Blackwell Family Gen. Corresp. Blackwell Family ANNA BlackwellCircular Paris. Nov 22/1849 Rue de Fleurus. T. Dear People, You have probably been wondering, both in Cincinnati & in Philadelphia, why these last few weeks have slipped by without bringing you any letters; but as Elizabeth, who is now very much better, has been somewhat unwell, & unable to write, I have purposely delayed doing so until now, because to have announced her illness before I could also give you the good tidings of her convalescence, would only have made you unnecessarily anxious about her. She is now so much better that I no longer hesitate to inform you of the trouble which has befallen her; the result of an accident such as can only take place in such good for nothing holes as this most unfortunate subversive little globe of ours. For the first few days after her illness began I wept almost the whole time, the next few days I spent in something very like swearing; & up to the present time have indulged in a nearly equal amount of both; but now that we can hope for the reparation of the evil, I am beginning to forgive the great laws of solidarity that so sternly link us all in one, & so frequently make the noble & the good share in the penalties of the ignoble & the evil. It appears that about three weeks ago, E was injecting the diseased eyes of a newborn infant attacked with prurient opthalmia, the worst form of eye- disease & very contagious; while injecting its eyes, a drop of the water squirted up into E's left eye; she washed it, & thought no more of it & for 3 days feltnothing amiss. But all at once her eye became inflamed, & this terrible scourge was upon her, though happily only in one eye; & as this disease spreads only from inocculation, the great care with which the well eye has been looked after, has kept it perfectly safe. When the disease declared itself, unwilling to alarm me, she simply wrote me a little message, (written with shut eyes, of course) saying that she "was in bed in the infirmary with an inflamed eye"; the note only reached me in the evening, & supposing it probably the result of a cold, I procured a lot of camomiles [??], & went down to enquire. To my great surprise, the doors, usually so impassable were all opened to me, & I was conducted at once to the Infirmary. She was propped up in bed, the eye enormously swelled, surrounded by anxious faces, & traces of leeches &c &c. It was a terrible shock, as you will all feel, to find her thus, & to hear her, unable to open either eye, say in her quiet calm way, as I took her hand, Ah Anna! is that you? I did not expect to see you tonight;- it is not a cold; it is a very decided case of prurient ophthalmia; but don't be uneasy; it is a very serious disease, but everything has been done in the best way & with the utmost promptitude & everything depends on taking it in time! I staid with her as long as they would let me; & then went up to M. du Potet to consult him, & to learn in what way I should magnetize her; it was then late at night. The next morning I saw the Director, & obtained leave of entrance - 3 times a-day; at 9, a.m. at 2 p m, & at 6 in the evening; they generally let me stay with her about an hour at a time, so that I have watched the whole affair, & can assure you of the great devotion & kindness, the unwearied care & attention which she receives. The resident physician, M Blot, the 2nd female head of the concern, Mlle Malley, have devoted themselves to her with a devotion, a generous, affectionate zeal which could not be surpassed if she were their sister. We shall be eternally their debtors. Night & day, every hour these two good beautiful people have watched & tended to her this in the most self sacrificing manner. They have had the concurrent advice of some of the most eminent doctors, but M. Blot is so thoroughly skilful that E has entire confidence in him; & I think confides in his judgment with more entireness even than in that of the others. However, they are all perfectly agreed about her case, & her treatment. As it was impossible to get a magnetizer admitted, I of course, have done my best to supply the lack, & magnetize her with all the strength I can muster 3 times a day. The first 3 days she suffered martyrdom, which she bore like a martyr; with wonderful patience & fortitude; since then, (the disease having entered a period of decline) she has suffered very much less, though the cauterizations & injections of collyrium cause her intense pain at times. She has had little or no medicine, leeches once to the temple; 1/2 the forehead painted over, for a day or two, with mercury & hellebore; every hour the eye syringed with tepid water, externally & internally, to wash out the immense quantities of matter constantly exuding; & every two hours M Blot with fine pincers, peeled off the false membranes constantly forcing over the globe. This, strange to say, hurts very little. Within the last 4 days, they eye has cleared itself wonderfully, & the swelling of the lid has diminished; she suffers comparatively very little, & sits up several hours a day. For the first week she lived on water, & a little broth once day; but since then she eats freely & has a pretty good appetite. They do their best down there, but still I do not particularly admire their style of cookery; & therefore keep up a constant importation of cutlets, fruit, &c &cat which E rather devours telling me she will grow too fat & too sensual; but it would do your hearts good to see her exceeding satisfaction with which she nevertheless appropriates the contents of my baskets & packets, & especially the way in which her favorite items, the "veal cutlet in curlpapers," contrives to vanish through her fingers, (for she can't use knife or fork at present). The worst thing about this disease is the length of time that must elapse, (sometimes 4, 5, or 6 weeks) before one can tell whether the vision will be lost