2 | Author: | Wang
Chong
27-97? | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Lunheng | | | Published: | 2003 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | Wang Ch`ung is a native of Shang-yü-hsien1
1In Shao-hsing-fu (Chekiang).
in K`uei-chi2
2Under the Han dynasty K`uei-chi comprises Chekiang, the South of Anhui,
and the North of Fukien.
. His
style is Chung Jên. His family hails from Yuan-ch`êng3
3In Ta-ming-fu (Chili).
in the Wei4
4A circuit comprising parts of Chili and Honan.
circuit. One of his clan, Sun-yi, served his whole life as a soldier,
and distinguished himself so much, that he was appointed warden
of the southern part of K uei-chi, but, when one year a disturbance
broke out, which disorganised the State, he continued to reside
there, and became a farmer and cultivator of mulberry-trees. | | Similar Items: | Find |
5 | Author: | Brainard
John G. C.
(John Gardiner Calkins)
1796-1828 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letters Found in the Ruins of Fort Braddock, Including an Interesting American Tale | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | IT is now spring—the buds are bursting
through all the wilderness about me; but the cold
rains which are constantly descending, make my
condition so cheerless, that I write to you merely
to pass the time. Why I was doomed to spend my
winter here so solitary, or when I shall have the
good luck to shift my quarters, for any other spot,
is past my skill to divine. Any other spot—the
Arkansas, the Rio Colorada, the Council Bluffs,
the Yellow Stone, any place but this. Was I dangerous
to government, that they should have contrived
for one poor subaltern, this Siberian banishment,
where I am ingeniously confined, not by
a guard placed over me, but by having the command
of about five and twenty men, that the spring
discovers in a uniform of rags. | | Similar Items: | Find |
6 | Author: | Cooper
James Fenimore
1789-1851 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Last of the Mohicans | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | Leather-stocking tales | leather stocking tales | | | Description: | It was a feature peculiar to the colonial wars of
North America, that the toils and dangers of the wilderness
were to be encountered, before the adverse
hosts could meet in murderous contact. A wide,
and, apparently, an impervious boundary of forests,
severed the possessions of the hostile provinces of
France and England. The hardy colonist, and the
trained European who fought at his side, frequently
expended months in struggling against the rapids of
the streams, or in effecting the rugged passes of the
mountains, in quest of an opportunity to exhibit
their courage in a more martial conflict. But, emulating
the patience and self-denial of the practised
native warriors, they learned to overcome every difficulty;
and it would seem, that in time, there was
no recess of the woods so dark, nor any secret place
so lovely, that it might claim exemption from the inroads
of those who had pledged their blood to satiate
their vengeance, or to uphold the cold and selfish
policy of the distant monarchs of Europe. | | Similar Items: | Find |
7 | Author: | Cooper
James Fenimore
1789-1851 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Last of the Mohicans | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | Leather-stocking tales | leather stocking tales | | | Description: | The bloody and inhuman scene which we have
rather incidentally mentioned than described, in the
close of the preceding volume, is conspicuous in the
pages of colonial history, by the merited title of
“The massacre of William Henry.” It so far deepened
the stain which a previous and very similar
event had left upon the reputation of the French
commander, that it was not entirely erased by his
early and glorious death. It is now becoming obscured
by time; and thousands, who know that Montcalm
died like a hero on the plains of Abraham, have
yet to learn how much he was deficient in that moral
courage, without which no man can be truly great.
Pages might be written to prove, from this illustrious
example, the defects of human excellence; to
show how easy it is for generous sentiments, high
courtesy, and chivalrous courage, to lose their influence
beneath the chilling ascendency of mistaken
selfishness, and to exhibit to the world a man who
was great in all the minor attributes of character,
but who was found wanting, when it became necessary
to prove how much principle is superior to policy.
But the task would exceed our fanciful prerogatives;
and, as history, like love, is so apt to surround
her heroes with an atmosphere of imaginary
brightness, it is probable that Louis de Saint Véran
will be viewed by posterity only as the gallant defender
of his country, while his cruel apathy on the
shores of the Oswego and of the Horican, will be
forgotten. Deeply regretting this weakness on the
part of our sister muse, we shall at once retire from
her sacred precincts, within the proper limits of our
own humbler vocation. | | Similar Items: | Find |
8 | Author: | Sedgwick
Catharine Maria
1789-1867 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Linwoods; Or, "sixty Years Since" in America | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Some two or three years before our revolutionary
war, just at the close of day, two girls were seen
entering Broadway through a wicket garden-gate,
in the rear of a stately mansion which fronted on
Broad-street, that being then the court-end of the
city—the residence of unquestioned aristocracy—
(sic transit gloria mundi!) whence royal favour
and European fashions were diffused through the
province of New-York. “You must love me, or you could not endure my
stupid letters—you that can write so delightfully
about nothing, and have so much to write about,
while I can tell nothing but what I see, and I see
so little! The outward world does not much interest
me. It is what I feel that I think of and
ponder over; but I know how you detest what you
call sentimental letters, so I try to avoid all such
subjects. Compared with you I am a child—two
years at our age makes a great difference—I am
really very childish for a girl almost fourteen, and
yet, and yet, Isabella, I sometimes seem to myself
to have gone so far beyond childhood, that I have
almost forgotten that careless, light-hearted feeling
I used to have. I do not think I ever was so light-hearted
as some children, and yet I was not
serious—at least, not in the right way. Many a
time, before I was ten years old, I have sat up in
my own little room till twelve o'clock Saturday
night, reading, and then slept for an hour and a
half through the whole sermon the next morning.
I do believe it is the natural depravity of my
heart. I never read over twice a piece of heathen
poetry that moves me but I can repeat it—and
yet, I never could get past `what is effectual calling?'
in the Westminster Catechism; and I always
was in disgrace on Saturday, when parson Wilson
came to the school to hear us recite it:—oh dear,
the sight of his wig and three-cornered hat petrified
me!” “I have been enjoying a very pretty little episode
in my college life, passing the vacation at
Westbrook, with your old friends the Lees. A
month in a dull little country town would once
have seemed to me penance enough for my worst
sin, but now it is heaven to get anywhere beyond
the sound of college bells—beyond the reach of
automaton tutors—periodical recitations—chapel
prayers, and college rules. —Never say another word to
me of what you hinted in your last letter: indeed,
I am too young; and besides, I never should feel
easy or happy again with Jasper, if I admitted
such a thought. I have had but one opinion since
our visit to Effie; not that I believed in her—at
least, not much; but I have always known who
was first in his thoughts—heart—opinion; and besides,
it would be folly in me, knowing his opinions
about rank, &c. Mother thinks him very proud,
and somewhat vain; and she begins not to be
pleased with his frequent visits to Westbrook. She
thinks—no, fears, or rather she imagines, that Jasper
and I—no, that Jasper or I—no, that I—
it is quite too foolish to write, Isabella—mother
does not realize what a wide world there is between
us. I might possibly, sometimes, think he loved
(this last word was carefully effaced, and cared
substituted) cared for me, if he did not know you. “Thanks, dear Isabella, for your delightful letter
by Jasper—no longer Jasper, I assure you to his
face, but Mr. Meredith—oh, I often wish the time
back when I was a child, and might call him Jasper,
and feel the freedom of a child. I wonder if
I should dare to call you Belle now, or even Isabella?
Jasper, since his last visit at home, tells me
so much of your being `the mirror of fashion—
the observed of all observers' (these are his own
words—drawing-room terms that were never heard
in Westbrook but from his lips), that I feel a sort of
fearful shrinking. It is not envy—I am too happy
now to envy anybody in the wide world. Eliot is
at home, and Jasper is passing a week here. Is it
not strange they should be so intimate, when they
differ so widely on political topics? I suppose it
is because Jasper does not care much about the
matter; but this indifference sometimes provokes
Eliot. Jasper is very intimate with Pitcairn and
Lord Percy; and Eliot thinks they have more influence
with him than the honour and interest of
his country. Oh, they talk it over for hours and
hours, and end, as men always do with their arguments,
just where they began. Jasper insists that
as long as the quarrel can be made up it is much
wisest to stand aloof, and not, `like mad boys, to
rush foremost into the first fray;' besides, he says
he is tied by a promise to his uncle that he will
have nothing to do with these agitating disputes
till his education is finished. Mother says (she
does not always judge Jasper kindly) that it is very
easy and prudent to bind your hands with a promise
when you do not choose to lift them. —The world seems turned
upside down since I began this letter—war (war,
what an appalling sound) has begun—blood has
been spilt, and our dear, dear Eliot—but I must
tell you first how it all was. Eliot and Jasper were
out shooting some miles from Cambridge, when, on
coming to the road, they perceived an unusual commotion—old
men and young, and even boys, all
armed, in wagons, on horseback, and on foot, were
coming from all points, and all hurrying onward in
one direction. On inquiring into the hurly-burly,
they were told that Colonel Smith had marched to
Concord to destroy the military stores there; and
that our people were gathering from all quarters to
oppose his return. Eliot immediately joined them,
Jasper did not; but, dear Isabella, I that know
you so well, know, whatever others may think, that
tories may be true and noble. There was a fight
at Lexington. Our brave men had the best of it.
Eliot was the first to bring us the news. With
a severe wound in his arm, he came ten miles that
we need not be alarmed by any reports, knowing,
as he told mother, that she was no Spartan mother,
to be indifferent whether her son came home with
his shield or on his shield. Miss Linwood to Bessie Lee. —A week—a stormy, miserable
week has passed since I wrote the above, and it
has ended in Herbert's leaving us, and dishonouring
his father's name by taking a commission in the
rebel service. Papa has of course had a horrible
fit of the gout. He says he has for ever cast
Herbert out of his affections. Ah! I am not skilled
in metaphysics, but I know that we have no power
whatever over our affections. Mamma takes it all
patiently, and chiefly sorroweth for that Herbert
has lost caste by joining the insurgents, whom she
thinks little better than so many Jack Cades. “You say, my dear madam, that you have
heard `certain reports about me, which you are not
willing to believe, and yet cannot utterly discredit.'
You say, also, `that though you should revolt with
horror from sanctioning your son in those liaisons
that are advised by Lord Chesterfield, and others
of your friends, yet you see no harm in' loverlike
attentions `to young persons in inferior stations;
they serve' you add, `to keep alive and cultivate
that delicate finesse so essential to the success
of a man of the world, and, provided they
have no immoral purpose, are quite innocent,' as the
object of them must know there is an `impassable
gulf between her and her superiors in rank, and
is therefore responsible for her mistakes.' I have
been thus particular in echoing your words, that I
may assure you my conduct is in conformity to
their letter and spirit. Tranquillize yourself, my
dear madam. There is nothing, in any little fooleries
I may be indulging in, to disquiet you for a
moment. The person in question is a divine little
creature—quite a prodigy for this part of the
world, where she lives in a seclusion almost equal to
that of Prospero's isle; so that your humble servant,
being scarce more than the `third man that e'er
she saw,' it would not be to marvel at `if he
should be the first that e'er she loved'—and if I am,
it is my destiny—my conscience is quite easy—
I never have committed myself, nor ever shall:
time and absence will soon dissipate her illusions.
She is an unaspiring little person, quite aware of
the gulf, as you call it, between us. She believes
that even if I were lover and hero enough to play
the Leander and swim it, my destiny is fixed on
the other side. I have no distrust of myself, and I
beg you will have none; I am saved from all responsibility
as to involving the happiness of this
lily of the valley, by her very clear-sighted mother,
7*
and her sage of a brother, her natural guardians. “I have arrived thus far, my dear mother, on
my journey; and, according to my promise, am
beginning the correspondence which is to soften
our separation. “My sweet sister Bessie, nothing has afflicted
me so much in leaving home as parting from you.
I am inclined to believe there can be no stronger
nor tenderer affection than that of brother and
sister; the sense of protection on one part, and
dependance on the other; the sweet recollections
of childhood; the unity of interest; and the communion
of memory and hope, blend their hearts
together into one existence. So it is with us—is
it not, my dear sister? With me, certainly; for
though, like most young men, I have had my
fancies, they have passed by like the summer
breeze, and left no trace of their passage. All the
love, liking (I cannot find a word to express the
essential volatility of the sentiment in my experience
of it) that I have ever felt for all my
favourites, brown and fair, does not amount to one
thousandth part of the immutable affection that I
bear you, my dear sister. I speak only of my
own experience, Bessie, and, as I well know,
against the faith of the world. I should be told
that my fraternal love would pale in the fires of
another passion, as does a lamp at the shining of
the sun; but I don't believe a word of it—do you,
Bessie? I am not, my dear sister, playing the
inquisitor with you, but fearfully and awkwardly
enough approaching a subject on which I thought
it would be easier to write than to speak; but I
find it cannot be easy to do that, in any mode,
which may pain you. —I arrived safely at
headquarters on the 22d. Colonel Ashley received
me with open arms. He applauded my
resolution to join the army, and bestowed his curses
liberally (as is his wont on whatever displeases him)
on the young men who linger at home, while the
gallant spirits of France and Poland are crossing
the ocean to volunteer in our cause. He rubbed
his hands exultingly when I told him that it was
your self-originating decision that I should leave
you. `The only son of your mother—that is, the
only one to speak of' (forgive him, Sam and Hal),
`and she a widow!' he exclaimed. `Let them talk
about their Spartan mothers, half men and demimonsters;
but look at our women-folks, as tender
and as timid of their broods as hens, and as bold
and self-sacrificing as martyrs! You come of a
good stock, my boy, and so I shall tell the gin'ral.
He's old Virginia, my lad; and looks well to blood
in man and horse.' —I write under the inspiration
of the agreeable consciousness that my letter may
pass under the sublime eye of your commander-in-chief,
or be scanned and sifted by his underlings.
I wish to Heaven that, without endangering your
bright orbs, I could infuse some retributive virtue
into my ink to strike them blind. But the deuse
take them. I defy their oversight. I am not discreet
enough to be trusted with military or political
secrets, and therefore, like Hotspur's Kate, I
can betray none. As to my own private affairs,
though I do not flatter myself I have attained a
moral eminence which I may challenge the world
to survey, yet I'll expose nothing to you, dear Belle,
whose opinion I care more for than that of king,
lords, and commons, which the whole world may
not know without your loving brother being dishonoured
thereby: so, on in my usual `streak o'
lightning style,' with facts and feelings. “No, no, my dear Belle, I cannot remove to the
city—it must not be; and I am sorry the question
is again mooted. `A woman, and naturally born
to fears,' I may be; but because I have that inconvenient
inheritance, I see no reason why I
should cherish and augment it. Your imagination,
which is rather an active agent, has magnified
the terrors of the times; and it seems just
now to be unduly excited by the monstrous tales
circulated in the city, of the atrocities the Yankees
have committed on the tories. I see in Rivington's
Gazette, which you wrapped around the
sugarplums that you sent the children (thank you),
various precious anecdotes of Yankee tigers and
tory lambs, forsooth! that are just about as true
as the tales of giants and ogres with which your
childhood was edified. The Yankees are a civilized
race, and never, God bless them! commit
gratuitous cruelties. If they still `see it to be
duty' (to quote their own Puritan phrase), they will
cling to this contest till they have driven the remnant
of your Israel, Belle, every tory and Englishman,
from the land; but they will commit no
episodical murders: it is only the ignorant man
that is unnecessarily cruel. They are an instructed,
kind-hearted, Christian people; and of this there
will be abundant proof while the present war is remembered.
Remember, Belle, these people have
unadulterated English blood in their veins, which
to you should be a prevailing argument in their favour;
and believe me, they have a fair portion of
the spirit of their freedom-loving and all-daring ancestors.
Our English mother, God bless her, too,
should have known better than to trammel, scold,
and try to whip her sons into obedience, when
they had come to man's estate, and were fit to
manage their own household. Thank Heaven, I
have outlived the prejudices against the people of
New-England which my father transmitted to his
children. `There they come,' he used to say,
when he saw these busy people driving into the
manor; `every snow brings them, and, d—n them,
every thaw too!' | | Similar Items: | Find |
9 | Author: | Sedgwick
Catharine Maria
1789-1867 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Linwoods; Or, "sixty Years Since" in America | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | It is reasonable to suppose that the disclosures
which occurred in Sir Henry Clinton's library
would be immediately followed by their natural
sequences: that love declared by one party, and
betrayed by the other, would, according to the
common usages of society, soon issue in mutual
affiancing. But these were not the piping times
of peace, and the harmony of events was sadly
broken by the discords of the period. —I could have huged
you before we parted, I have been so pleased with
you from the beginin to the end of this biznes. I
felt for you in the loss of your hors, and I can't
bear the thots of your riden that sorry jade, that's
only been used to prouling about o' nights, on all
sorts of diviltry; so I've ordered Gurden to put
into your hands a likely oretur, that our fokes at
home has sent up to be sold to the ofisers in camp.
Take it, my boy, and don't feel beholden to me; for
when the war is at end, and it's conveneyent, we'll
settle for it. —I perceive by your letters of
the first, which, thanks to a kind Providence, have
duly come to hand, that it is now nearly three
months since you have heard from us. Much good
and much evil may befall in three months! Much
good have I truly to be grateful for: and chiefly
that your life and health have been thus precious
in the sight of the Lord, and that you have received
honour at the hand of man (of which our good Dr.
Wilson made suitable mention in his prayer last
Sabbath); and, as I humbly trust, approval from
Him who erreth not. “I have read your letters over and over again, till
they have fallen to pieces with the continual dropping
of my hot tears; but every syllable is imprinted
on my heart. You did not believe your
`sister would waste her sensibility, the precious
food of life, in moping melancholy.' Oh, Eliot,
how much better must I have appeared to you than
I was! I have been all my life a hypocrite. You
believed `my mind had a self-rectifying power,'
and I imposed this belief on you! I am ready,
now, to bow my head in the dust for it. `Love,'
said your letter, `can never be incurable when it is
a disease: that is to say, when its object is unworthy.'
Ah, my dear brother, there was your
fatal mistake. It was I that was unworthy—it
was your simple sister that, in her secret, unconfessed
thoughts, believed he loved her, knowing
all the while that his lot was cast with the high,
the gifted, the accomplished—with such as Isabella
Linwood, and not with one so humble in condition,
so little graced by art as I am. I do not blame
him. Heaven knows I do not. `Self-rectifying
power!' Eliot, talk to the reed, that has been uprooted
and borne away by the tides of the ocean,
of its `self-rectifying power!' ” Eliot's maliness was vanquished, and he wept
like a child over his sister's letter. He reproached
himself for having left home. He bitterly reproached
himself for not having foreseen the danger
of her long, exclusive, and confiding intercourse
with Meredith. He was almost maddened when
he thought of the perils to which she must have
been exposed, and of his utter inability to save her
from one of them. The only solacing thought that
occurred to him was the extreme improbability
that her fragile and exhausted frame could support
the fatigues she must encounter, and that even
now, while he wept over her letter (a fortnight had
elapsed since it was written), her gentle spirit
might have entered upon its eternal rest. —I have just chanced
to call at a poor blacksmith's, who, with his worthy
family, is at death's door with a protracted intermittent.
It seems to me that port, like that I
drank with you yesterday, might restore them.
As the man looks like too independent an American
to beg a favour, I have taken the liberty to give
him this order for a bottle or two, telling him, with
a poetic truth, that I had wine in your cellar. It is
your own fault if all your friends feel that they
have a property in your possessions. Adieu.” —Nathan Palmer, a lieutenant in the service
of your king, has been taken in my camp as a
spy, condemned as a spy, and will be hung as a spy. “I have received your note, Jasper; I do not
reply to it hastily; hours of watchfulness and reflection
at the bedside of my friend have given the
maturity of years to my present feeling. I have
loved you, I confess it now; not by a treacherous
blush, but calmly, deliberately, in my own handwriting,
without faltering or emotion of any sort.
Yes, I have loved you, if a sentiment springing
from a most attachable nature, originating in the
accidental intercourse of childhood, fostered by
pride, nurtured by flattery, and exaggerated by an
excited imagination, can be called love. | | Similar Items: | Find |
10 | Author: | Sedgwick
Catharine Maria
1789-1867 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Live and Let Live, Or, Domestic Service Illustrated | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | It was one of the coldest days felt in New-York,
during the winter of 182-, that a baker's cart made
its accustomed halt before a door in Church-street.
It was driven by Charles Lovett, the baker's son,
whose ruddy cheeks, quick movement, and beaming
eye bespoke health, industry, and a happy
temper. This latter attribute seemed somewhat
too severely tested by the tardiness of his customer,
for in vain had he whistled, clapped his
hands, stamped, and repeated his usual cry of
“Hurry! hurry!” He at last leaped from his cart
on to the broken step of the wretched dwelling,
when the upper half of the door was slowly opened,
and a thinly-clad girl appeared, who, in answer to
his prepared question, “Why, what ails you? are
you all asleep?” replied, “Mother does not wish
any bread this morning.” “After deliberating and advising with Mrs. Hyde,
who has been like the kindest of mothers to us,
we have come to a decision which only waits for
your approbation. The bakery is sold to Mr.
Werner, a German, who, when a stranger and quite
destitute, came to the Lovetts, as it seemed, accidentally.
Werner was honest and industrious; he
understood the business thoroughly, and introduced
some improvements. For the last two years he
has been a partner, and now he has bought out
Charles. His two sisters and their old parents
arrived a few weeks since, and a happier family
I never saw. How strange that such a train of
consequences should come from Werner just coming
in to breakfast with us one morning at Mr.
Lovett's. This is what Mrs. Hyde says we should
call providential. Our Father in heaven provides
the opportunity for doing good, and his faithful
children improve it. But to our own affairs: it is
not five years since Mr. Lovett went to Ohio, and
there are already four thousand inhabitants in the
village. The people, he says, are very anxious to
have the bakery going; the bakehouse is built on
the lot Mr. Lovett set off to Charles for his services
when he was apprentice to him. Our house
is nearly done, and large enough for us all. The
ladies in the village will have plenty of work for
the girls' millinery and dressmaking establishment,
and dear Jemmie will keep Charles's books, and
all of us will be in a way to earn an honourable
living; all but you, dear mother; the remainder of
your life must be rest. You shall be our queen-bee,
and we will be your workers. Mrs. Hyde wishes
you to consent to the wedding being here; she
says it will save time (as we must return here on
our way to Pittsburgh) and save the expense of
a journey to Massachusetts. Charles likes this
plan, and I want you to know our family before I
leave it. Mrs. Hyde says she will provide lodgings
for you all at a boarding-house near to us. Is
not this most kind? Oh, mother, you will like her so
much! She has such beautiful manners, not only
in the drawing-room and to ladies, but to all, down to
the man that sweeps off the flagging, and the poor
that beg at her door. She truly seems to see the
image of God in every human creature; it makes
people civil to speak to her; her manners inspire
them with self-respect. She never lowers herself,
but raises them. If some people looked as differently
as they act to those above and those below
them, they would sometimes appear like the “loathly
ladie” in the ballad. | | Similar Items: | Find |
12 | Author: | Bennett
Emerson
1822-1905 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Leni Leoti, Or, Adventures in the Far West | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | It was the last day of May, in the year
of our Lord 1843. Already the earth felt
the genial air of summer, and looked as
smiling as a gay maiden in her teens. The
blade had covered the ground with a carpet
of matchless green, amid which, their
lovely faces half concealed, bright flowers
of a hundred varieties, peeped modestly
forth to render the landscape enchanting,
giving their sweet breath to a southern
breeze that softly stole over them. The
trees in every direction were in full foliage,
and already among them could be
seen green bunches of embryo fruits. It
was in fact a delightful day, a delightful
season of the year, and a delightful scene
upon which I gazed, with feelings, alas!
that had more in them of sadness than
joy. | | Similar Items: | Find |
13 | Author: | Child
Lydia Maria Francis
1802-1880 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letters from New York | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | You ask what is now my opinion of this great Babylon:
and playfully remind me of former philippics, and a long
string of vituperative alliterations, such as magnificence and
mud, finery and filth, diamonds and dirt, bullion and brass
tape, &c. &c. Nor do you forget my first impression of
the city, when we arrived at early dawn, amid fog and
drizzling rain, the expiring lamps adding their smoke to the
impure air, and close beside us a boat called the “Fairy
Queen,” laden with dead hogs. | | Similar Items: | Find |
14 | Author: | Cooper
James Fenimore
1789-1851 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Lionel Lincoln, Or, the Leaguer of Boston | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | No American can be ignorant of the principal
events that induced the parliament of Great
Britain, in 1774, to lay those impolitic restrictions
on the port of Boston, which so effectually destroyed
the trade of the chief town in her western
colonies. Nor should it be unknown to any American,
how nobly, and with what devotedness to
the great principles of the controversy, the inhabitants
of the adjacent town of Salem refused to
profit by the situation of their neighbours and fellow-subjects.
In consequence of these impolitic
measures of the English government, and of the
laudable unanimity among the capitalists of the
times, it became a rare sight to see the canvass of
any other vessels than such as wore the pennants
of the king, whitening the forsaken waters of Massachusetts
bay. | | Similar Items: | Find |
15 | Author: | Cooper
James Fenimore
1789-1851 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Lionel Lincoln, or, The Leaguer of Boston | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Although the battle of Bunker-hill was fought
while the grass yet lay on the meadows, the heats
of summer had been followed by the nipping frosts
of November; the leaf had fallen in its hour, and
the tempests and biting colds of February had
succeeded, before Major Lincoln left that couch
where he had been laid, when carried, in total
helplessness, from the fatal heights of the
peninsula. Throughout the whole of that long
period, the hidden bullet had defied the utmost
skill of the British surgeons; nor could all their
science and experience embolden them to risk
cutting certain arteries and tendons in the body
of the heir of Lincoln, which were thought
to obstruct the passage to that obstinate lead,
which, all agreed, alone impeded the recovery of
the unfortunate sufferer. This indecision was
one of the penalties that poor Lionel paid for
his greatness; for had it been Meriton who lingered,
instead of his master, it is quite probable
the case would have been determined at a
much earlier hour. At length a young and enterprising
leech, with the world before him, arrived
from Europe, who, possessing greater skill or more
effrontery (the effects are sometimes the same) than
his fellows, did not hesitate to decide at once on
the expediency of an operation. The medical staff
of the army sneered at this bold innovator, and
at first were content with such silent testimonials
of their contempt. But when the friends of the
patient, listening, as usual, to the whisperings of
hope, consented that the confident man of probes
should use his instruments, the voices of his contemporaries
became not only loud, but clamorous.
There was a day or two when even the watch-worn
and jaded subalterns of the army forgot
the dangers and hardships of the siege, to attend
with demure and instructed countenances to the
unintelligible jargon of the “Medici” of their
camp; and men grew pale, as they listened, who
had never been known to exhibit any symptoms
of the disgraceful passion before their more
acknowledged enemies. But when it became
known that the ball was safely extracted, and
the patient was pronounced convalescent, a calm
succeeded that was much more portentous to the
human race than the preceding tempest; and in
a short time the daring practitioner was universally
acknowledged to be the founder of a new
theory. The degrees of M. D. were showered
upon his honoured head from half the learned
bodies in Christendom, while many of his enthusiastic
admirers and imitators became justly entitled
to the use of the same magical symbols, as annexments
to their patrony micks, with the addition
of the first letter in the alphabet. The ancient
reasoning was altered to suit the modern facts, and
before the war was ended, some thousands of the
servants of the crown, and not a few of the patriotic
colonists, were thought to have died, scientifically,
under the favour of this important discovery. | | Similar Items: | Find |
16 | Author: | Clark
Willis Gaylord
1808-1841 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The literary remains of the late Willis Gaylord Clark | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | `I have not sooner replied to your letter of the eighteenth of June, communicating
the intelligence of the untimely death of your brother, because in
fact I was at a loss how to reply. It is one of those cases in which all ordinary
attempts at consolation are apt to appear trite and cold, and can never reach
the deep-seated affliction. In such cases, it always appears to me better
to leave the heart to struggle with its own sorrows, and medicine its own ills;
and indeed, in healthful minds, as in healthful bodies, Providence has beneficently
implanted self-healing qualities, that in time close up and almost obliterate
the deepest wounds. `Of the several excellent writers whose names we have placed upon our
catalogue as worthy of the honor we intend to do them (a series of portraits
of popular Philadelphia authors, accompanied by suitable notices of their
lives and works,) the first we select is that of Willis Gaylord Clark, whose
rare abilities as a poet, and whose qualities as a man, justify this distinction.
The life of a student is usually, almost necessarily, indeed, uneventful. Disinclined
by habit and association, and generally unfitted by temperament, to
mingle in the ruder scenes, the shocks and conflicts that mark the periods
of sterner existence, his biography furnishes but few salient points upon
which an inquirer can take hold. In the little circle which his affections
have gathered around him, he finds abundant sources of enjoyment and interest;
and though the world without may ring with his name, he pursues his
quiet and peaceful way, undisturbed by, if not insensible to, its praises. Such
has been eminently the case with the subject of this notice. With feelings
peculiarly fitted for social and domestic intercourse, and a heart overflowing
with the warmest and most generous impulses; and a shrinking sensitiveness
to obtrusive public regard, Mr. Clark has always sought those scenes in
which, while his talents found free scope, his native modesty was unwounded,
and he could exercise without restraint the Joftier charities of his nature. `With the exception of a small volume published some years since, we believe that
Mr. Clark's effusions have not been collected. They have appeared at irregular and
often remote intervals; and though their beauty and pathos have won the applause of
the first writers of this country and England, they have not made that impression
which if united they could not fail to produce. Mr. Clark's distinguishing traits are
tenderness, pathos, and melody. In style and sentiment he is wholly original, but if
he resemble any writer, it is Mr. Bryant. The same lofty tone of sentiment, the
same touches of melting pathos, the same refined sympathies with the beauties and
harmonies of nature, and the same melody of style, characterise, in an almost equal
degree, these delightful poets. The ordinary tone of Mr. Clark's poetry is gentle,
solemn, and tender. Ilis effusions flow in melody from a heart full of the sweetest affections,
and upon their surface is mirrored all that is gentle and beautiful in nature,
rendered more beautiful by the light of a lofty and religious imagination. He is one
of the few writers who have succeeded in making the poetry of religion attractive.
Young is sad, and austere, Cowper is at times constrained, and Wordsworth is much
too dreamy for the mass; but with Clark religion is unaffectedly blended with the
simplest and sweetest affections of the heart. His poetry glitters with the dew, not
of Castaly, but of heaven. No man, however cold, can resist the winning and natural
sweetness and melody of the tone of piety that pervades his poems. All the voices
of nature speak to him of religion; he
`Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.'
There is not an effusion, and scarce a line in his poetical writings that is not replete
with this spirit. The entire absence of affectation or artifice in Mr. Clark's poetry
also deserves the highest commendation. Though always poetical he is always natural;
he sacrifices nothing for effect, and does not seek his subjects or his figures from
the startling or the extravagant. There is an uniform and uninterrupted propriety in
his writings. His taste is not merely cultivated and refined, but sensitively fastidious,
and shrinks, with instinctive delicacy, from anything that could distort the tranquil
and tender beauty of his lines. His diction is neither quaint nor common-place, bloated
nor tame, but is natural, classic, and expressive. In the art of versification, he appears
to be nearly perfect; we know no poet in the language who is more regular, animated,
and euphonious. `Our brother is no more!' Death, the pale messenger, has beckoned
him silently away; and the spirit which kindled with so many elevated
thoughts; which explored the chambers of human affection, and awakened
so many warm sympathies; which rejoiced with the glad, and grieved with
the sorrowing, has ascended to mansions of eternal repose. And there is
one, reader, who above all others feels how much gentleness of soul, how
much fraternal affection and sincere friendship; how much joyous bilarity,
goodness, poetry, have gone out of the world; and he will be pardoned for
dwelling in these pages, so often enriched by the genius of the Departed,
upon the closing scenes of his earthly career. Since nearly a twelve-month
the deceased has `died daily' in the eyes of the writer of this feeble tribute.
He saw that Disease sat at his heart, and was gnawing at its cruel leisure;
that in the maturity of every power, in the earthly perfection of every faculty;
`when experience had given facility to action and success to endeavor,'
he was fast going down to darkness and the worm. Thenceforth were treasured
up every soul-fraught epistle and the recollection of each recurring
interview, growing more and more frequent, until at length Life like a spent
steed `panted to its goal,' and Death sealed up the glazing eye and stilled
the faltering tongue. Leaving these, however, with many other treasured
remains and biographical facts for future reference and preservation in this
Magazine, we pass to the following passages of a letter recently received
from a late but true friend of the lamented deceased, Rev. Dr. Ducachet,
Rector of St. Stephen's Church, Philadelphia; premising merely, that the
reverend gentleman had previously called upon him at his special instance,
in the last note he ever penned; that `his religious faith was manifested in
a manner so solemn, so frank, and so cordial,' as to convince the affectionate
pastor that the failing invalid, aware that he must die of the illness under
which he was suffering, had long been seeking divine assistance to prepare
him for the issue so near at hand: `He was, so far as his character revealed itself to me, a man of a most
noble, frank, and generous nature. He was as humble as a little child. He
exhibited throughout most remarkable patience. He never complained.
But once, while I was on bended knees, praying with him for patience to be
given him, and acknowledging that all he had suffered was for the best, he
clasped his hands together, and exclaimed, `Yes! right, right—all right!'
... He was one of the most affectionate-hearted men I ever saw. Every
moment I spent with him, he was doing or saying something to express to me
his attachment. He would take my hand, or put his arm around my neck,
or say something tender, to tell me that he loved me. He showed the same
kind feeling to his attendants, his faithful nurse, Rebecca, and to the humblest
of the servants.... He was of course, with such a heart, grateful
for the smallest attentions. He received the most trifling office with thanks.
I observed this most remarkably on the evening of his death. I had taken
my son with me, that he might sit up with him on Saturday night, if occasion
should require. When I mentioned that the youth was in the room, he
called for him; welcomed him most kindly, thanked him over and over for
his friendly intentions; and in fact, broke out into the warmest expressions of
gratitude for what his sensitive and generous heart took to be a high act of
favor. All this was within an hour and a half of his death.... Finally,
I believe he was a truly religious man. I have no doubt that he was fully
prepared for his end; and that through the sacrifice of the cross, and the
Saviour who died there for sinners, he was pardoned and accepted. He has
gone, I feel persuaded, to the abodes of peace, where the souls of those who
sleep in the Lord Jesus enjoy perpetual felicity and rest.' Good Reader, let us have a talk together. Sit you down
with benevolent optics, and a kindly heart, and I doubt not that
we shall pass an hour right pleasantly, one with another. Pleasantly,
in part, but in part it may be, sadly; for you know it is
with conversation, as with life; it taketh various colors, and is
changing evermore. So we will expect these changes, and meet
them as they come. Sometimes we shall be in the cheerful vein,
and at others, in that subjunctive mood which conquers the jest on
the lip, and holds Humor in bonds. But for `gude or ill,' I
shall desire you to sit with me. In the voices of Mirth, there
may be excitement, but in the tones of Mourning there is consolation. Congregere in Pons Cayuguum, Februarius Sexdecim, nox media, pro
jocus et exercitatio, et animi relaxatio. `Sithence that love, which is the lightest bird in the world, hath
nestled in my bosom, it hath proved so full of egg, that I have been forced
to suffer him to lay there. But sithence he hath laid it, he hath sate upon
it a long tyme, and at length hath hatched this little pullet which I now
send you. The breeding of it will cost you little; all the food it will require
will be caresses and kisses. And withal, it is so well taught that it
speaks better than a paraqueto, and so will tell you my sufferings for you.
It hath in charge to inquire of you whether or no you are yet displeased
with me, and to let me know your mind, not by a pullet so big as this, but
by the least chicken you please, if I may have your favor; with this promise,
that if you have laid aside your rigor, I shall send you no more pullets, but
present you with full-grown birds, full of valor and affection. Will you allow me to correct a slight statement in your
last, with reference to my death? I am grateful for the compliments to my
character in your obituary notice, and I believe them deserved. That I
tried to do the handsome thing while I lived, is most true; true, too, is it, that
I never backed out of a fight, and never saw the man that could whip me,
when alive; and I say the same yet, `being dead,' according to your story.
But when you state, that I left my affairs unsettled, and my widow and
those eleven children unprovided for, I have only to state, that you lie in
your throat! I mean no offence in what I say; I speak in the aggregate
sense of the term. Being a dead man, and printed down as such in your
columns, I am incapable of mortal resentments; but I leave as my avengers,
Cain, Abel, and Simpkins, printers and publishers of the Occidental
Trumpet and Mississippi Battle-Axe. To the editor of that paper, I submit
my fame. To his indomitable coolness, never yet ruffled by repeated contumely,
and invulnerable to contempt, I confide my reputation: feeling
certain that one who has never found satisfaction for an insult, (nor sought
it indeed,) can fail to be a champion in my cause. That he may be in peril
in my advocacy, is possible; but he knows how to shun it. He is independent,
for he is unknown; he is fearless, for no man will touch a hair of
his head. To that important Gulliven, in whatsoever cave or fastness he
may dwell, I surrender my fame. I have had an interview with Mr. Biddle, and truly lament
my inability to communicate satisfactory results. I fear that until the
resolution of the Senator from Ohio, in regard to the repeal of the Treasury
order, is finally disposed of, the trading interests will materially suffer. `I have seen a piece which you made and put into a perryoge published
down into the city of New York, to which I am a-going to indict a reply.
My indictment will be short, as some of the parties is not present to which
you have been allusive. But with respect of that there diwine person you
spoke of, I am sorry to remark, that he is uncommonly dead, and wont
never give no more lectures. He was so onfortnight as to bu'st a blood-vessel
at a pertracted meeting; and I han't hearn nothing onto him sence.
His motives was probable good; but in delivering on 'em, it struck me forcibly
that he proximoted to the sassy. However, I never reserves ill will,
not ag'inst nobody; and I authorize you to put this into printing, ef'so be
that you deem it useful. That's what Smith used to say, when he published
his self-nominations in the newspapers, that a man with a horn (they
tell me that he has a very large circle of kindred) used to ride post about
and distribit. `I have taken your new hat, but I leave you my eternal gratitude. `It becomes our painful but imperative and extraordinary duty, to promulgate
the facts of a disaster which reached us to-day, by the mail from
Thebes, via the perpendicular railroad. As a party were ascending, with
the locomotive playing a lively tune, assisted on the piana-forte by another
locomotive, that had been hired by Signor Goitini, preparatory to his first
concert in New-Babylon, some religious persons of the `United States' Established
Mormon Church,' insisted that the tune, being irreverent, should
be changed. This offensive tune was no less than the well known and
popular song, (supposed to have been written in England, previous to the
subjugation of that place by the Russians,) entitled `Proceed it, ye Crippled
Ones, Babylon's Nigh.' This complimentary course on the part of
the locomotive, and the gentlemanly engineer with whom it associates, was
hissed by the Mormons, until they were overcome by the encores of the
majority. The locomotive was of course embarrassed, but we understand,
continued to play. One of the Mormons, enraged beyond measure at this
circumstance, rushed forward through the door-ways of the train, and wantonly
turned the stop-cock of `What's become of Good Old Daniel?' one
of the slowest tunes of the day. The consequence was, that the train proceeded
with the greatest discord, because the latter tune was for the backtrack,
in descending the mountain. The result was, the cars were thrown
off the rails, down a precipice of nearly three hundred feet; but owing to
the exertions of Mr. Inclination Plain, first engineer, they were got
back by his Upward Impulse Screw, which has thus far answered admirably,
stopping cars in mid-air, if they run off a precipice, and returning them
safely, by means of the patent steam wind-bags, which extend beneath the
trains, and destroy their gravity. I met with a good article the other day in a native magazine,
on the subject of whiskers—a pilosus and prolific theme. Talking
of whiskers reminds me of cats. The transition is natural.
Feline quadrupeds are justly celebrated for their claims to admiration
in respect of whiskers. In the conformation of his mandibular
appendages, Nature has been generous with the cat. Not
only do they stand out from his face like the elongated mustaches
of old Shah Abbas of Persia, but there is within them a
sleepless spirit, a shrewd and far reaching sense, which puts to
shame the similar ornaments on the faces of bipeds of the genus homo. They, indeed, can make their whiskers look well, by
baptizing them with eau de Cologne, and Rowland's Macassar
Oil, or peradventure, the unctuous matter won from the `tried
reins' of defunct bears; but where is the intelligence, the discernment,
of their rivals? Then I release my dear soul from her promise about today.
If you do not see that all which he can claim by gratitude, I doubly
claim by love, I have done, forever. I would purchase my happiness at any
price but at the expense of yours. Look over my letters, think over my
conduct, consult your own heart, read these two long letters of your own
writing, which I return you. Then tell me whether we love or not. And
if we love (as witness both our hearts), shall gratitude, cold gratitude, bear
away the prize that's due to love like ours? Shall my right be acknowledged,
and he possess the casket? Shall I have your soul, and he your
hand, your lips, your eyes? Your two letters of the day before yesterday, and
what you said to me yesterday, have drove me mad. You know how such
tenderness distracts me. As to marrying me, that you should not do upon
any account. Shall the man I value, be pointed at and hooted for selling
himself to a lord for a commission? * * * My soul is above my situation.
Beside, I will not take advantage of what may be only, perhaps,
(excuse me), a youthful passion. After a more intimate acquaintance of
a week or ten days, your opinion of me might very much change. And
yet you may love me as sincerely as I— My Life and Soul! But I will never more use any
more preface of this sort, and I beg you will not. A correspondence begins
with dear, then my dear, dearest, my dearest, and so on, till, at last, panting
language toils after us in vain. Let me give you joy of having found such kind and
agreeable friends in a strange land. The account you gave me of the lady
quite charmed me. Neither am I without my friends. A lady from whom
I have received particular favors, is uncommonly kind to me. For the
credit of your side of the water, she is an Irish woman. Her agreeable
husband, by his beauty and accomplishments, does credit to this country.
He is remarkable also for his feelings. When this reaches you I shall be no
more, but do not let my unhappy fate distress you too much. I strove
against it as long as possible, but now it overpowers me. You know where
my affections were placed; my having by some means or other lost hers,
(an idea which I could not support,) has driven me to madness. God bless-you
, my dear F—. Would I had a sum of money to leave you to convince
you of my great regard! May Heaven protect my beloved woman,
and forgive the act which alone could relieve me from a world of misery I
have long endured! Oh! should it be in your power to do her any act of
friendship, I am alive, and she is dead. I shot her and
not myself. Some of her blood is still upon my clothes. I dont ask you
to speak to me. I don't ask you to look at me. Only come hither, and
bring me a little poison; such as is strong enough. Upon my knees I beg,
if your friendship for me ever was sincere, do, do bring me some poison!' If the murderer of Miss—wishes
to live, the man he has most injured will use all his interest to procure his
life.' `The murderer of her whom he preferred, far preferred, to life, suspects
the hand from which he has just received such an offer as he neither desires
nor deserves. His wishes are for death, not for life. One wish he has:
Could he be pardoned in this world by the man he has most injured! Oh
my lord, when I meet her in another world, enable me to tell her, (if departed
spirits are not ignorant of earthly things,) that you forgive us both,
and that you will be a father to her dear infants! I am gone to spend a fortnight, in a Christmas festival, with
some friends in Virginia. I enclose a regular division of our
joint funds. I have spoken to my uncle about our hotel bills
here, and he will fix them. It is all understood. You can stay
a fortnight if you like; though how you'll get back to Philadelphia,
after that, the Lord only knows. Perhaps you may accomplish
the transit without trouble: if so, I shall be, (as I was
last night, when I thought I knew you,) mistaken. We do not know each other well, for we have been
thwarted by the presence of untoward circumstances; but surely, my dear,
my only John, the language of my eyes must have convinced you that
since we first met, my heart has been wholly yours. Come to-morrow
evening at eight, and in a walk of a few moments, I will convince you, if
words can do it, of the unalterable affection of your devoted | | Similar Items: | Find |
19 | Author: | Flint
Timothy
1780-1840 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The life and adventures of Arthur Clenning, in two volumes | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Having obtained the ensuing adventures for
publication, as the reader will see, a circumstance,
which I am about to relate, gave me serious alarm,
lest this volume should be classed with the common
novels and made up stories of the day. It would
give me pain to have it lose the little interest which
might appertain to it, as a recital of plain and
simple matters of fact. My apprehension that such
might be its fate, was excited by hearing, the very
evening after I had completed this compilation
from the notes of Mr. Clenning, a critical dialogue
between two old, spectacled, female, novel-reading,
tea-drinking cronies, as they discussed the merits
of a recently published novel over their evening tea.
I seemed to them to be absorbed in reading the
newspapers; but in truth my ears drank every word.
The incidents of the story upon which they sat in
judgment, were as nearly like this biography of
mine as fiction may approach to fact. I considered
their opinions a kind of forestalling of my doom.
The sprites of the lower country did not pitchfork
the fictitious Don Quixotte with more hearty good
will to the burning depths, as the real Don Quixotte
related their management, than did these excellent
old ladies dispose of this book. “The wretch!”
said the first; “he has removed the landmarks
between history and fable.” “The fool!” said the
other; “he does not know how to keep up the appearance
of probability.” “My husband inquired
on the spot,” said the first, “and the people had
never even heard of such a man.” “The block-head!”
said the second; “he should have laid the
scene just four hundred years back.” “He caricatures
nature horribly,” said the first. “He is
wholly deficient in art and polish,” said the second.
“It is a poor affair from the beginning,” said the
first. “The author is only fit to write for the newspapers,”
said the second. “He has been an exact
and humble copyist of Sir Walter Scott, though
he is just a thousand leagues behind him,” said the
first. “He is nine hundred miles behind Mr. Cooper,
dear man,” said the second. | | Similar Items: | Find |
20 | Author: | Hall
James
1793-1868 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Legends of the West | | | Published: | 2006 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | The beautiful forests of Kentucky, when first
visited by the adventurous footsteps of the pioneers,
presented a scene of native luxuriance, such as has
seldom been witnessed by the human eye. So vast
a body of fertile soil had never before been known
to exist on this continent. The magnificent forest
trees attained a gigantic height, and were adorned
with a foliage of unrivalled splendour. The deep
rich green of the leaves, and the brilliant tints of the
flowers, nourished into full maturity of size and
beauty by the extraordinary fertility of the soil,
not only attracted the admiration of the hunter, but
warmed the fancy of the poet, and forcibly arrested
the attention of the naturalist. As the pioneers
proceeded step by step, new wonders were discovered;
and the features of the country, together with
its productions, as they became gradually developed,
continued to present the same bold peculiarities and
broad outlines. The same scale of greatness pervaded
all the works of nature. The noble rivers,
all tending towards one great estuary, swept through
an almost boundless extent of country, and seemed
to be as infinite in number as they were grand in
size. The wild animals were innumerable. The
forests teemed with living creatures, for this was the
paradise of the brute creation. Here were literally
“the cattle upon a thousand hills.” The buffaloe,
the elk, and the deer roamed in vast herds, and
all the streams were rich in those animals whose fur
is so much esteemed in commerce. Here lurked
the solitary panther, the lion of our region, and here
prowled the savage wolf. The nutritious fruits of
the forest, and the juicy buds of the exuberant
thickets, reared the indolent bear to an enormous
size. Even the bowels of the earth exhibited stupendous
evidences of the master hand of creation.
The great limestone beds of the country were perforated
with spacious caverns, of vast extent and
splendid appearance, many of which yielded valuable
minerals; while the gigantic bones found buried
in the earth, far exceeding in size those of all known
animals on the globe, attested the former existence
in this region, of brutes of fearful magnitude. | | Similar Items: | Find |
22 | Author: | Flint
Timothy
1780-1840 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The life and adventures of Arthur Clenning, in two volumes | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Here would be the place to transcribe some of
the incidents of that period, well known by the
cant but significant name, “honey-moon.” Theocritus
must lend his pastoral pencil, and St. Pierre
his unrivalled powers of singing the rural life of
love in the shades of such a retirement, to do ordinary
justice to the history of their enjoyments. In
days of enjoyment like theirs, the youthful imagination
peoples all that surrounds them, with beings
who sympathize with them in their felicity. It is
true, though they were in the midst of a nature no
less pleasant than formerly, they saw it not with
the same eyes; for they were more intently occupied
with each other. The want of the society of
others of their kind was hardly perceived by them,
who possessed in each other
Whatever fancy forms of good and fair,
Or lavish hearts could wish.
The poor birds fluttered, shook their wings, and
sung, and croaked with the joy of welcome, when
they came forth, as formerly. But their fair mistress,
though she saw them fed, as formerly, had
almost forgotten to caress them. The lessons of
Rescue came to a dead pause for a while, though
she showed great shrewdness and penetration, using
her eyes and senses to the utmost advantage. She
often surprised them with proofs of her native
sagacity, and self-taught proficiency. She saw
the two happy beings, with whom she lived, at first,
it may be, with some natural sensations of envy.
But she never failed to evince, that from the first,
she had felt all the ties and obligations of gratitude.
Daily conversant with two beings, as amiable as
they were happy, she soon added the ties of daily
intercourse and affection to her first obligations.
She appeared to love them with the earnest and
simple affection of a child. Their will was a law,
and their thoughts the measure of what was right.
She saw them obliging, kind, and affectionate, in
every word, look, and action; and this view will
more readily inspire homage in the bosom of a
person in a condition like hers, than to see the
parties possessing and exercising the power of life
and death. Each day brought to each of the
three a new succession of pleasures. | | Similar Items: | Find |
25 | Author: | Ingraham
J. H.
(Joseph Holt)
1809-1860 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Leisler, or, The rebel and king's man | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Bits of history in a novel, especially at
the outset, we very well know, are by no
means relished by novel-readers, who
generally like to open at once upon the
action of the story. But it is sometimes
necessary, particularly when a romance
is based upon an interesting historical
incident, to lay before the reader a brief
outline of the events upon which the tale
hangs. It is better, we think, to do this
at the outset, in a fair and above-board
manner, than open with an interesting
scene, and before the reader has got half
a dozen pages, smuggle in two or three
solid pages of history, through which he
must flounder, or take them at a flying
leap. We don't like this mode of cheating
our friends, so we place our history
in the fore-ground, that it may be fairly
met at the outset. Sir: Knowing that you possess no little
influence and the confidence of the
Protestant citizens, and believing that a
communication to you will be the same
as to them in the aggregate, I proceed to
inform you that Lieutenant Colonel Nictolson;
late acting Governor of this Province,
under a commission from King
James II, having refused to acknowledge
the authority of William, the Prince of
Orange, has seen fit to abdicate his government.
He has this night past embarked
on board a Swedish ship now in the
harbor, and will sail at once for Europe.
It was his desire that I should accompany
him; but as it does not suit my purposes
to quit the Province just now, I remain.
Now herewith I propose to surrender the
post and all appertaining to it to you, for
the sum of ten thousand pounds; otherwise
I shall defend it with the soldiers
that are in it, against you and yours to
to the last extremity. `You perceive, gentleman,' he said as
they read the address, at the begining,
`that I have anticipated your suggestion.
I was interrupted, by your calling, in the
composition of a solemn remonstrance to
their Majesties, against Leisler's government.
I will read to you, what I have
written.' If you have a secure shelter,
do not quit it, for your life is in danger.
For my sake do not venture to town
again, as no disguise will protect you.—
Have you repented—will you become a
protestant? I think of you momently.—
My father has told me to-day, that I must
positively marry the burgomaster, on pain
of his displeasure. Oh, that you were a
protestant! I know not what or how to address
you. In a word, if you would have me,
you must come and take me! It is in vain
for me so resist my father and Van Vow
conjointly. I must fly from the fort, or
before eight o'clock to-night be the wife
of this hateful simpleton. I have no escape
unless I take poison or fly to you. I
think nothing of your being a Roman,
for I know when I am your wife you will
isten to me. I think only of my love for
you! of avoiding this horrible fate that
awaits me. My father is stern and unbending.
Van Vow is resolute. I have
thrown myself upon the mercy of the former
in vain; I have entreated the latter
to spare me. I have told him I love him
not, that I cannot love him. He is without
feeling. He has finally, within the
last half-hour said if I will pay him back
the thousand dollars he will release me.
