BLACKWELL FAMILY
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL                    KITTY BARRY            1896
Office of 
The Woman's Journal 
No. 3 Park Street. 
(dictated)
Boston, Feb. 26, 1896
My dear Kitty:
It is a long time since I have 
written you a letter, and I ought to have my ears 
boxed; but there has not been much family news, 
and I have been very, very busy. Last week, however 
I made a short visit to New York and saw the 
kith and kin; so now there is something to write. 
I arrived by the Fall River boat, and went 
straight to Aunt Emily's. I found her taking her 
breakfast in bed. She goes down to all the other meals 
but not for breakfast, partly because the house is 
not quite warm then, and partly because she likes her 
breakfast a little earlier than the others She was 
looking well, plump, and fairy rosy. She said that 
she was feeling well also. Her cough had left her. It2
had only just left her, but its absence was a great relief. 
I did not realize what a distressing time she has had. 
She says that for a month every night was like descending 
into hell, and that her cough would seize her 
and shake her as a terrier does a rat. She now feels 
all right, but does not venture out, because she is strongly 
advised to stay in the house until the mild weather 
comes. Her voice is a little hoarse, but otherwise she 
seems quite well. 
Nannie is learning to do the marketing. She came 
to Aunt Emily before starting out, and I heard Aunt 
Emily tell her to "look as learned as possible," and make 
the man let her see him weigh the meat. Aunt 
Emily also gave her some instructions as to the appearance 
and quantity of the meat. Nannie has also joined a 
debating club, and they were going to debate the Monroe 
doctrine in Aunt Emily's parlor that afternoon. Nannie 
was not to take part, but she was studying up the 
question in order to listen intelligently. Aunt Emily 
was much tickled at the idea of Nannie's doing it. 
She said it would be like a kitten discussing the Monroe 
doctrine, since Nannie's interests have been almost 

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Office of
The Woman's Journal 
No. 3 Park Street
Boston, ___________ 189
entirely musical and athletic, and she she has known nothing 
about politics. Still, we all think it will be good for 
her. She looks perfectly well. The operation has left no 
trace, and she can never have appendicitis again, which is a comfort. 
I spent the morning with Aunt Emily, and after 
lunch went out to Brooklyn to address the Brooklyn 
Woman Suffrage Association. Afterwards I took dinner with Mrs. 
Mariana Chapman at her beautiful home, and finding 
that she and her husband were going in to one 
of Aaron Powell's conferences in the evening, I decided 
to go with them, expecting to find Uncle Sam 
or Aunt Nettie there, or at any rate to be able to get 
exact directions for finding their house. It was a 
stormy evening, an Mrs. Powell said Uncle Sam had 
been at their committee meeting in the afternoon but 
had said he should not be back in the evening.4
Accordingly I obtained directions for finding their new house 
and took a car which would carry me to the corner of 
64th Street. I counted the numbers, and reaching a 
house which I thought should be the one, I mounted a 
flight of curving stone steps and looked in through 
the glass of the door. Seeing a large picture of flowers 
as it seemed (it proved afterwards to be cotton-balls), 
I thought "probably some of the girls painted that"; 
and was confirmed in my belief it was the right 
house. I rang the bell. Presently Edie appeared coming to 
open the door; then I knew I had reached shelter. 
They were all surprised to see me, [and] but welcomed me 
most hospitably. The spare room was ready, as I 
had learned from Nannie. The house was still a good 
deal upside down, but it is a pleasant house, and they 
all think it is going to prove very satisfactory. I 
greatly doubted the wisdom of their moving into New 
York, but after seeing the house and seeing their 
satisfaction in it, I am entirely reconciled. It is 
eighteen feet wide, with two large rooms, on back and 
one front, and a hall between on each floor, with slight 

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Office of 
The Woman's Journal, 
No. 3 Park Street. 
Boston, ________________ 189
modifications. In the basement are the kitchen and 
dining-room, both good-sized rooms. Aunt Nettie 
also took me down cellar. They have a good-sized one, 
and the same Thomas that they used to have at 
Hillside was there sawing wood or otherwise helping. 
Aunt Nettie says that while she was away last summer 
Gracie put up all the fruit she could lay hands 
on, and they had to pack a barrel and two boxes 
with it, may be more, when they moved into town. 
There it was. I hastily counted about seventy-five 
large jars, and there were two boxes of jelly beside. 
On the floor above the basement the large front 
room is a parlor, and the large back room Edie's office; 
a square hall between the two is to be used as a 
waiting room for Edie's patients. As the parlor doors 
are only poitieres, it is suggested that while the 
patients are waiting they will be able to overhear all the6
conversation that goes on in the parlor; but if anything 
confidential is to be said, I suppose the visitors 
can be taken up stairs. On the next floor the big front 
room is a reception-room, and the big back room 
the spare chamber where they put me to sleep. There 
are nice closets and dressing-rooms attached, and a 
bath-room on the same floor. The next floor is devoted 
especially to Uncle Sam and Aunt Nettie, and 
Aunt Nettie chuckles in her sleeve to think that the 
girls may have patients below, and artistic visitors 
alone, but that floor will be sacred to herself and
Uncle Sam. The big back room is their bedroom 
an the big front room their study. The big front room 
on the top floor belongs to Grace. One of the two 
little rooms behind is for the girl, the other for 
Agnes, and the square hall between with a skylight 
is to be Agnes's studio. There is no place left 
for Ethel, but when she comes home I [believe] suppose they will 
have to devote one of the three reception rooms to her. 
Edie sleeps in her office, and the bed becomes a divan 
in the daytime. She looks as sweet as ever. I do like 

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Office of
The Woman's Journal, 
No. 3 Park Street, 
Boston, _______________ 189
Edie. 
Aunt Nettie and Uncle Sam were looking as well as 
usual, though of course they were tired with moving. 
Aunt Nettie said it was the first day she had had a 
chance to sit down and read anything for weeks. I felt it an 
imposition to go and stay with them while they were 
all so tired, but it is infinitely more comfortable to a shy Blackwell to 
harbor with one's own clan than to dwell in the tents 
of the most gorgeous Midianitee, like the Brooklyn friends 
who had invited me to stay with them. 
There is a nice back yard, and Aunt Nettie expects to 
garden in it. Central Park begins right at the corner 
of the street, and Uncle Sam already enjoys walking 
there with the girls. The air in that part of the city, 
blowing up from the river over Central Park, is supposed 
to be particularly pure, and Uncle Sam is able to start 
for his business in the morning an hour later than he8
used to when they were at El. Mora. The house is a very nice 
one to get at, being easily accessible from everywhere 
by lines of cars. I think it is a very pleasant house 
and will be still more so when it is fully set in order. 
They have not had to buy any new furniture 
except a sofa and portieres for the parlor and the furniture 
for Edie's office. Each of the girls is allowed to 
have whatever she wants of the old furniture for her room, 
but anything that she wants for it in addition, she 
must buy herself. Gracie is already teaching drawing 
to some children who live across the way; in 
fact, she was teaching them before Uncle Sam bought 
this house. Agnes is taking lessons in oil painting, 
intending to devote herself to portraits. She has 
painted a large portrait of Aunt Nettie which I 
think is a good likeness. It is generally approved of 
though Aunt Nettie herself considers it idealized. It is 
infinitely better than the horrid monstrosity which 
Roland Perry has painted of Aunt Emily. It is 
utterly hideous, with just a hint of resemblance 
which is enough to make it worse. It looks a little 