or saved. If the eye is destroyed, the mischief is done in the first 24 hours; but one cannot know anything about the result till weeks after. Thus, all I can tell you, is, that everything that human skill & devotion can do, has been done; & that the appearance of the eye leads us still to hope that she may recover it. She is conscious of light, so the optic nerve is safe; & though the portion of the cornea which is mortified, is not yet detached, so that we cannot yet know how deep the injury has gone (& on this will depend the loss or the salvation of vision in the sick eye) M. Blot thinks he can detect a commencement of reformation of the cornea, which looks as though the poor eye were righting itself in its own way. On the whole the balance is in favor of this hope; and I trust that I may be able to confirm it before long, though you must all have as much patience as you can muster, for this terrible question cannot be answered affirmatively for a long time yet to come. My time is entirely occupied in going down & getting back, (6 journeys a day,) & besides the daily journey to my Kind magnetizer (without whose constant aid I could not have borne a tithe of all this fatigue & anxiety, & the exhaustion which follows my constant action upon poor E's eye so that I am occupied from morning to night; so that it is really difficult for me to find the time to write this to you; I have not an hour during the day, but am going constantly; & I am writing this by candlelight, a Sin against my my eyes wh will be expiated I trust by mother's invaluable camomile poultices, applied tonight. I must now break off, as it is time for me to set off to pay the poor dear child my last visit for today. I have a beautiful fruit pie "glace" wh I trust she will find excellent for her dinner this evening. 8 oclock. I have just finished my dinner, after returning from the Maternite, & proceed to add a few items. E has suffered very little today, was in raptures over her pie, which she begs to tell you was delicious, and is so comfortable that she will evidently have a good night. She is wakened every hour through the night to have the eye washed, but generally falls asleep between the injections. She often laughs while I magnetize her, & says "wouldn't they laugh at home if they could see us?" generally in a very sleepy voice; - to which I reply "my beloved child! if they could see the weary face so full of pain and unrest, that I find so often when I come, & the quiet smiling one, so calm & happy that I leave behind me, they would do something better than laugh; - they would thank God for the beautiful power with which he has endowed us." I have frequently found her in such excruciating pain that speech was impossible, & a paroxysm of nervous distress and pent-up feelings forcing her from her fortitude and making her weep bitterly, which causes her eye intense pain, & in five minutes, setting my whole soul into the effort, I have had her sleeping quietly, unconscious of pain. She often falls into this "natural sleep" while while I am acting; indeed the magnetic action is so evident that I feel impelled to exercise it though the effort is quite beyond my strength. The remedies that have been used are all necessary, - the most skilful magnetizer would deem them indispensable in a case where an active poison has been inocculated; but along with these should the magnetic influence be used also, to give tone to the system to calm the nerves, allay pain, & add to the sense ofthe vital forces in the eye; to give it materials for me - building the parts from which the diseased particles have been ejected. How rejoiced I am to be here; for the change of thought, the freshness of out-of-door life, that my visits cause to her, are of great service to her, by breaking up the monotony of pain & weariness, even without counting magnetism & "cutlets in curlpapers". When she was first taken ill, she requested to be removed at once to my lodgings; but they very properly dissuaded her, 1st because the removal would have taken time which, under the circumstances, could not be lost; & 2nd because the constant surgical care & aid wh were needed, could not be commanded out of the hospital. Everything is there at hand, & a corps of the most skilful nurses ever ready. She is now exceedingly glad they kept her. But just as soon as she is able to dispense with all this routine, she must come out entire change of air, scene, thoughts, diet &c will be needed to restore the tone of her system, & to build her up again. Kenyon wants her to come to England as soon as well enough, & is inpatient to come & take her back; but as her physicians seem to think the journey not advisable she will probably remain in Paris or the neighborhood. I must break off for tonight, & will finish this tomorrow, so as to give you a little bulletin at the latest possible moment, - but tonight I am so utterly wary that I really cannot add another line. Goodnight. Thursday. I am just returned from my 9 oclock visit to E; she has had a good night, & is very merry & comfortable, with an unshaken conviction that her eye will be cured. She knows the exceeding gravity of the malady, but has no idea how anxious we all are still about the result; so much depends on the state of the system generally, & on her brain remaining perfectly calm & healthy, that we do our utmost to keep her from suspecting the alarms & anxiety which any little change of symptoms creates; this is absolutely necessary, for alarm or excitement on her part would render the state of the eye utterly hopeless. The thing goes with a slowness which wd be desolating, were it not that this very slowness is the sole ground of hope; for if the portion mortified should suddenly detach itself, the probability is that the eye wd at once empty itself through the hole. - while, on the contrary, if it detach itself very, very slowly, the chance is that the eye