Part 14 (1/2)

Please give my love to Mrs. Whitman & remember me to Colonel Whitman. This afternoon, when driving with Mr. Marvin, I thought of the pleasant drives I have had with Colonel Whitman.

Yours affectionately, BEATRICE C. GILCHRIST.

If it were not for records acc.u.mulating mountain high I should have time to write to my friends.

LETTER XL

ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN

_Sept. 3, '78.

Chesterfield, Ma.s.s._

I am half afraid Herby has got a malarious place by his description.

MY DEAREST FRIEND:

I had a lingering hope--till Herby went south again--that I should have a letter from you, in answer to mine, saying you were coming up to see us here. In truth, it was a great disappointment to me, his going back to Philadelphia instead of your joining us, or him, either here or somewhere near to New York. I wonder where that North Amboyna is that you once mentioned to me--and what kind of a place it is. I have had a long, quiet time here, and have enjoyed it very much--never did I breathe such sweet, light, pure air as is always blowing freely over these rocky hills. Rocky as they are--and their sides & ravines are strewn with huge boulders of every conceivable size & shape--they nourish an abundant growth of woods, and I fancy the farmers here do a great deal better with their winter crops of lumber and bark and maple sugar than with their summer one of grain & corn. I expect Herby has described our neighbours to you--specially Levi Bryant, the father of my hostess--a farmer who lives just opposite and has put such heart & soul and muscle & sinew into his farming that he has continued to win quite a handsome competence from this barren soil (it isn't muscle & industry only that are wanted here--but pluck and endurance) hauling his timber up & down over the snow & through the drifts, along roads that are pretty nearly vertical. I am never tired of hearing his stories (nor he of telling them) of hairbreadth escapes for him & his cattle--when the harness or the shafts have broken under the tremendous strain--& nothing but coolness & daring have got him or them out of it alive. Generally, as he sits talking, his little boy of eleven who bids fair to be like him and can now manage a team or a yoke of oxen as well as any man in the parish--and work almost as hard--sits close by him leaning his head on his father's shoulder or breast--for the rugged old fellow has a vein of great gentleness and affectionateness in him & I notice the child nestles up to him always rather than to the mother--who is all the same a very kind, amiable, good mother. Then there are neighbours of another sort up at the ”Centre”--Mr. Chadwick, &c., from New York, with whom I have pleasant chats daily when I trudge up to fetch my letters--now & then I get a delightful drive or go on a blackberrying party with the folks round--I expect Giddy over to-day & we shall remain here together for about a fortnight--then back to Round Hill--where I am to meet the Miss Chase whom you may remember taking tea with & liking--then on to Boston to see dear Bee--& then to New York, where we shall meet again at last, I hope ere long. Love to Mr. & Mrs. Whitman--I enjoy her letters. Also to Hattie & Jessie--who will hear from me by & bye. With love to you, dear Friend.

Good-bye.

A. GILCHRIST.

LETTER XLI

ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN

_Concord, Ma.s.s.

Oct. 25th._

MY DEAREST FRIEND:

The days are slipping away so pleasantly here that weeks are gone before I know it. The Concord folk are as friendly as they are intellectual, and there is really no end to the kindness received. We are rowed on the beautiful river every day that it is warm enough--a very winding river not much broader than your favourite creek--flowing sometimes through level meadows, sometimes round rocky promontories & steep wooded hills which, with their wonderful autumn tints, are like a gay flower border mirrored in the water. Never in my life have I enjoyed outdoor pleasures more--I hardly think, so much--enhanced as they are by the companions.h.i.+p of very lovable men and women. They lead an easy-going life here--seem to spend half their time floating about on the river--or meeting in the evening to talk & read aloud. Judge h.o.a.r says it is a good place to live and die in, but a very bad place to make a living in. Beatrice spent one Sunday with us here. We walked to Hawthorne's old house in the morning, & in the afternoon to the ”Old Manse” and to Sleepy Hollow, most beautiful of last resting places. Tuesday we go on to Boston for a week very loth to leave Concord--at least, I am!--but Giddy begins to long for city life again.

And then to New York about the 5th Nov. Herby told you, no doubt, that I spent an hour or two with Emerson--and that he looked very beautiful--and talked in a friendly, pleasant manner. A long letter from my sister in England tells me Per. looks well and happy & is so proud of his little boy--and that Norah is really a perfect wife to him--affectionate, devoted, and the best of housewives. How glad I am Herby is painting you.

I wonder if you like the landscape he is working on as well as you did ”Timber Creek.” Miss Hillard has undertaken the charge of a young lady's education, and is very much pleased with her task. She is in a delightful family who make her quite one with them--live in the best part of New York, and pay her a handsome salary. She has the afternoons and Sat.u.r.day & Sunday to herself.--Concord boasts of having been first to recognize your genius. Mr. Alcott & Mr. Sanborn say so. Good-bye, dear Friend.

A. G.

LETTER XLII

ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN