BLACKWELL FAMILY ALICE STONE BLACKWELL KITTY BARRY 1903 Office of The Woman's Journal No. 3 Park Street En Route to Canada [Boston], Mass., Sept. 3 1903 Dear Kitty: Papa came down to the Vineyard last Friday, & went back to Boston with me on Tuesday. He brought bad weather with him - flitted in out of the storm like a sea-gull. Saturday, in a great gale, we went over to the house that used to be [Dr] Capt. Moses West's, & got his daughter's husband & son to go over with us to Stonewell Point in a beating rain, & [mal] point out to us the bounds of Nannie's lot. The two inland boundary marks are still standing, [*But I know he wont. He announced this A.M. that he was going to form "The National Lazy Bones Association"! Be glad that the elderly lady who is dearest to you doesn't overwork herself in the excessive degree that my dear old- young man of 78 does! Yours affy, A. S. BlackwellVineyard this summer I didn't rest, but worked almost as hard as at home. But in Canada I'm going to try to loaf. Papa says that if I will he will. but the two on the seaward side, which were on the edge when Aunt Ellen bought the land 19 years ago, have gone down the cliff. It is a fine site. Nannie talks of building a summer cottage there; but I think it very likely that she is only pleasing herself with the idea as a sort of castle in the air, and may not carry it out for years, if she does at all. However, we located the boundary marks, as Aunt Emily had requested, & discussed the building of a fence. The next day, the storm continued, but Papa started out to walk over to Uncle George's, carrying a heavy basket of peaches. He persisted in lugging them with him, though he knew Uncle G's team was coming over the next Office of The Woman's Journal, No. 3 Park Street day & could have carried them back without labor. I walked Boston, Mass.,...................190 with him as far as the store, --it was only a big gale then, not much rain--& recommended him to stay the night at Uncle G's if he felt like it, as Emma was sure to urge [it] him to. It came on to pour, & we thought he wouldn't trudge the long three miles back through the heavy sandy roads, so we sat down to supper without him. But after supper we heard a rattle at the back door in the dark, & he crept in utterly exhausted, & dripping from every pore with rain. Though he was exhausted, however, his fun was not, for hebrayed feebly several times, & told me he had been a donkey to take such a walk, & that he would not do it again--till next time. He ate no supper, & was too tired to sleep well that night, & his stomach & bowels were upset for several days in consequence of the over-exertion. The next evening he said he would have boiled bread & milk for supper, & it was prepared for him, & he ate it; but on top of it he ate corn-fritters & molasses & baked apple, & his supper naturally disagreed with him! If he were not such a dear, his antics would not be so maddening. But just because he is very precious & we love him, it drives us to distraction to have him [so] risk his health so recklessly. Some time he will do it once too often. But he has nearly recovered from this attack now. There are no further developments in Howard's affair, so far as I know; but as he & Miss E. are both in Cambridge, it has probably been developing along the usual lines. Grace says that when she went to West Brookfield to Mamma's birthday celebration, she met Maria Barlow, [*from him. I hope you & Aunt B. are enjoying Scotland. But the lovely Vt. scenery through which I am now journeying is good enough for me. I expect to be in Canada about 3 weeks. At the*]**way, what has become of poor Reynold Rogers? We have not seen him, or heard a word more** and had a talk with her about you. She says Maria seems to be very fond of you, & feels badly because [you have not] she has not heard from you for two years. She is very much alone, except for a second cousin or grand-nephew or something, a boy who Grace thinks is a source of considerable anxiety to her, as well as an object of affection. Grace says Maria is looking old & worn. Really I think you ought to write to her. Grace feels rather wronged too because you don't answer letters (don't refer to this in writing home) but Grace is comparatively young & has other interests, but in the case of Maria it really is too bad. By the Office of The Woman's Journal No. 3 Park Street. Georgeville, [?]