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Office of 
The Woman's Journal, 
No.  Park Street. 
Boston, _________________189
like Edie in a frightfully cross state of mind, although 
Edie is very pretty and it is shockingly ugly. 
Agnes has not yet moved in from her flat, but says she expects 
to do so soon. Uncle Sam says he shall not provide 
her with a latch-key until she does She arrived before 
I left. She had come over to put up curtains 
and help about house-cleaning, and so was not arrayed 
for calling, but I wanted her to go with me to 
see a handsome young Armenian lady who has lately 
married an Armenian merchant in New York and 
feels rather lonesome for her family in Constantinople. 
Lo Agnes good-naturedly slipped off her waist and into a 
silk one, and came away with me, looking as fresh 
as a rose. I was quite tickled at having two such pretty 
cousins to introduce to Mrs. Gulbenkian, who could 
with difficulty be persuaded that they were my cousinsand not my nieces. 
Aunt Nettie says she is quite sure that from a 
financial point of view the moving is a good step. If 
they rent their El Mora house they will have only a 
hundred dollars a year more to pay than they had 
before, except that living in New York will undoubtedly 
be more expensive. But on the other hand this house 
is one that they could always sell or rent. If anything 
happened to Uncle Sam or Aunt Nettie, the 
girls could also rent rooms to art students who 
swarm in the neighborhood, and the girls would 
find it a much more manageable place to handle 
than the other house out in the country. So says 
Aunt Nettie. 
Aunt Emily says that Aunt Ellen seems to 
grow only more cheerful as she grows older and
deafer; that she enjoys life fully as much as anybody 
who is better off in externals, and that that 
cheerful disposition seems to have been bestowed 
upon her as a compensation for [the] many other drawbacks. 
She never has the smallest question in her mind as 
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Office of 
The Woman's Journal, 
No. 3 Park Street. 
Boston, ____________________189
to whether life is worth living, but is full of interest 
in things and enjoys herself thoroughly. Aunt 
Emily thinks she has been very fortunate to 
get a little place satisfactory to herself so near
New York for a thousand dollars. Her actual expenditure 
is not likely to exceed that. She comes up 
about once in ten days to see about Aunt Emily and change 
her library book, take lunch with them and returns. 
Her good Maggie, to whom she has given a home 
in the cottage for so many years, is very grateful 
and affectionate, and does many little things for her. 
Her dinner is partly cooked on their kitchen fire, 
or perhaps I should rather say they cook things for 
her when she wants them. I am told that she is 
afflicted about Uncle Sam's new house, says it is 
only an attachment to a doctor's office; but I don't 12
think the doctor's office will disturb the family. Grace 
went out to do the marketing while I was there, and 
she and Aunt Nettie were preparing to get a new 
girl. Aunt Nettie was about to start for the intelligence 
office. The girl they had, had been a great trial 
to Gracie, and I think she must be rather stupid, 
for in the morning I went down to the basement 
looking for the dining-room and got into the kitchen 
instead. I asked [her] the girl where the breakfast room was, 
but could get nothing out of her except assurances 
that she would bring the breakfast in immediately. 
My protestations that I did not wish to hurry her 
and my repeated inquiries where the dining-room was, 
seemed to make no impression upon her. A little later 
Grace came down, and finding the breakfast on 
the table before the family were ready, asked the 
girl the reason. She said that "Miss Edith "had come 
down and told her to put it on. I felt quite flattered 
at being taken for Edith, even in a darkened kitchen by a very 
flurried girl; but I guess she did not even look at 
me, only at her pots and pans. 

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Office of 
The Woman's Journal, 
No. 3 Park Street. 
Boston, ____________________189
Grace was looking pretty well, as were the rest of the 
family. 
Papa and I are about as usual, busier than usual 
this week because of hearings coming off before the 
Legislature. You may imagine how busy I am from the 
fact that I have not had an Armenian to dinner 
for more than a month. As that is my chief relaxation 
and entertainment, I have to be pretty hard driven 
when I do without it. 
We are glad to hear such good accounts of Aunt 
Marian's handmaiden. Isn't it lucky that she has 
so nice a girl!
I attended a big single-tax dinner last Saturday, 
at William Garrison's invitation. It was a most enthusiastic 
gathering. The single-taxers are the most ardent 
people I know.14
I hope you are all flourishing, and that you don't think 
I care any less for you than I used to because I so 
seldom find time to write. 
Uncle George and Emma were in just now. I told 
them I was dictating a letter to Kitty, and asked them 
if they had any message to send. Emma asked me to 
tell you that she has brought Uncle George in to have 
his photograph taken. That it had been taken with 
great care, about twelve different times, in the hope of 
getting a thoroughly pleasant expression, and that 
she hoped some one at least of the negatives would 
be successful. Papa intimated that he thought by 
the time Uncle George was having his twelfth sitting 
he must have been ready to look very cross. Uncle 
George says they are having a number of very nice lectures 
at Cambridge, and he and Emma tried to
[induce] entice us to attend some of them. But we could not 
go. Papa has promised to go there to dinner on Sunday, 
however, which [may] will ease [his] my conscience, as I am 
going to Worcester to speak at an Armenian meeting 

