BLACKSTONE FAMILY ALICE STONE BLACKWELL KITTY BARRY 1909 -Telephone 1791 Haymarket Office of The Woman's Journal, No. 6 Becaon St., Room 1018 Boston, Mass., July 30 1909 Dear Kitty: The thermometer is soaring away up in the 90's. I wish I could send some of our superfluous heat and sunshine to you & Aunt B! I am very glad you have engaged another girl. Although she will not have Laura's experience, in the [* a present of the gout and [rheumatism] neuralgia to her first husband, who deserved to smart for his sins, instead of their coming to poor dear Mr. Tettertan, who deserves nothing but good. But I hope he is out of pain & will not have a return of the trouble in a better climate. Yr off. cousin Alice.*]beginning, yet I should think her greater willingness would make her more of a comfort. A girl who is thoroughly dissatisfied & wants to leave - whether for matrimony or other reasons - might as well go; she is unsatisfactory to have around. But we shall be much interested to hear how the new one turns out. Your girls almost always like you, because you are good to them & treat them [*but he was looking well & was as amiable as usual. It grieves me to think of poor Frances. I wish we could make*] Telephone 1791 Haymarket Office of The Woman's Journal No. 6 Becaon St., Room 1018 Boston, Mass., ________________190 like human beings. Howard came into the office to see us, but unluckily we were both out. He brought a great lot of nasturtiums, a glorious mass of color. Miss Wilde says they suited his complexion, & that he "looked like a picture." He is very busy getting his house ready for [*office at the time, so we did not have much chance to talk to him; *][* month's vacation. Unluckily Miss Gina Krag of Norway was making a call at the *] Helen to come back to about Aug . 1. I mean his house at 4 Riedesel Ave. He is having new fixtures put in for heating, etc., & is very busy at it, Reynold says. Reynold is staying with us now. He & Evelyn both came back from Chilmark looking red & brown, & much improved. Reynold had gained 9 lbs. Charles came in yesterday to say goodbye, before starting for Chilmark for his [* live at peace with his Irish neighbors! Perhap the children will be nice to Varsenig; they are [???] two years older now. She has the reputation at school of being the brightest little girl in her class, & she can take her own part, I guess, if her mother will let her; she comes of a famous fighting family! Yr aff. cousin Alice. Telephone 1791 Haymarket Office of The Woman's Journal, No. 6 Becaon St., Room 1018 Boston, Mass., Aug 6 1909 Dear Kitty: We think the pictures very good. I like best the one in which K. B. is the central figure and not Khaki - though, as I know that Khaki is a comfort to K. B. my feelings toward him are friendly! I have not seen Howard yet. He has been very busy moving Helen back from Pigeon Cove & getting the house ready to receive her. He has sent word that he shall try to get up to see us before I start for Chilmark, on the 10th. Reynold reports that Howard has installed at 4 Riedesel Ave a wonderful new heating apparatus, which puts coal on the furnace automatically at any hour for which you set it, like an alarm clock. So he will not have to get up early in the morning and go down to feed the fire. We agreed that girl put them up to it, out of religious bigotry against Jews. Joseph, the Armenian man who used to work for us has joined the Catholic Church down in Neponset in order to Chilmark, Mass. Aug. 27, 1909 Dear Kitty: Many thanks for the photo that came last night. I think it is good. I wonder if it is the same one Alan refers to? I don't see the wicked look he refers to. You look to me rather as if you were listening - perhaps to hear if Aunt B. were stirring in her room. I have put the photo on the tiny mantel shelf in my chamber at Chilmark, from which it looks down on me as I write. Long before you get thisyou will have learned by telegraph [a] of the advent of little George Howard. The enclosed was the first news I got. Reynold's letter to Lizzie. But Howard called Florence up at the store by telephone & announced the great news, adding that the baby weighed 9 3/4 pounds. He knew she would spread the intelligence through the colony. Everybody rejoices, & we drank George Howard's health at supper last night. Floy says Howard's voice sounded very jubilant! The expressions "Grandpa and Grandma Blackwell" will [?] have a new significance now. I am so glad the [* new girl promises so well. May she prove a treasure. Your aff. cousin Alice. *] Telephone 1791 Haymarket Office of The Woman's Journal, No. 6 Beacon St., Room 1018 Boston, Mass., Sept. 27 1909 Dear Kitty: Yesterday I mailed you as a birthday remembrance a book that I am fond of, & that I thought might amuse you. Evelyn, who is a kindergarten teacher says it is very true to life. Now I am haunted by the fear that I had sent it to you before. My memory has