I am mortified to allude to this, since you
have not done so. But what can I do?
I am in his power. If you can send the
money to me do so at once and let me
return it to him; for if he should inform
my father I shall have to confess all, and
I know not what will be my fate. You
see I write with frankness to you as one
in whom I trust my heart and happiness,
for I believe you truthful and noble, and
that you love me even as I love you. This
is a crisis when it would be weak and
foolish in me to disguise any thing I feel;
and I have not done so. Send the money,
if you can, or let me hear from you. Forgive the step I have taken.—
I could NOT become the wife of Mynheer
Van Vow.—I write to assure you of my
safety. | | Similar Items: | Find |
26 | Author: | Ingraham
J. H.
(Joseph Holt)
1809-1860 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The lady of the Gulf | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | It was near the close of an unusually severe day in March, that a
person muffled to the eyes in a handsome dark-colored cloak, and wearing
a singularly shabby fur cap, might have been seen stealing along
the walk, in Chatham street, opposite the Pawnbrokers' or Jews' Row.
His step was slow and hesitating, while his eyes furtively glanced about,
now up the street, now down, as if fearing that his movements would
be observed. His height and figure were good, and his air genteel,
but in his seedy cap, and in his shrunken, worn trowsers, and old boots,
that appeared beneath his very elegant Spanish cloak, there was a discrepancy
that might have arrested the eye of any observing passer by.
But no one of the hurrying crowd noticed him. Each one was bent on
his own business and aim. The mechanic, with his hands filled with
tools, was hastening to his family; the sewing girl, in hood and shawl,
to her humble home far up town where rents were cheap; the man of
pleasure was pressing forward to the theatre for an early seat; the
beggar, shuffling along to his hole in some wretched cellar. No one
noticed him, for extremes, in the metropolis, are too often wedded to
attract remark. But the young man did not seem to avoid observation
upon his dress, but upon his movements. Three times, he passed and
repassed a narrow door hung about with second-hand garments, over
the lintel of which was suspended a sign representing three gilt balls,
the well-known beacon for the wretched. | | Similar Items: | Find |
27 | Author: | Irving
Washington
1783-1859 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, gent | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Nothing is more intolerable to an old
person than innovation on old habits. The customs
that prevailed in our youth become dear to
us as we advance in years; and we can no more
bear to see them abolished, than we can to behold
the trees cut down under which we have sported
in the happy days of infancy. I perceive by the late papers, you have been
entertaining the town with remarks on the Theatre.
As you do not seem from your writings to be
much of an adept in the Thespian arcana, permit
me to give you a few hints for your information. I once more address you on a subject that I
fear will be found irksome, and may chafe
that testy disposition (forgive my freedom) with
which you are afflicted. Exert, however, the good
humour of which, at bottom, I know you to have a
plentiful stock, and hear me patiently through. It
is the anxious fear I entertain of your sinking into
the gloomy abyss of criticism, on the brink of
which you are at present tottering, that urges me
to write. | | Similar Items: | Find |
30 | Author: | Mitchell
Donald Grant
1822-1908 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The lorgnette, or, Studies of the town | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | You know, my dear Fritz, that I am not unused
to the handling of a glass; and that I have amused
myself for a considerable number of years in looking
about the world, as carelessly and freely as I
chose. Now, it has occurred to me, in the opening
of this new half-century, (may you live to the
end of it!) that in common justice, I ought to
make such return as lies in my power, by attempting
to amuse some little portion of that world,
which has so long and gratuitously amused me. Dear Sir,—I wish you would send me, soon as
convenient, the card of your friend Tophanes. I
think he must be a `stick;' and I rather imagine
he can give me the right sort of advice. For you
must know that I've been hanging on the town
nearly the whole winter, and yet the d—l of an
invitation have I got. With this, my dear Fritz, I leave you to your
quiet country avocations, until the mail of another
week shall light up your solitude with a glowing
No. V. It has been hinted to me that you are an old
friend of my former husband; if you are, I wish you
would do me the favor to call; any little remembrances
of the dear, good man are most satisfying.
I want to tell you, too, how much I approve your
work; your judicious remarks upon taste, I cannot
praise high enough. I have long felt the want of
just such a book as you propose. As for the polka,
you've said just what you ought to say; it's a positive
shame, the way our young folks do go on in
these matters! Only to think that my little cousin
Polly went so far the other evening as to lay her
head outright on a gentleman's shoulder, out of
sheer exhaustion; why, Sir, it made all the blood
boil in my body! I wish you would let me know who you are:—
do; I think I could give you some capital hints; you
know a lady knows a great deal that a gentleman
never can know, try as hard as he may. Besides,
I should like amazingly to dance a polka with you;
I know from the way you write about it, that you
must understand it a great deal better than the
fussy little fellows who almost pull me over, and
havn't got an idea of the spirit of the thing. A
lady wants some sort of support,—doesn't she? I
think you could give it, and not be pushing one
about against the wall-flowers, and getting dizzy
and stupid. Sir,—In some of your papers you have made
flippant, and I think I may say, indelicate allusions
to a Mr. Browne. A gentleman bearing
that name, though differently spelled, has called
my attention to the fact, and has consulted me
(an advocate and attorney at law) upon the propriety
of instituting an action for damages. “Mr. Timon:—I am astonished at you, my dear
sir; why do you speak so harshly of the town ladies,
and present them in so unfavorable lights?
I have been all along a most excellent friend to
your paper, and have, time and again, defended
you against most merciless assaults; but if you
do not speedily amend, and speak better of us, I
shall leave you to defend yourself. Dear Sir,—I do not know but a serious letter
will be out of place amid the ironical talk, and
only half-earnest tone of your paper; at any rate,
I have determined to tell you what I think and
feel—a thing I scarce ever do even to my husband.
For I have been married, you must know, nearly
three years; and for the last seven years we have
been trying (my Mamma and I) to `get up' in
New York society. And now (Papa got rich four
years ago last May) we have done it. | | Similar Items: | Find |
31 | Author: | Mitchell
Donald Grant
1822-1908 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The lorgnette, or, Studies of the town | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Well, Fritz, it is even true, that notwithstanding
my rusticity, I find myself approaching, little by
little, to a state of town domestication; and at the
earnest solicitation of my worthy bookseller, I am
led to resume my weekly observations, and even to
extend their influence, if influence they have, by
association with a large publishing house, which
will give to them a wide country circulation. It
is quite possible, therefore, that this may fall under
your eye at the house of your parson (if a liberal-minded
person), or of your village attorney (if a
man of progress), even before you shall have broken
my private seal. Mr. Timon:—I have read all you have written,
and like it very much. My mamma (for a wonder)
likes it too: so does Aunt Sophy. But they have
forbid my polking with strange gentlemen, at least
those who are introduced to me at the balls. Is
not this ridiculous?—one meets such nice young
men at the balls, and nowhere else! I wish you
would persuade mamma so; if you could, you
would greatly oblige your true friend, Sir:—I can't say that I like altogether the tone
of your remarks about Washingtonians. You
seem to have looked only at such stray individuals
as have lost character at home, (which it is
possible to do,) and gone to your city to set up.
As for the members, I shall not defend them, as
they are at best but a shabby set of fellows, who
bother us amazingly in the winter-time, and have
no more gratitude for favors, personal or domestic,
than so many office-holders. Here we are at length, and what a charming
place!—such trees, and dinners, and then the
bowling alley; (do you ever bowl?) if you do, get
a pair of those pretty gaiters at what-d'ye-call-him's.
Papa has taken two rooms for us in the
east wing, and Marie sleeps in a little alcove just
out of mine. The galleries stretch around inside
the wing, and several gentlemen—married gentlemen,
ma says—(but very handsome) pass very
often. You don't know how pleasant it is to sit in
the window, in that deshabille you said was so becoming.
Ma begins to think so too, for Miss Figgins
has got one just like it. My Dear Timon:—Though your paper has rarely
reached me, yet I have seen enough of its spirit,
to believe that some little account of my country
life will serve your turn, and give you some hints,
that you may possibly work over to good account. I
had made in town, by dint of jobbing, what they
call hereabouts a fortune; and not having gained
much footing in genteel society,—partly because
we didn't care about it, and partly because wife is
principled against low necks, and the opera, I determined
to set up in the country. A year ago I was married to a belle of the town,
and am beginning now fairly to sorrow over my
bargain: nor is this because she has lost her beauty;
for to tell the truth, I think she is more of a belle
now than ever; and is as complacent in her action
toward all the beaux, as I ever knew a woman in
my life. I can scarce come up a single day, from
my business in the city, but I meet her walking
with some spruce fellow of her acquaintance, with
whom she appears to be enjoying herself as well as
she ever did in my company. As you have taken upon yourself to be the censor
of modes and proprieties, which office I must
say, you have filled quite respectably so far, I want
to draw your attention to the developments in a
recent work by a distinguished lady, called (I speak
of the book, and not the lady)—Truth Stranger than
Fiction. Such barbarity as is disclosed in this
book, and such extraordinary defence as is made
of these barbarities, by the officers of a time-honored
Institution, ought to meet with a strong rebuke
from every humane person (as I think you
are) and to make every woman of maidenly
sentiments quiver with indignation and horror. | | Similar Items: | Find |
32 | Author: | Whittier
John Greenleaf
1807-1892 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Legends of New-England | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | One hundred years ago!—How has New-England
changed with the passing by of a single century! At
first view, it would seem like the mysterious transformations
of a dream, or like the strange mutations of
sunset-clouds upon the face of the Summer Heavens.
One hundred years ago!—The Oak struck its roots
deeply in the Earth, and tossed its branches loftily in
the sunshine, where now the voice of industry and
enterprise rises in one perpetual murmur. The shadows
of the forest lay brown and heavily, where now
the village church-spire overtops the dwellings clustered
about it. Instead of the poor, dependent and feeble
colonists of Britain, we are now a nation of ourselves—a
people, great and prosperous and happy. | | Similar Items: | Find |
35 | Author: | Simms
William Gilmore
1806-1870 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The lily and the totem, or, The Huguenots in Florida | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | The Huguenots, in plain terms, were the Protestants of
France. They were a sect which rose very soon after the
preaching of the Reformation had passed from Germany into the
neighboring countries. In France, they first excited the apprehensions
and provoked the hostility of the Roman Catholic
priesthood, during the reign of Francis the First. This prince,
unstable as water, and governed rather by his humors and caprices
than by any fixed principles of conduct—wanting, perhaps,
equally in head and heart—showed himself, in the outset of his
career, rather friendly to the reformers. But they were soon
destined to suffer, with more decided favorites, from the caprices
of his despotism. He subsequently became one of their most
cruel persecutors. The Huguenots were not originally known by
this name. It does not appear to have been one of their own
choosing. It was the name which distinguished them in the days
of their persecution. Though frequently the subject of conjecture,
its origin is very doubtful. Montlue, the Marshal, whose
position at the time, and whose interests in the subject of religion
were such as might have enabled him to know quite as well as
any other person, confesses that the source and meaning of the
appellation were unknown. It is suggested that the name was
taken from the tower of one Hugon, or Hugo, at Tours, where
the Protestants were in the habit of assembling secretly for
worship. This, by many, is assumed to be the true origin of
the word. But there are numerous etymologies besides, from
which the reader may make his selection,—all more or less
plausibly contended for by the commentators. The commencement
of a petition to the Cardinal Lorraine—“Huc nos venimus,
serenissime princeps, &c.,” furnishes a suggestion to one set of
writers. Another finds in the words “Heus quenaus,” which, in
the Swiss patois, signify “seditious fellows,” conclusive evidence
of the thing for which he seeks. Heghenen or Huguenen, a
Flemish word, which means Puritans, or Cathari, is reasonably
urged by Caseneuve, as the true authority; while Verdier tells us
that they were so called from their being the apes or followers of
John Hus—“les guenons de Hus;”—guenon being a young ape.
This is ingenious enough without being complimentary. The
etymology most generally received, according to Mr. Browning,
(History of the Huguenots,) is that which ascribes the origin of
the name to “the word Eignot, derived from the German
Eidegenossen, q. e. federati. A party thus designated existed at
Geneva; and it is highly probable that the French Protestants
would adopt a term so applicable to themselves.” There are,
however, sundry other etymologies, all of which seem equally
plausible; but these will suffice, at least, to increase the difficulties
of conjecture. Either will answer, since the name by which the
child is christened is never expected to foreshadow his future
character, or determine his career. The name of the Huguenots
was probably bestowed by the enemies of the sect. It is in all
likelihood a term of opprobrium or contempt. It will not materially
concern us, in the scheme of the present performance, that we
should reach any definite conclusion on this point. Their
European history must be read in other volumes. Ours is but
the American episode in their sad and protracted struggle with
their foes and fortune. Unhappily, for present inquiry, this
portion of their history attracted but too little the attention of
the parent country. We are told of colonies in America, and of
their disastrous termination, but the details are meagre, touched
by the chronicler with a slight and careless hand; and, but for
the striking outline of the narrative,—the leading and prominent
events which compelled record,—it is one that we should pass
without comment, and with no awakening curiosity. But the few
terrible particulars which remain to us in the ancient summary, are
of a kind to reward inquiry, and command the most active sympathies;
and the melancholy outline of the Huguenots' progress,
in the New World, exhibits features of trial, strength and
suffering, which render their career equally unique in both countries;—a
dark and bloody history, involving details of strife, of
enterprise, and sorrow, which denied them the securities of home
in the parent land, and even the most miserable refuge from
persecution in the wildernesses of a savage empire. Their
European fortunes are amply developed in all the European
chronicles. Our narrative relates wholly to those portions of their
history which belong to America. | | Similar Items: | Find |
37 | Author: | Thompson
Daniel P.
(Daniel Pierce)
1795-1868 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Locke Amsden, The schoolmaster | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Our story, contrary perhaps to fashionable precedent,
opens at a common farm-house, situated on one of the principal
roads leading through the interior of the northerly
portion of the Union. It was near the middle of the day,
in that part of the spring season when the rough and chill
features of winter are becoming so equally blended with the
soft and mild ones of summer upon the face of nature, that
we feel at loss in deciding whether the characteristics of the
one or the other most prevail. The hills were mostly bare,
but their appearance was not that of summer; and the tempted
eye turned away unsatisfied from the cheerless prospect which
their dreary and frost-blackened sides presented. The levels,
on the other hand, were still covered with snow; and yet their
aspect was not that of winter. Clumps of willows, scattered
along the hedges, or around the waste-places of the meadows,
were white with the starting buds or blossoms of spring.
The old white mantle of the frost-king was also becoming
sadly dingy and tattered. Each stump and stone was enclosed
by a widening circle of bare ground; while the tops
of the furrows, peering through the dissolving snows, were
beginning to streak, with long, faint, dotted lines, the self-disclosing
plough-fields. The cattle were lazily ruminating
in the barn-yard, occasionally lowing and casting a wistful
glance at the bare hills around, but without offering to move
towards them, as if they thought that the prospects there
were hardly sufficient to induce them yet to leave their
winter quarters. The earth-loving sheep, however, had
broken from their fold, and, having reached the borders of
the hills by some partially trod path, were busily nibbling at
the roots of the shriveled herbage, unheedful of the bleating
cries of their feebler companions, that they had left stuck in
the treacherous snow-drifts, encountered in their migrations
from one bare patch to another. | | Similar Items: | Find |
40 | Author: | Ware
William
1797-1852 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letters of Lucius M. Piso, from Palmyra, to his friend Marcus Curtius at Rome | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | As I returned from the worship of the Christians to
the house of Gracchus, my thoughts wandered from the
subjects which had just occupied my mind, to the condition
of the country, and the prospect now growing more
and more portentous of an immediate rupture with
Rome. On my way I passed through streets of more
than Roman magnificence, exhibiting all the signs of
wealth, taste, refinement, and luxury. The happy, lighthearted
populace were moving through them, enjoying at
their leisure the calm beauty of the evening, or hastening
to or from some place of festivity. The earnest tone of
conversation, the loud laugh, the witty retort, the merry
jest, fell upon my ear from one and another as I passed
along. From the windows of the palaces of the merchants
and nobles, the rays of innumerable lights
streamed across my path, giving to the streets almost the
brilliancy of day; and the sound of music, either of
martial instruments, or of the harp accompanied by the
voice, at every turn arrested my attention, and made me
pause to listen. | | Similar Items: | Find |
41 | Author: | Whittier
John Greenleaf
1807-1892 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Leaves from Margaret Smith's journal in the province of Massachusetts Bay, 1678-9 | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | “Dear Friend: I salute thee with much love from
this new Countrie, where the Lord hath spread a table
for us in the Wilderness. Here is a goodlie companie
of Friends, who doe seek to know the mind of Truth,
and to live thereby, being held in favor and esteem by
the Rulers of the Land, and soe left in Peace to worship
God according to their consciences. The whole
Countrie being covered with Snow, and the Weather
being extreme cold, we can scarce say much of the
natural gifts and advantages of our new Home; but it
lyeth on a small River, and there be fertile Meadowes
and old Cornfields of the Indians, and good Springs of
Water, soe that I am told it is a desirable and pleasing
place in the warm season. My soul is full of Thankfulness;
and a sweet inward Peace is my portion.
Hard things are made easie to me; this desert place,
with its lonelie Woods and wintry Snows, is beautiful
in mine eyes. For here we be no longer gazing-stocks
of the rude Multitude, we are no longer haled from our
Meetings, and rayled upon as Witches and possessed
People. Oh! how often have we been called upon
heretofore to repeat the prayer of one formerlie —
`Let me not fall into the hands of man.' Sweet,
beyond the power of words to express, hath been the
change in this respect; and in view of the Mercies
vouchsafed unto us, what can we do but repeat the
language of David? — `Praise is comelie; yea, a joyful
and pleasant thing it is to be thankful. It is a good
thing to give thanks unto the Lord, to sing praises unto
thy Name, O Most High! to show forth thy loving
kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every
night.' | | Similar Items: | Find |
42 | Author: | EDITED BY N. P. WILLIS. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The legendary | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | `It is, I believe, or should be, a maxim of the
true church, that confession of a sin is the first step
towards its expiation. `When you receive this letter, your three sons will
be no more. Frederic de Lancey is the bearer of it.
He has done our dear Edward a signal service, and I
have thought him trustworthy to convey to Alice the
picture of my mother. My heart bleeds when I think
of you, without one prop for your old age, save our innocent
and helpless sister. We are all satisfied De
Lancey would be a faithful son to you if you will permit
him to be. In case of his death tomorrow—and the
chances of war are alike to all—he has bequeathed to
us all he is worth, and it is the earnest wish of my
brothers as well as myself, that if he should be the only
survivor, you would adopt him; and if he and sister
Alice should fancy each other, that he may become a
son in reality. | | Similar Items: | Find |
43 | Author: | EDITED BY N. P. WILLIS. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The legendary | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | `Have you ever read Undine, Tom? Did you conceive
of a river of wondrous and perfect beauty?
Was it fringed with all manner of stooping trees, and
kissed to the very lip by clover? Did it wind constantly
in and out, as if both banks were enamoured of its flow
and enticed it from each other's bosoms? Was it hidden
sometimes by thick masses of leaves meeting over
it, and sometimes by the swelling of a velvet slope that
sent it rippling away into shadow? and did it steal out
again like a happy child from a hiding place, and flash
up to your eye till you would have sworn it was living
and intelligent? Did the banks lean away in a rich,
deep verdure, and were the meadows sleeping beneath
the light, like a bosom in a silk mantle? and when
your ear had drank in the music of the running water,
and the loveliness of color and form had unsettled the
earthliness within you, did you believe in your heart
that a strip of Eden had been left unmarred by the angel? `She who brings you this letter is my only child—
all the treasure I possess in this world. Therefore, I
trust her to you, relying on your honor. If the walls of
Soleure fall, I shall be buried under their ruins; but if
you grant your protection to my daughter, I shall have
no more anxiety for her. Give me some token that
you grant my petition, and you will receive your reward
from that Being who watches over the innocent, and
who knows our hearts. | | Similar Items: | Find |
44 | Author: | Morris
George Pope
1802-1864 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The little Frenchman and his water lots, with other sketches of the times | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | How much real comfort every one might enjoy,
if he would be contented with the lot in which
heaven has cast him, and how much trouble would
be avoided if people would only “let well alone.”
A moderate independence, quietly and honestly
procured, is certainly every way preferable even to
immense possessions achieved by the wear and tear
of mind and body so necessary to procure them.
Yet there are very few individuals, let them be
doing ever so well in the world, who are not always
straining every nerve to do better; and this is one
of the many causes why failures in business so
frequently occur among us. The present generation
seem unwilling to “realize” by slow and sure
degrees; but choose rather to set their whole hopes
upon a single cast, which either makes or mars them
for ever! | | Similar Items: | Find |
45 | Author: | Cooke
John Esten
1830-1886 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The last of the foresters, or, Humors on the border | | | Published: | 2003 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | On a bright October morning, when the last century was
rapidly going down hill, and all old things began to give way to
the new, the sun was shining in upon the breakfast room at
Apple Orchard with a joyous splendor, which, perhaps, he had
never before displayed in tarrying at that domain, or any other. “Since seeing thee, on yester eve, my feelings have greatly
changed in intensity, and I fluctuate beneath an emotion of oblivious
delight. Alas! we young, weak women, try in vain to
obstruct the gurgling of the bosom; for I perceive that even
I am not proof against the arrows of the god Diana. My heart
has thrilled, my dearest friend, ever since you departed, yester eve,
with a devious and intrinsic sensation of voluminous delight.
The feelings cannot be concealed, but must be impressed in words;
or, as the great Milton says, in his Bucoliks, the o'er-fraught
heart would break! Love, my dear Mr. Verty, is contiguons—
you cannot be near the beloved object without catching the
contagion, and to this fact I distribute that flame which now
flickers with intense conflagration in my bosom. Why, cruel
member of the other sex! did you evade the privacy of our
innocent and nocturnal retreat, turning the salubrious and maiden
emotions of my bosom into agonizing delight and repressible
tribulation! Could you not practice upon others the wiles of
your intrinsic charms, and spare the weak Sallianna, whose only
desire was to contemplate the beauties of nature in her calm
retreat, where a small property sufficed for all her mundane necessities?
Alas! but yester morn I was cheerful and invigorating—
with a large criterion of animal spirits, and a bosom which had
never sighed responsible to the flattering vows of beaux. But
now!—ask me not how I feel, in thinking of the person who has
touched my indurate heart. Need I say that the individual in
question has only to demand that heart, to have it detailed to him
in all its infantile simplicity and diurnal self-reliance? Do not—
do not—diffuse it! “Reclining in my apartment this evening, and reflecting upon
the pleasing scenes through which we have passed together—
alas! never to be renewed, since you are not going to return—
those beautiful words of the Swan of Avon occurred to me:
`To be or not to be—that is the question;
Whether 'tis better in this world to bear
The slings and arrows of—'
I don't remember the rest; but the whole of this handsome soliloquy
expresses my sentiments, and the sincerity with which, “I need not say how sorry I am to part with you. We have
seen a great deal of each other, and I trust that our friendship
will continue through after life. The next session will be dull
without you—I do not mean to flatter—as you go away. You
carry with you the sincere friendship and kindest regards of, “You are destined for great things—it is yours to scale the
heights of song, and snatch the crown from Ossa's lofty brow.
Fulfil your destiny, and make your country happy!” “May your course in life be serene and happy; and may your
friends be as numerous and devoted as the flies and mosquitos in
the Eastern Range. “You ask me, my dear Ashley, to give you some advice, and
write down my good wishes, if I have any in your direction. Of
course I have, my dear fellow, and here goes. My advice first,
then, is, never to drink more than three bottles of wine at one
sitting—this is enough; and six bottles is, therefore, according to
the most reliable rules of logic—which I hate—too much. You
might do it if you had my head; but you havn't, and there's an
end of it. Next, if you want to bet at races, ascertain which
horse is the general `favorite,' and as our friend, the ostler, at the
Raleigh says—go agin him. Human nature invariably goes
wrong; and this a wise man will never forget. Next, if you
have the playing mania, never play with anybody but gentlemen.
You will thus have the consolation of reflecting that you have
been ruined in good company, and, in addition, had your pleasure;—blacklegs
ruin a man with a vulgar rapidity which is positively
shocking. Next, my dear boy—though this I need'nt tell
you—never look at Greek after leaving college, or Moral Philosophy,
or Mathematics proper. It interferes with a man's education,
which commences when he has recovered from the disadvantages
of college. Lastly, my dear fellow, never fall in love with any
woman—if you do, you will inevitably repent it. This world
would get on quietly without them—as long as it lasted—and I
need'nt tell you that the Trojan War, and other interesting
events, never would have happened, but for bright, eyes, and sighs,
and that sort of thing. If you are obliged to marry, because you
have an establishment, write the names of your lady acquaintances
on scraps of paper, put them in your hat, and draw one
forth at random. This admirable plan saves a great deal of
trouble, and you will inevitably get a wife who, in all things,
will make you miserable. | | Similar Items: | Find |
46 | Author: | Cooke
John Esten
1830-1886 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Leather stocking and silk, or, Hunter John Myers and his times | | | Published: | 2003 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | “You are very foolish Max. Why did you take all
the trouble to write that note? Besides, I disapprove of
such things. You must not write to my scholars. I
know it was a jest, but it was wrong. I saw you in the
mirror over the harpsichord, and Josephine gave me the
note. I send my boots, as you call them. Why did you
not ask for them? Always ask me for what you want.
If it is in my power I will refuse you nothing that I can
properly grant. You are very welcome to the shoes. “I must leave you, uncle; I ask your pardon for this
act, because you have always been most kind to me,
much kinder and more affectionate than I deserved, I
know. Just now I was angry, my blood was hot and I
uttered words which I should not have uttered. Pardon
this, too—for my brain is still heated, and my hand trembles
with agitation. I am going away, because I feel
that I can not remain; not on account of your harsh words
which irritated me at the moment; I no longer feel any
irritation. It is not on account of those words, but because
I should be miserable, a mere walking automaton,
if I were to remain longer in the place where my heart
has been so cruelly torn—not by any one's fault—no!—
by my destiny. “Sir—I write to say that I shall be unavoidably absent
from Virginia for a week or more. This explanation
of my sudden departure I am called upon to make after
what passed yesterday. There was no possibility of mistaking
your meaning on that occasion—and I now make
you as ample amends for my departure as I am able to
do, by accepting your challenge in advance. Permit me
to add that I disapprove of mortal combat on trifling
grounds, and do not on this occasion consent to the meeting
because any person—whether a lady or not—would
ridicule me in the event of my refusal. I believe I should
have enough of independence to meet the eyes of the
whole world and return them their scornful laugh, did I
choose to refuse an encounter of this description. No,
sir; believe me, young as I am, I should never be moved
by such opinion, whether it were the scorn of men, or that
more dreadful thing the contemptuous pity of women.
I meet you willingly because you have placed yourself in
my way, and because I hate you. There is an honest
word—if it is not very Christian. | | Similar Items: | Find |
47 | Author: | EDITED BY
MRS. SARAH J. HALE. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberia ; or, Mr. Peyton's experiments | | | Published: | 2003 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | The Peytons were among the earliest settlers and
largest landholders in Virginia. Their plantation
stretched along one of the southern branches of
James River, called Rock Creek, although, but for
the overshadowing of its grander neighbor, it might
well have been dignified with the name of river,
for there are many celebrated streams that are neither
so deep nor broad as that known simply as
Rock Creek. “My dear Sir,—A week or two since I wrote
you, giving a somewhat detailed statement of my
proceedings here and in Paris up to that time; and
now I have nothing very special to communicate,
except that there is a decidedly increasing interest
in England and France in favor of Liberia. By the
government and people of both these countries I
have been received in the most kind and flattering
manner. I mentioned to you that, in consequence
of the departure of the prince president for a tour
in the south of France just about the time I reached
Paris, I had promised to make another visit in
the course of a month. Accordingly, I returned on
the 15th instant, to be present and witness the entry
of the president on the 16th. A brief statement of things passing under my observation, at
the request of Rev. R. R. Gurley. Very dear Sir,—Your favor of July 18th came safe to hand;
also the file of the “Colonization Herald,” and the religious newspapers,
by Judge Benson's hand. I sincerely thank you for all.
I am happy, indeed, that the coffee I sent as a token of my good
wishes for you, and the good cause, reached you, and found acceptance.
I hope soon to be able to send some for your market,
but at present it brings us a better price on the coast; however,
you did not say what price might be relied upon. I also received
the letter and books from Dr. Malcom, and can say that they will
prove a blessing to my Sabbath-school, particularly the class on
whose account I wrote for them. In it are many men and women
of families, some native youths. His books prove to be the very
thing. I introduced them last Sabbath, to take up the morning
lesson only; read Testaments in the evening. Our new settlement
(Cresson) is going ahead; I still think it destined to be the
greatest sea-port town on the coast. Dear Sir,—I write to inform you that we are all well, hoping
you and family are the same. I never will forget you for the
great good in telling me and my father about the land of Liberia.
I have got a good home. I would not change it for any under
heaven I have tried it twenty-one years. I have borne the
heat and burden of the day, and it gets better and better. I was
eighteen years old when I came here. I have grown to be a
man; in America I never could have been a man—never would
get large enough. Would my colored brethren believe this? They
keep writing to me to tell them all about the country. Let me
tell them a little: Liberia has raised up her bowed-down head,
and has taken a stand with some of the greatest nations of the
earth. She has struck off the stone that bowed us down in America.
I have grown so large that I have had the honor and the
pleasure of being a member of the Legislature five or six years.
Did you ever hear of such a thing in America? No, no—nor
never will. I was in America a few years ago; it was all the
time, boy, where are you going? old man, which way? I was
really tired; I wanted to be a man again; but never found it until
I hit the coast of Africa. I even saw the change in the captain;
he talked so familiar to you: “What is the matter, Harris?
Harris is going to be a man again.” Sweet Liberia! the love of
liberty keeps me here. Dear Sir,—I write you a few lines by the packet, to let you
know that I have not forgotten the kindness I received from you
and the Colonization Society in preparing me for this land of liberty.
I never shall forget the heartfelt thankfulness due to the
society for helping me and my family here. We had one of the
finest passages any one could have. Plenty to eat; a good captain,
and one that was kind to all in sickness and health. All
hands were good to us. I have not wanted to return once since
I left the United States. I was twelve days at Monrovia. It is
a fine town; the people are kind, and doing well. I think this is
a much better place for new beginners. I had the African fever;
myself and wife both took it on the same day. We had it about
fourteen days. The doctor says we are over it, though we are
weak; but it is not so had as I expected. Mr. Benson is preparing
a house at Cresson for me. It is a fine location for a town
—the best one I have seen. I shall be the first one there. I
look for more by the September vessel. I shall feel lonely for
some time until more arrive. Truly I am better and better pleased with Liberia each morning
when I awake and find myself in it. I could not be prevailed
on by any earthly consideration to leave Liberia, or exchange it
for any other country. Here I am in the land of my forefathers;
here I can enjoy all those rights which a benevolent God hath so
liberally vouchsafed to man; here I can exercise and improve
my gifts and graces in enlightening, instructing, and exhorting
the benighted sons of the forest in the truths of the Christian religion;
here I can bow down in the sanctuary of the Most High,
or at home, and unmolestedly worship the God of my fathers under
my own vine and fig-tree, while none dareth to molest or
make me afraid, here my children to their latest generation can
enjoy the privileges of freemen in storing their minds with education
and useful knowledge, and participating in the duties, &c.,
of civil government; and here I have as many political, social,
and religious rights as any man any where beneath Heaven's widespread
canopy. And should not these considerations endear this
my own country to me? I say, from the bottom of my soul, with
gratitude to my good God for what I enjoy—yes. With respect to this country, my expectations are more than
realized. I have found that the opinion I formed of Liberia while
in America was very nearly correct. This country is certainly
a most beautiful one, and the climate delightful. I have often
thought, since my arrival here, how the better class of colored
people, or at least a portion of them, would flock to Liberia if
they knew the real condition of the country and people. I always
thought that it was their ignorance of the country that
caused their opposition to it, but now I am convinced of that fact.
With regard to the United States having claims on Liberia, I
would ask if England, France, Prussia, and Brazil would acknowledge
her independence if the United States had any rights
to or claim on the country? England has made this government
a present of an armed schooner, and has a consul residing here.
Brazil has also a minister residing here, but of a higher grade
than consul; he is chargé d'affaires. The facts are, I think, sufficient
to convince any reasonable person that Liberia is really
an independent republic, and that the United States has no claim
to this country. There is a kind of blind prejudice which keeps
most colored people from coming to this country, and for the life
of me it is difficult to conceive why this prejudice exists; for in
the United States we are exposed to all kinds of insults from the
whites, which, in nearly every case, we dare not resent; whereas,
in this country we are all equal, and can enjoy the shade of our
own vine and fig-tree, without even the fear of molestation. In
the United States we are considered the lowest of the low, for the
most contemptible white man is better in the eyes of the law, and
in the opinion of the majority of the whites, than the best colored
man; whereas, on the other hand, in this country there are no distinctions
of color; no man's complexion is ever mentioned as a
reproach to him; and furthermore, every one has an equal chance
and right of filling any office in the government that they may be
qualified to fill. Liberia ought to be the most interesting country
(to the colored people of the United States) in the world, from
the fact that it is the only republic entirely composed of and governed
by the colored people, and it is the only country where a
colored man can enjoy liberty, equality, and fraternity, without
having to encounter the prejudice of the whites, which exists
more or less, in some degree, in every country in which the
whites predominate. If this prejudice ever dies away, I believe
that many generations yet unborn will have passed away before
it. Although this country offers many inducements to colored
people, yet it is not a paradise; it has a few unpleasant features,
owing principally to its being a new country. The most unpleasant
feature that I know is the acclimating fever, and that is far
from being as bad as most people in the United States think it is.
On account of the improvements made, such as clearing, &c., it
is much more healthy here than formerly; and also, the kind of
treatment best adapted to the acclimating fever is better known.
The acclimating fever is nothing more than a simple chill and
fever, and persons are affected with it according to the degree of
care they take of themselves, and also much depends on the constitution
of the person. Some persons have told me that they
were sick only one day, and that slightly; while others (I speak
of old settlers) had it one week, and some have had it from six
months to a year or more. A person is seldom sick more than
from one day to three weeks at one time. I have been in the country
a little more than three months; and have had several attacks
of the fever. The longest time I was confined to bed was one
day and a half. The symptoms in my case were a slight chill,
followed by a very high fever. I felt no pain whatever during
the continuance of the fever, but always after it I would have a
slight pain in the back, which soon wore off. I would sometimes
be sick in the morning and well in the afternoon. I once had the
fever in the forenoon, and was well enough by night to attend a
tea party. I am told that all children born here, even the natives
not excepted, have the fever while very young. This I have
been told by mothers, and I have seen children with the fever
who were born here. The general health of the place seems to be
very good. A person coming here will not find large cities with
splendid buildings, and large bustling populations; but we have
only small villages with corresponding populations; you will not
hear the sound of numerous carts, drays, &c., but all the carrying
is done by native laborers, for the people have not yet begun
to use horses and oxen for such purposes. Both may be had
from the interior. Bullocks are brought down from the interior,
but only to kill. There are at present only three horses in Monrovia;
they are used only for riding. I have ridden several times
myself. The buildings are generally quite plain, built of wood,
stone, or brick. There are, however, some very neat brick buildings
in Monrovia, and along the banks of the St. Paul's River. I
made an excursion up this river a few weeks ago, and never did
I enjoy a trip more than I did this one. The waters of the St.
Paul's are delicious to the taste. The river is about half a mile
wide; its banks are from about ten to about fifteen feet high, and
lined with fine large trees with a thick undergrowth. Among the
other trees may be seen the bamboo, and that most graceful of
all trees, the palm. This is the most useful tree in Liberia. I
have drank the wine made from this tree, and have swung on
hammocks manufactured from it, and I have seen very good fishing-lines
made from it; besides, numerous other uses are made
of this tree. There are four villages on this river: Virginia, Caldwell,
Kentucky, and Millsburgh. I saw in many places people
making bricks, and busily engaged on their farms of coffee, sugar-cane,
&c. I must now come to a close, as I have but little
more space to write. I will remark that I advise no man to come
here unless he has a little money to begin with. A single man
should have at least one or two hundred dollars; although many
come here without a cent, and yet do well; but it is generally
difficult to get a start in this country without a little means. For
my own part, you may infer from what I have said that I like
my new home. Dear Sir,—I embrace this opportunity to address you a line. I
am still doing what I can to demonstrate that Liberia is a rich and
productive country. My crops of cane in 1850 produced 8000 lbs.
of good sugar, and 500 gallons of sirup. My crop last year (1851)
was not so large—only about 3500 lbs. of sugar, and 250 gallons
of sirup. This falling off was in consequence of having to neglect
my sugar-cane farm to give attention to J. R. Straw's cotton
farm. I sell my sugar at 8 and 10 cents a pounds, which is
quite a saving to the people of Liberia This year I am giving
my whole attention to cane-raising, and I have a crop now in the
ground which will produce a much larger quantity of sugar and
sirup, and beat, possibly, both my preceding crops together. A
few days ago, I, with one or two others, noticed, in many hills of
cane on my farm, from forty-nine to sixty stalks. This can not
easily be surpassed, I am persuaded, in any country. I am certainly
fully convinced that by industry a man may have all the
necessaries of life, and a surfeit of the luxuries, in this very prolific
and God-blessed country. I have the privilege, doubtless, of
saying what no other person can say in Liberia—certainly before
any other could say it, if there is any other who can say it now
—that is, I use at my table coffee, sugar, sirup, and molasses of
my own raising. I have now about twenty-five hundred coffee-trees,
which will very soon enable me to export a small quantity
to America. Dear Mr. Rambo, I wish very much to see you. How glad and
happy I should be when I meet you, and Doctor May, and Mr.
Hoffman; and then—then my heart will talk to my mouth, and
my tongue will speak all what I have done or seen. Reverend and Dear Sir,—In the following lines, which I have
taken on myself to address you, I hope to find you in the enjoyment
of good health, the same as we are at present. Our mission
still continues, with its different operations, in which we are
severally engaged, endeavoring daily to instruct the poor, benighted
heathen. Not long ago we received a letter of instruction from
our Board, that the lead of the mission affairs is now considered
to be under the superintendence of my native brother and cousin,
Lewis K. Crocker, at Little Bassa, and myself; which serious
charge to keep we humbly depend on God to help us. Our schools
are still kept daily, this, and that of Little Bassa, where brother
Crocker resides. Our children are improving well in their acquisitions
of the different branches of knowledge, such as spelling
hard words, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, natural philosophy,
&c. I am glad to state that the grown people of this
country, though they have not the privilege of improving themselves
by daily instruction, like the children, yet many of them
are getting civilized, getting acquainted with the law, political
economy, and secular improvement; forgetting their old habits,
and adopting those of their civilized fellow-creatures. Brethren and Fellow-countrymen,—You are aware that I
was appointed traveling agent to Africa on the 23d of last December,
1851, by the New York and Liberia Agricultural Association.
I returned to New York on the 12th November, 1852,
and it now becomes my duty to give you some account of Africa,
and of the benefits to be obtained by emigration to that country,
and whether there are any benefits to be obtained by so doing, or
not. I will endeavor to give you as true a statement as my
humble ability will admit. In truth and soberness, it would be
needless for me to tell you that Africa flows with milk and honey,
or that corn grows without planting. Liberia truly is a garden-spot;
her lands are beautiful, her soil is most fertile, her prairies
and her forests are blooming and gay, her rivers and streams
abound with fish, and her forests with game. Her Constitution
is a republican government, and a most excellent code of laws
are strictly observed. There are several churches and schools
in Monrovia, and they are well filled with people and scholars.
The Monrovians are the most strictly moral, if not the most
strictly religious people, I ever saw. Dear Sir,—I am well, and hope you are the same. I arrived
safe after a passage of thirty-seven days from the Capes. I am
happy to inform you that instead of being received in Baltimore
in chains, as I was told I would be, I was received very hospitably.
I am certainly grateful to the society for sending me to
Africa. I am perfectly satisfied with the change, only that I had
not started in 1842 instead of 1852. Here I stand erect and free,
upon the soil of my ancestors, and can truly say to all of my race,
you that would be free, Africa is your home, and the only home
where he that is tinctured with African blood can enjoy liberty.
This alone of him that loves liberty, for it is liberty alone that
makes life dear. He does not live at all who lives to fear. Please
say to any that may come to your office, that I say, come to Africa
and assist us in raising a light that may never go out. Enterprise
is what we want to make this country and people equal
with any on the face of the globe. Should any of the people of
Camden county, New Jersey, come to you for information, show
them this letter—tell them that I say there is land enough and
provision enough, by industry, for every enterprising colored man
in the United States. I find in Edina a fine soil, that will raise
any thing that a tropical country will produce. A fine, healthy-looking
people, that are kind and benevolent—who receive the
emigrants with the greatest kindness, and welcome them to the
land of liberty. Most respected Sir,—Liberia is destined to be the glory, the
home, and the resting-place for all the dark race. Then let them
come home, and rove abroad no longer, and that the chains of all
who will or could come and will not may be made tenfold faster,
because here they can come and be free. I mean my brethren
of color. There has been no disturbance with the republic by
the natives. Dear Friend,—Through a kind Providence we landed here on
the 6th instant, in forty days from Baltimore. All well. I went
ashore and met for the first time in my life on the same platform
with all men, and the finest people in the world. I never met
with more kindness in my life, and every attention is paid to visitors.
On Sabbath day there were seven flags flying in the harbor.
I attended the Methodist Sabbath-school, and found it interesting;
was invited to address it, and made some remarks.
There were seventy-five scholars in the school. I have been up
the St. Paul's River. It is the finest country in the world. Mr.
Blackledge's sugar farm is splendid. Dined with Mr. Russel,
Senator of New Virginia, and think his land somewhat better
than some of the rest. The river is sixty feet deep. Every
thing is getting along well, and all that is wanted are industrious
men and good mechanics. I would say to my friends, that every
thing that I have seen surpasses my expectations. Should I be
spared to return, you shall see some articles that I intend bringing
with me. I wish you would try to make some arrangement
with the society to let me off with a free passage home, as I
want to labor for the cause, and my means will be far run by the
time I get to Philadelphia. Brother Williams intends doing all
he can for the cause. We intend to go into the coffee business.
Our object is to get five hundred acres of land in one plot, and
have it settled by none but respectable people from Pennsylvania;
and I think that if you could send some from Philadelphia it
would have a good effect. Dear Sir,—I avail myself of the present opportunity to address
you a line or two, hoping they may find you as well as they leave
me. I had laid off to write to you before this, but I have not
done so; however, I hope you will take the will for the deed. I
have now been a resident of Liberia for upward of two years, and
I think I can now safely express my opinion as regards the advantages
to be gained by locating here. Unquestionably this is
the place, and these are the shores which are to contain the multitudes
which have for ages been laboring under the greatest disadvantages,
and who have been allured into the belief that they
will not be placed under the inconvenience of removing; but the
time has come which proves to a demonstration, more and more,
that this is a forlorn hope. Doubtless there are many who a few
years ago spurned the thought of leaving, who now turn their
eyes in solicitude to various parts for relief, but there is no quarter
which presents equal attractions with that presented by Liberia,
and they know it; and although they may be men of penetration,
who foresee that something must be done, and these may
be men of influence, who will exert this influence in a contrary
direction, yet I believe the masses will speak for themselves, and
such a mighty flood will be poured upon these shores as has not
been witnessed since the world began. I have not written any
on this subject, but I watched with increasing interest the “signs
of the times,” as exhibited in the United States, and I am convinced
that my impressions are not erroneous. There are many
false representations made to deter persons who are anywise inclined
to emigrate to this country, but I feel confident that those
who use this means to oppose us had better begin to think of
some other method, for they will ultimately be exposed in the
midst of their base attempts. Truth will eventually triumph over
falsehood. Gentlemen,—I promised to let you hear from me when in Liberia,
Africa, but although I have been here two months, I can
not at this time give you much account of the place. This little
republic is so far ahead of what I expected to find it, that your
good people of the United States would scarcely think I were
narrating truth were I to describe all that I have seen. Liberia
is a fine, fertile country. Things of every kind grow here. The
people are more comfortable in every respect, and enjoy themselves
much better than I have ever known them to do elsewhere.
The houses are very large, and are built mostly of brick and
stone; they are two stories and two stories and a half high;
from 30 to 50 feet front, and from 25 to 40 feet deep. The steps
to these houses are composed of iron ore—a substance on which
the city is built. Iron ore is as plentiful in Monrovia as common
stone is in Williamsburgh. Very dear Sir,—Fishtown was reoccupied on the 11th of October,
and the settlement is progressing rapidly—far in advance of
what it was before the massacre. The immigrants by the Zeno,
Morgan Dix, Liberia Packet, and Ralph Cross, enjoy much better
health down there than they did up at this place, and even the old
settlers moving there have derived much benefit. It has already
commenced attracting settlers from other settlements in this
county, and I am sanguine that in one or two years it will be in
advance of the other settlements of this county. Physicians
pronounce it a good place for emigrants to pass through their
acclimation, and I know it to be an excellent place for them to
to do well after acclimation. Sharp, Till, and Taylor, by the
Ralph Cross, from New Jersey, are doing pretty well for beginners.
They seem to be fine, industrious people, especially the
two former. They occupy three of the houses I built on the
banks of the St. John's River, opposite Factory Island, by direction
of your Board, and their produce is growing around them
finely. They would have settled at Fishtown had it been occupied
sooner. My dear Sir,—In your letter you expressed a desire to know
my first impressions of Liberia and Liberian society. On my arrival
at Monrovia, Mr. James very kindly invited us to spend the
day at his house, which invitation we accepted. While on shore,
I became acquainted with quite a number of intelligent ladies
and gentlemen. The society at Monrovia I think similar to that
of Philadelphia, while that at Bassa Cove and Edina I think less
favorably of. I am now living at Mount Vaughan, about two
and a half miles from Cape Palmas, at which place I am employed
as an assistant teacher in the high school belonging to the
Protestant Episcopal Mission, for which I receive three hundred
dollars. The society at Palmas, when we compare the number,
is equal to that of Monrovia in point of intelligence. This colony
is in quite a flourishing condition. There are in Palmas seven
yoke of oxen, well broken, and work quite steadily. We get the
bullocks from the natives, at eight dollars a piece. I have drawn
my farm land, and planted five hundred coffee-trees, twelve
pounds of ginger, and a thousand cassada sticks, besides arrow-root,
pea-nuts, and fruit trees. We have an abundance of fresh
vegetables, egg-plants, tomatoes, and fine large cabbage. Plenty
of venison, fresh fish, and oysters. We are on the eve of declaring
our independence. The spirit with which the people take
hold of the subject would do credit to 1776. There will be a
Convention held next week, to prepare a Constitution for our
new state. Dear Sir,—I received your letter in answer to mine, and was
very glad to hear from you; also to receive those papers you
sent me. My health and that of my family is tolerable. At
present we are perfectly satisfied, and glad we came here. The
society did a good part by us. I have a house and ten acres of
good land; all but three acres in cultivation. I do not find it so
warm here as I had been told or as I expected. I have tried
both seasons. Tell the colored people they need not be afraid to
come, but they must be industrious, or they had better stay where
they are. I would not change homes now if they would give
me five hundred dollars and free toleration. Every man can
vote. I visited the courts, where I saw colored men judges,
grand and petit jurymen, squires, constables, &c. Business is
carried on as correctly as in the United States. Dear Sir,—You wish that I would give some statement of
things in general, and in particular of the growth of cotton, rice,
&c. Our answer is this: this is emphatically a tropical region,
as all geographers will tell you. You have only to put your seed
into the ground, and with half the labor you have to perform in
the states you here may make a comfortable living. Cotton
and rice grow here as well as in your Southern States. It is
true, a fair trial was never made for the culture of that valuable
staple (cotton), enough to prove that it can be raised in great
quantity. Rice is indigenous to this country: it will grow almost
any where you may plant it, on high or low land. We have
coffee, potatoes, ginger, arrow-root, and pepper. There has not
been much pains taken with the planting of corn; enough has
been done, however, to satisfy one that it can be made, for I have
eaten as much as I wanted in proof of it. Gentlemen,—Since I have been here I have done very well,
better than I expected. I have bought five hundred dollars worth
of goods and paid for them. I have bought ten bullocks. I have
on hand one hundred bushels of rice. I paid in trade about forty
cents. If I keep which I shall do three months longer, I can get
$1 50 per bushel for it. I also have on hand six tons of cam-wood.
I want to increase it to ten tons by next month, and shall
ship it to England by the steamer on the 7th, and remit the money
to New York by a bill of exchange, so as to have more funds here
in the vessel which I understood will sail from New York with
our emigrants in the spring. I had only eight hundred dollars
worth of goods when I started from New York. I have on my
shelves one thousand dollars worth now. Notwithstanding, I
shall send one thousand dollars to New York after more goods.
I also have fifty pounds of ivory, worth here one dollar per pound.
I write this to show you what can be done here with a very little
money. If a man has half what I had he would soon get rich, if
he conducted himself aright; if a man has nothing, and came out
under our Association, having a house and lands cleared, he would
soon rise, if he has any spirit; therefore, come one, come all to
the sunny climes of Africa. Sir,—As I look upon you as being an old friend of mine, I take
pleasure in addressing you a few lines to let you know something
about how we are getting along in Liberia, believing you to be a
true friend to Liberia, and to the colored race. Mr. Williams, a free colored man of Pennsylvania, intelligent,
respectable, and rich for one of his class, was sent about a year
since to Liberia, by an association of his people in this state, who
desired to learn the prospects that country held out for the emigrants.
The following is an extract from his report: | | Similar Items: | Find |
49 | Author: | Holmes
Mary Jane
1825-1907 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | 'Lena Rivers | | | Published: | 2003 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | For many days the storm continued. Highways were
blocked up, while roads less frequented were rendered
wholly impassable. The oldest inhabitants of Oakland had
“never seen the like before,” and they shook their gray
heads ominously as over and adown the New England
mountains the howling wind swept furiously, now shrieking
exultingly as one by one the huge forest trees bent
before its power, and again dying away in a low, sad wail,
as it shook the casement of some low-roofed cottage,
where the blazing fire, “high piled upon the hearth,”
danced merrily to the sound of the storm-wind, and then
whirling in fantastic circles, disappeared up the broad-mouthed
chimney. “Forgive me, darling, that I leave you so abruptly.
Circumstances render it necessary, but be assured, I shall
come back again. In the meantime, you had better return
to your parents, where I will seek you. Enclosed
are five hundred dollars, enough for your present need.
Farewell. “Dear Helleny, mebby you'll wonder when you see a
letter from me, but I'll be hanged if I can help 'ritin', I am
so confounded lonesome now you are gone, that I dun
know nothing what to do with myself. So I set on the
great rock where the saxefax grows, and think, and think,
till it seems 's ef my head would bust open. Wall, how do
you git along down amongst them heathenish Kentucks
& niggers? I s'pose there ain't no great difference between
'em, is there? When I git a little more larnin', I
b'lieve I'll come down there to keep school. O, I forgot
to tell you that our old line back cow has got a calf—the
prettiest little critter—Dad has gin her to me, and I call
her Helleny, I do, I swow! And when she capers round,
she makes me think of the way you danced `High putty
Martin' the time you stuck a sliver in your heel—” “Dear Grandma: When you read this I shall be
gone, for I cannot longer stay where all look upon me as
a wretched, guilty thing. I am innocent, grandma, as innocent
as my angel mother when they dared to slander
her, but you do not believe it, and that is the hardest of
all. I could have borne the rest, but when you, too,
doubted me, it broke my heart, and now I am going away.
