BLACKWELL FAMILY Emma Blackwell Blackwell, ElizabethEmma & Jan. 3rd 1889 Howard Dear Elizabeth and Kitty, We did not fail to remember you both with affection on the day of the family gathering, though our greeting goes belated -- while yours came punctual to the hour -- I hope you have had as lovely Christmas weather as we -- it seems scarcely winter at all -- no snow and no really cold days -- The children take advantage of the opportunity for out- of-door play, and we only wish it might last until next spring. We are all quite as well as usual, and have had no severe colds, though there have been several littleones. Ellen comes out every Sunday to spend the day here instead of staying in her little 3rd story room. She seems to enjoy her drawing at the Academy, and pursues it with much zeal and interest. She calls herself in very good general health, though Emily felt rather afraid she would live too economically for health. She says she lays up stock of strength while she is here -- from Saturday to Monday, and we mean to give her the opportunity. She is the only member of the family that we see much of. Nettie comes over sometimes to the woman's club -- or to Newark for shopping and makes us calls at the same time, but the others are either busy or far away, and we see them but seldom. Still, we [*hear from them frequently, and to know that you can visit or be visited almost any day prevents one from feeling very much separated. I have invited the Elmore family to unite with us and move up on the mountain but they seem very well satisfied to stay where they are. We are not quite satisfied, but uncertain whether it is best to move or to stay.*] East Orange N.J. Dec. 31st 1888 Dear Cousin Kitty, We received your letter, containing the pretty cards, on Christmas morning and it was read to the friends who were here. There were eleven people here to sit down to dinner on Christmas day. Uncle Sam's family, except Edith and Grace, and Aunt Ellen, with Cornelia and Nannie. Aunt Emily could not come. After dinner Dr. Brown, with his family and some relatives, came, making elevenmore, and the afternoon was spent very pleasantly with games and conversation. One of my presents was a handsome stamp album into which I shall put the nice stamps you have sent me. I also received some books and two games. Papa gave me a bicycle before Christmas which was my principal present. I like to ride it and have learned to ride quite nicely. With love to aunt Elizabeth and yourself, Your affectionate cousin Howard [*Emma & Howard*] [*With much love to you both Emma*] 11 Quincy Street Cambridge, Mass. Jan. 2nd 1896 Dear Elizabeth I want to add my New Year's greetings to the Hastings households. I have had many little prickings of conscience at having dropped my over-seas correspondence the moment that George and Howard were safe on board the Gallia, but there has really been a warm interest in my heart for all of you, and the expression of it failed because the days are so full - I wonder if George ever told you how pleased Lovina was with your photograph? She has brought it here with her, and placed it in her room, and asked me to send her thanks. She has more than [*is written by "E. Berger" and published in New York in 1864 - George limited my space to a half sheet this time, as this will fill the space - but I expect soon to have some photographs to send you - when I will write again - With love to each member of the three house holds, Emma -*]once spoken of the pleasure it was to her to look at the good, kind face looking down upon her. The kindly thought that sent it has given her real satisfaction. She is not very well this winter yet she feels quite unwilling to have help in the way of a second girl, so I do what I can to ease the burdens, but the house is large, and it will get dusty very often. I think of Thoreau who threw away some sea shells with which he had decorated his cabin, because he found that he had to dust them -- and wonder if he was right? Anna has begun music lessons, and I am reading to her "Charles [Cu?]chester," by way of increasing her interest in music. Can you tell us how far the people described are real people. Was "Seraphael" Mendelssohn? And "Clara Bennette" Clara Schuman? Perhaps Kitty will remember. The book to Dr. Eliz [MCB?] Emma Blackwell 13 Follen St Cambridge Tuesday Dec. 14th '97 Dear Friends All George has written you a very full letter, but I do not want him to end it without a Xmas greeting to you from my own hand, and telling you that though he does a good deal of the writing, I do a good deal of the thinking that connects Hastings with Cambridge. I will certainly for my part reinforce Kitty's request [with] to Alice. Have you heard that Florence is about to move into a little new house of their own, and that Sam & Nettie have bought the first house she had built -- and mean to make it a summer place for all of them, next year? That will make quite a Blackwellcolony again, though Agnes may go somewhere else. Anna thinks it very dreadful that she should