grown so poor that I cannot be sure. If so, pass it [* the white curl. [(H.B.B.) (a lock of her father's hair was enclosed)] Howard told me over the telephone this A. M. that Helen is improving steadily & that the little George Howard has never had a sick day. Charles came over there yesterday & they all celebrated Marguerite Thomas's birthday. Your loving cousin, Alice.on to Frances Alofsen, if you would think she would care for it, or, if not, to anybody who would, and let me know, & I will send you something else. In any case I send hearty wishes for "Many happy returns of the day" and "Increasing happiness with revolving years." You may be sure that you are surrounded with the good wishes of all the family. The enclosed may seem rather a sad birthday [* remembrance, but I think you will like to have it. No doubt you will recognize *] Telephone 1791 Haymarket Office of The Woman's Journal No. 6 Beacon St., Room 1018 Boston, Mass., Oct 8 1909 My dear Kitty: Yours with enclosures from Miss Annie Leigh Browne received. What nice warm-hearted letters she writes! I remember her such a pretty girl, with red-brown hair, an intelligent- looking head, and a nice English complexion, with something at once sensible and spirited in her whole aspect. I am so glad you have such a good friend. Yes, of course, we are glad that Papa did not have a long period of helplessness. To a man of his active and independent temperament, that would have been almost intolerable, if he had realized it. I am glad Frances is so pleased with Agnes, but I was sure everyone would be. Isn't she a charmer? Poor Reynold & Lizzie are having a dreadful time with their new flat. In choosing it, Lizzie said she thought only of the inside, & the accommodations are much better than they have had. It didn't occur to her to think of what noises there might be outside, as their location at Wellesley Park is very quiet & retired. It turns out that there is a school opposite, & the pupils raise cane on weekdays, & a little shop where a [grapha?] phonograph or some such instrument plays all day on [* hall. Aunt [Fey?] has been at Cambridge for two days; is expected back this afternoon. In haste, affectionately, Alice Stone Blackwell Telephone 1791 Haymarket Office of The Woman's Journal No. 6 Beacon St. Room 1018 Boston, Mass., Oct. 15 1909 Dear Kitty: Florence writes that Agnes was delighted with Hastings, & thought it extremely pretty & quaint. I have not yet seen the letter she wrote about it. Florence also says you got a former nurse of Aunt Marian's [* best. No family letters to enclose this time. Your affectionate cousin, Alice *][* before you get this. I think with sorrow of poor Frances. But I do hope that in the end the changes will be for the *] to stay with Aunt B., & you walked & rode with them a lot. I was [?] ever so glad, for I am sure it must have done yu a lot of good. You needed some change, & some young society. Also you could show them everything of interest about Hastings; it must have made the greatest difference to them about seeing the town & suburbs. Aunt Emily went back to Montclair last Monday. Mrs. Barows & Lizzie Rogers went into Boston the other day & did a little shopping, & I suppose Mrs. B. got over tired, for that night she was taken with another attack of gall stones, was in great pain, & became delirious, & Evelyn had to get a nurse for her, because she herself was feeling [* yet! Next Thursday night Mrs. Pankhurst is to stay at my house. Don't you [shu] shudder? But it will be all over *] [* will do it if he isn't comfortable. Just think, I have not got over to see him *] so nearly worn out that if she nursed her mother all night she felt she should not be fit to teach in the morning. The attack was not as bad as the former one, & we hope the worst is now over. [??[ Lizzie is feeling much better, & Reynold is coming tonight to take her home. He & Howard have "got their balance," & it is a weight of their minds. Every year it is a great ordeal. Harvard has $22,000,000. of annual income & outgo, all to be kept account of, & if the books don't add up just right, even by a few cents, all the accounts have to be gone over to find where the trouble is. Reynold has been sitting up nights over the books & growing ever leaner than usual. Now he is beaming, & I hope he will put an a [* Emily doesn't approve. But she says it won't last long, for very soon he will be able to turn himself over, & *] little flesh. Mrs. Barrows has persuaded Lizzie to try to put up with the new flat till spring. I am inexpressibly busy, of course. Tomorrow Christine goes, & the new girl comes. Mrs. Barrows will feel very sorry to be ill in bed just when the change is made, but it can't be helped. Little George Howard continues to flourish. The nurse has a theory that he ought to be kept lying on his stomach, & Aunt National American Woman Suffrage Association Member National Council of Women Honorary