.NDYw.NjI1
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5 Hanover St. 4 p.m. 17 June 1863 –
Dear Ann
“At it again,” seems my motto so long as pen ink & paper are within my reach. –
After sending off the letters for the Persia, David Spence came in & asked me, “Have you heard the news?” – and then informed me of the loss of the the Norwegian on Cape Breton – the Easternmost point of Nova Scotia – but happily, the passengers & crew saved. – He remarked: “that [underscored] Line will have to be given up:” – whereas I had some how fancied that he & Mr. Mather might patronise it in their return to Liverpool. –
Soon after that communication Walker came in, & said that if I had no objection, he would like to leave the office for the day at 3 1/4 this afternoon. I said he might; & then learnt that he wanted
(alias to Mr. Bigland’s)
to go out, I think he said to Kings-bridge ^ to dine & spend the night, but would be at the office tomorrow at 1/4 before 19. – After that he went out, at my request, to attend to some Fire-insurance that expires today at 6 p.m.
And then John Russell came in & put a slip of paper before me, bearing this inscrip= =tion; - “I would like to go home as soon as possible: - my mother is very sick.” – I acceded to that also, & asked him what was the matter. He said, “she has a swelling in her throat, & fears it is Dip[h]theria.” – “Inside or out?” I asked. – He said the swelling is outside, but it is very raw & painful inside. I asked if she had seen a Dr. about it.
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No: but she was going to see one today. I asked – “Who?’ – “Dr Huseton” he said (I spell as he pronounced the name.) “Had he attended her in former illnesses?” “Yes.”
I then wrote the 2 pages (copy enclosed) to Miss Lippett – spinning out the yarn much longer than necessary, partly for her entertainment & partly for my own.
I had been thinking that our cousin E =lizabeth in Welfield Place would be apt to take much interest in this history of “Miss B,” & in her welfare also, if one were to ask her; - but she would be too apt to spread that history farther & wider among her friends & acquaintances than Miss B would like.
If I am to invoke the friendly offices of any one in L[iver]pool in her behalf, I would select Mr. Hodgson. – I would not think of [Matthew] Fontaine [Maury], be= =cause he might take it into his head, or heart, to fall in love with her: and the same dan =ger in respect to Walker prevents my offering shelter in this household, & induces me to keep her history to myself. –
Wed[nesday] night – 4th St. [‘Wed...4th’ underscored] – On leaving the office at 20 minutes to 5, I was caught in a drench =ing thunder-shower ‘ere I reached the P[ost] O[ffice], where I stopped until it abated. I then walked the rest of the way home; because I rode down this morn[in]g. – Since T[ea] I have walked to & from Matthew’s house, where I found him & Mary, & the older ladies in jovial spirits, quite different from last evening, - M[atthew] had no trou =ble on the journey either going or returning.
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Office – Friday afternoon, 19 June – James, from Irving Place was at the house last night, as was David Spence, & they took T[ea] with us. – Ja[me]s told Sarah [that?] yesterday gone thro’ his examination by the Professors at the College, & seemed in good spirits. I just now asked Matthew how James passed thro’ these examinations, & his reply was – “Very well I believe.” –
It was very satisfactory to William & myself to re =ceive yesterday morning letters from St. Louis after a fortnights silence. I enclose the two from Harriet to me.
Yesterday afternoon, before M[atthew] left the office, I rec[eive]d the long letter from James at N[ew] O[rleans] referred to in his short one of 5th June, which I sent you copy of in my last. – Matthew read it after me, before we went to dinner; - & all my time last night between the return from my evening walk & my going to bed was spent in making the copy for you, that I now enclose.
I am surprised at his ever imagining for a moment the Rutson’s daughter was born in wedlock. – It is my impression that you [underscored] know much more of Rutson’s antecedents in England than Ja[me]s does - & that neither you nor Walker know “all, “by a great deal, perhaps”
You will be glad to hear of James’ liberality & thought= =fulness for Nan, tho’ if you had been there to help him I think he would have made some changes in his selections.
The party who brought this long letter from James is the brother of Dr. Adler, & is I am told arrived here as far back as 2 weeks [‘2 weeks’ underscored] ago! His remissness in never sending me this letter until yesterday contrasts strongly with my own promptitude in forwarding to St. Petersburg without a moments delay a letter from him that Ja[me]s enclosed about a year ago in that first letter of his that came by Jeff.