. L., Canada Sept, 18, 1903 Dear Kitty: This is to wish you many happy returns of Oct. 5. As it may have to follow you about to Scotland, I send it a little early so as to be on time. I have tried in vain to think of anything obtainable in the woods here, or in the tiny Canadian village two miles off where we go to get our mail, which would be suitable for a birthday present; so it will have to wait till I get back to Boston. Meanwhile you may be sure of all the good wishes possible--increasing happiness with revolving years, and may your shadow never be less! If I could send you a photograph in colors of the woods here, in their autumnal dress, it would be a beautiful **&Howard & Francis & Mr. Lawrence stopped at our house on their way back from the Vineyard & Emma & the girls went over to the Laboratory Kitchen in Cambridge to say goodbye to Annie Elliot & Margaret Perkins, who were about to start for Canada. Grace tells me in a private note that she knows Howard & Miss E. are engaged, only they are not ready to say so. I suppose she judges by their manner. On the other hand Emma told Papa that the status was unchanged. Your aff. cousin, Alice Stone Blackwell.**has two photos of Miss Elliot trying to teach the farmer at whose house they boarded to ride the bicycle. Emma & Uncle G. & Anna** souvenir. The fall colors are uncommonly fine this year. The hot, dry, sultry weather lasted till yesterday, when it broke all of a sudden in wind & rain; & to-day I have on all my winter clothes & am glad of the roaring fire of birch logs on the hearth. Day before yesterday, at 6.30 P.M., the thermometer stood at 82! When I first came here, early in Sept., some of the nights were 38. I shivered for a day or two in summer underclothes, then changed them for winter ones, & immediately it turned oppressively hot, & stayed so. A Miss Erskine who is here knows Frances Elliot, as I discovered only this morning. She spent last summer in Vt. in the next house to Miss Stevenson & Miss Elliot. She says she liked Miss E. very much--that she was very quiet, & talked less than the others, but that she was "all there." I asked her just what she meant by that, & she said she meant that Miss E. had "solid common sense, & all the qualities that go to make up a well-rounded human being." She Office of The Woman's Journal, No. 3 Park Street. Boston, Mass., Oct. 1 1903 Dear Kitty: Papa walked in this evening after a few days' absence in Orange on real estate business. He reports all well. Frances Elliot asked him to lunch, & he went, & he says she is "a lovely girl," & that every time he sees her he likes her better. It seems Em- ma went out twice to the Laboratory Kitchen in Cambridge to see her, at the time of Emma's last visit to Boston; she went there once with Frances Millette & once with Uncle George; & Emma kissed Frances Elliot & Annie Elliot & Margaret Perkins all around; & since Frances Elliot went to New York, Emma has invited her to spend several days at their house at East Orange-- whether when Howard was at **everybody is delighted with it. I am overwhelmed with work. Floy came on, left Walter at school--he home- sick & she tearful- & returned to M.V. yesterday. She was delighted to find Grace so much improved in calmness & balance. Have not time for a long letter now; hope to write later. Your aff. cousin Alice Stone Blackwell home or not, I don't know. Papa says he thinks these must be "an understanding"; or, if there is not, "there ought to be"! Papa reports Uncle G. as still entirely unreconciled to it in his mind; & Emma says her heart [think] sinks into her boots whenever she thinks of it. Anna is so opposed that she wouldn't go over to the Laboratory Kitchen when Emma went, either time. I got yours enclosing Mrs. Woolcott Browne's order, & have put her & Mr. Hammond on the subscription list to receive the Journal for two years, & I am sending her the 10 extra copies of the West Brookfield number. Aunt Nettie reports herself as absorbed in farming & Edith in housekeeping. Howard has been absorbed ever since August in inaugurating his new dinner [*scheme at Memorial hall. They have begun to put it in operation, & thus far it works well &*] Office of The Woman's Journal No. 3 Park Street. Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, Pa. [Boston, Mass.] Nov. 5 1903 Dear Kitty: Many thanks for sending the "British Friend." I read Prof. J. Rendel Harris's article with much interest, and have lent it to the editor of an Armenian paper, in order that he may publish extracts. I shall be obliged to you when you can send me anything of that kind. Last Monday I came from Boston to East Orange, & found all well there. Anna was dressed in white with a pink necklace, & looked very nice. The president of the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs was a guest at their house, a jolly roly-poly little woman who reminded me of Aunt Ellen. The next day I had to go into the city to attend a meeting, & on my returned found that the FederationPresident was gone, but that before leaving she had practised palmistry, & had told Uncle G. that the lines in his hand showed he was married twice. We said this indicated that he was to survive Emma & be married again; & Anna said she would see to it that that shouldn't happen--she wouldn't allow his hair to be cut, & would take away all his good clothes, & leave him only his old ones, & then no one would have him! Uncle G. laughed, & told her it might work