Volume II Part 18 (1/2)
_West Newton_, Septr. 19th, 1851
_Dearest Phoebe_,
Here I am as thou seest; and if not here, I know not where I could be; for Boston is so full that the Mayor has issued proclamation for the inhabitants to throw open their doors. The President is there.
They all appear to be well here; and thy mother, if Horace and Georgia say truly, walked three miles yesterday. I went with Mary to see her, last evening, and found her much better than I ever hoped.
Talking with Mary, last night, I explained our troubles to her, and our wish to get away from Lenox, and she renewed the old proposition about our taking this house for the winter. The great objection to it, when first talked of, was, that we, or I, did not wish to have the care and responsibility of your father and mother. That is now removed. It strikes me as one of those unexpected, but easy and natural solutions wherewith Providence occasionally unknots a seemingly inextricable difficulty. If you agree with me, you had better notify Mr. or Mrs. Sedgwick that we shall not want the Kemble house. We can remain in the red house till we come here.
We shall pay a rent, but I know not as yet precisely what. But we shall probably only remain half the time Mr. and Mrs. Mann are in Was.h.i.+ngton.
Mary will write.
I shall probably go to Salem on Sat.u.r.day. Kiss and spank the children.
Thine ownest in haste,
N. H.
Mrs. Sophia A. Hawthorne, Lenox, Ma.s.sachusetts.
TO MRS. HAWTHORNE
_Salem_, Sept. 23d, 1851
_Dearest_,
I have just received thy two letters; they having been forwarded hither by Ticknor & Co. I wish thou hadst not had the head-ache; it gives me the heart-ache.
In regard to the rent, it is much to pay; but thou art to remember that we take the house only till we can get another; and that we shall not probably have to pay more than half, at most, of the $350. It does seem to me better to go; for we shall never be comfortable in Lenox again. Ticknor & Co. promise the most liberal advances of money, should we need it, towards buying the house.
I will tell thee my adventures when I come. I am to return to Boston to-night, and fully intend to be in Lenox by Sat.u.r.day night.
In hugest haste,
THINE OWNEST.
Mrs. Sophia A. Hawthorne, Lenox, Ma.s.sachusetts.
TO MRS. HAWTHORNE
_Portsmouth_, Sept. 3d, 1852