Blackwell Family Kitty Barry Blackwell 1873 Blackwell, Alice S.& in the second could she spare the money, she would rather use it for her boys. Would that you could pop in some evening & see how we are engaged: Aunt Marian studies Murray's guide to Switzerland & Savoy, I study Bradshaw the betrayer and Aunt Bessie reads a novel. stopping now and can afford the necessary money I will send either Fanny or [Rachel] Gwennie with us on our travels. I don't think it in the least likely that Mrs. B. can afford to do it in the first place, 6 Burwood Place Hyde Park. W. Feb. 5th 1873 My darling Alice; We are just now full of a new and delightful plan. Instead of renting a house in a different part of town, we mean to rent th[?]us. If Papa and Mamma only could spare you! I fear it is too much to ask of them. Of course as I am now suffering for my "former" sins it is hardly to be expected that the great pleasure taken such a fancy to him & stolen him from us! His chief guardian, the Baron de Triqueti, wants him to remain in Paris & it is probable that a french lady who has taken a fancy to the little man will adopt him as her own. Everything would have been so different, had dear [?]at M.V. When she is grown up. It may be something very profound you know, which E. does not choose to betray to such insignificant people as Mme Kidd and her Faithful Pirate.Madam; I accept my dismissal. I fling all your charges in your teeth! Base slanderer of a gallant sailor, I defy you to prove me a traitor! I have never hitherto believed, but am now forced to do so, that "All Women are faithless." Beware! My anger is excited and I hereby vow vengeance. Defiance till death to Slanderers! Protection to the oppressed! R. Kidd Captain R. N. H. [MB.] S. S. Vanguard. H. B. M. D. A. C.6 Burwood Place Hyde Park. W Jan 17th . 73 Dear, and Faithful Betrothed; Your Xmas letter reached me on the 8th. It gave us a very lively and graphic picture of your doings. We have now had Xmas letters from all but Aunt Ellen and Uncle Sam. Aunt " I suppose was shut up in Somerville with the Nurse and Babies by the snow storm, of which the papers here have given wonderful accounts. I've quite envied you such real winter weather for here is has been Spring like. The grass in the Park is very green, & growing greener daily, & many of the trees and bushes are actually sending forth new shoots & leaves. We are just about to enter on a most tiresome piece of work __ house hunting.by mail. If you have not sent it by post do not do so, for as there is no book post the charge is very high. If you have sent by mail, let me know, for sometimes the P.O. here keeps back books, & of course I'm not going to let the office defraud me of my rights. Floy seems to be working for Cornell--Do you mean to join her there? Perhaps I may yet visit you both at the University--Who knows? Aunt Marian is settled in Pauli's room & now makes visits to different sights. Every Tuesday a.m. when Jane sweeps her room Aunt M. goes off to the South Kensington Museum & gazes at pictures till she is tired. Last Sunday evening we went to St Paul's to hear the Bishop of Rochester preach. The service was held in the great space under the dome, the lowerAunt Bessie has made up her mind to leave this house and get a house with a garden in the north west division of London. It will be a long piece of work and expensive too, on account of the moving and fitting up a new house. I am much grieved to have to harrow your feelings (my own also!), by telling you that you must have no expectation of seeing me this year. In November it seemed probable that I should go home, but now, what with Aunty's long illness & this necessary house moving it will not be best to spend such a large sum of money as going home would take. When are my feelings to be harrowed? Am I to wait till Uncle George's coming, or will you put me out of my misery shortly & send the taleby mail? If you have not sent it by post do not do so, for as there is no book post the charge is very high. If you have sent by mail, let me know, for sometimes the P.O. here keeps back books, & of course I'm not going to let the office defraud me of my rights. Floy seems to be working for Cornell__Do you mean to join her there? Perhaps I may yet visit you both at the University - Who knows? Aunt Marian is settled in Pauli's rooms & now makes visits to different 'sights'. Every Tuesday a.m. when Jane sweeps her room Aunt M. goes off to the South Kensington Museum & gazes at pictures till she is tired. Last Sunday evening we went to St Paul's to hear the Bishop of Rochester preach. The service was held in the great space under the dome, the lowerarches of which were lit up by rows of gas jets. You looked up and up beyond the lights till you were unable to penetrate the darkness further. The people below seemed a mere handful, lost in that vast building. As I could not hear what was said, owing to the dreadful echo, I gazed up into the dome, & off into those portions of the church which branch off from the space under the dome, & examined the double-arches rising one above the other, & finally settled into a fixed & amazed stare at the new frescoes with which they are adorning(?) the Cathedral. Such hideous paintings I never saw. Old Sir Christopher would be horrified could he see how they are spoiling his great work. This is sent in a letter to Marian so I've not much space. Did I write you, that our dear friend & Pauli's guardian died very suddenly of pleurisy & paralysis of the heart at Paris, on New Year's day? It is a great blow to us the more so because Pauli will probably be taken charge of by some of Miss Durant's other friends. It is very hard to part with him for we are very fond of the dear little man. He is now in Paris under the care of some friends and his good old nurse. Love to Papa, Mamma, & Edie (I believe E. is with you) Affy thy Pirate without some record of what she has done. Miss Chessar, the editor of the "Queen" is a very bright intelligent woman. She has given this season, two courses of lectures on Physiology for the National Health Society, to ladies & also lectured on the times to the 'Working Women's College" here. K.B.Dear Mrs Lucy, This notice from the "Queen" of Jan. 11th. 1873", is the best which has appeared of our dear friend. As you like to notice what women have done, and are doing, in the 'Journal', I send this on. The only woman sculptor of England should not pass away 6 Burwood Place Hyde Park. W. Feb. 22nd 1873 Cara Alicia Mia, We are waiting with impatience to learn what you all think of our Swiss plan. The one question now is, will the house be rented by Lady Day (the 25th of March, & the quarter day) for as yet, tho' many have looked at it, no one has said they will take it. I think there is no doubt it will be rented sooner or later ; I hope sooner. Aunt Bessie does a great deal of work, but she has by no means recovered her usual strength, so I am very anxious to get her off for a holiday. Aunt Marian certainly was much benefitted by her Dutch visit, tho' she denies it. [A] Now the long dull London winter is having its effect on her ; she has a boil on one finger, and feels as if she were perishing for want of sunshine. Indeed, the dull, foggy, & very short winter days here are trying to those accustomed to the dry, cold, and bright winter at home. I beg you will never take notice in letters sent to us, of any remark I may make as to Aunt M's being better in health. At the best of times she is troubled by her stomach more or less, but a change always does her good so that she eats a greater variety of things, & is ready to take an interest people and things. I don't know how it is, but Aunt M. doesn't like to have us say even here "how well you [*it disguised the taste of the water. I found even the London water seemed perfect after Wimereux. The only good water I've tasted in England was in Cornwall where the formation is granite.]are", for she invariably denies it! I think we shall all have to spend the winters in San Domingo, when Papa knows more of it. Aunt M. declares nothing would induce her to take the weeks voyage from N.Y. to Samana Bay, not even the glorious sunshine, or endless supplies of bananas! We have been reading Dr Kane, & have decidedly a fellow feeling for the miseries of his long, dark Artic winter. If we have not darkness day and night, we have only twilight by day and welcome any lift in the fog as eagerly as Kane & his crew did the first return of daylight. Now I am about to tell you how that interesting individual, K.B. is getting on ; for I hear that you do not think you hear enough of her doings. K.B.'s eyes I am happy to say, tho' they would be gladdened by the sun's return, give her no trouble, because of lashes turning in. Thanks to Dr Agnew, she is saved that torment. Her left ear keep up its roaring, and she is convinced it ever will, Dr's seeming to be unable to cure it. Occasionally her right ear gives a slight growl, & if it is destined to roar also, why she has contrived to get on with one roar and would then only have to endure two. It is fortunate that she