There is a letter missing from Mrs. Cox, which enclosed a 2nd letter from her to Mrs. Lewis, & one written that for Mrs. L[ewis] to forward to a lady in Albemarle Co[unty], V[irgini]a – Yesterday I got out of the P[ost] O[ffice] one from her with P.S. to 2 June, & postmarked Thibodau [Thibodaux, Louisiana] 3 June. - & I presumed before opening
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it, that it was the missing letter, for the seal was broken tho’ the contents looked as if they had not been disturbed.
But it is not [underscored] the missing letter, for it tells me under date
with one
of 29 May – “Two days ago I sent you a letter ^ for our friend Mrs. Lewis, & with hers one for Mrs. Cha[rle]s Pollard.” –
Like Ja[me]s, I am suspecting there has been foul [underscored] play [underscored] somewhere in the P[ost] O[ffice] either here or at N[ew] O[rleans] – I can’t tell which –
With Confed[erate] money at 20-25c in the $, & that measured in Greenbacks, the $100 pbbl [per barrel] for flour at Mobile would be but &15 or so measured in Gold [underscored] – James conclusions differ widely from Mr. Bond’s, who rather leaned to the idea that the No[rth] will win; but felt any how posi= =tive in this, that independent or not, the So[uth] is ruined! [‘So...ruined’ underscored]
By this afternoon’s mail I sent Harriet your letter of 31 May \ 5 June via Scotia.,- & an extract from that part of Ja[me]s letter that speaks of the supplies sent to Nan & the shawl to his brother in law: - & I asked her not to let it be matter for gossip. –
Matthew was observing to me to-day that he thinks there is a fair chance now of Lewis being nabbed & he entered into his reasons for thinking so. – but I have not time to relate them to you.
Mr. Mather is to dine with us on Sunday - & David [Spence] too if he can get off from another engagement. On Monday they are to go to Boston. –
Sarah last night was proposing to me to invite Jody to stay with us when he comes here; whereupon I told her I had already done so. –
I believe I am at last on the true scent for the discovery of the address of Mrs. Cox’s friend Miss Jane Steers, after putting my friends & ott[struck-through] myself to a world of trouble. – Mrs. Cox expresses gratitude for my writing to Marcia thro’ Gen[era]l Dix, & will feel more when she gets Marica’s 1st June reply, I suppose. –
4th St. Friday night 19th – I rode home in a car, hav- =ing walked down in the morn[in]g, & I have walked between 2 & 3 miles since: - first, I walked after dinner to 56W 11th St. & there disposed of this bothering letter for Miss Jane Steers at last by handing it to her sister in law, who knows the proper
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(5) address & voluntarily undertook to forward it, then I slept in my own room in the easy chair until T[ea] i.e. for an interval of more than 1 1/2 hour: & after T[ea] I walked up Bowery & 4th avenue to 14th & down it to 5th Avenue & so home again. –
I have been reading the Express pretty thoroughly since I came in & among other articles I see that Mr. Naylor, the banker, at Hooton, [UK] whose horse won the Derby, had handed over to the Mayor at L[iver]pool £1,000 for the relief of the poor & intends to build a free church at Hooton. What will Dr. McNeill say to this? for you remember that he said of all who went (as I did to the Hoylake Races) that they were but “Sons & Daughters of the Devil!” –
Mr. Naylor makes a much better use of his win= =nings, I think, than one of W. W. Montgomery’s sons at Paris, whose horse recently won most unexpectedly the grand stake at some races there; whereupon he gave a most magnificent ball (this Mons[ieu]r de [double underscored] Montgomery) at his residence in the [fauxbury?] St. Germains ; where many of the ladies were dressed in a costume approaching as near as could be that worn by the rider of the winning horse.
I saw Mr. Duncan Kennedy at the Reading Room this morning. He told me they have no further tidings from N[ew] O[rleans] as to their son being ordered to leave. – What James says as to this poor Mr. Caste affords no encouragement to the hope that Mr. D[uncan] Kennedy Jr. will be allowed to remain.
Y[our]s affectionately R[utson] Maury
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20th Office – 10 1/4 a. m. I send this via America via Southampton & upon 2nd thoughts (as an additional security) I put it under cover to Hodgson Mather & Co.
The telegrams just posted up on the Bulletin Boards, look like determined perseverance in this invasion of Penn[sylvani]a & M[arylan]d.