will be able to form new membranes underneath the dead part, & so be preserved. The question is just this; will the eye have strength to form new portions quick enough to replace its lost parts, quick enough, thus to maintain its integrity? This depends, mainly, on the depth to which the mortification has extended & this cannot be known until the detachment has taken place. We had a most horrible fright about a week ago; the volume of the globe suddenly diminished, seeming to indicate that the eye was emptying itself, as indeed, it evidently was. but in an hour our two, this diminution ceased, & as it has not again recurred probably some bit of skin filled the aperature for the moment & the eye has doubtless walled it up before this. You perceive dear friends, how great is the danger & that I cannot hide from you, though the writing of what will cause such pain & grief to you all has been a most difficult & sorrowful task to me. but, along with the danger, you must remember, that the disease was taken, at the first moment of its appearance, that nothing has been [?tead] which the best skill (& there is no place on earth where surgery has made such advances as in Paris) the most entire devotion, watchfulness, care, cleanliness, & affection could effect. When I reflect that M. Flot, so admirably skilful (so devoted to all his patients, but so full of brother affection for E) has had her under his eye every hour of the time that Mme. Malley whose fingers are unequalled for skill & delicacy, has done the greater part of the washings & injections herself, that when she cd not be with E the oldest pupils (who, as E says, have the most practised hands of any nurses in the whole world) have alone touched her eye; that E has been so calm & cheerful & hopeful all through, (except at rare moments now & then, when the poor child has been excited by the pain of some special application) so that her strong constitution has full chance for healthy action, - when I sum up all this, together with the great slowness with which the eye carries on the work of detachment of dead particles, (though the eye is constantly "working & pumping & setting things to rights", as E expresses the sensations she feels in it) I feel that though the danger is hideous, infernal, terrible, still there is every ground for hope that the eye may be saved for as E remarked yesterday, "I do think, that taken all the circumstances together, there never surely was a case of this disease round which such perfectly admirable conditions could have been united." This is true, & with E's trong equable working, termperament & physique, you see how much is still to be hoped. As you, none of you, have ever seen for yourselves, the wonders that magnetism can effect in sickness, I forbear to enlarge upon that topic; those who were conservant with the matter would, nevertheless, be able to appreciate the strength which must be derived to a patient who, 3 times a day receives the earnest, entire magnetic action, which I [?] (ex)ercise on her poor eyes. I have, indeed, lost again almost all the flesh I had gained of late, in consequence of this constant outlay of vitality, but this is of no importance, I shall pick it up again when once this sad business is over. Happily for E there has been very little sickness among the pupils since she has been in the Infirmary, so that it has been pretty quiet; it is thoroughly ventilated, well-warmed with an immense woodfire at one end, & a great drum of some downstairs stone in the middle. It is a long sort of room, with immense windows furnished with curtains so as to regulate the admission of light; there are two rows of iron bedsteads, abundantly supplied with mattresses, pillows, blankets & clean sheets of coarse white linen ad infinitum; each bed being surrounded by curtains, (though open at the top, each patient can make quite a little house of her bed & the space between it & the next. E's bed is at the farther end of the room, and when I am there we generally pin her curtains across to those of the next bed, so we have quite a private little parlor. Every one is exceedingly kind to her & she is even sometimes almost tormented by the great number of little kindly-meant visits. Even the resident priest has been to see her; she can't bear him, however, so that, though she thanks him for his good intention she privately hopes he will not come near her again. It is really comical to hear the "chiefs" when they step in to make her a visit, & describe to her whatever of interest may be taking place among the women, especially when anything out of the way is going on, or some of these horrid operations so often necessary in our subversive civilization have to be performed. Great is the interest with wh the poor little doctor listens to the recital, & great the regret expressed on all sides that she should have missed such a "jolie operation; such a "cas interessant;" & then they all hope that something analogous will turn up before long, to console her with a prospect of ultimately repairing such an unlucky loss. I have just recd a letter from Howy; written in his usual odd way, but very satisfactory; he is doing very well, becoming every day more useful to our good cousin, & feeling gradually better satisfied with his surroundings. It seems Uncle B. (who is assiduously "making the agreeable" to Miss Twamley) has lectured two or three times lately at the Mechanics Institute, to the great admiration of everybody, but, as Howy opines, with especial reference to the admiration of Miss T. Howy emphatically decries being either "lazy" or "indifferent", & says the reason we don't hear from him is not because he doesn't write but because whenever he writes a letter said effusion always begins to him so "disgustingly stupid" that he "burns it on the spot." Such being the case we need no longer wonder at his frequent long fits of silence!! Howie's letter enclosed