [t] the girls utter ejaculations of [hoor] horror, & shudder, when they see me slicing it off for myself, to have a little salt nibble after supper. Mr. Cable is still away on his lecturing trip; it is a great deprivation. I have spent the afternoon in great laziness, reading "The Hillyars & the Burtons." Henry Kingsley's storee's are melodramatic, & improbable, & sentimental, but immensely charming somehow. Wasn't that a gruesome tale of Zoe Underhill's? Papa read it aloud to us. I had thoughts of sending it anonymously to a certain Deacon of our acquaintance; in Gardner, Mass.; but mother vetoed the idea. I think of you walking abroad on the East Hill & other breezy places, "dressed for dogs," & gambled about by much brown pointer. Wish I could join the party - not, however, for the sake of the dogs. I hope to send on the photo of the house in the course of the week. It was taken originally with a view to sending it to Aunt B. In time I propose to circumnavigate it & take views of it from all Dorchester, Mass. March 11, 1888 My dear Kitty, The enclosed letter from Emma is the only family one. Don't you think Howard writes & spells well for a boy of his age? I had a very nice letter from Aunt Marian a few days ago. It is remarkable how much nearer it makes Vernon seem [since] to have seen her & Frances. There is no special news this week. Aunt Sarah has been ill, & Emma has felt very anxious about her, but she is getting better. Mrs. Rebecca Moors spent a day with us last week. She is a nice little old lady, & Frank Garrison has thoroughly fallen in love with her. He came too for a short time in the evening. Mrs. Moore thinks highly of Mrs. Ashton Dilke. Mother & she (Mrs. M.) discussed Horne Rule, & [&M] Mrs. Moore told me some interesting items about Mrs. Butler. [She] Mrs. Moore had just received the first number of [*that she is of that dumb disposition, & finds it so hard to talk. But [who] soon after she came here, when we were all petting her, which inelined her to unfold a little, she told me over - when we were talking about dying - that if she should die she didn't believe anybody would be very sorry. She laughed as she said it, but I saw the tears in her eyes. She doesn't feel very*]a new paper, called, I believe, "The League," & edited jointly by Mr. Stead & Mrs. Besaut. It seems that in their announcement, which was signed by them both, they said that The League was to be confined to no creed, as was proved by the fact that of its editors one was a pronounced atheist, while the greatest desire of the other was "to be Christ" - expressions which Mrs. Moore said seemed to her about equally shocking! A copy of The Westminster & Lambeth Gazette came while she was here, with an account of Mrs. Ashton Dilke speaking at some highly respectable public meeting; & she called our attention to this as a proof that Mrs. Dilke was in good standing in England. Also mother has rec'd from Miss Henrietta Miller a letter dated Feb 27, in which she says: "I understand that Mrs. Alice Seatchord of Leeds, Mrs. Ashton Dilke, Mrs. Fenwick [*well, & she leads a dull life, & she sees no special prospect before her - [no] not feeling sure that she will ever be well enough to practice medicine - & therefore she is unhappy, & because of*] Miller & Mrs. Chant are all going to the Council. We shall be well represented." Miss Müller herself can't come. You understand that we have not mentioned Aunt B's name to anybody, in connection with Mrs. Dilke. We have always said that we heard through a friend of Miss Taylor's that some persons in England, Miss Taylor among them, thought so & so. It was the only [possible] way to make any impression on Miss Anthony. She would not care in the least what anybody's social purity record was, if the facts were not publicly known. But she is very desirous to have Miss Taylor speak, & would rather have her than Mrs. Dilke, as being the [mor] better known; & if she felt sure that having Mrs. D. meant giving up Miss T., she would try to avoid having Mrs. D. speak. But Mrs. Stanton, who has in a very high degree what the Boston Herald would call "the courage of her cussedness," *being [hap] unhappy the child is cross. When anything happens to brighten her up - as for instance when Florence made us a visit - she is like another person, & one of the most delightful girls*]would not easily consent to the suppression of Mrs. Dilke, especially if Mrs. D. had come over on her invitation. So I think she will probably be here, & if so, will undoubtedly speak. Mother has written to ask Miss Taylor if she cannot speak at our May meeting. The New England Women's Club would give her a reception, & she would be made much of in Boston. I [pr] don't like her - so far as I can judge from once hearing her speak - but mother is fully prepared to receive her with open arms. It is odd that you should all have felt so sure that Agnes's photos don't look like her. They don't. Some of them I should not have recognized if I had not known whom they were meant for, when I first saw them. Now I should recognize them, not from their likeness to herself, but from their likeness to her other photos. It is odd that anybody's photographed face should be so unlike the real one. I don't understand it. Papa says that Agnes looks like "a handsome young horse." [*you can imagine; an exceptionally sweet face when it is smiling, & such a thundercloud when it scowls! I am sorry for her, & sorry for Papa & Mamma, to whom she is rather an affliction,*] A few days ago I mailed you Godey's Lady's Book, [with[ containing Grace's poem. There was also a photo in it, & the photo made the pages gape a little, & I have been worried since for fear the P.O. might notice it & make a fuss. I think photos go at the same price as printed matter, but a not quite sure. Did you have any trouble about it? Edith & Ethel are in the parlor studying. Ethel's appetite has dwindled, & Edith the other day had repeated fits of vomiting. I am afraid they study too hard, though Ethel is annoyed by the very suggestion. Mind you, it will be a breach of confidence if any hint of this works its way back to America; but Papa & Mamma do not altogether take to their nieces, Edith especially. She has been with us about 16 months now. When she first came, we were all delighted with her, particularly Mamma. Before I left for Europe, I began to see [*though they feel that it is better for her to be here than at home, & that they are doing "family duty" by her. I myself get along perfectly well with her, & she is almost always good mattered with me.*]signs of a change; & when I got home one of the first things mother unfolded to me in private was her trials with Edith. I have not said anything about it before, partly because I thought it would do for some week when there was nothing else to write about, & partly because it was rather a disagreeable subject. And you understand that all this is mentioned in the deadest confidence; & I'm not sure I ought to mention it even to you [at all]. Edith is a girl with many fine qualities, & I myself like her better than either Agnes or Ethel, who are the most popular of the sisters. But she is rather hard to get along with. She isn't in her right niche somehow; she needs something she hasn't got. I wish Miss Andrews could have had the bringing of her up; she would have made one woman in a thousand out of her. But it is as if there were two different persons in her. A brighter face than Edith's when she is pleased, or a blacker one when she is dissatisfied, you never saw. When Edith feels happy, she is charming; & when she doesn't feel happy, there is no denying that she is rather disagreeable. [*But it is odd that the Blackwells, while really attached to each other, should find it so hard to live together. I suppose we are an exceptionally augular family; & Edith is altogether the most Blackwelly of Uncle Sam's*] Unluckily, the times when she feels happy are the exceptions. When she first came to us, everything was new, & we all took to her, & she felt the atmosphere of affection & approbation, & brightened up, & blossomed out, & did her very best, & was