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Office of 
The Woman's Journal, 
No. 3 Park Street. 
Boston, ____________________189
and I don't like to leave him all alone. 
Emma is teaching a mission class of five or 
six little girls to sew. She and Uncle George were 
both looking well and seemed happy. 
Yours affectionately, 
Alice Stone Blackwell. 
P.S. Florence expects to go to New York in April 
to see her family, and has written them that she 
expects to be quite dazzled by the style of the house, 
a remark with which Agnes was highly tickled.Office of
The Woman's Journal, 
No.  Park Street.
Boston, April 5 1896
My dear Kitty: 
This is Easter Sunday, and 
a beautiful sunny day. We 
expect Ada Watson, but have 
not arranged for any special 
festivities. Yesterday evening 
we dined at Cambridge. We 
have got into the way of going 
out there about four or five 
o'clock Saturday afternoon, & 
leaving at 8:30, which gets 
us home about ten. Uncle 
George had just had a letter 
from Aunt Emily, in which 
she said she now considered 
herself well, only whenever she puts her nose outside the door it
makes her cough. The spring winds
are pretty bleak, & it is no doubt wiser
for her to stay in. Emma & Uncle
G. held forth last night upon the
uselessness & dangers of vaccination, 
& Emma read aloud to us from
the encyclopedia upon the subject.
Papa stood up for vaccination; &
Howard seemed inclined to side
with him. Howard's friend Ned
Bishop has been visiting him, 
but has now gone home. Papa 
met the two the other day in
the elevator at the State House, 
when he was there on women
suffrage business. Howard was
showing Ned the building.
               It is too bad about the
scarlet fever in Aunt Ellen's 
Orange house. I am afraid
it will prevent her letting it. 
        Florence is going to N. Y. 
pretty soon, & wants to time


Office of 
The Woman's Journal
No. 3 Park Street
Boston.......................189
her visit so as to be there when
I go down to see Beth off on
the steamer. I am rather sorry
she (Beth) is going just in spring, for
she knows more about what 
ought to be done in the garden
than any of the rest of us - 
Mr. Kilian said she was "always 
at his heels" when he was 
working about the garden - & 
she could have shown Barsam, 
who is very industrious & 
willing, but does not know
much about a garden. He has
succeeded in raising celery as 
well as Mr. Kilian himself, though.
I wish Aunt Mariam lived 
next door, to assist us withher advice & her taste. Under her 
directions, Barsam would make 
our weedy wilderness blossom 
like the rose. It was very 
interesting about Johannesburg, & I 
was tempted to make extracts [for] 
(anonymously, of course) for some 
of the papers. But I did not get 
around to it. My own interest in 
the Transvaal & in Cuba is very 
faint compared with my interest 
in Armenia; but the general 
public seems more worked up 
about the two former. The 
bill to license houses of ill 
fame was defeated almost unanimously 
in our Legislature, 
as you will have seen by the 
Journal. I went to the gallery & 
took notes of the debate. It was 
a short one. Mr. Keenan seemed 
to feel that he was speaking under 
a weight of disapprobation. I dare 
say he may be a well meaning man. 
I am putting in my mornings 
[*in work on Mamma's biography. Then between 12 & 1 I go to the city, take 
lunch at the Register Office, read the day's mail, look after the Journal &c. 
There are a pile of anti-suffrage articles sent to m from various quarters to 
be answered, some of which have been waiting for weeks & even months. I am 
prodigiously busy & seldom have any company now. Affy,]
[*Alice Stone Blackwell*]