one from Harry Dome, for which & for all the pleasant news it contains, that eccentric individual will please accept my best thanks. But dear Harry, Don't imagine your idea of the "Christmas gathering of all the European Blackwells" is solely original with you; I urged the idea last spring, & it was agreed that we wd all go down to Maria's (,as she can't leave her houseful of children) & have a "rousing Christmas" there among those glorious hills. I hardly think Sam or Kenyon cd leave long enough to come here & spend it with us, though Howy is violently in favor of the plan, & is taking French lessons with great assiduity. But oh! how can I describe the shock with which we received your peremptory invitation to write for the Annual!!! When I communicated the dreadful intimation to E, bewailing the tenacity of a fate that pursues us so pitilessly across the ocean, she was aghast, lifted her hands with a "bless us! haven't we got quit of that dreadful business"? We are really somewhat in Mr Pickwick's situation, condemned "to go through the world with a dreadful undertaking that one can't get rid of"!! I don't know what we can do; if poor E occupies my time much longer as exclusively as now, the thing will be out of the question. Poor Marian, we are exceedingly grieved to hear of her illness, though we hope the attack has gone by; her house keeping arrangements we very much admire. Has Emily got a situation? E wishes very much that she cd be studying here with her; & I, when I remember the many beautiful things here, thrown open so generously to strangers, & which I am not well enough to avail myself of, wish heartily that some of you were enjoying them in my place. The Louvre is such a heaven of art & beauty, & Ellen, if she is in earnest in painting, wd luxuriate so in its treasures. It is very cold; we shall soon have snow, I suppose. A fortnight ago, Mrs Crowe author of the "nightside of nature", & translator of the seeress of Brevorst, was at M du Potet's Sunday meeting. We got quite acquainted, she is an earnest warmhearted Scotch woman, most warmly interested in E's plans as she has seen them spoken of in the papers, & gives us a cordial invitation to visit her in Edinbro'. I got an autograph out of her for Mrs Alofsen. I have also seen Dr Ollendorff of blessed invention & shall squeeze an autograph out of him for Mrs A! As to the folly of fighting for the truth, please to remember that it is not the democrats of Europe who wage the war. it is the old dynastic absolutist party who are terrified at the spread of the new humanitary faith, & make war everywhere upon the democracy. England does not wish to go to war, but she cannot abstain from it if Russia perseveres. I give England no particular credit for humanity in this conjuncture; for she has just done on a small scale in the Ionian Isles, exactly what Russia & Austria have done a large scale in Hungary & in Italy, but if the two ideas, the old & the new, must fight with weapons of steel, I have no fear for the result. It is terrible that when a peaceful solution of the questions now agitating the world, might so easily be had, that men will fill the earth with carnage; but if the struggle must be waged in the material sphere, if the brutal cruelty & blind pride of the absolutists & obscurantists, will not suffer the spread of liberal ideas, but imprison, fine, hang, shoot, & exile those who adopt them, if the fight must come, in Heaven's name let it come, & GOD speed the right! However we feel about the matter, however, I think that no one, even superficially acquainted with the current of events, can doubt that Europe is on the eve of a universal fight, a struggle not of armies only but of populations; the most fearful, deadly, exterminating struggle that the world has ever known. As to this fool of a President, he seems to live under a spell, all he does & all he does not do, is equally fatal; the struggle of parties in the Assembly is more violent than ever, & another crisis is coming rapidly on. The constant spread of socialism, which all the persecutions of this year have strengthened, frightens the conservatives to such a degree that they forget their quarrels to make common cause against it; but party spirit has again divided them, & some catastrophe must soon follow their selfish intrigues. The next elections will certainly give a majority to the socialists if no change occur before then; but the present state of things is so utterly unstable that it seems impossible that it can last. I send this, as a circular, first to our Philadelphia friends who will please forward it forthwith to Cincinnati - & I beg you home-people to forward it to Maria, without loss of time, as she will be wondering why I do not write to her. The truth is, dear Maria, I literally have not the time, & shall be obliged, I fear, to wait for yr next letter before I can write you. I must now break off, as I am in the point of going down to E, for whom I have had a most lovely stew I prepared, of the very best beef, & vegetables, of which she is very fond, & my letter must now be closed & mailed. E has a letter from the E's - as yet unopened. She sends her love to them & to all of you. I hope, before long, to continue to scrawl you a few words of greeting! Good bye, with love to all, & kind regards to all friends, yrs affectionately Anna. Paris Rue de Fleurus 1 Dec 5/49 Circular (Put a sheet of white paper under this, & you will read it easily) Dear People, Since my last, Elizabeth has been going on well. Nearly all the mortified parts of the cornea are fallow, and as there has been no further symptom of the eye's emptying itself, we hope that that danger, so much dreaded by her doctors, has passed. The eye is vastly clearer of matter; the lids are much less swollen, there is a little circle of the iris visible, a round ring, not much broader than a hair, still of the normal color, & entire, it