a universal favorite. After a while [she] the novelty passed off; the new broom didn't sweep quite so clean, & mother began to criticise, & criticism tends to make Edie sulky; & her [bes] natural faults began to crop out. Unfortunately, they are of a sort that worry Mamma more than some more serious things would. For one thing, she generally comes late to breakfast. At home they used to call her "the invisible maiden," because she was so late in appearing. Mother hates to have people unpunctual. Then she wont eat meat; and that makes it more difficult to plan the meals, for mother wants to have something substantial [to] for her. Then she dislikes housework; & mother has the greatest impatience with anyone whom she suspects of having a contempt for [man] manual labor. She says (in private) that the work of the house is nearly doubled by the presence of Edith & Ethel, & that they ought to lend a hand to help; which I think is reasonable. Edith, on the other hand, says that their Katy does the work for a larger family without anybody's helping about the dishes &e.; & she rather discouraged Ethel, who when she first came was full [*daughters. - Can you order sent to me the following "Pall Mall Gazette Extras," which I see advertised in the P. M. G. - No. 7, England, Gordon & the Soudan; past free, 3d; No. 8, Who is to have the Soudan? & No. 14 - Too Late!*]zeal to volunteer to help. Edith will do anything she is told to, but will seldom volunteer, & when asked is apt to look sulley, & sometimes, though rarely, [to] will snap about it. Mother laments over the prospect of Ethel being hampered in her career as a doctor by a partner like Edith; & Papa sarcastically tells her not to worry; that Edith will never have perseverance enough to graduate. He has told me confidentially that Edith is "so lethargic & lazy" that she almost drives him [crazy] wild, & that [sh] he dislikes her so much that the very sound of her voice sets his teeth on edge, when he is tired. Ethel is a much pleasanter person to get along with, being uniformly cheerful, good-natured & obliging. Mother likes Ethel, & Papa approves of her, but says their temperaments (his & hers) are not sympathetic. When she was about fourteen, he & she took to one another immensely, & were inseparable; but that is so no longer. However, though he is not fond of her, she [does] is not antipathetic to him at all in the same way that Edith is. I feel very sorry for Edith. She has lots of good material in her, spoiled by a little streak of perversity & the absence of the right environment. She needs a great deal of sunshine & encouragement. She has not a bit of conceit, but on the contray is utterly despondent about herself; has an unhappy feeling that nobody likes her, & that she shall never amount to anything. She very rarely says anything about it; indeed, one of her afflictions is [*The piece of each, post paid, is 3d. I don't know whether there is any of my money left, [that] of the small sum which you use had, out of which to to English [Commis?] - & sions for me; but if not, I can send some more. Affectionately, Alice Stone Blackwell. Dorchester, Mass. April 8, 1888 My dear Kitty; I have been very rich in letters lately. The dates of the last read "March 8, March 12, March 23" - what richness! You are a brick, a square brick. The first two came while we were at Washington, & were forwarded there, where they arrived simultaneously. Yes, this has been an extra ordinary writer [it] and it is perhaps just as well that Aunt M. didn't try to pass it at High Wickham. It would have given her a horrible idea of English writers. It will evidently end in your keeping both Don & Burr. Well, you will probably enjoy it, as you are so fond of dogs. I wish I had been there with an instantaneous camera to take the group, the day you went over the hill [*proposition, & made us a counter. Proposition of a kind which they know we can't accept. - Well, here is a nice uncharitable [uncehreshant?] sort of letter but I want to free my mind even at the risk of boring you. Since*] surrounded by a gambolling crowd of five, & contriving to keep them all in good humor. You ought to have a lot of letters after your name, "S.D.", Superintendent of Dogs, "C.F.", Canine Fascinator, etc. I was delighted to hear that that impertinent young man had been reduced to meekness. If it was the sight of the dog-whip alone that did it, great are the insignia of office! But I think it is more likely that he had learned meantime who Aunt B. was. It is a pity about Mr. Estcourt. He does seem to be an unlucky mean. If he comes over here, I hope we shall see him. But it would hardly be worth while to make a visit to the U.S. just to stay two months with Prof. Davidson. I don't like what I hear of Prof. D. either, though everybody seems agreed that he is very brilliant. I congratulate you on the acquisition of Les Miserables. The absence of pictures is no great loss. Pictures [*I began to write, Mamma has found in the pile of newspapers that accumulated while we were at [St.] Washington, the Hastings &*] almost always rather detract from one's enjoyment of a story because they don't look as you think the people ought to. Good print is the great consideration. My last letter was a much mixed up one. We got home all safe, Mother & I, & found Edith & Ethel in good condition; no burglars had called on them. [Ma] Papa had gone home a day before us. The Washington meetings were really very fine, with a large attendance throughout, and many good speeches & papers. The newspapers gave unusually full & friendly reports, & I think much good must have been done. But to me it was a most uncomfortable week, although the Spoffords were kindness itself, & they are very nice, & so it is their house. You see [the] all this bother about the union was in full blast, & it became evident before long that the Nationals didn't want a union, & didn't mean to have one. This was [unex] disappointing for me & for [the next] others of us who really wanted a union; while mother [*St. Leonard's Times with account of Home Colonization meeting. Thanks. Haven't yet had time to read it. The Washington*] Mrs. Howe, who had brought their minds to the idea of a union with a good deal of reluctance, having a horror of the Nationals & the past record of their society, were not altogether sorry, I guess. The fact was, I imagine, Miss Anthony didn't want a union unless she could be president of it; & she thought our people would never agree to that; & so she set Miss Foster & her other young lieutenants to talk down the [idea of a] union; & all sorts of things were said. Annie Shaw & some other friends of ours were staying at the Regg's House, & heard the talk that went on at table & elsewhere; & they very soon found the intention was that there should be no union. Then Mrs. Livermore wrote some indiscreet letter which they got hold of, & showed around to various people, stirring up wrath; & John Hutchinson said to one of our friends [not mother] that we must have a union - that there had never [*monument is beautiful; we saw it under a cloudless sky, the shady side of the tall shalft gray, & the sunlit side looking like snow*] been the slightest excuse for a division. And she unwisely said (what was perfectly true) that she & others like her could never have worked with Train & Woodhull had had anything to do with it, & went & told the remark to Mrs. Shattuck, who sent it circulating through the Regg's House with variations, stirring up rage like the fiery cross. For two days the hotel was buzzing with it; & the Nationals were filled with resentment that [the Nationals] anybody should hint that their revered & beloved leaders had ever had anything to do with Mrs. Woodhull & free love; & they decided that they didn't want anything to do with us. Mrs. Shattuck & Mrs. Robinson did their utmost in opposing the union, because of their personal dislike of mother, & because if the union had taken place, they would no longer have had any excuse for keeping up a separate society here in Mass. Mrs. Shattuck told Mrs. Johns [*or silver; know it shone! Florence Shofford