Nobody will care—nobody will miss me but you. “My Lost 'Lena: By this title it seems appropriate
for me to call you, for you are more surely lost to me
than you would be were this summer sun shining upon
your grave. And, 'Lena, believe me when I say I would
rather, far rather, see you dead than the guilty thing you
are, for then your memory would be to me as a holy,
blessed influence, leading me on to a better world, where
I could hope to greet you as my spirit bride. But now,
alas! how dark the cloud which shrouds you from my
sight. | | Similar Items: | Find |
51 | Author: | Trowbridge
J. T.
(John Townsend)
1827-1916 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Lucy Arlyn | | | Published: | 2003 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | IT was a proud day for Archy Brandle and
his mother when Lucy Arlyn came out to their
house to make a friendly visit and to drink tea. “You promised to grant me a favor. This is
what I am directed to require of you. Find yourself at Dr.
Biddikin's to-morrow at three, P.M. There you will meet a
disagreeable little old woman, with yellow hair and a sour
temper, named “Miss Lucy Arlyn. Respected Madam, — The reason
you saw the undersigned a-fishing to-day, and which you may
have seen him on previous occasions passing with rod and line
by the brook which meandures beyond the house which has
the honor of being your residence (viz., Jehiel Hedge's), the
undersigned might explain, and would astonish you, if you
would but grant an interview which he has sought in this way
in order to get a word with you; not venturing to call openly,
fear of offence: though he has in his possession facts of the
most utmost importance to you, whom I fear have been
wronged by a man I have long served faithfully, and blinded
my eyes to his misdeeds, but whom I now suspect is a villain
of the darkest calibre” — “I can no longer be of use to you, and I go; having
already staid a day too long. My spiritual gift — for which
alone you valued me — went before. I lost it when I lost
myself. It will return to me only when my tranquillity returns;
which can never be with you. I loved you, Guy
Bannington. There, take my heart; tread it beneath your
proud feet. I neither hate nor love you now. I am ice.
The universe wails around me; but I hear it with dull ears.
Farewell! I am weary, and wish to sleep.” | | Similar Items: | Find |
52 | Author: | Bennett
Emerson
1822-1905 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The league of the Miami | | | Published: | 2003 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Whoever has attempted to trace through
its various windings, or plunge into and
divine the mysteries of that mysterious,
inexplicable thing, the human heart, has
ever found himself perplexed—lost in a
mazy bewilderment. Well sung one of
England's greatest poets,
“The proper study of mankind is man,”
for man is a strange, strange being; his
life is a medley of inconsistencies—his
heart a labyrinth of good and evil. There
is in our nature a propensity, a desire for
concealment, which may be termed somewhat
hypocritical, and which gives the
outward, and the inward man, two strong
contrasting aspects. Were it not for this,
we should not see the gentle smile upon
the surface, while the death-worm was
gnawing at the core. We should not be
daily told that such an one is happy, such
an one enjoys all the beauties of life,
while he, or she, is looking forward to
the cold and silent tomb to end the misery
of a life of woe. Why is this? Why
do we seek to seem other than we feel—
than we are? Ah, there is the mystery.
That it is so, none will deny. Were it
not for this—were our features the index
of our thoughts—where would be the
sacredness of grief? or the holy charm
of love? And is not one sacred to us?
Does not the other seem holy in our eyes?
Do we not hoard them in our heart of
hearts, as the miser hoards his treasures
from the gaze of the world? And do
we not, like him, feel a secret pleasure in
brooding over them in silence, alone?
Could we not do this—did the world
know us as we know ourselves—not all
the terrors of death, not all the terrors of
a great hereafter, would be sufficient to
hinder thousands from rashly plunging
into the mystic, UNKNOWN BEYOND! In
this do we not behold an All-wise
ordering? Madam:—When this reaches you, I
shall probably be no more. I believe
that we are often warned of our approaching
dissolution, and I feel that mine is
near at hand. What my end will be,
God only knows; yet, while I contemplate
and write, I shudder. Seven years
ago, I placed in your charge Cicely
Edgerton—” | | Similar Items: | Find |
53 | Author: | Randolph
John
1773-1833 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letters of John Randolph, to a young relative | | | Published: | 2006 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | I send you by the New Orleans mail, "letters written
by the great Mr. Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, to
his nephew, when at college." You know my opinion of
Lord Chatham: that he was at once the greatest practical
statesman that ever lived, and the most transcendent orator.
With all this, he was a truly good man, (indeed, he must
have been, since virtue is essential to great excellence in
laudable pursuits,) and the most elegant and polished gentleman
of his time. We have examined the National School Manual, and
pleased with the plan. From our knowledge of the
various systems pursued in the country schools, many
which, upon the change of teachers, serve rather to
ard, than advance, the pupil, we do not hesitate to
commend the Manual, as having not only a tendency
uniformity and order, but also to save expense, the
complaint of which is without parallel. Having examined the general plan of the 1st, 2d, and
parts of the "National School Manual," and having
also taken a cursory view of some of the details, I
satisfied that it is a work of no common merit. I have examined with much care, and great satisfaction,
the "National School Manual," compiled by
M. R. Bartlett. The opinion I have formed of its merits,
is of little importance, after the numerous and highly
respectable testimonials to its value already in your
possession. I have examined with care and a high degree of interest
the work called the "National School Manual,"
by Mr. M. R. Bartlett, and am so well satisfied with its
merits, and that it will eventually be adopted in all our
common schools, to the exclusion of every other work
of the kind now in use, that I feel authorized to exert
my influence to have the work introduced forthwith
into my school. "The `Outlines of History,' I consider an excellent
class book of general history for the use of schools. The
questions added by Mr. Frost, are a most valuable auxiliary
for the teacher as well as the pupil. I shall use the
Outlines' in my school, and cordially recommend it to
parents and teachers. I have just received a copy of your edition
of the `Outlines of History.' From a cursory perusal, I
am disposed to give it a high rank as a school book. So
well satisfied am I with the arrangement and execution
of the work, that I intend to put it immediately into the
lands of a class in my own school. | | Similar Items: | Find |
54 | Author: | Cummins
Maria S.
(Maria Susanna)
1827-1866 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The lamplighter | | | Published: | 2003 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | It was growing dark in the city. Out in the open country it
would be light for half an hour or more; but within the close
streets where my story leads me it was already dusk. Upon the
wooden door-step of a low-roofed, dark, and unwholesome-looking
house, sat a little girl, who was gazing up the street with much
earnestness. The house-door, which was open behind her, was
close to the side-walk; and the step on which she sat was so low
that her little unshod feet rested on the cold bricks. It was a
chilly evening in November, and a light fall of snow, which had made
everything look bright and clean in the pleasant open squares,
near which the fine houses of the city were built, had only served
to render the narrow streets and dark lanes dirtier and more cheerless
than ever; for, mixed with the mud and filth which abound
in those neighborhoods where the poor are crowded together, the
beautiful snow had lost all its purity. “Dear Gertrude: As there were plenty of Boston folks at
the wedding, I daresay you have heard before this of Mr. Graham's
marriage. He married the widder Holbrook, the same I
wrote you about. She was determined to have him, and she's
got him. I don't hesitate to say he's got the worst of the bargain.
He likes a quiet life, and he's lost his chance of that,—
poor man!—for she's the greatest hand for company that ever I
saw. She followed Mr. Graham up pretty well at Havana, but
I guess he thought better of it, and did n't really mean to have
her. When we got to New Orleans, however, she was there;
and the long and short of it is, she carried her point, and married
him. Emily behaved beautifully; she never said a word against
it, and always treated the widder as pleasantly as could be; but,
dear me! how will our Emily get along with so many young folks
as there are about all the time now, and so much noise and confusion?
For my part, I an't used to it, and don't pretend that
I think it's agreeable. The new lady is civil enough to me, now
she's married. I daresay she thinks it stands her in hand, as
long as she's one of the family, and I've been in it so long. But
I suppose you've been wondering what had become of us, Gertrude,
and will be surprised to find we've got so far as New
York, on our way home,—my way home, I should say, for I'm
the only one that talks of coming at present. The truth is, I
kept meaning to write while we were in New Orleans, but there
was so much going on I did n't get a chance; and, after that
horrid steamboat from Charleston here, I was n't good for anything
for a week. But Emily was so anxious to have you written
to that I could n't put it off any longer than until to-day. Poor
Emily is n't very well; I don't mean that she's downright sick,
—it's low spirits and nervousness, I suppose, more than anything.
She gets tired and worried very quick, and is easily
startled and disturbed, which did n't use to be the case. I think
likely it's the new wife, and all the nieces, and other disagreeable
things. She never complains, and nobody would know but what
she was pleased to have her father married again; but she has n't
seemed quite happy all winter, and now it troubles me to see how
sad she looks sometimes. She talks a sight about you, and felt
dreadfully not to get any more letters. To come to the principal
thing, however, they are all going to Europe,—Emily and all.
I take it it's the new wife's idea; but, whoever proposed the
thing, it's all settled now. Mr. Graham wanted me to go, but I
would not hear of such a thing; I would as soon be hung as
venture on the sea again, and I told him so, up and down. So
now he has written for you to go with Emily; and, if you are not
afraid of sea-sickness, I hope you won't refuse, for it would be
dreadful for her to have a stranger, and you know she always
needs somebody, on account of her blindness. I do not think she
has the least wish to go; but she would not ask to be left behind,
for fear her father should think she did not like the new wife. “I need not tell my darling Gertrude how much I have missed
her, and longed to have her with me again; how I have thought
of her by night and day, and prayed God to strengthen and
fit her for her many trials and labors. The letter written soon
after Mr. Cooper's death, is the last that has reached me, and
I do not know whether Mrs. Sullivan is still living. Write
to me at once, my dear child, if you cannot come to us. Father
will tell you of our plans, and ask you to accompany us to Europe;
my heart will be light if I can take my dear Gerty with me, but
not if she leave any other duty behind. I trust to you, my love,
to decide aright. You have heard of father's marriage. It is a
great change for us all, but will, I trust, result in happiness.
Mrs. Graham has two nieces who are with us at the hotel. They
are to be of our party to go abroad, and are, I understand, very
beautiful girls, especially Belle Clinton, whom you have seen in
Boston some years ago. Mrs. Ellis is very tired of writing, and
I must close with assuring my dearest Gertrude of the devoted
affection of “Miss Gertrude Flint: I am married, and intend to go
abroad on the 28th of April; my daughter will accompany
us, and, as Mrs. Ellis dreads the sea, I am induced to propose
that you join us in New York, and attend the party, as a companion
to Emily. I have not forgotten the ingratitude with which
you once slighted a similar offer on my part, and nothing would
compel me to give you another opportunity to manifest such a
spirit, but a desire to promote the happiness of Emily, and a
sincere wish to be of service to a young person who has been in
my family so long that I feel a friendly interest in providing for
her. I thus put it in your power, by complying with our wishes,
to do away from my mind the recollection of your past behavior;
and, if you choose to return to us, I shall enable you to maintain
the place and appearance of a lady. As we sail the last of the
month, it is important you should be here in the course of a fortnight;
and, if you will write and name the day, I will myself meet
you at the boat. Mrs. Ellis being anxious to return to Boston,
I hope you will come as soon as possible. As you will be obliged
to incur expenses, I enclose a sum of money sufficient to cover
them. If you have contracted debts, let me know to what amount,
and I will see that all is made right before you leave. Trusting
to your being now come to a sense of your duty, I am ready to
subscribe myself your friend, “My Dear Mrs. Jeremy: As yesterday was the day on which
we expected to sail for Europe, you will be somewhat astonished
to hear that we are yet in New York, and still more so to learn
that the foreign tour is now indefinitely postponed. Only two
days since, Mr. Graham was seized with his old complaint, the
gout, and the attack proved so violent as seriously to threaten his
life. Although to-day somewhat relieved, and considered by his
physician out of immediate danger, he remains a great sufferer,
and a sea-voyage is pronounced impracticable for months to come.
His great anxiety is to be at home; and, as soon as it is possible
for him to bear the journey, we shall all hasten to the house in
D—. I enclose a note for Mrs. Ellis. It contains various directions
which Emily is desirous she should receive; and, as we did
not know how to address her, I have sent it to you, trusting to
your kindness to see it forwarded. Mrs. Graham and her nieces,
who had been anticipating much pleasure from going abroad, are,
of course, greatly disappointed at the entire change in their plans
for the summer. It is particularly trying to Miss Clinton, as her
father has been absent more than a year, and she was hoping to
meet him in Paris. “My darling Gertrude: My much-loved child,—for such
you indeed are, though a father's agony of fear and despair alone
wrung from me the words that claimed you. It was no madness
that, in the dark hour of danger, compelled me to clasp you to
my heart and call you mine. A dozen times before had I been
seized by the same emotion, and as often had it been subdued
and smothered. And even now I would crush the promptings of
nature, and depart and weep my poor life away alone; but the
voice within me has spoken once, and cannot again be silenced.
Had I seen you happy, gay and light-hearted, I would not have
asked to share your joy, far less would I have east a shadow on
your path; but you are sad and troubled, my poor child, and
your grief unites the tie between us closer than that of kindred,
and makes you a thousand times my daughter; for I am a
wretched, weary man, and know how to feel for others' woe. “My dear, dear Father,—If I may dare to believe that you
are so, and, if not that, my best of friends,—how shall I write to
you, and what shall I say, since all your words are a mystery!
Father! blessed word! O, that my noble friend were indeed my
father! Yet tell me, tell me, how can this be? Alas! I feel a
sad presentiment that the bright dream is all an illusion, an error.
I never before remember to have heard the name of Philip Amory.
My sweet, pure and gentle Emily has taught me to love all the
world; and hatred and contempt are foreign to her nature, and, I
trust, to my own. Moreover, she has not an enemy in the wide
world; never had, or could have. One might as well war with
an angel of Heaven as with a creatures so holy and lovely as she. | | Similar Items: | Find |
55 | Author: | Halpine
Charles G.
(Charles Graham)
1829-1868 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The life and adventures, songs, services, and speeches
of Private Miles O'Reilly [pseud.] (47th regiment, New York volunteers.) | | | Published: | 2003 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | MY Dear N: Our friend, Major Wright, showed
me one paragraph of your letter to him, in
which you referred, apparently with surprise, to the
fact that the attack on Charleston by the iron-clads
should have been discontinued “when so few casualties
had occurred.” This is so obvious a reflection,
on the first hasty view of the affair, and one so radically
unjust when we look calmly at the facts, that,
in Major Wright's absence (he has gone down the
posts along the Florida coast on a tour of inspection)
I will venture to occupy your time a few moments
on the subject. “Sir:— We take pleasure in inviting you to be
present as a guest, on the occasion of a banquet for
which we have found an excellent excuse in the
person of Private Miles O'Reilly, Forty-seventh
regiment New York Volunteers, late a prisoner on
Morris Island, South Carolina, but released from
durance vile by order of our benevolent and truly
amiable President. All guests must bring with
them an unlimited supply of good appetite and
humor. The napkins, wines and things will be provided
by our accomplished caterer. Have to remain here watching my Cabinet. There
might be a row in the family if I went away. Telegraphing
not a good medium for stories; but have
an anecdote appropriate to O'Reilly's case, which I
send in letter by this day's mail. Gentlemen,—I regret that a sentiment and surroundings
which you can appreciate will not allow
me to join your festive assembly. The Navy is not
forgetful of the tribute paid by Private O'Reilly to
the merit of many of its most deserving officers. In
the manly pathos of his reference to the late Fleet
Captain George W. Rodgers, in that song for which
he suffered imprisonment, he struck strings of the
human heart which must vibrate so long as courage
can enkindle respect, or the death of a hero and
martyr claim the tribute of a tear. Your invitation reaches me just as I am preparing
to move upon the enemy's works. Be assured my
sympathies are with every movement which aims to
acknowledge our indebtedness, as individuals and as
a nation, to the private soldiers—the countless,
nameless, unrewarded, often disregarded heroes of
the musket and bayonet—to whose true patriotism,
patient endurance, and courage in the day of danger
we, who are generals, owe victory, and the country
will yet owe its salvation. Gentlemen,—A recent chill blast from Ohio,
coupled with a cold shiver recently caught in
Pennsylvania,* have laid me up with an indisposition
which confines me to that home in which I am both
prized and appreciated. I look upon your banquet
with a single eye to the public good; and am far
from convinced that it may not soon be even a better
investment to take stock in the national fortunes, than
to embark with my friend Lamar in that blockaderunning
enterprise about which some of my foolish
enemies have lately been making a fuss. Just now
I am so doubled up with rheumatic twinges that my
walk is slantendicular; and I make it my rule never
to appear in public when in this attitude. Very
candidly and sincerely yours. Dear Develin—Am just polishing off and finishing
up Mayor Opdyke. Will be with you in a moment
when I get through. Gentlemen—Your invitation is received, but me
it does not suit to be of your guests invited. I, who
have bearded a Russian Emperor, am not to bow in
homage abject to any of the great asses who are in
this country heroes made. The President (I have
proved it) is a mountebank; Secretary Seward is a
faineant and traitor; General McClellan is a traitor
and ass. Chase is an ass. I have no doubt Gillmore
is an assish asinine ass; as indeed are all the men
whose names we in the newspapers see, or in men's
mouths hear, there being only one exception, who is
with highest consideration, yours, Am worried to death about the New York Police
Commissioners. Sometimes think I will remove
them; sometimes think that I won't. If I can make
up my mind either one way or other, will be with
you. If not, will stay here, and do nothing else but
try. Gentlemen—I regret that the severe studies and
labors in which I am now engaged will not permit
me to be present at your very interesting demonstration.
Having commenced my investigations of
naval science by a close analysis of that most famous
vessel of antiquity in which the second great progenitor
of our race avoided destruction—and of which,
let me add, the so-called models placed in the hands
of our children are even ludicrously erroneous when
examined by the light of antiquarian science—I
have now reached, in my descending studies, the
type of vessels used in the great Spanish armada;
and it is my hope, ere the termination of an existence
already bountifully protracted, to have brought
down my researches to that amazing new starting
point in naval history—the discoveries and successful
experiments of the immortal Fulton! With the
introduction of steam as a motor of vessels, a great
change, all will admit, has been effected in the conditions
of maritime warfare. That change it is my
hope, and shall be my unceasing endeavor to grasp
and appreciate, if not while in official existence, then
in that bright and tranquil period of repose which a
grateful country will not fail to afford to the declining
years of a conscientious and faithful old public
servant. Gentlemen—As you have had the good taste to
invite the members of my staff and the most prominent
officers of my command, as well as myself, I
thank you in their name and in my own. The managers
of the late Russian banquet did differently; but
those managers were members of the Common Council,
which explains, if it does not palliate their offence.
Their neglect in this respect extended to
the Governor of the State, only one member of whose
military family was asked; and to General Dix, who
was invited to appear, so far as I can learn, altogether
unattended, to meet foreign officers, some of
equal, many of inferior, rank—but all attended by
their proper retinue. I thank you again in behalf
of my staff and the senior officers of the First Division,
as also for myself; and beg to assure you that
such of us as feel like it, will, with pleasure, avail
ourselves of your very kind and hospitable invitation. Let to-day be chronicled as a great day for Ireland,
and let it live as the greatest of Thanksgiving Days
in American history! This afternoon took place the
interesting ceremonial of presenting Private Miles
O'Reilly, Forty-seventh Regiment New York Volunteers,
to his Excellency the President of the United
States, by whom, in turn, the young Milesian warrior
and bard of the Tenth army corps was presented to
several members of the Cabinet and foreign diplomatic
corps, who were paying a Thanksgiving Day
call to the President when the cards of General
T. F. Meagher and Father Murphy were handed in
by Colonel Hay—these gentlemen having kindly
consented to act as the chaperons, or social godfathers
and godmothers of Private O'Reilly, who was accompanied
by Major Kavanagh and Captain Breslin, of
the old Sixty-ninth New York, and by Mr. Luke
Clark, of the Fifth Ward of your City, as his own
“special friends.” The details of this interview will
hereafter form an instructive episode in the grand
drama of our national history. It was in a manner
the apotheosis of democratic principles—an acknowledgment
of our indebtedness to the men who carry
muskets in our armies. It had its political significance,
also, and may prove another link between our
soldiers in the field and the present lengthy occupant
of the White House, who is understood to be not
averse to the prospect of a lengthier lease of that
“desirable country residence,” which has none of the
modern improvements. | | Similar Items: | Find |
56 | Author: | Harte
Bret
1836-1902 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The luck of Roaring Camp, and other sketches | | | Published: | 2003 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Respected Sir, — When you read this, I am run
away. Never to come back. Never, Never, NEVER.
You can give my beeds to Mary Jennings, and my
Amerika's Pride [a highly colored lithograph from a
tobacco-box] to Sally Flanders. But don't you give
anything to Clytie Morpher. Don't you dare to. Do
you know what my oppinion is of her, it is this, she is
perfekly disgustin. That is all and no more at present
from | | Similar Items: | Find |
57 | Author: | Shillaber
B. P.
(Benjamin Penhallow)
1814-1890 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Life and sayings of Mrs. Partington and others of the
family | | | Published: | 2003 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | 677EAF. Page 013. In-line Illustration. Image of a gun, a sword, a framed profile of a man.
“Perfigis retch: — your our is cum... Mete me to-morrar
outside the Inglish lines, and Ile giv yu Jessy.
Yours respectively, “Dear Mother, — It grieves me to bid you farewell,
but longer sufferance from father's tyrannical usage is
impossible. I go to seek my fortune, and when we meet
again may it be when he and I shall have learned a
lesson from our separation, and the alienation of father
and child may be forgotten in the renewed intercourse
of man and man. Farewell, mother, and may you be
more happy than I should have been able to make you
had I lived with you a thousand years. Farewell. Remember
sometimes your poor boy, | | Similar Items: | Find |
156 | Author: | Adams
Abigail
1744-1818 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letters of Mrs. Adams | | | Published: | 2003 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | "When President Monroe was in Boston, upon.
his late tour, encompassed by citizens, surrounded
by the military, harassed by invitations
to parties, and applications innumerable
for office, some gentleman asked him if he was
not completely worn out? To which he replied,
'O no. A little flattery will support a man
through great fatigue.' I may apply the observation
to myself and say, that the flattery in
your letter leads me to break through the aversion,
which is daily increasing upon me, to
writing. The public papers, my dear friend, announce
the fatal event of which your letter of October
the 20th had given me ominous foreboding.
Tried myself in the school of affliction, by the
loss of every form of connexion which can rive
the human heart, I know well, and feel what
you have lost, what you have suffered, are
suffering, and have yet to endure. The same
trials have taught me, that for ills so immeasurable,
time and silence are the only medicine.
I will not therefore, by useless condolences, open
afresh the sluices of your grief, nor, although
mingling sincerely my tears with yours, will I
say a word more where words are vain; but
that it is of some comfort to us both, that the
term is not very distant, at which we are to
deposit in the same cerement our sorrows and
suffering bodies, and to ascend in essence to an
ecstatic meeting with the friends we have loved
and lost, and whom we shall still love and
never lose again. DOES not my friend think me a stupid girl, when
she has kindly offered to correspond with me, that
I should be so senseless as not to accept the offer?
Senseless and stupid I would confess myself, and
that to the greatest degree, if I did not foresee the
many advantages I shall receive from corresponding
with a lady of your known prudence and understanding. | | Similar Items: | Find |
308 | Author: | Costello
Louisa Stuart
1799-1870 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Lay of the Stork | | | Published: | 1994 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | Chadwyck-Healey, English Poetry | CH-EnglPoetry | | | Description: | “Etent tues (étant toute) curieuse de savoir où nos cigognes
passent le tems qu'elles nesont pas chez nous, j'ai eu l'idée de
mettre à celui-ci ce colier et j'espère qu'il tombera dans des
mains qui vondront bien medonner des renseignements que je
désire et je vous prie de m'écrire par la poste sous l'adresse
suivante, A Mademoiselle la Comtesse O. de G., à T. Silesie
Prussienne, en Europe. Oh que je me rejouis de recevoir une
lettre de l'Afrique, ou de l'Asie mais l (il) faut qu'elle soit très
detaillée; vous me direz dans quel paysvous de meurez, quel est
votre sauvveroin votre re ligion votre langue etsurtout votre
som (nom) etvotre adresse. J'écris enfrancais parceque i est la
ngue (il est la langue) la plus repandue dans le monde. On á
seulem, ent pas fallu tier. (Il ne faut pas seulement tuer ?)
This sentence was probably not grammatical in the original. The
young lady evidently intended to say that the Stork was not to be killed
for the sake of its collar.
la
pauvre bete a cause de son colier; je l'aime car etant petit il a
passé deux jours dans ma chambre; parcequ' letait tomb (parce,
qu'il était tombé) du nid, qui se trouve sur notre ecurie de
mort (demi-mort?) ons. Celui qui lira cette lettre trouvera
l'idée bien bizarre et surtout pour une jeune fille mais cest un
desir que j'ai eu long tems et que je saurai enfin satisfaire a dieu
lecteur de cette lettre j'espevous ne ferez (j'esperè que vous me
ferez) le plaisir de me ri pon dre (répondre) Comtesse de G. O. Monsieur,
Sir, | | Similar Items: | Find |
458 | Author: | Settle
Elkanah
1648-1724 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Love and Revenge | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | Chadwyck-Healey, English Verse Drama | CH-EnglVerseDrama | | | Description: | As
you are Souldiers, truly Valiant, I honour you; as poor,
I pitty you; and therefore have sent you what will render
you as compleat Courtiers, as undaunted Souldiers. Dumane and
Lamot, let it suffice, we know you, for our Eye is every where.
Whilst I remember your Worths, I shall forget your Parents Injuries.
Fear nothing: for your hitherto Concealment, I'le get
your Pardons; and whilst I breath, breath your kind Mrs. If you
dare trust us, appear at Court to Night so adorned as shall become
your Honours and our Friends. | | Similar Items: | Find |
510 | Author: | Andreyev, Leonid | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Lazarus | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | WHEN Lazarus left the grave, where, for three days and
three nights he had been under the enigmatical sway
of death, and returned alive to his dwelling, for a long time no
one noticed in him those sinister oddities, which, as time went
on, made his very name a terror. Gladdened unspeakably by the
sight of him who had been returned to life, those near to him
carressed him unceasingly, and satiated their burning desire
to serve him, in solicitude for his food and drink and garments.
And they dressed him gorgeously, in bright colors of hope and
laughter, and when, like to a bridegroom in his bridal vestures,
he sat again among them at the table, and again ate and drank,
they wept, overwhelmed with tenderness. And they summoned
the neighbors to look at him who had risen miraculously from
the dead. These came and shared the serene joy of the hosts.
Strangers from far-off towns and hamlets came and adored the
miracle in tempestuous words. Like to a beehive was the house
of Mary and Martha. | | Similar Items: | Find |
511 | Author: | Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888: Anonymous review | Requires cookie* | | Title: | "Little Women" on the Stage | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | At last there is to be a stage version of Little Women,
that story which since its publication in 1868 has appealed to so
many generations of readers. The dramatisation has been made by
Miss Jessie Bonstelle (Mrs. Alexander Stuart), who for eight years
has been working to obtain the necessary permission. The
copyrights were in the possession of Miss Alcott's two nephews, the
famous twins, "Daisy" and "Demi" (John and Demijohn), sons of Miss
Alcott's last surviving sister, Mrs. Anna B. Pratt, to whom one of
the editions, published by Little, Brown and Company, in 1889, was
dedicated in these words: "The Sole Surviving Sister of Louisa M.
Alcott, and Her Never Failing Help, Comforter and Friend from Birth
to Death." In Boston the two Pratt boys when growing up were
pointed out as the famous twins, just as Vivian Burnett was pointed
out as Little Lord Fauntleroy. There has been a certain New
England prejudice against making a play of the story, although Miss
Alcott herself was fond of the theatre and actually wrote herself
a short comedy which was produced at the Boston Theatre. | | Similar Items: | Find |
519 | Author: | Burnett, Frances Hodgson | Requires cookie* | | Title: | A Lady of Quality | | | Published: | 1994 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | ON a wintry morning at the close of 1685, the sun shining
faint and red through a light fog, there was a great noise of
baying dogs, loud voices, and trampling of horses in the
courtyard at Wildairs Hall. Sir Jeoffry, being about to go forth
a-hunting, and being a man with a choleric temper and big loud
voice, and given to oaths and noise even when in good humor, his
riding forth with his friends at any time was attended with
boisterous commotion. This morning it was more so than usual,
for he had guests with him who had come to his house the day
before and had supped late and drunk deeply, whereby the day
found them, some with headaches, some with a nausea at their
stomachs, and some only in an evil humor which made them curse at
their horses when they were restless, and break into loud surly
laughs when a coarse
joke was made. There were many such
jokes, Sir Jeoffry and his boon companions being renowned
throughout the county for the freedom of their conversation as
well as for the scandal of their pastimes, and this day it was
well indeed, as their loud-voiced, oath-besprinkled jests rang
out on the cold air, that there were no ladies about to ride
forth with them. | | Similar Items: | Find |
521 | Author: | Burnett, Frances Hodgson | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Little Lord Fauntleroy | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | CEDRIC himself knew nothing whatever about it. It had never
been even mentioned to him. He knew that his papa had
been an Englishman, because his mamma had told him so;
but then his papa had died when he was so little a boy that he could
not remember very much about him, except that he was big, and
had blue eyes and a long mustache, and that it was a splendid thing
to be carried around the room on his shoulder. Since his papa's
death, Cedric had found out that it was best not to talk to his
mamma about him. When his father was ill, Cedric had been sent
away, and when he had returned, everything was over; and his
mother, who had been very ill, too, was only just beginning to sit
in her chair by the window. She was pale and thin, and all the
dimples had gone from her pretty face, and her eyes looked large
and mournful, and she was dressed in black. | | Similar Items: | Find |
523 | Author: | Calamity Jane (pseud. Marthy Cannary Burk) | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Life and Adventures of Calamity Jane | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | My maiden name was Marthy Cannary. I was born in
Princeton, Missourri, May 1st, 1852. Father and mother were
natives of Ohio. I had two brothers and three sisters, I being the
oldest of the children. As a child I always had a fondness for
adventure and out-door exercise and especial fondness for
horses which I began to ride at an early age and continued to do
so until I became an expert rider being able to ride the most
vicious and stubborn of horses, in fact the greater portion of my
life in early times was spent in this manner. | | Similar Items: | Find |
524 | Author: | Carr, Mildred | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Mildred Carr in Liberia to James Miner | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | I take this opportunity
of writing you this lines to inform you that
We are all well hopeing that this may find you
and famil enjoying the same blessings of
good
Health now the ship is about to sail for
Virginia & wish to let you know about the
things that you sent me last one peace of
Brown jeanes and one peace of blue cottin
a small
peace of yaller
cottin & nothing
in the way of clothing as the outher woman
had thay had shoes stockins & calicoes
and I did
not think that you sent any more to them
Than you did to me & I can not beleave outher
Ways unless you write me that you did make
That differrance with us dear Master
James
Please send me some clothing for my self &
Children some shoes for me no 7 & a box of soap
and some counterpin calico and some
calicoes
for clothing for my self & children also we
has gotten in our new house just at Chrismast
and it is large a enufe for four rooms
Please Master send those things as far as the
Money will a low please give my love to
all the servants old aunt Rachiel
speshily
24-bit 300dpi
Please give my love to Brother Billy and
Joe when you see them as I am quite busy
at
this time washing & ironing for the society
In deed all the music hall woman are inployed
by the society at this time nothing more at
this time Master James but beleave me | | Similar Items: | Find |
528 | Author: | Crane, Stephen, 1871-1900 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Lone Charge of William B. Perkins | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | Ornamental H
HE could not distinguish between a five-inch quick-firing gun and
a nickel-plated ice-pick, and so, naturally, he had been elected to
fill the position of war correspondent. The responsible party was
the editor of the "Minnesota Herald." Perkins had no information
of war, and no particular rapidity of mind for acquiring it, but he
had that rank and fibrous quality of courage which springs from the
thick soil of Western America. | | Similar Items: | Find |
529 | Author: | Crane, Stephen, 1871-1900 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Lover and the Telltale. Whilomville Stories: III. | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | "WHILOMVILLE STORIES BY STEPHEN CRANE"
A street lined with trees. Illustration by Edward B.
Edwards
WHEN the angel child returned with her parents to New York, the
fond heart of Jimmie Trescott felt its bruise greatly. For two
days he simply moped, becoming a stranger to all former joys. When
his old comrades yelled invitation, as they swept off on some
interesting quest, he replied with mournful gestures of
disillusion. | | Similar Items: | Find |
532 | Author: | Davis, Richard Harding, 1864-1916. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Lion and the Unicorn | | | Published: | 1994 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | PRENTISS had a long lease on the house, and because it stood in
Jermyn Street the upper floors were, as a matter of course,
turned into lodgings for single gentlemen; and because Prentiss
was a Florist to the Queen, he placed a lion and unicorn over his
flower-shop, just in front of the middle window on the first
floor. By stretching a little, each of them could see into the
window just beyond him, and could hear all that was said inside;
and such things as they saw and heard during the reign of Captain
Carrington, who moved in at the same time they did! By day the
table in the centre of the room was covered with maps, and the
Captain sat with a box of pins, with different-colored flags
wrapped around them, and amused himself by sticking them in the
maps and measuring the
spaces in between, swearing meanwhile to
himself. It was a selfish amusement, but it appeared to be the
Captain's only intellectual pursuit, for at night, the maps were
rolled up, and a green cloth was spread across the table, and
there was much company and popping of soda-bottles, and little
heaps of gold and silver were moved this way and that across the
cloth. The smoke drifted out of the open windows, and the
laughter of the Captain's guests rang out loudly in the empty
street, so that the policeman halted and raised his eyes
reprovingly to the lighted windows, and cabmen drew up beneath
them and lay in wait, dozing on their folded arms, for the
Captain's guests to depart. The Lion and the Unicorn were rather
ashamed of the scandal of it, and they were glad when, one day,
the Captain went away with his tin boxes and gun-cases piled high
on a four-wheeler. | | Similar Items: | Find |
534 | Author: | Doyle, Arthur Conan | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Lost World | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | MR. HUNGERTON, her father, really was
the most tactless person upon earth,—a fluffy, feathery, untidy cockatoo of a
man, perfectly good-natured, but absolutely
centered upon his own silly self. If anything
could have driven me from Gladys, it would have
been the thought of such a father-in-law. I am
convinced that he really believed in his heart that
I came round to The Chestnuts three days a week
for the pleasure of his company, and very especially to hear his views upon bimetallism, a subject
upon which he was by way of being an authority. | | Similar Items: | Find |
535 | Author: | Dunbar, Alice | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Lesie, the Choir Boy | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | OVER and above all things nature had been lavish to Lesie
Channing in the matter of a voice. It was a full, clear soprano with
rich tones in it that presaged a marvel of tone in later years. He
loved to sing. It was a pure joy to him to fill the hall and room of
his tenement home with the only tunes that he knew—"coon" songs
and music-hall ballads. But while he delighted in the sounds that he
made, no one had ever told Lesie that his voice was marvellous. | | Similar Items: | Find |
538 | Author: | Field, Eugene | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | AT this moment, when I am about to
begin the most important undertaking
of my life, I recall the sense of abhorrence
with which I have at different times
read the confessions of men famed for
their prowess in the realm of love. These
boastings have always shocked me, for I
reverence love as the noblest of the
passions, and it is impossible for me to conceive
how one who has truly fallen victim to its
benign influence can ever thereafter speak
flippantly of it. | | Similar Items: | Find |
539 | Author: | Fox, John, 1863-1919 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | THE days of that April had been days of mist and rain. Sometimes, for hours,
there would come a miracle of blue sky, white cloud, and yellow light, but
always between dark and dark the rain would fall and the mist creep up the
mountains and steam from the tops—only to roll together from either range,
drip back into the valleys, and lift, straightway, as mist again. So that,
all the while Nature was trying to give lustier life to every living thing
in the lowland Bluegrass, all the while a gaunt skeleton was stalking down
the Cumberland— tapping with fleshless knuckles, now at some unlovely cottage
of faded white and green, and now at a log cabin, stark and gray. Passing
the mouth of Lonesome, he flashed his scythe into its unlifting shadows and
went stalking on. High up, at the source of the dismal little stream, the
point of the shining blade darted thrice into the open door of a cabin set
deep into a shaggy flank of Black Mountain, and three spirits, within, were
quickly loosed from aching flesh for the long flight into the unknown. | | Similar Items: | Find |
542 | Author: | Grinnell, George Bird | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Little Friend Coyote | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | IT was in the summer when the Blackfoot and Piegan tribes were
camped together that the Blackfoot, Front Wolf, first noticed
Su-ye-sai-pi, a Piegan girl, and liked her, and determined to make her
his wife. She was young and handsome and of good family, and her
parents were well-to-do, for her father was a leading warrior of
his tribe. Front Wolf was himself a noted warrior, and had grown
rich from his forays on the camps of the enemy, so when he asked
for the young woman her parents were pleased—pleased to give their
daughter to such a strong young man, and pleased to accept the
thirty horses he sent them with the request. | | Similar Items: | Find |
544 | Author: | Hazeltine, Alice I. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Library Work with Children | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | The history of library work with children is yet to be written. From
the bequest made to West Cambridge by Dr. Ebenezer Learned, of money to
purchase "such books as will best promote useful knowledge and the
Christian virtues" to the present day of organized work with children
—of the training of children's librarians, of cooperative evaluated
lists of books, of methods of extension—the development has been
gradual, yet with a constantly broadening point of view. | | Similar Items: | Find |
556 | Author: | Lang, Andrew | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letters to Dead Authors | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | Sir,--There are many things that stand in the way of the critic when he has a
mind to praise the living. He may dread the charge of writing rather to vex a
rival than to exalt the subject of his applause. He shuns the appearance of
seeking the favour of the famous, and would not willingly be regarded as one
of the many parasites who now advertise each movement and action of
contemporary genius. 'Such and such men of letters are passing their summer
holidays in the Val d'Aosta,' or the Mountains of the Moon, or the Suliman
Range, as it may happen. So reports our literary 'Court Circular,' and all our
Pre'cieuses read the tidings with enthusiasm. Lastly, if the critic be quite
new to the world of letters, he may superfluously fear to vex a poet or a
novelist by the abundance of his
eulogy. No such doubts perplex us when, with
all our hearts, we would commend the departed; for they have passed almost
beyond the reach even of envy; and to those pale cheeks of theirs no
commendation can bring the red. | | Similar Items: | Find |
557 | Author: | Leach, Anna | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Literary Workers of the South | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | UNTIL a comparatively recent date, there were almost no men and
women in the South who made a profession of literature. Before the
war, there was here and there a man who amused himself by writing a
book. William Gilmore Simms, indeed, was a professed literary man; so
was Poe, but he left the South early in his career. The books of John
Pendleton Kennedy, secretary of the navy under Fillmore,
Eliza J. Nicholson.From a photograph by Simon, New
Orleans.
A portrait of Eliza J. Nicholson, from a photograph by Simon
of New Orleans
are still sold; and few Southern sketches surpass those of Judge
Longstreet. There was no end to the verse makers. Still, as a
generality, it is true to say that literature as a serious business of
life was not known. Every man and woman of education was taught to
express himself or herself on paper with force and elegance; but it
was considered as an accomplishment in the woman, and as a necessary
adjunct to his position in life
in the man. The heavy bundles of old letters which belong to every
old Southern family will show that there was enough talent in those
days to have made an American literature, had it been directed into
the proper channels. | | Similar Items: | Find |
558 | Author: | Scott, Walter, Sir, 1771-1832. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Lady of the lake, | | | Published: | 2004 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | Harp of the North! that mouldering long hast hung
On the witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan's spring
And down the fitful breeze thy numbers flung,
Till envious ivy did around thee cling,
Muffling with verdant ringlet every string,--
O Minstrel Harp, still must shine accents sleep?
Mid rustling leaves and fountains murmuring,
Still must thy sweeter sounds their silence keep,
Nor bid a warrior smile, nor teach a maid to weep? | | Similar Items: | Find |
561 | Author: | Neihardt, John G. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Little Wolf | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | HE would never be a strong waschuscha (a brave); when he was born he was no
bigger than a baby coyote, littered in a terrible winter after a summer of famine.
That was what the braves said as they sat in a circle about the fires; and often one
would catch him, spanning his little brown legs with a contemptuous forefinger
and thumb, while the others found much loud mirth in ridiculing this bronze mite
who could never be a brave. | | Similar Items: | Find |
564 | Author: | Poe, Edgar Allan | Requires cookie* | | Title: | THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | NO MORE remarkable man ever lived than my friend, the young Ellison.
He was remarkable in the entire and continuous profusion of good gifts
ever lavished upon him by fortune. From his cradle to his grave, a
gale of the blandest prosperity bore him along. Nor do I use the
word Prosperity in its mere wordly or external sense. I mean it as
synonymous with happiness. The person of whom I speak, seemed born for
the purpose of foreshadowing the wild doctrines of Turgot, Price,
Priestley, and Condorcet- of exemplifying, by individual instance,
what has been deemed the mere chimera of the perfectionists. In the
brief existence of Ellison, I fancy, that I have seen refuted the
dogma- that in man's physical and spiritual nature, lies some hidden
principle, the antagonist of Bliss. An intimate and anxious
examination
of his career, has taught me to understand that, in
general, from the violation of a few simple laws of Humanity, arises
the Wretchedness of mankind; that, as a species, we have in our
possession the as yet unwrought elements of Content,- and that even
now, in the present blindness and darkness of all idea on the great
question of the Social Condition, it is not impossible that Man, the
individual, under certain unusual and highly fortuitous conditions,
may be happy. | | Similar Items: | Find |
566 | Author: | Romeyn, Henry | Requires cookie* | | Title: | 'Little Africa': The Last Slave Cargo Landed in the United States | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | Among the passengers of the "Roger B. Taney," Captain
Timothy Meaher, plying between Mobile and Montgomery, Ala. in
April, 1858, were a number of Northern gentlemen returning to their
homes after a winter spent in the South. The trip occupied several
days, and as might have been expected, the slavery question was a
fruitful theme of discussion. Captain Meaher, though born in
Gardiner, Maine, had removed, when a mere lad, to the Gulf States,
and accumulated quite a fortune for those days; a large portion of
which was in "chattels" employed on his half dozen steamboats, or
on cotton plantations in the interior of the state, and in lumbering
among the pines and cypress lands near the coast. Of course he was
a defender of "the institution," and, in reply to the expressed belief
of one of his passengers that "with the supply by importation from
Africa cut off and any further spread in the Territories denied, the
thing was doomed," he declared that, despite the stringent measures
taken by most of the civilized powers to crush out the over-sea
traffic, it could be still carried on successfully. In response to the
disbelief expressed by his opponent, he offered to wager any
amount of money that he would "import a cargo in less than two
years, and no one be hanged for it." | | Similar Items: | Find |
567 | Author: | Scott, Walter | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | Origin of the general Opinions respecting Demonology among Mankind
The Belief in the Immortality of the Soul is the main inducement
to credit its occasional re-appearance — The Philosophical Objections
to the Apparition of an Abstract Spirit little understood
by the Vulgar and Ignorant — The situations of excited Passion
incident to Humanity, which teach Men to wish or apprehend
Supernatural Apparitions — They are often presented by the Sleeping
Sense — Story of Somnambulism — The Influence of Credulity contagious,
so that Individuals will trust the Evidence of others in
despite of their own Senses — Examples from the "Historia
Verdadera" of Bernal Dias del Castillo, and from the Works of
Patrick Walker — The apparent Evidence of Intercourse with the
Supernatural World is sometimes owing to a depraved State of the
bodily Organ s — Difference between this Disorder and Insanity, in
which the Organs retain their tone, though that of the Mind is lost
— Rebellion of the Senses of a Lunatic against the current of his
Reveries — Narratives of a contrary Nature, in which the Evidence
of the Eyes overbore the Conviction of the Understanding
Example of a London Man of Pleasure — Of Nicolai, the German
Bookseller and Philosopher — Of a Patient of Dr. Gregory — Of an
Eminent Scottish Lawyer, deceased — Of this same fallacious
Disorder are other instances, which have but sudden and momentary
endurance — Apparition of Maupertuis — Of a late illustrious modern
Poet — The Cases quoted chiefly relating to false Impressions on the
Visual Nerve, those upon the Ear next considered — Delusions of the Touch chiefly
experienced in Sleep — Delusions. of the Taste — And of the Smelling — Sum of the
Argument. | | Similar Items: | Find |
568 | Author: | Scull, Guy H. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Lassoing Wild Animals In Africa | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | IT was a special train—loaded to capacity with horses and dogs, camp
baggage, moving-picture cameras, cowboys, photographers, and porters;
and when it pulled out of the Nairobi station on the way to the "up
country" of British East Africa, the period of preparation passed away
and the time of action began. As the faces of the people on the platform
glided by the window of the slowly moving carriage, there was good will
written on all of them; but also unbelief. There was no doubt as to
what they thought of Buffalo Jones's expedition that was setting out to
rope and tie and photograph the wild animals of the East African Veldt. | | Similar Items: | Find |
570 | Author: | Shillaber, Benjamin Penhallow | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Life and Sayings of Mrs. Partington and others of the family | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | Illustrated capital N in which Mrs. Partington and Ike look out the window at the cat hanging
in the tree.
NOW, Isaac," said Mrs. Partington, as she came into the room
with a basket snugly covered over, "take our Tabby, and drop her
somewhere, and see that she don't come back again, for I am sick
and tired of driving her out of the butter. She is the thievinest
creatur! But don't hurt her, Isaac; only take care that she don't
come back." | | Similar Items: | Find |
579 | Author: | Wilkins, Mary E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Lost Dog. | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | THE dog was speeding, nose to the ground; he had missed his master
early in the morning; now it was late afternoon, but at last he
thought he was on his track. He went like a wind, his ears pointed
ahead, his slender legs seemingly flat against his body; he was
eagerness expressed by a straight line of impetuous motion. He had
had nothing to eat all day; he was spent with anxiety and fatigue
and hunger; but now, now, he believed he was on his master's track,
and all that was forgotten. | | Similar Items: | Find |
582 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 1861, June 23. | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | After receiving your very welcome letter last evening, I seal myself to comply with your request to
write you. Your letter gave some very pleasant
feelings and again it
some feelings amounting almost to pain. because I thought there
was a little considerable,, of flattery min- gled with it. Perhaps if you had been in
the room when I read your letter, you might have seen me indulge a very little in that feminine weakness of
blushing for indeed I was surprised. There is always some thing so
disgusting to flattery in any form and especially when it
from those that I wish to call by
the endering name of friend that for the moment it creates within my
heart a strange sensation that is hard to conquer I do not say this as
a reproof. but that I may be understood. you may not have meant it for
flattery but I took it as such, so if you value my friendship please
do avoid flattery in every form towards me. | | Similar Items: | Find |
585 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 26 September 1861 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | After waiting long and
anxiously I at last recieved your kind letter dated Sept. 16 Indeed I
was
surprised when I recieved it for I had almost dispaired the hope
of hearing from you again. and having heard since you left Camp Dennison I thing
that you must have felt somewhat relieved when you found yourself down
the. You must have felt freed to some extent. I think that
I should enjoy a ride on that , with it guarded by
some of the gallant seventh. You spoke of your feelings during the fight of
as being indescribable Perhaps they were similar to mine when I first heard of the
fight Not knowing who were safe and who were not
and also hearing that that idolized brother had
passed into the cold hands of death you will not wonder that my feelings were sad
and voluntarily turned to Charlie wondering if he too had entered that narrow void.
It was then I again felt that strange sensation mingled with
pity that I wrote you of when I first became acquainted with you I was then I really longed
to hear from you but did not have the pleasure till last eve You wrote of sending a
letter after recieving mine which I did not recieve Perhaps I will yet but do not
think so Charlie I wish I could collect my scattered thoughts enough to write
something worthy your perusal. but that seems impossible I wrote a letter to Hallie
a few days ago including a few lines to you do you know whether he recieved it or
not
I sincerely hope you did. I read of the fight in
which Col. Lowe fell. Noble man he died a cruel yet noble death It seems, when I
realize the privations of. war, cruel for our (for our) brave youths to fall on the
battle field with no kind friend to sooth and comfort them. But I would not sadden
your thoughts. If you were here would we not have a nice ring? We miss
Hal very much when we round the old
while away the hours in music. He would never give us any peace till we would play and sing with him. Charlie I have a
sweet little friend here in Mecca If it were not for her I would be very lonesome
indeed. We are almost constantly together her name is
Dora Leslie I wish you were acquainted with her. She is gentle and kind and still
she is as perfect a piece
of female vanity as I ever became acquainted
with. [W or Sh]e attends the same school the same lesson and occupy the
same seat. In fact some have intimated that our friendship was more for the sake of
her brother and Hal than for each other (Ridicalous)
If Hal knew who told me so he would laugh some. I saw Edwin Williams about
two weeks ago. he said when I wrote to Hal to send word to Will. Braden that he was
well and would like to see him. He wish very much to go to war again but
does not
health will permit him to do so. Charlie what a quiet day this
is This morning it was warm and the sun was shining so beautifully
but
now hardly
clouds have gathered together and completely
obscured the sun. a slow drizzling rain is falling as if nature was
shedding a few silent tears that the summer is ended and the cold winter is fast
approaching. When the rain is falling in torrents I always turn my thoughts to the
soldiers wondering when and how they are I do you if you will be obliged
to camp out this winter Charlie you know not how many silent petitions have been
sent to that high throne for your safety and darling Hallie's I sometimes wonder
why life is so strange and why I am to this dull routine of
life You may think that I have strange feelings indeed I have at times I know not
for what I live. Do I do any good in the world? I fear
not But what am I writing My thoughts have been
way down south in Ole Virginny with Hal to day more than usual, and I scarcely know
what I write Charlie are you fasting to day Dora
to ask you she says tell him Addie and I are on green apples But I
guess you will be tired when you have finished this nonsense give my love to Hallie
and Please write soon and oblige me | | Similar Items: | Find |
586 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 3
October 1861 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | I have heard gentlemen make the remark that when ladies began to write with a lead
pencil to them, they guessed she wished to discontinue their correspondence But when you receive this, written with
a pencil and on such paper I imagine that you will think worse than that, but do
not harbor the thought for one instan dear Charlie that my feelings are such for indeed they are not I have no other paper, and my pens have all “got
poor” therefore you will excuse this will you not? for I thought it
necessary to write immediately as
Capt. Aspen is in Warren and I do not know as I will get a chance to send again, nor do I know
when he returns to war. Where are you to day
are you engaged in some bloody battle or are you reposing in
security in your tent or on some bed of sickness.
How often my thoughts
thoughts been with you to day There seems to be a presentiment of evil hovering round me, and my thoughts are with Hal
and yourself, Can it be that you are in danger and some rebel
strike—God forbid. I must dispel
such thoughts. But would that I were near you. then I could feel
that let come what might I would know all. I have a sad and gloomy spirit
to day not much like the gay and joyous Addie that Hal used to tell about but lasteveI was to a sewing bee for the soldiers. and I caused a strange feeling to thrill
through me which is hard to dispel | | Similar Items: | Find |
589 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, October 27 1861 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | I again had the pleasure of perusing one of your kind and interesting
letters last saturday and I can assure you that it afforded much
pleasure. Charlie if you could witness the eagerness with
which I grasp your letters you would not hesitate to leave your work
to write to me. But of course I would not ask you to if you could not
do so with convenience. I think you must have
received another letter from me since you wrote
about the 12th of this month. This is a beautiful day rather
cool but not more so than we should expect for the season. Mr.