will doubtless be broader in a few days. The pupil is [still] now almost entirely covered by transparent asperities, which are at present, the principal source of uneasiness. They hardly know what they are. She can perceive the light, when the lid is raised, but this is all, and we are still in utter uncertainty with regard to the final state of the eye. But the danger of losing the eye itself, may, I think, be considered as past; I think there is now every probability that the eye will remain entire; it will, of course, be red & frightful for a long time, but that will pass; & it is an immense gain to be spared the loss of the eye, even should the vision be destroyed. Wearing glass eyes, spectacles, &c, is such a horrid & troublesome business. It is not at all certain, however, that the vision is destroyed; on the contrary, there is great room to hope otherwise; simply, nothing can yet be known about it. She uses the other eye a little, though she cannot open it very wide, nor can she see with it very clearly, as it sympathizes, inevitably, with the sick one. She has contrived to read the two letters recd from Philadelphia. & next week, will probably be able to write a few lines to certify you all that she is still in "the land of the living." It is a terribly wearisome business, & she has occasional fits of desperation at this long cruel detention; but in the main she is a model of patience & fortitude, cheerful & hopeful; she does a good deal of occasional laughing, & would do more if it were not bad for the eye. But this business goes on so desperately slowly, that I fear she will not be out by Christmas. By the way, she says she soon altered her mind about writing for the Annual, & does not intend to torture her brains in any such way; she charged me, this afternoon, to tell you this with her love. I assure you also, that it will be utterly impracticable for me to write anything; the utmost I could do would be to hunt up something or other among my old things; but even these are in England, so you see I am as empty of the possibility of doing anything towards that [?] [?] year's melou[?]. Dear people, please let me off! If any riddles should pop into my head, well & good; I'll send them. One desperate one occurred to me the other evening, while waiting in the "parlour" for the clock to strike six (for they won't let me go up an instant before the appointed hour), if a few other similar accidents should happen to me, I will give you the results.A patient of M. du Polets, who is occasionally very lucid, stated last evening when magnetized, that about the end of March, the President would cause himself to be proclaimed Emperor, that he was so stupid as not to see through the intrigues of those who are urging him to this step in order to accomplish his ruin leading him on, & ready to abandon him as soon as they have pushed him to this fatal step; that his empire will last but a very short time & on his overthrow Heure will be proclaimed. & will be placed on the throne by foreign interference; she saw distinctly great bodies of troops in the country, whose uniforms were not of the French Army. she says Heure first will come to the throne almost against his will; as he fears for his life on the one hand & has a great horror of bloodshed on the other. but that he will be made King immediately after L. Bonaparte's overthrow & will retain the crown until his death which will, however, soon follow his ascension. This was all she could see; probably, by taking up her recital at the point at which she stopped on some future evening she will be able to see farther. But I beg you all to remember the prediction; Today we hear that England has suddenly abandoned Turkey, & recalled Sir S. Canning, & the Squadron of the Mediterranean, this seems incredible but if it be true, as other rumours assert, that France has withdrawn from her alliance with England in this affair, leaving England to face Russia alone & unsupported, the information is probably true. But it does seem almost too cowardly, even for this coward & mercenary age, thus to leaves the Hungarian exiles to the mercy of the Russian Bear. But all Europe is arming & if this conjuncture blow over, there are causes enough at work to bring about, ere long, a general conflagration. But it will be a fearful time; it freezes one's blood to think of the horrors that will have come by this time next year. I hold myself ready to start at a moment's notice, as strangers are often ordered home on a few hour's warning. But there will nothing occur till Spring; & it is a great blessing that E's illness, if it must come, has come now, rather than then. A few days ago I was at Mdm Potet's; just as I was leaving, we heard a distant singular sound; long peals of thunder, yet not quite thunder, then the heavy roll of cannon & the continuous roar of artillery, with the sharp whistling of bullets. As in Paris one never knows what may happen without a moment notice, of course I did not venture out till a gentleman, who volunteered to reconnoitre had returned. It then appeared that a great body of troops in the Champ de Mars, were going through firing exercises. -- so the thunder we had heard, was the veritable roar of battle; I had never heard anything like it before, & strong as is my faith in the ultimate triumph of Right I assure you this foretaste of the fearful reverberations with which all Europe will shortly echo, chilled the blood in my veins, & made me sick at heart. The exercise was something quite new, that is, on a much larger scale; & next day, the papers all noticed the excitement the unexpected sound; so fearfully well-known in Paris had created all over the city. It is very strange to live in such a seething volcano as Paris; soldiers, artillery, & antagonism everywhere. They have the finest Chestnuts here I ever saw; at every corner there are men with furnaces roasting chestnuts from morning