took me to the Capitol & I looked down from the gallery upon Senator Ingalls (at*]that she & her mother would be thrown out of the work if the union were consummated. "Lucy Stone is dishonest" - that was the sort of talk that was heard at the hotel table. All of which, of course, was encouraging to me. And then I did not enjoy hearing Miss Willard & Celara Barton, & other good people, whose hair would have stood on end had they known the real facts about the division, & Woodhall &c., complimenting Miss Anthony & Mrs. Stanton, amid great applause. It is rather irritating to see unworthy women who hate your mother & have constantly [malgried?] her, receiving a week's continuous ovation. And then, on the other hand, it was petty minded to be vexed [so] about it, & I was mad with myself for caring; & altogether, I don't think I ever spent a more disagreeable week. Mother took it all very placidly. She was greatly applauded when she spoke, & many [*whom I longed to throw something)& Senator Hoar, [on?] whose head I invoked a silent blessing. At Mrs. [Lander's?] reception I*] people fell in love with her, as usual. I have seldom seen bigger cheering than when Miss Anthony introduced her, took her hand, & they came forward together. Yet even that annoying us; Miss Anthony called on mother when she had not had the slightest [inunation?] that she was to speak, & was entirely unprepared. It was one of those pieces of ostensible friendliness & real unfriendliness that are very riling to me. I hate humbug - & I am afraid I hate the Nationals. In fact, I know I do, so you must make allowance for all this account as somewhat colored by remembered exasperation. But it was edifying to hear innocent Mrs. Aaron Powell referring to the service which Mrs. Stanton & Miss A. had rendered to social purity in past years - & to hear Mrs. [Shattuck?], an exceptionally vindictive & untruthful woman, holding forth upon the duty of forgiveness, & the ethical grounds for regarding even a small lie as [*saw Senator Hoar's wife, & Senator Blair's wife - a woman with a sensible, good fact, & a nice square head - & other notabilities.*]wicked! Well - there are all sorts of queer things in this world. Mr. Spofford let me have the bound volume of Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly from the Congressional Library, & I regaled myself upon its atrocities, & copied some of them. The file of the N.Y. Tribune is in the Congressional Library, too, with the reprots of the Nat. Society's early meetings, headed "The Woodhull Branch," in large letters; & Stanton, Anthony, Woodhull," etc. etc. Speaking of queer things, right after the morning session of the Council devoted to Social Purity, they went to a reception at the White House & shook hands with Cleveland! Maurice Hussey was at the convention, & she also went to the President's reception. She said she tried to slip by without shaking hands with him, but he held his hand out, & she had to! Mother didn't go. She said she should be all the time thinking of "poor Maria [Halpen?]," I guess there is no doubt that Maria [Halpen?] was [*I find that in addition to its other amiable qualities, although advocating "free love," it was a strong advocate of State Regulation of Vice & compulsory medical visits!*] a bad lot; but the president is ditto, & it was queer to adjourn straight from a Social Purity meeting to his house. Miss Anthony had asked him to receive the delegates & visitors to the Council. And Miss Willard went too, though she is superintendent of the Social Purity department of the W.C.T.U.! I suppose she takes it for granted that because he has married he has reformed. For she is a good woman, & wouldn't want to do anything wrong. But she & the other Third Part Prohibitionists are under a certain [pre] obligation to make the best of Cleveland, because it was the subtraction of the prohibition vote from the Republicans that gave New York to the Democrats at the last presidential election, & thereby elected Cleveland; & the National W.C.T.U. passed a resolution deprecating the bringing of personal scandals into a [*Excuse this disagreeable [epistle?]; I'll try not to send such another. If Mr. Estcourt goes to So. Africa, perhaps you*] presidential campaign - which simply meant that if a candidate is a man of dissolute life, the fact should not be discussed as [bearing upon] an objection to his election. For if the scandal related to stealing, or drinking, or forgery, or anything but social immorality, there would be no question about the propriety of opposing him on account of it. Well, the women of the Council filed past Mr. & Mrs Cleveland, marshalled by States; & it was noticed that the Massachusetts delegation was very small. [Mother] I'm glad of it! Mother & Mrs. Howe & I were invited to a reception at Mrs. Lander's, where Florence Spofford poured the tea; & after the presidential reception was over, a good many of the people from it came over there, & told us something of what had gone on at the other place. [*will be able to send some African stamps to Howard, who is making a collection, & would regard them as a great*] Well, to return to the union. Rachel Foster, Miss Anthony's right hand woman, had urged us very much to get a majority of our conference committee to together in Washington during the week of the International Council, to meet their conference committee & arrange about the preliminaries for the union. So we bestirred ourselves, & got a majority of our committee there, Mr. Foulke coming down from Indiana on purpose; & we sent them our proposition, with an invitation to modify it as they thought fit, or to submit a counter proposition. From the way Miss Foster treated Mr. Foulke, [&] which was flippant & hardly respectful, he thought they had decided that they didn't want a union; & their committee held a meeting, & took action, & sent us word that their action was such as must be laid before the [*treasure American boys seem to go through the stamp-collecting mania as they go through the measles. Yours affectionately,*]National ex. com. before being communicated to us; that they would confer with us if we desired it, but they had nothing to lay before us. This was cool, after bothering us to get our committee together, & bringing Mr. Foulke all the way from Indiana [for the] on purpose. The Nat. ex. meeting was to be held the following week, so our committee disbanded & went home, to await its action. The members of their Conference Committee who really wanted a union felt much disappointed at the action their committee had taken; poor little Mrs. Johns of Kansas, in particular was almost sick with grief; she told us so. So we knew that their action, whatever it was, was equivalent to breaking off the union. So it proves; for they have rejected our [*Alice Stone Blackwell*]OFFICE OF AMERICAN WOMEN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 5 PARK STREET BOSTON, June 10 188[7]8 My dear Kitty: I have shamefully neglected Aunt B's request to get her those cooperative monographs by Edward [Bemis?] & others, which were to be published in book form in February. The matter had completely passed from my mind. Seeing a review of the book the other day reminded me of it, & I mailed it yesterday, with much compunction of conscience. Papa no sooner got [back] home from N.Y. than he found a letter awaiting him which made it necessary for him to go right back again. He returned from this second trip about an hour ago, very much [dis] [*grind, &! I have to fill up my weekly letter with uninteresting matter in the dearth of anything better. You like so well to read letters that I take it for granted you will think any sort of a letter better than none. There is no special news. Papa & Mamma*] dishevelled, having overslept himself & rushed from the boat at Fall River to the train without taking time to comb his hair. He has rented our Montclair house for three years, at a low rent, but he thinks himself lucky to get even that, so many houses are standing empty. He has also sold [a] about three acres of mountain land for $5000., which is to be paid in installments of $250. a year. Poor Uncle G. has five houses still standing empty, & feels discouraged. He is keeping bachelor's hall for a few weeks, before rejoining Emma & the children. Orange has developed wonderful clouds of mosquitoes. Papa saw Uncle Sam for a [few min] few minutes. Uncle Sam is looking just as usual, & reports his family is all well & happy. A card [he] from Aunt Ellen dated June 8, says: "I think we [*are trying to drive me off somewhere for a holiday, & I won't go: but that is no news. Dear old Dr. James Freeman Clarke is dead: Mamma cried when [the] the morning paper came with the news.