Office of
The Woman's Journal, 
No.  Park Street.
Boston, May 1 1896
My dear Kitty: 
Yesterday I was much 
pleased to receive a plump 
letter from you. I can't 
answer it at length just 
now, being unable for various 
reasons to get at 
my secretary: but I enclose 
a lively letter from 
Floy. You will want to 
hear about Ethel. The 
memorandum at the top 
was for Papa, who took the 
letter over to Cambridgeto show Uncle G. & Emma. 
I am sending the programme 
of the Chickatawbut Club, 
for the sake of Papa's picture. 
They made him have it 
taken. When your 
last letter came, I inquired 
of Papa about that portrait 
of Grandma on china. He 
says it is over at Cambridge. 
It was brought to Uncle G's 
& has remained there. The 
next time I go over I 
mean to bring it home. 
Many thanks. I don't 
remember how it came 
to be taken to Cambridge 
instead of Pope's Hill. 
Probably because Aunt Nettie 
stayed there. The family like 
better to stay there than here 
when visiting Boston, partly 
because Uncle G's house is 
[*so very conveniently situated as regards the cars, & getting 
everywhere. Uncle Sam says men of the most diverse 
character & occupations read Aunt B's autobiography with 
great interest & speak of it with pleasure. He is enthusiastic 
about the book. Affy, Alice Stone Blackwell.*]
 
Office of
The Woman's Journal, 
No.  Park Street.
Boston, [A] May 6 1896
My dear Kitty: 
I write for the sake 
of sending the latest news 
about Ethel, thinking 
you may be anxious. 
Day before yesterday 
Papa & I went to Gardner, 
where Uncle Frank & 
Aunt Harriet were visiting 
Uncle Henry & Aunt 
Sarah. We spent one
night there & yesterday 
afternoon returned,bringing Uncle Frank & 
Aunt Harriet with us. He 
is 89 but still spry & 
cheery. At Gardner he
reminisced, & Papa took the 
reminiscences down in a 
note-book. Yesterday morning 
Papa & I climbed Doctor's 
Hill, which now belongs 
to Uncle George, & ate 
checkerberries, & enjoyed 
the beautiful view, the 
soft wind, the buddng 
leaves of the trees, & the 
warm sun on our backs. 
I am very fond of Gardner, 
& always enjoy a sight 
of old Monadnock. Mrs. 
Lawrence seems very well, 
& Uncle Harry grows 
handsomer as he grows 
grayer. Uncle Frank says 
[*Maria Barlow's mother was a very conservative woman, & 
Maria [takes] is supposed to take after her. I have not 
time for a letter; this is just a scratch. Yours affec[to]tionately, Alice Stone Blackwell.*]

Office of
The Woman's Journal, 
No.  Park Street.
Boston, May 8 1896 
My dear Kitty: 
I have delayed this letter 
hoping to enclose in it one
from Clara Barlow, which 
has got mislaid. This morning
came yours announcing 
Paul's engagement, which 
quite took my breath away. 
Emma has it now - the 
letter, not the breath. 
It seems likely 
to be a more satisfactory
connection than the J. N. 
one would have been. It 
somewhat lowers my opinion of 
the discretion of both of 
[* nice people, I think you have fair grounds for hoping 
that it will turn out well. When I read your letter aloud 
to Papa, & came to your remark that "a young man does 
not want to marry a problem," Papa said, "He will, though, 
if he marries 
a woman; & 
so will 
she if she 
married 
a 
man." 
At 
present 
Paul is 
of course 
at the 
height of 
bliss, & 
I don't 
wonder you*]them that they should have 
become engaged with 48 
hours of their first meeting 
each other; but some of 
those sudden attachments 
do turn out very happily, 
and we will hope this will 
be one. Also, I remember 
Mrs. Barrows says she 
met her present husband 
for the first time at the
breakfast table at Dansville 
& that if he had proposed 
to her immediately after 
breakfast, she would have 
accepted him.   Besides, 
it is not as if Paul & Ethel 
had not known about each 
other, though the acquaintance 
between the families. A 
young lady brought up in 
Galway ought to be simple 
& unspoiled, & as she comes of 