James Beebe of
Ohio Seventh is here. I do not feel so much like entertaining him as I do
Tenney of said Regt and therefore
act accordingly. He is trying to guess who I am writing to | | Similar Items: | Find |
591 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, December 19th, 1861 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | I have returned from school but how should I answer your kind letter:
If I should answer it as Irecievedit; it would
be with bitter oh, such bitter tears. Should
I tell you why I wept? No, dear Charlie I cannot now perhaps I never can, but be assured my reasons are resistless. Dear
Charlie my spirit has striven to watch over
and guard thee, and hourly & fervant prayers has risen to the
throne of Grace for your safety. But that prayer was only as a
true and loving sister would pray for a brother. I have striven aquired any other feeling save a
sisterly love and Dear CharlieI
if I have caused any other feeling
to rise in your heart save the feeling of friendship I entreat of you to forgive me for I did it unintentionly. And
if you cherish such feelings toward me Dear Charlie for my sake
and for the sake of your future happiness quench them. Promise me
that you will. Only remember me as a
sister or a friend. | | Similar Items: | Find |
597 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 26 January 1862 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Addie apologizes for not responding sooner to Charlie's previous two letters. She
has read in the newspaper that Gen. McClellan is not granting furloughs and
Addie is disappointed in not being able to see him. Charlie had sent her poetry,
presumatively love poetry. Addie writes that she always wishes that she could be
a poetess and that she sees poetry everwhere in life and nature. Finally, Addie
comes to the main point of her letter. She claims that she sees Charlie only as
a brother, not a lover. She is conflicted over her feelings, hurting Charlie,
and the impact on family and friends. Laurie (Addie's brother) has been playing
a song, "Heart be still" in the background, and it has Addie's emotions riled
up. Addie hopes that Charlie does not take her letter badly for she does not
wish to hurt him. She points out that loving him as a brother places him in the
highest esteem, and that it is not an empty and cold declaration. Laurie
finishes his music and wishes Addie to go with him to a prayer meeting, so Addie
closes the letter praying that a guardian angel watch over Charlie. | | Similar Items: | Find |
598 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 1862 February 2 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Did you ever behold such a beautiful sabbath day as this one? I feel
more like working out of doors and shouting for joy, than sitting in
silent admiration, as civilized people are pleased to call it. But I
don't believe they enjoy the beauty one half as much as they would if
they were as free as birds. Oh, anything for me but sitting in the house
so prim and formal saying just such words, as if they had
memorized them, and if you chance to say anything
else, blush as if you had been
caught in the act of stealing Why, Charlie my
darling I believe human beings wander as far from nature as from God.
But you, will say is this from Addie, such a commence- ment for a letter from Addie? I presume that is the fact, does it not
agree with your sentiments? Charlie, You do not know the disappointment I shall
experience if you do not come home when HalliecomesI had stored away so much pleasure for your return, thus it is with life. How
suddenly and cruelly can our brightest hopes be dashed. But I truly
hope thus that hope will rise soon. I saw Mrs.
Benton at a donations party last tuesday evening, and judge of
my surprise when she told me that, her husband recieved a letter from Charlie Tenney.
She told me that she heard from Hal, I asked her, how she heard | | Similar Items: | Find |
600 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 1862 February 4 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Do you know how sweet those three word sound to me? and also how dear? No
wonder I love to linger on these words but I must turn to other
subjects. I must give you an account of my "days works." I have been engaged, (I
think) in a good work to day.. not as noble a work as you are engaged in, but it is the best that I could do. I have
been to the "Soldiers Aid Society" working real hard Do I
hear your approval? Oh: how I wish you could have been there.. It
is really amusing to see old and young gathered in the "Union Hall" for the
benefit of the soldiers. Here in one corner of the "Hall" sits a group of "Mecca
Belles" busily sewing bandages or some garment or
perhaps "scraping lint." I hope you will never
see that, and in another place sits the "young married people" engaged in the same
way, while the olderlaidies are standing over the table and stove
cooking chickens to send to the hospitals, What a dreadful night last night was for
the four "chickees" A perfect massacre Bye the way
Charlie do you not think it a wise idea, that of canning chickens for the sick
soldiers, now when some supplies arrive from
Cleveland for the hospital just "play sick" a little while long
enough to get some "Mecca goodies" But Charlie will not do so will he? dont mind
me this time, Dear Charlie, do you wonder at my little simple letters. Laurie has just been here and she would readit I know just by the smile she had on her face that she thought
there was simplicity enough about this, and perhaps a slight attack of silliness. May
be so but I have tried to make my letters
as cheerful as possible so that you would not get
homesick. Let Laurie look if she wantstoo, do you care? | | Similar Items: | Find |
605 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 1862 February 19 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | I can not refrain from penning you a few lines even if my worthy teacher should
censure me for I am now in the schoolroom. So long a time has elapsed since I
have received any thing from you that I fear you are ill. Oh! I had such a strange
dream last night. I shudder even now when I think of it. You are lying ill and
delirious where I could both see and hear you. You calling for me and yet I could not go to you. I struggled long earnestly and in
vain, but there seemed some great obstacle between us which I could not
surmount. And the more aggravating it was that these, were all whom I had ever had
the least feeling of anger toward making me. One thing makes it almost
laughable. Col. Tyler was one of them. I awoke completely
exhausted and - do not laugh, dearest - weeping. Be assured, my darling, there was
no more rest for me. Why bless your dearest. I have not read a letter from you
for two weeks, and it is no wonder that such dreams, as the above come to torture me
when you, before, have written so often. | | Similar Items: | Find |
606 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, February 23rd, 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | A welcome letter was there dearest brought by fridays's
mail It had been long and earnestly looked for by anxious and,
sometime tearful eyes, I could not refrain from thinking,
pretty loud, Heart! welcome messenger of love,
when it was handed, me I must
tell you how or rather what a joyful disappointment,
it produced | | Similar Items: | Find |
609 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, March 14, 1862 | | | Published: | 2004 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | What can be more lovely than this day. warm as the
summer days generally are and the more beautiful because it is March..
Can you see me. Charlie sitting here on the root of a maple tree about
two feet above the little brook that is south of Auntie's house? Here I
have been sitting dreaming and listening to the babbling of the little
stream till it sounded like sweet music. and then commenced talking to
me of absent loved ones. occasionally looking at the sun that is
peeping through the soft haze which envelopes it. until--well something
struck me. the thought that I would go to the
house and get my writing desk. When
I started back.. I caught up
Titcombs "Lessons in Life," and here it lies on the mossy bank by my
side. Oh! who is not a lover of Nature.. the true mother of all
beauty.. Here I can sit and dream for hours. with no companion but the
little birds that are even now singing among the not leafy but
leafless boughs above my head. And of what am I dreaming. do you ask?
Of what could I be dreaming save my Charlie.. It
does seem like "fairy land" wonder if I could not see their footprints
up on the hill. How I wish I was an artist would not I draw some grand
sketches.. Or if you were. but here. I presume I would have you
installed immediately.. Oh. Charlie. what is there now to hinder you from
coming home. Manassas. Winchester. and all of the prominent places that are in the possession of our troops. I can see
no objections why you can not come I do wish to see
this must be to those whose
friends have gone. What can ever give them strength to bear the great
grief but the hope of meeting them in death.. | | Similar Items: | Find |
610 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, March 23, 1862 | | | Published: | 2004 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Do I not deserve - am I not worthy of a letter from my idol? This is not a tear..
I hope my tears are not quite so black as that ugly spot I can see no other reason why I do
not recieve a letter. Dear one please tell me in what way I have offended you for I
am sure that I have. or you would have written ere this. I have given my letters a
review in my thoughts but do not know what I could have written to cause you to
not write, unless it was the remark I made respecting your sending me
Miss Holcombs letters. Dear Charlie I did not intend to
write any thing in that, or any other letter to
alienate your affections from me. Darling will you forgive me if I have done wrong?
Oh, I can not believe. dearest. that such is the case. Charlie. would that you knew
Addies heart you would know that she could not willingly wound your feelings. Two
long weeks have fled since I recieved your last. I more like two months. I heard that
the "3rd Brigade" had moved but did not learn where it had gone. nevertheless I shall
continue directing to the "Valley of Virginia" until recieving instructions to direct
in some other direction. I am at home now. I came home friday last. "our folks" were
quite anxious for me to come. and I came. Do not wonder, my darling, that I did
not feel very desirous about coming. for how could I. but hush! do not allow me
to write to you in a discontented tone. | | Similar Items: | Find |
613 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, April 13, 1862 | | | Published: | 2004 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Would you not like to converse a short time with Addie this mor- ning?
Perhaps I can not be quiet long enough to write much of a letter. for I
heard this morning. that Hallieis over to
Auntie's and I wish very much to see him. I do not know whether he
will come over home or not. I presume I can be more contented when
writing to you than any other way.. I do not feel very contented any way to
day. the battle of Pittsburg Landing has
occupied my thoughts most of the time since thursday. How frightful! I
have been reading the particulars of it this morning. and it causes me
to tremble. I would so like to know if you are safe to day dear Charley
I feel so lonely and sad to day that
all manner of thoughts enter my mind. Perhaps it is wrong but I
sometimes wish that you were not in the army. but I feel that it is your
duty to be there, therefore I will try and be reconciled. I do not
wish to discourage you dear one, but my heart sometimes rebels. | | Similar Items: | Find |
615 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, April 20th, 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Do not think dear one that I address you thus merely as a salutation for I
feel that you are precious to me. The reason
that I write the word "precious" as I do,, your apologies for
addressing me by endearing names shall I say troubled me[;] I
was surprised darling. almost pained when I read your letter I had not
thought of confining myself to the rules of etiquette when writing to you.
nor do I think I ought: I always speak as I feel and generally obey
the dictations of my heart; Have I not done right? those that I loved I always have my own form of addressing
them by irrespective of etiquette. I love to be called by pet names,,
shall I tell you what Hal and papa used to call me: Hal's pet name for
me was"Birdie" and father's (dont laugh now)
was"Whip-stalk,," When a child I was very slender and quite tall,
hence papa called me by that"tender" expression. I just asked
father (he is here at aunties) if he remembers what he used to call me. He
replied that he did,, but does not think I am much of a whip stalk
now. that I am now more of a chub. Ha ha you say that not more than a week
passes without writing to me. How strange! Last week I received two
letters from you the first time I have received one from you oftener
than in ten days and sometimes much longer for two months I
guess. Charlie dear, would you have
thought me doing right if I had engaged a school and gone on -
commenced teaching &c, without speaking to you in regard to any
future occupations? Truly you would not have wished me to. You say "you found the
bitter with the sweet" while teaching. I
have considered all this but is it not always so in life; and should I
not teach because I will find perhaps a few unpleasant days? I think I
shall love teaching. | | Similar Items: | Find |
616 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, May 5, 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | My "first day" in teaching has passed and here am I in my room at
Mrs. Leslie's seated as quietly as you please
giving my "soldier boy" the
"perticelars"
What a splendid landscape! I presume that even more beautiful are
the scenes which you have witnessed within a year than are those on the
banks of the little
"Cuyahoga"
but without any exceptions it is the lovliest place that I ever was in
Oh! Charlie you must
come home and draw a sketch of this romantic little place. Just as if I
did not want you to come to see me. As I went to my"home"this
morning. half a dozen
little faces - although quite early -
peeped out to get a sight of the new"school ma'am." What queer
specimens of human nature! I could hard -ly keep
back the laugh that made my side ache. (Bless me what language!) to hold
[unclear] in. Some little fit of mischiviousness
would seize hold of [unclear] one of them and they
would turn to perform the act when lo! my eye would chance some how,
to be looking right that way when oh! what a penitent reverential look the
little fellow would cast at me . guess I couldn't give him a
reprimand! Is not a school room the place to study human nature! I have
some ladies as old as myself attending school. one
Lillie Armstronglives in the same house with Mrs Leslie. I have a class in algebra. I am real glad that my
scholars are so far advanced for they may learn me something. Dorasits here by me. she has just
recd a letter from one of her friends Miss
Anna Williams. Why could not I receive a letter
from Charlie. By the way darling three weeks [unclear]
ago next friday was the
last "happy day" that I have had. for
you know that I am not truly happy only while hearing from you I can
not censure you for not writing oftener for I know how
the"blockade" interferes with my happiness. I have been
teasing Dora to write to you but she is
afraid it will not be acceptable. Oh: Charlie write Laurareal often wont you my darling? She
will be so lonesome now as Addie is not with her to drive off the
blues. Charlie do you hear that noise? The frogs over in yonder
millpond are having a regu -lar jubilee. I guess they dont know what fearful state our country is in. Oh: any thing
but war. When men fight to quell a rebellion or to cease some awful wrong
it is just but when they fight as some of the rebels seem to [unclear] only to kill it is horrible. What a strain of
thoughts those disagreeable frogs have led me into. I will try to
drive it away. I do not know of any news that has
transpired in Mecca but that Jim Beebe has moved out of
town strange to say he does not seem to be missed. | | Similar Items: | Find |
617 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, May 6th, 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | With a thankful heart I recieved your precious
letter tonight of the 28th? and cheer- fully devote myself to the pleasure of answering
it. I wrote ou last eve informing you that I had commenced my school. You
are mistaken, dear one, I shall always be "Addie" at least I hope that
to you I shall. No difference if they do add the appel -lations of
"Mistress," "Teacher" yet from under these coverings a strong semblance of
Addie may be recognizable. Yes darling, you heard aright in your
fanciful vision when you imagined hearing a chap-
ter read from
the Bible. I should not feel my-self worthy the name of
teacher, if I could not open my school with a chapter from God's Holy
Book. I also have my scholars learn a verse from some portion of
the Bible, which they may choose and repeat just before the
close of school. | | Similar Items: | Find |
618 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 1862 May 16 | | | Published: | 2004 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Who would have thought when I wrote you last that more than a week would elapse
before I should write you again. But how fast time does fly. I know you will forgive
me darling for you know how little time a teacher gets to write especially where they
"board around." I should have written sunday but I attended church both
in the daytime and evening and between the meetings I wrote to Hal. I recieved your letter of the 11th and 22nd of April last evening.
Laura forwarded them from Mecca Had I not heard from you since then
I should be real anxious for you wrote that you was not well, but I can hardly conceal my anxiety now for I have recieved but one letter from you since I commenced my school with
the exception of the one I read last eve. You are not ill are you dearest? I feel
confident that you would let me know if you were. (I am writing in such a hurry this
morning as it is almost school time) I was very thankful for your lettersalthough written so long ago, besides one
from Laurie accompaniament there Indecent (how correct that is spelled)
Dear Charlie you seem to be quite eloquent in your praises of your "Ohio
girl" I do not blame miss Rice for replying to you that I was not pretty, for I
too think you must look with a partial eye, for I can trace no expressions of beauty
in my ugly phyg. although I — don't try much. I dont see
how she could "hate Yankees" after conversing with you,
I would not. Yes darling I am proud of it, I mean that I am a
Yankee, and if you should ever see her again please tell her "that the
Yankee girls" would not only sacrifice home friends, dear friends but even
lie to protect their country and their flag. Oh
Charlie how I should love to see a regt of ladies armied equipped and ready for
battle, but that we must remain at home and donate a little to the "Aid
society," every week while our friends and protectors fall and die alone
with no friend near. Oh it makes me so indignant. But what could we do? Do! we could
fight, fight like patriots as we are, but perhaps you will say you guess our
patriotism would cool down by the time we march one or two thousand miles, strong if
it unclear! | | Similar Items: | Find |
619 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, May 18, 1862 | | | Published: | 2004 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Few, very few are the days which I have spent equal to this. I am not
happy to day, darling, far from it in fact. I am not well. A violent
headache has clinnig to me all day, which added to the
oppressiveness of the atmosphere makes me feel miserable.— Oh!
what a refreshing breeze has just swept by — and then almost
two weeks have passed since I recieved the letter that you wrote last.
Dearest why do you not write ofterer would that you know how much happiness
your darling letters brought; and
how unhappy I feel when so long a time passes without recieving one.
Do you hear that music Charlie? Grand isn't it? It is down stairs in
the parlor. Who is it do you ask? Libbie Armstrong one of my scholars. (Did
I mention that two families live in this house.) She has just played
and sang, "Red, White, and Blue". I imagine I can see Charlie, my best and
truest friend bearing that glorious
flag on to liberty. Go on dear one, the prayers
and blessings of Addie attend thee. Listen to those sweet strains
another piece she is performing now, How quickly will music draw the heart
to its gentle accents. What language is in music. Do you see the great
tears which almost throws these lives into obscurity. It
is not sorrow that brings them now, but it is the influence of that gentle
music. Leibbie is not a good player neither is she a good singer but I
am just far enough away to have it sound more like the chanting of angels than like the effect of a
human being's voice and hands. I promised in my last to give you my
experience in “boarding round” the second night. In
my “experience” that I gave you last, I think in
fact, I know I gave you the wrong date. It was the 1st and I gave you the
14th did I not? All for the sake of contrast here goes, | | Similar Items: | Find |
620 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, May 26th 1862 | | | Published: | 2004 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | My school room is unoccupied with the exception of one lonely being and how
thankful she is to obtain that solitude for which she has all day wished, But is it right
for her to be alone? Alone to those torturing thoughts which cling to her sleeping or
waking. and which nothing but a letter from that idolized being can drive away? Oh
Charlie! My own loved one. if it is in your power. why do you not break the silence
between us Three long lingering weeks have passed since
last I heard from you and God only know how much longer time will pass before I shall. Are
you ill darling and not able to write. If so why
not let me know. I could bear that Or - Oh. no
I will never write that thought, If I did I should feel every letter sinking into my
heart. as if written with a pen of fire, Ah! those tears thank heaven for them,, But
they are but few to what I have shed over my dreams. The thoughts while waking are
not enough to torture my poor heart but dreams. frightful dreams! Oh I can not think of
them, If the cruel monster Death - My God must I write it - has done his work. why do I not know it for then yes then. I
might die. Die! Ah. what is death to this fearful suspense. It is nought. And then I
might meet my idol, Here again I am thinking that it must be so.
just as my dreams picture to me. and not only thinking but writing it, Is this madness? or is it caused by short And
yet at times sharp pain around my heart | | Similar Items: | Find |
621 | Author: | Case, Adelaide | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, May 27th, 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | I can not wait till night before answering your darling letters. therefore will
write a little this noon, although I am so happy that I can hardly contain my self.
Yes darling you have entered manhood. and I trust a bright and happy future is
before us. Many thoughts I cast toward Charlie on the 8th of May" Loving thoughts darling. I have
a stronger claim on you now. have I not. for now you are truly a man. But what have
you ever been to me but a true noble minded man. Yes darling you are right. Many many sighs
and wishes"that Charley was here" has been wasted not only on the morning
breeze but evening breeze, Charlie I must relate a little incident that occured last
friday eve. The soldiers"Mite Society" of Claridon
met at Mr. Armstrongs, and Iwent
becoming tired of the noise and gossip in the
house I rose and quickly went out of the room into Mr. Leslie's intending to seek
Dora. She had gone out. and I went out in the cooling night air to refresh myself. I
passed on a few rods from the house and strew myself down under an apple tree with
the exclamation"I wish Charlie was here"Imme-
diately this answer came from behind me."And what if Charlie were here," I
sprang up with a cry of surprise (not mingled with fear) for I did not know but
Charlie had really come. Upon looking round I saw a tall form standing there as quietly as
you please. I know not what prompted me but I turned and
flew into the house. Soon the gentleman came in (I knew it was
the one although I had not seen his face) and was introduced as Mr Richardson, Upon
being introduced to me he spoke, and said."Miss Case you did not wait for Charlie to
come.",,
"No. nor will I wait now" I replied and arose, deeply mortified and almost
angry at the mans insolence and left the room, I did not again enter the room, until
Dora came after me and would not return without
me, Mr. R-- didnot not notice me again during the evening. for which
I was thankful,, | | Similar Items: | Find |
622 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenny, June 4th, 1862 | | | Published: | 2005 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Did you ever see a more disagree- -able
morning than this? Rain, rain nothing but rain and has been so for nearly a
week. Don't you pity the school teachers such a day as this? Here have I
walked nearly half a mile through the rain and much before eight
o'clock, and after building a fire to make it appear more cheerful have
gone to writing. But what are my inconveniences when compared with the
soldiers. Here I find a dry and pleasant school-room to enter and although
they are not now here, there soon will be happy faces hurrying to receive
their teachers morning kiss. and then follows the pleasant hours
to be spent in learning and reciting lessons. While with the soldier,
how different. Perhaps for their employment is a long and tedious march
through the storm with no covering, to be welcomed only with a cry of
revenge and maybe death. Really my labors
are but light. and how much nobler is the cause in which they are engaged
than is mine. But you will be anxious to hear how my school is
prospering. I think it "goes of" finely. Not quite as well as I could wish
(for you know we are prone to wish more than can be expected sometimes) but
full as well and perhaps better than I expected. Thirty scholars attend
now. they are from four to seventeen years of age. Have I ever told you
the branches that are studied? They are reading writing. Arithme -tic. parts 2
nd
and 3
rd
Ray's. Mitchells Geography, Pinneo's
Grammar, and Ray's Algebra1. also Orthography. Now do you not think I
have a school? I do. There. I told you they would
come. one. two three four five - all coming to say good morning. and the
girls to receive the kiss which I had to stop writing long enough
to give them. I would that you could see them, darling, one little boy
wishes me to stop writing and talk to him, shall I do it? I know you
would say yes, dear Charlie. were you here so I will gratify him | | Similar Items: | Find |
623 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, July 2, 1862 | | | Published: | 2004 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | If I thought there was so much happiness for me as the probability of
soon seeing my loved Charlie I would not write this morning but as
every thing generally goes contrary to our wishes and expectations. I doubt
not but that such will prove to be the case now. I do not know why I
had so anxiously waited and looked for your return, this 4th but as the drowning man catches at a straw. I
clung to the little encouragement. Lieut Brisvine
gave you. and even now I shudder at the thought of abandoning that
hope. There is scarcely a day but that I hear of some soldier coming
home to meet his friends, and when I think of Charlie
so long absent. I find myself
fervently wishing that others were obliged to stay away as long as he.
I know it is a cruel wicked wish. but it is perfectly natural for
human beings to wish for someone to share their trials as well as
their joys or at least to sympathize with them and when I see others
so happy because a dear friend has returned from from the wars, I
wonder why such happiness is given to some and denied to others. You
will call me an "ungrate- ful little minx" as Hallie says. but refer
the case to yourself. Look way down in the naughty corners. (If you
have such) of your heart and if you do not find just such rebellious
thoughts, striving so hard to get the control. then call me a poor
judge. But you will say I am arguing both sides will you not? | | Similar Items: | Find |
624 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, July 6, 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Independence day has
passed and I have not seen you yet but
a darling letter came for me, and I must be contented with that. But
you will wish to know where I am and why I am here, I am in Colebrook.
Ohio on my way home. Would you believe that I
could get turned out of school? Well I have a vacation for three
weeks. during haying and the district wished me to close school during
the haying season, Mr Marlow and lady (Mr. Leslie's son-in-law) was
over the 4th and he (Mr Marlow) volunteered to carry
Dora and I to Mecca, what could we do but close school. I did not wish
to have a vacation as it will be so late
in the fall before my school
closes but found it necessary. | | Similar Items: | Find |
625 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 1862 July 17 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Even to old Mecca your precious letter found its way and how joyfully
I received and read it. Dearest, while reading your noble and true
thoughts I can hardly realize that hun
dreds and hundreds of miles separate us. I seem to see you and
listen to your darling words. your presence seems ever near me
strengthening me to bear this ordeal through which I am passing - our
separation. But I sat down to answer your letter. How sorry I was dear
that you could not obtain a leave of absence. I read the order
prohibitting furloughs - even to the sick
and wounded. I think it too bad Dost wonder dearest that I read it
with a sinking heart. Now Charlie you must be very
very careful in regard to your health for should
you be taken ill, the blessed boon of "coming home" would be refused
and think you I could live knowing that Charlie was ill and suffering :
no never! I am glad that you have some more favorable approximation of
writing for I have missed your welcome letters very much but darling after
g receiving such a reproof I trust I
shall never again be guilty of scolding you even if you do not write
but once a month. Your rebuke was the more affectual because
it was given so quietly but I will try never to
mind one again. Am I not a good girl for promissing so readily ? Wait and see how well I fullfil it. So
be sure darling. I should love to receive the
__ kiss but I should prefer receiving it from a
different motive No, no dearest I do not needlessly suffer on account
of you and Hallie for if you and Hal should be taken away what oh what
would be life ? A wilderness deprived
of all its charms?. Do not call it needless anxiety Oh! what a letter
her Hal wrote me a few days since. He says "Addie", Charlie is very dear to you, so is your brother but rather
than pro- tract this war by a final defeat
at Richmond let us both be found dead on the field and let our last
words be "Onward to Victory and Union!" Why did Hallie write me such a
letter. Ah! how fearfully my heart beat while reading it and it does now.
But I will not dwell on such thoughts. Jesus will spare you darling
and I know God will. I had not heard of Edwin Williams death His pooor
sister Heda ! If she loved him a sincerely as he did her I fear the
knowledge was a fearful blow. While speaking of her I have seen the
tears spring to his eyes and she would be obliged to leave the room
because he would not repress his emotions. How many a noble youth has
fallen while striving to supress this rebellion "I think you are a learned
man is all the answer I shall make in regard to
the remarks you made upon
Catholicism You gave me a beautiful description of the 4th. I believe
I have written once or twice how I spent "When future favors
Charlie will come " When did you not say. "When the coming present favours
you" for the future never comes. Strange that you do not hear from Hal
He tells me that he writes often to you. Laura has answered for herself and
Dora might answer if she would but she she says she does not know whether
she is an idiot or a girl of sense for it is so warm and she attended
a party last evening and feels the effects of it. You wrote me in regards
to Laurie's initiative. Certainly you can have it if she will let you
but you may receive a "No sire" I guess not though. | | Similar Items: | Find |
626 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 18 June 1862 | | | Published: | 2005 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Your welcome letter of the 6th I received last eve, I had become
quite despondent. as so long a time had passed since having from you. I and
my anxiety was still more increased when I read a letter from
GCalhi
. I knew by the why his question. "Have you heard from
Charlie lately" was asked. That he too had not heard from you for some
time. But the missin has at last come. How
thoughtful I was for it dearest. I am very nervous this morning as I have
walked more than a mile. I did not think you ungrateful. I knew you
were constantly on the move and attributed your silence to that yet.
Let us frame what excuses I would at times I was very lonely. Often
I would picture you as on the march, weary
and oppressed with burdens, when I
would sigh and wonder that I would not hear some of the fatigues of
your duty. Darling, if I would become yours at
the class of my school, would you later on with you to share your
bridals? But what an absurd question. I know that I would only be a
kinderance to you and therefore I meant be contented
where I now am, it is very hard thing to talk about contentment when
the one I love is many miles away uncaring all
his life in the service of his country. Contentment! let those who
know not the meaning of love, and who have no friend for which I
waited and pray talk of contentment! I can not be contented. Let me
say ever so hard, I do not wonder at your indignation. I too was very
indignant when I read
that
the rebels had again entered Winchester.
The place where you suffered so much. Well these will sometimes be
never seen in war as well as any other
Island. Cowards! indeed what a shame. If
after marching day after day. your and being compell ed to stop through exhaustion if such
are ed cowards. Then darling I am thankful that you are a coward. Yes,
darling. I do wonder that you blush at the thoughts. If this makes you
a coward. I am proud of and a coward. I
had feared that your health would fail. but no wonder
you have been through enough within the past years to war and any
constituition. I am very sorry for
Will Braden. How I would like to be with the
sick soldiers. I believe I could do some good these. I think it a
shame to our government that our sick soldiers are so neglected. Does
Sam expect his men to fight if they are not
cared for
three months seems a long time to wait so tortured with
fear and anxiety as I at time am, but I will try and wait patiently trusting in. Him who doth
all things well
I asked Dora last eve if she would write to you
but (obstinate little thing that she is, she refuses. I do not know
the reason. What a question you asked me If "I would be willing to my
most intimate friend write to my Charlie. Why should I and; She is a dear little friend and I
love her as a sister. You will too when you become acquainted with
her. Dear Charley, "1 st of July"
is almost here do you think you will be here on that day? She seldom
asked me to day if I should teach on that memorable day. I did not
till thin bul- in all probability you are here I should. What
think you of that do you not see how much depends upon your coming!
Oh, fri! why do I jest about that subject more very much more depends
upon it than one day school. I am confident that many happy hours do,
at least. So you have been to
Manassas Junction
have you. Did you imagine you saw a bird furnished brings
flying as they did at the fights? I should have to visit Mrs. Washington's grave. We have shocking
accounts of the mutilation of her monument by the rebels.1 Is it true? It is almost school time dear and I will
write some more this evening I do not feel very well to day. I feel
vivid and warm and- perhaphs I read too much but I am very much
interested in Good rich's
Universal History which I am now read- ing and can hardly
find time to sleep
Mrs. Seski told me one day that she would not
let me take a light to my room if I did not cease reading so much.
Kind was it not? But I begin to think she is right. | | Similar Items: | Find |
628 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 11 August 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Another day has gone, and has the day benefited me. or I it? I have learn= =ed
something I trust. if I am not benefited The little Lissie of whom I have written before
I believe gave me a little trouble to day, I "passed a rule" at the commencement of
my school. that those who did not pay good attention in their spelling class must
go below the one who spelled their word, and to day Lissie missed her turn. The one
who spelled her word. she refused to let go above her, I firmly but kindly told her
to stand down, she refused and I commanded her telling her
I should punish her if she disobeyed, Now I
never threaten withoug executing, and I am sorry to say. I was obliged to punish her
Perhaps you would have laughed could you have seen your Addie dealing the blows so
un= mercifully. but I thought that if in
instance I "spared the rod" I would surely "spoil the child" Although the "rod" was
nothing but my hand delivering two blows on her head it
had the desired effect, As it is the first time one of my scholars have so openly
rebelled it troubled me some. Am I not a good [girls?]
to tell you of all my troubles? But I am neglect ing my duty I fear. | | Similar Items: | Find |
629 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 31 August 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Although two weeks
was spent in anxiety yet the blessed
last arrived. that "Charlie--my darling
friend[?] is safe. You will wonder perhaps when I tell you that
I had not entertained such ing fears in regard to your safety as formerly
specially about the line of the battles of . I pray- ed just as
for the of my
loved one. but something seemed to me so
confidentlyly Your Charlie is safe" that I would not doubt. Indeed
dearest Charlie I felt more gl today than I have since
darling that you are perfectly safe and
that these strange emotions are not caused by
the possibility of your being in danger. How strange it is that we are not so willing to listen to the voice of fear as we are to
that of safety. I have been trying all day to dispute[?] these dismal
thoughts but have not succeeded and have concluded to sit down and give you a good
long "talking to" but I con- fess I do not know what to talk to you about. I can
forgive you darling for not telling me the exact position you were to occupy should an
engage- ment occur. but you must not repeat it. please do not love I prefer knowing
your exact position as far a[s?]
you can acquaint me of it. Had you fallen dearest. and in time I had learned that
you had--forgive me darling for the the thought--decieved me I know not what my
feelings would have been, but--I can imagine. I was sorry to learn of the misfortune of
your friend Geo. Moore [(]is he my friend too[?)] trust he has
recovered ere this, Was John Chaffee in the engagement? How does he prosper. and
how does Steven Bishop prosper Although I never was very much in his
Mr Bishops favor yet as he is a soldier I feel the same
interest in his welfare that I do in others who
are so bravely defending the "Stars and Stripes" | | Similar Items: | Find |
630 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 1862 September 10-11 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Although but two days have passed since I since I last
wrote you yet and as I have not heard from you for so
long a time I am going to give you some more “spoiled paper” You must not act upon the
principle that the longer you neglect writing, the oftener I will
write. for it is a poor principle, You do not know how it grieves me when I do not
hear from you for so long a time. None but Dora understand the sorrowful disappointed look which I can not supress when day
after day the same answer “no letter” reaches me, I can not help at times but feel dejected and despairing, wondering if God does regard the prayer which so often ascends in
behalf of that absent loved one, --my idolized Charlie. But I attach no blame to you darling, because I
know that you write just as often as you can, so don't think I have
forgotten my promise-- to scold you no more. | | Similar Items: | Find |
631 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 1862 September 15 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | I recd your darling letter several days ago but
have had no opportunity to answer it. I had looked long and how
anxiously for some missive to assure me of your safety and was almost
ready to give up in dispair when the welcome assurance came. I did suffer darling very much but I never for
one instant thought you thoughtless. No. for
I know how often your would write had you had an opportunity that you would
write to me daily could you do so. I trust you can soon remain 24
hours in a place
so you can write me that "much" of
which you spoke, for I must confess I need it to cheer me up a little.
Such a dark and gloomy position is at present presented to our view
that I can not help but partake to some extent of the same nature. I am
glad that your confidence in Gen. McClellan is so unsha ken for here at the north his star is fast- waning.
The defeat of Gen. Pope was attributed to the failure of McClellan to bring
up his troops, and it has been published in the Cleveland Herald that
McClellan's reason's for not bringing his troops up was that that they were
too demoralized to trust them
them on the field. If that was the reason--if our army of Virginia. consisting of hundreds
of thousand of once efficient and brave men. have become demoralized
so that they can not be trusted on a battlefield, then we are truly in
a fearful and destitute situation. | | Similar Items: | Find |
632 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 22 September 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | I am going to write you a good long letter to day. for I
expect it will be the last one I shall write you while I remain in Claridon, (Charlie Charlie make Dora go away, she is emphasizing my
"good letters"..) So you thought my letter of Aug, 18th
short did you dear? I am sure I know not what I on
the lengrh of it, but I guess this will be long enough to make up for past
deficeincies. I am going to answer your
dear letter of the 9th in every
particular, so here goes. certainly I will forgive you for writing on such poor
paper, but do not think that I care for the paper, no. no. if your's are only such
dear kind letters are you only and always do write, they will be a precious
treasure to me. even if writeen on poor paper remember I am thankful for even one word
from you. come what way it may, (My hand trembles this morning for some reason. I
guess it is because I have been walking.) I was very glad to learn that your health
was so good. I sometimes won= der why it is that you retain such good health while
others, who evidently enjoyed just as good health as you when they entered the service.
have come home many of them with shattered constit= tions. others--to die, Yes
darling, I have often very often wondered at this, and while thus wondering, evne
my rebellious heart looks up with a sweet assurance and murmurs, "God is very good"
May you still continue to recieve that blessing. for blessing it is
I was pleased with the resume. you gave me. In reference to your diet. you have something new for
breakfast every moring do you not? Coffee. meat. and crackers. also crackers
meat and coffee, quite a variety. nevertheless I am fearful that i should soon become tired of it. Time must pass very wearily with you. would that I could pass spend a few hours with you daily. in useful and interesting conversation,
But think you not love that. with me time also passes very wearily? The same weary
waiting. watching with longing eyes for the time when peace shall be restored, and.
Charlie can come home to--me. May God preserve thee darling. till that hope shall
be realized. | | Similar Items: | Find |
633 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 4 October 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Where do you guess I am to day. Do you remember of Hal. taking your glass--when
you was home, over a year ago, looking down south. and trying to "shake hands with Uncle"
as you then said? I am at said uncle's house.. Why. do you ask? I will tell you.
Aunt Sarah is in Oberlin. spending a few weeks, and cousin Mary. or Mamie. as we
call her was left to "keep house" Mamie's health not being very good and she not
knowing very well how to discharge the duties incumbent upon her.--as she is not
thirteen years of age yet--Uncle wished me to come and "kinder of oversee her in baking
bread takin' care of the pickles &c." So you see instead of a
"school-ma'am," I am now. "maid of all work.
Are'nt you sorry that you are not of the opinion of Homer Powers? But of course you do
not know him. so I must enligten you. When I tell you that I once heard him say
that he could not ever
respect a woman. who could act in the capacity of both housekeeper and lady. you
will have learned [rest of scan damaged]
could I say. Were I to speak the truth--as of
course I must-- I should tell you that if you are are not so large a
[piece or price]. as Uncle Sam appears to be, yet the love that belongs to you is
far stronger than all that Uncle Sam has, But you are a privileged character darling so
you will not scold me for not loving my country enough
will you? Remember that love for my country is paramount to every thing but God and you dearest. But do not think darling that because I
love you so dearly I would have you shirk from your duty. No.
no. love. Although danger may surround you uet if God wills it my love and prayers
shall be an armor to guard you through this strug= =gle in safety. May God bless you
dearest and give you strength to discharge your duty as faithfully as you have
heretofore. I am not the only one one who gazes with such proud rapture upon that
little band--the noble seventh. Knowing as we do how true they
have always been in every engage= =ment it is no wonder that we look forward with
so much confidence when we know that our noble seventh is to participate. and of what
proud
emotions swell our hearts when we read "Another
glorious virtory" "The gallant Seventh Ohio again distinguished iteslf" Pen can not
describe the feelings of my heart when I read such sentences for I know one at least in of that little band who would
never never falter. Is it any wonder Charlie that I love you so
proudly? Uncle is now reading aloud the details of
the battle of Sharpsburg Often he is obliged to cease reading and wipe away the
great tear-drops that will flow in sympathy for the faithful fallen, WHat a man is Gen.
Hooker. how indispendable were his services on the dreadful field And yet he was
wounded. You ask if the obscurity has been removed at all within the past 10 days. Much,
very much. McClellans victories have changed the aspect of things entirely. As you
phrophesied, people are even more enthusiastic over McClellan and wildly shouting
"He is the man for the times" By the tone of our letters I see
that John Pope is no favorite of yours. also McDowell. I do not like McDowell but I
believe Pope did the best he could under the circum stances. [T]o what
was his defeat attributed There seems to have been some misunderstanding or else
treachery. Can you give me any light upon the subject for it is to me the most
unconvincible mess I ever heard of before. I should judge that your culinary department
were not very extensive. Only three pints of water for two! I believe I shoud enter
a protest against such scarcity. Who is your "partner" Would'nt I laugh to see you
cooking your breakfast or "preparing
Say Charlie, who takes the head of the table where you live, Which do you wait upon
first ladies or gentlemen But | | Similar Items: | Find |
635 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 25 October 1862 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Shall I try and interest you for a few moments. this rainy evening?
But I shall not commence my letter quite so “stylish”
as was my darling's last. even if I am a Colonel's sister. I shall not give myself that
little, until I know whether I have a right to it or not.. for Hal. is rather dubious about his being able to get
men enough for his regiment. So many have been drafted, and
although Gov.. Tod. has given drafted men
permission to enlist for three years, yet the most of them think nine
months is not so long a period as three years..
For my part. I am not very particular
about his going into the service again. for we all want him at home.
True. I know that our old Uncle Sam wants just such men as my brother
— Hal. B.. Case but Addie & Laura want him too..
We want Charlie also very
much. but darling, can we have him for a little while this coming
winter? I fear the answer will be this “No Addie you must wait patiently still a
little longer, thy Charlie is too useful to
be spared yet” Have I not waited very patiently and oh. how long for thy return my darling? So you was rejoiced, and congratulate. Hal on his “good fortune” do you dear? Well
as your congratulations came through my letter. I suppose it becomes
me to thank you, which I heartily do.. I could inform Lt. Col. Asper that the military committee did not have
very much to do about selecting
Case
“after he had that rupture with Tyler.” It was Gov.. Tods own offer.. Hal.
at first declined and even now says he is willing but not anxious to | | Similar Items: | Find |
637 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, November 9, 1862 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | I am going to try and write you a cheerful letter
to day. I say cheerful, and
mind you if it is not, it is no fault of
mine. You will conclude and
rightly that I have had a dread- ful. (please excuse the division of that word)
attack of the “blues” You
will now wish to know the cause. Well, as you are my confidante I will tell you. The first; (you wont tell
any-body?) I have not heard one word from C. M. Tenney, for almost
two weeks. (listen now) and
when he last wrote me, he was not
able to go with the regt. I do so hope
he is not so ill as not to be able to write to — to —
Addie But what does it mean. He is
always so prompt in writing when he is not well. Can not you tell me where he is. and how? If you can
I shall be a thousand times obliged. | | Similar Items: | Find |
638 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles Tenney, 16 November 1862 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | How much longer must I endure this dread- ful
suspense. Almost three weeks have passed since I last received one of thy darling
missives, Papa brought one home last night, from you for Hal.
and you need not think but that I opened it. I should not have done it so but I wished so much to know how and where you was. It was
written the 27th of Oct. and directed to Camp Cleveland.
J. P. Hurlburt took it from the office with the intention of
bring- ing it to Mecca (He thought Hal
was at home) but papa took it and brought it to me. I will send it to Hal immediately. As there is a very important question in it to which you ought to have received an answer
long ago. You will forgive me for opening it will you not dear? | | Similar Items: | Find |
639 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 23 November 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | How very much I thank you for your darling letter that arrived last evening. You
know not dearest how long and anxuously I had looked for a letter since you
wrote of your recent indisposition..-- how I had prayed God to watch over
thee in sickness and in health,-- how I had mour[n]ed over the
fate that has kept such a barrier of miles twixt thee and
me. best beloved-- until I was nearly ill.. If you would spare me pain my love write often
True your excuses were sufficient. and I forgive
you Indeed the joy of once again hearing from you--of once again reading your own
dear loving thoughts addressed to me darling more than
cancled all the pain I had suffered And art thou now well now darling? Art thou
suffering far away from me-- with no kind hand to alleviate the pain Look to God
dearest. He can relieve and be with you. for much as I regret it I can not be with
you only in spirit and that--always. How very thankful I
am darling that you are in the position you now occupy instead of performing the
arduous duties of camp life and marching As Carrie said-- our Carrie Kibbee)-- when
I told her where you were. "Oh! Addie, are'nt you
so glad". and in the. dear girls
joy . she actually--kissed me. | | Similar Items: | Find |
640 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 8 December 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | What a cold winter evening is this, but not cold enough to dirive
away warm loving thoughts
from the heart. But with those same loving thoughts of thee
dear one are strange= =ly mingled sad ones. And for several days previous to
this. those same sad thoughts those.--I am almost tempted to say uncwelcome
forebodings. have lingered about my heart. at times coming[?] in to feel so very depressed in spirit. as to not
care whether life or death were near. and at other times the warm tears would gush
forth in torrents, and still I would
not know for what I wept.. Is it owing the fact
that I do not oftener hear from you dearest? I know of nothing else that could
cause such feeling in my heart.. I know I am an
ungrateful child. but then you know the heart will be human in
spite of our efforts to make it appear different at times, Oh. darling. how very
much I desire to see you.. How very many long months have passed since "last we
met" and God only knos how many more will pass before we shall meet again,
And you dear patient Charlie bear this seperation without a murmur.--you way off
deprived of the common comforts of life, patiently endure, not only this
seperation but toil privation and suffering while I surrounded say all that can make me happy except thy presence dearest, am bitterly
complaning against an all wise Providence. who sees fit to seperate us
for1 an indefinate time,
Ought I not to be whipped? | | Similar Items: | Find |
641 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 10 December 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Will you think me very foolish if I write again so
soon? You will not when I tell you the reason.. You remember in my letter written a
few days ago I told you I had not heard from you for some time. and in consequence
was feeling quite badly, Well darling I am now happy as
ever,-aye even more so.. for hope ever cheering whispers
to me that I may soon see --who? My
Charlie? Yes indeed truly mine
Laurie and Pappa how nice pap-pa sounds came to see
me yeasterday and brought me your dear letter of the 25th
that was what
made me so very happy. Not, dear that I am happy
because your health
is so impaired that you deem it doubtful about your being able
to go on with your regiment (for such dearest I feel to be the case. although you
dread so much to tell me) but then you know the thought of once again seeing
you the thought of hearing the gently words. "My own Addie" Do you anticipate my
wish with regard to your getting discharged? I was so happy I almost forgot to tell
you of it. How very kind in you to write to me and ask my advice, but truly darling
I do not know how to give it. fearing that I may do wrong, but I will tell you
my thoughts, Your health I know is very
much impaired. or you would not think of accepting a discharge.. and such
being the case, you are not now in
a position where it has much of a chance for
improvement.. for you are so constantly employed in the office that you certainly
have but little time for exc[rcise?], Do not think that I mean the positiong you
are now in is worse for your health. that constantly marching camping out e'ct; by
no means, but then you know in order enjoy good health you must take a
good rigorous exercise every day, and that I fear you can
not now do besides the work you are now engaged in must of necessity be very
tedious both to the mental and vital organs., Writing .(if I understand you rightly
that is your chief employment) is hard work at any time. and how much more so must
it be where it is followed day after day, And then love. you as well as Hal have
informed me that you are very anxious to pursue your studies,
and now is the time if ever. We are both young yet but not many years
will we wish to remain as we now are-- we will
want to be all to each other, And I am striving to become worthy truly worthy of thee my noble
Charlie Were I a true woman I expect I should tell you to
remain if possible and defend our country. but love. I can not.
the sacrifice is too great.. our separation has been so long
and such constant fear and anxiety has been borne so very long I feel as if we both
need rest, Will you wonder what has become of my patriotism? It is all here yet.
but I feel as if you had done your duty faithfully just as I desired you to do it, | | Similar Items: | Find |
642 | Author: | Case, Adelaide E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Adelaide E. Case to Charles N. Tenney, 17 December 1862 | | | Published: | 2005 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Much has transpired since last I wrote you - one week ago today, both in Virginia
Tennessee and perhaps in Ohio. We have
the accounts of the fight at Fredericksburg1, and of the almost certain destruction of that city, and is it any
wonder that I am thank-ful
Charlie
is not an actor there among the scenes of strife and blood. But how many are
there engaged. They may not all be Charlies, but they
are probably somebody's father husband, friend or brother, fighting
desperately for
Union and Liberty, and how many torn and bleeding hearts will there be when the names of those who have fallen a sacrifice to foul,
wicked treason are recorded. Yet I have no proof that you are not there. All I
know is your allusion to the probability of the 1st Brigade remaining
atin
Harpers Ferry during the winter, and that you were
(there)
in the Pro. Marshall's office. But then your last
letter was written long ago - nov. 25th and many
changes may have taken place with the 7th Ohio, and - with my darling, since then. I
am truly sorry that you are in a position where you can not write oftener to your Addie for it is a source of great
anxiety to me that I do not oftener hear from you, but I have so often told you this
that it is useless repeating it. | | Similar Items: | Find |
645 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 1861 June 16 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Would you be offended if I were to say my dear Addie? for I'm sure I would
much rather call you by the name my heart prompts me to. I am very well quite
so. and trust you are. Brig--or rather Lieut. Case is also quite well. He has improve
a great deal since he left home. and you may rest assured that he will be well
cared for, for we all love him very much I know there is no man to whom I am as
much attached as to your brother, you may well be proud of such a brother. I prophecy that no man will sooner reach a place in the hearts
of the people equal to Col. Ellsworth or even Stephen A.
Douglas or Lincoln, [part of page missing] than
your brother,H[part of page missing] B. Case. | | Similar Items: | Find |
646 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, September 16, 1861 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | War has its visissitudes as well as the other phases of life and they
are not a few I'll assure you. For the past few weeks things have been
constantly changing; one day we would be reposing in perceived
security and perhaps the next morning be awakened and moved to haste
to prepare to meet the meet the enemy who were momentarily expected to
come upon us, still except in the instance of Cross Lanes they have
not made an open attack upon us. The ?
But you will think this is a
strange opening for a letter but today it is my
"style" Among other changes, ten, includ ing
Will B and my self, from Co. H. have been detailed as
guards on the Steamer Silver Lake under command of Lieut Wood. (I wish
very much that Hal was in his place) We have made these trips from
Camp E, 12 miles above Charleston Va. to Gallipolis
Ohio and we are now We have on board several of the wounded from
the battle ofCarnix's Ford1 fought last
Tuesday, and the remains of Col. Lowe of the 12th O. Regt. who fell at
the same battle fighting bravely. Among the wounded are Col. Lytle of
the 10th Regt Lieut. Col. Mason of the 13th and Capt
McGoverty of the 13th. It is perhaps necessary for me to
state that the day was won by our gallent Ohio boys. as you ere this
musthave received the particulars
I had no idea of the feelings
produced by being engaged in a battle until the fight at Cross
Lanes2. These feelings were indescribable.
I had no thoughts of dodging the balls nor did I think of getting
killed All I did was to take one thought of friends (including you, my
dear Addie) then watch for an opportunity to send some
"Secesh"
to
"Kingdom Come" but although we saw them on our front, right, and
left, I thought I would reserve my fire till I was sure of my man, or
at least till the order was given to fire so lost a chance to discharge my
piece | | Similar Items: | Find |
648 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 1861 October 1 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | You will doubtless think I mean you shall have enough of my nons sense but perhaps it will be as heretofore, you may not get this.
However, I will address you once more. "I am well as usual, and hope these few lines
will find you the same," and having a few moments liesure I improve the same in
writing to you.-There,- cant I tell a thing two or three times if any one can? It
would be a pleasure to me to be in Mecca, to-day. I could enjoy my self, "right
smart, I reckon" and the Virginians say. Mecca, I suppose is not so lively now, as
last year at this time. of course the War produces its
awful effects even in Oildom, does it not? I, you
percieve, am off the boat now, the Valley has become so quiet as not to need a guard,
so we came off last Saturday | | Similar Items: | Find |
656 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 1862 January 01 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | How do you do, this beautiful day? Did you ever see such a beautiful new years day
in your life? The day here is as pleasant as the most delightful day I ever saw in
May. The main things wanted thought, to make me
perfectly happy to-day, are, first a letter from my Addie.
second Hal's recovery from his present indisposition. He
has not been well for the past few days and last night he was some worse, but
is, I trust, better this morning I hope he will soon be able to resume his duties. He
is not so bad however, as to call in the Doctor yet, and I hope will not. | | Similar Items: | Find |
658 | Author: | Tenney. Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 1862 January 12 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Here we are after a retreat of about twenty four miles, at the place denoted
above. I say retreat for I know not what else to term it for we
have entirely withdrawn all troops, even picket from Romney & Springfield
toward Cumberland. What the object is, I know not, unless it is like
Gen. Rosecrans'1 movement
fromSewell Mountain,2 oig to lure
them back to those positions in order to whip them severely. If such is the case, it will prove a sorry advance for the Rebels. But
I suppose you are "dying to know" the details of the march .
Well I cannot do better than to make extracts
from my diary. So you must excuse all the imperfections for it was written for
myself. | | Similar Items: | Find |
659 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 1862 Jan 13 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | I must add a few lines more to you my own dear friend. Hal has told me all. Do you imagine that those things
would deter me from having the same feelings which I other= wise would
have? Far from it, dearest Addie; my
mind is not so prejudiced by contact with the world, as to make
me think that the misdemeanors of one member of a family should
detract from the merit of an- other. My own experience teaches me
better. On the contrary, I love you better than
ever. Do not think me presumptious. Addie if I say I love you. Do not
discard me from your thoughts. I
will try to make myself worthy of your love. Do I speak too
assured? Hallie assures me that he has not the
least object= ion to our correspondence, and leaves me to act as I see
proper. With you, now rests my happiness Shall I be happy or the
reverse? Do you ask me to wait until you become better acquainted
with me? I do not ask or expect that on so short acquaintance you
shall decide forever. | | Similar Items: | Find |
662 | Author: | Tenney, Charles E. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 1862 January 23 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | After patiently waiting for several days, I have been rewarded by the
reception of a kind letter from my only correspondent, and as a matter
of pleasure, rather than duty, I devote this stormy evening to answer
it Capt. Wood came back yesterday, and the letter you sent by him,
Hallie gave me to-day. Have I not sufficiently answered it? Dear Addie, may I not consider part thereof as
though it never had been written? Now as Hallie has told me all, do not for a moment think that any such thing could make me "curse" you, or even
make me think otherwise of you, dear Addie,
than I always have. Only allowmeto love you, dearest. Will you not?
You have doubtless recieved one or two letters since you wrote the letter now
before me. I shall have little rest until I recieve a reply. | | Similar Items: | Find |
663 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 1862 Jan 30 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Conflicting emotions have tossed me about, all unmindful of my poor heart, fairly
disturbing my rest at night, until to day. To add to my trials, my
best friend, and brother, Hal. yesterday
started for home. How sad I felt! But I could not bear to pain his noble heart, so I
strove to appear cheerful. I did not send even a line to you, by him , something restrained me--told me I should soon
recieve a letter from you--. and I could not-- dare not
write in my. (then) unhappy state of mind. True enough, when the mail arrived this
morning, a letter came for Hal. My heart told me, that in that
envelope was a letter for me. Lieut. Boisbine, for me, opened it and my heart was gladdened.