has but two ears, you need not imagine that I am any deafer--I think I hear quite as well as when we parted. I enjoy many things. I can't go to parties, but that's no great loss, for from all I hear London parties are somewhat stupid, and the late hours hateful. So long as I can read, I am all right. In the mornings I dust various rooms, make Aunt Bessie's and my bed, trim our student lamp, go to market & do many errands for the house. Then I don a chocolate brown flannel dress trimmed with brown velveteen & seat myself to sew or write home letters, dinner comes at 1 p.m. & after that meal I order tea, give out stores (if needed), to Jane from the store rooms & then go for a walk. Returned from the walk, I sew till the lamp is lighted, about which time comes tea & the 'Times'. I ring a little bell to let the two Aunts know that the paper has arrived, & seize upon its first sheet to see what mail ship is in, when she reached Queenstown & at what hour her mails ought to be delivered in London. Very often Aunt Bessie is out in the evening at some quiet party, & when she is well, Aunt M. sometimes goes with her, in which case I am left alone. After mastering the 'Times' I read (just now) Dr Kane, or Motley's 'Rise of the Dutch Republic'. The evening is soon over, & I go to bed, leaving the lamp burning in the [*No danger of my becoming a wine drinker. Aunts M. & B. do drink a little claret daily, but that is as a medicine. I'm glad you'll allow me cider, it is kind of you! Mind it must always be Harrison's Cider you give me]hall if the Aunts are out. I insert into the beds of the two Aunts a earthenware bottle filled with hot water to warm their toes when they get home. As I don't know anyone to visit in London I can't send you an account of anything very lively. Mrs Sweet is always very glad to see me when I call but she lives far off, & just now has a very odd son at home from Oxford, who seems to make his Mamma so uncomfortable that she doesn't like to ask guests to her house! I go there sometimes never-the-less, & Henry Sweet may absent himself if he does not like visitors. Dear Miss Durant, who was in and out of the house half a dozen times a day, & seemed just like one of the family, is a great loss. She was so kind and good! Our little man is still in Paris, & said to be well and happy. I dare say young lady! Do you suppose a Pirate will allow a feeble womankind to dictate to him what he shall or shall not do? You are much mistaken if you do. Not tuch the wine cup indeed! Who told you I did? It was Aunts M. & B. who drank the Xmas healths in wine (well watered) ; - I did it with a glass of the pure? element with which the Grand Junction Works supply us. When I was at Wimereux in the summer, the water was undrinkable alone, being very brackish so I had a tablespoonful of the Viu ordinaire put in at dinner, & very nasty it was, only, being very sour [*I shall be [??fe??] happy if only my great desire is granted. It is hoping against hope tho' I fear. We shall see soon. Always your [faithful?] Pirate lover - R. Kidd 6 Burwood Place Hyde Park. W. March 14th 73. Dear Betrothed; Two ladies have engaged to take our house, & the only thing which remains to be done is for the solicitors of both parties to draw up the Lease and have it signed. We move out next week on the 19th. We store our furniture in a warehouse used for that purpose only; so that it will be well taken care of. You can imagine how busy a week we shall all have of it, all things having to be packed so as to be quite secure for a year! Such a [*and a book-post between the two countries. The U.S. is much behind the age in postal conveniences!]turn out of cupboards as is going on. We have taken lodging near by, & all letters and papers must be directed there. Address. 31 Oxford Terrace Hyde Park. W. [No] Letters can be sent there till we send further instructions. We have two drawing rooms and three bedrooms; so that if any of you will come over to join our proposed Continental party, we can offer you a bed and the heartiest of welcomes. Come! Aunt Marian's hand is not quite well yet, so that she cannot write letters. She goes with us to the lodgings & will stay there till she has done some necessary dressmaking, when she will go to some country place & join us when we are ready to start for Paris. This is only a scrap sent to tell you of our change of residence. More next week, after the moving is over. I know that tomorrow I shall have too much to do to write, so do it tonight. With heaps of love, your faithful & expectant, Pirate.We inquired at the P.O. about "Two College Friends". They sent a form, of questions to be answered, which we filled out & sent back to the P.O. We have heard nothing further so don't know what the fate of the book will be. If it is by an American author they cannot keep it back because of too little postage, but if it is a reprint of an English work, of course I shall never get it. We must give them a week or two to search through the unclaimed book packets! I suspect the Boston office is the one to blame, & you had better look after it there, while I search here. In any event don't buy another copy, but get up a petition for international copyright To be forwarded Care Miss Toulmin Smith National Health Society 9 Adam St. Adelphi. London. April 6th '73 [*marked] My dear Betrothed, The above is a permanent address to which letters can always be sent during the next six months. Friends at home will please remember that 1/4 of an ounce is all that is allowed in France, Italy & Switzerland & therefore thin paper & envelopes must be used. It is not needful to use paper so thin that you cannot write on both sides easily (Miss T.S., will forward all letters from the U.S. without opening them, so do be careful, or we shall be ruined in postage! I've been waiting anxiously for Papa and Mamma's final decision. From all the other members of thefamily have said in late letters. I fear we shall not see you over here. I won't dwell on the great disappointment your not coming will be to me, for I know it will be an equally great one to you. The greatest hardship will be that the time when I shall see you will then be so uncertain. We can be faithful for a year or so more, can't we? We (Aunt Bessie & I) went to the U.S. Embassy yesterday to see about passports. Aunty took down an old passport of 1849 which describes her as being 28 years old and having "sandy" hair!! - also one dated 1866 which she never once used when she travelled that year in France & Switzerland. She also took her Naturalization papers with her, & brought them out with a flourish. Mr. Moran looked carefully & said there was no need of a new passport for her. She then asked if I should need one, telling Mr. M. that I had a p.p. in N.Y. which had been granted at the London Embassy on 1868. Down came a great book, & after running his finger down several columns he came to the right entry, took a good look at me & said "all right", & that he remembered very well my coming to the Embassy with Uncle Howard to get the passport! I've no doubt I shook when I took the oath & signed my name! Mr. M. said we needed no new p.p., that in Switz. they would never ask for it, & that in Italy if asked for, Aunty hadonly to take out her passport open it with a flourish "a spread eagle air", as Mr. Moran termed it, & all would be right. Mr. M. said that Aunt M. was down at the Embassy a few days ago & seemed in great trouble about her passport. If she opened her eyes & looked bewildered as she sometimes does - no wonder she made an impression on Mr. M.! She has not brought over her naturalization paper or her old passports, so she has nothing to prove that she is really an American Citizen. I went to dine and spend the afternoon of Tuesday with my friend Mrs Sweet - the only friend I have in London, now that dear dear Miss Durant is gone. You must know that Mrs. S. has a very odd son, whom I've seen but once & that only for a moment. Well I got to the house, & while waiting in the front drawing room for Mrs. S to appear, I heard a rustling of papers in the back drawing room, which was shut off by the curtains being drawn over the archway. I thought at once "that's Henry", & I wondered whether he or I would be most scared if we should happen to meet. He did not appear at dinner & Mrs. S. & I spent the afternoon in the garden, coming into tea at five o'clock. I've learned since that Henry Sweet was at home the whole day, but wouldn't dine or take tea with Mrs. S. & K.B. because he was too shy, insisting upon having his meals served in the back drawing room! I never knew I was so formidable, did you? It must be a little of the Kidd nature peeping out unknown to myself, whichproved so alarming! Henry S. is said to be quite learned, especially in Anglo- Saxon lore. He is now studying at home, but will soon take his M.A. degree at Oxford. I think the poor fellow must be slightly "queer in the head", he shrinks so from people. If you don't come over please don't be lazy about letters. Not that you can be complained of in that way, for you have been a model correspondent. With a great deal of love, Your faithful Pirate We are all rejoicing that Aunt Emily owns a house at last. It will be a comfort to think of her making a home of her own. Will you ask Papa and Mamma to have the 'Journal' sent to Miss Toulmin Smith's care? It's our only home paper now, & is besides, like having a weekly letter from Boston, so we don't want to be deprived of it. Don't forget my dear.