have married a "Jones" -- in her own case such a name would be an insuperable obstacle. But Agnes is going to have her visiting cards say "Blackwell-Jones," and so not be quite merged in the "Jones." It was a great event for all the young ones, the witnessing the marriage -- such opportunities have been few in our families! I thought I was to have another half hour to write, but George is putting on his coat, so with many affectionate remembrances I will say Goodbye -- EmmaPopes Hill September 10th 1896 Dear Elizabeth The leisure that I have been waiting for, in which to write to you has come today, brought by a rain storm which keeps me here instead of being on my way to Cambridge as I had expected. I left the Vineyard a week ago to visit my mother, promising to rejoin George and the children today at the station; but a wild gale has prevented the boat from making her daily journey, and I am wondering whether George is waiting in our own house for it to blow over, or is weather bound at Vineyard Haven. In either case it will be a rather disagreeable ending to a very pleasant summer. I think I like the Vineyard more and more the older I grow. The little valleywith the brook running through. the marsh, with cardinal flowers and pink hibiscus and tall plumed grasses. The pond with a fringe of iris. the rocky hill with their sheep-nibbled pastures. the grassy lane, with its wild cherries, clematis and golden rod, all grow more dear and homelike the oftener we go to them. and there is always the grand old ocean within sight and hearing. just here let me say that we received your warning as to ocean bathing just after I had gone to Gardner. Dont think that were were in the habit of bathing twice a day! During the eight weeks since we went to the seaside there were only two or three times when Howard and Anna went in twice. though we had never thought it excessive to bathe every day when the tide and the weather permitted, which was not always. George seldom bathed. he said it was too much trouble for the pleasure. So he stood on the bank and called us out after fifteen minutes. It was good to have some one with watch in hand, to time the bath. It never seemed to hurt any one. Nobody had a cold, or any apparent ill affect. and they did enjoy it so! Anna really learned to swim a little, when we had a succession of low tides and quiet seas. I was hoping to do so, and had reached the point of being able to lose hold of the bottom courageously when George or Howard grasped the neck of my bathing suit. Then I had to come away, and leave the rest to learn another time. When Nettie was at the island she floated remarkably. Dr. Brown showed her how, and she lay on the water like a cork. I couldn't do it. my ears went in, and my feet did not stay in place, but I think I can learn to swim sometime. and it is so pleasant to feel the possibility of a new power. I was glad to have your letter, enclosing Dr. Richardson's, which came in August. I suppose our two kittenswill return in two bags to Cambridge each of them prepared to present us with more kittens, though their names are Job and Zachariah! The fertility of the feline race is its greatest objection. and girl cats are nicer and more useful in the family than boy cats. I think they have more sense, and they are far better mousers. I suppose I must get more chloroform. though Capt. Fillon, of the Vineyard, tells me that drowning does not hurt. He was drowned once, and knows. I can quite understand your feeling of loss in Don. Can you not get a sprightly puppy to be developed by your care and affection to be a worthy successor of Don? Companionship between men and animals is good for both, I believe. and it is particularly good for children to love and care for animals. In Anna's case she loves her cats so well that she does not even wish one to say "no, no!" when they claw the furniture, and is inclined to give them preeminence in the matter of beds, cushions etc., over the other members of the family, which is 2 perhaps carrying respect for our four footed friends too far. But better so than the other way. I found my mother comfortable when I visited her last week. It is two years this month since she had the operation which I think we cannot doubt delayed the progress of disease. She has had scarcely any hemorrhage since then, has no pain, and seems to me as strong as she has done for several years. She goes about the house and grounds, and takes easy drives. goes sometimes to church, and makes occasional calls on her friends. She is much better than I supposed she could be at this time. I came here yesterday, but have not seen much of Harry and Alice. Harry was at a political meeting last night, and this morning they were both off directly after breakfast. Thursday being their busiest day.They both seem in their usual health. Harry said that his lunch had disagreed with him, but rebellions of his interior are not uncommon. Ethel is here for a few days, and we have seen more of each other in the last twenty four hours than for a long time before. She looks well, but says that she cannot yet read or study much without tiring her head. She has very pleasant recollections of Baltimore, and would like to go there again. We are all interested in Harry's political plans. Neither he nor Alice, however, believe he will get the nomination for the legislature. There are other candidates more likely to succeed and Harry says he is not anxious for himself. He is only working at it "for the sake of doing something." Goodbye. affectionately yours, Emma. East Orange June 11th 1903, Dear Elizabeth and Kitty. I began a letter to you about a week ago in North Carolina, but it seems now so far in the past that I begin again to tell you of our foreign tour. Edith met us at Greensboro, on the arrival of the train at seven A.m. on the 26th of May. We had breakfast together at a near by hotel, and then went to the college, where she established us in her own small house, the vacant infirmary. This has her own room, (not her office, which is in one of the main buildings) a kitchen, dining room, and bath room on the first floor,and a large room containing three cots for invalids, which was given to George and me. They were not exactly cots, but single bedsteads, extra high for the convenience of a nurse, so that at first I thought I should need a step ladder to go to bed. Upstairs there were other rooms, also all vacant so we occupied as much as we wanted of the house, and felt very ample in our surroundings. There are between four and five hundred students, and the graduating exercises were that morning, so after an hour's rest I put on my pretty gown, and Edith a pale green silk in which she looked nice, and we went to the hall where a white robed usher, with a long and broad violet scarf carried over her shoulder, gave us very good seats. An orchestra of students played the Star Spangled Banner and various other things, and a choral class sang "The Old North State" and other songs, so that due respect was shown to both State and Country. though I did think it would have been proper to see the Stars + Stripes side by side with the Carolina flag over the platform. Three young ladies read graduating essays. They belonged to a post graduate class of seven, and received the degree of A.B. the first time it had ever been conferred by the college. Thirty others received diplomas showing that they had completed the regular course. Eachgraduate was given a Bible, (I hope she possessed one before!) a copy of the U.S. Constitution and of the Constitution of the State of North Carolina, and so they were launched into the world, the future teachers of their State. We dined in the college dining room, Edith presiding at the head of the table at which ten people sat. They were divided into tables of ten. Many of the girls wore white or light-colored gowns and the scene was very pretty. After dinner we visited a large cotton mill near the town. It had a little village of operatives around it which was called Proximity. We did not learn its significance. I should have thought Prosperity might have seemed more attractive. We were received with some caution, as a 2 former party from the North had asked permission to go through the mills, and then one of the ladies had written things to the papers about child labor and hours and wages, which was regarded as a decided breach of courtesy. The man who conducted us said that they knew as well as any one that conditions were not ideal, but they were trying to do as well as they could. So I shall refrain from publishing any thing that I saw. Really, we wondered. whether it was better to work in a cotton mill, or to live on roots and berries in a mud+log cabin alone in the woods. After the mills, we went to the park where Edith has watched birds and learned the names and songsof many. It is not a formal park, but a piece of woodland with roads through it belonging to the college. We gathered thirty five kinds of blossoms in our walk there of about an hour. The next day we went to Asheville, arriving about 3 P.M. The Battery Park Hotel stands on an elevation in the middle of the town, and has a beautiful outlook to the mountains, which were hazy so that we did not see their fullest beauty. We rode by trolley to Riverside Park, on the French Broad. This was no park at all. There were some trees beside the river, which happened to be particularly muddy, a casino where theatricals occur at night, and a fine merry-go-round. Edith proposed to treat me to ride in it, and there being very few spectators we entertained them with the sight of two middle aged ladies sitting in sleigh behind a span of wooden horses, whirling around a ring of music! This exhausted the park. The next morning we went to Sunset Mountain. It was not exactly an appropriate time of day, but the last P.M. car was much too early for sunset. Again the haziness prevented the best view, but we could see how fine the valley was, with its surrounding mountains, and on our way to the highest point we gathered the finest wild strawberries