*] OFFICE OF AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION, 5 PARK STREET BOSTON, 1887 shall meet at the Vineyard yet. I met Dr. Cushier in the horse cars yesterday, & she said your Aunt Emily wanted to see me. They are planning to go down to the Vineyard house early in July for about a fortnight, Miss Kerrison taking the cook & taking charge of the housekeeping. You & I are to be invited. Company to consist of Dr. B., Dr. C., Miss K., two lady friends, Nannie, you & I. Cornelia is at Patterson & is not to go. I hope to have her with me elsewhere for something attractive. I'm going today to see Dr. Ey about it. A very pleasant prospect has opened to me for part of the summer. The editors of the Christian Register, Mr. & Mrs. Barrows, are very interesting people - among the [*We knew he was not expected to live: but she had hoped all the time that he would get well. But she says if he has met Mr. Channing on the "other side," they must have had great rejoicing together. Papa has several nibbles for the new*]few people whose acquaintance I have always wished we could cultivate. They camp out every summer for a month, near Lake Memphremagog. A lady has dropped out of their proposed party for this year, and they have very kindly invited me to fill the vacancy. Of course I jumped at the offer. I never tried camping out, & am not sure how I shall like it; but the privilege of being with the Barrow's would make amends for a good many discomforts. But probably the[se] discomfort will not be so very numerous. They are wonderfully clever, especially Mrs. B., & they have camped out so many years that they have reduced it to a fine art. They give a delightful account of their adventures in their book, "The Shaybacks in Camp." If nothing happens to prevent my going, I shall send that book [*house at the foot of the hill. It is a pretty little Queen Anna, dark red with a green roof. I hope it will be occupied this summer. The cherries on those trees have been stolen every year, & it will be*] [*3*] OFFICE OF AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 5 PARK STREET BOSTON, 1887 to you, so that you may get some idea of the situation. The past week has contained a good deal of dissipation. There was the Alumni reunion & dinner of the B.U. graduate one day; B.U. Commencement the next, with the Trustees' reception in the evening; the next day a lawn party out at Chestnut Hill, at Mrs. Lucy Newhall Sawyer's; a lovely house & grounds, but not very interesting, because there were not many people there whom Mamma & I cared about. but Mrs. Sawyer was urgent to have Mamma come, because some people were to be there who regard woman suffragists as a sort of ogres, & she wanted them to see Mamma - whose sweet motherly face [*a satisfaction to have inhabited house near enough to protect them. But cherry time is coming on fast. You have written us nothing about your summer plans as yet. I am made president of the B.U. Alumni for the coming year. It isn't a very ardvous office - only means presiding at one meeting, generally -*] surprises such people beyond measure, & sometime's converts them without her saying a word. Then the next day I had a little spree of my own, & enjoyed it. There is a member of our Political Science Club, a Miss Hazard, whom I first met years ago at Vassar, when I was [vis] visiting Maria Mitchell. She lived in the observatory with Miss Mitchell, who spoke of her as a remarkable scholar. Then I saw nothing of her for years, till [she] we met again at the Pol. Sci. She is a tall, graceful, lady like girl, with fine, rather fatigue-looking features, a long nose, with the sharpest point I ever saw. I thought I should like to know her, & confided the fact to Alla Foster, who very kindly offered to invite us both to lunch at her rooms some day. Various things delayed it, but day before yesterday it came off. [*so I dont' care. And it is rather fun to preside, for you [don't have] escape being called upon for a speech, & only have to call up the others.*] [*4] OFFICE OF AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 5 PARK STREET BOSTON 1887 There were only Miss Foster, Miss Hazard, her friend Miss Wentworth, & I; but to me it was ever so much more enjoyable [that] than the lawn party at Mrs. Sawyer's beautiful place. Just a few nice people; that's the kind of "society" that I think is fun. alla Foster has a nice little "flat" high up in an hotel near the Norfolk House; it is full of pictures of her father & mother, Stephen & Abby Kelley Foster, & other momentoes; a [bas?] - reflief of Mrs. Foster's head, a sampler she worked when she was a little girl, a lust of Wendell Phillips, a photo of Garrison, &c &c. And little Alla is so sensible, & cheerful, & good, & does so much the best of everything, that she makes me ashamed of myself till I could kick my [*Papa is writing at the other side of the library table. I asked him if he had any message for Aunt B., & he bids me tell his three sisters that the sooner they sell out their [pos?] sessions in the [effete despotism & come over here to a free country,*]self black & blue. Without any father or mother, & with her humpback, & plain face, & singularly harsh voice, & teaching school & living in a flat, she yet seems happier than nine people out of the ten you meet, & not a word of grumble do you ever hear out of her mouth. She showed us all the beauties of her flat, with great pride & pleasure; the admirable hygiene arrangements of the bathroom; the fact that all the rooms had the sun; the kitchen, with its little stationary wash-tube & other conveniences, where a young cousin of hers keeps house for her; the beautiful view. The view really is very fine. She took us all up on to the roof, which is fenced off & divided into compartments belonging to the various occupants of the "flats" below; & you look down upon all Roxbury & much of Boston, with green trees & horse- chestnuts, now towers of bloom, [*the better it will be for them & for us. Which means that he has no particular message, & therefore talks nonsense. It is a beautiful day, sunny &*] [*5*] OFFICE OF AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 5 PARK STREET BOSTON, 1887 rising up among the houses; & away off Bunker Hill monument, & a blue glimpse of sea. It is inspiring to be so high up; & Alla [expatiated?] on the advantages of having a flat in the top story, so near the roof. It really is one of the pleasantest flats. I ever saw; light & [pleasant] cheerful, with pictures & books, & a bunch of red & white carnations on the table, & the wide view from the windows. Then the talk was about all sorts of things that are a pleasant change from suffrage; Miss Hazard & Miss Wentworth told funny stories about Hampton Institute, where Gen. Armstrong is teaching Indians & negroes; miss Wentworth used to teach there. In fact, the whole party were teachers, except [*windy, with the trees in full leaf, & the garden rich with white & golden fleurs-de-lys, & bit crimson peonies, & white blossoming bushes of various kinds. Wish you could come & see them, I am not sure but you would, but for that odious brown impediment. *]me; & so is Miss Leavitt, who shares the flat with Miss Foster, & met us at dinner. There was talk about books, & a good deal of fun & laughing, & everybody was good-natured & disposed to be pleased. It was very nice, & I must watch out for a chance to do something for Miss Foster, if I can; I owe her a good turn for giving me such a pleasant afternoon. Let alone that we all owe her any member of good