[*Address all letters to Burwood Place Please post letter to Maria care Dr. B. marked - to be forwarded] Oxford Terrace Hyde Park W. March 29th,'73 My dear Betrothed, I am still hoping for the news that you are to join us. I only hope that Monday's mail will not bring me the disappointment which that of last week did. Maria can not come The expense is too much for her, & also she feels she cannot leave her parents alone for so long a time, as she think they're both aging very fast. I am very very sorry she can't come, but I trust you will not fail me. I shall feel it a great disappointment, especially as I can't goto you this summer. Since Aunt Bessie's illness, I've felt very reluctant to be far from her. She is not strong, & I should not have faith that the trip to Switz. & Italy was doing her good, unless I saw with my own eyes her improvement. The only room in Burwood Place which I regretted leaving, was poor dear Pauli's nursery - it seems pitiful that all his small life should have been changed so suddenly. Today is the boat race at Putney between Oxford and Cambridge. Streams of people on foot & in cabs, omnibuses, & every kind of carriage & cart, have been going by all the morning, every individual & every horse bearing the colour they hope will win. I am all for the 'dark blue' of course! By the by, you can't think how I've missed "Tommy"! He is safely reposing in a packing case at "Taylor's Depository". It is the first time since I've owned 'Tom' that I have been without him close at hand, & I feel a -kind of- unhappy- without him!!Our nice little servant has just got a new place, and is unhappy in consequence, for she does not want to leave us. I've been so absorbed in dressmaking this week that I've scarcely seen not hear of anything else. I wish we could find a Santo Domingo this side the sea, where one could dispense with dressmaking!! I do hope Uncle George will not go off to San Domingo & return so late that he cannot bring you over. I think if he knew how much my treasure was needed 'over the water', he would make some sacrifice to bring it me. Permanent address: Care Miss Toulmin Smith. Wood Lane. Highgate. London. N. Tunbridge Wells, Kent April 21st, '73 My dearest Alice, Aunt Marian came down here a fortnight ago, & I have been here five days. This is one of the famous English watering places, & if you were only here you should be made to partake of the Chalybeate Spring - I've not tasted it - which our landlady tells me tastes just like ink!! It is said to be good for dyspeptics. If you were only here how I should enjoy taking long walks with you! First you should be carried to the Common which lies on a hill sloping to the South-east & is just now covered with masses of golden gorse in full flower & [?] here and there a bush of White May coming into flower. You should sit under a tree on the Common & I would point-out the sights of the Wells - down in the valley at our feet lies the queer straggling town with many square towered churches; opposite us is Mount Sion (you are seated on Mount Ephraim) with its closely packed houses, to the left, Calverley Park with the houses standing in large gardens, to the right another park full of dark evergreens & other trees, & the grass looking most lovely. Away to the highest point of the Common, & there with a delightful breeze blowing, green grass below, & gorse all round you, take a good look at the wide view - a succession of downs on every side, the 'bottoms' or valleys filled with woods & quiet streams & the slopes of the hills green as green can be. We will [?] into a [quiet?]lane & gather from the hedgerows cowslips, sweet violets, the yellow dog's-tooth violet, primroses & the dear little pink-tipped daisy & many a flower besides. There are some old houses in the town, with oriel windows, queer high pitched red tiled roofs, & gables, & then there is the Pantiles. The Pantiles is a broad paved walk with trees, shops on either side, & a long covered path by the shops. Here walk the visitors, while a band plays three times every day, and the woman in the little well-house deals out glasses of the Chalybeate water to those who fancy it is to save them from all the ills of flesh. We could make many excursions. To beautiful Knowle Park, to an old English 'moated grange' called Igtham Moat, to the ruins of Bayham Abbey, to Brambletye House, (Horace Smith has written a tale about it - called "Brambletye House" which you had better read) to Bodiam Castle, to the battle-field of Hastings & historic Battle Abbey. Do you not think that an attractive list? We took a walk to some curious pine-covered rocks, with caverns below, called the High Rocks - we should doubtless have thought them well worth seeing had we not had to pay six pence apiece for seeing them. I told Aunt M. I could show her as fine rocks, as beautiful pines & as wide and fine a view from the rocks yr Uncle Bowman's farm. Do you remember our discovery of the rocks & the tree with clusters or red berries? Was that a mountain ash tree? I didn't know they grew at [ho??] Having 'done' Tunbridge Wells let me answer your last good letter. Of course I've given up all hopes of seeing you over here and, alas! also the hope of going home myself. I could not leave Aunt Bessie in her present state of health. You must not fancy her a great invalid, it is only that she has not her usual strength. Having once seen Aunty ill - I should always now, if far from her, fancy she was not well looked after. What an accusation! I to be called a flatterer! Not a bit of it Madame - it is plain or ought to be, to the dullest mind, that since the days when I told you "Beauty on a Beast" my chief object in life has been to gain your affections. Eye prescription? What do you mean? I've been beating my brains to try and find out what I could have said about eye prescriptions - and there is a perfect blank! Is it an insult? Am I quack as well as flatterer! I certainly am a "gray being" - I went to a shop to buy a blue travelling dress, & behold I came back with a gray, I could not resist my "native bent". My wig is also very grey! I really did begin to reread Motley's history, but had to break off and consign that and other favourites to a packing-case when we moved. You know we cannot take many books on our travels on account of the weight - here is my list - my journal, a pocket edition of Tennyson, Murray's guide to Switzerland and Savoy, Bradshaw's (the Betrayer) Continental guide, Ollendorff's French grammar and the key thereto & an Italian grammar. Aunt Bessie writes that when we join forces again I may [*nothing else to read, I picked it up again. Several young ladies have desired to travel with Aunt Bessie, but she would not take charge of them. I'm glad she wouldn't have them - it would have been very aggravating to have a stranger with us, when we had hoped to have you and Maria. How are you getting on at school?]expect to take daily Italian lessons, as I am also to have a daily French lesson you will see that my travelling with not be altogether a time of mere amusement. Have excited your feelings I may relieve you by saying that I have strong suspicions that it was yr cousin Rachel who sent it (the Valentine) - if she didn't, I much fear we shall have to be unromantic, and conclude some shop sent it as an advertisement!! Dear me! you are very hard to satisfy. I though Geo. Eliot had made the women decidedly get the best of it in Middlemarch. I think Mr. Brooke is a clever sketch. Tho' I will confess he would be very aggravating in private life. Whenever Aunt Bessie is in doubt about anything I favour her with quotations from Mr. Brooke - she hates it. Cruel creature, don't you feel a little compassion for poor Lydgate? I think he suffered more than he quite deserved at Rosamond's hands. Do you like Will Ladislaw? I think him a puppy & can't see what induced 'Dodo' to marry him. I've not seen one part of Middlemarch, the 5th part, so perhaps in that there is something which accounts for things - "coming about you know". Unless you mark a letter 'private' of course we all see it over here. I read your letter to Aunt Marian, & I don't see any betrayal in her having shown it to me. To any seeing it, you will owe the kind of news you care for most. Have you ever read Mrs. Gaskell's "Wives and Daughters" - if not, do read it - Molly Gibson [?] great pet of mine & she somehow always reminds me of -- my Betrothed. I've been reading this last week [?] guide, Bradshaw, and for lighter reading, Villette by Charlotte Bronte. I'd read it [bef??] But [?] absolutely [*Will you have some nice little friends to introduce me to when I got home? Take me into yr good graces & allow me just a corner in yr