The 7th Reg[imen]t does not go beyond Balt[imor]e. – It was said 2 days ago they were ordered to Harpers Ferry. [‘Harpers Ferry’ underscored] Colo[nel] [Lefferts?] is very paternal! [underscored] & considerate for anxious mothers sisters etc.
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New York 17th June 1863
My dear Miss Lippett
I have this morning your letter of yester= =day, of which I made a fair copy & sent it today to my Sister, along with your letter to her, enclosing both in my own letter to her via steamer Persia, which sails this afternoon. – As I sent her copies of the 3 letters I had previously received from you, & of the two I wrote you in reply, she knows all that I do respecting this Lady; and I feel sure, therefore, that her satisfaction will equal my own on seeing what you communicated to us in your letters of yesterday. – I do indeed rejoice with you, & with Miss B_ also, at his happy finale; [‘happy finale’ underscored] but I fear it will only make you more romantic [underscore] than ever!
I think your plan for her to go to “Mrs. Blodgett’s” (for that is still the title of the Boarding House) at Liverpool, is an excellent one, & I doubt not but Mr. Archibald will give her a letter of introduc= =tion to some friend of his at Liverpool, who will do all that is needful in facilitating her embarkation thence in a good ship, di= =rect for Calcutta: - if not, let me know, (after she has had her interview with him,) & I will then devise some means of ac= =complishing this thro’ my own friends at Liverpool. – It seems to me probable that he received yesterday, via Scotia, the expected remittance, & that he may recommend her to embark for Liverpool from this [underscored] port, because he can thus the more readily place her in charge of the Captain of one of our British steamers, & because those from this port take, at this time of year, a more Southerly track than the steamers from Boston, & thus avoid risk of coming into contact with ice-burgs.
I have heard twice from my Sister since she wrote to you, the last letter being one via Scotia yesterday, commenced on 31 May & concluded on the 5th June. She was still with her old friend Miss Wakefield, near Kendal, some 70 miles North of Liverpool, & one of the greenest & most beautiful spots in all England, & endear= =ed by associations that to back to youth & childhood - & even farther back for several generations: for our Mother & her forefathers
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were born & “raised” at Kendal; & the house where Ann is staying
Mother
is the one where our ^ lived with her maiden sisters, before she was married, where they were orphans, but belaying then, as now, to the Wakefield family – between whom & our own (on the maternal side) there has been a close intimacy & friendship for a century or more! There is however a sad drawback to Ann’s delight, in the pitiable condition of poor Miss Wakefield, who is a martyr to rheumatism, & to what is so infinitely worse – tic –[doloreux?]. [ douloureux?]
Miss Wakefield lives with her brother who is a widower, with all his children married & living within a few miles of him.
Mytton had joined Ann on the 31st ulto [31 May] & was enjoying him= =self beyond measure. – She observes (on 2nd June) – “Yesterday “was John Wakefield’s birth-day, & he signalized it by making “Mytton a present of £50, - telling him that it would pay “his travelling expenses for 50 days.” – My remark on shewing the letter to the family here, was: “You will see that Mytton is in Clover.” [‘in clover’ underscored] – He & Ann were to leave the Wakefields in a few days to make a tour around the beautiful Lake scenery of Westmoreland & Cumberland – (the land of [Werdeworth Southey?] De Quincy, Dr. Arnold etc; - and then proceed to Edinburgh, & perhaps as far as Nairn in Inverness-shire (the land of Mac Beth) where some friends who lived here some years ago are now residing at No. 2 Cawdor [underscored] Place – the lady (Mrs. Clunas) being a grand-daughter of the late William Wert, & now with her numerous progeny, too like the “old lady that lived in a shoe”!
Beyond that, Ann’s programme is not very distinctly drawn out; but she talks of going to see Salisbury Cathedral, & Stonehenge [underscored] for the first time. (You have not forgotten “the Shepherd of Salis =bury Plain,” I am sure.}
When Miss B_ reaches Liverpool, & is resting there (which need not be long) for an opportunity direct to Calcutta, I am pretty sure that Ann will not be there, but rusticating somewhere in the South of England among her old school fellow, & other old friends.
were quite
I ought to have said before, that Ann’s eyes [underscored] ^ well when she last wrote. – I wish that you could make the same report of yours.
Yours sincerely R[utson] Maury