the other way--that the lady might say, "Poor old devil, he evidently needs someone to look after him; I think I will have him!" Anna seemed more lively & talked much more than she used to. I am now attending meetings of the National Business Committee at Rev. Anna Shaw's house in Phila.; expect to get back to Uncle G's Sunday or Monday, spend a week there getting rested up, then have that little operation performed on my nose, rest for another week & go home. Tammany has carried N.Y. again--a dreadful business. I saw the bonfires burning in the N.Y. streets on the evening of Office of The Woman's Journal No. 3 Park Street. Boston, Mass.,....................190 election day, as I went home from my meeting; & was awake in the night, partly owing to mosquitoes, partly to worry about the election, & to the noise of horns & yells, which I believed must be blown by Tammany partisans in sign of triumph, for I didn't think the decent people, if they had won, would have celebrated in just that way. Next morning I was on thorns to hear how the election had gone. Uncle G. professed supreme indifference on [*her when I go back to N.J. Excuse any incoherence in this letter, as I write in a committee meeting while a lively discussion is going on. Affectionately, Alice Stone Blackwell.*]**house which this little girl had to pass as an old "tramp-hole." Emma felt sure it was a case of abduction; Uncle G. suspected elopement. Aunt Emily is well; I expect to see** the subject, & said he hadn't thought to inquire! But, moved by my anxiety, he got a paper, & when he showed me the heading "A Tammany Landslide," he said, "Now, don't you wish you hadn't been in such a hurry to inquire?" The night of election day, the little daughter of a near neighbor mysteriously disappeared-she had just gone out, without her hat, for a few steps, to a neighbor's house, & never arrived there-& the parents were simply distracted. There will be hundreds of distracted parents in N.Y. this year, now that Tammany has got in. Anna denounced an empty Office of The Woman's Journal No. 3 Park Street. Boston, Mass., Dec 10 1903 Dear Kitty: Last Sunday I went to a meeting at Providence where I was to speak, and did not get home till about midnight, so I did not see Howard. But he came over, & had a visit with Papa & Grace, & seemed to be well & happy, as usual. I enclose a line from Uncle G. Not wishing Papa to know about the littler operation on my nose, I gave Uncle G. $75. & asked him to send Dr. Wakefield his check for her bill instead of my sending mine; for Papa looks over all my checks when they come back from the bank. Uncle G's growl is quite unjustified, I think. $50. for the operation is a very moderate **& below it, & the bulge helped to stop up my breathing space. But the cauterization has give me a sore nose ever since, & I understand just how cross a dog feels in similar circumstances! It has just occurred to me that this letter ought to read you about Xmas. Merry Xmas & a Happy New Year! I have asked you again & again where Reynold Rogers is. Why don't you tell me? I might have gone to see him while in N.Y. Your aff. cousin, A.S.B.price as prices for skilled surgery go (besides, she told [?] me in advance that it might be as much as that), & then there were in addition a number of office visits, for which she asks me $5 apiece-- about half of what she would ask, I believe, if I were not Aunt Ey's niece. Papa is well. He has been greatly tempted to buy a fine big farm in Millford which is offered very low. He got Phebe Stone Beeman & her husband & eldest boy to go out to see it, & went out three times himself. But this morning at breakfast he finally declared he had made up his mind not to buy it. I think it is a wise decision; for Papa doesn't want to farm it himself, and it he employed somebody else to do it, it would ear up all the profits. Aunt [?]lya was 95 The day before I left N.Y., Dr. Walsefield cauterized a lump [*on the opposite side of the nostril from the place where the point of the bony spur grew out. The pressure of the point against the other side had caused the flesh to bulge out above*] Office of The Woman's Journal No.3 Park Street East Orange, N.J. [Boston, Mass.,] Nov.12 1903 Dear Kitty, Here are a couple of family letters. I should have more if the [felonious] Aunt Emily had returned some I leant to her. After five days of Business Committee meetings at Phila., I came back here, & found Frances [Elliot] taking dinner with the family. She looked ro[d]y & well. Anna was polite to her, though not effusive. After dinner, Miss Elliot tried Frances [Millette's] wheel, which was leant to her while its owner is in Canada; & Emma & I escorted her to the station, & Emma kissed her goodbye. Your & Aunt B's birthday letters to Uncle G. [*as usual, & so have to close in a hurry. Your aff. cousin, Alice Stone Blackwell*]came yesterday. Uncle G., Emma & Anna are all well. It seems a pity