Your letter found me well, and made me happy. I
say "happy." Hope was infused into my heart, and with Hope comes Happiness. | | Similar Items: | Find |
664 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 1862 February 15 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Your darling letter was received today, and I improve the first
opportunity to try to answer it. I say try, for I
am inad- equate to the task of making my
letters as interesting as yours, but if they are as productive of
happenings as you persist in saying they are, why, I will give you any
quantity of them. Yours, well, I can compare them
to nothing but angels visits, and like them, I could wish they were more
frequently received. You may imagine my joy at receiving yours today
it made me happy, for it reassurred me that you love me, and you know, how
that is. Do you not | | Similar Items: | Find |
665 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 1862 February 23 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Now that you are here before me, can we not have a few moments quiet "tete a tete," all by our selves? How does my
darling Addie manage to pass away the weary monotonous hours which
seem to lag merely to annoy us? In singing, sleighing, and having "good
times" I suppose. I think I never saw time pass as wearily, as it does
here. It is a joyous time when the mail comes in, and plenty of letters
come for us. but then my day does not come more
than once a week. & sometimes it passes
over without my getting any. How glad I was, when
Cap Asper gave me your letter yesterday, I can not
tell you. You may imagine my surprise, and gratification on percieving
that it contained your miniature. I can only thank you now, and hope
that I may come home soon and repay you better. But it is not one quarter as pretty as the original, but it
serves to assure me that
you love me, and I ought to be very
grateful. | | Similar Items: | Find |
666 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 1862 February 26 | | | Published: | 2003 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Few, very very few, have as kind or as good a friend as I find
in my darling Addie. Again I was made happy by the reception of a letter from her
whom my heart holds very dear & near. There being no more pleasant duty before me
this evening, I devote it to communicating my scattered thoughts, per
paper to you. Now do not imagine that there is any duty,
which, in pleasure, comes between us, for such is not the case, | | Similar Items: | Find |
671 | Author: | Tenney, Charles | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 21 March 1862 & 28 March 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Imagine, if you can my joyful surprise, on arriving in from Strasburg, Pa- was
the fact of my having four letters. "In luck", said I upon opening them I found three
good long letters from Addie two notes from Laurie and one good letter from
Gail. "It never rains, but pours" is an old adage, and if true, I may expect some
other good fortune soon, I am at a loss to know how
to answer your triple favor, and my perplexity increases when I note the
multitudinous(horrors! what a long word!)subjects to write about. I guess I will confine myself to writing that which contains no public interest reserving that for the "Chron". Firstly the
"grand move" is much followed up, and is nearly at a "level", and
notwithstanding the 7th was included, we are all safe. My
health is excel lent and trust it will continue so. Gen.
Shields with his entire command moved on the 18th toward Strasburg. Ha ha! Aint
I fortunate? Moore just came in with the mail, and two more letters came for
"Chas N. Tenney."/ from the other from N.
J. Braden of Gustavus | | Similar Items: | Find |
672 | Author: | Tenney, Charles | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 7 April 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | I know you must be very anxious to know the reason why I do not
oftener write to you, but much as I would love to have constant
correspondence with you, even daily, yet it seems
as if the "fortunes of War", or something else,
are against me; Every day since I wrote last—(the last of
March2) I have inquired if letters could
be sent, and invariably received a negative answer. But I have grown
impatient at the delay, so write, hoping to see some one I know, going to
Win=
chester3, with whom I can send this
and thus,"run the Blockade". | | Similar Items: | Find |
675 | Author: | Tenney, Charles, fl. 1861-1863 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 28 April 1862 | | | Published: | 2005 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | So you are going away from
Mecca to be "Addie" no longer, but
Mistress1. To leave
"Maple Grove", Papa, Laurie, and Auntie (to say nothing of the rest.) and
install yourself as head of a large school, to "teach the young scholars how to
shoot". I fancy I see you just ringing the first bell; then as that strange motley
crowd gathers in and by pairs sort themselves, and then then as you tap the bell to
secure order. I seem to see you look around as if seeking if some
friend were there. Did I hear aright? Methought I heard a
chapter from the Bible by way of introduction. Then I heard that silvery voice -
perhaps at first tremblingly - addressing the school in accents of kindness saying you will love and wish to be loved. Do not fear,
my love. I have been in the same place. | | Similar Items: | Find |
676 | Author: | Tenney, Charles | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 13 August 1862 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | I embrace the first oppertunity I
have to write you to apease you of my perfect safety. You have heard of the
great battle of the 9th and must be anxious to learn
of my fate. I escaped without a scratch, and am grateful to God for
his mercy. I knew when I wrote you last that when an engagement should
seem that we should be sent to the front. but I
could not tell you, for I knew you would suffer so much on my account.
Now that the battle is over, the rebels in full retreat and only 104 104 men left in the noble old
7th I can tell you. Gen. Pope said he wanted
Tyler's Brigade (now Geary's) in the front “to set an example to
the eastern troops”and nobly has the example been set. | | Similar Items: | Find |
678 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 5
Spetember 1862 | | | Published: | 2005 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | At last, I have a chance to write a few lines,with a hope that it will soon reach you. I
wrote you a good long letter from Culpepper on the 18th of August, but as we left
there that day, I supposed it has never been sent. On the 20th, an order was recieved from Gen.
Halleck forbidding the further transmission of mails, and until now I have had no opportunity
to send a line to apprise you of my safety. I know how you must suffer, and how thoughless you
must think me, but all I can plead is the inexorable character of military orders. I have much
to write you as soon as we can remain 24 hours in a place. Since the 18th, we have been
constantly under arms and for more than 3/4 of the time under fire from the enemy, but we have
not lost a man. I have kept a full journal of all our proceedings, which I shall send to the
Chronicle for publication, as soon as I can. | | Similar Items: | Find |
679 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, September 9, 1862 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Your very short, but withal kind letter of Aug. 18th,
I recieved yesterday, and although there is no
certainty of a chance to send it, I will reply to it today. You will
forgive me for writing on so poor quality of paper, when I tell you that
mine is all with the company wagon, and this sheet is all I could
obtain out here in the woods. You will wonder why I do not oftenerwrite to you and what can induce me
to remain silent for so long a time, I wrote you a letter a few days since,
but could not send it until a day before yes=
terday. —In it, I gave you a very hasty sketch of what we had
been doing for the two or three weeks previous, and said "when we could
remain 24 hours in a place, I had much to write you. Although we have
remained in our present position for nearly forty eight hours, we know not
how soon we may move three, ten or twenty miles, but I will do all I can
in the interim. My health (notwithstanding the constant exposure)
remains in excellent condition, which I consider somewhat remarkable, as
the officers who are much better cared for than the men, and very many of
the men are suffering from Colds. summer complaints, &c. Perhaps it is owing to your prayers, and your wish for
me to care for my health. | | Similar Items: | Find |
680 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, September 21st, 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Ere this reaches you, the telegraph will have informed you of the great battle of the
17
th
, at Sharpsburg and you will be painfully anxious to learn
the fate of your Charlie. Through the mercy of the"God of battles," as
heretofore, I came through perfectly safe. To your prayers, precious one, I owe my safety.
Day before yesterday, I recieved two letters from you, dated Aug 31
st
& Sept. 8
th
and Sept. 10
th
, one enclosing a note from Dora, and I need not tell you that they were recieved
with pleasure, for you already know how I prize your letters. But I owe you an
explanation for not writing oftener than I have for the past month, and will give it now.
If you have recieved the letters I wrote from near Georgetown and near Rockville, you
will have seen why I did not write while on the Rappahannock. The
day I wrote you last. we marched some eight miles, and with the exception of two days
when it rained. (and we had no shelter.) have been marching or doing some duty
equally laborious, thus putting it completely beyond any power to write— part of
the time, even in my diary. | | Similar Items: | Find |
681 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 25 September 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Here I am once more in Virginia-- again on sacred soil. Not only in Va. but way
up on the Blue Ridge, where the very clouds are often under our feet. It would
be very pleasant, if it were not for two very serious drawbacks.-- It is quite
cold, and we have to go down the mountain half a mile for water, There is a kind
of Block house up here, from which and we have a splendid view of the
surrounding country, particularly to the north and west. We can see the
church-spires of Martinsburg with the aid of a field glass.- 21 miles distant
and were it not for intervening hills and forest we could see Winchester. Away
as far as the eye can reach the Alleghenies raise their lofty peaks, far above
the heights of North Mountain and the Shenandoah Mountains both of which
intervene. As far as romance goes, this is by far the most interesting place we
have been in. | | Similar Items: | Find |
682 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 26 September 1862 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Very many days have elapsed since I last indited a letter to you, but you have been by
no means forgotten, but while we have been tramping over the hills and vales of
"sacred Virginia," and "Maryland, my Maryland," my mind has
often wandered away up "where the water tastes like ile," and
delighted itself in calling up hours never to be forgotten. But this is not telling
you why I have not sooner written. Since we evacuated Cullpepper on
the 19th of August, until we came
to this point, (the 23d inst.) we have been constantly engaged in
all the duties and troubles of an arduous cam- paign. When the
rebels performed that astounding feat of outflanking the seat of war itself, we lay in a
state of fancied security on the Rappahannock, never dreaming that two weeks later we
would be fighting in Maryland, yet the deed was accomplished,
and even Fredericktown a union city was invested and infested by
a subtle and cunning foe. Of course, Maryland must be
liberated,
and who should do it, but the "Splendid Army of
Va." Thus by a series of "forced marches," adroit escapes from a surrounding enemy,
and "brilliant reconnoissances," we were transferred over into MD. hitherto to be known
as "Capital defense army," and we have accomplished the task. — Maryland
is free from rebel tread, though pol- luted by rebel dead. We
have fought the battles of South Mountain and Sharpsburg, and the rebel army went
out of Maryland 40,000 weaker than it entered. We — our Corps d'armee - occupy Loudon Heights below the far famed town of Harper's Ferry,
and from the elevated position we occupy. we naturally feel above
common people. | | Similar Items: | Find |
687 | Author: | Tenney, Charles N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 1862 November 13 | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | I recieved your charming letter of the 2d just as I was taking my letter of
the 9th to the office and I thought I would wait and answer it. But, Addie mine, I had no idea of waiting six days ere attending to that important and not unpleasant duty — but my health was
in such a state — that I was unable to attend to "office duties."
But lest I frighten you, I will tell you all — just as it really
was — I had a slight attack of Liver Complaint which troubled me
some, but I am recovering from it now — not in my fancy — but really
getting well — I am somewhat thinner and
weaker than I was, but that might have been expected — During
the entire time, I have remained in the office — so you see I
have not been "dangerous" by any means. I should not have been so
explicit, but you are so fearful I half conceal the real truth, but my
darling rest assured I can conceal
nothing from you — which I know you so wish
to know, | | Similar Items: | Find |
688 | Author: | Tenney, Charles | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case, 25 November 1862 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | The Corinne Carr Nettleton Civil War Collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Nettletoncivilwarletters | | | Description: | Does my chirography look familiar to you? or has it been so long since you had the
pleasure of seeing a specimen that you fail? But I have just recieved two darling letters from you dated Nov. 9th
& 16th, in both of which you complain of not recieving
a letter from “Charley” fortwo-three
weeks. I do not wonder that you begin to feel alarmed about him, but calm your
fears my love, I am neither dead nor changed, & I am enjoying better health
than I have for three weeks past, and am steadily gaining, so that I think there is
no immediate danger of my demise nor consignment to the Hospital.— I must
apologize for not writing within the past week as I promised to do.— We
have changed the Pro Marshal, and with the change came a great
deal of work for
“us four clerks”, and we have had to keep
hard at work from dawn of day until half past ten at night.
Thus you see but very little time for letter
writing remained for us. Will you not pardon me
under the circumstances? | | Similar Items: | Find |
690 | Author: | Bitner Collection: Cressler, Alex | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Henry A. Bitner | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bitnerletters | Henry Bitner letters | Bitner collection | Letters written to Henry A. Bitner | | | Description: | I have been somewhat dis- appointed in not seeing you
up here to see the men playing soldier, and now since
Gov. Curtin is expected here tomorrow, (Saturday) I
will feel sure that you are coming, and look for you, my but they do look pretty, Just
come and see. Three Regiments were in yesterday afternoon and make a long line of
people, who with their glittering bayonets under the rays of the shining sun,
accompanied by their Bands, or marshal
music, and the heavy and steady tramp of three thousand men, make all who stand and
look on, feel, that they are not soldiers, all this can but give a very faint idea
of the appearance of one hun- dred and fifty thousand human
beings marched into the field of battle by the warming and thrilling sound of almost countless drums and Oh! what, or who can describe
the feeling of that immense congregation of human souls when the sound of the booming
cannon first disturbs the quiet of that breast and paints death and destruction all
around. We may try to form some idea of the scene presented by a battlefield, both
while in the actual contest and after, but can never, in my opinion, realize the
horrors of such a sight until we ourselves behold it, and such; humanity forbids us from
wishing. May it never be seen in our land, but may the
Flag continue to wave over the land of the free and the home of
the brave. | | Similar Items: | Find |
691 | Author: | Bitner Collection: Cressler, Alex | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Henry A. Bitner | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bitnerletters | Henry Bitner letters | Bitner collection | Letters written to Henry A. Bitner | | | Description: | Yours of yesterday was received in due time and being fully digested I embrace
this privilege of writing to you again. I was sorry to hear of your
disappointment on Saturday last, and can only measure your feelings by imagining
what mine would have been under corresponding circumstances. Saturday was a
day of interest and satisfaction to me having never seen the like before, when I
cast my eyes along the line, which was formed along the one side of the street,
with arms presented and beheld the field of bayonets elevated above the heads of
thous- ands, and the Governor of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which is the Key-stone
of the Arch, moving steadily and silently along that line, with his penetrating
eye firmly fixed upon them, and his countenance remaining unmoved and
apparently speaking of the condition of the Country and the object for
which so many sons of labor had been called together, I was led to exclaim, "who
can tell what a day may bring forth." From a
person who came from Williamsport Md. yesterday we learned that two Regiments of Secessionists
had come there and by yesterday's Tribune, that the plan is to come on
through until they reach Philadelphia, in order to get
provisions, should they attempt to carry out that design, we will have a
bloody time here, and you may be sure the men here will give them a breakfast
job at any rate, and I hope Shippensburg and the Pines will, by the time they reach you, have their 10
O'clock peace ready for them and see that every man gets his portion due.
This is to much to trifle about, as it may be their design, however I am not yet
uneasy, but should they come it may be that I might never see you again let
come what will, I expect to be prepared for the worst that can happen to me. The citizens of
Chambrg.
are calm, and do not apprehend an attack from the rebels from the
South. I have not in my imagination marked out the plan by which the present
troubles may be settled, but find that the opinion of some is that war is
the only remedy. if such be true then the Northern boys
must go to the work, and what could be more cheering to the hearts of freeman
such as we are, than to see that the whole north will
move to the
work, as one mighty machine none of the
parts being wanting, but all complete, and all of which have been tried in
the days of '76, and found to be as true
a steel, and since the fall of Sumpter it has been greatly strengthened and now is the Greatest
Structure, and most
complet machine under the Canopy of Heaven, and when
it begins to move forward upon the foe, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific,-every part
reveling in grandeur and might, not being driven by steam, but the hearts
blood of million, and the smiles of Heaven, although moving slowly, its tread
will be the surer, and long before it reaches Cape Sable,
secession will be crushed out of existence, and like a
mighty cloud, it will rain Union sentiments on every farm and plantation south
of Mason's and Dixon's Line. Let us start the ball rolling, and
send seces sion to the place from whence it came,
you will now allow me to tell you a little anecdote, which I heard a few
days ago Mr.— A said "that it has often been his wonder what the D—l tempted people to sin for that their sin could not make
him any better," when Mr.— B
said, "Don't you know that he is a secessionist -that he was the first to
seceed from Heaven, and consequently the father of secession," —more truth
than joke — This is a day of sweet recolection to me, being the 21st day of
May. "Rather let my right hand forget her cunning and my tongue cleave to
the roof of my mouth," than for me to forget my hours of unalloyed peace three
years ago at old
Stony-Point,
Those were the happy hours of my life. And I
hope the Friend I there formed may be my friend for life — would to
God that all who participated in that season of refreshment might be able
to say — My labors there have not been in vain, I hope you will
let your mind run back to that era in your life and call to memory the hours
that you with me and many others spent there. Henry dear remember then. I am looking for you this week; dont forget to come. I have been interupted a great deal while writing this, so that you will find
some trouble in reading it. write soon I if it is not to much trouble, I sometimes
think that I am imposing on your time to ask you to write but I cant help it no person else will write and I am very glad
to hear from the pines. | | Similar Items: | Find |
692 | Author: | Bitner Collection: Cressler, Alex | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Henry A. Bitner | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bitnerletters | Henry Bitner letters | Bitner collection | Letters written to Henry A. Bitner | | | Description: | Yours of the 22nd ult. was received in due time,
but not answered as soon as its demands required, but "better late than
never." "so here
goes." In my last I spoke of the sight presented in our streets, but since that
time things have changed considerably, and the scenes presented in our streets
on Friday and Saturday of last week were quite a different aspect reality be
stamped on every move. On Friday five companies of Cavalry, the heroes of Sumpter (except
Maj. Anderson), four Regs. of troops, accompanied by their bands and
followed by their baggage wagons, which make a peculiar rum- bling noise, this Brigade was six miles long (Capt. McMullens
Philadelphia Rangers were in the crowd.) You may and can
only imagine what the effect of such a
scene would be, the sight was the most sublime that I ever witnessed, the bands
of music with numerous fifes and drums,— the heavy tread of about forty wagons, all conspired to bewilder
the undrestanding and render vague all our
preconceived ideas of war. The movements of Saturday were not quite so imposing,
but for the cavalry it they would have been equally grand.
Sabbath approached finding our citizens in a state of uproar &
confusion, cars were running an screaming — men were
working wagons were moving through our streets from morning till night and
citizens were on a continual parade. truly such scenes, such sabbaths, and such times, were
never before ours to behold.
Uncle Stumbaugh will in my opinion leave very soon, but
when I do not know, but think, to night or tomorrow,
if you should happen to see any of our folks and it is not to much trouble, you
would oblige me by telling them, that if they want to see him that now is
the time,
Isadore has been confined to bed sick for several
days and doesn't seem to improve much, and I fear that he will not be able to go
along with his fellow soldiers. | | Similar Items: | Find |
697 | Author: | Bitner Collection: Donely, Thad | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Henry A. Bitner | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bitnerletters | Henry Bitner letters | Bitner collection | Letters written to Henry A. Bitner | | | Description: | I take this oppertunity to write you a few line as I told you I should when I got to the sacred soil of Old Virginia. I came here on last Saturday 2 week had no
trouble getting through as the weather was
whe had a pleasant trip took the
boat at Washington for Aquia
[illeg.] Saturday morning got to camp about 8 o'clock in the
evening it is 17 miles from the landing at Aquia
to Fredericksburg. Their is a RailRoad from the creek
up whe came up on that whe are
camped about 3 miles from Fredericksburg
[illeg.] laying along the river yesterday. I was out on picket. I had
a right good time I would just as soon be on picket as in camp
if whe could have some arrangement for sleeping whe are just now cooking Dinner whe have
some potatoes and parsnips that I got in a garden when out
picketing I think it will make a fine dish.
Whe have to manage a great many way to make hard tack and salt pork
keep one alive fried crackers and crackers hamered
up and cakes made out of them is the principal living I tele you I wish I had some of the siders and apples
that are in Cumberland Co.. I could
do well their is not an apple to be had I seen them sell at Aquia Creek at 7 Dollars per
barrel and retail at 3 for a Dime the regiment is Small
at this time their was a good many killed and
wounded in the last fight and since that a great many have taken sick thoes sick have ben sent of
all here are prety
well and the health of the men has been good since the sick have been sent away I have been well much better than I could have expected
just coming from home and going into the hardships of camp
whe I came here the boy had just to lay Down on the ground with out even a blanket some of them it was rather hard [illeg.]
Whe have since got shelter | | Similar Items: | Find |
698 | Author: | Bitner Collection: Donely, Thad | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Henry A. Bitner | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bitnerletters | Henry Bitner letters | Bitner collection | Letters written to Henry A. Bitner | | | Description: | I take this oppertunity to write you a few to let you
no that I am well and get along well
their is not sine of a move at this time the weather here has been fine.
yesterday
their was some rain but did last long.
I received John letter a few Days ago I though
I was not going to get any word from home and was much peased to here and was much obliged to John for for the stamp and
sheat of paper I cant
neathe paper or stamp here and I want you to write and send
them to me accationaly I can by
paper at 2 cents a sheat I think I can't stand them prices well
their was some talk a few days ago of our being sent back to
Washington but I think
their is nothing of it if whe are moved
it will be towards the river it takes a good Deal of
figering to live here as the feed is hard to eat but by
taking cair in the cooking
whe still make it go down. If I had som
of the apples that are at home I would have some
fine dishes of saws and apple fliters I
have been very hungry since I have been here by time but I think I will be able to
see it through as their is but about 3 & 1/2 months
illeg. has just been here and say I shall tell you he is will but times are tuff
and sends his respects to all is a good thing the
health of the company is good thare have
been some of thoes sent to the hospital
that have been sent on here are going at
convalesant camp at
Alaxandria.
I hope they will stay their as the hardships is hard
to get through and their is more in the company
that wants to go home. I suppose you have been enjoying yoursalf fine but if their is no more
snow their than their is here the
sleigh wont mount to much this
Regt
is very much cut Down at prisant their is but
315
men in it my paper is most full and I must stop
I got some Tobacco seed whe I was out in picket the other
Day I will send it in this and I want you tents which
are some protection but the weather has been fine I think I never
saw such good weather this time a
year Their was some talk that in camp that this Brigade
would be sent back but their has been nothing said the
last few days so I dont think
their is much in it I
wish
whe would go back a piece for their would
be some chance to By something to eat
their is no chance to get any thing here neathe paper
nor postage stamps as you will see this is ritten on an old
piece of copy book that was picked up [illeg.] main
and if I have to maile this and leave you the postage to
pay you must excuse me or else I [illeg.]
change our position
Their
is several that I would like to write to if I had the paper their is no sutlers supplies alowed to be shiped as the armies is so large that it require
all the transportation the government can raise to bring up supplys their is no much chance for
a forward move from here as the Rebels seam to
bee very well Situated on the other side of the the
Rappahanook
is but a Small river some
paces it is so shalow that it is easely
forded the pickets talk to each other from the banks
of the stream their is no firing amonkst the pickets but a few evenings they wer Driven in
which put the officers on their gard I think I will stop
writing about the armie and tell you that what part of
Virginia I have seen it looks offel hard it is nothing but a lot of hill and the poorist land I have most ever seen their is a
great deal of this scruby
Pine and seder grows here most all the farms are vacated
the inhabitants gon south with the exception of some few Negros
that are scatered about I wish I who
could have been at home to have
tended singing the last three evenings as they have been fine
and I suppose you had a good time
I want you to write to me and give me all the new and let
me no how the singing is going
geting along I wrote to David Early some time ago have
not herd from him yet my paper is most
full my best Respects to your Parents and all that inquire
and I Remain | | Similar Items: | Find |
699 | Author: | Bitner Collection: Donely, Thad | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Henry A. Bitner | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bitnerletters | Henry Bitner letters | Bitner collection | Letters written to Henry A. Bitner | | | Description: | It is with pleasure that I take up my pencil to write you a few line to let you
no
that I am well and I get a long fine but today is very
cold. I was out on picket night before last and was rather as- tonished
wne I cam in to get a letter and such a
fine lot of papers it came very handy and I am very much obliged to you their is not any thing that would have suited me
beter at this time your letter
gave me great satisfaction and I am glad that the sing
is geting along so well their
has been no snow here since I came out but it
has
been hit by time and cold but
with the shelter whe have whe get along right
well a few days ago whe had inspection of the
hole
Corp it was a fine sight to day
their was Division Drill which was fine
their is amove at the presant
and at this time they are moving by thousands towards the Rappahack River and whe are at this
time furnish
with 3 Day Rasions and 60 rounds of cartridge to move at
an airely hour to morrow morning and
before 48 hours more their may be a very heavy Battle fought the Men are
some what Depressed in spirits owing to the last defeat at
the River but yet they will go I think I shall be
along nothing happing more than I no it may be the last letter I shall write to you but but whe hope for the best if their is a fight
and I shall do my duty if I no
how their
I much that I could write at presant But
I have not the time as the orders for to march just came in a few minutes ago and I shall
write home yet today and I shall close hoping that you will excuse me for this time
and my mistake hoping that you will write soon to me and remember me to your Parent and
all inquiring friend and I ever Remain | | Similar Items: | Find |
701 | Author: | Bitner Collection: Kindig, William | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Henry A. Bitner | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bitnerletters | Henry Bitner letters | Bitner collection | Letters written to Henry A. Bitner | | | Description: | I have been writing and writing and writ ing to
you ever since I am in the army, and at last I've wakened up all of a
Sunday morning to find myself sealed behind a whole sheet of foolscap,
trying to make it look like a letter to old Southampton. I would make an awful long yarn to tell you everything
that has happened since I left home, in fact, twould make a young history, so will try our hand in the condensing
line & squeeze out all the little things re
taining only the big facts. After our
regt. had been encamped on the sacred soil of
Va.
for several weeks near Mun
son's Hill, we were attached to Gen. Duryee's brigade then lying near Alexandria, and our regt.
was accordingly moved thither. Next our regt. was
detatched from the brigade for awhile to guard the R.R. from
Alexandria to Manassas Junction. From this we went 12
miles beyond Manassas Junction to what is called Catlett's
Station, but when
Banks retreated, we fell back on Manassas to defend that place. Here Ord's and Shields divisions soon came pouring in like bees and advanced
thence to Front Royal in pursuit of Jackson, at Manassas our
regt. or rather our brigade was attatched to
Ords
, now
Ricketts
division. I suppose you've read the letter describing this march in
the news. I was not along with the
regt. on this march, but got sick at
Manassas, and was sent to
Washing- ton
, After Jackson disappeared our divison fell
back again on Catletts
Station where I rejoined my regt. after an
absence of about 3 or 4 weeks. Thence we marched to Warrenton, County seat of Fauquier, and from
that again a dis tance of 8 miles out here on the
Rap pahannock
. We are now in Pope's great army of Virginia. The men have great be-
lief in him and his energetic policy, and all desire and expect that he
will soon give us a chance to distinguish ourselves. We all regard his late
stringent orders as just the thing, and all are down on slow coach
McLellan
, who marched his army into the swamps of the Chickahominy, and kept them intren
ching and digging, while they were dying by the thousand, and all this
time made no attempt on
Richmond
He occupies a splendid position on the
banks of the James, but why didnt he go there in the first place. We ex
pect better things of Pope who has already
proved himself no ordinary Gen. in the Western
Campaign. Our Col.
(Ziegle) died the other day. McAllen is too sickly to take the command, so the Gov. I suppose will appoint us a Col.
Jake Gish just got back from Washington last night with his commission as 2nd
Lieut. We have bully officers. MacThompson is a clever Capt., McPherson is clever, but
Gish is the best man of the party. The boys all like
him because he makes him- self so common. Write and
give me all the news of Southampton, Shippensburg, the schools, your studies, &c. | | Similar Items: | Find |
702 | Author: | Bitner Collection: Kindig, William | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Henry A. Bitner | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bitnerletters | Henry Bitner letters | Bitner collection | Letters written to Henry A. Bitner | | | Description: | I have poor facilities for wri ting, but must do the
best I can. You will therefore excuse this roughly gotten up thing. I was ever
so glad to hear from you and read your interesting let-
ter, moreover that you were successful in getting the same old school
to teach again. I hope your reputa tion in this
profession is now established. I want you to keep me posted in school affairs,
for although I am now a military man, I still take great interest in education- al subjects. I suppose you've heard of
our battle. Our brigade however was not engaged, still we performed some
exploits of which I must tell you. Banks whole corps
fought them all Saturday afternoon, and were relieved by
McDow ells
corps in the evening after the infantry fighting was over the rebels as
usual poured in upon Banks in overpow ering
numbers, and why our (McDowell's) corps was not
ordered up in time I cannot tell. The rebels were retreating however when
Banks
men were ordered to halt because he had not men enough to follow up what
other wise would have proved a glorious victory.
The papers will give you the particulars better than I can state them here.
When we neared the battlefield late in the evening we met lots of our own
wounded returning to Culpepper, where, our Chaplain
told us the citizens treated them very kindly, the women assisting in dressing
their wounds. We had been listening to the roar of artillery and could see the
smoke of the battle all P.M. of Saturday, from our camp 1 mile south of
the battle
Culpepper
, and when we saw the wounded, we felt like taking revenge. When we came
within a mile and a half
of the battle ground, our brigade was
halted; our regiment received its mail here, and we fell to reading letters by
can dlelight; this drew the fire of a rebel
battery, and some half dozen solid shot fell right in among us, wounding
four men of our regiment. One ball fell about three yards from where I
stood, we stood this like heroes for a short time, then we were ordered back a
short distance, but advanced again til we came within
300 yards of the same battery which was firing upon us, and which with several
others, had opened out again with the purpose of ascertaining our position
as well as of the rest of the large number of McDowell's corps which had silently advance under cover of the dark, but
they fired far above our heads, and we lay listening to the loud and
crashing roar of the dogs of war in perfect safety. present- ly the battery belonging to our (Duryee's) brigade let loose upon the one which fired into the 107th and silenced it. This de-
railed their whole programme, and we could hear
them falling back although in good order. Next morning we found two
dismounted guns, 9 dead horses, and two Lieuts.
killed, one having his head shot off. If we had not did this, they would
have continued to kill us, while their infantry would have advanced, and perhaps
have proved too strong for us then, as our main force only came in the next
day. We have been watching the enemy ever since, yesterday they commenced
retreating on account of Burnside getting in their
rear, The reason we have not advanced upon them
since our whole army is here is because they occupied a strong position on a
high knoll. Abe got a letter from Pap which says 9
men from
Corrstown
, including Bro. Harry
have enlisted in Reeds Co.
Chambersburg. Bully for them. Its uncommonly warm
here now. Soldiers live on secesh roasting cans. Cant get my picture taken now, No artist here. | | Similar Items: | Find |
703 | Author: | Bitner Collection: Martin, William | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Henry A. Bitner | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bitnerletters | Henry Bitner letters | Bitner collection | Letters written to Henry A. Bitner | | | Description: | As I have just now got off of duty I thought that it was my duty to inform
you of some of the proceedings. Friend we left
Har- risburg
[illeg.]of day at 10 O,clock A.M,
and arrived at
Baltimore at 6 O,clock in the
eve- ning where we were treated with much
respect by the citizens The whole Regiment got their supper at the Soldiers
relig.
asso- ciation; a place kept up by the
citizens of Baltimore for the ben-
efit of the soldiers. Our supper consisted of bread boiled ham
cheese, and plenty of first rate coffee, but spreads we had none. And we
left
Balt.
at 9 O,clock that night and arrived at Washington City at 1 O,clock
the next morning A.M.
where we retired for the night we all
slept in the soldiers retreat, a building put up
for to rest soldiers in the morning we got our breakfast which was bread
and a hunk of meat and chocklet with greese
swimming on it a half an inch thick. I had a great notion to greese my shoes with it. We spent a Tuesday forenoon in
running around through the City and about 10 O,clock we were marched to where we now are. We are in- camped about in the 7 miles south west
from Washington. We were marched from the City to
camp wells
7 miles with only 2 rests of about 10 minutes each with our
knapsacks on our backs and our guns and our haversacks
all together weighing about 50 lbs and we were doublequicked part
of the way | | Similar Items: | Find |
709 | Author: | Bitner Collection: Shoemaker, David R. P. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Henry A. Bitner | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bitnerletters | Henry Bitner letters | Bitner collection | Letters written to Henry A. Bitner | | | Description: | Yours of the 18th ult. is at hand, having been forwarded
from Somersville, Va; and I will
have to answer it in brief to=night, as we are under marching
orders for to=morrow morning at 3.30, and I do not know when
I shall have an opportunity of writing again. Our destination is unknown to your
humble servant. I do not know of any regiment in the service which has been moved about
quite as much as the "Gipsies," as Genl Wise used to call us.— I am glad to hear
that you are having good times in old Southampton. Do not
imagine that the toils and privations of a soldier's life have made such a
misanthrope of me that hearing of those
good things you describe would cause "hard thoughts." As far as
wishing myself out of the army is concerned I have wished it long ago, but shall
only get out honorably—either an honorable discharge or death. | | Similar Items: | Find |
712 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair, fragment, n.d. [a machine-readable
transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | James Reynolds sends his best respects to you,
I was verry sorry to hear that my sweetheart
was about to leave me, to hunt for another one in such a time as
this,
tho if she sees eny body
that she likes better than she does me she can have my concent to take him, and I will go another way, | | Similar Items: | Find |
713 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923, and Blair, A. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair with inclusion from A. Blair [a
machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I have no doubt
But what you think by my long silence that I have
forgoten
you
tho
Ill have you to know thatsuchis not thecase I have bin waiting to find out whare we
had to be stationed we are at
winchester,
now I dont know how long
weel have to stay here, I
am in hopes that we will stay here for some time,
we have elegant water and a plenty of it, and a
plenty of good
pervision so far, and a fine chance of
beutyful young Ladies, and the kind est that I ever saw in my life, and the most
beautiful Country that I ever saw thay have
fine Crops over here, and not
mutch
likely hood of a fight the
yankeys
has gone back to
martainsburg
and it is thought if we get them we will have to go after
them,
a young man that belong to our
Regement got shot yesterday eavening
accedently, and died this eavening the young man that shot him is a
bout to greve him self to deth about it
Thay are both from
martinburg
I dont know neither of them, | | Similar Items: | Find |
714 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I received your kind letter last eavning which
gave me great releaf I had not
hird from home
in nearly a month I had concluded
that you all had forgoten us intirely I told the boys if my relation wanted to hear from
me thay would have to write to me for I had
writen three letters to thare one, and if thay
would not write to me, I
w
I would not write to them,
tho I will excuse you for this time if you will
not do so eny more, | | Similar Items: | Find |
716 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bitnerletters | | | Description: | I received your kind and interrestingletter a few days ago, I was
verry
glad to hear from you all and also to hear from my
sweat hearts I wan to
see them verry bad indeed tho I dont think thare is eny chance for me to git a
furlow, the
Col[1] has promised to let the married men got home when he gets in to
winterquarters, I hird this morning that our Regiment was going to move to
Gainesville this week to fix thar
winter quarters, that is about 12
miles from here back to wards
Wincher ter
rite on the Rail Road[2]
I expect to stay here until
thay get fixed up, and then
thay will move the bag
age to the Regiment I like
ve
to stay here verry
well I get extra pay and have a lighter task
than I would if I were at the Regiment
[3] | | Similar Items: | Find |
718 | Author: | Booker, John, 1840-1864 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bitnerletters | | | Description: | I have bin long in tenden
write en to you, an
to night
I will tri
an
rite you a few lines in order to let you no how we
are, I am as well as I could exspet
to be under the present sercum stances,
Jimey is quite sick & have bin for the last week,
I dont
no
whats the mater with
him, he have weekened
down as
fast for the last week as I ever saw any one, he
dont eat
any thing
scercely
a tall,
he seems to be restin very
well to night he
dont
complain
but very little, tho I am a
fread
he is a go ing to have a bad spell
I wouldent
be grug
nothen if he wer at
home whare he could
be tended too
beter,
[2]
Fleman,
Grigary
[3]
is quite sick
he has the fe- ver,
they are sevrel more of the
boys complaining, the most of them has the mumps,
Sirous
Burnet[4] a
member of our com pany
dide last week,
Mr, Faris
[5]
expects to start home with Bilia
this week,
Nathanial Robertson
[6]
& Neal gilbert
[7] left here a few days a go, to go
to the harse pittle they expected to get furloughs to go home
from thare,
Clifton Pinick
[8] got here yes
tid day, your letter come to hand in
due time, I wer glad to
here that you wer all well,
Jimey told me to tel you that
he would have ritten to you before now
but he was not
able, | | Similar Items: | Find |
720 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I write you
afew lines to let you know whare
we are, we are on the out
post
the yankees are shooting at our men constantly
tho it is very cildom
thay hit eny of them, thay havent
shot but one man in our Regiment he was shot thursday, the he was shot in chin, his
name was T
Tucker[1]
be long
ing to Capt
Carters
Company, thay was a battle faught
here last weorsday eavening
thay
a good maney killed on boath sides
tho a great maney more on the
enimys
side than thay was on ours
we was not in the ingagement
theyankees sent a flag of truse
this eavning to berry thar dead,
ifthay we have a general ingage ment
here I think it will settle the
war for the best of the two
armys is here, the yankee prisners
that our men have taken say that
thay have got to whip or die here, and I
thay will have to die at least I hope so, | | Similar Items: | Find |
721 | Author: | Booker, John, 1840-1864 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I receaved your letter of the sixth sence I have bin at this place
an
wer glad to here from you all, I would have ritten
to you be fore now but we have bin posted on the out post
an I have ent had the
chance this leaves mi
self &
Jimey
well an much hopeen
these few lines
ma find you in joying the
same blesing. We have a good eal of sickness here, at least a good em
meny that are
un able for service
We have had a very hard time sence we left
Orange C H, we havent got any tents, nor I
dont
reaken we will have any whyle
we sta
here, we have to sta in
entrenchments every other day an night, the
entrench ments
we
sta in are in a quarter of a mile of
the yankees, they are constant shoot ing
at us an
throw en
bums over us, we
have ent got but one of our men wounded sence we
have bin here, but some are get en
woun ded every day an
sum
cild. | | Similar Items: | Find |
722 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923, and Booker, John, 1840-1864 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letters to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | after long neglect I in
deavor to answer your kind letter which came to hand in due time I hope you will
excuse me for not writing sooner, as I was verry
unwell for several days after I got your letter, I have bin waiting sence I got well to to learn something new to write,
tho I be leav
thare is no news in circulation now atal, I hear but very little said about the
yankees now, tho we are still
preparing for them close by here, we have to go
about four miles to work on the breast works
every other day, I cant
beleave that thay will come
bac here again soon, tho thare is no teling what the
fools may do, | | Similar Items: | Find |
723 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | After long silance I write you afew lines which will inform you that we are boath
well, I have had very good health since I left
Richmond
John has bin a little sick
several times tho he is very well at this time, hard marching agrees with me finely
and I tel you I have had enough of that to
make me fat, if I only cud of goten
enough to eat, the rations has bin very scanty a large portion of the time sence we have bin marching, we
have not marched much for the last ten days and it looks like thay are trying to feed us to death
now, thay are giving us eny
quantity of fresh beef and fresh hog meat, I
would like very much to gave you a history of our
travels, tho I have not got the patiants nor time to write
it, I hope we will all be permited to return to our homes in peace soon, and then I
can tel you of our ups and downs, it is thaught in camp that we
will have peace soon and, I trust
we may
tho I dont know the public
appin ion I have not seen a paper in a
month,
all of our
conscripts are sick, thay was only four sent
to our company, John Hundley
[2] and Whit and
Memry Inman[3] and Buc Pruett
[4]
our old members has kept up finely concid ering the exposeure, we have to waid every stream
we come to that has no bridge across
it, we have waided the
potomac
three time we are not aloud time to take off our clothing, to croos creeks & rivers, we have to go in just
as we are, and then march with our wet clothing on,
Bag Pritchett &
Dac
are both sick and at the hospital,
Dasey Price[5] has
bin sick fror some time, he has
bin staying at
private house close by
Winches ter,
I
all of our sick & wounded are order ed from Winchester to
Staunton,
I think we will go bac to Richmond again soon at least I hope so, for I
have not hird a word from home since I left
Richmond,
you must write to me soon and direct your letters to Winchester, we are onley five miles
from Winchester
now, | | Similar Items: | Find |
724 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I write you afew lines this morning to let you
know that we are
boath well and much hope ing
that this may find you all enjoying the same good
blesing, I have no news of intrust to write
we have had a long rest since we have
bin here, tho I expect we will
have to leave
here to day,
we have orders to be ready to march at amoments
warning, I do know
not know which way we will go,
I received a letter from & sister
yesterday dated the 8 of Oct & one
from sister the other day dated the 5 of Oct,
[2] I was sorry to hear of sickness being in
the neighbour hood,
we have some little sickness in camp
tho not as much at present as has bin
we have too sick men in our company
Bage Pritchett & John
Hundley[3]
thay are not sick much tho
thay are not able for sentry, I have enjoyed very good health since we left Richmond. I think I can stand the service now if
thay will gave me
enough to eat, we have goten a plenty since we have bin here
accept salt, same
we have not goten more than half enough salt
I am glad that we are going to leave
this
place. for the people through here are all
mostly quakers, and I had almost aslive
be with the yankees as to be with the
quakers,
the
yankees will sell us eny
thing cheap for the specia
tho
thay
will not take our notes, the quakers will
sell any thing
thay
have got when the spirit moves
them,
tho we cant catch them rite half our time, I will
hush about the
yankees and quakers, and
tel you what a interesting meeting has bin
going on in Camp, it has bin going on for near a month,
nearly every night thay has bin a good meney
converts since the meeting commenced I
think it is time for them to turn after being blesed so plainley as they have
bin in the past battles, I
think Mr
Penic
[4] had changed very much, be
fore he was taken sick. he said that he
was deter min to do better than he had bin
do ing
I dont think I ever saw a plainer change in
eny person than there was in him, | | Similar Items: | Find |
725 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I write you a few lines this morning which will inform you that my Self and John is yet in the land of the
living and injoying a reasonable portion of
health, and much hopeing, th when
this comes to hand it may find you and all injoying the same great blessing, I
have no news of interest to write, we have
bin marching for the last four days, we got here yesterday evening, I understand there is plenty of yankees near hear, tho I havent seen eny of them, we met the citizens moving out yesterday as we came in, thay said the yankees was going to bshell the town yesterday, tho
thay have not commenced shelling yet, I would not be surprised to hear the canon at eny
time, I think our men is waiting for the
yankees to open the ball, I hope thay will leave while our Genals Generals
is waiting for them to commence fighting, I
think thare is verry
strong force here on both sides, if we have a
battle here I expect it will be a
verry hard one, I got a
letter from sister Mary[2] last friday dated 17th inst[3]
if you see her be fore
cliff Penic
[4] starts tel her not to
send our coats | | Similar Items: | Find |
726 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I write you afew lines this sabathmorning which will inform you thatmy
self and brother are both well and
getingon finely, and much hope this may reach
you in due time and find you all injoyingthe
same greatblesing, I have no news of
importance to write to you,
we have takenaverry hard
march sence I wrote to you before
we were marching ten days in
succession, we got to this place last
thursday
eavning. I have no
idie how long we can stay here
we are under marching orders now. we have to move as the enemy moves, it
was thought
that thay were
going toatact us yesterday thoughthaydid not. thaycame over last tues dayand gave ourcavilry averry hard fight
thay
faught nearly all day.
took our men on seprise and got the advantage
an the start, though our men drove
bac across the river at last,
thaytook some prisners and
horses, our men took between three and four
hundered
pris ners, I dont
serpose thay made much
by that move,
thayhave
bin sendingthair
cavilry
throug through the country to steal and
destroyevery thing
can,
thay take all the negroes and hossesaway with and burn the meat
corn wheat and flour
thay can find. I have bin
to several houseswharethe
yankees had taken every
thay had. you all think you
have great deal to see trouble about though you have nothing
campared to those that live near the line of
the enemy,
the yankees is getingtoo
mean to live, I
thinke
thay are depending altogetherapan
them selves forthair
inde pendence, and we all know that
is a poor dependence foreney people todepenapon, I still live in
hope of peace soon though I may not live to see it, | | Similar Items: | Find |
727 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I write you afew lines this morning which
will inform you that my self & brother are both well and geting on finely.
and I much hope this may reach you in due time
and find you all injoying the best of
health and all other
blesing, I have no news of importance to
write,
we have bin near
Chambers Burg
for several days. and I
reaconwe will stay several days longer, we have quite a nice time sence we have
bin
Pennsylvania
in the way of something to eat we can get plenty
of milk & & butter and apple butter
that is verry good
the citerzens in this country all seem to
be afraid of us
thay treat us verry
kind
though I beleave it
is don through fear
the most of our Virginia boys treat them verrykind though
thare is some of our extream southern troops has
treated the people badley I am sorry thay do so.
it is against ed
Gen
Lees
orders to interrupt private prop erty,
this is a verry flourishing
looking Country the crops all look fine. the country has
it has never felt the affect of the war, though I guess if we stay here long it
will feel the affect of it,
our quater masters & Commisarys has goten
agreat
meney
nesarys for our army sence we have bin in this state | | Similar Items: | Find |
728 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I write you afew lines this eavning in answer to yours of the 23 of June which I
received to day
and you may be asured that it afford
me great pleasure to hear from you all once more. it had bin more than a month
sence I had herd from
home,
this leaves my self and
brother both well. and I much hope it may reach
you in due time and find you all
injoying the best of health and all other
blesings, we have had a verry
hard time sence I wrote to you before both
marching and fighting to do,
we went in to
Pennsylvania and stayed for some time and had
a hard
Battle Near
Hagerstown
Getys Burg
it commenced on the 1 day of July and continued
until the night of the 3 day, and then both armys
fel back with great
loss,
we went in the 3 day and got nearly all of our Devision killed & wounded I hope thare was not another Devision
in
Lees
army that suffered the loss that
Picketts
[2]
did,
Gen
Picketts
lossed every
Brigidary
Gen that he caryed
in the battle
too killed and one taken prisner
nearly all the
officers in our brigade were killed & wounded. we lost our Col one of
the best men in service. he was a good offeser and he was good to his
men
Thay all loved him, our
Lt Col lost one of his arms at
Mal vin Hill and got the other one
seriously wounded in the Battle the other day
[3]
I guess you will see a list of the
killed and wounded in the papers which will be more correct than I
could gave you.
thare was 35 men went in the battle in our
company and thay was only 15 of them cam out fit for duty,
My self & Jon come
through safte are we not luckey
ah we have bin so far
thay was a ball pased
through my sleeve though it did not hurt my arm, me
and Jon came verry near being taken
prisner on the day of the battle
I told him when I saw that we
were nearly surrounded I told Jon that we would run and try to get
away from them and we made our ascape by doing
so, while several of our boys that was with us let the Yankees take
them.
we have taken a great many of the
Yankeys
prisners . our Devision
brought some five or six p thousand of them
to this place, I hird
that the
Yankees papers stated that thay
lost forty thousand killed at the battle at
Gettysburg,
I hear of a small battle nearly every day and I am expecting
another big battle every day. though I don't
think
thay will put our Devision
in,
our brigade is on guard in this town, the citerzens of the town seem to be in favor of
the Yankees
mostly, | | Similar Items: | Find |
729 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923, and Booker, John, 1840-1864 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I write a few lines
illegible
in ansur to yours of the 16
inst
[1] which come to hand in due time, and Ill
a shure you that I were glad to here from you all an to here that you wer all well, I had be gun to think that you
had for gotten me
Or had written an I had failed to
get your letter, tho I ser
pose you had nt
writen on account of going to preachen,
thare fore I wreaken you are excusable for not not
writen
sooner,
this will in form you that
through the mer cies of a kind Providence, My self
an James are
Both permitted to live in the enjoyment of good
health, and I hope this will find you all enjoying the same great blesing, I wer glad to
here that you all had, had
such a good meeten at Hermon
[2] I wish I could have
b
bin
thare with you all, I can here
a some
Good
Preachen here but I cant
enjoy my self like I could at
Hermon | | Similar Items: | Find |
730 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I seat my self, this beautiful
sabath morning for purpose of responding to your
kind favors of the 23 & 28 of Sept. which I received several
days ago, and would have answered them amidiately though I expected to have gon
home soon, and thought that I would answer them in purson as I am such a sorry hand to write , Though it was my s
mis fortune to be in
formed that I could not go yet a while, I took it for my share
and contented my self as usial, I think a soldier aught to be
satisfied to do as well as I hav
bindoing for the last few days. have a plenty of some thing good
to eat and a good apitite to eat it. that is good enough for
any body in war times. though
you know it is not natrial for human
being to be satisfied
the better thay get. the better
thay want. and the more thay
get. the more thaywant, And thare is non of them that knows how to appritiate a blesing until after thay are deprived of it, I
know this by experience. for when I was
permited to injoy the
comforts of good home and kind frends on everry side of me.
