Blackwell Family Alice Stone Blackwell KITTY BARRY 19101 Chilmark, Mass. Friday Sept. 2, 1910. Dear Kitty: A telegram has come saying that Aunt Emily is very much worse. Just before the telegram, came a letter from Dr. Cushier written Wednesday. She says: "Dear Nannie: The doctor had rather a better night last night, & is in some ways better this morning. She is taking a little more nourishment, & is resting more quietly; the movements from the bowelsare not so frequent. So I am hoping it may mean that things have taken a more favorable turn. "The condition has been at no time alarming, but most trying. The doctor has been as patient as usual, although she has had much to try her patience. It is a most fortunate thing that the attack did not come while the doctor was at the Vineyard, as our 100 gal. tank & Chase's pond behind it is no more than an adequate [*Poor dear Frances! Your loving cousin, Alice.*] 2 supply under the circumstances. "Last week the doctor took a walk over the downs, & was gone a long time, so that I was about to hunt her up when she returned. She said she had rested two or three times, which meant that she sat upon a stone & I presume was chilled. This is the only way in which I can account for the attack. Until then she had been remarkably well. [*to take a course in some specialty. If so, you may see them. I must write a line to Frances.*]Give my regards to the doctor (Elon), & tell him the attack is an entero-colitis, but without much elevation of temperature or increased pulse-rate. There is some abdominal tenderness, & slight pain, which is kept under control by codine & hot stripes(?). I would send you word at the first moment were there cause for alarm. The doctor sends love to you and Alice." Sept. 8 Enclosed are the various bulletins we [*thanks to Dr. Cushier, & Nannie, & the children. There is some thought of Elon's going over to Vienna.*] En route to Lowell. Mass Oct. 27, 1910. Dear Kitty: I write on the way to Lowell, where the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association is to be held today and tomorrow. Florence sits beside me, in a very be- coming new hat that Mrs. Rubin, my Jewish friend, has made for her.Uncle George is still considerably under the weather. Dr. Will Thomas, Helen's favorite cousin, examined him thoroughly, & pronounced him very sound, so far as thumping and listening would show. Then he analyzed the urine, & found that that was not normal, but left a deposit of sugar; so he will have to diet. The pain that he has been having in one leg for three weeks or more is an irritation which Dr. Thomas thinks can be relieved by massage. However, they have been trying that, & thus far it does not work. Uncle G. isup & dressed, but does not go out. Elizabeth thrives & flourishes, & grows more & more charming. They have got a new baby carriage for her. At first they tried to take her out in George Howard's, when they got back from M. V.; but although he sits quietly & decorously in it, she kept trying to climb up over the back, or endangering her life by trying to grasp at the trees or to find out what the fences were made of, so they had to get a different sort of vehicle for her. Up to this point [*to see Grace,but Grace is very much out of her mind , & [?] feels as*] I have written in the dark. & I only hope you can read it. The train was standing in the station, & there was not light enough for me to see what I was writing. Now the train has moved out. Walter & Doris are to be married on Nov. 21 & live in the Brown Cottage this winter & in a small bungalow of their own next summer. [*if her visits didn't do G. much good, while they harrow her own feelings*] There was great commotion at Cambridge because "Gray Brother" mysteriously disappeared. He is a much beloved cat. They sought him high & low, & went to the house they occupied last winter to see if he might have gone back there, but there were no tidings of him. After several days Howard heard a melancholy mewingin a lot near by that has a high fence. Gray Brother had somehow managed to get in there & couldn't get out. Howard made a hole in the fence & took him out, very thin & hungry. He was feasted & petted; Gilly, the yellow cat, licked him all over, & Anna & all the household made much of him. Your aff. cousin, Alice [*Florence has been over several times*] THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION OFFICERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE ALLIANCE PRESIDENT MRS. CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT 2 WEST 86TH STREET, NEW YORK CITY FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT MRS. MILLICENT GARRETT FAWCETT, LL.D. 2 GOWEN STREET, LONDON, ENGLAND SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT MISS ANNIE FURUHJELM HELSINGFORS, FINLAND SECRETARIES MISS MARTINA KRAMERS 92 KRUISKADE, ROTTERDAM, HOLLAND MISS ANNA LINDEMANN DEGERLOCH, STUTTGART, GERMANY MISS SIGNE BERGMAN 10A ARSENALSGATAN, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN TREASURER MRS. ADELA STANTON COIT LONDON, ENGLAND THE WOMAN'S JOURNAL 585 BOYLSTON STREET BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS TELEPHONE 4717 BACK BAY OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT REV. ANNA HOWARD SHAW 505 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT MRS. CATHERINE WAUGH MCCULLOCH EVANSTON, ILL. SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT MISS KATE M. GORDON 1800 PRYTANIA STREET, NEW ORLEANS, LA CORRESPONDING SECRETARY MRS. MARY WARE DENNETT 505 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY RECORDING SECRETARY MRS. ELLA S. STEWART 5464 JEFFERSON AVENUE, CHICAGO, ILL. TREASURER MISS JESSIE ASHLEY 505 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY FIRST AUDITOR MISS LAURA CLAY LEXINGTON, KY. SECOND AUDITOR MISS ALICE STONE BLACKWELL 585 BOYLSTON STREET, BOSTON, MASS. LEGAL ADVISOR MRS. CATHARINE WAUGH MCCULLOCH Nov. 4, 1910. Dear Kitty: Florence is still here, but is growing impatient to go home, as there is a Grange meeting coming off, & other things in which she is interested. She has been recalling the time when, she declares, she & I were very jealous of your affections, & she wept for two hours because I had written you a letter & put it into a hollow of a rock in front of the old Cliff House (now Mrs. Sanford's) as a P.O! I think she is quite convinced that it will not do to take Grace to Chilmark yet. We are concerned about Uncle George, [who] who is still under the weather. The doctor is reported to have given Howard a [JUSTICE, SIMPLE JUSTICE IS WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS. -- LUCY STONE] [*to take with Dr. Kilham. Your affectionate cousin, Alice Stone Blackwell.*]pretty serious view of his health. But he is up & around. I think the deaths of Papa, Aunt Elizabeth & Aunt Emily have shaken him very much. Luckily the little Elizabeth is there to cheer him. The house is in process of being furnished, I am told, & Emma & Anna very busy choosing rugs & things, & Viny rather ill, so that more housework & care of Elizabeth devolves upon Frances than that young lady at all enjoys. She is eager to be married & have a change of scene. Walter has been drawn on the jury, which strikes me as very extraordinary. Sophie Siebker gave me warning this A.M., but I hope she will think better of it. She finds my disorderly ways quite discouraging, & does not like being asked to go in & help in the office, where Miss Ryan had asked me to lend her services. Well! "Good times & bad times & all times pass over." We shall get along somehow. It is a wild easterly storm today, & the surf at Chilmark must be fine. Dr. Smith tells me [*Dr. Cushier's sister is ill, so that Dr. C. has had to give up or postpone the trip to Egypt which she had planned.*] Nov. 11, 1910 Dear Kitty: You will be glad to hear that Uncle George seems decidedly better. He is more comfortable, sleeps better at night, & there is less sugar in the urine. The careful diet is thought to be doing his good. On his birthday, Howard & Helenbrought in a tray of handsome apples and other things that he is allowed to eat, and there were flowers and I sent over some verses in which I thanked him for having been a tower of strength to me in all my business matters. Florence has gone home, laden with wedding presents for Walter and Doris. She took Grace out riding and walking and feels on the whole better satisfied about her. She has been movedinto another building and much pleasanter room. Grace is not much better in her mind, but Florence says she is going to take her to Chilmark next spring, no matter how she is. We are all in status quo. Your aff. cousin Alice. 