[* are happy through sympathy. A young man with an 
honorable past deserves a good wife, & I heartily hope 
Ethel Persse may make him one. Is her name pronounced 
Peirce or Percy? Not much matter, as she will soon change it! ]
[*Yours affectionately, Alice Stone Blackwell.*]


Dorchester, Mass. [J] Aug. 16, 1896. 
Dear Kitty: Your card & Aunt B's 
letter are received; also the envelope 
of clippings, for which 
many thanks. But the letter 
which you said you had forwarded 
back to me at the same time 
has not come. I am afraid it 
required postage. 
Beth got home Saturday 
night safe & sound, not so fat
as I could have wished to see 
her, & looking rather hollow 
under the eyes; but well sunburned 
by the voyage, & very 
glad to get home. Uncle Sam 
& Aunt Nettie arrived the same 
evening. They have been to Portland, 
& spent a week at the Vineyard. 
Tomorrow they go back 
to Portland, & after a day or two 
there, take the boat for N. Y. 
They report Florence as 
improved in health on the whole 

[*to help her. I had no Armenian callers last Sunday, & 
felt the day a somewhat doleful one in consequence. I'm a little bit of 
a monomaniac, & no mistake. Have had letters from *]She took advantage of Aunt Nettie's 
presence to get her help in persuading 
Elliot to have out some 
troublesome fragment & roots of 
teeth, preparatory to a new set. 
He has been dreading it a long 
time, but finally had it done. 
A line from Florence reports 
his face as a good deal swollen 
& painful. They fear he caught 
cold in it riding back up the 
island after leaving Uncle S. 
& Aunt N. at the Portland 
boat. But he says it is a 
great relief to have it over. 
They had a big thunder-storm, 
& the widow Vincent's house had 
been struck, but not much 
damaged. The school committee 
has hired a 15 year old boy 
to teach the school on No Man's 
Land, much to Floy's disgust. 
She says it was simply for 
the sake of giving him the 

[* two of them today, however, which is better than nothing. 
Affectionately yours, Alice Stone Blackwell *]


salary. The pupils are his brothers 
& sisters, & his uncle is on the 
school board. 
Edith is the only member 
of the 64th St. household now 
at home. She has to stay for 
some of her patients who are 
expecting babies. She seems to 
have taken no harm from the 
great heat, & writes that she & 
the girl can get on very well; 
but she warns the others not to 
come back into it. She has 
made 8605 words out of a 
sentence, in hopes to get a bicycle 
which is offered as a prize by 
some paper to the person making 
the largest number of words out 
of that sentence; so she cannot 
be completely wilted. Aunt Nettie 
says Edith is now the happiest 
most contented of the daughters 
at home, having found her 
niche. Her practice grows slowly 
but steadily, & she has begun to 
lay by money. She now hasmore money in the bank than Grace. 
Agnes is staying with friends at 
Newport, N. Y.; Grace at York, where 
Edith expects to go when she is 
able to get away. Aunt N. says 
Agnes is working hard at her 
painting, & is earning something. 
Aunt N. & Uncle Sam have 
told the girls that this year 
they must begin to pay for 
their summer outings out 
of their own pockets; & they 
are pleased & amused to see 
how much more economical 
it has made them in their 
summer plans. Ethel is at 
Kennebunkport. She began to 
go out & sit in the park a 
little too soon after her illness, 
& caught a little cold in her 
back, which has set given 
her some achiness in the 
lower part of it; but on the 
whole she " is thought to be 
progressing satisfactorily. Aunt 
N. says Grace is better than 
she has been for years. Uncle 