stoney heart. I should like to be of more value than a pen! Yr affte Pirate!! Care Miss Toulmin Smith Woodlane Highgate. London. N. Tunbridge Wells April 29th '73 My dear Betrothed, It is 8 a.m., I am writing in my bedroom and am half frozen, it is so cold, & three quarters starved because Aunt M won't get up early, & I want my oatmeal & milk! I sent the other day, a 'strictly private' note to Floy with instructions to send it on to you - let me know what you think of it. Today is to be a grand packing-day, for tomorrow we are off to Paris. By the time this reaches you we shall probably be in Lucerne &settled there for a month or two. I am going into the study of French and Italian with vigor - Aunt Bessie thinks me a plague, because I will give her the benefit of every discovery I make in either language. There is no news - we have been taking daily walks all round Tunbridge Wells, but it has been so cold that we could not sit out of doors. We actually had snow and hail showers, instead of proper April showers, but in spite of it all, the flowers and trees grow more abundant & beautiful daily. I shall meet yr rival in Paris - he is very fair, uncommonly handsome, & very fond of me, and I long for a peep at his bonnie face! Better by all means come and look after me, especially as I should like to elope with the young gentleman, & with slight encouragements he would agree to the step. It costs so much to forwardletters to Switzerland and Italy that we have settled to have all envelopes removed before Miss T.S. sends on to us - if there really is anything in letters which people must not see, mark envelopes 'private' & then they will not be opened. Tell Papa & Mamma this. We have not fear of Miss T.S. reading our letters - she is too much of a lady to do so, but we thought it would make the home people more comfortable if we made the above arrangements. I must say goodbye, Monkey, for breakfast is ready. Your very hungry, but affcte Pirate Pension Suter Lucerne. June 19th '73 My dear Alice, You see I am able to use my right hand a little. All the pain has gone, but my shoulder is very stiff & hard to move so that I can't write much at a time. I have a circular letter in hand which I hope to get ready for next week's post, but letter writing is slow work now. The enclosed came a few days ago and I send it on, as it may amuse you. Not Capt. Kiddindeed!!! Seeing that Aunt Anna herself decided on who I had been I think it is pretty of her to defraud me of my title at this late date! However, each person being at liberty to choose any distinguished individual and imagine that they are expiating said individuals sins, why I maintain that my name is Kidd. You are not willing are you to give up the title of the "Pirate's Bride".? There are but six people in the house besides ourselvesAll are English - A Miss Henry who is thought to be a great beauty - Miss Maggie Darling who has been for several years at a boarding school here, is just 18, very fair, pretty, & amiable & has "finished" her education. She can't speak German even after all her teaching, speaks French badly, & bangs the poor piano unmercifully! Miss Verdun, middle aged, amiable, a Catholic & devotes her time to endless lace-making. Mrs. Bernard & 2 little girls Lilly & Eve- the little girls are nice but I've not lost my heart to them - that was done in Paris, and a small, fair-haired, grey eyed, boy willdispute yr claim to my whole heart You'll have a full account of all our doings next week so excuse this scrap. Aunt Bessie says that D.V., I shall go home next year - isn't that good news? She also says - "You shall go home any time, if Alice will come and get you" - so my Bride, if yr patience can't hold out till '74, cross the sea, & you shall carry me off as yr lawful prize. Always, notwithstanding what may be asserted to the contrary, Your faithful Pirate & Betrothed Robert Kidd, Capt. Sea-Foam Interlaken, La Suisse Aug: 1st 1873. My dear Betrothed; I am seated in a meadow, by the banks of the fast rushing Aar, looking up the valley of Lauterbrunnen, between the Schgarigeplateau one side, & the hill called Heimwehfluh on the other, to the eternal snows of the Jungfrau. The base is covered by clouds, but the peak shows above, one glistening mass of silver. We have been driven from our Pension (which is near), by the fact that we were slowly broiling there. Thermometer stands at 88°, & yet here are we only an hour & a half & drive from three glaciers and the same number of snow peaks!! My dear, faithful little lover - how shall I ever thank you for those fifteen blue & white favours, which have followed each other so rapidly during these last three months. Those letters, dear Monkey, have been the best possible medicine for me - & to reward you, I think I shall come & claim my Bride ere many months have flown. My shoulder is still very stiff, & writing or sewing soon makes it ache. But I'm getting on, & hope soon to be rid of all these flannel jackets & shawls which are now considered necessary. So many letters have come dear Pie that I really don't know where to beginanswering them. I am delighted with yr success at school. What does having "graduated" mean? I suppose you do not regard yrself, as little Miss Darling said, as "a finished young lady"? If you have gained all you can from the High School, what will you do when Fall comes? I wish you would study French. I am sure you would like it very much, if you had a good teacher. It is no use to learn of any but a native, & a Parisian if possible. Here in Switzerland, some of the cantons speak German, some French, & some Italian; but in all, if you can speak French, you can get along easily, for everywhere, some of the people speak French. It is the language which it would be most useful for you to learn. Spanish you can study for yr own pleasure, but learn French for usefulness, & pleasure as well. I'm going in French with vigor, both because I like it, & because I desire to be able to talk freely to Pauli, if ever Heaven should restore our dear boy to us. You need not be jealous of poor dear Baby, for the love I bear him is different from that which is the right of "my first & last love". Suppose Aunt Nettie & Uncle Sam were to die & that the little ones were not under the care of their Aunts & Uncles, but somehow had fallen into the hands of people whom their parents, when living, had utterly disapproved of - how do you suppose we should all feel? Such is the fate which has somehow befallen You wish to know who 'Cousin Lucy' is? But that the said Lucy, poor dear, was from last accounts in a very sad state of health, & that I fear every mail may bring me the news that my friends is no more. I would [plague?] you about her. It is Dr. Lucy M. Abbott who always calls herself my "Cousin Lucy". Had you asked Floy about it, she would have relieved yr jealous feelings. Poor little Dr. Abbott! Aunt Ellen wrote us in May, that Lucy had gone to St Thomas, so far gone in consumption, that there was little hope for her ever returning to N.Y. I think it is a shameful thing to send people in the last stages of consumption to die away from home. We had an American gentleman at Miss Suter's, very very sick, who had been sent for his health to travel. He was so ill, after reaching Lucerne that the Dr did not think he could survive, & the poor gentlemans one desire was "not to die abroad. To live to reach home" He is better now Miss Suter writes, & very anxious "to go home, if only to die." Have you made any more discoveries which puzzle you in my journal? I am ready to explain any dark points! I purposely said little about Aunt Anna's spiritualistic doings, partly because what mostly occurred seemed mere nonsense, & partly because I wished to tantalize you.I had no idea till you told me, that Aunt Anna had be told that she "had been" an Abyssinian Princess! Very pleasant idea, is it not? How Can Aunt A believe such things! It does well enough as a matter to laugh at, but when it comes to really believing it all!!! Some months ago she was Jezabel(!) & that is why she is so much afraid of dogs!!!! You see you can be just what you choose, only be distinguished, whether for beauty, cruelty, or ugliness doesn't seem to matter! Such being the case, & the character being so strikingly like, I refuse to be anything or anybody, except Capt. Robert Kidd! - Aug. 3d A letter posted in N.Y., has just come from Uncle George, telling us that he was to sail in the Abyssinia on July 19th! So he must be in England at this moment! Was there when I wrote the sentence to that effect in the early part of this letter! He is to make but a short visit this time - 3 months he says. We expect to see him about the 25th. Shall probably remain here till he comes, as this is a good point from whence to make excursions into the Oberland. Mme Kidd I am wrathful, very wrathful, justly displeased with you Mme! Who may I ask is Captain Paul Louis? Who is he that dares interfere with my rights. Let him beware how he offend me further! It is only just that you inform him with whom he will have to reckon; otherwise poor man, he'll