turns for her father's & mother's sake. Miss [Wentworth] Hazard says it is much harder work to teach the [negroes] Indians than the negroes at Hampton; partly because of the difference of language, partly because they are more stolid & stubborn. She told how one class of chiefs behaved; I think they were Seminoles. Anyway, there were some visitors when the teacher especially deired to have favorably impressed, because they might assist the school [*Speaking of dogs, I cut out of a paper this morning a funny story about a girl who was always in tribulation while travelling because the guards wouldn't let her have her pet dog in the carriage with her; & she gave him opium*] 6 OFFICE OF AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 5 PARK STREET, BOSTON 1887 by money or otherwise; & she called up the first chief to read. He felt sulky, apparently, for he got up, stood a moment, grunted, & sat down again; & so did the next, & the next, & all of them. She says that if any one of them misbehaved, it was very apt to run through the whole class. It was very funny, but distressing for the teacher; & the amused visitors took pity upon her, & left. Then, being very angry, she gave them a good rating, and told them what she thought of their conduct. She didn't know how they would take it - whether they would be offended for life, or what; & their countenances didn't move a muscle, to give any sign. But when she was through, one [*& dressed him up on baby clothes ; & they had sundry adventures. You look out for it in the W.J. a few weeks hence. I think it will amuse Aunt M., who has had so many troubles with Chadie. Goodbye. Affectionately yours, Alice Stone Blackwell. The papers say that C. D. A. in India is done away with, but it seems*]of them got up & said "I - sorry." & sat down again. So did the next & the next, until they had all repeated the performance; & the next time there were visitors, her uncouth class did beautifully, or at all events did their very best. But Miss Hazard said she should have thought the teacher would have nervous prostration every day of her life. The photos of the west side of our house did not get finished in time to be sent off in the course of the week, as I had hoped; but they are now drying between the folds of a towel, after their final washing, & will go by the same mail as this letter. K., dear, I am afraid you will find it stupid to read about people you don't know; but there are few family letters, & not much going on except the regular [*about too good to be true. We shall leave, when the Sentinel comes. If it is true, what rejoicing there must have been at Rock House!*] No 1 OFFICE OF AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 5 PARK STREET [BOSTON] Tifft House, Buffalo, N.Y. July 8, 188[7]8. My dear Kitty: Last Monday I started out with Mrs. Barrows & her daughter Mabel, for a fortnight of dissipation. Papa went to the station with me, & insisted on carrying my bag, although he was limping, & as we rode across the city in the horse- car, he had to take off one slipper to ease his foot. He left me in the hands of Mrs. Barrows, who is a very vigorous & energetic person, & a most effective chaperone. She looks after everything, & administers & executes in a masterly manner, & all you have to do is to follow directions & let yourself be taken care of. I like to travel in that way. Mabel is a quiet fifteen year old girl, [*somehow seems to take out the pith of the news. I hope you are having a good time at*]very simply dressed & without a bustle who cares nothing for dress, & a great deal for bugs & plants. Our party was completed by a Mrs. Brackett, head of the State Industrial School for Girls at Lancaster, Mass. - a nice amiable woman who joined us at Ayer Junction, with a huge basket of delicious home-made provisions, out of which we all had supper & breakfast. And the next morning we reached Niagara, & spent half a day there, driving about and seeing the falls. It was as beautiful as I expected, but not as big or as thunderous, quite. I had had an idea that the roar was something awful and scaring - but it is rather a soft roar, not unpleasant. We saw the rapids, which Papa & Mamma think almost the most wonderful part of it; & the islands, & I liked the third of the Three Sisters especially, You sit and look [*Haslemere. I rather wish Don would bite Lord Tennyson, & have to be put to death. But perhaps it is not a capital*] AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 5 PARK STREET BOSTON 1887 at the rapids leaping down at you, through tree-stems and green leaves. And we drove across the suspension bridges, & saw "whirlpool rapids" (not much like the turn of our driveway by the gate, which Papa calls by that name) & we had a good dinner at a temperance hotel; & then we went & spent two nights & a day at "Glen Iris," one of the loveliest places I ever was at. Mrs. Barrows knows Mr. Letchworth, who lives there, & she had written to ask him if we might all come there - a piece of audacity which struck me with horror when I heard of it, & made me feel rather like an unauthorized intruder, in spite of their kindness. But it seems that Mr. L. is immensely rich and unboundedly hospitable, & that [*offence for a dog to bite a peer. Take good care of my K. Yours affectionately, Alice Stone Blackwell.*]he & Mrs. Barrows are cronies, so that she felt sure he would be willing to take us in. And he sent a most cordial letter, & tickets for the whole party to come out from Buffalo to Portageville, & he met us at the station, & would carry out satchels himself. For the carriage couldn't get to the station without going miles around. The station is on one side of a tremendous ravine, at the top; & Mrs. L's house is on the other side, at the bottom. So we walked back across the railroad suspension bridge, that spans the gulf like a spider's web; & then the carriage met us, & we drove down [to] through the woods to the house. The place is a regular canon, such as I didn't suppose existed on this side of Colorado; and it is the Genesee river that runs through it - between immense shear walls OFFICE OF AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION, 5 PARK STREET BOSTON, July 15 188[7]8 My dear Kitty: You letter telling about Mabel New [cornbes?] unsatisfactory state of health, & the swallowing up of Don in a sea of school girls' petticoats, was awaiting me on my return from Buffalo yesterday. We came back by way of Kingston, Toronto & St. Lawrence. The sail down the St. Lawrence & through the Thousand Isles was beautiful, & lasted from 5 A.M. till 7 P.M. We got to Montreal about sunset, & there was something grand about the approach to the city, passing under the majestic suspension bridges, & gradually approaching the mountains. I had no idea the St. Lawrence was so big. It is much more like my notions of the Amazon. The trip to Buffalo was a change, [*they had to be prepared in a hurry. And he [spouted] read them [in his] at the end of his speech with a fair amount of applause, saying that they had been composed by "a modest & charming lady, a delegate from a sister State," & generally laying it on; & after the meeting he made a point of introducing me to all the dignitaries*]& a new experience, but not particularly enjoyable to a non-gregarious person like myself. I counted the days, & was glad to get home. The Vineyard is infinitely pleasanter. But the Buffalonians were very hospitable & kind to us. We went on an excursion to Niagara Falls, & on another down the river to visit the Club Houses; & on the last evening but one, the Buffalo Club, a highly aristocratic club of men, that hardly ever gives receptions, gave us a very elegant one, with no end of Japanese lanterns & nice things to eat. We met some pleasant people; & Mrs. Brackett my room-mate, the head of the State Industrial School for Girls at Lancaster, Mass., is very nice, & I am glad to make her acquaintance. Until lately they have had a man at the head of that institution; just think, a reformatory for girls between 7 & 17, most of whom have been immoral! [*he could lay hands on. it was really funny. He confined to Mrs. Barrows that he wanted to make me a handsome pecuniary present; but she very*] OFFICE OF AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 5 PARK STREET BOSTON 1887 Shouldn't you have thought the first rudiments of common sense would have shown anybody that the position must be filled by a woman? I never heard of anything more asinine! Another queer experience; I was smitten, my dear-actually smitten, like a girl of sixteen! There was a young man Mr. Nathaniel S. Rosenau, who was a member of the Buffalo committee that made arrangements for us, & was also an officer of the Conference of Charities so he was very active & prominent. He was spoken of as "the handsome secretary whom all the ladies are in love with." He was really beautiful to look at-so handsome that it was interest just to sit & look at him-and always seemed in the brightest spirits. There was something indescribably [*sensibly told him that she thought it would make very uncomfortable, & suggested that if he wanted to make me a present, he had better give me a book out of his library - something that would be associated with himself & Glen Iris.