that an active, capable girl like Anna should have no outlet for her activities except going shopping. Seems to me it would be worth while to accede to her wish for a horse; but don't speak of this in writing home, for it is none of my business. I went to see Dr. Wakefield yesterday, & am to have the operation on my nose a week from to-day. Papa is to know nothing about it till it is over, & perhaps not then. It is supposed to be simple & not at all dangerous, & I am not expected to stay in hospital more than one day, or two at the outside. Anna has a great fancy to go to Jamaica, & may coax her parents into a trip. She seldom gets down in time for the 8 A.M. breakfast, though Uncle G. goes out into the hall & mews & snorts **& coos & makes various affectionate but inarticulate sounds of invitation. It is quite funny. Have put off writing till the last moment,** Hoboken, N.J. Nov. 27, 1903. Dear Kitty: I have to wait here for a train, so take the chance to write to you. We were 18 at the Thanksgiving dinner at May Bruno's yesterday, without counting babies-- May & Albert Bruno, Uncle G., Emma, Howard, Anna, Papa, Aunt Ey, & Aunt Nettie, Tom, Agnes, Grace, Edith, little Ethel, Clifford Brown, and Miss Bruno & Miss Brown- sisters to May (3) & (2) Albert respectively--& I. It is long since we have had so large a family gathering. May gave us a fine dinner, after which we played games. Howard photographed the party at table, & also enticed us all out under a tree in the backyard, to be taken there. I hopehe will send you one of the pictures. Big Ethel took her dinner with the Robinsons. Papa & Grace & I are to lunch with her to-day. I have been in to see Dr. Wakefield, who says my nose is doing finely; & I have to wait here in the station for a train to Montclair, so I take the chance to write to you. I hope the pencil writing wont be illegible by the time it reaches England. I was only in the Infirmary four days, & the doctor says everything is doing well--that it couldn't be better. The "bony spur" grew out of the partition between my nostrils, ran clear across the left nostril, like a bridge, & buried its point in the tissues on the other side. Its pressure upon them kept them sodden & the irritation caused by it increased my catarrh. More-over, the thing was growing, & pressing more & more; & it filled up a good deal of the narrow part of the nostril, & interfered with free breathing. I am glad that it is out. Howard was expected home Wednesday to supper. Every time that the bell rang during supper, (andit rang an unusual number of times), we looked for him, but he did not appear. At last, after 10 P.M., he turned up. He had been to call on Miss Elliot, he said. And this morning, before we were half through breakfast, Howard, having taken a bite, rose & said goodbye, & departed in haste to catch a train. I asked where he was going so early, & Uncle G. answered rather curtly, "Into N.Y.," --which I knew already. I suppose he was going to see Miss E. again. He brought with him from Boston some bread from Miss Stevenson's restaurant, where he had got his lunch before starting--a brown loaf & a white loaf; & Uncle G. turned up his nose at it, & said he didn't like it nearly as well as Lovina's bread! Howard was amiable, as usual, & said he had thought that perhaps Alice would like some. Uncle G. said, "Oh, yes, it seduced Alice at once!" I had take some; I really like it better thanLovina's. Grace took some too. Edith was the centre of a good deal of attention at the Thanksgiving party, as she is to sail so soon. She & Dr. Vedin (pro- nounced Vedeen) & a Miss Stowe of New Haven to whom they were introduced by the Women's Rest Tour Ass'n, sail Dec. 1 by the Princess Irene, North German Lloyd, for Gibraltar. Dr. V. can only stay 3 months, but Edith says she wants to stay till August if her money holds out. They planned to spend about 3 weeks in Spain, but find they must spend either 8 days or 5 weeks, as there is no steamer between! Edith expects to be in Italy till about May. Spain & Italy are the countries they especially want to see. They will also visit France & Switzerland, & perhaps later, if she stays longer, Edith may go to Germany & England. I have taken quite a "shine" to Dr. Wakefield, she is so exceedingly clever, & also so fond of Aunt Ey. She told me how much in awe some of the young doctorsstood by Aunt Ey. & I mentioned that Aunt B. was generally considered still more awe- inspiring. Dr. Wakefield said she was rather surprised to hear this; that the people she knew in N.Y. who remembered Aunt B. seemed to have been impressed especially by her tenderness, her motherliness! Aunt B. need not be afraid that Dr. Putnam Jacobi will ever write her life. She is incurably ill, so the doctors think, though they can't agree as to what it is--some say "palsy agitans", some say something else, the name of which I forget; but she has partially lost her mind, & has largely