.NDY1.NjMw

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4th St. – 1st July 1863 Wednesday night

Dear Ann It has been a warm day, but not hot – the Therm[omete]r marking just 80 [degrees] & no more .

At Matthew’s request Walker went to give his aid at Jay St. to Mrs.& Miss Gilpin in their embarkation, & did not return to the office after- =wards, as there was no need for his doing so.

William sent off the parcel to N. B. Weed Esq[uire] for Sarah, by Adams’ Express. I giving him the money (38¢) to pre-pay the carriage, & he enclosed the rec[eip]t in a note I had already written to Mr. Weed; & he mailed that note & one from me to Sarah by the 12 3/4 p.m. mail. My note to Sarah was written last night, & was merely to send to her your letter of 16th & Mytton’s to you of 15th rec[eive]d yesterday afternoon via City of Balt[imor]e – It devolved in me to pack up the 2 parcels [‘2 parcels’ underscored] (Miss Dunnings’ & Sarah’s) in one [underscored], as the two W’s [William and Walker] seemed disinclined to take the trouble to do it in a proper & secure way; but W[illia]m directed it & carried it down to the Express, when he & Walker went down town after breakfast.

Walker went today to the U. S. Treasury, & collected (in gold, of course) your & our 1/2 yearly Interest on U. S. Bonds. – Matthew went to get the Divi =dend on your Indiana State Bond or Bonds. Last July they paid it in Gold, but in Jan[uar]y [18]63 in pa= =per: & now they pay nothing at all! But you need not be alarmed; - there are ample funds in the State Treasury, but the Legislature, you remember, broke up in a hurry from some squab= =ble between Republicans & Copperheads, & forgot to make the necessary appropriation!

Matthew dined down town, because they had an

for Mrs. & Miss G[ilpin] 

early dinner, & about 4 p.m. he went home to pack up, as he leaves tomorrow at 3 1/2 p.m. with Eliza=

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beth & Mary, and will not return to the City until Monday the 6th. –

I filled up the blanks in the Income Tax paper today, for myself, & will do the same for you as soon as I have time; - & will hand in both returns on or before 9th July, when the 10 days elapse.

I was occupied in calculating the price required for certain lots of Cotton, until 3 p.m. or later. The market has been softer today; & prices are lower to a greater degree than the decline in gold since yesterday.

I do not admire William’s taste in summer clothes. He has got a coat vest & pants of white [underscored] or cream-coloured flannel [‘cream...flannel’ underscored] or cloth![underscored] It is not becoming, will easily get soiled & stained, will therefore require frequent washing, & will as I presume, “run up” or contract more & more every time it is washed. – It is singular, & in bad taste.

I rode both down & up; & he rode up with me. As we passed thro’ the P[ost] O[ffice] they were assorting the letters via China. – As soon as the two W’s [William and Walker] had lighted their pipes [underscored] after dinner, I slipped off, & rode down town & reached the P[ost] O[ffice] 4 minutes before it closed, & so got our letters via China. – I slowly retraced my steps afoot to 4th St. getting back here by 7.40; and then read the letters; & at 8.15 I walked up to Irving Place with them. - & I remained there some time, so that it was 9 3/4 when I got home again & took a solitary T[ea].

I rang the hand-bell after I had made T[ea], but the 2 W’s preferred remaining in their own apartments up stairs. (“De gustibus non L.”)

I have secured 4 1/2 mile’s walk today. –

I made my dinner today almost entirely out of Hotch-potch; as I did yesterday too.

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Yesterday the course after the Hotch-potch was eggs & bacon, which suited the taste of the 2 W’s but not mine: - today it was roast beef; & along with the green peas today, we had new potatoes for the first time. – I suppose the Strawberries have now come to an end; for yesterday we had a pie (a Simpson pie) in place of them, & today we had cherries. – But I now remember we did have some strawberries at dinner yesterday: the pie was on Monday.