*]fascinating in his smile & his eyes- which were remarkably dark. And I was smitten, which it is most ignominious to be with a promiscuous lady killer. He seemed absurdly young to be interested in Charities & Correction, & an officer of the society. However, as he is a Notary Public, & fills various responsible positions in Buffalo, he is probably older than he looks. I found out in the course of the week, that he smoked, "liked good liquor," & had a great opinion of himself - having probably been inordinately petted & flattered on account of his unusual attractions. So I was not heart broken on learning that he was about to be married; & all things considered, I do not envy his wife. But he was a charmingly whited sepulchre, & it really cost me a pant to come away & not be able to look at him any more. Aunt Ellen, Aunt Eliza, Agnes & Ethel have gone down to Cliff House. [*He asked how it would do to send me some photographic views of Glen Iris? And she said she thought that would do very well. So in the course of time I may receive some. But I was more than*] OFFICE OF AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION, 5 PARK STREET BOSTON 1887 Aunt Ellen had asked Aunt Nettie to find her a girl to take to M.V., & Aunt Nettie found one. At the last minute, Aunt Ellen sent word that she had got a girl, & should not need Aunt Nettie's girl; who accordingly stayed behind. But Aunt Ellen's girl failed them after all, so they had to go down without one. Papa gleaned these facts from Uncle Sam, when he dropped in upon during a flying trip to N.J., taken while I was gone. Uncle Sam's salary has been raised to $5000 a year. Isn't that nice! We had not heard from M.V. since the party went down there. There was one funny incident of the Buffalo trip that I must tell you. I think I wrote you about Glen Iris, & the very nice family there. They showed us a bit [sera?] book in which were poems that people had written about Glen Iris; & casting about in [song] my mind for some way to manifest gratitude for their very great kindness & hospitality to us, I thought I would add one to the [*repaid in having been able to do anything to gratify so excellent & simple hearted a man, Mrs. Barrows says she doesn't think a present of $10,000 would have given him as much pleasure as the verses;*]number of those precious productions. It seemed to me a little cheeky to do so uninvited; but it could not be taken otherwise than as amiably meant. So I concocted some verses giving a glowing description of the beauties of Glen Iris, and hinting in a vague & impersonal way (since Mrs. Barrows says Mr. Letchworth is excessively modest & shy) at the charitable character of the owners, & their hospitality to weary travellers. I mailed it to Mr. L, with some misgivings as to whether it were not taking a liberty. But he was greatly pleased. I never knew anybody take so small a matter so much to heart. He called Mrs. Barrows into a corner at the evening meeting, at which I was not present, & told her he had received from Miss B. the most beautiful poem he had ever seen in his life (!!), & he he did not know what was the proper thing to do about it; should he write me a note? should he go down on his knees [to me], or what? [*which is likely enough, as thousands are very plenty with him, & he spends them mostly in doing good. But the whole affair was odd, & was amusing as well as touching*] OFFICE OF AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 5 PARK STREET BOSTON, NO 2 1887 He was quite overcome. He dined at our table next day, & looked as conscious & shy when he bowed to me as if he had had to speak to me about robbing a hen-roast. He said nothing then; but when our party was visiting the Art Gallery, & he had bought as a catalogue & done everything for us as usual, he called me aside & took my hand & said (without looking at me) in rather a broken & incoherent manner, that he had had such "a revelation of beauty" - that he couldn't speak about it, but he assured me he appreciated it - that his heart was very full - And he looked as if he were ready to shed tears, shook my hand & bolted, leaving me rather upset to see the dear old gentleman take the matter [to] so much to heart. But that is the way with him; he has got all the children [of] removed from the poor-house throughout the State; has a special farm & farm-house of his own where he has sick children from the hospital brought to recuperate; in [*I devoured several novels on the trip - Walter Present's "Children of Gibeon," Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Black Arrow," Rider Haggard's "Mr. Meeson's Will," & three stories of Mrs. Charles's, "Winifred Bertram," "The Draytons & Davenauts," & "Our Both Sides of the Sea."*]short, is always doing everything for everybody, & making nothing of it; & then when anybody does the smallest thing for him, he is quite overcome with gratitude. Well, on the last day of the Conference he came to our room with Mrs. Barrows, & told me he wanted me to do him a great favor - something that I could do for him, & nobody else could. After this introduction, given with solemnity & some agitation, it came out that the Conference at its session that evening was to pass resolutions of thanks to the Buffalonians for their hospitality; that he was to second the resolutions; & he wanted some verses to wind up his speech with, & wanted me to compose something appropriate, expressing thanks & wishing the city prosperity. I agreed, on condition that my name was not to be mentioned. So I ground out some machine verses; & pretty poor stuff they were; if I know-anything about it. However, he was delighted; & he thought it wonderful that they should have been composed in two hours; for he didn't come to me till about half past five, so [*Of course Mrs. Brackett & Mrs. Barrows pitched into me about it; but it was a great resource against boredom. Goodbye [Mavourum?]