I was not satisfied. I wanted to change
my base of
operrations, thought that I could do better than what I was doing
ther,
O if I should ever be permited to injoy such comforts again. I
would know how to appritiate them. (God grant
that I may) Again I say it is not nartrial for
us to be satisfied, though I injoy more comforts
than I am worthey of, yet I am not
satisfied. I thank God that I have bin spared and
permited to injoy
such great blesings while so meney far better than I am have bin cut
down by both desease & the enimy. I have bin
permited to pass unhurt and
injoy
exerlant health, after all this I am not
satisfied. I think that I would be rather better satisfied if the
speculaters were all presed
in to service so the poor women and children could
get some thing to eat with
out paying five times the worth of it,
if thare is any thing
to sell, a speculater is after it, faster
than a hawk after a chicken, it would not do
for me to have my way with them,
thare is no news in this so I will hush it, unless I could say some thing
better about them. I dont
beleave thare is any news in camp of importance
everry thing seems to be verry
quiet a bout here
Gen Corses
[1] Brigade has came
hae here. thay were
sent to Tennessee when we first stoped here. thay say thay had a verry nice time while thay
were gone they did not
loose but verry few of thair men,
our Chaplin has bin
verry
un well for several days though he is proveing now hope he will be well again in few
days. I dont
think I have ever told you his
name it is R.W. Cridlin
[2]he is a verry nice young Baptist minister,
I got a letter from sister
Benson[3] this
morningthay were all well, accept
Johe was at home complaining
though I dont sepose that he was verry bad off. she said he was
going to see his sweet heart. John is gone to the cook fire to make a slise potato pies. I wish you
were here to take dinner with, I see a good meney Ladies
pasing about camp, the married men are sending
for thair
wifes and boarding them with the citerzens around camp, I wrote to
sister Mary the other day and for got to tel her that we did not nead any clothing. we drew a
new suit the other day
anddont
nea want any clothing from home atal
every thing you all sent in the box came
safte I am under many obligations to you all for
send ing us such a finebox it was a great treat to us, I will closes for the presant
youmust write me soon and gave me all the
news | | Similar Items: | Find |
731 | Author: | Booker, John, 1840-1864 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I ll take the presant
op potunity
portunity
of answering your kind letter of the 10
inst[2] which came to hand a few days
a go
you
dont
no what pleasure it was
afforded me to receive your letter an
here that you all
wer
gettin on well. I am sure thare is nothin that affords me more
plesure than to recieve a letter from any
of my frends or relation
at home. but
its
sildom I get a letter I had
bin
exspectin a letter from you too or three weeks before I received it I
wreaken I will have to excuse you this time far not
writen sooner an hope that you
will doo
beter next
time. this will in farm
you that my self
an Brother are both well an
much hopeing this will reach you indue time and
find you all injoying the same great Blesing and all all other
Blesing that home can afford, we have some sickness in camp now which come from
exposure I wreaken. Flem Gregory[3] has bin quite sick for the last four or five days. he has the pnuemonia
but is not dangers I dont
think, he is something better
today, he is all the one that is sick in our company an I hope he will bee
soon up
Plese excuse bad Writin
and Spellin for it is very Badly dun
Christmas is close by and I se no chance for me or
James to get home. I would like the best in the
world for one of us to get home by Christmas if we could and I think
one of us was to get a furlough and if the officers would doo
rite we would get one. but
if they can get g home whenever they pleas they dont care for us, I havent never applide for a furlo
but James have bin after one
an
cant get it started, I
beleave if Capt Herndon
[4] would start one for him he would get it but he is Just
too lazy to write it
out,
thare
is ent
a nother company in the regt but
wh what gets more furloughs than our company doo and I dont
be leave
its anything else but because
John Herndon
wount
dont
start them, I wreaken
the next time we orgune
Organize the armey we had
better
all bee
Of ficers or privates one for thare is too much dif farence
made in them,
Capt Herndon expects to get another
fur lough soon after Christmas to go home but if
I had it in power he would not get one til the
last man in his company get one. We are here now dooen
nothen in the wa world not eaven
pickett duty and my oppenion the most of the men that dont get
fur loughs
be fore
thare three years are out will go when thay are out
thay say so any how,
Plese
I dont mean to say that I will go home but
nearly all the men say they will if they
will
dont
call out all the men that have put in substitute
an furlough all the old soldiers that have bin out so long, I am a posed to desertion as much as any
boddy can bee but I say put every one on equal foottin for this is a rich mans war an a por
mans
fight,
[5] I be leave
thare are some of the men that have but in substitute are dooen a great eal of good but the most of them are doo en more harm than good
they are just speculaten
on the poor people, an
soldiers, I must stop a
bout the soldiers for I wreaken you think
I am going the other side of
my self, I dont think think
thare will be much Christmas seen here this time
but I hope you all will have a good time, I exspect there will be a
weding near you in the Christmas
Memory Inman[6]
starts home in the morning on furlou to get
marred I hope he will ge
have a good
time, I exspect he is going
to take Miss Mary
Fullar, I dont
no, I will stop James
& cousin Thom Joins me in love too you all, you must write
soon an give me all the news, no
mamare | | Similar Items: | Find |
733 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I write you afew lines this eavning which will inform you that
my self & brother are bothe well and I much
Hope this may reach you in due time and find you
injoying the best of health and all other
blesing, We have had a
verry still Christmas un til
yesterday the last day we were caledout to Stop the enimy though fortionately for us thay
were stoped before we got
verry far from our camp, the
Yankees atacked our men at
Green ville
N.C.
about (35) thirty five miles from this place, our
men drove them back. I havent
hird the particulars about the fight, though it is
reported in camp that the yankees took one company of the 57
Va. Regt
prisners I dont
know wether it is true or not, I am verry glad thay
whiped the yankees back without our having to go down
thare, for the roads were
mudy and it was raining the most of the day, it is mostly clear to day and
verry
bloustry, it has bin
warm the most of the time sence we have bin
here it is much
pleasenter here than it is in northern
Va
and every thing is much cheaper, we
can buy potatoes and turnips here for
(3.00) three dollars per bushel by going 5 or
6 miles from camp, the most of the citizens
in the country seem to have a fine
chance of pork in fact everry thing is more plentyful
here than it is in
Va
whare the army has bin,
we have got an awful bad name sence we have bin here, the soldiers dont like the
N.C.
nor the
N.C.
dont like the
Va.
soldiers,
some of the soldiers does act verry
trifling it is enough to make any body mad with
them,
thay will steal, some
times thay go out and steal potatoes and
hogs, the
Gen sent an order here the other day for the
men all to be turned out on the parade ground and then search thair
houses,
thay did not find but
verry little meat in our Regiment though
thay found good eal in the 53
Regt I think thay
found two (2) whole hogs in one company; I hope the thiefs will be sevierly punished for doing so and I guess thay
will
the man that had the meat in our
Regt has
desirted
sence he was caught in his
meanness I expect he will go to the yankees,
he was a verry trifling fellow at his best I think any man that will steal like thay did aught to be whiped with a cow hide, I
have said enough about the rags[2] unless I
could say some thing in thare favor and it would not do for me to say too much about
them I might be caught some time
my self,
Some body stole upwards ($18 000)
eighteen thous end dollars from the QM of our Regiment a short time ago the soldiers were charged with it and I
expect some of them got it
thay was an old Lady
who lost a skillet of soup last night and she
came a round
to day
searching the soldiers houses for it She did not find it in our Regt She went to the
53
Regt I haven't hird
wether she found it or not
it is reported that Gen Barton[3]
said that his Brigade was composed of rags and thiefs for they were rags before thay left
home, I think he had better make some acceptions or mind how he talks ani, if he only new it is
not healthy for him to gave
honist people such a bad name because some men does
wrong, well
thare is no news nor interest in this to you so I
will stop it, | | Similar Items: | Find |
734 | Author: | Booker, John, 1840-1864 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I take this opportunity of responden to your most kind an
interresten letter of the 10th of last month which was so long coming to hand I had be gon to think that you had given out writen to me any more. or
had written an I had failed to get your letter. tho I serpose
your letter wer on the road longer than it ort to have bin, I wish I
had some good news to write you. but have nothen of interest to write. I believe the helth of the soldiers here are
very good
tho they all seem to be lo
sperited. They think the time is draw- en
ny when they will be cald
erpon
a gain to meet thare
ine myes on the field a
gain. an to think that thare is no relief for them but that they have got to still remain
in the
field, they have bin
try en to get the men to reinlist for the war an thare have
beena great meney of the men reinlisted The
Govenour[2] came
out the other day an made us a speech an tride to get the men to reinlist for the war, an when he had
quit speeken the Colonel had us all in line an then had the Cullars
cared to the front andthen
told all the men that he wanted all who wer
determen to be freemen to step out on the
line with the cullars
andall who wer
willen to be slaves for thare
enemyes to stand fast anI
wreaken
thare wer a bout one third of the men went
on line with the
cullars
andthe rest stood fast,
I dideant inten to reinlist nor I
wes not willen to be a Slave for my enemyes
and I
dident go on line with the reinlisted, and I dideant wish to
bee in eather line. Colonel
Cabel
[3]
new very well that
thare wer
nun of the men that thort
thot any thing of
them selves ar thare Country that wer willen to becom Slaves for
thare
enemyes. The colonel thot by telen the men what he did he would get all the men to
come on line with the Cullars
an be considered reinlisted. but he faild to get
them, tho thare have a great meny of them reinlisted
sence the officers thinks if we will reinlist it will have a bad er fect on the yankees. tho they have
past a bill to hold us in service andI dont no what good it
will dood for us to reinlist I am of the opinion that
if we wer to reinlist
it would have a bad effect on our leaden
men,[4]
it looks like our leaden
men thinks wee are willen to stay an fight all the time andnever
get tiered, an I beleave that as long as we will stay here anexpress a willinness
to stay here our leaden men will ceep the war up, I be leave that we mout have hud
piece
be fore this time if our head leaden men would would have tride,
when the enemy offered to make a complemise our men wount
here too it, so I am not in favor of reinlisten
tho all that want to doo so
I am wilin, I can bee
just as good a soldier without reinlisten as I
can with it. far I be leave
that we will all have to serve
any way without we desert and
that I never want to doo as long as they will treat
me like illeg. officers orte to
treat men, tho they are fitten a very good way now to make men wars
stil
dissatisfide than they are now. by given
the reinlisted men furlows first. I am due a furlow
now andcome next for one in our company by rights
but because I did not reinlis I get cut out of
furlough. anthey are due me a furlow for reinlis in sixty too, for thirty days
which I have never got, I refused to rein list this time an all of
our company did exsept two an they are both recrutes which is in
for twelve months longer any way, one of them
ha never bin in ranks
sence he be long to the
company he has bin acten as comimasary all the time an the
other one deserted the first time we went in to
Mary land
summer be fore last be
fore the serrende of
harpers farry
an stade at home a bout
fifteen months at home. and then came an joind the scitry
Betalion in Richmond an got
a fur low an went home
an wer er rested an Broat
Back to our company, this man now
reinlist thinken it would make his
cart marcial go a little lite er with him, gets a furlow an goes home be fore I doo that have bin here an
dun my duty all the time as a soldier art
to have dun doo you think thare is any justice in such a way doo en,
as tha I tel you thare is no justice in it, I went
up an give the
Col a talkin a
bout it last nigtn, and if he dont give me a fur lough be
fore he des this deserter I wil
bee very much
er temp er
to tel him what I think of him an take a discharge, I be
leave in the for thing al
ways if they wir not given no fur lows I could stay here
an nor think hard of it but when they a are given
furl
an it comes to my time I want it,
I will stop this chat for I wreaken you had
rather here som then elce that is more interrestin
Thare have bin a good eal of exsite ment here
to day
a bout the yankees makin a rade
below here be teen
Hanover Junction and
Lieueasia CH
and have bin
tar ing the track up
Thare have bin a continuel
canonaden down that way all day to day
an they have sent all of our Brigade from here
exsept our Regt
an a large potion of it is on
Pickett we have orders to be ready to fall in, in
a minute to Prevent ar rade,
Shouldent be serprised if we dont have to leave before day,
you wished to no what they had
don with
Curt Inman[5] he he
wer left at
newbon
I serpose he got
be hand the nigh we left
thare
an wer taken Prisoner
Some of the fifty third said he wer broken down I dident see him that night I saw him a few minutes before we
Started Back,
Memory Inman[6]
wer cart marcialed an his
sintance
wer to doo Po leas duty for his Regt one hour each day for seven days an the Cart said it
wes thus lenient on him on acount of his good conduct
be fore, he havent had to doo any of his duty yet
an I dont reaken he will
have to doo any of it, I hope not
Lin Cary Brown I have never herd any thing from him exsept what I herd from home, he never has come to his company yet, its
all together a mistake about his
comen to his
Regt at
Kinston
if he had of come thare I would have
herd som thing a bout it far we wer all rite
together
Capt.
Jno A. Herndon got a thirty
days furlow to go home to get married I reaken he is going
to take a Miss Beavers,
as my paper is nearly fild I
will have to stop I hope you will not think hard
of this letter for I have bin mad all day an could not write what I wanted to write, I dont exspect
you can read this last page I have wrote it by fire ligh, an thare wer so much fuss I could not rite | | Similar Items: | Find |
735 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | I write you afew lines This
eavning which will inform you that my self and brother are both well and geting on verry well. and I
much hope this may reach you in due time and find you all in
joying the best of health and all blesings that our kind Protecter sees fit to
bestow apon you all. I have no news of importance
to write. we are having a verry still time now in camp. though
I am fearful that it will not
remain so much longer if wether keeps open. I
think the spring campaign will soon commence.
and then we poor soldiers will see a hard time. though if it is the will of God for us to suffer why should we
complain when we know that he knows what is the best for us and will
do nothing but for the best. I feel thank ful
that I can cheerfully submit to his will If it is
the will of my maker for me to be cut
down in this war I dont ask to be spared for I
beleave that he will do what is the best for
me, thare is but few things that I would ask to
stay in this
trouble some world for,
one great consolation to me is that if I am cut down, I have a hope of
a better time in the
future whare thare is neither worries and troubles
thay was another lot of our prisners got to Richmond yesterday
paroled from northern prisons I havent
hird of any of my acquantance that came through with them infact I havent hird of any
Virginians that came through this time scearsley, I hope that
thay will parole all of them
soon, I have hird that two of our Co. D had taken the Oath of iligeans and joined the yankee
army. thay keep our men
thare in thier prisons and
treat them so badley that thay become so dissatisfied. thay
had almost as
live die
as to stay thare then thay will get them to take the Oath and jian
thier army, though if it is the will of God for the South
to over power the North.
thier swindling will not avail them any thing in the long run, it may make the war continue some longer. though thay will
see that it will do them no good, | | Similar Items: | Find |
736 | Author: | Booker, James, 1840-1923 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Chloe Unity Blair [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Bookerletters | | | Description: | It is with much pleasure that I embrace the present
oppotunity of responding to your kind and
interesting favor of the 17th
inst which came to hand in due time and
aforded me much pleasure to hear that you
were all well. I and would
have answered it amidiately though we had to
go on picket and I thought that I would wait until we came
bac to camp. and may be I
would have some thing new to write so I
have though it is not verry good if it is true, It is reported that Yankee is coming up the peninula I do
not know wether thay are coming in
force or not. or even wether
thay are coming atal, one of our men
were at a fishery about 20 miles below here yesterday he said that
thay were
expecting the Yankees thare when he left, it
maybe just a squad of cavalry aiming to drive our
men from the fishery. I havent
hird
any thing from thare this
morn ing, I hope the next time I hear
from thare to hear that thay are
all rite again. the 53
regt[1] has
bin down thare fishing for some
time, we have drawn fish one time since thay have bin fishing and I
guess will draw more soon if the Yankees dont
drive our men from the fisherry, some of
our men in camp has bin
cacth catching a good meny
fish lateley with hooks I
have caught
verry few my self, though I
guess it is my own fault be cause
I were two
lazy to fish for them, we are having beautiful
wether now for spring also a verry nice time in camp much nicer than I expected
some time ago. I made sure that we would have to fight
before this time. our army and the Yankee army are geting
verry close
to gather
in Northern Va I dont think that it will be many
days before thay
havewill have a
fight, thay had a small skirmish
yesterday morning with cavalry I beleave it is generally beleaved that the Yankees are going to do thier best for Richmond this campaign I beleave
that this campaign will decide the war hope it may
we have bin
verrysuccesful so
this far this spring and I hope and pray that we may
continue to be succesful this summer and
end this cruel war in our favor, We rec
yours and sisters[2]letters of the 24
inst
sence I comenced
writing verry glad to hear from you all though
verry sorry to hear of Martha[3] being sick much hope she
is well before this time, also
verry sorry to hear Ucle of
Uncle Drurys
sufering
with his caugh I much hope it will not pester him long,
[4]
well I beleave that I have
writen enough for the present so I will
close
hoping to hear from you verry soon
Gave my best respects to Uncle
Drury and the rest of the family also to Jennie and her family and til them all to
write to me as I am allways
anxcious to hear from them, | | Similar Items: | Find |
738 | Author: | White, James J. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to James Brooks | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Description: | I am compelled from want of pen and ink to write a line in
pencil—seizing a moment now I may not have it half hour hence. It is
my painful duty to inform you that your son William
died today after an illness of several days which appeared to me
something like conjestion
of the brain. Our brigade has been very much
exposed by forced marches through heat and dust, and by being compelled
to camp out at night without tents, not even the superior officers being
allowed to carry tents from the difficulty of transportation.[1]
I suppose
it would be most agreeable to the feelings of yourself and your boy's
mother that his remains should be taken at once to his home, but we have
been
drawn up
in line of battle this evening[2]
and on application to our colonel[3] he
assured me that it would be impossible to get permission from
Gen.
Johnston[4]
for any one to leave at this time, and I ascertained that
permission had been refused to remove the remains of Lieutenant Patton[5]
of the Rockbridge Grays who died this morning.
And although I had with
considerable difficulty made arrangements for
William's transportation
before speaking to Col.
Preston, I felt forced to abandon it, and have
provided for his decent interment in the Episcopal Cemetery here and
have directed a head board with his name to be provided
so that at
some subsequent time his remains may be removed to the bosom of his
friends. When I discovered that William was sick
I had
him taken to the
Hospital in Winchester which is in Charge of
M. H. Houston, formerly of
Rockbridge, late of Wheeling, where every attention possible under the
circumstances was provided. I have done the best I could my dear Sir
and in communicating with the stricken parents of the most admirable
young man, it is but the simplest justice to say that whether as student
or soldier, I had nothing to complain of him, but believe in my
conscience that he did his duty modestly and conscientiously on every
occasion. Your son Andrew has just mentioned
that the physician thought
the disease of his brother was spinal to the
brain.[6]
Excuse
the unavoidable haste of this letter, for I am hurried in every way
imaginable.
We are expecting the enemy here at any moment and I believe
that we are able to meet them. With assurances of kind regards and
sincere sympathy. | | Similar Items: | Find |
747 | Author: | Brooks Collection: Brooks, Charles | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Eleanor Stuart Brooks | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Description: | I hope you have received the letter sent
off on yesterday. When I left home I thought perhaps
I would have returned before this; but instead of that
we are getting further away and I hope gaining an im
portant victory for the Confederacy. Our division of
the army was pretty quiet on Saturday and Sunday, but
a pretty hard battle occured Sunday evening, to
our right, on the York River Railroad about eight
miles below Richmond.
Gen. Hills
division was the
principal one engaged. Early this morning all
Jackson's troops crossed the
Chickihomany
and all
the army are following up the enemy; for I should
have stated that he was again whipped on
yesterday. We crossed the battle field on this mor
ning! There were many dead and for miles the coun
try wa
is strewn with knapsacks blankets over-
coats and various other articles.
Squads of prisoners
have been coming in all day and probably five or six
hundred have been captured. I saw five about three
hundred captured horses and mules this morning. The enemy
have crossed a stream fourteen miles below Richmond
and blown up the bridge, and heavy cannonading
has been going on this evening across the stream.
Time is important for them in order to get
commisary stores out of the way. If it were not for
his Gunboats McClelland might find some
dif
ficulty in finding a
place of rest on Virginia's soil.[1]
We havn't seen our wagons for five days and have
lived principally on hard bread and havn't
been
particular about clean sheets or the abundance of
our covering. It is now about sundown and I
will stop; but probably add somthing more before I
mail it. | | Similar Items: | Find |
750 | Author: | Brooks Collection: Brooks, Andrew | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Emmet Brooks | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Description: | Your letter was
received yesterday evening.
I had mailed one to you in the
morning. I have had very little
opportunity to make the inquiries you
wish. I have been on road detail
to day (making corduroy road to
Guinney's[2])
and have to go again to
morrow, so you see it will be
impossible to go to Guinney Station
before Monday, if indeed I can go then.
I suppose you were led to believe, that
large profits could be made on skillets
from having heard us speak of having to pay
12 or 15 dollars for one. If you could get
that price, it would pay very well, but
I do not think you could get it; unless
you could get them to the different
brigades of the army and sell them there,
in which case, I think they would bring
12 dols'. The sutlers
[3]
of regiments do not
buy them at all, so far as I can hear, unless
they get orders for them. As for the
Sutlers at the Station, I can not speak
positively, but think they act in the same
way. The day you went up, McKee
[4] failed
to get one, but got the promise of one soon, if
he would leave 10 dols, his name etc, which
he would not do. However I am of the
opinion that you might sell them there
for 8 dollars apiece, in lots of 20, or 30,
and it might be as many as 60.
I think there would be no risk in you
staying a few days, at the Station. But you
know there is no accomodation there, and no
place to keep them. I got the box that night.
It was a treat, I tell you, but you will know that
after the sight of it. The coffee is delicious.
McKee got his furlough next day and started
in about an hour. John D. got his too,
and went Monday. I want you to send me a
tin plate by him. If you buy skillets, you
ought to do it at once while the army is
lying quiet. A good many soldiers have been courtmartialed
in the brigade. Several were publicly whipped today, and
four others .
Haven't heard the sentences of the
Killians[5]. | | Similar Items: | Find |
751 | Author: | Brooks Collection: Brooks, Andrew | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Eleanor Stuart Brooks | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Description: | Your letter by Jimmy
Burns[2] was received this evening.
Charles' letter came yesterday, after
looking for a letter for a week. I had
begun to think you had forgotten me, it
was so long coming. He mentioned
that Johny had gone to
somewhere (but
didn't say where) except that I would no
doubt see him before I got his letter.
He didn't tell me what he had gone for,
or anything about it, nor did you except
that he sent to Genl
Lee a recommendation
for my detail. What sort of a thing is
it and who recommended me. I suppose
he was in Richmond and took the contract to
the war office. I havn't gotten the letter
you
say he wrote me and have never gotten
but one letter from him since I left. I have
been very anxious to hear from him, and
know what is doing at the Furnace. It will
now soon be time it was put in blast.
When I commenced writing I had just
returned from preaching, which we have
every night. Dr.
Hoge[3]
and Mr. Lacy
[4] are gone.
There is a chaplain with each regiment of
the brigade, two Presbyterians and three
Methodists. Lieut
Culton[5] has resigned -
unable to stand infantry service. I dont
know who will get his place, if his resignation
is accepted. We heard considerable firing
across the river yesterday, but havent heard the
cause. Wednesday morning, I will get
the box today -am very much
obliged to you all for it -I am not
much afraid of it being much like
what y I get here, there is but one place
I ever saw that I got such rations.
I am sorry Miss Sue Harden is about to
leave the neighborhood -young people
are sadly scarce there. Emmett is on another
trip to Uncle John's, wonder if he
will get ther
this time. I heard Mary Susan
[6] was to atttend
a small party at Dr.
Dold's -a kind of farewell
to Jim[7]
I suppose. I am very well. Love to all
the friends. | | Similar Items: | Find |
752 | Author: | Senior, Charles Berry | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles Berry Senior to his Father et. al., 1864 February 21 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Description: | Thinking that you might like
to hear from me I concluded to write a few lines
We started last Wednesday arrived at Charles
city
on the same day. Next day we took the stage
and got to Cedar Falls. Took the cars at
Cedar
Falls next morning and arrived at
Dubuque
in the afternoon on Friday. We have been
staying here since then but expect to leave
for Davenport tomorrow. We have got
our uniforms excepting overcoat & dresscoat
our knapsack haversack blanket & canteen we
have got. the rest of our uniform our arms &
our first installment of bounty we shall re-
ceive at Davenport. We board at one of the hotels
here & report to roll call 9 & 2.
You will understand the nature of the
enclosed certificate. weare all in good
health & excellent spirits. Yesterday
Wahington's birthday was celebrated here
the home guards marched through the street
behind the fife & drum. There was target
shooting in the afternoon in the evening
there was a grand supper free for all
soldiers in the Union League Hall after
supper speaking, then dancing by the
young folks, 2 violins 1 clarinet -& one
double bass, were the instruments — the
performers were all germans but they
were verry excellent players I am
in haste & have not any more time to
write at present. I shall write again from
Davenport
to write to me | | Similar Items: | Find |
753 | Author: | Senior, Charles Berry | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles Berry Senior to his Father, 1864 March 6 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Description: | I am standing by
a window here in the soldiers' home
and the boys are just singing the
Star-Spangled Banner. Long may it wave'
You may be somewhat surprised at
my delay in writing to you. me reason
was that I couldn't give you the directions
to write to
me until now. So far I
have
enjoyed the very best of health.
The boys are, I believe, all well, at
least in Co. B. The weather here
is quite warm. This southern sun
shines in at this window this morning
with the warmth of a
mid-summers sun
at the north, it looks to be at about the
same altitude. The water we have
here is not of the best quality, it is the
water of the Cumberland River and
is very nearly the color of clay.
The
Cumberland river is quite a stream,
being navigable for the largest steamboats.
The railroad bridges are
on a swing, that is the boats
come to it, it is made to separate in
the middle and one-half swings to
the side. We had the opportunity of
seeing this on the evening of our
arrival here from Louisville, Ky.
A number of us boys went to a theatre,
last night, in this place, it was
the first that I have ever seen. I
thought that I was well paid for
my quarter. The principle play
was Shakespeare's "Macbeth." I am
of course no judge of theatres but I
was well satisfied with what I saw
and heard. The instrumental music
was good 3 violins, harp, one
clarinet, one brass instrument, I
think a bugle & Double Bass.
You talk about singing and such
like, but there was a girl here last
night that I think would beat
your Mrs. Sunderland decidedly.
I expect that you have received
by this time some money that I
sent American Express Co.
($60) You may send me word that
you received
it, for if not, I have
a certificate that insures its
loss. I expect that we shall
leave here tomorrow, probably for
the front, Pulaski. We expected to
go today, but some accident or
another that happened yesterday
between here and Chattanooga pre
vented us. I am tired
of stand
ing and writing, so write to me as
soon as possible & direct to
me Co. B 7 Reg. Iowa Vol. Pulaski
Ten, care of Cap.
Reiniger. | | Similar Items: | Find |
754 | Author: | Senior, Charles Berry | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles Berry Senior to his Father, 1864 April 13 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Description: | I Take my pen
& paper to write to you again. I am
still in the enjoyment of good health
& hope that this may find you all the
same. We are still here but it is probable
that we shall move in some direction before
long appearances at least indicate as
much. One thing our veteran soldiers have
been called out to drill the orders are that we
shall drill 6 hours a day so as to perfect us
in the drill immediately & target shooting
one hour each day for the recruits. Another
thing they are making fortifications here
One large block house here is nearly finished
& I understand that they are going to build
another one a short distance from here across
the river. So that one hundred men
with the aid of these fortifications can
withstand as much as one thousand without
them It is the prevailing opinion that
when they are completed that we shall
leave here for more active service. There
is also great activity commenced on the
railroad that runs through here. a short
time since there was not more than one train
each day Now there is as many as six
each way to carry provisions & stores ammunition
etc. to the army south it is likely that the
spring campaign will soon be opened vigorously
very soon. It is about time to do something
or the heat of the season will be stronger
than either of the contending parties &
compel them to lay inactive till another
fall. There are some days now that
were it as warm north you would
say this will make the corn grow. We
dont know as much here about the operations
of the army as you do where you get the
regular papers at the north, but we know
more about a soldiers life I am not
disappointed I have not had to suffer
half the inconvenience yet that I expected
to or may even have to do in future
but our worst enemy or the one that I
fear most is sickness & as long as I can
avoid that why all right. There has
been a noted rebel guerilla caught not far
from here called Moore he has played
about these parts considerable robbing army
wagons plundering killing etc. since we
came here he gobbled up two of our boys
who had got outside the picket line in
search of a cow that belonged to the
regimental hospital but they gave him
the slip & got back to camp here again
There has been some deserters come to our camp
from the rebel army they give a deplo
rable account of the condition of the rebel
army say that they were pressed into it
etc. but no reliance can be put upon them
I think that the government are too easy
upon those rebels that are not in arms against
them. I don't believe that there is one good
rebel or union citizen in Giles Co Ten but they
are allowed to come within the lines with
with passes which the got from the regimental officers
signed by the Colonel we have quiet a
chance
to find out their principal when we go on
picket truly many of them have lost their
last cow & pig & would just as soon shoot a
picket as not but they ought to swing too
it makes some of the boys curse & swear to
see them round with their butternut-colored
clothes & brass buttons as near rebel uniform
as they dare come & durst not pull a trigger
on them. I have had but one letter
from you & I dont know why I dont
get more I want to hear at least
once a week or oftener & another thing
I want some postage stamps I
have to borrow & it will soon run out
on that score. I must say that H. J. Smith is promoted
to first Lieutenant -I
conclude Direct the same
as before | | Similar Items: | Find |
755 | Author: | Senior, Charles Berry | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles Berry Senior to his Father, 1864 April 14 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Description: | I received your
letter last night which is the second
one that I have had from you since
I left. If I had one each day
I should not get tired of opening
them & reading them if they are
from Iowa they are very welcome
visitors but like angels visits few &
far between I wrote a letter to you
yesterday but after I received this
I thought that I must write
again I have wrote quiet a number
to different persons in the country but
have received no answers We get
mail here every day It is then taken
to headquarters & each company's
mail given to that company's orderly
& then distributed by him. You
Perhaps remember Stewart the man
that went with Vanness when he
thrashed our grain some years ago
he stays in our shanty & is very sick
it is probably the measles that is
coming upon him if that proves to be
the case he will of course removed to
the hospital until he recovers James
Campbell & Uriah A Wilson have
both had them but they have got
about well again I received the
postage stamps that you sent me
but they were so stuck together that
I had to steam them to get them
separated they should be doubled face
to face to prevent them sticking.
You said something about Leonard
Parker having sold out did he ever
say anything to you about some money
that he owed to me for rail making
I made him 1880 rails & he only paid
me for 1500 when he counted them
There was a deep snow & he did not
find them all & he promised if he
found the rest he would hand the
balance of the money to you I know
that the rails are there & he should have
paid to you 3 dollars & 80 cents perhaps
he has but the next time you write
let me know I have got with a
good mess of boys 8 of us they are not a
swearing blackguarding set at all with
Stewart excepted They are quiet thereverse
more inclined to study & improve
their mental faculties we have had
several debating schools in our shanty
since we came here. & we study
grammar some & arithmetic one of our
mess sent to Fowler & Wells & got a
couple of Phonographic Books & we
are just beginning to see a dawn
of sense in that branch We have had
them only 4 or 5 days & were entirely
ignorant of it all of us so we are not
advanced in reading or writing it yet
Altogether we have received the name
of the literary squad which sounds
blackguarding shanty just below us
which is known by the name of
Gambling Saloon I have just been
down to the guard house & saw one
from the aforesaid place with his arms
tied & fastened in a standing position
& I thought that I would sooner
be studying grammar or
Frognography
by which they try to ridicule us
than to be in his place for running
the picket lines or some other
misdemeanor. I am perfectly
well & hope that this may find
you all the same | | Similar Items: | Find |
756 | Author: | Senior, Charles Berry | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles Berry Senior to his Father, 1864 May 17 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Description: | I take another
opportunity of writing to you the chances
that we have of sending letters is very
limited. The mails leave here now just
when it happens I am still in the enjoyment
of good health & strength & hope that all
of you at home can say the same Perhaps
you have received the last letter I wrote
if so you will see that we were then expecting
some hard fighting. Some of it we have had
I have not seen a part of what is called
the horrors of war luckily I have not been
called upon to suffer myself but alas
how many of our brave boys have. I
still have but very narrowly escaped
almost miraculously been spared my life
I have heard the hissing of bullets the shrieking
of shells & the loud bellowing of artillery
I think that the fighting has for some time
subsided The rebels as far as we know have
retreated all except a rear guard
of them which they have left to harass
us & prevent us from rapidly pursuing
them I heard our Lieutenant say that
it was believed that their main army has
left for Richmond but it is not surely
known for 8 days there has been more or
less fighting Our regiment has been principally
here at Calhoun Ferry the heavist fighting
has been at Resaca Last Saturday our
regiment was put to support a battery
that was planted to shell the rebels out of
their fort down here & we were very much
exposed to the replies of rebel shell
five of our regiment suffered & killed & 3
wounded with a shell one of the killed had
both of his legs ripped from his body We
were ordered to lay flat down face to the
ground & while we were in that position
a whole or large piece of shell struck the
ground about four
8 feet from my head in
a direct line plowed a ditch in the
ground on the top for 6 feet Then only four
feet from us it richocheted & just
marvelously glanced over our heads all
done of course with the quickness of lightning
the only harm that it did it almost drove
the dirt into the pores of our skin
making a sharp burning sensetion if
it had not glanced it must unavoidably
have struck my head or
shoulder on sunday morning we crossed
the river on pontoon bridges & found
the rebels close on the other side our
Company was sent out skirmishing & only
one man wounded while we were out
The rest of the regiment were engaged
& lost 54 killed & wounded They drove
the rebels however & killed & wounded
full as many of them we were skirmishing
by the flank & when the battle was going
on we were nearly in rear of the rebels the brush
was so thick where we was that we could
not see far ahead & we got too far round
to the right It is a wonder that when
The rebels retreated they did not happen
to come upon us & take us all prisoners
there was nothing in the world to
prevent them If they had known where
we were only one company of us we could
have offered but very little resistance
we were so much in the rear of them
that the bullets of our men came over
the rebels & whistled around us
we came out of the wood to an opening
& the rebels had retreated Then came
the scene of the killed & wounded I
can not describe it so I will not attempt
but if it may be called satisfaction I
saw many of the rebels in their death
agonies one poor fellow begged of us to
kill him he said he would rather be dead
than laying there Though they had been
fighting against us I thought it was enough
to soften the heart of the hardest man
to see even a rebel in such a condition.
Paper is very scarce I must stop I could fill
one volume nearly I shall not be able to
write home regular but you have the
chance of writing regular to me & I wish you
to do it | | Similar Items: | Find |
757 | Author: | Senior, Charles Berry | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles Berry Senior to his Father, 1864 July 31 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Description: | I take the
opportunity of writing to you again We
are here in sight of Atlanta's spires but
do not yet occupy the city it appears that
the rebs are going to stand a siege I
am well I think that all their railroad
are cut all except the Macon road is at
least & that is reported to be. So I
think that a successful campaign is
commencing on Atlanta We have got
very good breastworks & so have the
enemy. I think there will be a short
delay here until the completion of the railroad
bridge across the Chattahoochie & the arrival
of heavy ordnance which is on the way
Our Corps has changed position since I
wrote last we evacuated our works on
the left & came here on the right &
on the west side of Atlanta You asked
me whose command I was under I am
in the 1st Brigade 2nd Div 16 Arm Corps
Gen Dodge Corps Commander Div Gen
Coarse Brigade Gen Rice. The
rebels have amused themselves by trying
to shell us with their siege guns but I
have not heard of their hurting anything
much with their 84 pound shell which
is occasionally thrown over us I think
it will not be long before they get some
pills of their own bigness & more than
they want. Gov Stone was here the
other day making stump speeches to
the boys I would have liked to have
heard him but we were on the
skirmish line We heard a good deal
of cheering & thought there must
be some good news so when we were relieved
at night we found out the cause. I
have seen the call for 500000 more men
& if they can be raised it is just
what we want to knock down the
staggering Confederacy It is time
for this thing to come to an end
& now is the time
The soldiers are getting exceeding
anxious if we have not men enough
let the country do its utmost to
furnish them & and help put on the
finishing touch to the rebellion
Write soon I can write no
more at present | | Similar Items: | Find |
758 | Author: | Senior, Charles Berry | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles Berry Senior to his Father, 1864 September 9 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Description: | It is some
time since I wrote but I have not
yet received any answer to my last letter
I should have wrote before but we couldnt
send away any mail & I was waiting for
the taking of Atlanta I still continue to
have the best of health & hope that you may
be all well I have passed safely through this
campaign for I suppose it is through now
as we have been down 10 miles below Janesboro
& have come back & taken our camp hero 6
miles from Atlanta You will see from the
papers the splendid movement of Gen Sherman
by which he so completely bamboosled the
rebs out of their stronghold cut their communica
tion>
& compelled them instead of their burying the
yankee army here as they boasted as they intende
to do to evacuate the town & make the best
of their way southward The whole 16th corps
worked on the Montgomery road for one day quiet
faithful the 7th Iowa had a fine time
destroying that road out to Fairburn,
18 miles fron Atlanta. It
was the first days
work that I ever did on the railway & I liked it first rate. In the morning we went
out without knapsacks
almost on the doublequick
for 8 or 9 miles to the town where we went
to work, and then went back at night.
Next day, the
2nd, 7th Iowa was ordered
to report to Kilpatrick to go with the
cavalry
as a support We did, and started
out with them when about noon we run
into some of the Johnnys. We captured a
negro that escaped from them &
he said
there were 1600 of them. They had a rail
bar
ricade in a large
cornfield We fired a few
shots with the 10 lb. Rodmans belonging
to the
cavalry, when the 2nd Iowa which
was in advance, immediately formed &
charged with a yell up to
the barricade &
took it, the rebs flying like the wind,
the 7th about
40 rods behind as a support. The
2nd lost a number
of men but I never
knew how many. | | Similar Items: | Find |
759 | Author: | Senior, Charles Berry | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles Berry Senior to his Father, 1864 October 22 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Description: | I have not
received a letter from you since we
left East Point but
suppose it must
be from the stoppage of the mails. Last
We have got good quarters
erected, we have a good house, good
roof, logs, floor and fireplace and all
fixed for winter but it is very doubt
ful whether we shall remain here or
not. We have been running round nearly
all the time since we have been here
and out into the country
about every other day scouting round.
You will see in the papers about the
Allatoona fight we should have been
in it but for a smash-up on the railroad
between Rome and
Kingston A train of
cars that was
coming up to get our Brigade
smashed all to pieces and thrown in every
direction by the spreading of the track about
9 miles from Rome. We
arrived there
about 2 hours too late. The contest was
over, ending in a most bloody repulse
of a hole division of rebels by a force
not exceeding 2500 of our men; the Third
Brigade of our division which left Rome the
evening before us was in the battle and suffer
ed severely. It was well for the rebels that
our brigade that the accident happened,
or we would have come up in their rear
which to them would have been somewhat
unpleasant. The sight of the battleground
was shocking, worse than anything I ever saw before. It was not a great
battle but
for the number of men engaged it was
as sharp as anything the present war
has seen. The ground was literally thick
with killed and wounded in many places,
so that a man could step
from one to another.
We got there at dark. It rained awfully &
the groaning of the wounded could be heard
all around us. I went to a spring
for water
to make coffee and nearly tumbled many
times over the bodies
of men in the dark.
I took a stroll next morning as soon as
day and the
sight was horrid. But enough
of this. I would like to get letters from home
if possible. We have had no pay yet and I
am out of paper and stamps, If you could send
me a little I would like it. There is some
reason for our not getting paid but I do
not know it. Probably the
unsettled state
of things makes it dangerous for paymasters
to travel. You said you could send me
the Tribune if I wanted it. Well, I
would
like to have it first rate. All the news we
get about Grant
is from the papers, &
nearly all other news, and it would be a good
thing to while away the hours of camp life
if we are going to have any.
Many of the
boys get papers sent. Reading matter of
any kind nearly is
a comfort in the army. | | Similar Items: | Find |
760 | Author: | Senior, Charles Berry | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles Berry Senior to his Father, 1865 March 29 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Description: | I received your letters
of the 15 Jan. and 21st Feb. on our
arrival here 2 days ago. I am very
well and have been on our march
and hope that
you may all be the
same. After having been cut off
from the civilized world for nearly
2 months we have again a chance
to communicate with our
friends
at home. Another terrible blow
has been struck at the reeling
con
federacy and I suppose that
Sherman has halted only to gather
new
strength to strike another
and more destructive one than
the last. It is
understood that
Sherman has gone to Fortress
Monroe. I could not vouch
for the
truth of it. I cannot tell how
long we will remain here, but I
don't
expect to stay long. Schofield
first occupied Goldsboro. We were
fighting the rebels at the time about 28 miles northwest of the town
which
were concentrated there. It was the
only fight of any magnitude that
we had. Johnston is said to have
had about 40,000
men. The rebels
the first day of the fight rather whipped
the 14 and
28th Corps from all reports.
I don't know as it was any victory to
the
rebels but the 2 Corps were brought
to a halt and that is so unusual
that we termed it a whip. I can show
the
position occupied at the first
day's fight.[1]
The rebels decidely
outnumbered the
2 Corps. Reports say that they charged
the 14 Corps 4
times, they were all impregnated
with a solution of gunpowder and
whisky.
The 14 Corps had rail barricades and
killed a great many of the
rebels.
They
shot deliberate, nearly all the rebels were
hit in the breast or
head, but you
will learn all this from your papers. I wish we had the
same privilege of reading
the news that you have, a paper is a
rarity. I
think that there is a
good prospect of having peace before long.
I think
that the rebellion is played out, as
the term is in the army. I guess
that
Davis, Lee and crew begin to see that
it is a failure and I am
satisfied
that the southern people and
the privates in their army almost
exclusively desire
peace. As they
fail we gain strength. There never
was an army more
confident
than
Sherman's. I believe that when
he leaves here he will have an army
sufficient to cope with the whole
confederate army of Lee, Johnston
combined. | | Similar Items: | Find |
761 | Author: | Senior, Charles Berry | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Charles Berry Senior to his Father, 1865 June 27 | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Description: | I will
write a few lines to let you
know I am well, and I
hope you may all be in the
enjoyment of good health. We
are still at the same camp
ground about 6 miles east of
Louisville. I don't know how
long we shall remain here but
I hope we shall soon be permitted
to go home. Six men of our
company are gone home on furlough.
The orders are to furlough 12 per
cent of the army. I see that some
of this army are to be mustered
out. I don't venture to say who
it may be, nor dont make any
calculations. disappointment
has already been deep enough
but still I hope that we might
be once lucky I hope that I
shall get home sometime this
summer. It is the general
impression that our regiment
stands a good chance as they
are one of the oldest veteran organ
izations, only one regiment from
Iowa being older, the 2nd
I had made calculations of
spending the 4th of July some
where in Iowa but that
cannot be. They are making
quiet extensive preparations
at the Louisville fair grounds
for celebrating the 4th I
presume we will be nearer
Louisville than
Iowa
I remember how we spent the
last 4th down on the Chatta
hoochie, exposed to shell and
bullets while we were throwing up
breastworks we made remarks, and wondered
where we would be next 4th. Well
things are much changed for
the better since then and I
can spend this 4th more pleas
antly probably than the last
yet I think the next 4th will
be better yet The weather
is very warm here but here
we have a good camp with
splendid beech shade trees
to lounge under on the grass, I
have not heard from you since
leaving Washington I have
wrote a number of letters
I suppose you were expecting
me home, but never stop writing
till I get there. There has
happened quiet a slip between
the cup and the lip.[1]
We are camped near the
Woodlawn race courses, where
trotting matches are going on
I have not been since the running
races closed which was 2 weeks
ago, trotting only commenced
yesterday. I had the luck
of seeing the fastest horses
in America run, one Asteroid
that has never been beat, but
I must close, as I know of
nothing more at present | | Similar Items: | Find |
770 | Author: | Hamilton, Alexander | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Angelica Schuyler Church (November 8, 1789) [a
machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-ASChurchletters | | | Description: | After taking leave of you on board of the Packet, I hastened home to sooth
and console your sister.[1] I found her in bitter
distress; though much recovered from the agony, in which she had been, by
the kind cares of M.rs
Bruce[2] and the Baron.[3] After composing her by a flattering picture of
your prospects for the voyage and a strong
infusion of hope, that she had not taken a last farewell of you; The
Baron little Phillip[4]
and myself, with her consent, walked down to the Battery, where with aching
hearts and anxious eyes we saw your vessel, in full sail, swiftly bearing
our loved friend from our embraces. Imagine what we felt. We gazed, we
sighed, we wept; and casting "many a lingering
longing look behind" returned home to give scope to our sorrows, and
mingle without restraint, our tears and our regrets. The good Baron
has more than ever rivetted himself in my affection : to observe his
unaffected solicitude and see his old eyes brimful of sympathy has
something in it that won my whole soul and filled me with more than usual
complacency for human nature. Amiable Angelica!
how much you are formed to endear yourself to every good heart. How deeply
you have rooted yourself in the affections of your friends on this side the
Atlantic! Some of us are and must continue
inconsolable for your absence. | | Similar Items: | Find |
776 | Author: | Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Angelica Schuyler Church (February 17, 1788) [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Description: | You speak, Madam, in your Note of Adieu, of civilities which
I never
rendered you. what you kindly call such were but the gra-
-tifications of my own heart: for indeed that was much gratified in
seeing and serving you. The morning, you left us, all was wrong. even
the sun shine was provoking, with which I never quarelled before. I
took it into my head he shone only to throw light on our loss : to pre-
-sent a chearfulness not at all in unison with my mind. I mounted
my horse earlier than common, & took by instinct the road you had
taken. some spirit whispered this to me : but he whispered by
halves only : for, when I turned about at St. Denis, had he told me
you were then broke down at Luzarches, I should certainly have
spurred on to that place, & perhaps not have quitted you till I
had seen the carriage perform it's office fully by deporting you at
Boulogne. I went in the evening to Madame de Corny's, where we
talked over our woes, & this morning I found some solace in going
for Kitty & the girls. she is now here, just triste enough to shew her
affection, & at the same time her discretion. I think I have discovered
a method of preventing this dejection of mind on any future parting. it
is this. when you come again, I will employ myself solely in finding
or fancying that you have some faults, & I will draw a veil over all
your good qualities, if I can find one large enough. I think I shall succeed in
this, for, trying myself to-day, by way of exercise, I recollected immediately one
fault in your composition. it is that you give all your attention to your
Image of manuscript page 2
Image of manuscript page 2
friends, caring nothing about yourself. now you must agree that I chris-
-tian this very mildly when I call it a folly only. and I dare say I shall
find many like it when I examine you with more sang froid.
I remember you told me, when we parted, you would come to see me at
Monticello. now tho' I believe this to be impossible, I have been planning
what I would shew you : a flower here, a tree there; yonder a grove,
near it a fountain; on this side a hill, on that a river. indeed, madam,
I know nothing so charming as our own country. the learned say it is
a new creation; and I believe them; not for their reasons, but because
it is made on an improved plan. Europe is a first idea, a
crude pro-
-duction, before the maker knew his trade, or had made up his mind
as to what he wanted. let us go back to it together then . you intend
it a visit, so do I. while you are indulging with your friends on the
Hudson, I will go to see if Monticello remains in the same place
or I will attend you to the falls of Niagara, if you will go on with me
to the passage of the Patowmac, the Natural bridge etc. this done,
we will come back together, you for a long, & I for a lesser time. Think
of this plan, and when you come to pay your summer's visit to Kitty
we will talk it over. | | Similar Items: | Find |
777 | Author: | Ceasar, Samson | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian letters: Samson Ceasar to David S. Haselden 1834
February 7 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I embrace this opportunity to inform you that I am well at this time
hoping that these few lines may find you enjoying the
Same
blessing after
fifty sixt days on the ocean we all landed
Safe in
monrovia
I was very Sick on board of the vessle
but I thank god that he has taken Cear of me untill the present time I
hav Seen Agreate manys things Since I left home that
I never would of Seen in
Buchannon
it
urengs to mind the words of Solomon that the eye is not satisfide with Seeing nor the eare with
hearing I must say that I am as well pleasd as I expeced to
be in
Liberia
we hav most all had the fever and hav lost four of our number one woman about Seventy five two
Children under twelve allSo the
Rev
Mr Rigt
[1] one of our misenarys lost his wife and we may Say She is aloss to
africa
but we hav evry reson to belive that she
is at rest the balance is all on the mend this is my twenty fourth day Since I first was
takin and I thank god that I hav not kept my bed one hole day at atime the people do die through imprudence we
hav the best
docter that ever was in this place I can not tell you much about
africa
I hav not been from
Monrovia Since I landed I
must Say that the people are doing better than I expected them
two agreat many of them got rich Since they
came to
Liberia
their is Some that are doing bad like in all other
places I think from what I hav Seen and heard that any body Can liv in this place if they will be industrous
the natives are numerous in this place and they do
the most of the work for the people in this place
they will Steal every Chance They they hav they are most all Croomen[2]
in respect to my Self I think
that I Could make an independent living if I was to put
my Self about it but as my intention was to Spend
and be Spent for god I feal like standing to my
post I hav not been employd by the
methodist yet the Presbytterians offer to take me in to their famely and Support me and give me the best education that they
Can their is four in famely two white men one white woman and one Coloured man
they hav treated me with greate kindness and
all So the methodist the methodist
preachers are plenty in this place and their is
not as larg A field in
monrovia
as would I wish to find and be
spent for god our methodist bishup told me that as soon as he got over the fever he
would find me A Station I Can not tell you
at this time what parte of
africa
I will be placd
in I will write when I can tell you more A bout
it you must excuse bad writing and
all So bad Spelling I must
come to A close | | Similar Items: | Find |
778 | Author: | Ceasar, Samson | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian letters: Samson Ceasar to Henry F. Westfall 1834 March
18 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I embrace the opper tunity to let you no that I send this paper to
Adam Carper
I am on my road to
Calwell
and met the oppertunity to send one
paper home please to send it to him
youy
you must excuse me for not writing more and better my company is wating to go to
Calwell
I
hav not been there yet
but am on my road at this time.
tell
Adam to read the news of Africa and let his friends read the same and all so his neighbours I did not
no when I wrote to
Daniel that I could get A paper to send home my Company is waiting on me and I must Stop
the writing is bad the Spelling is bad and the lines
Crocked. The
indorcment on the paper is put on by one of
our store keepers pardon me for not senen sending you A paper | | Similar Items: | Find |
779 | Author: | Ceasar, Samson | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian letters: Samson Ceasar to Henry F. Westfall 1834 April 1 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I embrace this oppertunity to inform you
that I am well hoping that these few lines may find you all in good helth I wrote to you by the same ship that I came
in and I now hav the oppertunity of writing to you by a vessel that
brough out emegrants
from
baltimore
to
Cape Palmus
About five hundred miles from
monrovia
their is anumber
gon from this place to
Cape Palmus
as I wrote before I can not tell you
much About the Country as their has been so many
people died in this place I though I would not
expose my Self in travling So I hav not been from the
Cape
we have vessels coming in harber
All most every
weak from
urope
no man could tell what trade is going on in Africa unless he could See it I
hav seen so many Strang
things Since I left home that evry thing
be comes
old when I first Saw the nativs
all naked I though that I never could get ust to it but
it is an old saing use is second nature I do not mind to See them now
if I could talk with you face to face and tell you
about the nativs you would not belive
me to See their cloth that they make and other
Articue els that they make you would be
Supprised To be Short, their natturel
talants are grate
in deed Some of them can read and write.
I am sory to
tell you that we hav lost the Rev
Mr. Wright
after he lost his wife he had got on so fare that he came to Church and he took re laps and on the 21 of march he fell Asleep in
Jesus
arms ware
Sickneys and Sorrow pain
and Death are felt and feard no more
Mr. Spaulding is very low at this time and all
so the Single Lady, but She Says Se would
Sooner Die than to go back and discurage the
mishen it seem
all most
imposable for white men to liv here but still their is A greate many on the cost at
the
British Colenny
their is a greate many
white people in short they are coming and going out and in Monrovia most evry day
we hav lost but five out of our number yet but
God only noes how Soon Some
more of us will
hav to go but thank God it is
as nigh to havin in
africa
as it is in
America
the time is not
fare distant when
Gabril
will sound the
Trump and gether us all
together O that I may be so hapy to meet you and
all your
famely on the Right hand of God and all So all my neighbours
ware we can enjoy the company of each other for
ever and we will be clear of truble for ever
and we will see our God face to face and live for
ever.
O Henry when
I look back and reflect on the many
ours I spent with you and your famely I am led to wish that I could see you all but we are
severl thousand miles Apart at this time
the Captain of our ship says it is five thousand and six hu ndred miles from Norfolk to
Liberia
he can measure A mile on sea as correct as you can on
land I want you to write to me as often as you
can vessels are coming from the United States
evry
month let me no all about
the people how many
hav died and who they are and how many hav
mared and who they are and who was elected to
the next Legislature. Write evry thing [HOLE IN
MS] [HOLE] fit to write and I will do the same. [HOLE]
Give my love to your
wife and mothernlaw tell them to pray for
me I often think of you all
giv my love to Simon and
Harison
and to
Bety
tell them that I want them to have good education and good Religion
Against I come to
America
Giv my love to your Father and
Step mother tell them I often think of them
Tell them to pray for me Giv my love to the
Boys and tell them if they ever want to see any
thing to leave
Buchannon
giv my love to all the Children to Philip Reger with all his family and to Mr Haselden and Goff
and all inquireing
friends Tell Lydia that their was A vessel from
Jermany
landed here About ten days Ago and I never saw better looking men
in my life than some of them ware if She wants
a Jerman and
will write to me I will try to send
hur one for I think they will suit hur Tell
hur Above all things to get religion so that she may
Save hur
sole May the Lord bless you all and save you is my
pray for Christ's
Sak | | Similar Items: | Find |
780 | Author: | Ceasar, Samson | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian letters: Samson Ceasar to Henry F. Westfall 1834 June 2 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I embrace this oppertunity to inform you
that I am well hoping that these few lines will find you in and all yours in good helth it
affords me adegree of Comfort that I have the
oppertunity of conversing with you by
way of paper and ink I have been in Africa almost Six months and I have not kept my bed one
day at A time I had but A Slight tuch of the fever I have Chills now
and then and also the fever with them the
fever is not as hard in this Country as it is in the United States if you get it around here it is very hard to
heal but I thank god that I have had none yet
it is almost nedless for me to undertake
to dis crib
Africa to you I have Seen but
little of it but this I can Say the more I See and
the longer I Stay the better I
like it I am convinced in my owun own mind that all that is wanting is
industry and good management and then we Shall be independant and can enjoy the comforts of life I visited A Town by the name of
New Gorgia
it is Settled by the recaptured Africans by the name of
Ebose and
Congose
they had not been in the United
States long enough to learn to talk
English if you Could See their town and
their farms around it you would Say that any person that could not live in
A A
Africa
ort
to Starve I Seen three Crops all at
one time on one peace of ground their was corn rice and Cosider and they all
look as promising as I would wish to See them
Swete
potatos look as fine as any I ever Saw I must Say that I am afraid that our Country never
will improve as it
ort
untill
the people in the United States keep their Slaves
that they have raised like as dum as horses at home and Send those here who
will be A help to improve the Country
as for Virginia as far as my
knowledg extends I think She has Sent out the
most Stupid Set of people in the place while they have them their the cow hide is hardly ever
off of their backs and when they come here they feal So free that they walk about from morning till evening
with out doing one Stroke of work by those means they become to Sufer
people in the United States
ort
to have more regard for Liberia than to
Send Such people here Some think that every thing grows
by
in this Country with out labour but they are mistaken I must Correct an error that I made in William Jackson's
letter I Stated that every
thing grew almost
Spontanious in this Country I wish to be un derstood by
that expresion that we need not labour half
So hard here as in Some parts of the United
States yet we can not live with out work
their have com agrate many from
North Carlina
who are dregs in the place the most
enterprising men that we have here is from Baltimore and
Charleton
I can only Say that if the
Coulard man had the Same oppertunity with the White man he would not be one Step
behind him in no respect
the
their is not much Sickness in Liberia at this time god Still
preserves our lives
time would fail
m with me to tell all that I have
Seen and heard Since I left
Buchannon
I often think about you the thousands of miles apart we have had
Seet
intercourse together on Buchannon and
I feal in hopes if god Spares us we will See each
other in the flesh I am now living in
Call well
imploid to assist in giving out provis ion and Selling goods in the mean time I am studing grammer and the
arithmetic I want to get all the Learning
that I can for with out it we can do but little
both in temperl and Spirituel
matters your assistance to me will never
be forgotten by me while I move on the globe as it respects my religious
enjoy ments I think I enjoy my Self as well as I ever have Since god Spoke
peace to my Soul the more I See of the world the more I feal like Serving god as I n
no that I have but afew
days to live in the world I want to do all I can in god's service I feal that when
god calls me from this world that it Shall be from the walls of Zion I have been trying to Blow the gospel trump
ever since I landed in
Africa
I Still feal that god is with me god is reviveing his
work in
Caldwell
I feal as if the time was not far distant
till the Clangours of truth will be Sounded to
the last green verg on erth
when I look back to America
and See how the people in Buchannon Stood in my
way in trying to Serve god I fear that if they do not repent they will
be Sorry in the morning of the resurrection I can appeal to god and Say I love all my old neighbours I want you to give my best love to
your wife and tell her that I am Still trying to [illeg.]
tell her not to forget
me at athrone of grace Give my
love to all the family tell your boys to improve their time in
learning while young and when they grow up they will be glad that they
Spent their time in gaining knowledg tell
Betty likewise to get learning tell
Lydia that I expect She has all the learning She
can get unless She goes to
Germany
if She is not mared yet
[illeg.] tell her to write to me and I will try
and bring A German with me when I come to the
United States
I want you to give my love to your father and all his family both
at [illeg.]
and
abroad I have not time to mention [illeg.]