Sam & Aunt Nettie are looking very 
well, except that Uncle Sam let 
the lid of a desk fall on his 
forehead just before leaving 
home, & bears the mark of 
Cain on his brow in the 
shape of a good sized piece of 
black court-plaster. Aunt Netie
expresses her intention of 
living to be 90, & looks likely 
enough to do it. Ethel writes 
from Kennebunkport in high 
spirits. She & her friends had 
been fishing off the rocks, & 
had caught 24 fish, besides 
skates & sculpins, & had provided 
three families with a 
Sunday morning breakfast. 
Aunt N. says that when Ethel  
was out of her mind with 
typhoid fever, she thought 
she had made wonderful 
discoveries in astronomy,  
presented her professors withastronomical charts. When she came 
back to her right mind, she was 
quite disappointed to find it was 
an illusion. They say that undesirable 
entanglement with Mr. 
Bailey is entirely at an end, which 
is a blessing. Another young 
man, whom they like, is now 
the more favored. Papa has 
got Cornelia a good second-hand 
bicycle for $25.50, so I suppose 
she & Aunt Ellen are happy. 
Uncle George, Emma, 
Howard & Anna are reported 
to have fallen in love with 
the Vineyard all over again. 
They are reshingling the G. D. S., 
roof & walls, & are preparing 
to put in new window frames 
& windows, & are variously 
beautifying it. Aunt Nettie is 
much pleased, for Floy's sake, 
that they seem to enjoy it so 
much,  are likely to keep 
on coming down there. Emma 

& the children greatly enjoy the 
bathing. Uncle G. does not care 
for it. Florence has a quantity of 
pink yarrow in her yard, very 
pretty, & Emma has transplanted 
a root of it to the G. D. S. 
So Aug. 13 was the great 
day for Paul & Ethel! In due time 
I shall expect an account of the
wedding. Aug. 13 was Mamma's 
birthday. I celebrated it by writing 
nine letters about woman 
suffrage - or rather the same 
letter to nine different papers. 
I thought Mamma would 
have liked that way of keeping 
the day. I did not say anything 
about the day to Papa, thinking 
he probably did not remember 
it (he seldom did when Mamma 
was alive), & that it would only 
make him melancholy to remind 
him. The next day I spoke of it, 
& found that he had been thinking 
about it all day, & that he hadsupposed I had forgotten, & felt 
rather blue about that! This 
has been a lovely day - much 
cooler - & Papa took Uncle Sam 
& Aunt Nettie & me over to 
the crematory, to show them 
Mamma's urn. 
No special news. Papa is 
not strong. I notice it especially 
in the great difficulty he has in 
getting off his boots every 
evening. Sometimes it almost 
seems as if he could not do it. 
But his sore shin is much 
better. I think it must 
have been the daily salt 
bath on shipboard that 
irritated it & made it worse. 
His general health also seems 
to be fairly good. We now 
have apples, blackberries, 
peaches, & our own corn & 
beans & cucumbers, very 
nice & fresh. Lizzie was 
made half ill by the great 
heat. I am glad Beth is back 

Office of
The Woman's Journal, 
No. 3 Park Street.
Boston, Sept. 25 1896

My dear Kitty: 
I began a letter to you 
last Monday, but have 
somehow mislaid it, & if 
I don't write to-day it 
will be too late to wish 
you many happy 
returns of Oct  5, & 
increasing happiness with 
revolving years. 
Aunt Emily went 
home yesterday. She looks 
well but loses breath 
easily. She means to stay 
in N. Y. the first part 
of the winter, & then takesteamer from N. Y. for Italy via the 
Mediterranean, & go to 
Florence & Rome with 
Nannie. Uncle G. 
has moved into the 
house of the Greek professor 
at 5 Follen St. Cambridge. 
It is described as handsomer 
& more modern than 
the one they have had, 
but not quite so cheerful 
& homelike. They are 
all well. Howard is at 
Gardner; has lately 
returned from N. Y. 
& N. J., where he visited 
Uncle Sam's family 
& Ned Bishop. He hired 
a tandem bicycle & took 
Office of
The Woman's Journal, 
No.  Park Street.
Boston, _____________189 
Ethel on it, & Nannie 
accompanied them on 
her own & [E] Agnes on 
one she hires by the 
month, & they went 
about 15 miles up 
the Hudson, & were 
caught in a shower, 
& effected a burglarious 
entrance into a big 
deserted house & 
ate their lunch there. 
Howard seems to 
think they had a [* Chronicle. *]
perfectly beautiful time. 
Aunt Ellen & 
Aunt Eliza don't know 
just when they will 
come back from 
Dorset; it will 
depend on the weather. 
If it grows cold & keeps 
cold, it will drive 
them away. Papa seems 
about as usual; Papa's 
daughter ditto. Please 
thank Aunt B. for her 
letter & tell her I 
shall answer it soon. 
In haste, affectionately, 
Alice Stone Blackwell 
You are an angel to send me 
so many cuttings from the 
[*Chronicle.*]