I ever saw. The ground was red with them. Wild foxgloves and other mountain flowers grew all around. In the afternoon we proceeded to Waynesville 28 miles away, and more in the midst of the mountains. Here we spent three days at a hotel called Eagle's Nest, twenty-three hundred feet above the village, fifty one hundred above the sea. This was a very beautiful place, and we were the sole guests, as the house was scarcely open. We drove to it on Saturday, found the proprietor there getting ready for guests and asked if we might stay. His wife came that night with their fifteen year old daughter and another girl of the same age, and there was a very nice little [Leucile?] about eight, so that we felt almost like members of a family instead of hotel boarders. After three days here, during which we spent as much time out of doors as rather rainy weather allowed, we returned for another day to Asheville and spent a lovely afternoon driving through parts of the immense estate of Vanderbilt, two miles out the town. It is said that six million dollars has been 3 spent on the house and grounds But the "grounds" are 160,000 acres. It is all very fine, but a good deal less would satisfy me. We had heard so much of the "Sapphire Country," about sixty miles from Asheville, that we decided to take the chances of weather and go there. We left Asheville about five P.M. (train more than an hour late. Southern trains are generally late) Reached Brevard in a pouring rain 8 P.M. But had an excellent supper in a very imposing hotel, with a very few guests, and retired early. Next morning ten miles more to the end of the railroad at Foxaway It rained so that the stage had not come from Sapphire, but two carriages with curtains, which had to be down about half of the way, took us the eighteen miles to the Inn.This was a great coming down from its predecessor at Brevard. The rooms were smelly, the furniture scanty and worn out. There were two cottages being papered and painted, so that later there might have been much improvement in the appearance of the rooms, but they certainly were depressing, and the name of the resident physician, Doctor Cheatam, conspicuously pasted in the general sitting room, was not encouraging to the health seeker which fortunately we were not. There are three lakes in this region, all formed by damming streams, and lake Sapphire had that afternoon burst its bonds and gone, leaving a muddy stream behind. There was no view within some miles of the inn and the next morning we returned over the 18 miles of rough road feeling that the Sapphire Country was something of a fraud, though really fine weather would have made it seem different. But I am going to stop, and leave a little room for George to give some of his impressions. Hoping you will both have a delightful summer outing in Scotland by and by, Yours very affectionately EmmaEast Orange N. J. June 12, 1903 Dear Elizabeth - I am getting through the accumulation of business caused by our fortnight's absence. Emma has given a idea of our general course. The Mountain Country around Asheville is certainly fine & under proper circumstances would be very enjoyable, but we came in for a time of bad weather which much detracted from the pleasure. Asheville has grown greatly, it has a population of some 14.000 - Numerous hotels & boarding houses, good paved streets, several electric car lines, and quantities of invalids. The site seems to me unusually pleasant, being numerous small hills affording sites for good houses with fine views. There is a large brick City Hall, a large Auditorium to seat 2000 people - for concerts, lectures & other entertainments. The station however is more than a mile from the "Square", which is the centre of the City. During my short stay & with my limited opportunities, I could learn nothing of those you mention - Dr Jno Dickson, Drs McDowell & Carr, Mrs. Patton, or Miss Cozens. It is a busy active town & 58 years have utterly changed it. The Mountains are fine & beautiful though not grand. The drawbacks are bad roads, very infrequent R.R. trains, which are almost always behind time, often an hour or more and ignorance on the part of hotels & people of what would conduce to the comfort of tourists. Indeed it is not a country for tourists, but rather for boarders & idlers, especially invalids who want to loaf & not exert themselves. The roads are as primitive as in the time of your residence there. In bad weather almost impassable. But the forests are fine, the Valleys pretty, the higher hill views beautiful. The streams however are all muddy. I think that Emma & Edith enjoyed the trip & that the change was good for Emma. We are well - no special family news. We look for Anna tomorrow. We hope to have Edith & Agnes' family with us next Sunday. Nettie writes from the Vineyard much enjoying herself there. As far as I know all others are well. Emily is in York. Howard was knocked down by a bicycle a week ago, & bruised, but seems all over it & well now. Wishing you & Kitty a pleasant summer. Affy G.W.B.