. Affy, Alice Stone Blackwell. Dorchester, Mass. July 19, 1888 My dear Kitty: Last Monday morning, when the postman took away my letter of July 22, he brought yours of July 14, in which you instruct me not to direct to Haslemere any longer. So I suppose [it] mine will have to be forwarded, but it will probably reach you all right. It is provoking when a letter from England arrives just too late to be acknowledged in the weekly bulletin; but it is quite apt to happen so. We are all glad Léon did so well. That is one advantage marriage brings a woman, even when the marriage turns out unhappily; it is very apt to leave her with a human creature to concentrate her affections on, instead of a dog. A dog may be better than nothing, but I warn you that I mean to adopt two orphan babies, and that if we ultimately keep house together, you will have to be prepared for the infliction. I would no more adopt a [*But I do want to dip into "The Betrothed" a little first, if I can keep my eyes open. No news, Affectionately, Alice Stone Blackwell. Uncle G. really hopes Aunt B. will not withdraw her money. I was afraid when her letter first came*]dog, after the frightful examples I have seen in the case of three of my aunts, of an hereditary tendency toward excess in dogs, than I should dare to drink if I knew there was dipsomania in the family! Preserve me from ever being "the slave of a brown dog!" And if a woman of Aunt B.'s force of character, and a human encyclopedia (bound in lamb-skin) like K.B., can [less me so] be reduced to so abject a point, what might become of me! This, a propos of hearing that you have sent Howard a photo of Don as a birthday remembrance. Last night as we sat at supper, the door bell rang. We thought it was most likely somebody with a bill, and Papa began to grumble about their always coming at the wrong time. Then a well-known voice said "Good evening!" and there stood Uncle George, cheerfully grinning. Of course there was immediate welcome & outcry, & our mourning was changed into [*that it might inconvenience to do it - though of course he would not like to say so, if he had any idea that she would prefer*] rejoicing. He was on his way to N.Y., & as he had some things to attend to in Boston, he had decided to stay over Sunday with us. We had quite a festive evening - Uncle G. declaring that he liked the inland air better than that of the Vineyard, & that the sea air did not rise above ten feet, & that at Cliff House one god "no sea air, only bilge-water"!! Which atrocities Papa received with exclamations of "Oh, wretched boy! Oh, blasphemious hypocrite!" & He and Papa discussed the Gladstone Ingersoll controversy, & agreed with great unanimity that Ingersoll had the best of it. Papa read aloud a very amusing article from Lettell on the insects of India, & there was a great deal of fun made, & a lively evening. He reports all as usual at Gardner. This morning he & Papa strolled off & inspected Papa's new house, [*some other investment. Of course her intention was a purely kind one - to receive him from the payment of an interest higher than he*]& considered the surrounding lots, & the neighborhood generally, from a real estate point of view. Lilian Whiting of the Traveller come to lunch, & after she departed we all took a long & very beautiful ride, only I was too sleepy to enjoy it thoroughly, & am keeping my eyes open now with considerable effort, & the aid of a quid of dried beef. Uncle G. & Emma are much exercised to know what I am going to do while in the wilderness. I retorted by asking Uncle G. how he managed to occupy his time at Gardner. He says he takes all his correspondence & businesses cares with him; & that he gets up as late as he can in the morning, & helps Howard develop photos, & manages somehow to "fritter away the time," He seems in good spirits, & is much more [*might perhaps have to pay elsewhere: - but I hope she will not press it.*] humanized than he used to be. Papa lately set out to read Chambers's encyclopedia through. He insists that it is highly interesting & fascinating, & he regales us at meals with various recondite bits of information about Abdel Kader, & other personages & things beginning with A. When Uncle G. learned of Papa's having undertaken the encyclopedia, he remarked that that had been Howard's favorite pasture ground for some years. Howard is evidently Papa's own nephew. No letter from Cliff House yet; another card from Aunt Ellen, saying she had left one pair of eye-glasses at home, & broken another, & asking us to send on a pair, which was done. Mr. & Mrs. Dykemanare at Floy's, & one or more of the girls are supposed to have gone over there too. Floy will have her hands full. I was tickled by your enjoyment of Mr. Jackson's appreciation of Aunt B. It is just the way I feel when somebody praises Mamma. My next letter will probably be postmarked Canada. Mrs. Barrows & one lady have already gone up there. Mr. Barrows will follow, with the rest of the party - four young women & some ten chidlren. I dread those children a little; but they are not likely to trouble me much. If you were to be there, the whole ten would cluster round you like bees around honey. I must stop & go to bed; I am dropping asleep. Dorchester, Mass. Sept. 9, 1888 My dear Kitty: Your note & Aunt B's, written on the West Hill, came early in the past week. They were very graphic, I could almost see you both, sitting on my old water-proof, with the two dogs seated behind you & the South-West wind wrestling with Aunt B's umbrella. But what an odd place to select for letter-writing! It was good of you to receive so cordially my request to be good to Eo Just wait till Jessie Newcomb or Mr. Estcourt or some other friend of yours comes over here, & see if I don't lay myself out to show them attention! I knew her stay was to be very short and very busy, & so had the less scruple [*brary the other day, on my way to take lunch with Drs. Smith & Culbertson, in company with Aunt Ey. The book was out. On arriving at Dr. Smith's there was the Public Library copy of it lying on her bureau! Dr. Culbertson had been to the library*]about asking you to do what you could for her while there, as she could not in the nature of [things] the case take up a great deal of your time. But the cordiality of your response made me feel warm around my heart. A letter received from her this morning said she hoped to see Aunt B. within a few days. She is much worried about her husband's health. I hope he is better. She expected to be on her way home by this time. Your letter of Aug. 21, which was meant to reach me in camp, was forwarded, & arrived some days after the note of Aug. 25. The idea of having Don was inexpressibly shocking to my feelings. He would not be comfortable there at all, with no velvet chair to [*a few minutes before me, & drawn out that identical book! Wasn't that a queer coincidence? We are all as usual.*] sit on & no two women to wait on him - pampered animal! A fishbone might have choked him; that would have been the only pleasing possibility about having him there. You will be pleased to know that Mrs. Barrows did set me to work, & that novel reading was much neglected. Or rather I was perpetually besieging her to set me at work, till she must have felt like that unlucky fellow who raised a spirit & then had to keep it employed. I believe he finally got rid of it by setting it to spin ropes of sand; but she couldn't do that with me. She said she had never come across anybody with such an insatiable appetite for work. Well, the bane of vacation always is not [*No special news. Affectionately yours Alice Stone Blackwell.*]having enough to do. One advantage of the Vineyard is that you can spend a good deal of time agreeably trotting back & forth to & from Florence's across the downs. But at camp you could always collect wood for the campfire, & there were pails of water to be brought, & when there was nothing else, one could bring wash basins & kettles full of pebbles from the shore, & macadamize the paths & other places that were apt to get muddy with continued rain. For it was a very wet summer in Canada; the oldest inhabitant could hardly remember anything life it. So England has not had a monopoly of it. The summer seems to have been queer all around; it has been unusually cold in the U.S. A letter from Florence has come, dated Sept. 4. I wish our folks would not use such thick paper; it makes it necessary to copy, instead of just enclosing the letter. Florence says: "I intended to have written to you while in Canada, but somehow a family of eight, nine, & occasionally ten, was not conducive to letter-writing. Now the season is over, & Edith & I have settled down to the usual existence. Edith will stay two weeks longer. xx Aunt Ellen went home lamenting that she had been foolish enough to leave so early as did Aunt Eliza. xx Agnes did some cute sketches of Menimsha Creek & Elliot's creek store on stilts, & Miss Smith's artistic boarder painted mysterious landscapes that no one saw but Everett Poole. I suppose you know that three of Ethel's 'Tech' teachers turned up unexpectedly at Lobsterville, 'the Seraph' for one. Two of them hired a shanty & a couple of boats for the