be taken at an unfair advantage. Even Pirates you see, have a sense of honour. If he be a Naval Capt. we shall meet on fairer terms, & I hereby challenge him to a trial of seamanship - place of meeting - off Squibnocket; - time the equinoctial gale. Further particulars to be settled when we meet. Let him understand this, tho' - under no circumstances, will I surrender my right to yr hand & heart. Yr letter of July 7th has just come. Wretched Paul Louis! I believe it is he who has tried to instil[l] doubt of me in yr youthful bosom. All his arts are of no avail however. You may tell him so with my compliments. The compliments of the late & present distinguished individual, known as Capt. Kidd. I do believe in Woman's Suffrage. I don't think Uncle G. so utterly disbelieves in W.S. as he would have us imagine. You know that in England, women who [have] are unmarried or [pay] are widows & pay certain taxes, have the [write] right to vote at all elections for municipal officers, tho' not for Members of Parliament. Well. I once heard Uncle G. say that he did notobject to women in such positions voting - but he thought it would very mischievous to have such a right given to uneducated women, & that if he had has way, there should be the same limitations to the right of [the] men to vote. So you see, he is not quite as bad as you thought. Maria, in one of her last letters, speaking of the [way] corruption revealed by the last session of Congress, asks - "Do you believe in Women's voting now? What do you think of politics, when such things can be?" I reply that I shall vote the first chance I get, & because some men have proved themselves scamps, it by no means follows that all politicians are so. So, if Paul Louis hoped to deprive [you] me of yr hand, why, he'll just find himself mistaken. (did he try to make you distrust my principles? Now Pic, I want to know what are the plans for yr attending school when the holidays are over? Do you take drawing lessons? I have longed so much since being in this lovely land, that I could draw. Of course to make the work interesting you must have a good teacher. I'm sure you would learn to draw very well, & think how pleasant would be the mementoes of yr travels which you would thus be able to carry away with you. I've not done anything about that Xmas story, because of my unlucky illness, but I've thought of it a good deal. When all my debts, in the way of letters, are duly paid, I may be able to do something. Have you done anything about yr part? I wonder whether Floy had stirred about her part yet? Poor little Anna! I have been so grieved at her long illness; but I thought she was getting better, that the Doctor had not given up hope. Now comes yr letter telling me that the poor little soul has gone home. It is a terrible blow for yr Aunt Sarah & for Emma, who seems to have been a most devoted nurse. I hope all the anxiety & fatigue, now that the motive for keeping up in gone, will not make Emma herself ill. Is not yr cousin Clara Barlow with you? Maria wrote me, thatClara would probably go to Boston soon. Now Monkey, attend to my sage advice. - As the Cholera is about & you being so subject to dysentry might take it more readily than others; do be very cautious about what you eat. Be prudent about dressing also. Suffer a little from heat, rather than make many changes in warmth of yr clothing. Think what it would, if anything happened to you! If I grieve over the loss of dear Miss Durant, whom I knew for little more than two years, what would it be to lose my pet of sixteen years, the truest & most faithful of Betrotheds. So take heed of yourself, for the sake of, Yours devotedly, Capt. Robert Kidd. [*Aug. 5th. Just had a line from Uncle G. He arrived safely at L-pool on July 29th, after a good passage.] Pauli. If dear Miss Durant could for ten minutes step back upon earth, & see into whose hands Pauli has fallen, it would first nearly break her heart & then would come the order - "Send him back to England, instantly, to Doctor". To see her dear little adopted child whom she cherished so tenderly, being brought up just as she would not have it for the world. They teach him to do & not to do things by telling him - "that is like a girl" - "only girls do that & this" - "Pauli must do this because he is a man, a girl (!) would do that". My one prayer is that light will break in upon the darkness in which his French guardian is at present dwelling, & that Baby will come back to us ere he is utterly spoiled. I love him so dearly that I can't bear to think of my darling turning out anything but a great and good man. He'll be very handsome, & being very sociable also, I fear unless he is very carefully brought up, he'll be led away by those he is with for the time being. If he fell into good hands, well, if not -- better have lost him when a mere child than live to see that day. I'm afraid you'll be tired of all this. But, as yourself said in a late letter, "if I write at all I must write just as I'm feeling" - something to that effect. I shall be glad to know how Alice Earle's fate was decided. Did she have to return home or has the needful money for continuing abroad been found? It seems such a pity when a girl has a real talent of that kind that she should not have the means of cultivating it. I remember now about that prescription. I meant, that if Mamma would only let you join us here, I was sure it would be the very best kind of medicine for yr eyes!! Come at the eleventh hour & try it! Come with Uncle George, who is always coming but never arrives. We hear one thing from one person, one thing from another about Uncle G's crossing this year & we are by no means sure that he is not at this very time in England!! There is to be a wedding in the family. Prick up yr ears (?) & guess who is to be undone. Do you fear that I am faithless? Perhaps I've fallen in love with the life of a shepherd on the Rigi, & mean to set up a crook & and Alpine horn & take up an abode in a Chalet (dirty holes!) somewhere on the Rigi Kulm, whence I can view endless snow peaks at sunrise, gaze down upon that lovely lake of Lucerne, & lie watching my charges with those dear lovely blue gentians all around me. It is Maria Rogers, the 2nd of the sisters, who is to become Mrs Morton, on the 19th of August. She is 24. Edward M. is 21. They have been engaged four or five years & are said to be a most devoted couple. The wedding is to be very quiet & the honeymoon to be spent at the English Lakes. They are to live near Abercarne So I suppose Mrs. Rogers is very happy in the prospect of daughter no 1 establishing herself. Private Pension Clos du Lac. Clarens. Canton de Vaud. Sep. 23 1873 My dear Bride, The more I think of that enclosure, the more troubled am I by its contents. Uncle Sam, in a late scrap to Aunt Marian says that Floy has been enjoying her summer trip & he "guesses a little flirtation also". I've been rereading yr last two letters & the conviction comes over me that the great mischief was done during the holiday. Was it so? Well, in my last I asked you many questions wh. I expect answers to so I won't trouble you with more now. Of course, all in good time, & to a suitable person we should have been glad to see F. married. But to have her at 17 "engaging" herself is foolish, & altogether aggravating. Yesterday I took my first lesson in rowing. Uncle G. got a boat, & Aunt Bessie & I got in, Aunt M. declaring she should prefer to walk into Vevey. We took to the water & Aunt M. went by road. It was a dull day & clouds hanging so low that we would see nothing of the mountains on the other side the lake so the best thing on such a day was to be onthe water. Aunty wished to row, so Uncle G. gave her an oar. She did very well indeed. I watched her with some fear, remembering that the last time I trusted myself in a boat with her at E. Greenwich Conn: she took me round & round, & kept our landlord dancing with excitement on the pier & regretting as he afterwards told us, that he had not "tied the boat by a long rope to the pier, so that he could pull us in". A 43-minutes pull brought us to the first landing at Vevey, & there Aunt B. got out to join Aunt M. in the town. Uncle G. was to pull down a quarter of a mile further to the marketplace & there meet them. He pulled well out into the lake, & then asked me if I should like to try an oar. My first attempt, as I put all my strength into it, resulted in a grand splash & a pulling of the boat half round, as Uncle G. was doing nothing except looking on. However after a few hints I began to do better & greatly to enjoy it, & Uncle G. after asking if I had ever tried to row before, & finding I had not, said I had done "very well", & very soon should row as well as he did. No Aunts appearing on the Marketplace pier, we pulled out into the middle of the Lake & began rowing up &down on the clear blue water. Uncle G. stood up to show me how the Venetian Gondoliers row, & I told him that if Aunt M. were on the pier she would be in an agony, fearing an upset. Looking back, we beheld two black figures, & Uncle sat down & hand me my oar, to pull to the pier. Aunt B. was to pull with Uncle G. on the way home. Suddenly Uncle G. said I'll show you how the Gondoliers row, & stood up for the purpose, but Aunt M. said in such a very pathetic voice "Don't George don't. You'll throw us all into the Lake", that Uncle G. had to desist. Aunt B. wouldn't give me a chance to row home; she said I should hurt my shoulder. However, I privately resolved to remain in the boat after we had landed Aunt B. at our house, & then have an oar as far as Clarens where we must take the boat. so I did; but the pull was a hard one, as we pulled against the stream - I suppose we got into the current of the Rhone which flows into the Lake of Geneva not far from here. I've only tried one oar yet, but hope to have another pull in a day or two, & try with both the oars. When I come home next summer you must let me row with you. I believe you like rowing, & I'm sure it is famous exercise.