BLACKWELL FAMILY LUCY STONE 1863 Blackwell, Henry B Box 299 PO New York June 22, 1863 Dearest Lucy I have written to you fully today to Gardner fearing lest you might miss it, if sent to West B. I am very much better - All goes on well at home. I rec'd? your two letters from Boston - on your way to & from Aunt Hetty's - Mother is enjoying herself We sit, of evenings, & gossip about old times. Explain relatives &c - & I only wish you could be with us for I think you would enjoy Mothers tales of old times - I think of you with some anxiety & also of little Alice this cold damp weatherTry to keep yourself shes from catching cold & if anything is the matter telegraph me at once - I didnt leave home yesterday except to accompany Mother to church - With love to all & Kisses for yourself & dear little Alice believe me Ever yours HarryPrivate Box 299 P.O. New York June 22 1863 Dear Lucy Your letter from West Brookfield, dated Sunday, has just reached me - I am very sorry to hear of poor little Alice's toothache both on [afe?] of Mother & daughter but am heartily glad you had it promptly draw - Poor little child! How early the troubles of life begin & how little (yet how much too) our best love can suffice to ward them off from our loved ones - I am truly sorry to hear of little Anna's illness & much fear it is from insufficient, or unwholesome food - It is hardly possible, with such stinting of money as seems to be necessary while Harry is out of regular remunerative employment, that Sarah can command the requisite supply & variety of fresh meat necessary to keep a family in proper health - If you find this so, do try to persuade Sarah to take Anna & Emma & Father 2. & come right down with you to our house to spend the summer. If Henry does not like it let Sarah tell him that if he wants a home he must realize its responsibilities to provide proper means of health & comfort - I am just as well satisfied as can be that if Clara had been at our house with your food she would not have [?] [?ouse] in that astonishing way - People cant live very long nor very strongly on saltfish & fried & coarse vegetables - Don't show this letter to Sarah, or anyone, but burn it - I do what is best under the circumstances. So soon as you decide when you will return, please write me word by letter mail - If i were sure you were not coming home until next week, I should go to Green Pond on friday evening & stay there till Monday but if there is any probability of your return Saturday afternoon, I would not be away for $100., or every sweet consideration of body, soul & spirit - I think it is so far good for us to separate for a few days occasionally that we are so very glad to write again With love to all - believe me dear Dearest Lucy Ever your [?] Harry P.S. Tell little Alice that when she gets back she will find oceans of cherries & may climb up on the ladder into the trees & help herself. All well then even have returned the [?ing] I am all right again & hope to remain [?] P.S. Dont let that absurd Sarah give you any more money - or let her give it to you on condition that you put it back into Sarah's hands. Why should Sarah [?] on hurting my feelings? xxxxxxx xxxxxxx kisses for Lucy Kisses for Alice news - The men have gone on hoeing the corn & will get through with it this evening - Mr. [Sykes?] is today mending the box of Mrs. Kartrights's tank (which leaks again) & I hope will make a thorough job this time - the cherries are ripening with frightful rapidity - Mary gathers berries but I have had to forego them & adhere to arrow root & soup & tea for the present - I am very glad little Alice enjoyed the sail on the Sound. I hope the Mother did so too tho. with her head ache & general weariness, I fear the crowded birth must have given you but little sleep or rest & getting up at 4 am is a damnable outrage on human nature. Take a good visit with Aunt Hetty - My next I will address to you at West Brookfield I wrote you yesterday - Love to all friends - Ever yours, HarryNew York June 18.1863 Dearest Lucy your letter from Boston of yesterday has just reached me (3 pm/ & I write again to day that I am much better & hope soon to report entire convalescence - yesterday afternoon, I took the 5 _10 train home & after tea took a table spoonful of castor oil which operated during the night several times __ this morning feeling weak & lazy, I took breakfast in bed & I did not rise until 9_30AM _ at 10_30 came into the City, but am keeping quiet & shall not overexert myself_ You need not feel any compunctions at having left me, dear Lucy ! Mother & Mary provide well for me- Everything is snug & quiet, & this home is no longer home without you, I am as well off everyway as most people now on this planet_ No [*H.B.B. June 20 1863*] Congress Steam] Sugar Refinery 345 Washington St. N. Yk. June 20/63 Dearest Lucy I wrote to you on Wednesday & again on thursday last, to the care of Aunt Hetty - Yesterday I did not write - I think of you this morning as coming in to Boston with little Alice & as going to the A S Office & thence to the Worcester Depot, [or Frederickburg ditto] about 10 to 12 o'clock enroute for WestBrookfield - I have been fearing for several days that our chilly gray weather & Easterly winds would be more continuous & severe with you on the Cape & might