summer. They dotheir own cooking, have not a knife & fork that match, sleep on hay, & take turns at dish-washing, making flap-jacks &c. I saw Burns one day, & he struck me as mainly bare legs, bare white legs, but not beautiful ones. "(I think Burns is the gentleman whom the Technology girls call "The Seraph." Flo goes on:) "They seem to be having a glorious [aqu] half aquatic kind of time. Prof. Pope & family put up at the Gay Head hotel, & do the respectable for the Institute. Ethel is firmly convinced that she has found an Indian Treasure. She left it on the Gay Head beach, as it was so [heavy] heavy, & wrote a frantic letter begging us to get it for her; so last Sunday we all went up, & Elliot toiled up the cliff with it in a shawl. It is a large three cornered stone. The tons of specimens that Ethel lugged here! The yard is full, the house is full, & she took home all she could carry. Poor Hannah Mayhew is dead, & Capt. Hilliard is very ill. xx The Webquish family departed some weeks ago, bag & baggage, & since then our milk has improved wonderfully, & we have cream that is really cream. It was such a relief to be rid of them; yet I pity Mrs. W. very much. Mr. W's stomach is in an awful state from liquor, & he will not live long, I suppose. She has gone back to her relatives, but they are poor, & she had an awful young life. Her father was a drunkard, & she had a child by him when only fourteen, & against her will. He had to leave the country in haste, & afterwards she seems to have led an irregular life. Mabel belongs to a white man, & Webquish has another wife somewhere. We are now man-less except for an occasional Gay Header. We expect to have a Portuguese in time; there are several in view. Meanwhile Elliot isworking himself to death again, & the crops [of] going behind hand. Winks was such a nuisance she departed this life suddenly, & now only her small black son (who I greatly fear is a daughter) remains. He was solemnly baptized Peter Burns, in honor of Ethel's friend. Aunt Ellen wanted Miss Jemima to board Rover this winter, but she did not see it. Wasn't it extraordinary that he would not poison? I think his fat must have saved him. It was the most ridiculous thing all the way round, but poison really seems to agree with him. Edith has taken to kerosening her hair ; it is highly recommended, & improved Uncle William's hair wonderfully. The kerosene does not smell as bad as one would suppose." Flo sends love to Cornelia, & expresses the private opinion that she "has a good deal more to her than Nannie, only it is not brought out." It seems that Cornelia cannot be received at [the] any training school for nurses, because of her youth. So Aunt Emily is a good deal exercised in her mind as to what to do with her. Aunt Ellen says if Aunt Eliza & Cornelia would board with her at Rockaway, they could afford to keep a girl. It would cut the financial knot for Aunt Ellen, who, unless she rents her Rockaway house, will have only $25 a month to live on this winter. But Cornelia would have no adequate occupation, & greatly dreads going there, away from young companions ; & moreover neither Aunt Ellen nor Aunt Eliza is able to exercise the last authorityover her. So Aunt Emily rather inclines to send her back to Mrs. Fahrenbach to be drilled in domestic accomplishments, & to learn history & English literature without bothering her head with Latin & Geometry, which [is] it seems impossible for her to master. C. likes it there, & she minds Mrs. F., who is decided though kind. But Aunt Ellen thinks it very hard that Aunt Emily should pay Mrs. F. for letting Cornelia do her housework, when both work & money would be so welcome to her (Aunt Em). And Aunt Ey has not yet made up her mind. Mr. Spofford has gone back to Washington. Mrs. S. & Florence leave to-morrow. Mrs. S. has consulted Dr. Bowditch as to her cough. He says the lungs are not affected. [*I tried to get the story of an African farm from the public*] Mt. Washington, Mass. Sept. 30, 1888. My dear Kitty : Don't fancy from the date of this letter, that I am on the highest point of the White Mountains. Observe that it is Mt. Washington, Mass., not N.H. It is just a scattered village--much more scatter than village--and not a mountain at all. But there are mountains all around it, and we climbed two yesterday, & are preparing to climb another this afternoon. It was beautiful at Lake Mohouk, but as it will be my painful duty to write that up for the Woman's Journal, I won't bother to do it twice. Gen. & Mrs. Marshall were very nice ; Mrs. Barrows knows lots of pleasant people. Your letter of Sept. 14 was forwarded to me from home, & reached me at Mohouk. We took two drives [*blue mountains a long way off, all around the horizon. I felt like Tennyson's "Eagle"--"Close to the sun in lovely lands, Ringed with the azure world he stands." That may not be exact but you know your Tennyson so well that you can correct it if necessary. We have joined an Appalachian party*]of fourteen or fifteen miles each, on successive afternoons, and saw the most magnificent views ; and it added much to the enjoyment to have Mrs. Barrows sitting by me & coming out at intervals with seraps of personal or family biography. I noticed that my ears always pricked themselves up with increased attention when she talked about her husband, which she is rather fond of doing. For I do like him so much. Ditto when her sister talks. Mrs. B. isn't jealous. She says she should be much more inclined to be vexed if people didn't like her husband than because they do. Which I think is sensible. But I guess she isn't much troubled [tp] in that way--by people not liking her husband, I mean. He seems to be liked by everybody--even the girls in our office, where he has occasionally come in. Papa says very emphatically, " I like Mr. Barrows ; [Mrs] Mr. Barrows [*at present. Mrs. Hollingsworth & Rose are along. Mr. Barrows sent to you by Mrs. B. a number of the Forum containing an article designed to counteract pessimistic*] is a gentleman!" Papa does not take to Mrs. B. He calls her "a cross edition of Aunt Elizabeth." Ditto the girls in our office stand rather in awe of her, & so do many people. It is queer how she reminds various people of Aunt B. There is an odd likeness in some respects, and a great likeness in others. But she is a capital chaperone. She acted as courier once to a party of eleven of her friends travelling through Europe, and thoroughly enjoyed it. She is rather apt to make the inquiries, and see after the luggage, and get the tickets, for the whole party, even when there are gentlemen in it ; the matter seems to fall to her by natural selection. And she is in such demand as a reporter, & goes to so many meetings of all kinds, where nice people and great guns do congregate, that she knows everybody, and has hosts of friends--being a sympathetic [*views of nature--being a reply to some recent utterances of Prof. Huxley & Miss Cobb, which I haven't seen. It didn't have the desired effect, but stirred up all the perverse Blackwell tendency to take the opposite side of anything*] person with vivid likes and dislikes. And wherever we go I can see that she is a personage, & a good deal surrounded-- a spunky, independent little lady, who holds her head very erect, and gives her opinion with much decision. She is interesting ; when people are interesting, they are better fun than novels. I doubt if anyone would like her whom she did not like ; but when she does like you she is very kind to you. And then, she is Mr. Barrows wife, which alone would make her interesting. You ought to see the splendid masses of asters along the roads we have come over in picnic waggons during the last few days--asters of all shades. And thickets of ferns, graceful as ever, only turned to pale yellow instead of green. Yesterday we climbed the highest mountain in Connecticut, & there was such a view! But I think the view from one of the lower summits was even finer-- [*In fact, it poisoned my sail up the Hudson. But the affect has worn off. I must go to bed ; a long tramp is planned for to-morrow. Affy, Alice Stone Blackwell.*]