Presidents Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 250 West 94th Street, New York Susan B. Anthony, 17 Madison Street Rochester, N.Y. President, Carrie Chapman Catt 2008 American Tract Society Building, New York Recording Secretary, Alice Stone Blackwell 3 Park Street, Boston, Mass. Vice-President-at-Large, Rev. Anna H. Shaw 4104 Powelton Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa. Treasurer, Harriet Taylor Upton Warren, Ohio Corresponding Secretary, Kate M. Gordon 2008 American Tract Society Building, New York Auditors Laura Clay, Lexington, Ky. Mary J. Coggeshall 554 Seventh Street, Des Moines, Iowa National Headquarters, 2008 American Tract Society Building, N. Y. Office Recording Secretary, Boston, Mass. Dorchester, Mass. Dec. 13, 1909 Dear Kitty: Yes, indeed, I can understand just how so many people come in or send letters the day the U. S. mail [cam] goes out! Just so [they] they make a practice or against the budget? Yr aff. cousin Alice of coming to my office Friday afternoon when I went to write my letter to [Yo] you! Mrs. Barrows is getting over a sore throat. Lizzie & Reynold took tea here yesterday. [Reynold] Lizzie is better, though looking pale. I am still under the weather & at home, & Frances is here to take steps for me Emma has got a pair of scales, in order to weigh Anna's baby, & they are all ready for the advent. [* Elliot is supposed to be in Boston, attending a meeting with Brother Johnson. Are you for *] The Woman's Journal No 3 Park Street, Room 16 Boston, Mass., Dec. 17, 1909 Dear Kitty: Elliot and the minister, "Brother Johnson", came up to Boston this week to attend some revival meetings. Elliot did not come out here, knowing that Mrs. Barrows & I were both of us under the weather, & fearing he should inconvenience us. But Mrs. Barrows is almost over her sore throat, & I should have been glad to see him. He dropped in at the office, & Miss [* office, & of course we said yes, so he has advertised, & he & Helen came there to meet [Jr?] applicants. I think it is qui[e]te an amusement to Miss Wilde. Aunt Nettie is not very well, & dictated her last letter to me, though she ascribed this to "laziness." Agnes & Tom have been going out to concerts & things. Well, dear, goodbye, & best Xmas wishes Yours always affy, Alice. *] Wilde says he looked "bursting with happiness & good nature." He brought up a big & beautiful stone which Mr. Barrows got from the beach & which Mr. B. has been hankering to have here. He is as pleased as a child to get it. He (Mr. B) has lately gone in for geology with great interest. There is "nothing doing" at Cambridge yet. The nurse is there, - Miss Kirkby, the same one who nursed Helen & whom Howard likes so much - & Emma has brought a pair of scales to weigh the baby, & everything is ready. Miss Kirkby says she never knew anybody who kept so well, and is "light on her feet," but her cook has given warning, so she has had to give up her Xmas plans - Howard asked if he might meet prospective maids at our Telephone 1791 Haymarket Office of The Woman's Journal No. 3 Park Street, Room 16 Boston, Mass., __________190 so near her confinement. She went shopping in Boston with Emma the other day, and is able to be about just as usual. Uncle G. quite beams when he speaks of her state of health. Aunt [Fey?] keeps well, by great precautions I hope you will have a pleasant Xmas. It cannot be a very merry one, I am afraid, but it ought to be a happy one, if happiness can be given by a sense of duty done and a consciousness of immense and indispensable usefulness to one of the world's aged heroines. scarlet fever, some 25 years ago, & I should not have to now, but for my own foolishness in abusing my very good constitution so I must not grumble. I believe Agnes is to have the family Xmas. Helen had invited the Rogers, You need have no fears about Mrs. Fawcett's willingness to have her address published. She sent it to me herself, typewritten. It has also been sent me by several other people, clipped from an English paper. I hope Miss Wilde got it into the Journal this week. she is getting out the paper. The doctor has put me to bed. She says that I am improving, but she thinks I shall improve faster in bed. When I am up I am [v] too easily tempted to overwork. She has moved me into the room over the library, so that I shall not have to climb stairs when I go to the bathroom, & Frances waits on me like a dear, and [* everybody is most kind. I have not had to spend a day in bed on account of illness since I had the *] Telephone 1791 Haymarket Office of The Woman's Journal No. 6 Beacon St., Room 1018 Boston, Mass., Dec. 20 1909 Dear K. Anna has a girl. At 10 this morning she began to feel sure it was coming, & at 11:20 A M it [wa] was here. She is doing well. Emma has just telephonedThe doctor lifted the baby & thought it weighed about 9 1/2 lbs. Glory hallelujah! Please tell Frances. Yr aff cousin Alice.