Office of
The Woman's Journal, 
No.  Park Street.
Boston, Dec. 6 1896
Dear Kitty: No news this 
week. Papa has been speaking 
at a good many meetings, & 
on the whole enjoys it. Last 
night he spoke at a [meeting] dinner of 
the Massachusetts Club, a Republican 
club [here] in Boston. He says he 
made a very good speech, & I 
don't doubt it. Howard was 
present, by Papa's invitation, & 
enjoyed himself very much, 
& then they went over to Cambridge 
together, & had quite a 
family party there, as Phebe 
Stone Beeman is visiting 
Emma, with her husband 
[* He has just been vituperating me because I sent Aunt B's 
letter to him on to Floy, although not until he had heard 
it carefully read aloud from beginning to end. I suppose 
I ought not to 
have done it. 
Tell Aunt M. 
I will see that 
Floy 
gets 
one 
of 
those 
photos of 
the 
two aunts 
& their 
houses. 
How are 
Paul & Ethel?*]and one of her sons. They are 
coming to visit us this week. 
We entertained Mrs. Rachel
Foster Avery during the executive meeting 
of the Woman's National Council. 
She is a nice woman, & though 
I feel as if I never could 
forgive her[e] for making up the 
Programme of the World's Congress 
of Representative Women 
without Mamma - a most 
outrageous thing, though Mamma 
didn't worry about it - I should 
like her, but for that. And that 
was due to Susan Anthony's 
influence over her. She adores 
Miss Anthony. A queer thing 
is that she is greatly in love 
with a book called "The Power 
of Silence," setting forth a 
philosophy of life which she 
has embraced with enthusiasm; 
yet she talks in a perpetual stream! 


Office of
The Woman's Journal, 
No.  Park Street.
Boston, _____________189 
It is a book relating to "mental 
healing," or "Christian Science." 
She wants me to read it, & 
declares it has done her no 
end of good. Papa has a 
new overcoat, & looks 100% 
better for it. I want him to 
give the old one to an Armenian, 
but he[r] insists that he shall 
give it to Uncle Frank. I 
should rather have Uncle 
Frank have it, of course, if 
I thought he needed one; 
but we have no reason to 
suppose he does. Papa 
is just drawing on his 
shoes, to go down to the 
P. O. & buy 300 postal cards, 
which he has promised to 

[* You have told me nothing about them lately. I shall 
always feel better acquainted with P. since you let me 
read those letters of his. To us, with snow on ]
[*the ground, it seems odd to hear of a tamarind tree in 
pink blossom under your window. I wish Aunt 
Emily were in Hastings. We have no further news from 
her. 
Affy, 
Alice 
Stone
Blackwell.*]have printed and send to all the registered women 
voters of Somerville, urging 
them to vote for our friend 
Stella Hall as a member 
of the school committee. As 
he sat meditating, with 
one shoe off & the other on, 
just now, I asked him 
what he was thinking 
about, & he answered, "The 
devil on two sticks." 
Ethel has sent two 
long letters home, which Floy 
forwarded to me & I to Emma. 
She has had a jolly time, of 
course; and my old friend 
Eliza Putnam Heaton & her 
husband went over on the same 
steamer, & they & Ethel & her 
friend were planning to do 
some travelling together. Papa 
thinks "Humane Science" is an 
excellent name for those 
lectures, & an excellent idea.