[W?] would develop a "fine "torso" as Bulwer is fond of saying. Have you read Bulwer's last story "Kenelm Chillingly"? Read it by all means. One of the Chillingly's has a strong likeness to a friend of ours. Let me see if you will recognize the individual I mean. Some of the speeches are really so like what one would expect from our friend, that Aunt Bessie & I had a hearty laugh over them, & almost expected to see ___ appear before us! You know perfectly the individual I mean. Also I've read lately, Bulwer's "Last Days of Pompeii" - as we are to visit the place, of course all relating to it is of interest. How I wish you were to be with us this winter, but perhaps a few years later a visit to Europe would be of more value to you. Study French hard - it will be of so much service to you in travelling on the Continent - I hope you will have a good French teacher. I've been very lucky in those I've had. Mlle De Janon & Prof. De [L'Ouest?] Poor old Prof. - I wonder whether he is still alive, & how many times he has told pupils since my day, that he will "himself hang" in dispair at their blunders. [?? to listen to som??] one of use has discovered in the guides & perhaps getting out the map to study up a new route. It is very amusing and a great occupation for our evenings. My love to Edie. I am so glad you have her with you. I expect to learn what E. [???] [?] to a good tenant, store our furniture, & in May leave London for Switzerland. Spend six months in " [Switzerland] and the winter and spring in Italy!! Does not that sound almost too grand to be realized? It seems hardly possible it can come about, yet everything tends that way. The one thing needed to make the plan perfect, is that you should come withof seeing my Bride will be granted me. I think tho', ten years of devotion ought to count in my favour! We meant first to go by way of Belgium, but now we go via Paris. I am glad it is so settled, for I shall see my darling Pauli, and I cannot tell you how I long for a light of the dear little face. If only his French friends had not Miss Durant [??] for, naturally, he would have been in "the Ark of refuge", as his lost guardian called our house, & would have remained with us. Today comes a letter from Aunt Ellen dated Jan. 18th & enclosing one from you to me, dated Dec. 31st! We (Aunt Bessie I mean), have asked Mrs. Rogers whether she Pension Clos du Lac Clarens, Canton de Vaud. Sep: 14th.. 1873. My beloved Bride. My first thought when I woke this a.m. was "It is Alice's birthday". Many, very many, happy returns of the day my darling, and may I be at home to make the wreath for the 17th anniversary! I wonder who made the wreath for you this year? Was it of golden-rod & purple asters? Those seem yr special flowers. Since Uncle George gave me an acct. of all my dear American piccaninnies I've longed to see you more than ever - if that be possible. To be told that you are all "growing out of knowledge" is not pleasant. He said many kind things of you all, even of Nina, but the remark most pleasant to the ears of a Lover was this: - It is no harm to repeat it, and it is only confirming what I've long believed. - "Alice will make an uncommonly nice woman". Uncle George confessed that both Aunt Emily's little ones were nice, but on the whole, Nina 'suited' him best!!I snub them both! I read yr letter at the supper table of the Aeschi hotel. Opposite me sat five nice boys out for their holiday. All Germans & very gentlemanly. The eldest 18 - youngest 14. Reading yr letter & chuckling, I looked up & seeing those five faces, thought 'Ah. Wouldn't Floy be happy & in her element if she were here'. The difference of language might have been a slight barrier, but to be overcome as I know by experience. Yes my Bride, I who have been preaching, carried on a furious flirtation with a young man, at that very table! Young man of six summers, & bore a sickly but decided likeness to my Pauli. The way in which we smiled & ogled at each other, was amusing, & his removing his hat to me when I met him about the house or garden, could only be excelled in grace, by my darling himself. "Two College Friends", came duly to hand. Thank you very much for it. I like it greatly. I've already read it three times, laughed over some parts, & cried over others. Yes, Pic, the last part did harrow my feelings, as much as ever you could desire! Why did you choose that particular book? Do you wish to keep alive my patriotism? No need of it for such a purpose, If it had been possible to make anthat Aunt Nettie desires it, & so the young lady is going. Has she said [a] anything about going to you? If you are to go to college it is a pity you can't go at the time Floy goes. Between ourselves, I think Floy needs you, or will when at Cornell, as a sort of mentor. You say yr wise lectures went in at one ear, and out at the other, however by persistence you might make an impression on Miss Flo. Maria has been to the dear old Vineyard - says Mrs Stewart's house is newly painted & papered, & Mrs S. living all alone there. You remember Lina & Florence Ripley, Miss Jemima's nieces, don't you? Those two nice girls who came yearly from New Bedford? They both were at the Vineyard & each had a beau!! Lina is 20 - it seems hardly believable! Did I tell you that Frances said it was odd to think of Dolly Bathgate as being married, and that before we knew it 'Floy & Alice' would be doing the same? Floy maybe; but Mme Kidd, is to be "an uncommonly nice woman", & therefore has work before her, & I've faith that one of these days I shall feel proud of the choice I have made. You are bound not to disappoint my 'great expectations'. Can't you buy paper such as this, for writing to me? The weight of letters to & from Switzerland has been increased to half an ounce, so don't torment yrself by using such thin paper. Only don't go to the other extreme & send us paper as thick as a board, as some English friends do, & so cause us to pay on their letters - that being aggravating & stupid. You will get a shower of circulars from me all about the same time. I got Rachel to post my first circular, but she had a mistake & so it has been needlessly delayed. With ever so much love Yr faithful Pirate Lover, Robert KiddClarens. Sep 21st Your letter of Sep. 5th, with "strictly private" enclosure has just come & been read. I did read the enclosure. I almost wish I had not. What does it mean? Surely Floy, a child of her years, is not engaged to be married? Who is the young man? - does Uncle Sam or Aunt Nettie know of it, & what do they say? Have you seen the young fellow who imagines himself, or whom Floy imagines, to be her engaged husband? What is he like? What's his name? Where did they meet? How long ago was the folly committed? Have either of the the slightest sense of the seriousness of what they have pledged themselves to? How old is the Creature, what his work, where does he live, & in short, I wish to know all about him??? One thing my dear Pet, - don't you consent to being the sole person to whom Floy shall impart the fact of an engagement. Her parents ought to be told by her first. - I trust she has told them? If it is a silly business - it can scarcely help being silly - why they are the only people to help her out ofa difficulty. Perhaps it's all a mistake, & will never come to anything. Perhaps she'll think herself "engaged" half a dozen times & to different creatures, before she is actually married. It is not past hope I suppose, that the young lady will wait till she is 21 before being "undone". Oh! that Floy would take warning from Frances" remark, which I quoted to her in a late note, - that is also past hope I fear. Your enclosure has made me as cross as a bear. I'm so disappointed. Don't break my heart Pic or disappoint me as Miss F. has done. You need not tell Floy what I say. Floy is Floy; - & I suppose we must accept her as she is. We are looking for Uncle George today, from Turin. This fills my postage, so I can only say good-bye. Yr Betrothed Dreadful thought - it is not the fat man at Concord who has caught F.? Relieve my mind by answering this at once.Clarens. Sep. 28th. Your postscript of Sep 6th & your letter of Sep 18th came