[illeg.]
names
tell them all that I am better contented than I
ever was Since I
blivd
that god called me to preach his gosple
their is a large field
opend
for me and I intend to labour for god untill he Calls me from the world and then I hope to go
whare the wicked Seas from trubling and the wared Soul be for ever at rest O Henry never sufer the vain and sorded things of this world to deprive you of the
immortle
crown
[illeg.] that awaits the faithful
at god's right hand Give my love to
Mr Haselden
tell him that the world has not got my hart yet I and
I hope by the help of god that it never will get the advantage of me
for their is nothing in it worthy of our affection give my love to all my
old neighbours and to all
inquireng friends I want you to write
as often as possible and let me no what is going on
in your Settlement how many have died and who they ware also how things are generaly
both in State and in Church in Short write
all that you think will be profitable to me
this is the fourth letter I have written [illeg.]
to you Since I landed in
Africa
I will write as often as I can
please to excuse bad writing and Spelling for I am Surrounded with
company
I want you to tell the people to direct
their letters to Mr Robert R Gurley in
Wash ington
for him to send to me and I think that I will get them by so doing you will oblige your
friend. | | Similar Items: | Find |
781 | Author: | Ceasar, Samson | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian letters: Samson Ceasar to Henry F. Westfall 1835 March 5 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I Embrace the opper tunity to inform you that
I am well hoping that these few lines will find you all
well I hav written to you
not long Since I will not write but a short
letter I want to in
form you that I hav received but two letters
from you since I landed I hav written as many as a dozen to you you
hav no excuse for not writing
vessels are coming from the
united states
everry month
the most of the vessels are from New York
with out it is and Emigrant vessel
they are mostly from
Norfolk
three of our Preachers are expected to
l Sail from Liberia to
new york
to morrow in order to bring their
familys to Liberia to
remain for life one is a white man
Super intender of the Methodis
Epistal Episcopal Church Several more of the people in this place are going I can not tell when I will start to come to
America I am employed to teach
school I do not know when I can come but if God
Spares me I hope to See you all in this world
if not I hope to see you in a
better world than this
I hav been to
one Camp meeting in
Liberia
I must say I never was at a Camp meeting in my life that
people acted better
it has been very sickly here for a
bout three month many
hav gone to eternity in that time I thank God that I am still living
Giv my lov to Mother Eade
an to David and his wife
tell them that I am well and doing well I am still striving to serv the
Lord in my weak manner and to Preach the Gospel
also
giv my best lov to all the
family tell them I often think about
them and would like to see them all but the proud ocean rolls between
us tho the ocean bet between us roll friendship shall unite our
souls giv my lov to your
wife and
and Children and to Miss Lydia
Simmons to all your friends and to all
the neighbours I will send your father one of our
herbals I hav not time to
write much now please to excuse me
as for you my best lov is alway with you I want you to write as often as possible and I will do the
same | | Similar Items: | Find |
782 | Author: | Ceasar, Samson | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian letters: Samson Ceasar to Henry F. Westfall 1835 August
3 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I feel happy to have the
oppertunity of writing you in order to let
you know that I am well at this time hoping that these lines will
find you all well. I am sorry to have to inform you that we have been
attacted by the natives at the place called
Bassaw Cove about one
hundred miles from here they
k killed about 15 or 20 Americans our people attacted them
twice and the first time we lost one man they sent up for more men they
went down and made the second
attact and drove the natives all out of Town it is not known how many natives got killed
but it is
Sertain Several was killed
I Can not Give you full Satisfaction in this letter I will send you
one
Herld and if I can I will send you a paper witch will be printed to
morrow or next day & witch will
Give you a full Statement of all the
ware. I Can only say that we are in no danger of
the natives if we manage Right as for my own part I feal no fear at all of the natives I
receive
a letter from Eade in July and was Glad to
here that you ware all
well tell
Eade
I have not time to write to her now but will write the first
vessel that Sails from here to America After this one Give my love to all your famely and
to all my old neighbours tell Mother
I am well Give my love to all the famely tell Daniel I have
never received a line from him Since I left home I am in a hurry the vessel is expected to Sail in a few
days. God is with us of a truth. I still feal
Intent on Serving God untill I die write as often as possible I remain your friend | | Similar Items: | Find |
783 | Author: | Michie, Mary | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Mary Michie to Dr. James H. Minor 1857 February
4 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | It affords me great pleasure to have this opportunity to address a letter to
you. In the midst of danger & death, while we could discern
nothing above, & around us but the blue canopy of heaven, &
under ous the deep, deep blue sea,
we we were Providentially cared for, and bless to reach this our destined port, Monrovia. I am much pleased with this place inded,
Monrovia is nearly as large as
Charlotsville
and has some fine houses in it. The people here are very
genteel. I thought to find things different, and that we would have to
enlighten tha people, but I find that we need
teaching ourselves. There was not a death during the passage out, and
up to this date all our folks are well, and very well satisfied indeed. For
myself, I would not go back to America no how. I leave
to day for to go up the St Pauls
river and see how it looks up there: and when I have got a
better knowledge of the Country, I want to write you all about: so as you
may be informed and others through you how & what the country
is. | | Similar Items: | Find |
784 | Author: | Douglass, William | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: William Douglass to Dr. James H. Minor 1857
February 5 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | In haste I drop you these few lines to inform you of my health, and family,
we are all well and enjoying the blessings of kind heaven. We left
Norfolk on the 8th, of
Decr.
and we were 45 days on our tedious passage from Hamilton roads to
Roberts port
Grand Cape Mount, were we
stop to land some of our immigrants who were destined to the place,
and during the voyage, there was none sick of any disease only sea sickness
which of course we were not accustom to in no way, before our arrival
at the above named; all well and fater than they
was before in thier life, and all arrived at Monrovia in the beautiful Receptacle[1] which was brought out by the Rev. John Seys some months hence
in good spirits and sound; except myself, wife
Susan
, and Mary Douglass my daughter,
Thos. Scott
, David Scott,
Chas. Twin
,
Phil Twin
,
Geo. Walker
, Hugh Walker, Jr.,
Winzer Walker
,
Wilson Coleman
, Washington Coleman
Martin Coleman, Allen
Coleman, Young Barrett
Maria Barrett, Isabella
Johnson,
Chas. Barrett
,
Dick Barrett
,
John Mickey
, and
Washington Mickey
, all these I have mentioned[2] leave the ship
Mary Caroline Stevens, on the 28th day of January for this place,
which is about 46 miles which is only few hours travel, 15, of us arms our
mus kets and march in the roads from White Plains near
Millsberg to our destined home here we arrived safe
and sound; and we are all here provided
for by the Rev. John
Seys our excellent Agent who came out here for that purpose; and we
think could find no better man for
that experiment, no how in the world, who is acquainted with the natives fashion and cus
toms, and have already prepare us a loving and fine peo- ple; and everything is suitable to our taste in every respects and condition. We have meetings in the week on the
Sabbath and also Sabbath school; and in the week day school is for us,
which is taught by Mr. John A. Claode a native
of this country who have been reared up by the good missionary Society some
years back
who ever thought we would find such a one as this young
man is in the midst of civilized people O may God give him grace to teach those
who has arrived here late; this school is taught in our receptable as there was no school house has
been built for that purpose, but I hope by the assistance of God we shall
put up one for school and also will answer for worshipping. I cannot say
any thing now about the people until I hear
from them again but when I left them they were all well and good
in spirits; as for the country I am
very much
disap pointed
to see what beautiful country it is. I dont
think there could be any better country found for our colored race
any part of the globe, and when we come to behold the natural fruits
hanging on our beautiful shady trees, its makes my
heart to re- joiced within me; and I almost exclaim O God thou has
hidden many things from the eyes of
man, on this
this side of the shores and, now we
are able we are to see
it for ourselves which we have heard of for many years past and gone, but
you may assumed that we are long
way behind the people of this
country for thier
in genuity
they can make an excellent country cloths which of course I did not expect to see such
in the land. I have seen an excellent African cotton which is of the best
quality it can be raise
by any one if they only prepare a place for it. We find everything good
for eatable and also that to make man happy in this world, but most
every thing is dear for to buy. My dear Doctor
Minor as you fail in given us the list of
our tools it was difficult to get it
of from the ship, but we have done the best we could and have divided them according to our ability, for you assured we
found very a ble for our wants, and we are
very thankful to you that you did procure these things for our means,
that we are now have the pleasure
to say to you what we stand in need off, and we will
say that by the Mary Caroline Stevens, when she
returns in
March we all will remember you all in our pray ers to God, especially your family in preference
fromand all the rest, they all remember their love to
every body, and all are well and have not had any
sick ness since our arrival in this mount,
and if all meet up with good luck we will unite to all in that neigh borhood. | | Similar Items: | Find |
785 | Author: | Douglass, William; Walker, William; Carr, Samuel | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: William Douglass, Hugh Walker, and Samuel Carr
to Dr. James H. Minor 1857 February 6 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | i have taken this
oppertunity of wrighting thes
feue lines to in form
your how we ar geting
along in our new home we was forty one Days
from
Hamto n Rhoades
to
Cape Mont
and we need to illeg. that noe lives has not Bin lost in way coming
we ar at this tim settle on the
St Paul River fifteen miles from Monrovia and
the Children and some of our old Peopoel is
about to take the Affrican feaver But not
as yet
Searous and as Artickels
is high her we send for some things
Robbenson Scoot
send fore a
whiyp saw and 4 Barrels of flower and a coupp le Barrels of Pork
and a Box of Shoes of Diffrent sizes from
twelve to 8 of men shoes and from 8 to 5 of woman shoes forty yards of calicoe and forty
yards of lawn of Diffrent Kindes and Dozon pair of thin stockigs and forty yards of Bleach and unbleach cotton and dozon spools of cotton and send me 8 yardes of Dottot whit Muslin
Jeams
and
Douglass[1] send fore a suit of Broad Cloth Clothes and a Dozon Shirtes each fiftwen
Dollars a Peac
Jeames
and
Douglass
Robenson Scoot
send fore a foot
axe and pleas to me twenty
Dollars in money and i should to have the whiyp saw as soone as i can
get
Molly send worde to
youe to send her 4 Barrels of flooers of
and 2 Barrels of Pork thirty yardes of
Unbleac Cotton and thirty yardes of Calicoe
Dozon Pair of woman shoes number six and all soe
a Barrel of Suggar and half a Dozon of men shoes number twelve and Spooles of
Sootton Diffrent qality half Dozon Pair of Stock ings
[Illeg.]
Judah Hardon
Send fore thirty yards of Calicoe and thirty yardes of unbleach cotton 4 pair man shoes number
eleven and half a Dozon of Boyes Shoes
about 7 or 8 years old and a whiyp saw 3 Barrelles of floower and
a Barrel of Suggar 2 Barrel Pork and fifty
Dollars in money
Frances Barret if
youe Pleas to send her one Barre of flouer one of
Suggar too Barrels of Pork and
and a Barrel of Mackrel twenty yardes of Bleach and unbleach cotton twenty yardes
calicoe half a pair of stockings and Dozon
Splooes of Cotton Diffrent
qulty 4 pair of Shoes men shoes number nine
half Dozon Pair of wom en shoes
number 7
Dozon pair of Stockings and all soe Brier Blaid
Milly Franklin if you Be pleas to send her 2 Barrels of flower
and a Barrel of Suggar twenty yardes of Calicoe and twenty yardes of un bleach cotton 8
Pair of Stockings half a Pair of Shoes number
Seven
Rachel Mans
if youe pleas to send her twenty
yardes geames half a Dozon pair of Shoes 7
Dozon Pair Stockings
Dozon Spooles of Cotton half
Dozon Pair of Pocket hankerchef
Vonnor
[2] send fore if
you
pleas to send him 6 Barrels of flower and a Barrel of Moolasses and
a Barrel of Mackrel 3 pair of shoes number
nine 3 pair of sockes suit of
sunday Clothes ten yardes of Blue Jean
Henry[3] ask if you
Pleas to send him a Barrel of Suggar and 4 Barrels of flower
one of Pork and a Whiyp Saw and a suit of Brod
Clth clothes and working
Clothes and 2 hundred weight of
toobaccoe and ten Dollars and 20 yardes of Blue jeanes
Adline Southhall
ask if and Lucy[4] ask if youe Pleas to send to them
to gether 4 Barrel of flower 2 Barrels of Pork one Barrel of
Suggar 2 Barrel of Mackrels one Box of shoes
men shoes number ten and women shoes from nine to six
205
yardes of jeanes
205
yarde of Lawn and allsoe
of cotton cloth and calicoe
Dozon Spooles of Cotton Dozon
Pair of Stocking 20 yardes of Bleach cotton and a Box of Ribbons and some [illeg.]
sodar
Margret Scoot
if youe be pleas
to send her 3 Barrell of flower
on of Pork one of fish thirty yardes of Calicoe twenty yardes
of jeanes thirty yardes of Bleach cotton one of Sugar
Dozen Spooles of cotton and a box of shoes
women shoes from nine to six boyes shoes from
thirteen years old to seven years
Billy Dugllas
[5] if youe
pleas to send
him a suit of Brod Cloth Clothes and 20 yardes of Blue jeanes Box of Shoes
from 21 to 8 half a Dozon of Shirtes all Ready Maide
Grae Faran
[6] is be pleas to send him 2 barrels
flower
on of Pork one of Mackrel
half Dozon Pair of Shoes tens and 11 one
Barels of Moolasses 20 yardes of cotton jeanes thirty yardes of Bleach
hundred
whet of toabaccoe half
Dozon summer hats
Patty Walker[7]
sends her best respects to Doctor Minor and
requests him to please to send her 4 barrels of flour and one of sugar and
two of pork and one of mackerel her three
boys please send them each suit of broad clothes and a box of boots
and shoes No from ten to
7 mens and woman from 8 to five fifty yards
of calico and the same of lawn and gingham fifty
yard fifty yards of unbleached cotton two dozen of shirts all
ready made fifty of blue cotton jeans for mens wear two dozen of stockings and a dozen
pair of socks half a dozen bottles of castor oil,
and some gingham handkerchiefs and some flax thread and two dozen spools of
cotton — and when these things are sent please be particular in
having them marked to each one so there will be no mistake please be particular in sending a
memo of things so that there will be no mistake
made
they all join with me in love to
you all
wishs to hear from you soon
no more remains | | Similar Items: | Find |
786 | Author: | Barrett, Young; Barrett, Maria; and Johnson, Isabella | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian letters: Young Barrett, Maria Barrett, and Isabella
Johnson to Dr. James H. Minor 1857 March 3 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I have taken this first opportunity after my arrival in this country, of writing to you I hope that you and family are well, myself &
family are quite well, and have been since I been in this country, yet at
this time I am not quite well to day. Myself and
Maria
,
Isabella
Charles
and
Richard
, have all come to the new
Interior Settlement, about 50 or 60 miles from
the sea coast.
Wm Douglass
and his family, Charles Twine and his
Brother
Philip
,
George
,
Winslow
and
Hugh Walker
3 Brothers,
Washington, Coleman,
Allen
,
Wilson,
and
Martin
4 Brothers,
John
and
Washington Mickey
2 Brothers, and
Thomas
and David Scott, 2 Brothers1 compose the company that came to the new
Interior Settlement with us, We have all been
quite well, no fever nor any other kind of sickness
the place is finely located on top of a very high
mountain, we like this place much better than we seen elsewhere, and
although things are not like they were at home, yet we are thus far
quite satisfied. The rest of our people all settled at
Monrovia, and Clay Ashland
up the river about 15 miles from the sea coast, And I am very sorry to
inform you that the mortality has;
been very great by the fever, we have
lost by Death the following persons, my father, sister
Francis2, Uncle Buck Thomson, Billy Douglass,
James Scott,
Lucy Twines
baby, Frank Coleman;
Maria Coleman;
Lucy Twines
Father; Patrick
Mickey;3
4
Robert Scott is laying very low, indeed all the
people down at Clay Ashland are quite sick, Thus
far we all have enjoyed good health as when at home. I will now tell you of
my wife
Maria,
and the children, they did not get any of the clothes that was
intended for them
the box was robbed or something else; as there was
no bill of Lading for them, we have never seen
any them. I would like you send me 1 Barrell
of Pork 1 Bll of Fish and 1 of flour, and also 2
pair of Black Gaiters No 6 and No 7 also some leather shoes for us all, I would
be very glad to receive these by the Mary Caroline
Stevens, when she comes in the Spring, so as we may get them by
the then our 6 months is up on the Society, I would like to get some
Calico, some Bleached and some Unbleached Cotton, and 2 cotton Bed spreads —. some Blue and White
womens stockings; and 1 White Swiss muslin
dress pattern for
Isabella
; I wish this to be fine, and a peice of
Satin Ribbon, and please to send
Maria
some Black dresses suitable for mourning | | Similar Items: | Find |
787 | Author: | Walker, Hugh | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Hugh Walker to Dr. James H. Minor 1857 March 4 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I sit down to addres a few lines to you to inform
you that I am well but my wife has a severe attack of the acclimating
fever and the rest are
tolerable my three sons are out at a place
called
Careysburg
settled by Mr Seys and they are doing
well and have no sickness at all neither chills nor fever. I am much
pleased with this place I am still travelling
about trying to prepare a home for myself and
family there has been a great many died
since I last wrote for
insts
Robinson Scott and his son James, Patrick Mickey, Buck Thompson
Richard Franklin, Jacob
Twine, and his grand child
Lucy twines son, and Cyrus Terrel, and, Francis
Barrett and Samuel Carrs youngest child, two grandchildren of uncle Cy's
these twelve have died since I last
wrote the rest I think are getting better
Samuel Carr has been quite sick but I think he
is getting well again—William Douglass
has wrote to you and the boys sent for things in it but what I wrote
for you need not send as they desired
me not to send for anything please send me a couple of
brier
blades we have taken into deep consideration
how to live and to prepare to die while some
are rejoicing at their friends going to a better house others are filled
with grief at the thoughts of their future estate others have suffered with the fever
I am left to go and I am invited to preach in the baptist
and methodist and presbyterians | | Similar Items: | Find |
788 | Author: | Campion, Saunders A. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Saunders A. Campion for George Walker, et al,
to Dr. James H. Minor 1857 March 5 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | Its with great pleasure that we embrace the first
opportunity after our arrival here of sending you a few lines to
inform you of our safe arrival here in this place without a single person
being lost by Death we were all sea sick but
not long, we have all of us whose names are here, gone to the new
Interior Settlement, about 50 or 60 miles from
Monrovia, now under the care of Revd
John Seys
Special Agent of the Am Col Soy where the great
experiment is being tried Dr
Hall made such proposals to us as indused us to come here and we have no cause as
yet to regret it, Young Barrett
and his wife Maria,
Wm
Douglass and wife & child
Charles Twine and Philip,
David Scott,
Thomas Scott,
Winslow Walker,
Hugh Walker,
George Walker,
Martin Coleman,
Washington Coleman,
Allen Coleman,
Wilson Coleman,
Charles Barrett,
Richard Barrett,
Isabella Johnson,
Washington Mickey,
John Mickey,
these are all here in this place and doing as well we wish as far as
we have seen yet. Now Sir
George Walker wishes you to send us him and his 2 Brothers a small Cork of Tobacco, and 3 Blls of Flour
2 Kegs of Double F powder 2 Bags of Buck shot,
1 Bll
of Bacon, 1 Box of Soap, 1 Bll of Brown Sugar, Now Sir you will please to the same
persons 1 whip saw
George wants 1 pair of Boots & 4 pairs of shoes all No
10
Winslow
1 pair of Boots 3 pair
No. 11 of Shoes, Hugh
Walker
1 pair of Boots 3 pair of Shoes No 9 all fine quality
1 Peice of Tip top Denins, 1 Peice of Cotton Cloth White
1 Peice of fine linen, 6 yds of merino cassimore
1 Peice of Black Alpacca, These things you will
please to put in a separate parcel and
direct as described herafter— Charles
Twine &
Philip wish you to send them 1 Cask of Tobacco
1 Bll of pork, 1 Bll of Fish, 2 Kegs of Double F
powder, 4 bags of buck Shot, 1 whip saw, 3
Bll of Flour 1 Bll
of Brown Sugar, 1 Bll of
Molasses, 1 Roll of fine Linen to make shirts, 4 different kinds of Cloths
the same as George Walkers, 2 peices of Calico for trade
purposes, also 1 pair of Coarse Boots and 4 pair of fine shoes No 10, 1 peice of Blue flannell Cloth, 1 Box of
Soap, 6 yellow flannell shirts, 1 pair of fine
boots 4 pair of shoes No 10; 1 Don Blue water Buckets
2 washing tubs, These to be put separate and marked for Charles Twine—. Thos Scott
and David and his Brother
wish you to send him, 1 Keg of Powder 2 Bags of
buck Shot, 1 Bll of
Flour 1 Bll of Brown Sugar
1 Cask of Tobacco, 1 peice of Blue flannell Cloth —
1 peice of white Linen, 1 peice of Dungaree or Blue drilling, 1 pair of Coarse boots 4 pair of Shoes No
11
1 double barrelled Gun; David Scott wants a Keg of powder 2 bags of Bucke Shot, 1 Doubled Barrell Gun
1 Bll of Flour 1 Bll of Brown Sugar, 1 peice of Bed Ticking 1 pair of Coarse boots, 4 pair of
fine shoes all No
11
1 Box of Soap 4 peices
of Calico for trade purposes to be put separate and directed as herein
described. —
John Mickey
wishes to have 1 Bll
of Bacon &
Bll of Flour; 1 Bll of Sugar, 1 Bll of fish, 1 Box of
Soap, 1 Keg of Powder, 2 Bags of Shot, 2 peices of
Calico for trade purposes— 1 peice of
white linen for shirts bosoms 1 peice of White Cotton Cloth, 12 yds
of Blue flannell, ½ Don Blue Buckets; 1 pair of
Coarse boots 4 pair of Shoes No
9 1
whip saw —. 1 peice of Tip Top Denins—
Washington Mickey
wants 2 blls of Flour 1 Bll of Pork 1 Tunnel Bedstead
1 peice of
Blue Dungaree 1 Tip Top Denins 1 peice
of White Cotton for Shirts 1 peice of Linen 2 peices
of Calico for trade purpose, 1 Cask of Tobacco
3 pair of Shoes No
9 12
yds Blue flannell
— 1 Gun Percusion
Washington Coleman wishes to have 3 Bll of Flour, 2 Casks of
Tobacco 2 Kegs of powder, 2 Bags of Buck Shot,
2 or 3 peices of Calico 1 Bll of Pork,
1 Bll of fish 1 Bll
Sugar
1 box of soap 1 sack of fine Salt, 1 peice white drilling
1 pair of Boots No
10 3 pair of Shoes No
10 1
whip saw
Wilson Coleman 2 pair of Boots No 9, 2 pair of Shoes
1 Roll of Alapacca 1 peice of white Cotton for shirts
2 peices of Calico 1
Roll of Coarse Cotton— Martin
wishes 3 pair shoes No
11 1 Roll of Bleached Cotton
1 Roll of Linen 1 Roll of Cotton Jeanes 1 Roll of Alapacca 3
Sides of shoe leather 1 set of shomakers
Tools 2 sides sole Leather
Allen Coleman 3 pairs of Shoes No 10, — George Walker
and Phil Twine wants each a sack of salt and 3
peices— Wm Douglass wishes
to have — 6 Blls of Flour, 50 lbs of soda, 1 Bll of pork, 3 peices of Bleached Cotton 3 peices of Calico, These persons all are well satisfied and well and wish to
have some money to be sent to Wm Douglass who will tell
you the amount they want &c in his
letter Douglass
wants 1 keg of powder 1 Bag of Buck shot | | Similar Items: | Find |
789 | Author: | Douglass, William | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: William Douglass to Dr. James H. Minor and
Frank Nelson 1857 March 8 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | Dear Sirs I take this opportunity of sending my best regards to you as well
as the family and friends we all got safe
from Virginia to
Liberia
all of us that came to
Carysburgh
are well
Young Barrett had a Slight Bilious attack but is now better, the rest of the
people that we left at the
Cape
have moved to Clay Ashland, so as to be
near their
farm
I now tell you who is dead,
Dick Franklin, and Patrick Mickey
Robinson Scott,
Jacob Twine,
Francis Barrett,
James Scott
Maria Coleman,
Frank Coleman,
Lucy twines Baby
young
Jacob
WBilly Douglass,
Emily Carr, these have all died with the fever
and the rest have all had the fever but are getting better I am sorry to inform you of the death of these persons, I
always thought it imprudent for persons
raised on high lands to settle on the Coast, so I came to this mountain
where I am well as ever, All the boys have wrote
for themselves what they want, When you send what
they have sent for be so good as to send all seperate and different receipts for the same, As I told you when I left we had great difficulty in
selecting our tools, not having a Bill for them,
our Box of Cloth was broke upon and our Cloth was taken out what was left I divided as far it would go The Boys all wish you to send them money as follows The Walkers
want all what is left to be sent and all the rest except Young Barrett wish to have all sent that is left if there is not enough to get what they sent
for please to get such things as they most need, As I
did not know what was coming to me I thought best to mention these
things that I much stand in need off
by referring to the other Letters you will see what we are
doing if there is any money left for me please send
it in
in Tobacco
a Small Caske would be worth a
great deal as Tobacco is worth in trade 50 Cts a lb—
Bacon is worth 25 Cts a lb flour 12 1/2 butter 25 & 37
Eggs 37 1/2 a Dozen fowls 12 & 25 Cts a peice we are
able to get 30 Acres of farm land and a town lot of 1/2 An acre in the new settlement
this is certainly a fine country fine Timber fine soil
and on this mountain a Beautiful Climate
I am delighted with this Country thus far and with industry I think
that any man can get a living, We all have a
good Chance here, we have the worship of God regularly twice a day, we also
have a school which we attend daily & at night so that these 6
months if we dont improve it will be our own
fault,
Mr John Seys is continualy thinking of some thing to
increase our comforts and happiness the
Agent and Superintendent trys to do his part you will direct all things designed for any
of us to
Carysburgh
Mount Fauble Interior
Settlement Care of Mr Saunders A Campion
Agt A.
Cl Sy. and Governor or Superintendent
of the Settlement by these means we will never, get
them this land is very heavy Timbered the
Largest trees I ever
seen the Axes we got are all bro broke but
one, in looking at the Giant trees and our
broken axes we feel bad, but we intend to go on,
we are building a Log Church and School House so that you must
not think that I am idle I now Close this part
Dr Minor my Dear freind please to
rememember my love to dear old Aunt if she is
living tell her I thank God she did not start to
come here as she could never have got here,
this is not the Country for any old People
my wife joins in her kind regards to you I
wish very much to hear from you and let me know how your crops are I close by saying I am thankful to you for
to you all I send my love to every body and shall try to again by
the steamer God Bless you prays your truly | | Similar Items: | Find |
790 | Author: | Douglass, William | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: William Douglass to Reverend W. Slaughter 1857
April 24 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I take this opportunity of writ ing You these few
lines to inform you of the health of my family; and the rest of the
immigrants which came out here with me; there
are only two have had the acclimating fever; Mr. Young
Bar rett and Mr. John Michie,
they only had it slightly I thought there could not be any place in
Af rica
where new comers would build and not—
have the acclimating changes, but I see there
is, men can come on top of this beautiful
mountain, which is 25 miles from the Saint Paul's
River and have but very little fever; If every one that comes here
improved like we have this will be the very spot for immigrants for sev eral years to come. After our arrival in this
place we have put up a neat little log church of which we call Union Church, as every persons who lived in this little settlement are trying to be
one people for the cause of Jesus Christ our
Lord; and since the completion of this church, we have drawn our
lands and every body are trying to build as
fast as they can; I was the first man out of our
number that put up a log house and the
rest are doing the same, and I hope we will try to do what we can if the good Lord's share
is to build up our county. We have written back to Dr. Jas. H. Minor as
you request us to do, for what we want and I did not think to remind him of
putting up our provisions in half a barrels as we have
so far to bring it, so please to tell him to have it done for us and
direct it to Careys Burg and in the care of
the Special Agent the Rev.
John Seys,
we would be very thankful that our little means
which were left behind would be sent to
us in pro visions which would be very good
for all of us. There is no hinderance cause for us to
build in this place if we only can get astart; there can be most everything grows here
that is eatable, and if it is cultivated in a right manner; and, man
will only plant it to grow, I see eddas, cassabas, potatoes
plantains, and many other things, that are too tedious for me to mentioned
now, there was twenty one of my people came
out here to settled and all are at work today,
and the ballance are at the Rec tacle at Monrovia the city of the
Republic, and out of that number 17 have died in
Clayash- land
after they moved from Monrovia, all the
old people excepting one, which
Mrs.
Franklin;
my
wife have improved considerably and also
my daughter
they have not lost one day since we arrived. | | Similar Items: | Find |
791 | Author: | Douglass, William | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: William Douglass to Dr. James H. Minor 1857
August 19 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I am pleased to acknowledge the recipt of you
letter by the ship
M. C. Stevens
which arrived July last; and I learn that she has completed her
voyage on this coast and now is lying in the port of Monrovia on her re turn trip home.
And I am certain you will be pleased to hear from us, as no doubt you are
anscious to know how we are —
where we are — and how we are getting along. 1st We are all doing tolerable Well
in health for there have been only a part of us sick with the fever;
as for myself, I hav never had cause to lie down a day since here I have been, neither
hav any of my family been sick — those who
hav been sick did not suffer as much as was
antis cipated and some of them caused
their sickness by inadvertence in living & otherwise. Dr We are all at Careysburg with the escception of Robinson Scott's family who are still at Clay Ashland, & who I am sorry to say are
much reduced — yet, I rather escpect
the old lady will come here; but her son desires to buy land there with a
small tenement on it at a cost of $100.00. How success
ful he will be, I cannot tell. We have built mine log cabbins, and I am
pleased to say that in our sisc months were up we
were in them and pretty comfortably situated. All of us have our lots
pretty well planted down in potatoes, cassada,
eddoes, tomatoes, lima beans, some coffee trees set out & other
little articles which will do service in our families. Our boys I am happy
to say have up to this time conducted themselves pretty honorably
& I hope their present good character will be their index
through life with farther improvement for use fulness. | | Similar Items: | Find |
792 | Author: | Gurley, Ralph Randolph | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Ralph Randolph Gurley to Dr. James H. Minor
1857 November 4 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | Thanks for your fafavor of the
30th
ult
enclosing a printed letter from William
Douglass. From the health experienced at Careysburg, we derive animating hopes of the salubrity of
the highland Districts of Liberia. I shall
publish in the January Repository Douglass'
letter, with your introductory Remarks. Mr
Mc'Lain informed me that he sent nothing to your people by the
Stevens,
because, without loss he could not buy with Virginia money, & that on the whole, he thought as
well, to postpone sending
until another opportunity. He will
be most happy however to attend to any of your explicit instructions.
He desires me to inquire, when and to what extent, you will feel
authorized to pay sundry orders from the
Terrill
people forwarded by Mr
Seys
? Contributions, at present, are scarcity, & far
between, though we have reason to thank God for notice of one or two Generous bequests. | | Similar Items: | Find |
793 | Author: | Scott, Tibby | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Tibby Scott to Dr. James H. Minor 1858 January
8 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | i drop you thes few lines
i hope you and all of your family are enjoying the
blesing of helth
and my love to them all
i am quit well and soe is my fam ily
at prezen
and thay send thear love to all
i like the country Right wel and
i find it Better than i
exspected and the wether is
quit plesant and
comforttable and we need our warm clothing
here as well as we did in the
states
my helth has bin quite Bad and i have Bin quit sick ofton and
on But thank god my helth
is Better we have great meny and diffrent kinds of
vetgable
grooes here Eudoos and
Cassavdoes
swet
pototoe and
plantin banneanna
and some times rice and corn these
ar our breadstuf and
we have beans and peas cabbag grens
rowpar
ocra
we can rais
cowever and sevrel
kindes of veg talle
Frouits of all kinds grooes
here too fine apples
gaugeous cheeres and oranges
lemmon meat is hard to get her
i did not get eny grocers
ataul but 2 Barrel of
flooer if you Pleas to send me too Barels of pork
one barrel of
fish one barrel of of suggar and box of soap and a keg of Butter and too Barrel of flooer and i than
k you if you [illeg.]
pleas to me some calicoes and gengeams and some [illeg.]
stuf to mak my Boys some
clothes as
aid not have eny come out and
shoes
Milvey ask youe if youe
pleas to send her a white
foorved muslin drees and
pleas to
send a Bonneet and
mantilar and some whit shirting and
some bed tick and a
coun ter pin and my love to all
esspeashly
aunt Rachel
if you pleas to send me
some gardon seds my love to
Willam
and Joe and we all Desire to hear
from and wish for them to wright to me and
Mr Marress
family
thomes and
Brobert send thear love to [illeg.]
Willam
and for Milvy and Mary also hows all the Neigbors | | Similar Items: | Find |
794 | Author: | Harden, Judy | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Judy Harden to Mr. Howell Lewis 1858 January 21 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I agin by tha
healpe of god am abel to
infourm you that i am well at
preasent and I hope theas few lines may find you in tha same
state and all tha rest and i am
glad to say to you that all my family is well we hav not bin sick Since my housban
dide and I have found
Imployment at Cooking for the
Emmigrents at this place
Carysburgh Is a healthy mountian and i was very much disapinted in not giting a Letter from you and i hope on tha next Ship you an
mis Sara lowis
will right and give my love to
all tha Children
and to
ant rachel
and uncle John and tell him that his
Children has not forgot him yet and
federrick
mans I am Sorrow to imform
you that your Sister in law dide aboute
5 mounts ago in ad 1857
Brothers and sisters dont forgit me
bi cause my housban is
did and i look
four some of you to rite to me
befour Long and give my love to
ante franky
and i have got one town lot and thirty
Akers of land for my self and
Children and while i am ann ann thi
aC I rent my lot aught for $3 50 Six mounts | | Similar Items: | Find |
795 | Author: | Scott, Mary | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Mary Scott to Dr. James H. Minor 1858 January
21 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | i Drop you these few lines and i
hope that thay may finde
you and family well as it leaves me at pres ent
and i enjoy good helth at this tim
and My Respects to all enquiring
frendes and to Mrs Mary and Children if you Be pleas
to send mee one Barrel of Bacon and one Barel of flooer one
Barrel of fish a keg of Buter a Barrel of Suggar and if you Be
pleas to send me a Bonnet And a Counter Pin
Pleas to send me a Blue Barage2 Dress and some Lawn and geigem and a Roll of Bleach Cotton and
3 Pair of Shoes and Stocking
is you Please and Ball of
figerd
White Ribbon and if you Pleas Sir to
Direct our letters and things to
Carys Burg
is you Pleas
Sir | | Similar Items: | Find |
796 | Author: | Walker, George | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: George Walker to Dr. James H. Minor 1858
January 27 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I hop
thes lines may find you well as they leave me. I
am very Glad of the Saw you Sent me I am thusin times oblige
to you. also I am blige
to you for all the things you Sent me. I recive
all you Sent to me. but the cloth I sent to you
for I wish you wold
please send me one Soot of Broad cloth
please Send me one role
of Blue Driling one pice
of calco & one pice of lon. one Role of unblich. one pice of fine
cotting for shirten. one
pice of line. please Send me one Dr Book
please Send me four Baptis hym Book.
please Send me one box of tobacc. Send me one cage of nails number
10. one cage of number 4
if
thare is any mony
of for me please
Send it by someone that is coming Right heare. to
this plase
please Send me one barrel of meat. Sister Betty Says please send hea her one Role of unblich cotten & three pareShause number 7. please Send her one white dress. & She Says you must Send them with my things
we Just got our Land since the last Emegrants
come
out
wich is 30 Acrs
we are now fixen to plant
Rice
please give my love to master
Howl Louis
& all his family & Master
Henry Louis
aske him I Says is he marred
yeat or m
no
tell him to write me I have writin to him I do not
no whether he Recive the
letter in or no I my Self
is not yeat
mared
give my love to ant
Rachel at
Musik hall
tell her that I am yeat
Striven to pray for
tha all By the Strangh that
God give me to do it with. I Am doing well an all
the f
family tell
ant Rachel all the Girls Send
thare love to her &
Winslow
tell
ant Rachel that I now
stans in the pulpit to
clas
the Gospel the
liven
the best way I no
how
all you all wich take Goad for
thare
Mast must pray for me when
times gous well
with you. Dr please Send me them
thinges
wich I write to you for I
hop
hapnest & payety will
gide you while on erth you
stay
if we dont meet on erth
no
more I hop we will meet in
heaven,
please
write
also when you writ tell me
whare is unc el
Billy &
Joseph) | | Similar Items: | Find |
797 | Author: | Franklin, Henry; Franklin, Milly | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Henry Franklin and Milly Franklin to Dr. James
H. Minor 1858 January 27 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | pl
please to accepect these
few Lines from me hoping that the Same may find &
you & yours all well. & as to myself & Dear old
mother & Brother Warren &
Little Allis we are all
well. I like the Country very well indeed & have no Desire to
return to A
America.
for we be leve there is no County on the
Earth can Equal it in the world. & now Sir my mother Dear mother wants you Sir if you please to Send her.
or
one barrel of pork.
one bar of Soap. one half barrel of Suger Some Cloth for her Little grand Child. its mother is Dead. named
Rachel man.
& for my mother Some Shoes.
Some Cloth. one barrel of
Mackerel & now Sir for myself. Henry
Franklin. one barrel of pork. one box of soap. one barrel of
Shingleing nals or nails. one barrel of Leaf Tobacco & 2 axes &
2 hoes & Sirs & madam please to give my best &
kindest Love & respects to all my Enquiring friends both while &
Coloured & we write for those
articles because we had no plank from the
Society
1 nor anyese
anythingelse and we Did not
riceived our portion with the rest. we apply to you Sir for the ballence.
which when the articles comes
will be very accepetable
in Deed no more at present | | Similar Items: | Find |
798 | Author: | Twine, Charles | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Charles Twine to Dr. James H. Minor 1858
January 28 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I hope thes lines may find you well as thes leave me 2 pole Axes
tow
grubings
H
hoes one
han Saw. Send tow
cage of nails
no
4
no
10 one Set of knifes &
forks one dusen
tine plats, please send me Barrel of Bacon send me one Barrel of Hearen.
one Barrel of
Crus
Sugar. one cage of Butter one Box of SheseChees. please send me 3 Role of Calco of difrent
kind 1 Role of onblich
cotten one Role of
bleasch cotten
please send me a
patten
of broad cloth the other got
disstroyed by accident
Send me tow black satten ves please Send me one Role of beadticken please send
me a
pladed
cantepin
tow blanket one bead
stide Send me one box of
calafenuas hats of diffrent kind three
cuse
pare brogins
tow pare fine welted shause for Sunday send me Fahler pice & one bag of Duck shauts
please send me box of soap
please send me some fine Pocket hankerchif send me one dusin
sockes send me some flackes
thread 3 hole
bucket I want tow nice Gay silk
hanker chif please send me one
Whipe saw
jamun
stile please send tobacco seedes some of all you have one
hand please send me barrel syrup please send me some saks
to take one or tow bottel of Cast oil send me me some vinager | | Similar Items: | Find |
800 | Author: | Coleman, Martin | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Martin Coleman to Dr. James H. Minor 1858
January 28 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I Hope thes lines may find you well as thes
leaves me
pleas send me one
Boshl of flour one barrel of
Pork one barrel of
Bacon one barrel of leaf tobaco four pair of No 10
shoes one Role of blue
flannel send me a foulen pice send me four Roles of Calico one cage of
molases one cage of shugar one Role of Bleach
cotton one bag of shots one
cage of Powder one
Box of soap send me tow
umbrellas one for me and one for my Wife one
Barrel of corn meal one Box of
sodar
one sack of salt
tow pole
Axes
tow
grubing
hoes one Role of Blue Drilling
tow Pair of Children
shoes
1
No
3
tow pair of Blades one cage of Butter one Role of Kentuckey Janes one set of Tin plates one Dosen of Knive and forkes send me tow
Hounds one cage of nails
no 4 one no
6 | | Similar Items: | Find |
801 | Author: | Barrett, Richard | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Richard Barrett to Elizabeth Lewis 1858 January
28 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I now write in answer to your two letters I received this year, I was glad
to hear from you and all the freinds in that
part of the
Country. I and children are well, and may this
find you and all well and enjoying the bless
ings of kind heaven. I now tells you some thing about Careysburg. This is a fine place and fine country indeed, the
custom of the natives is very good they are docile and friend ly people, I have not seen one hostile one as yet.
Those persons that came out with us, most all living except those you have heard death. If
you pleased to send me 1 Keg of nails, 1
Barrel of Pork, and children
shoes and pair for myself, and two axes, pantaloons stuff 1 piece, 1
piece Calico, 1 grumbling
1 hoes and some of the cheapest of Cloths which is dif ferent kinds of Calico piece of each, 1 Box of soap and two
Bridle Blabes and 1 sett of knives and forks and half dozen of water pails. We
have meetings every Sunday and the
Baptist Association have appointed a young man from
Grand Bassa
Country by the name of F. Roberts to teach us all little and
big who wished to go to school | | Similar Items: | Find |
802 | Author: | Scott, David | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: David Scott to Dr. James H. Minor 1858 January
28 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I am well and I hope this may find you and family in the finest of
health as it leaves me. I Should have written you but time and chance
did not admit. I now must
tele you something about Liberia, this will be a
find country in time to come
all we want is in dustrious men and
religious persons to carry out the object that is design for Liberia. I am now building
a small house on my lot which I hope will be done in short. I think
many of the friends have written
almost everything to you which will interest you, so I will not pick
up many things as they did. Brother Thomas Scott
is dead and I hope he is gone to heaven. Brother Willi am Douglass and family is well and doing well as it can be
expected for we, new persons for this country. Mr. S.
Carr
have build a small house for himself and
family. Mr. Hugh Walker Sr.
have also build and is living in it. If
you pleased to be so kind as to send me, 1 box of leaf tobacco 1 piece of bleached cotton, 1 piece of pantaloons
stuff and two pair of shoes, one pair of coarse and pair fine no.
ll's: half barrel pork and one piece of Caleco. I should written long and more of the news
about Liberia but time is very short
and precious, as I hear the ship will
leave Saturday so you see I cannot say much at this time. My regards
to yourself and family and es pecially to
little Tommy and all the enquiring friends. All
my love to Roda, Caroline,
and
El ly
, to Ann Rachel and I very often think
about her. And all my, to Mr.
H. Lewis
I should like to see him very much but I think about two
years from now I shall try todoso if I should
be spared by the assistant of God Almighty. I
am very glad to hear that you had the very fine wheat crop on the mountain that I sowed for you before
I left
home, I have killed killed 5 deers
since I have been on the mountain one day before I wrote. | | Similar Items: | Find |
805 | Author: | Douglass, William | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: William Douglass to his aunt 1858 January 28 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I am pleased to have the pre- viledge in life
to address this letter to you -& while I am having it
pened, I feel truly sensible of the good
providence of God in pre- serving me with
health & strength & a sound disposal to write. I feel sensible how pleased you will be
to hear from me as well as other friends at my old home & I
pray the Lord that all of you are well & doing well. One so
far off as I am—it may appear upon imagination that I am
almost out of the World. We are all well & myself &
wife join in love to you. Your letter afforded me much pleasure be cause it imparted satisfactory
intelligence about my children. Myself and daughter have the fever
slightly but never laid up a day. My wife have not been laid up a day
neither. David has not been sick at all Poor Thomas is dead. He followed his old
habbits of running about, he went away from home,
and spent some time, and re turned with the
fever lived 8 days and died
Mary is well and hearty, a very fine girld and industrious. Her mother suffered much with the
fever at Clay Ashland-but has improved
considerable. We are living & do as well as we can—and we
are much pleased with our home & country. Though should you
& I live, I expect in a few years to see you again & should
we not live—pray God that we may meet in heaven. | | Similar Items: | Find |
806 | Author: | Coleman, Washington | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Washington Coleman to Dr. James H. Minor 1858
January 28 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | Dear Sir I hop
thes lines may find you well I my self is not
well I have bin
Quit sick but thank God I am Better. do please send me one Barrel of Pork Barrel of Sugar Barrel Flour Bar of
Soap one Broad Ax
Eight yarde cloth three
patten for
vestcets
patten
Role of Bound
linen 3 Role of calico
two
pare
gators
Shouse 3 pare
cast
Shouse 3 grubin hoes
2 pole
Ax cage of Powder Bag
Shot one Gun
folen pice1 Six
Boxis caps
one cardes of
buttens Some fine linen Role
blich cotton one
cage of nails one Role Blue
drilling set of
Kinife & fork I send
my best love to ouncel
Joseph & ouncel
William tell him I have bin very sick
William must tell me how hes
gitten
along
he
have never witen
me Send my love to Dor Minor & all his children Send me one Barrel of tobacco | | Similar Items: | Find |
807 | Author: | Walker, Tarins; Walker, Hugh | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Tarins Walker and Hugh Walker to Dr. James H.
Minor 1858 January 29 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I have never had the chance to write to you but I have try this time to do so. I am well and also, my brother
Hugh
is the same
we hope this may find you in good health, father and
the rest of the family is tolerable and
they send their love to you and all in your family and all in the
place. If you I have received 3 pair
shoes 1 boots axe and 1 blade. If you pleased to send me 1 barrel press pork, two kegs of nails, no. 4
pen ny
no. 10 penny, two hoes grusbling 1 Box of leaf tobacco, 7 yards Broad cloth, pisce of Blue driling 1
pisce Brown linen, 1 piece linen for shirts,
cottons for pants. bottons for shirts, 6 hanks
of silk thread 7 hanks of flax thread, 1 piece
coarse cotton, and 1 piece bleached cotton two
Boxes of soap | | Similar Items: | Find |
808 | Author: | Carr, Mildred | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Mildred Carr to Dr. James H. Minor 1858 January
29 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I take this opportunity of writein you this
lines to inform you that We are all well hopeing
that this may find you and famil enjoying the
same blessings of good
Health now the ship is about to sail for
Virginia & wish to let you know about the
things that you sent me last one peace of Brown jeanes and
one peace of blue cottin
there a small peace of yaller
cottin & nothing more in the way of
clothing as the outher woman
had thay had shoes
stockins & calicoes and I did not think that you sent any more to
them Than you did to me & I can not beleave
outher Ways unless you write me that you did
make That differrance with us dear master
James
Please send me some clothing for my self
&
Children some shoes for me no 7 & a box of soap and some counterpin calico and some calicoes for clothing for my self & children
also we has gotten in our new house jist at Chrismast and it is large
a
enufe for four rooms
Please master send those things as far as the Money will a low please give my love to all the
servants old aunt Rachiel
speshily
Please give my love to Brother Billy
and Joe when you see them dr. as I am quite
busy at this time washing & ironing for the society In deed all the music hall woman
are inployed
by the society at this time nothing more
at this time master James but beleave me
to be your obediant servant | | Similar Items: | Find |
810 | Author: | Scott, Mary | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Mary Scott to Elizabeth Minor 1858 December | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | My Deare I recive your
letter an was glad to her from
you I hope these lines will find well as
these leave me & mother
Elzibeth
I am in Africa
an is well satfid this is
the Country for the
Culore raice My deare I
do wich I could see your fasce again, o, Miss
Elzibeth
most evey thing Grows in this Country
oringes peach
wasnots most very thing. I did
leave
Careys burg
in dec 1858
to go to the fane. I did not
Beleave that it was somany
thing heare in this Country I have ben goin to Choole but I have ben
employed to wait on the amegrant in the Resepticel My Choole
teacher name, Miss
Julet Hazzit.
I have lost my Deare Brother he is dead
he is dead he left a Good
test tamony behind he died happy. very happy indeed
when you write again please write me all the
Strange nose you did write A short letter to me
before please tell
Mrs Sarah Loois
I have
written her an never recive no anser. Give my love to your Mother an Father. Give love to Maly & Roday tell them tha must write
to me
Bety Walker says tell Roday as she did not write me
write before
please rite when the ship return.
Give my love to
An Rachel
tell her I
off time think of her I
give my love to all the frieds Mother send all
love to you all
Mary Jane & Sarah send their love to
Ant Rachel | | Similar Items: | Find |
811 | Author: | Douglass, William | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: William Douglass to Dr. James H. Minor 1859
January 26 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | you Kind Letter Came to hand & it gave me
much pleasure to hear from you & Famly
& that you are all
Well
theas Lines Leaves my Self
& Famly
injoying
Reasinable health I have had the
feaver, but have Chills at times but Still
able to tend to Bisness I am Somtimes working
at the camp in town work other times on my lott
& as to the happyness of the Rest
& how
the will get a Long I cannot
say yet as
the are only getting on thair
farms but Can Say for my Self that I apprehend no fear as Regards my
Self if I have my health I have beanSelling Potatoas at
$100 pr Bushel beside what I use for my Famly. I have Coffee in Bloom & also a
Small Crop of tobacco. The Seed was Sent to
yong Barret
& by Sowing at dif ferant
times have found out the propper time to Plant,
it grows as well as Nair
ground tobacco I am cureing
Sume the Longest Leaves ware 27 inches Long & 13 inches in weadth but this Land being high I think it will do better in the
Low Land, but fear we can rais no Seed as
thair is a small incect that
get on it when in full Bloom, that will destroy the Seed. when the Ship Returns pleas
Send me Some of the White Stem Seed tobacco
our Farm Land is Low Bottom Land, & will be
more suteable for the Cultevation of all Seeds I am happy
to Say to you that all the things Sent by you Came Safe to the Per sons
the ware sent according to the Bill of
Laden sent by Mr Nelson.