At dinner W[illia]m reminded me that today is Harriet’s birth-day: - so my sentiment on pass =ing the Port-wine to the 2 W’s was:

Harriet’s good health, & many happy returns: may he to still be in still-water !” [Minn.] –

The letters via China were yours of various dates – say 16, 18, & 19 ulto. [16, 18 & 19 June] (postmarked Milnthorpe 19th) [Cumbria, England] -one (from I know not whom) to William, & 2 for Maury Bros. – from Littledale’s and Hodgson Mather & Co. – Whilst Matthew was reading the 2 letters, Mary gave me yours to her of 16th[17th overwritten] (rec[eive]d yesterday) to read; - & then I read aloud to them yours via China, but omitted that part, where John Wake =filed speaking of Miss D[unning] said: “But she was not clean” [‘not clean’ underscored] - & contented myself with the more general picture he gave of her vizt. that he clo= =thing & personal appearance altogether had a most neglected appearance.” –

Elizabeth gave me the little note for you that I now enclose. – And Mary said she would take an early opportunity of replying to your note rec[eive]d yesterday. –

Your letter via China encloses one for Sarah, which I shall send to her tomorrow unread. I

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have already written he address on an envelope to enclose it, & I shall give the 2 W’s the option of read =ing tomorrow morning your letter to me via China before forwarding it to her. –

I am gratified with the extract from Caroline Wes= =ton’s letter to you, as to Mytton’s Sermon. –

I quite approve of your remaining with Mary Wakefield after her Sister Margaret’s death, but [struck-through] & I am glad you were with her on that occasion; but I hope you will soon have her set at liber= =ty for other visits, by some one or other of her nieces coming to her to take your place. –

I am surprised at John W[akefield] not liking our cousin Mary B[old], & am quite at a loss for the cause, unless it be her want of animal spirits.

I have no reason to suppose that he has any more liking for me than for her: but I remem= =ber I was quite taken aback, when she told me that we were expected to leave on the 3rd day -because I had hoped & expected to have spent 1, 2 or 3 more there. But it did not wound my armour proper, as I set it down to his eccen =tricity & fondness for variety. – I hope you will yet see both Prizette & [Ell...?].

2nd July – Thursday night – As I rode both downwards & upwards today which en= =tails but 1 mile of walking, I have walked since T[ea] out to 42nd St. & back, thus making up 5 miles: & I am now in rather a fused condition, but feeling all the better for this exercise. – It threatened rain this morn[in]g, but there has been none as yet, & if it has been dry at Cornwall [NY], it will have suited Aunt E[lizabeth] for her voyage thither with the

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(5) baggage train etc. –

The enclosed note from Mary to you was left at the house today, together with the [?]- =[?] of the silver ware that was in daily use. And all of said silver from Irving Place is now deposited in the middle room between your bed-chamber & mine. A volume (the Life of

                                          today

Rev[eren]d E. Irving) was also sent back here ^ & it rests on the top of the boxes cont[ainin]g said Silver.

Walker did not get home to dinner until all but 7 p.m.; as he was detained at the Office waiting whether any of 400 bales Cotton, that ar= =rived for us from L[iver]pool 6 days ago, had yet been landed; & he finally made a journey to Pier 37 No[rth] River to ascertain the fact.

The owner of these 400 bales – Mr. H. M. Neill, arrived yesterday via China, & presented himself at the office this morning; & it devolved upon me to hold him in conversation until Matthew came in. – I was glad that M[atthew] was here instead of being 1000 miles away, [‘1000...away’ underscored] & glad too that he was not at Cornwall even. – Our talk with Mr. Neill was altogether satisfactory. Had he arrived 2 or 3 days earlier, I think he would have been for selling some of this Cotton.

As it is, this could not be done without forc= =ing a sale; for the market is now quite dull; nothing doing, & prices 3¢ down (if not more) since Tuesday, the culminating point. But in the existing state of affairs in General

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Banks’ Department, there is every prospect of the market rallying by & bye.

I fell in with Mr. Duncan Kennedy in Nassau St. today. He was coming up as I was going down; & we stopped for a little chat. He had heard from his son at N[ew] O[rleans] by the last steamer; the son is still there [‘still there’ underscored] & his wife’s sister is gradually sinking. Mr. K[ennedy] remarked that he thought the War was now near its end; that matters were draw =ing to a crisis. I shook my head negatively, & said I could not think the end near at hand. Whenever the tide of battle runs in favor of the North, then the South deems it dishonorable to make peace on Northern terms - & vice versa.

Gold has ruled today between 44 & 44 3/4, & closed at the latter rate at 5 1/2 p.m.

By the 12 3/4 mail I sent Sarah your letters via China; - but in consequence of having to talk with Mr. Neill, I had not time to write a word to her myself; nor was it necessary.

I intend telling Mary Nugent tomorrow morn =ing, that as you are not here, they cannot both [underscored] be absent at the same time [‘same time’ underscored] on the 4th [July] -but can divide the day between them as they like; one of them seeing the [?]-shows by daylight, & the other the fire-works at night.

I would gladly let both spend the day as usual when you have been at home, as I purpose remaining in doors after going down to the P[ost] O[ffice]; but some one must be in the house besides myself, who can hear the bell ring if any one calls.

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The boys (not ours) are already rehearsing on the firing of pistols & letting off fire-works. And every morn[in]g this week some one in our row has been firing off pistols; - I suppose it is the Doctor’s sons next door.

How the 2 W’s purpose spending the 4th, I don’t know. – In all probability, there will be a great battle going on in Pennsylvania on that day, as well as in Tenn[essee] & at Vicksburg & Port Hudson. – It would be a favorable au =gury, if respect for the day could induce both parties to come to an armistice, if only for one day; but I expect no such thing.

3rd July 4 p.m. – I have a note from Sarah this afternoon as follows – “Darien [Conn.] 2nd July, “My dear Uncle Rutson – I am much obliged to you “for the letter which I enclose to you” (yours of 16th & Myttons to you of the 15th) “I feel sorry that Aunt Ann did not hear Myttons first sermon. It must have been a disappointment to her. – I can very well understand how hard it is for Aunt Ann to leave Miss Mary Wakefield; for I feel just the same at leaving Gertrude to the tender mercies of her nurse. She went out yesterday in her wheeled chair, for nearly 1/2 an hour, the first time. She has not been out of the house since the 1st January, when she took a sleigh-ride. – She was so tired & in such pain afterwards, that last night she did not close her eyes all night. \ The country is parched up dreadfully from the drought. Even the hay, they say, is spoiling. – Raspberries & Straw-

berries, which otherwise would have been in prof

=usion here, are burnt up [struck-through] to death. In all directions there are complaints of drought. Some 10 days ago there was a shower, which went past within about

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10 miles of Darien; - it was 5 miles wide, & on either side the sky clear & not a particle of rain . In plant- =ing some things in the garden here, when I turned up the soil the depth of the trowel, it appeared almost like dry sand - & it is watered every other day. It rained this morning for about 1/2 an hour; but in another 1/2 hour, you would not have known it had rained. \ My bundle arrived safely. – I am much obliged for the trouble. \ Of course you can open Nan’s letters if they come. \ With love to all believe me your affectionate niece Sarah F. Maury”

11p.m.[over and underscored] At breakfast this morning, I asked the 2 W’s what were their plans for tomorrow. Walker said he was going a sailing & fishing; & on W[illia]m saying he had no plan & thought he would stay at home, I said that if he liked to go to “Dunnington” I would frank him there & back; & he remarked that that would be a decided inducement. [‘that...inducement’ underscored] – It has ended in there going together at [underscored] by the 5 p.m. Erie R[ail] R[oad] train to Turner’s, to return on Monday morn[in]g.

Before they left the office, I gave Walker a $5 bill towards paying their expenses out & home. – I like the plan of their going together, [underscored] & of going to Turners instead of going a sailing. – The Therm[omete]r today was up to 81 [degrees], & under the Barometer, it is now 76.

I have had over 2 miles walk since T[ea], & might have gone further but for a few drops of rain stopping me, as I had no umbrella & was walking in my slippers; but the threatened shower did not come. – If the weather is fine tomorrow I may perhaps find my way to Highwood. – On naming to Mary this morn =ing my plan for her & Ann; she said that either you or Sarah (I did not understand which) had said to her that they could not both be taking holiday at the same time on the 4 July; but [struck-through] & she observed that neither of them wished to leave the house tomorrow, & that they would cheerfully wait for some other occasion for taking holiday. y[our’s affectionately R[utson] Maury.