together just now. Of course I should say nothing to Floy about - well I suppose I must call it, her - engagement. How very strange & altogether unbelievable it seems! Floy, who but yesterday as it were, I tended as a baby, to be thinking that in two or three years time she may marry! You must let her know that you have told me. I shall never mention it to her, unless she first speaks of it to me. You didn't suppose Pie that I would write to Floy anything that could hurt her feelings in the least? I love her far too dearly to hurt her but she has hurt me. Your letter implies that she did not wish to have me told, & the feeling that she wishes to keep such an important event in her life from my knowledge does indeed pain me. Mind, I've no wish that she should confide in me, if she has not told her parents. If, as from yrlast, I have reason to fear that she has not consulted her parents, do my dearest, urge her to at once tell them. If the gentleman (I hope "he" is a gentleman), is for any reason not a proper person for Floy to marry, why Uncle Sam & Aunt Nettie will know how best to help her out of any trouble. If he is everything that he ought to be why then then they can meet openly & learn to know each other thoroughly, as people should, who are to spend their lives together. Tell Floy that it will make me happy to be told by herself (on conditions given above), & that whatever she writes, shall be held sacred from all eyes, but my own. Dear Floy! She need fear no teasing on the subject from me - such matters are far too serious for joking about. After all, if the "He" is suitable, it may not be such a silly business. [after] Here is yr cousin Maria Roger married to Edward Morton - and they were engaged when Maria was only sixteen!!! But then they waited 8 years, & saw a great deal of one another.I was 17 when I wrote the letter you mention! It seems a very long long time ago. Dear me, how well I remember that Autumn of '64! It was then war time, & Mr. Lincoln's reelection coming on, & I was a furious little politician. Politics, even in Miss Haine's fashionable school, & tho' she did her best to keep war-talk out of the school, sometimes proved more interesting to the girls than their usual talk about beaux. When they did talk about beaux how I marvelled at them! The only men I had any interest in wore blue coats, & not any single individual interested me, but only the mass of "our boys", & "the Army". You need not tell what I am about to say - Uncle G. does not like his remarks to be brought to his notice. A day or two since he & I were talking to Clarens meaning to go for a row if we could get a boat - we had a little talk on the way. I asked him when he should start for home. He said the middle of October. I then told him that next July I should go home probably. Uncle G. "Do you mean to the U.S.?" K.B. "Certainly, England is not "home". U.G. "it seems to me it makes little difference which sidethe water one is." K. "I think it makes all the difference in the world". I don't believe Uncle G. is as indifferent to his country as he tries to make out. At any rate, in his manners, his way of looking at things, & all his experience of life, he is unquestionably American. I think when one owes so much to a country, it is mean not always to stand up for it - especially when you are abroad. We are not perfect by any means, but we are working in the right direction, & not for all the beauties of Switzerland, Italy or England, would I give up my right to the name of an American. So you see I'm Yankee to the back bone! Oh! Pic, if you only would come over next spring!! I certainly shall hope to see you, but as to my having any expectation of that hope being realized - that is another matter. Come if you can. Don't I wish Floy could come also - it would do her lots of good. Yours in great impatience for answers to all my questions. Ever faithfully yrs. Kidd [*Who is Capt. Louis? that duel shall take place without fail. I'll come over purposely. Let him beware!]There was a remark for Uncle George to make! We have just had a letter from him, dated Vienna, which letter will in the course of time find its way across the Atlantic. He has given ten days to Germany, or rather Bavaria, & Austria. He is now supposed to be in Italy, & in a week or ten days we shall see him here. We don't expect him to remain more than a day or two, after which I suppose he'll go to Aunt Anna, & so home. I've sent yr letter, asking who you were in 'former life', to Aunt Anna, & await with some curiosity her reply. Should she send the answer to you direct, be sure you let me know the result. I had a hearty laugh over yr last letter telling of the '[howling?] Methodists' & that monkey Floy's flirtations. Luckily you carried her off to enjoy the mountains & away from stupid young men. It is very ridiculous of Miss Floy to do such silly things. I only wish I had her here! I'd like to see the young man who would dare attempt a flirtation with Miss F. under my nose! Shouldn'tEnglishwoman of me, I should have been brought over before the war - I didn't live through all that struggle to turn traitor at this late date. Aunt Bessie has read the book, & says, "boys don't treat their Professors with the freedom the book describes - nor do boys ever become so entirely devoted to each other as Tom & Ned". I don't know much of boys, but I must say I felt as if it were all natural enough. Have I not found in you, my 'Tom'. I don't flatter myself that I am a second 'Ned', but can sympathize with him. Knowing how you are regarded, Mme Kidd, you'll please be careful of yrself, and at once cease consuming so much -- salt. Ere this reaches you, you will be suffering from a daily dose of Latin a la Continental. What reason is given for adapting the Continental pronunciation? I think it is somewhat a vague term, for if each nation pronounces Latin according to the rules of its own language, why should you not follow the English rules? & which of the Continentals are you supposed to be following? Do you think Floy cares in the least about going to Cornell? I can't find out that she wants to go very much herself, only 156 Via Quattro Fontane 4opo Rome Dec. 4th 1873 My dear Bride; The something wh I have to tell you about Floy is this - In a letter just received from Maria, she says "You know Floy used to correspond with the Tilton twins at M.V. & still continues it I was told last summer. Someone, I cannot remember who it was, whether Mrs. Susan Mayhew, the Vincents, Mrs Stewart, or Miss Jemima, asked me if Florence wasn't to be married! I laughed at the idea, replying I knew nothing about it, and did not believe it. The individual, whoever she was, felt sure she had heard something about it!!!" Of course Pic it is clear F. had written to the Tilton girls about the silly affair. I judge, but of course can't be sure, that she told them before you went to the mountains together. I know one of the twins write to F that she was "engaged", & so I suppose our F. thought she would be even with them! Would that she (F.) would take warning from Frances Alofsen, who thinks she would have been wiser to have married later in life. Frances is very happy but thinks that girls ought not to marry too young. Leon [Gerkein?] is a year old. Think of Frances having a child of that age! She is a good little mother - it is pretty to read her letters to Aunt M. telling of the household in Arnhem. Having hear a report that Floy is engaged, from a third person, I consider I've a perfect right to write to the young lady herself and ask what it means. Of course, not letting her know that I've156 Via Quattro Fontane 4opo Rome Dec. 4th 1873 My dear Bride; The something wh I have to tell you about Floy is this - In a letter just received from Maria, she says "You know Floy used to correspond with the Tilton twins at M.V. & still continues it I was told last summer. Someone, I cannot remember who it was, whether Mrs. Susan Mayhew, the Vincents, Mrs Stewart, or Miss Jemima, asked me if Florence wasn't to be married! I laughed at the idea, replying I knew nothing about it, and did not believe it. The individual, whoever she was, felt sure she had heard something about it!!!" Of course Pic it is clear F. had written to the Tilton girls about the silly affair. I judge, but of course can't be sure, that she told them before you went to the mountains together. I know one of the twins write to F that she was "engaged", & so I suppose our F. thought she would be even with them! Would that she (F.) would take warning from Frances Alofsen, who thinks she would have been wiser to have married later in life. Frances is very happy but thinks that girls ought not to marry too young. Leon [Gerkein?] is a year old. Think of Frances having a child of that age! She is a good little mother - it is pretty to read her letters to Aunt M. telling of the household in Arnhem. Having hear a report that Floy is engaged, from a third person, I consider I've a perfect right to write to the young lady herself and ask what it means. Of course, not letting her know that I'veheard anything from you about