till night; They are delicious just like sweet potatoes, & enormous quantities are eaten here. There are certain districts in France where they form a large part of the food. (*Circular) Paris. Rue deFleurus L. Dec 5/49. (*Put a sheet of white paper under this, and you will read it easily) Dear People, since my last, Elizabeth has been going on well. Nearly all the mortified parts of the cornea are fallen, and as there has been no further symptom of the eye's emptying itself, we hope that that danger, so much dreaded by her Doctors, has passed. The eye is vastly clearer of matter; the lids are much less swollen, there is a little circle of the iris visible, a round ring, not much broader than a hair, still of the normal color, & entire; it will doubtless be broader in a few days. The pupil is (still) now almost entirely covered by transparent asperities, which are at present, the principal source of uneasiness. They hardly know what they are. The can perceive the light, when the lid is raised; but this is all; and we are still in utter uncertainty with regard to the final state of the eye. But the danger of losing the eye itself, may, I think be considered as past; I think there is now every probability that the eye will remain entire; it will, of course, be red & frightful for a long time, but that will pass; & it is a immense gain to be spared the loss of the eye, even should the vision be destroyed. Wearing glass eyes spectacles, &c, is such a horrid & troublesome business. It is not at all certain, however, that the vision is destroyed; on the contrary, there is great room to hope otherwise; simply, nothing can yet be known about it. She uses the other eye a little, though she cannot open it very wide, nor can she see with it very clearly, as it sympathizes, inevitably, with the sick one. She has contrived to read the two letters rec'd. from Philadelphia, & next week will probably be able to write a few lines to certify you all that she is still in the land of the living. It is a terribly worrisome business, & she has occasional fits of desperation at this long cruel detention; but in the main she is a model of patience & fortitude, cheerful, & hopeful she does a good deal of occasional laughing, & would do more it if were not bad for the eye. But this business goes on so desperately slowly, that I fear she will not be out by Christmas. By the way, she says she soon altered her mind about writing for the Annual, & does not intend to torture her brain in any such way; she charged me, this afternoon, to tell you this with her love. I assure you also, that it will be utterly impracticable for me to write anything; the most I could do would be to hunt up something or other among my old things, but even these are in England, so you see I am as empty of the possibility of doing anything toward xxxxxxx[?] {{Note: no ink}} year's melou. Dear people, please let me off! If any riddles should pop into my head, well & good; I'll send them. One desperate one occurred to me the other evening, while waiting in the "parloir" for the clock to strike six (for they won't let me go up an instant before the appointed hours,) if a few other similar accidents should happen to me, I will give you the results.My eyes are smarting sadly; so I shall break off and go to bed. — Tomorrow; I will add a few lines so as to give you the latest news of E. Goodnight! Wed. E is going on well there is no marked change, the eye is growing clearer and as no change takes place for the worse, there is always room for hope. The morning's papers do not confirm the rumored change of policy attributed to England yesterday, but I think it very probable that the support of France will be withdrawn from her; & it could hardly be possible for England to carry out her present opposition to Russia single handed. We have every day the most contradictory rumors from every part of the world; one thing only seems certain the universal banding of the old spirit against the new, & the growing unconquerable force of the latter. Adieu! With kind regards to all friends, yrs affectionately Anna [*Paris / 49*] Paris, Dec 13/49 Rue de Flaurens I. Circular Dear People, I have not much to tell you about Elizabeth's eye, things being in much the same state as when I last wrote, this day week. The inflammation, swelling, and suppuration are constantly diminishing, the latter has ceased almost entirely. The ball is of a much paler red, & looks rounder & in better shape. The principal source of anxiety at present is the state of the pupil; as on that will depend the preservation or loss of sight, an alternative about which we are in just as much uncertainty as ever. You remember the hole I spoke of, & through wh we feared the eye was escaping, & which was happily stopped up by a portion of the iris; - well this portion of the iris, which fulfilled such an important use, has continued its projection, & forms quite a large asperity beyond the cornea; & as for some days it continued to project further & further, it has had to be cauterized yesterday, & the day before, & the same operation will be repeated this morning. (I have not had one instant in wh to write you, so as the letter must be mailed today, I have got up shockingly early, & am writing this by candlelight as daylight has not yet made its appearance.) The pupil presents, just now, the appearance of one of those little mis-shapen blackberries, of three granulations, & half-dried-up, that one sees so often on some scrubby little bush; if you can fancy such an one in dull-looking lead, you have just the appearance of this poor eye This projection of the iris through the pupil, diminishes the size of the latter, & if not arrested, would close it altogether; & this is exactly the present danger; but the eye fights so bravely, has twice escaped emptying, when the doctors thought it past all hope, that one can still hope for a better ending; and