result in giving you or Alice colds, but Mother assures me that you have taken warm clothes along - If only you have carried your trunk containing them with you & not left it in Boston ! Well - I wont feel anxious - the hard blows of Fate usually come without warning & from unexpected sources. The evilswe fear are seldom the ones we suffer! My mouth grows steadily better I se the Chlorate of Potash wash three, or four times a day + the quinine morning + night. My dose of Castor Oil has done me much good + today I actually ate beef + green peas + stewed cherries for breakfast. I am stronger + less weary + my tongue much less coated -- Altogether I am quite convalescent -- Arty & Caspar seem to work tolerably well - They have completed the hoeing corn & the planting the corn in front lot & have begun on the weeding of the garden - We have now a plenty of ripe cherries & wish all our relatives & friends could have what they want. No new Mother makes herself & me very comfortable - Mary keeps every thing snug - Mother provides plenty of meat - She usually dines with the girls & diversifies her day by excursions to their house & dining there - of evenings we sit & gossip about old times so as revive old memories & keep off the otherwise inevitable attack of theology - Mrs Kortnights tank has been leaking again - I have had Syler mend the frame & he found a hole into which one might stick a finger - I have sent word to Morris to send up his man once more & hope all will then be well - The 21st Regiment returned yesterday to Newark & Bloomfield There was quite a turn out to receive them - They were excessivily dirty & dusty & shabby, but looked brown & healthy as tho. they had not suffered from sickness - Love to all at home - Do not lame your back nor make yourself tired by hurrying the packing - Get help & take your time - What signifies a few days more or less. Tell my dear little daughter Alice that I have prepared a new story for her called - The children who went on a pic-nic & got lost on a prairie? She is to hear it when she gets home provided she has been very good & minded her mother. With truest love & good wishes dearest wifekin & a longing hope soon to see you home again I remain Ever your own Harry Fl[???] is reported as reaching home well & as having greatly enjoyed her visit to your house. Box 299 PO. New York June 22/03 Dearest Lucy, I hope this pleasant, warm day, (following two days disagreeable weather) has seen fit to extend to you also. Yesterday I rose somewhat late, read the Atlantic until church time, only stopping to gather Kitty a pail full of beautiful red cherries. Went to church with Mother, had a very fair sermon from Millerd, who is sensible, earnest & good. Yesterday afternoon John Wheeler's funeral sermon was preached but I did not go. Twice in one day would have been too much. It was said to have been a very fine discourse, to a crowded audience. Much good may it have done to the poor bereaved parents & wife! In the afternoon I gathered half a bushel of cherries for Marian which I left for her this morning, read the Standard Liberator [?] to Shofford & Frank Donaldson, from the latter I had a letter a few days ago, telling me of his new business arrangements & asking my opinion about them. The men are now plowing potatoes again. Mrs. Kertnight's ram works. Calvin Munn's org has resumed his killing of our chickens. I sent over word by Caspar that it must be stopped. Mary caught him in the act at 5.30 AM Saturday morning. I find that Anty & not Andrus was to blame about the cider. It seems that since you went the men have been helping themselves to it & Andrus found Antony in the upper lot with it in his pail, & was offered it by him. Antony with his accustomed coolness requested coffee for breakfast & again at dinner the day after you left. Mary gave it but next morning said she had none & refused to make any for him. When she saw him helping himself to cider she objected to it, whereupon he got very angry, told her to mind her own business & has not spoken to her since. Caspar too seems angry with her & says "Mary ought not to get mad with him, it is no way for her to act so." But notwithstanding all seems to go pretty well. The men take their time, but work steadily. Mary keeps everything right in the house. Mother comes & goes to Elizabeth's, looks after my breakfast & supper, & enjoys herself mightily - rides to the station mornings & nights, distributes tracts & is generally jolly. She is teaching Mary to read in fine style a lesson every morning & afternoon. Alice's primer in great requisition & rapid progress of the pupil reported. I enclose a letter from Clinton to which I have replied today authorizing a sale at $25. if it can be made. For fear of this arriving too late at West Brookfield, I send it to Gardner. Take your time dear Lucy & if you & Alice are well & happy, take another week among the old friends. God bless them all! I will keep things going & all will be the same 100 years hence, whether you return a week sooner or later. With love to dear little Alice whom I think of as my only own good little girl I remain dearest wife Ever yours Harry [*Return Baldwin's letter when you have done with it. I am much better. My mouth's almost entirely well again. I am feeding on stewed cherries.*]