the matter. I shall mention it as a report. I tell you of it, that you may be able to say I had written you about such a report, in case F. comes down on you and accuses you of betraying her. I shall wait to hear from you, in answer to this, before writing to Floy. What did you finally do about that funny affair with Harry Spofford? He must be, I think, more touchy than even boys of his age usually are! If he needs a certificate as to you character for treatment of yr friends I shall be quite ready to write it. It would certainly make him ashamed of his ridiculous over-sensitiveness. How did the composition strike the teachers? I think you ought to read it to Mr. Phocius Fisk! Have you done anything about yr Xmas tale? I've done nothing except plan mine out - not a single word committed to paper! Mostly due to laziness, but part to rheumatism & brochitis, & part to the fact that 6 to 8 hours per days of sight seeing isn't good for correspondence or writing tales! I sent yr letter about yr former doings to Aunt Anna - she was much gratified to have it sent, as she is with all yr letters wh I can make up my mind to send to her. I can't make up my mind to part with any of yr letters, so always request that they may be sent back to me. Aunt A. in returning yr letter "asked what you meant by say that she had said - "Kitty was Capt. Kidd!!'' Very queer of Aunt A! The truth is she has chosen to bestow my name on someone else, so poor I must be turned nameless into the world, and simply be told that I was "some buccaneer or pirate". I shall not forget the morning when sheannounced that I was Capt Kidd tho' she seems to think that name belongs to someone else. I refuse to be anything but Robert Kidd - the character is so singularly appropriate! This a.m. we were talking of Henri IV of France and Aunt M. saw his 2nd wife, Marie de Medici, was a daughter of Catherine de Medici, who I told her was not the case, it being his first wife, Margaret of Valois, who was Catherine's daughter and a great scamp the said Margaret was. I said that a great deal of what I did not like about Henri IV, might be laid to Margaret's door, for she was such and infamous woman that no husband could endure it. Whereupon Aunt E. said that Aunt A. considers herself who -- Catherine de Medici!!!!!! A pretty [bit?] of characters we have in the family! I think yr idea of collecting materials for Mamma's biography is capital & that she should review it is also good. It is good to see that you really sympathize heartily with Mamma's work, and are "proud of being Lucy Stone's daughter". I know you to be a Betrothed, and better still a friend, "in a thousand", and some day you know, you are to be 'an uncommonly nice woman." You are certainly a model correspondent, and I have treated you very shabbily indeed. Have you ever read a tale called "Dr Antonio" written by J. Rufini? Last February I was reading Dr Antonio one evening seeing Aunt E. rather forlorn I suggested that I should read it to her. She agreed. Aunt M. thought reading aloud a nuisance, but she soon became interested. London was just then so full that the descriptions of the lovely Riviera seemed uncommonlyattractive & we all longed to be off to sunny Italy. I collected together all Uncle G's Bradshaw and Murray's guides to Switzerland & Italy & we all fell to studying them. So, it was Dr Antonio who sent us to Italy. He never gave a better prescription in his life! Read the book and I think you'll be as much in love with the Dr as I am. Miss Toulmin Smith writes that the little book you sent has arrived safely. She will keep it for me, as the Italian office is not to be trusted with book packets. Dec 6th: Uncle G's letter telling us of his safe arrival in Boston, and describing his meeting you in the street and yr "doing the honours" of the house, has just come to us Via Boulogne-Sur-Mer. Aunt A. is still at the Marine Residence, but means to return to Paris the end of this month. I am not allowed any more paper, so will only add: a Merry Christmas to you all! It will be almost Xmas day before this reaches Boston! With a great deal of love Yr faithful Pirate R.K. I think Grant ought to summon me home to fight the Cubans - the Pirate Kidd is the right sort of person to be sacrificed in such a struggle. [*the enclosed is an advertisement taken from a Russian paper. I thought you might like to study Russian as it seems to combine something of all languages]156 Via Quattro Fontane 4opo Roma Dec 25th 1873 Mia congratulazione Cara Floy, e Cara Alicia; I think this Italian greeting for the new year is very suitable, & it so nearly resembles the English words, that it is needless to translate it. I think there are many prospects for the year to come, & some things in the year wh is leaving us to congratulate ourselves upon. I can see nothing to prevent my going home in the Spring, but it has so often been put off, that till my passage is engaged, I shall not feel quite sure. I wish to return by the Siberia in which I sailed from N. York, but Aunty protests against my being teased by Capt. Harrison. The Siberia is one of the best little Cunarders, has deck state-rooms, and land'sat Boston. I'm always liable to have the ship changed to New York as Uncle G's ship, the Parthia was changed from N.Y. to Boston. Most likely I shall pay the Abercarner's a visit before sailing. I feel quite anxious to see the girls again, & I know Rachel is hoping I may come. If Gracie will please let Floy send Alice my note to her, it will save my writing a 2nd acct. of the Xmas eve doings in San Pietro. We have thought of you many times today, & now while we at 8 p.m. are sitting writing & reading in our parlour, we think of you as just about finishing dinner! I hope you had a plum pudding - we poor exiles from English-speaking lands, have not had that mark of the day. It has not seemed a bit like Xmas! We miss the family gathering, the sight of the merry groups of boys and girls home for the holidays, the gay things in the shops, the holly, and we miss, at least Aunt Bessie and I do, even at our advanced age, the -- plum pudding! I don't think we ever did without it before & our experience has not pleased us. Aunt B. & I wanted to go to a restaurant on the Pincian hill, from whence you have a magnificent view over Rome & some of the hills of the Campagna. Aunt M. threw cold water on any project for getting any special dinner for the day, saying she didn't care about it, so of course, Xmas day of all the days of the year, we couldn't go off by ourselves to dine. Therefore we dined at a French restaurant in the town, Aunt M. making her meal of a plate of soup & slice of bread! Forlorn Xmas fare that! I had one present from Aunt B. of a breast-pin of Roman mosaic, with a dove and olive branch in the centre - very suitable for the day, was it not? We went to San Pietro this a.m. expecting to hear high mass performed by a Cardinal but found that several services were going on in side chapels & also in the Chapel where Vespers were held last evening, but with this difference, yesterday there was a Cardinal, today, only a bishop. High Mass ought to have been performed in the great body of the Cathedral by the Pope with Cardinals, Bishops &c but Pio Nono chooses to consider himself the "Prisoner of the Vatican" and has not set foot in S. Pietro for a long time, so all the great ceremonials are done away with, & the great mass of the faithful in the Eternal City, never set eyes on the Pope. They will soon get used to the lack of grand processionals & Ceremonies, & if ever the Pope recover his temper & resumes the Church doings, why I'm afraid even the faithful, will not regard them with approval. One of the Cardinals celebrated Mass in the Sixtine Chapel (wh is in the Vatican), no strangers being admitted, only a few of the faithful, & the Pope not showing himself even there in his own Palace!! There were a great many soldiers attending the services in S.P., also many peasants from the Campagna, but none wore their costume. Schools of boys & girls brought in by monks & nuns made the tour of S.P., kneeling at all the shrines & all kissing St Peter's toe! In the great North Transept where are many confessionals, I saw several confessing to the priests who were shut up in their sentinel-like boxes. I was innocently walking round the N. transept, when from one confessional which I thought empty, there came from the opening in front, a very black head - I was much startled, & had it not been that I remembered in time, where I was, I should have given a shriek! I've tried to persuade Aunt B. to try a confessional that I may know what the priests say, - but, she doesn't "see it". Advises me to try! Let alone the fact that the arrangements for the penitents communicating with her Confessor wd hardly answer for a person hard of hearing, I'm much afraid I should at once betray that I was merely making and experiment & lacked the faith in the office!!! Send this on to Alice, Floy, when you write to her. The Circular, will follow with the note wh must be sent to Edie on her birthday. Love to both of you affy. Kitty