in view of the terrible possibilities that might have ensued, it is an immense blessing to feel that there is now every probability, almost indeed, a certainty, that the eye itself will remain entire, looking like an eye, so thateven should vision be lost (which is still so far from certain, that there is every room for hope) the disfigurement and annoyance of false eyes &c, will be spared to her. & also ( & this is an immensely greater blessing,) that the other eye has been preserved so safe, though the danger of contagion is so imminent. Her health, too, has suffered wonderfully little, considering; she has had no fever, not much pain (since the first three terrible days,) except from the cauterizations & two or three times from the injections, & she has slept in spite of everything; a very different experience from that of most patients in her case, & due, as all who are conversant with magnetism would believe, to my constantly extended influence in that line, & sceptics as you all are (very naturally, having no personal experience in the matter) if you knew the immense amount of fatigue that these five sad weeks have caused me, & how entirely, in order to treat her, my whole time, strength, & thoughts have been consecrated to her, you would not, I am very sure, wish to deprive me of the satisfaction of believing that my efforts have thus been abundantly rewarded. Though crafts and corporations are sold to the devils of pride, fear, tradition, & precedent, all the world over, & follow their own vagaries, & the prestige of certain soi-disant great names, rather than the revelations of God's will in the laws of nature, - & though the doctors here as everywhere do every sort of mischief by meddling with nature, still on the whole, the average of medical treatment is infinitely less violent here than in America. Except six leeches, once applied, & two of the very slightest purgations, nothing has been done, or given, that could interfere with her general health. This, also, is a blessing for which to be devoutly thankful. On the whole, you see, sad as this business is, it might have been infinitely worse, & in such a time as ours, this negative blessing becomes really a positive one; and should sight be ultimately restored, (wh is quite possible) the horror of the danger will be fully repaid by the joy of the escape. But as I said in my first, you must all have patience, for if we are to escape the worst, it can only be at the price of a long, slow tedious, gradual cure. Heaven grant I may be able to tell you [??] even a little gain next week!2 In the midst of yr grief at this terrible accident you must not forget what we all owe to her devoted medical attendant M. Blot. Nothing, in that sphere, could be more beautiful than the constant tireless, most generous watchfulness with which he has attended her from the first appearance of the malady. It has been one of those occasional cases of danger & of devotion, which no money can ever repay; & I trust some one of you will write to him in the name of all to testify your sense of the inestimable service he has thus rendered to us. I have already assured him of our united gratitude, & charged him to remember that he has "toute une famille d'amis devoues", on the other side of the water, but I think he deserves a pleasant hearty letter of thanks from you all, into the bargain; especially as he is the most impretending & modest of men, about any such matter, & neither expects nor claims any sort of acknowledgement from those whom he looks after. As he is about to leave the maternité to begin practicing, & has precious little to start with, E has presented him with a very elegant pair of lamps as a little token of her sense of his kindness. & that said lamps are highly creditable to the taste of the donor, I beg leave to tender you my certificate, as Madame Charie & I constituted ourselves a committee of investigation & selection in the matter, & chose the most beautiful model after which we had them made. They cost about $25.00 - & would have cost double on yr side the water. She is going to present to Mlle Malley either a bracelet with her hair, or a ring, we have not decided which, as I have not yet been able to screw out a moment to look after it. Elizabeth can open the well eye, & look about her, pretty well, now; but as the sick eye follows the movements of the well one she is obliged to be very chary of using the latter; for, while the asperities on the cornea continue, she ball rubs so much upon the lid that motion tends to irritate & inflame. But she is generally cheerful, & we have often very merry times over the remembrances of odd family items, such as ancient quarrels, mother's old flannels waistcoats of multitudinous memory,Harry's daring adventure in the contraband onion line & so on. Her patience & fortitude are beyond all praise; but she is greatly grieved at such a loss of time; a great disappointment to me also, as I was beginning to feel so much better before this horrid thing happened, that I hoped to be able to return to England early in the Spring. I have lost much, inevitably, during these five weeks & shall need some time to regain my former point, so that I feel as though my return to England were indefinitely postponed. I principally regret this on account of our kind good capital cousin Sam, who is very lonely, & really needs some sort of womankind to look after him; I know that both he & Henry would be by no means sorry to have me back again, & am sorry to think how much longer I may be obliged to leave them to their own devices. But, really, since this accident has happened, & I feel what a sad desolate time E would have in case anything happened & she were alone here. I hardly feel as though it would be right for me to go back & leave her alone. Besides, two are so much stronger than one; & her course is so utterly unprecedented an one, & the idea of a young woman