1854 BLACKWELL FAMILY Antoinette B. Blackwell Blackwell, Lucy StoneAntoinette Brown to Lucy Stone South Butler, May 21, 1854 Lucy Darling: It is Sunday evening - and such a rain! First there came a whirlwind, then a waterspout, the drops hardly separating on their way down from the big black cloud. Do you know I am very glad of it, for it has broken up the third meeting; and for this once it is pleasanter to write you a letter than go to a meeting so tired. So I shall not see you this spring! Up to the time your letter came we all hoped you would stop here, even if for ever so short a time. Well it must be all for the best; but I scolded first, and then cried about it afterwards. Miss Parson's paper shall be safely returned. As for the Liberator it has never come. Thank you though, for the good intention. They doubtless judged rightly about it. I am neither a pauper nor unfriendly to the Liberator; could take it if earnestly disposed and would if there was any probability of getting converted by the means. Are you intending to be at home most of the time this Summer? It seems you were not at N.Y.! No account of Boston meetings has reached the benighted regions. The daily Tribune did come here for six months and it is to be again reordered this week. It is almost as well to be out of the world as without it. Don't lecture this summer! You must need rest - heart rest - and mind rest, and some new chapters of thinking too. Fancy picture you going up that wild old hill and nestling down undertone shadow of a big rock, whiling away the time in reading and revery. If that old, quiet hill was here in Butler there should be one pathway now up its side even in the growing time of Spring. And you New Englanders have aBoston Convention! It is a fine idea. The little Woman's Rights ball seems to be pushed ahead, to grow in size and increase in force, instead of unravelling in long and tangled yarns as the people prophesied. Faster and faster let it roll! But don't you sometimes get tired of pushing it along? Have just had a letter from sister Ella at Oberlin. Prof. Peck, it seems, offered $300 towards an institution library. The students were to contribute as they felt able; they were to get up a constitution. The whole was to belong to the students, gentlemen and ladies. A constitution was drawn up making all equals. The faculty objected to it. Prof. Fairchild drew up a new one making two business divisions, one for men, one for women, like Quaker meetings; though all were to have the Library in common. The students would not accept it. So when Ella wrote it was all excitement, and undecided what should be done. Good isn't it! The poor professors have a hard time of it with their refractory crew! Write, Lucy dear, if it is not burdensome to you. When you have been for a year in a place where there is not a mortal person for whom you feel a real affinity, and yet, are a sort of public property for all, with the delightful anticipation- ion of a twin year to follow, you will realize how welcome a letter or the face of a friend would be. This meeting people at wearisome conventions is not worth a fig. All work and no play makes them all a stupid set of dull boys. Cordially NettieAntoinette L. Brown to Lucy Stone Henrietta, Aug. 14, 1854. What a busy life you must lead, Lucy darling! It really makes me nervous to think of so much regularity. You must be a perfect little epitome of system! I am the personification of vagabondism. Under favorable circumstances the civil authorities would have me arrested for a vagrant. I should plead guilty & go willingly to jail for six months. They say there is to be a good Convention in Phila. Success to it! I hope to be there; but am not at all sure about it. Everything seems uncertain in these days, since I have "taken to idleness." So please choose some better material for a President. After all, it is rather unnecessary to decline an honor that has little likelihood of being conferred. I have been reading history also, particularly histories of the Dark & Middle Ages - of the Reformation and English War. Have been gathering material for a chronological analysis, and hope to go on with the same course after a short time. I have many serious thoughts of adjourning my relations to South Butler sine die. Yes, this is a beautiful world, & life [i] is full of everything glorious, a tangled inexplicable mystery though it is! How I like to see the sunshine break through the night & roll over everything in one flood of light and beauty! It should melt the heart of a Pagan into genuine spiritual worship & convert skepticism itself into mysticism. But "living poetry" has not been my forte for the last year, nor is it now. My sisters are both at home. One sister in law & her little girl are here, & we are all havingAntoinette L. Brown writes to Lucy Stone at Gardner, Mass. from Henrietta, N.Y. Aug. 16, 1854: Dearest Lucy: Thank you for the kind invitation to spend the an old-fashioned, home made visit, eating peaches & grapes & enjoying the good things of today. What an animal life one can lead, eating, drinking, & being merry! We are not governed, though, wholly by the expectation of dying tomorrow, but are acting in the hope of living till the next day. xx And now, my dearest little cowboy, with the utmost affection & the best of good wishes for your future peace, I remain yours ever. Nette.two months with (you) at your sister's quiet home. I should so much like to spend some time with you if it might be. I am at my own quiet home, & have been here more than a week: am to remain two weeks longer before returning to South Butler. Rest seemed indispensable, so I concluded to take it. Susan Anthony was here a day or two since. She said you were nearly sick & could not be at Saratoga as she hoped. She is going there herself, whether anyone else goes or not, but she still hopes to obtain Mrs. Rose. Is it not good to rest - to lie still & listen to the crickets & grasshoppers. If they sing in the minor key it is still very pleasant when one is in the mood for listening. If the grasshoppers were men who lived before the time of the Muses & died from neglecting to eat & drink while entranced in listening to [those] these new singers, being afterwards transformed to grasshoppers who have nothing to do but sing, it seems to me it must be quite as acceptable to them to have us wrapped in lazy reveries, listening to their music, as it would be to have us forever talking philosophy in their hearing, like Plato. They must remember how tired they did used (sic) to get with all the turmoil of activity, & have an instinctive feeling that we need rest & indolence. I am fully expecting that when they go up to the Muses they will carry our names as persons worthy to receive honor from them not withstanding all these "shiftless" moods that I at least indulge in. For you, are you really resting or not? or does it seem a sin to you afterall to be idle? xx Are you expecting a large Convention at Philadelphia? Shall you be there without fail? Does being secretary devolve any duties upon me in the line of sending invitations to anybody? It seems to me every one is at liberty to attend & need no inviting. If there are any official duties [I] am quite ignorant of them, & am moreover the last person from whom to have expected the discharge of responsibilities. Most Affectionately, Nette. Amerah Brown, secretary & [treasu] treasurer of the Ladies' Temperance Social Circle of Hubbardston, Mass., writes to Lucy Stone Aug. 30, 1854, asking her to come & lecture for them on Temperance, & inquiring her terms.