1910 Nov18 AsB to Kitty family news Walter Mayburn & Doris Flanders Wedding Letter fm Breshkowsky45 Boutwell Ave., Dorchester, Mass. November 18.1910. Dear Kitty:- The reports from Uncle George continue to be encouraging. The diet is doing him good, although he finds it hard to be deprived of all sugar and of most kinds of fruit except apples. Emma told me over the telephone, with satisfaction, that he had been out twice, as far as Harvard Square. That is not far; but, as Emma truly says, when he feels like going out, even for a short distance, it shows that he is feeling better. Nannie is expecting to have the Thanksgiving party this year. She says that as time goes on she misses Aunt Emily more instead of less. The Rogers and I are invited to Cambridge for Thanksgiving. The dinner will be either at Uncle George's or at Howard's, it is not yet quite settled which. The babies both have colds, and Helen has been having a very bad one. , but it was better at last accounts. Today Emma and Howard were going to Gardner to see after 17 barrels of apples which there are there, and other things that need attending to, including the merciful dispatching of Ned, Uncle Henry's very aged horse. Florence writes that wedding presents are pouring in and she begins to relaize that there is really to be a marriage. She went back laden with gifts, as everybody took advantage of the chance to send them. Emma sent down samples of three or four different kinds of plates, so that Doris might make her choice. The most exciting event in my own life this past week has been receiving a letter from Mrs. Catherine Breshkowsy, 3 & Emma have had, until this morning came a telegram announcing that Aunt Emily had passed away peacefully at 4 o'clock. This may have meant 4 A.M., but I think it probably meant 4 P.M. yesterday. If so, she died on the anniversary of Papa's death. Was not that strange? Of course we are sad; yet for her own sake I am glad she went by a swift illness, as she would herself [*Well - "it is a dying world" - and Aunt Ey left it the better for her having lived in it - and her last years on the whole had been happy,*]written by her own hand and enclosing a photograph of the little log cabin, where she is living away off in the North of Siberia. I love her very much, and even in the worst part of my illness, when it seemed as if I did not care about anything, or want to get well, if I thought of her and the possibility (which seemed small at that time) of seeing her or hearing from her again, it renewed my interest in life. She is a wonderful old lady, and although her prison hardships have made her unable to walk without assistance, her letter is cheerful and plucky as ever. Good bye for the moment, I have to quit to get my lunch and then hurry off to the city. Always your affectionately, Alice Stone Blackwellhave preferred. Uncle George, Nannie & Elon & Howard were there. Nannie took along the baby, as she had not yet begun to wean him; & Elon wrote Gale that one day Aunt Ely heard him cry, & she smiled. Elon & Nannie are expected back today, & then they will tell us more particulars. The message Nannie gave Aunt Ely from me, & at which he says Aunt Ely was pleased, was that [*B's death he has clung to Aunt Ely, as the only one left. Aunt Ely said she could see a distinct increase in his tenderness after that.*] if Nannie ever needed a friend to stand by her, & I were living, I would do it to the best of my ability, In one of her last letters, she told me she wanted to write to you, but that now all her correspondens, except the very most necessary got "postponed indefinitely." She was so well when she was here, it seems hard to realize that she is gone. I am glad that Miss Simmons was coming to you for a visit. And I think you will be quite right [*thereabouts. Poor Uncle George must feel this very much, I know. Ever since he heard of Aunt*] to make your will as soon as possible. One never knows what may happen. Aunt Emily some time ago had expressed a wish to be cremated, & a preference for the Forest Hills crematory, which is much pleasanter than the one at N.Y So that is what they will probably do, & the family will gather at Pope's Hill. The Barrows family go back day after tomorrow; I stay here with Sophie Siebker, who has got back from Canada. My health seems about the same. I hate not to be there, at the crematory but know I [*had better not, & that Aunt Ey would have advised me against it My address will probably be here till of Sept. or*]