here in Paris (where ninety-nine hundredths are into every sort of civilized mis-doings) making her way among doctors, students, hospitals, & dissecting-rooms, strikes rather oddly & dubiously at first; so that my being here is quite a little sort of protection, & adds very materially to the exterior respectabilities of the business, a consideration not to be despised. We are having wretched gloomy foggy weather; cold raw & cheerless; this climate is glorious in summer, but it is certainly hateful enough in winter. All the lower classes wear wooden shoes, & make a delightful clatter on the pavement; even the children wear them. They look very like old fashioned india- rubbers, only still more pointed & turned-up at the toes, very high in the instep, & very low at the heels to allow of the foot getting in & out easily - there is a broad leather strap over the instep which hold them on. They are generally painted black & varnished some, the coquettish exceptions, being even trimmed,round with fur! but they are very ugly & awkward. For all the little common things, things of daily use, one is generally surprised to see how rough & rude they are; it is indeed a nation of the most curious & glaring contrasts; in some things so far ahead of all other people, in others, so far behind many. This letter has been written at times through the day, just when I have come in from my eternal journeyings, now, having just got back from my 2nd visit to E, I sit down to finish it off in haste for the mail. I had fancied this wd be in time to convey to you all our Christmas greetings, but on counting up the days I see it will be just too late; but at least we can send you warmest wishes for a happy New Year. How curiously we are all parted who were together for so many long years, & some of them such cloudy ones! 'Twill be odd, after so many vicissitudes & having such sharp occasional fits of poverty, if we should all die in "comfortable circumstances"; but it seems a very probable ending. And what a consolation!! However, it is something not to die on the parish, which I believe has been a chronic horror with Marian! E meant to have written you a few lines, but postponed doing so until next week. Give my kind regards to all friends, & if you write Mrs. Alofsen tell her I am setting traps for autographs, all for her benefit. Dear critters! I often wish we could pop in upon you, & you upon us, & that we could get up a genuine Blackwell chorus of riddles & laughing as we used to! Well, we must build an island in the middle of the "big water," and then perhaps we can manage it! Goodbye! Love to all. Yrs affectionately AnnaThere are such lovely things in the shops for New Years gifts, that I never go out without longing to spend a few thousand francs for your benefit! Ah it is abominable to be poor! (Circular) Paris Feb 6/50 Rue des Fleures 1. Dear People I have only time & space for a word or two, but as E's eye is a little inflamed she cannot write by this mail, - so I must screw you out a message, I suppose. Poor E hopes on, & thinks she will recover her sight; but I confess that my hopes of so good a result have vanished. It seems to me impossible that it ever should return, for apparently the internal structure has been changed, & though the nerve is probably safe, & the form of the eye remains, I fear vision is gone from it forever. It is very very sad; - I fear also that the eye will be somewhat disfigured. But the energy & patience with which she hopes on, are wonderful & the longer she can hope, the better. We are living very pleasantly & quietly; have one or two more visitors, & a piano. E walks out almost every day, has warmer feet & a good appetite But this total idleness is a(Circular) Paris Feb 6/ 50 Rue de Fleures 1 Dear People, I have only time & space for a word or two, but as E's eye is a little inflamed she cannot write by this mail, -- so I must screw you out a message, I suppose. Poor E. hopes on, & thinks she will recover her sight; but I confess that my hopes of so good a result have vanished. It seems to me impossible that it ever should return, for apparently the internal structure has been changed, & though the nerve is probably safe, & the form of the eye remains, I fear vision is gone from it for ever. It is very very sad; -- I fear also that the eye will be somewhat disfigured. But the energy & patience with which she hopes on, are wonderful & the longer she can hope, the better; We are living very pleasantly & quietly; have one or two more visitors & a piano. E walks out almost every day, has warmer feet & a good appetite. But this total idleness is aterrible thing to her. Mrs Crane sent us a young Scotchman Dr. Littlejohn, staying here; pleasant & intelligent, he comes in occasionally in an evening, & tells us about Edinboro; then we see Mr. Doherty very often; & like him very much; so much simplicity with so much wisdom; M. Blot comes in every few days to see the eye & take a lesson in English. & a few others occasionally put a friendly face in at our door. So we are not quite as isolated as we were; although our list is still exceedingly slender. Mr & Mrs Binny are also coming back. I think Uncle Charley and Mrs Lane will come & live here if we remain, but that is very uncertain; they have just sent us a very kind letter, & Uncle says he has paid off his "last debt;" & that they have made such sacrifices in order to do this, as would "astound us." (they don't know how much it wd take to do that.) Kenyon has spent a week with us; we enjoyed his visit exceedingly! Harry is coming. The government is exasperating the people with all ingenuity; there must be sad work here ere long! We are debtors to several of you for very pleasant & welcome letter; & have sympathized "right merrily" in the Editor's emotion at sight "of that little word 'Tote"'! Capital, Maid Marian! Capital! E sends love & best wishes, so do I. Goodbye yrs Anna