The
Clay Ash land
party had all Come hear Except
Duglss Scott
& I went down my Self & had the things devided & his Portion left for him at the
Depot the Freight was
$40 00 Dollars for Bringing the things from
monrovia
to the Depo the Duty on the goods was
$1.80 So that the $200.00 did not pay the
Expence & in concequence of no invoice of the goods it is thought thair is an
an over Charge of Money & wish
you to be Sure & Send the invoice of Goods Bought &
Shiped that is the amount Sent out in Goods the Letters that you may Receive now will
be from the par ties as thay are tending to thair own
Bisiness
Sepperately I shall only write for my Self & what Ever Balance is to be Sent
I hope that you will Send it I do not Expect
any thing more I am sattisfied I am sattisfied with what I have got but should thair be any thing send me 2 flannel shirt & the Balance in grocerys as thair is dis sattisfaction
amon the other parties I have nothing to do with
& havefent not put my Name to no paper What
Ever Except my own
Letter we are getting along
well the place is improveing the
Popu lation at preasant is one hundred & fifty 1.50
our prospects are fine we fine Agent Mr Paxton I spent a faw days at Monrovia
in December & I tell you
the do things up Lik you
White People & I am happy
to say to you that I am a Justice of the Peice I am Lerning to Write 1 but not able to send you a letter yet | | Similar Items: | Find |
813 | Author: | Southall, Adeline | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Adeline Southall to Dr. James H. Minor 1859
February 17 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I Receive the things you sent & thank you kindly I got the half of the things you sent the Calico & Flannel & Shues & Stockings & my sister Lucy got the other half I wish you would Send me a Keg o
Flouring nails & Brod Axe & Sume Door hinges
& anything you have money to get them with
I have my Lot Cut down & want to put up a House as I have no
place of my own I am Cooking for the
Society
now but do not know how Long & would Like to have my
own House to go into
Pleas to Send Some Bead
ticken & Sume blue Cotton
& Cloths for
Horras
1 & a hat 2 Peices
muslin 1 ps
unbleched one
do
Bleach 1 Box Soap as it is Scarce hear
I would like to have Sume
Hank enchiefs
Sume Cotton & Sume
Linnen & a pair Shues
for
Horras
Please Send Sume Leaf tobacco
& a Piece a
Calico
give my Love
Sister Susan that I am well & Like the
Country very well
Horras
is well & goas to School
Evary Day
give my Love to my Husband Henry Southhall & tell him I am not married yet
& miss him
vary much & Like him to come out Please Send me a Door Lock & Pad Lock | | Similar Items: | Find |
816 | Author: | Coleman, Margaret | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Margaret Coleman to Dr. James H. Minor 1860
January 19 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I write you these lines to inform you of my health which is quite
well at present.. I hope these lines will
find the Same.. Give my beset respects to Father.. Please Send
me Some Nailes.
no.. 6 & no
8.. I have nor
house.. I recive.. 1 pare
Shouese from you. I wold
thank you for you to send one
keag of Powder.. &.
1. kage of
[illeg.]
fish.. Please Send me Some calco.. & Some blue denims
ed.. Please Send 2 par
shuese Gators & fifty lbs of Tobacco.. One Box of
Soap. half barrel of Flour ½ Flour
& Sugar the
thengs I Sent for please Send
she
them to me, Becaus I have all the
children with me & this country is hard
please send me one Ax &
2 hoes | | Similar Items: | Find |
818 | Author: | Twine, Charles | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Charles Twine to Dr. James H. Minor 1860
January 19 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I write you these lines to inform you of my health which is quite well
& hope these will find you the same. I recive the meshesed you sent me
& I understan
that you was in sulted about the letter I send you but Deare Sir I did not
meane to insulte you. I
was very glad to hear that your family was well
& your
peopel was well
if you aras insulted Sir I aske your parden When you
see my sister please tell her howdy for me. tell her if I never see her on erth I
hop to meet her in heaven whose
perstin will be no more
Lucy &
Adline
send thare best respects hear
tell Susan she must excuse me for not writing to
her but I will write her on the next Ship Myself & will will send you some mony
the reason I write before
twas because I thugh I had
some money there but if I have none I will stop
writen
over those to you I heard that some
of the peopel have some things come but I
have not recive anything as yeat
if I have anything else home Please send it to me
in
me
ennything you see proper
tell
Aunt rachel Hardy for
me &
auncel John
&
Sadey Brackston & Caroling Brackston
&
Noley
Sharps
tell sadey & Courotiny tha mus write me | | Similar Items: | Find |
819 | Author: | Scott, Tibby and Scott, Mary | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Tibey Scott and Mary Scott to James H. Minor
and Elizabeth Minor 1860 January 19 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | Deare Sir I write you these lines to inform you of
my health wich is quite well. I hope these lines
will find you all well in health. My Best respects to Joseph Tarel
William Tarel
Mr Thomas Estres
family
Liess
Harris
family & Julia A
Ann Haliaday & her servient
&
saddy
in particular My children all is well
Mary & Milred
& Robert & Thomas Send thar best love to you all.
we
lik the country very well
our littel town are inproven very much with amegrants at
this time. Both of the Boys gos to chule we have the pleasur of
goin to church three times as week.
our pastur is a
pastur from
Richmond
I received the thing you sent
us 3 pare of
shoes, 1 keg of [hole in ms.]
you have ay thing els to
send me please send me some cloth for my boys such as cotton cloth to make
for &
any thing
els you think we stand need of & some white
cloth. Mr Minor
fare well fare well
if we never meet on erth no mor I hop to meet you in
heaven whare partin will be no more | | Similar Items: | Find |
820 | Author: | Walker, Hugh | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Hugh Walker to Dr. James H. Minor 1860 January
20 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I take my pen in hand To drop you a few lines to let you know that I am
well and I hope these lines may find you the same,
my family are tolerably well with the excetions of
Sally
she has an ulcer on her foot for the last two years,
it is so that she can first hop to school at this time,
Mary Jane
beky
Sally and Taylor have
all had very bad ulcers but they are all well but Sally's I am some time so ignorant as to believe if you had
been present that you would have cured them.
long ago I received a cag of
nails which I was very much oblige to you for the only
thing is a box of hardware at the depot which we have not received yet but
we don't know what is in it yet I learned from
Wm Douglass
letter that you have been advised what to do with the children's
money I believe that the advise is very good in some things but as my circumstances is
otherwise fixed im advise according to
things I have six upon my hands to provide
bread for them and myself and clothes and shoes
if you have any means you must please send them some
clothing,
betty
says is you have any money for her please send
it in money, my children send their love to
Aunt rachel
and to
roda
and
nelly,
and to
mr. and mrs. howe lewis,
My respects to you No more at present but
remains yours respectfully | | Similar Items: | Find |
821 | Author: | Harden, Julia | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: Julia Harden to Dr. James H. Minor 1860 January
20 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | As the Ship
M. C. Stevens
are about to sail for the United States I
avail myself of the opportunity to write you a few lines as I have
written two or three times but up to the present time I have not
received no answer to Either of my letters which I cannot account
for I have thought perhaps they may have gotten
misplaced is why I again have attempted to write you again which I
trust will reach you. Permit me to request of you to send me some
things which I greatly needs
please to Send me some cloths Suitable for to
make some dreses for myself & Daughter
& Some pantloon Stuff for my boys
& a peices of white clothe & some sewing cotton & a dozen Ladies
Shoes & a dozen Linen Hankerchiefs
& Some Bed ticking & Some Shoes for myself &
daughter Say a couple of pair Each,
these things I would be happy to get by the Ship
on her return. My respects to yourself & family this leaves me well with all my children my respects to old aunt
Racheal If alive. please to reply by the return of the Ship. | | Similar Items: | Find |
825 | Author: | Douglass, William | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: William Douglass to Dr. James H. Minor 1865
August 15 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I seat myself once more to write you to in-
form you that I am still with my family in the land among the
living, for which I am more than thankful to God. I can truly say
that the Lord has been good to us since we have been in this land in
sparing our lives. My daughter instead of the little girl I brought
with me is now taller than her mother. She has grown much indeed
and with her mother is enjoying good health. It has been now about 4
years since I have heard from you and I must say I am over axious to hear from you once more— more so since I
heard the war is about over. It must indeed have been dreadful
to be in a land as America has been for the last four years—
covered with all the horrors of war. But I hope it will not be long
ere peace shall again be de clared and when the sound of the battle
shall no more be heard. In your last letter you requested me when I
write to inform you how I was
am getting along. At present I am
doing pretty well. I am paying the mass of my attention to the
growing of cane of which I have about 8 acres. I made this year 8000 pounds of sugar which was
said to be the best made around here. It is true that it is a new
country, and we have many hardships to un-
dergo, but by God's blessings and an effort on one's side he
can get along. Here I have realized the meaning of the words: Sitting
under one's
own vine and fig tree and none
daring to molest or make afraid. The only thing that grieves me, is
that I cannot enjoy it with my children. were
they with me I should be perfectly satisfied. To be so far separated
from them is indeed an afflic- tion hard
to bear. | | Similar Items: | Find |
826 | Author: | Douglass, William | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Liberian Letters: William Douglass to a Friend 1866 January 29 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | UVA-LIB-Liberianletters | | | Description: | I take this opportunity of writing these few lines trusting they may
find you well, and family, as I am quite
well, I have been very anxious of hearing from
you I has written you four letters during the
war and could hear nothing which made me very anxious to hear from
you, I could not tell whether you was dead or
alive. Please to let one hear from you as early as possible and also
let me your condition and your country's. I would like to come over
but and had proposed doing so,
but at this time I am very busy in sugar making & farming and
cannot well leave, Last year I made 8000 pounds
of sugar, and I expect to make a great deal more with the Small
machinery I have this year, I Sold last year's for $60 thousand. 1 I am also acting as agent for the Am. Col.
Society for this last emigra tion that
came from Lynchburg here
Dec. 14th 1865, which keeps me very busy
I therefore am oblige to give up the
idea of coming as I proposed this march, but the pastor of our Church
Albert Woodson is coming over in march and I expect him to call and
See you and all the friends in that district for me.
please answer this as Soon
as you can
to this as I may know all about you
and if you are alive and all respecting you as I am longing to hear a
word from an old friend as you. Also inform me something about my
Children I could hear nothing from them
neither during the war though I has often written them, but I chance
to hear mention of them in a letter to George
Walker from Mrs Reeves that two was dead
and one she never mention her name at all
Julia, which made me very unhappy. In
1861 when Dr. Hall was over
here last I gave him $20 — in gold and a receipt for the Same was inclosed to you in a letter. requesting you to draw it from him and give it to my
children but the war broke out before he could arrive to America and I
have heard nothing about it Since. I and family
is doing well here and are well, And I feel very proud that myself and
family may be an example for those that
may hereafter come to this country of Industry.
I must close for the present untill I hear
from
you, Make our love and regards
to your family and all inquiring friends | | Similar Items: | Find |
827 | Author: | Alexander, Charles | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to George H. Robinson, 27 November 1867 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Description: | You will receive
per Stmr. Wanasit 43 Bags containing
64 Bus: Corn Shipped by John Mason
/coloured/ also 13 Bags Containing Bus.
Corn Shipped by James Beverly /coloured.
There are seven bags remaining of the lot
sent down by you yesterday which will
be filled with corn and sent to you by
Wanasit on Sunday next, sent shipped to you by
William Robertson /coloured/ who requests
me to ask you to send him Twenty /20/ bags
by the Boat on friday next to hold the balance
of the corn he has on hand, John Mason
wishes you to sell his corn and retain
the money in your hands until he calls
for it —
William Robertson wishes you to sell
to sell his corn and pay the money to
John Mason. | | Similar Items: | Find |
828 | Author: | Brooke, B. S. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to John T. Blake, November 1859 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Description: | I am happy to inform you of my
safe arrival in this place, found all well
and glad to see me.
I have nothing of importance to communicate
the times seem hard, money scarce, but not
quite so bad as in Greenbrier for here you can
get plenty to eat for the money—and at rather
reasonable prices. I see by the paper this
morning that Cook has been convicted —
Stevens has been handed over to the
U.S authority
and will doubtless be tried in Staunton.
There is considable excitement ment here in
reference to this insurrection. Many persons
are selling, and sending their negros to
the South.
My kindest raguards to your Mother & Sister
I have no news to give you. I read none
I thought I would write you a line to let
you know of my safe arrival — Love to —
all | | Similar Items: | Find |
829 | Author: | Brown, Charles Brockden | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to John Hall, Philadelphia, November 21,
1806 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Description: | I should deserve to be entirely discarded from your good opinion
if I did not take an early opportunity of replying to your last
kind letter just received. I sincerely hope you will not allow a
negligence which is constitutional & impartial which
has lately found some excuse in the pressure of a good deal of
business, to exclude me from your friendship. I will not
promise to do better for the future, because the strongest
resolutions are sometimes unavail=ing, & promises unexecuted
are only covert insults. | | Similar Items: | Find |
830 | Author: | Cabell, William D. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from William D. Cabell to his brother Joseph [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Description: | Your very interesting letter came safely
to hand and I expected to reply to it by last mail but was
prevented from so
doing and must now do what I have so long neglected doing. But
first to our busineſs: a letter of Mrs. Carrs arrived by the
same mail that yours did and that has all been attended to; a draft
has been for-warded to her for $75 on your aſc in payment of
your bill with her for the last half of your last seſsion
with her as boarder &c. No doubt the bill is all correct. You
are charged with wood also — but credited only by $20.
This renders it neceſsary to curtail my remittance to you and
therefore enclosed you have one draft for $75 being as much as I
could well remit you at present. I hope it may answer your
purposes for the present. The draft will paſs for money with
any accommodating merchant who has opportunities to present it. | | Similar Items: | Find |
831 | Author: | Child, Lydia Maria Francis, 1802-1880 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to John Sullivan Dwight, 1844 April 23 | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Description: | It would be uninteresting to recount the
manifold little hindrances, which have delayed my an-
-swer to your refreshing and most welcome letter. Suffice
it to say, that it has not been because I do not always
carry the memory of you in my heart. You are one of
the few whom I want to go into heaven with, and stay
near forever. Your letter exhilerated me like a
shower-bath. It made me feel more cheerful and strong
for weeks after. I am glad my letter about Ole Bulbul
found such an echo in your soul. It is a proof to me that
I struck a chord in the "everlasting chime". If I did
say "the very best thing that was ever said about music",
it must have been Ole Bulbul's violin that told it
to me. You, unfortunately, know so much,
that this Shakespeare of the violin may not delight you
as he did me. I have known nothing like it, in my ex-
-perience of pleasure. Perhaps none but the ignorant
could feel such a rush of uncriticising, overwhelming
joy. Connoisseurs give the palm to Vieux Temps; but
I persist in my belief that France made him, and
Mr. Child is still at Washington, or he would send a
heart full of kind remembrance.
God made Ole Bull. I have certain theories about the
nations, which makes it difficult for me to believe that
France ever goes very deeply into the heart of things,
though her mechanism of all the external of man and
of society is most perfect. The application of this theory
may, of course, be very unjust to individuals. Shall I
confess my weakness ? I am not quite willing to be con-
-vinced that the genius of the French minstrel equals
that of the Norwegian. I can not explain exactly why;
except that my imagination has anointed and crowned
Ole Bull king of the realms of sound, and is willing to
admit no rival. | | Similar Items: | Find |
832 | Author: | Child, Lydia Maria Francis, 1802-1880 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Samuel Stillman Osgood, 1842 | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Description: | This is the young
friend of whom I spoke to you.
His inclination to cultivate your
art is very strong, and he has in-
-telligence, quickness of perception,
and it appears to me an uncommon-
-ly correct eye for outline. | | Similar Items: | Find |
833 | Author: | Child, Lydia Maria Francis, 1802-1880 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Frances Locke, n.d. [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Description: | In looking around my humble little
parlour for some memento of our cottage to bestow upon
you, I could think of nothing more appropriate than my
perfectly proportioned inkstand and arrowy pen. They
have little value in themselves, but they come from one
whose heart is full of sincere affection for you.
God bless you, my dear young friend, and preserve
that pure simplicity of character, which makes you
such a diamond in the desert of this pretending world. | | Similar Items: | Find |
835 | Author: | Child, Lydia Maria Francis, 1802-1880 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Lucy Ann, April, 1878 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Description: | It would be
more proper to write Dear Miſs
Brooks; but, in memory of the old
times, when I called you Mam'selle
Sac, such an address seems too
formal. Moreover, it does not
represent the affectionate feelings
with which the memory of you is
surrounded. So, though we are both
white-headed, let the girlish epithet
remain. We are both children in
heart. | | Similar Items: | Find |
837 | Author: | Child, Lydia Maria Francis, 1802-1880 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Mr. Higginson, 1859 July 4 | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Description: | I am sorry I wrote
to you about feeling lonely; for from what
I hear, I judge that it troubled your kind
heart. Now I beg leave to inform you that
cheerfulness is my normal condition. I am
too busy doing all sorts of things, to find
much time to be lonely. Then my passion
for cultivating flowers is so intense, and
my interest in the habits of every little
bird and beast is so amusing, that I
seldom lack company. | | Similar Items: | Find |
838 | Author: | Cocke, Chas. H. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Chas. H. Cocke to M. Louise Cocke, Nov. 3, 1895 [a
machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Description: | I am very much obliged for your kind
letter. The University fire was a great shock to me.
It haunted me night & day at first. I felt & feel as though
a temple had been profaned. No loyal alumnus can
fail to feel a personal loss. If the alumni's ability
equaled their inclinations, I feel sure the work
of restoration would be but a matter of time, and
that the shortest necessary. The limitations of poverty in
such crises are most sorely felt. What a pleasure it
would be to be able to give a million straight down
at once to restore and re-equip the buildings,
in such order and style as the authorities might
deem best! As it is, while my heart was full and
my purse empty, I had to force back the words that
rushed forward for expression of my sympathy &
sorrow and content myself with sending Dr. Thornton
a meagre declaration of my willingness to do anything
in the power of an impecunious alumnus! I knew
he would be deluged with telegrams & letters, so I was brief. | | Similar Items: | Find |
843 | Author: | Knowes, Edward C. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Mrs. Fannie Grimes, March 2, 1871 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Description: | The sisters of one Henry. R. Brooks, deceased Pvt of Company
"G"
23d
U.S. Colored Troops having made a Claim
against the U.S. Government for the Bounty &c
due the above named soldier, it is necessary
for the claimants to furnish evidence of two persons
who write showing that the said soldier left
surviving him no widow, child, or children,
father, mother, brother, or sister other than the
applicants,=Julia Washington, Luberta and
Jane Brooks,=and that said named sisters
and the deceased soldier were children of the
same mother | | Similar Items: | Find |
845 | Author: | Mead, William R. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from William R. Mead to Dr. Barringer, Nov. 5, 1895; [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Description: | Your letter of the
29th was received at the
office while I was on the
ocean returning from Europe,
which will account for my
not answering it immediately.
I presume matters have taken
such shape in the meantime
that I can only say how
much we all regret the
calamity which has befallen
the University in the loss of
a building that was one
of the architectural monuments
of the country—and our hope
that its reconstruction has
fallen into reverent hands-
It would indeed be a
misfortune if some one tries
to be original and improve
on what has gone before—ex
cept perhaps as to interior
arrangement— If no final
arrangements have been made
we can only say we should
consider it an honor to be
associated with the work
and apart from our actual
expense should not consider
the money side of the matter.
These expenses from our past
experience would amount
to about 3 per cent on the
expenditure. | | Similar Items: | Find |
846 | Author: | Pleasants, James | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from James Pleasants to Frank Smith, Oct. 28, 1895 [a machine-readable
transcription] | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Description: | Yesterday was truly a
day of days; of sympathi-
zing sorrow & overwhelming
sadness with us all. Besides
the terrific blow that fell on
dear Robert Stiles in the
death of his daughter Lelia,
who died in the morning at
8 o'clock, there next came
upon us the crushing news that
the dear old University was
in flames and doubtless
doomed to destruction! I
need not attempt to describe
our misery and anxiety.
All day long was spent in
eagerness, & melancholy, about
the University's fate. I hardly
have ever known more excite-
ment in our Community, and
as the day wore on & the news
became sadder & sadder, we
felt as if the loss of the
beloved old Rotunda and
Public Hall, with its priceless
contents, would be felt as the
most irreparable of disasters,
and saddest of blows. I
thought of you very often
& those invaluable treasures;
and especially of your lecture-
room & its apparatus. | | Similar Items: | Find |
848 | Author: | Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Edgar Allan Poe to Thomas White, 1835 July 20 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Description: | I duly
recd:
both your letters (July 14
th & 16th) together with
the $20 dollars. I am indeed grieved to hear that your health has not
been
improved by your trip I agree with you in thinking that too close
attention to business has been instrumental in causing your
sickness: | | Similar Items: | Find |
849 | Author: | Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Edgar Allan Poe to John Allan, Esquire, 19 March 1827 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Description: | After my treatment on yesterday and what
passed between us this morning, I can hardly think you
will be surprised at the contents of this letter. My determi-
nation is at length taken to leave your house and
endeavor to find some place in this wide world, where I
will be treated—not as you have treated me—
This is not a hurried determination, but one on
which I have long considered—and having so
considered my resolution is unalterable—
You may perhaps think that I have flown off
in a fashion, & that I am already wishing to
return; But not so—I will give you the
reasons which have actuated me, and then
judge— | | Similar Items: | Find |
850 | Author: | Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter, Edgar Allan Poe to John Allan, 20 March, 1827 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Description: | Be so good as to send me my trunk
with my clothes—I wrote to you on yesterday explain
-ing my reasons for leaving—I suppose by my
not receiving either my trunk, or an answer to
my letter, that you did not receive it—I am
in the greatest necessity, not having tasted food
since yesterday morning. I have no where to
sleep at night, but roam about the streets—
I am nearly exhausted—I beseech you as you
wish not your prediction concerning me to
be fulfilled—to send me without delay my
trunk containing my clothes, and to lend if
you will not give me as much money as
will defray the expence of my passage to
Boston. ($12) and a little to support me there
untill I shall be enabled to engage in some
business. I sail on Saturday—A letter
will be received by me at the Court House
Tavern, where be so good as to send my trunk | | Similar Items: | Find |
851 | Author: | Allan, John | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter, from John Allan to Edgar Allan Poe, 1827 March 20 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Description: | your letter of Monday was received this
morning, I am not at all surprized at any step
you may take, at any thing you can say, or
any thing you may do, you are a much
better judge of the propriety of your own conduct
and general treatment of those who have had the charge
of your infancy I have watched with parental
solicitude & affection over your tender years
affording you such means of instruction as was
in their power & which was performed with
pleasure until you became a much better judge
of your own conduct, rights & priviledges, than
they, it is true: I taught you to aspire, even to
eminence in Public Life, but I never expected
that Don Quixotte. Gil
Blas: Jo; Miller & such
works were calculated to promote the end | | Similar Items: | Find |
852 | Author: | Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter, Edgar Allan Poe to John Allan, September 21, 1826 | | | Published: | 1999 | | | Description: | The whole college1
has been put in great consternation
by the prospect of an examination—
There is to be a general
one on the first of December, which will occupy the time
of the students till the fifteenth —
the time for breaking up —
It has not yet been determined whether there
will be any diplomas, or doctor's degrees given — but
I should hardly think there will be any such thing,
as this is only the second year of the institution &
in other colleges three and four years are required
in order to take a degree — that is, that time is
supposed to be necessary —
altho they sometimes
confer them before — if the applicants are qualified. | | Similar Items: | Find |
854 | Author: | Randolph, W.C.N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from W. C. N. Randolph to A. Gordon, Jan. 13, 1896 [a machine-readable
transcription] | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Description: | I enclose you some papers
that will be rather a shock to you but that
will speak for themselves. It makes me
more and more convinced that we can't
safely undertake this task which is upon
us without having a thoroughly trained
inspector and not only that but a supervising
architect. Men who will be entirely in
our interests and who will be paid by
ourselves and who will be making us
frequent reports. Neither Thornton or Echols
are fit for this sort of thing; they haven't
the practical experience nor are either of
them very practical men. We ought to
take the whole affair out of the hands of
the buildings and grounds, except as
to the transference of money. As you are
probably aware I have been very much
dissatisfied with the character of the work
that has been done in the reconstruction
of the two terraces, but being very distrustful
of my own knowledge of such things I
could never shape it in such a way as to
prove to myself that I was not making a
mountain of a mole-hill. The whole thing
has made me right sick. If we are to
undertake this work with an architect who
makes all sorts of errors in his strain sheets;
with a superintendent like Echols, who has
not verified any calculations; and another
superintendent like Thornton who accepts
the architects loose ideas of weights and
strains and deems safe what, when brought
to the tables of experienced facts, proves to be
unsafe and another superintendent like
the venerable Rector who has neither the
time nor the tables nor probably the
capacity to make reliable calculations the
result will be that you and McCabe
will be damned and properly damned for
the balance of your lives and the
venerable Rector will probably be hung &
properly hung. As you may remember as
I said before may Heaven bless all
mixed Committees and save me the
trouble of having so far to force my
conscience as to bless them. Do pray
burn this letter; it is written in such
bad temper. I started in good humor
enough but as the thing has worked
upon me my gall has risen. I shall
expect you on Friday and you and I and
McCabe must talk these things over where
we can do it without any feeling that we
are treading upon other peoples toes and possibly
finding fault where fault is not due.
Send the papers back to me at once please.
Mr. McDonald has not turned up here
yet but we are expecting him every day. | | Similar Items: | Find |
855 | Author: | Randolph, W.C.N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from W.C.N. Randolph to Mr. Gordon, Jan. 24, 1896 [a machine-readable
transcription] | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Description: | I enclose you a letter
from McCabe to myself and a copy of my
reply thereto. I hope that you will give it
a good deal of thought. To my mind it
is exceedingly important. I received yours
this morning. I am glad to hear the good
account that Colonel Cutshaw and Colonel
Douglas give of Mr. Whitely; and still with
the impression that Thornton and Echols
have, it might be dangerous to appoint him.
This question of an Inspector is filled with
many difficulties. General Craighill advises
that we should leave the whole matter
to the architect; Green Peyton who you & I
trust very much thinks an Inspector would
be a mistake; and yet I am perfectly certain
that we ought to have somebody in charge of
this work on behalf of the University. In fact
in any building at the University there
should be someone, an officer of the Institution,
who would be responsible for it. Suppose
Green Peyton were Superintendent of Buildings
and Grounds, how much trouble would you
and I give ourselves about this matter? Not a
bit! So I come to the point. Our Superintendent of
Buildings and Grounds who is one of the
finest fellows in the world, and a man of
splendid intellect, is from habit, character of
mind, and training, unfit for his position.
He takes no interest in it; never can be
found and is not doing his duty. Now I am
not writing this with any harshness at all.
I am just stating to you what I know to be
facts. In addition, the Superintendent of
Buildings and Grounds is the proper
Inspector of the work that goes ont at the
University and if he was the best one in the world,
he ought not to hold the dual position of
member and servant of the Building Committee.
I think, if you all two agree with me, that the
solution of this matter is an easy one. I
am satisfied that Echols is more than
willing to give up the place as Superintendent;
that he intends to do so at the end of the
session and that he would be glad to do it
now. Then it seems to me, that the wisest thing
we can do is to select with great care an
Inspector and when the Board meets let us then
accept Mr. Echols' resignation and I think I can
arrange that it will be offered, and let us
select an appointee as Inspector Superintendent
of Buildings and Grounds. This seems to me to do
away with all the objections to the appointment of
a special Inspector. Now I myself, would be
perfectly willing to take blindly and I don't I
often say that, any man that H.D.
Whitcomb, Colonel Cutshaw and Colonel Douglas,
from a professional stand-point, knowing
these facts, would recommend to us. Think
this matter over; we cant take Thornton
into our confidence about it. In the first
place, no man can ever tell when he has an axe
to grind for himself and then every thing filters
through him to the Faculty and leads to lack
of harmony between us. Mr. Davis came to
me about the Ott matter today. I want to
have a talk to you and McCabe about it
when you come over. Please give this matter
of Inspector a great deal of thought. I am
perfectly satisfied that the master-wheel
of this reconstruction machinery is sound;
but there is a grating cog in a wheel
that will be always worrying us and may
bring us to a disgraceful break-down. Mary
tells me to say to you, that if you come
over on Saturday morning you must bring
Margaret with you and let her spend the
day with the baby. However, you must come
on Friday evening as we must have a long
talk. | | Similar Items: | Find |
856 | Author: | Randolph, W.C.N. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from W.C.N. Randolph to Mr. McCabe, June 22, 1896
[a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Description: | A knowledge of your
intention to visit Great Britain
this summer has induced me to
request that you will undertake
a matter for the University of Va.
By the recent fire, as you are
aware, our library was almost a
total loss; to replace our buildings
lost at the same time has strained
our finances to the utmost. We
will have a sum left totally
inadequate to supply our need of
books — Our sister institutions
in this country aided us from
their own libraries to the extent
of their power. It has occurred
to me that Oxford and Cam-
bridge actuated by the same
motives of kinship and interest
might aid us in getting the
syndicates that control the Claren-
don and Pitt presses to turn over
to us some of their publications
as a donation. | | Similar Items: | Find |
857 | Author: | Smith, Mary Stuart | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Mary Stuart Smith to Rosalie Thornton, May 3, 1896 [a
machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Description: | I have been
wanting to write to you ever so long, but
will not take up limited time and space
with uninteresting excuses. I have simply
overburdened myself, and have to cry
"Mea Culpa!" in regard to many,
many omissions of duty. I know you
will be glad to hear that I got old
Mr Cummings again at work upon
our sections in the cemetery & it
looks so neat and clean, walks
all around it, included, that I
only wish you could see it before
the summer drought spoils everything.
Of course I had to resow grass seed,
for it just seems as if grass will not
retain its hold there, on account of
too much shade and the inevitable
summer droughts. | | Similar Items: | Find |
859 | Author: | Thornton, W. M. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from W. M. Thornton to Carter Thornton, April 14, 1896; [a
machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Description: | I sent off a long
letter to mamma on yesterday. Tonight
I hear that her second draft has come
and so I shall scratch this note off
for you and begin to think that you
are really coming home again, when
the money for your steamer tickets has
to be sent on. I shall surely be glad
to see you. The two troubled, sorrow-
ful years seem very long and very lone-
ly and I wonder now that I could
brave a second and a worse one after
the unhappy first. Today real dig-
ging began for our new buildings.
The other contracts are not yet let out
and will not be until May. But it
makes us all feel more cheerful to have
any actual work going on. Jack had
a card from Mrs. Stapleton this even-
ing announcing her safe arrival at
Hamburg. She is with you long since,
of course, and you have extracted all
her news. I trust she is more cheerful
under the German skies and that
the climate and life will be good
for her. She is fond of music and
will enjoy that, I know; and I think
she will be glad to be with your
mamma and Janet once more. Is
it not queer how your mamma's
little canary has perked up since
he got home? He never sang a note
from the day he left the UVa on his
journey to Montana. A few days
after I got him back I heard him
apparently trying his throat, and
now he wakes me almost every
morning, warbling away as soon as the skies brighten—
not so sweetly as of old, but still real singing again. He
would be a little buzzard, however, if he did not sing now.
The Spring is fairly opening, the air is soft and mild, and
the mocking birds are fluting away for dear life. This little
fellow is ashamed to be left out of the concert. I shall
send your mamma two announcements which will inter-
est and amuse her — one of Becnel's graduation as Doc-
tor of Medicine at the Tulane (I told her of meeting him
there) — the other of Mayberry's marriage to Miss Rhett
of Charleston. I think that is doing pretty well for both
of our old friends. The Dramatic Club had to postpone
their Easter entertainment because of Jennie Randolph's
illness. They telegraphed for Lizzie Harrison to take her place
and Lizzie is to come; but she will need some time to learn
the part and rehearse thoroughly and so the play was put
off for two or three weeks. Mary Stuart went off yesterday
to Roanoke on a visit and to be for a time under her Uncle
Willie's professional care. The poor little child looks badly
and I am afraid no doctor can do a great deal for her.
Her cheerfulness and high spirit are undaunted however;
she is always bright and gay and full of interest in life.
Dearest love to all of you from the Doc up to mamma. Write me
a line when you can. We are all well, and the various invalids of
our community are all doing nicely. | | Similar Items: | Find |
860 | Author: | Thornton, John T. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from John T. Thornton to Mrs. E. Rosalie Thornton, Oct. 27, 1895 [a
machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Description: | I write to let you know of a most
fearful calamity which has befallen the dear old
University. This morning I heard cries of fire and
found that the Annex was in flames. Everyone
was running to the Rotunda and soon a large
crowd was assembled. No water could be gotten as
high as the flames, only a miserable little stream
of water about six feet in length came from the
hose when at the level of the ground. In response
to telegrams, Lynchburg and Richmond sent
their engines by special trains, but the Lynchburg
engine was delayed in the road and did not
arrive within an hour of the expected time.
I received a telegram from Richmond when the
fire had been almost put out & wired back not
to send the engine. Their was nothing to do but
to try to keep the fire from Buckmaster's and
Tuttle's houses and to save all that was within
the Rotunda and annex. They tried to blow
up the portico between the Annex and the
rotunda in the hope that, if the engine should
arrive in time, the lib Rotunda might be saved
But all to no purpose. Soon the flames had gained
possession of the Rotunda and nothing is now
left standing but the bare and ruined walls.
The boys worked like fiends to save all that was
possible. Kent estimates that only 1/10 of the books
was saved but he is wrong—In my opinion at
least 1/3 or over were saved. The Austin Collection was
lost entirely. The statue of Jefferson, Minor's bust,
the pictures were saved in fairly good condition.
The School of Athens was lost. Uncle Frank's valuable
physical apparatus was carried out but the greater
part so broken as to be practically useless.
Only 25000 insurance wh. no where near covers
the loss. Is estimated that 75000 will scarcely
rebuild the rotunda and annex to say nothing
of loss in books and instruments. No change in
lectures which will continue as usual, the classes
meeting in Wash Hall, Temperance Hall, Museum
and Professor's offices. Papa is back in his old
room — 5 W.L. where the chairman's office will be.
Papa is so busy that he cannot write to you to
night and told me to let you know of the loss.
Am so exhausted myself that I cannot write much.
The Professors are taking it bravely — not lamenting
the past but making plans for the future.
You can imagine how distressed everyone is.
I myself, now that the excitement has worn
off, am getting more and more miserable
every minute and I can't expressed to you
my sorrow. I love this old University with all
my heart and if I who am comparatively young
am so grieved what must be the distress of those
old professor's who have worked for the University
so long and lectured so often within those
now ruined walls! What a number of blows have
struck this University within the year you have been
away! Misfortune after misfortune has crippled
its usefulness and now that this crowning glory of
the University, this building planned and built by
Jefferson, this splendid library, our so famous copy
of the School of Athens, the dear old clock that
never kept time, should be destroyed seems the
seems to be the crowning evil and the worst that
this Nemesis who pursues us could let fall on
our heads. Horrible! horrible! horrible! The things
gets worse the more I think about it. However
lamentations do no good. We can only depend
on state aid and the generosity of our alumni.
Have just opened a telegram from Geo. Anderson of
Richmond saying that he wanted to start a
subscription immediately. Telegrams of sympathy
come from all sides. O'Ferral seems especially
interested. That is a good sign that the state will help
us. Some taking a cheerful view of the situation
say that in the end it will benefit the U Va. by
bringing her more before the people. Cannot offer
any opinion on that subject. Thank you very much
for the beautiful pair of gloves and more especially for
thinking of me and of my 20th anniversary. Had
intended to write you a special letter of thanks to-day
but am too tired and miserable. Love to the children
and yourself. Excuse hasty scribble, & believe me | | Similar Items: | Find |
861 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter, Mark Twain, Hartford, CT, to Fred J. Hall, 1890 Dec 27 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Description: | I don't believe Whitford.
Webster was too big a coward
to bring a suit when advised
against it. The real mistake
was in trusting law business
to an ignorant, blethering
gas-pipe like Whitford.
I am not saying this in
hatred, for I do not dislike
Whitford. He is simply a
damned fool — in Court —
& will infallibly lose every
suit you put into his hands.
If you are going to have
any [illeg.]lawsuits with Gill,
I beg that you will either
compromise or have
some other law conduct
the thing. | | Similar Items: | Find |
865 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter, Mark Twain, Langham Hotel, London, to (Elisha) Bliss, (1873) Jul 7 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Description: | Finally concluded
not to go to Paris.
So you can take
the Herald letters &
put them in a pam-
phlet along with the
Enclosed article
about the Jumping
Frog in French,
(which is entirely new)
& then add enough
[Written in margin:
I enclose Prefatory remarks,
"To the Reader." You can mention,
if you choose, that the Frog article
has not been printed before.
of my old sketches to
make a good fat
25 cent pamphlet
& let it slide — but
don't charge more
than 25c nor less.
If you haven't a
Routledge edition of
my sketches to select
from you will find
one at my house or
Warner's. | | Similar Items: | Find |
867 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter, Mark Twain, Hartford, CT, to "Miss Harriet," 1876 Jun 14 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Description: | I am a long
time answering your
letter, my dear Miss
Harriet, but then you
must remember that
it is an equally long
time since I received
it — so that makes us
even, & nobody to blame
on either side. | | Similar Items: | Find |
869 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter, Mark Twain, New York, to "Dear Folks" (Jane Clemens et al), 1867 Apr 15 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Description: | I need not have hurried
here so fast, but I didn't know
that. All passages had to be se-
cured & the Twelve hundred & fifty
dollars fare paid in to-day the
15th, for the Holy Land Excursion,
& so I had to be here I thought —
but the first man I met this
morning was the chief of the
Alta bureau with a check
for $1,250 in his hand & a tele-
graphic dispatch from the
proprietors of the Alta say-
ing "Ship Mark Twain in the
Holy Land Pleasure Excursion
& pay his passage." So we
just went down & attended to the
matter. We had to wait awhile,
because the chief manager was
not in & we did not make our-
selves known. A newspaper
man came in to get & asked
how many names were booked
& what notabilities were going, &
a fellow (I don't know who he
was, but he seemed to be connected
with the concern,) said "Lt. Gen.
Sher-
man, Henry Ward Beecher & Mark
Twain are going, & probably Gen.
Banks!" I thought that was very good — an exceedingly good joke for
a poor ignorant clerk. | | Similar Items: | Find |
870 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter, Mark Twain, Hartford, CT, to (George) Bentley, 1877 Sep 15 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Description: | I sent you No. 1 of
a series of 4 articles which
I have been writing for
the Atlantic Monthly, &
with this I enclose No. 2.
I saw Mr. Chatto in New
York lately, & told him
he could have these ad-
vance sheets for one
of his magazines in case
you did not wish to use
them. I have just writ-
ten Mr. Chatto that I have
not heard from you &
therefore cannot inform
him whether you want
the advance sheets or
not. I have suggested
that he inquire of you. | | Similar Items: | Find |
872 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter to Elisha Bliss | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Description: | Finally concluded not to go to Paris. So you can take the Herald letters & put them in a
pamphlet along with the enclosed article about the Jumping Frog in French, (which is entirely
new) & then add enough [along side of paper: I enclose prefatory remarks, "To the
Reader." You can mention, if you choose, that the Frog article has not been printed before] of
my old sketches to make a good fat 25 cent pamphlet & let it slide — but don't
charge more than 25 c[ents] nor less. If you haven't a Routledge edition of my
sketches to select from you will find one at my house or Warner's. | | Similar Items: | Find |
876 | Author: | Williams, Randolph | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter from Randolph Williams to Miss Mary-Stuart, Oct. 31, 1895
[a machine-readable transcription] | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Description: | I might sit
down and at great length
tell you of the sorrow that
has felled my very soul at
the thought of the ruin at
the beloved old place and
then I might for a long time
tell of my heartfelt sympathies
with you dear people to whom
if possible, the destruction of the
sacred place means more than
to us who have dwelt there for
but a term of years — yet but half
would be told, so I will not begin
feeling assured that you know
well enough my feelings of
sympathy and sorrow.
So bright, however, is the prospect
for speedy relief and the rebuilding
of the old place that our sympathies
may be turned to congratulations.
Of course you have seen of
the good work in Richmond and
other cities. Here in Baltimore
Markham Marshall and I are
stirring things up and hope to
have a good report before long. | | Similar Items: | Find |
877 | Author: | Crane review: Anonymous | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Last of Stephen Crane. | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | THE collection of stories about the Spanish-American war upon which
Mr. Crane was engaged at the time of his death, has lately appeared
in book form under the title "Wounds in the Rain." The St.
James's Gazette (London, September 27) thinks that in a few of
the stories he rises almost, tho not quite, to the level of his
masterpiece, "The Red Badge of Courage." It says: | | Similar Items: | Find |
878 | Author: | Anonymous | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Literary Chat | | | Published: | 1994 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | Europe appears to be exerting more and more of an attractive
power over our literary men. Henry James has lived abroad so
long that he may almost be considered to have expatriated
himself; Bret Harte has of late years so thoroughly identified
himself with England that his stories now always appear there
before they do here; Frank Stockton is making a prolonged visit
on the other side and a newspaper paragraph announces that Mark
Twain is in Geneva so often that many believe him to have taken
up his residence there. He himself declares that it is the Alps
that draw him thither so frequently. "They follow me
everywhere," he says, "and I cannot get away from them." | | Similar Items: | Find |
879 | Author: | Austin, Mary | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Last Antelope | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | THERE were seven notches in the juniper by the Lone Tree
Spring for the seven seasons that Little Pete had summered there,
feeding his flocks in the hollow of the Ceriso. The first time of
coming he had struck his axe into the trunk meaning to make
firewood, but thought better of it, and thereafter chipped it in
sheer friendliness, as one claps an old acquaintance, for by the
time the flock has worked up the treeless windy stretch from the
Little Antelope to the Ceriso, even a lone juniper has a friendly
look. And Little Pete was a friendly man, though shy of demeanor,
so that with the best will in the world for wagging his tongue, he
could scarcely pass the time of day with good countenance; the soul
of a jolly companion with the front and bearing of one of his own
sheep. | | Similar Items: | Find |
880 | Author: | Austin, Mary | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Little Coyote | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | WITHOUT doubt a man's son is his son, whether the law has
spoken or no, and that the Little Coyote was the son of Moresco was
known to all Maverick and the Campoodie beyond it. In the course
of time it became known to the Little Coyote. His mother was
Choyita, who swept and mended for Moresco in the room behind the
store, which was all his home. In those days Choyita was young,
light of foot, and pretty,—very pretty for a Piute. | | Similar Items: | Find |
882 | Author: | Austin, Mary | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Little Town of the Grape Vines | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | THERE are still some places in the West where the quail cry,
" Cuidado;" where all the speech is soft, all the manners
gentle; where all the dishes have chile in them, and they make
more of the Sixteenth of September than they do of the Fourth of
July. I mean in particular El Pueblo de Los Vinos Uvas. Where it
lies, how to come at it, you will not get from me; rather would I
show you the heron's nest in the Tulares. It has a peak behind it,
glinting above the Tamarack pines; above, a breaker of ruddy hills
that have a long slope valley-wards, and the shore-ward steep of
waves toward the Sierras. | | Similar Items: | Find |
883 | Author: | Bestes, Peter | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letter: Boston, April 20th, 1773. | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | THE efforts made by the legislative of this province in their last
sessions to free themselves from slavery, gave us, who are in that deplorable state, a high
degree of satisfacton. We expect great things from men who have made such a noble
stand against the designs of their fellow-men to enslave them. We
cannot but wish and hope Sir, that you will have the same grand object, we mean civil
and religious liberty, in view in your next session. The divine spirit of
freedom, seems to fire every humane breast on this continent, except
such as are bribed to assist in executing the execrable plan. | | Similar Items: | Find |
886 | Author: | Burnett, Frances Hodgson | Requires cookie* | | Title: | A Little Princess | | | Published: | 1994 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | Once on a dark winter's day, when the yellow fog hung so thick
and heavy in the streets of London that the lamps were lighted and the
shop windows blazed with gas as they do at night, an odd-looking little
girl sat in a cab with her father and was driven rather slowly through the
big thoroughfares. | | Similar Items: | Find |
888 | Author: | Burnett, Frances Hodgson | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Lodusky | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | THEY were rather an incongruous element amid the festivities,
but they bore themselves very well, notwithstanding, and seemed
to be sufficiently interested. The elder of the two—a tall,
slender, middle-aged woman with a somewhat severe, though
delicate face,—sat quietly apart, looking on at the tough dances
and games with a keen relish of their primitive uncouthness, but
the younger, a slight alert creature, moved here and there, her
large, changeable eyes looking larger through their glow of
excitement. | | Similar Items: | Find |
889 | Author: | Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Lost Continent | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | SINCE EARLIEST CHILDHOOD I HAVE BEEN
strangely fascinated by the mystery surrounding the history
of the last days of twentieth century Europe. My
interest is keenest, perhaps, not so much in relation to
known facts as to speculation upon the unknowable of
the two centuries that have rolled by since human
intercourse between the Western and Eastern Hemispheres
ceased — the mystery of Europe's state following
the termination of the Great War — provided, of course,
that the war had been terminated. | | Similar Items: | Find |
890 | Author: | Burnett, Frances Hodgson | Requires cookie* | | Title: | "Le Monsieur de la Petite Dame | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | IT was Madame who first entered the box, and Madame was bright
with youthful bloom, bright with jewels, and, moreover, a beauty.
She was a little creature, with childishly large eyes, a low,
white forehead, reddish-brown hair, and Greek nose and mouth. | | Similar Items: | Find |
891 | Author: | Carleton, S. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Lame Priest | | | Published: | 1994 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | If the air had not been December's, I should have said there
was balm in it. Balm there was, to me, in the sight of the road
before me. The first snow of winter had been falling for an hour
or more; the barren hill was white with it. What wind there was
was behind me, and I stopped to look my fill. | | Similar Items: | Find |
894 | Author: | Doyle, Arthur Conan | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Living English Poets: A. Conan Doyle | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | Dr. A. Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859. He went to
school at Stonyhurst in Lancashire, then studied in Germany, and finally
completed his medical education at the University of Edinburgh. He
has been an extensive traveler, visiting Africa, the Arctic seas, and many
parts of Europe. His first story was accepted when he was nineteen
years old, and his first book, A Study in Scarlet, was sold outright for
*25. Then came Micah Clarke, The Sign of the Four, The White
Company—and so his reputation as one of the most popular English
novelists was firmly established. It is said that Dr. Doyle's detective
stories were what first brought him to the attention of Americans. That
they rank with the best ever written is generally recognized. Although
chiefly known as a story-teller, Dr. Doyle has been an occasional
contributor of verse to the leading English and American magazines for
years. A collection of verse was published in England several years ago
and republished in this country, in 1898, by Doubleday, McClure &
Co., under the title Songs of Action. Many of his poems have never
appeared in book form. The vivid imagination, clearness of expression,
and intense interest that distinguish his prose are marked characteristics
of his verse. The selections reprinted here are chiefly from the
American edition of Songs of Action. | | Similar Items: | Find |
896 | Author: | Watanna, Onoto, 1879-1954 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Life of a Japanese Girl | | | Published: | 2004 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | The first lesson instilled into the mind of a Japanese
girl is to be modest and gentle, and she is reared along
lines which tend to make her respect her elders.[1] From the
days when she is wrapped in long clothes to the time when
she is given to her bridegroom she is under the strict
though gentle care of her parents. Though constantly
disciplined, it is in so mild and gentle and unseen yet firm
a way that maidenhood becomes a pleasure and wifehood a joy.
Out of all this there grows the love of and devotion to her
parents that is beautiful. | | Similar Items: | Find |
898 | Author: | Foreman, Grant | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Last of the Five Tribes | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | THE year 1906 marks the last page in the life history of the five
civilized tribes of Indians. These once powerful tribes have abandoned
their identity and institutions, and have severed the bonds which for
many years have held the individuals together as tribes. Their
condition was not brought about by their own desires; it is but a
melancholy repetition of history—the inevitable result of close
contact of the white man with the red man. | | Similar Items: | Find |
899 | Author: | Freeman, Mary Eleanor Wilkins, 1852-1930 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Last Gift | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | ROBINSON CARNES pilgrimmed along the country road between Sanderson
and Elmville. He wore a shabby clerical suit, and he carried a
rusty black bag which might have contained sermons. It did
actually hold one sermon, a favorite which he had delivered many
times in many pulpits, and in which he felt a certain covert pride
of authorship. | | Similar Items: | Find |
900 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Lady Eleanore`s Mantle | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | MINE excellent friend, the landlord of the Province House,
was pleased, the other evening, to invite Mr. Tiffany and
myself to an oyster supper. This slight mark of respect
and gratitude, as he handsomely observed, was far less than
the ingenious tale-teller, and I, the humble-note-taker of
his narratives, had fairly earned, by the public notice
which our joint lucubrations had attracted to his
establishment. Many a cigar had been smoked within his
premises-many a glass of wine, or more potent aqua vita,
had been quaffed-many a dinner had been eaten by curious
strangers, who, save for the fortunate conjunction of Mr.
Tiffany and me, would never have ventured through that
darksome avenue, which gives access to the historic
precincts of the Province House. In short, if any credit be
due to the courteous assurances of Mr. Thomas Waite, we
had brought his forgotten mansion almost as effectually
into public view as if we had thrown down the vulgar range
of shoe-shops and dry-good stores, which hides its
aristocratic front from Washington Street. It may be
unadvisable, however, to speak too loudly of the increased
custom of the house, lest Mr. Waite should find it difficult
to renew the lease on so favorable terms as heretofore. | | Similar Items: | Find |
902 | Author: | Jewett, Sarah Orne | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Landscape Chamber | | | Published: | 1994 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | I was tired of ordinary journeys, which involved either the
loneliness and discomfort of fashionable hotels, or the
responsibilities of a guest in busy houses. One is always doing
the same things over and over; I now promised myself that I would
go in search of new people and new scenes, until I was again ready
to turn with delight to my familiar occupations. So I mounted my
horse one morning, without any definite plan of my journey, and
rode eastward, with a business-like haversack strapped behind the
saddle. I only wished that the first day's well-known length of
road had been already put behind me. One drawback to a woman's
enjoyment of an excursion of this sort is the fact that when she is
out of the saddle she is uncomfortably dressed. But I compromised
matters as nearly as possible by wearing a short corduroy habit,
light both in color and weight, and putting a linen blouse and belt
into my pack, to replace the stiff habit-waist. The wallet on the
saddle held a flat drinking-cup, a bit of chocolate, and a few hard
biscuit, for provision against improbable famine. Autumn would be
the best time for such a journey, if the evenings need not be so
often spent in stuffy rooms, with kerosene lamps for company. This
was early summer, and I had long days in which to amuse myself.
For a book I took a much-beloved small copy of The Sentimental
Journey. | | Similar Items: | Find |
904 | Author: | Kayden, Eugene M. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Leonid Andreyev: 1871-1919 | | | Published: | 1998 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | BETWEEN THE TWO REVOLUTIONS of 1905 and 1917
Leonid Andreyev was without a doubt the foremost writer in
Russia. His name was always spoken with veneration, in
mysterious whispers, as a grim portentous magician who descended
into the ultimate depths of the nether side of life and fathomed the
beauty and tragedy of the struggle. Leonid Nickolayevitch was born
in the province of Oryol, in 1871, and studied law at the University
of Moscow. Those were days of suffering and starvation; he gazed
into the abyss of sorrow and despair. In January 1894 he made an
unsuccessful attempt to kill himself by shooting, and then was
forced by the authorities to severe penitence, which augmented the
natural morbidness of his temperament. As a lawyer his career was
short-lived, and he soon abandoned it for literature, beginning as a
police-court reporter on the Moscow Courier. In 1902 he published
the short story In the Fog, which for the first time brought him
universal recognition. He was imprisoned during the revolution of
1905, together with Maxim Gorky, on political charges. Such are
the few significant details of his personal life, for the true Andreyev
is entirely in his stories and plays. | | Similar Items: | Find |
915 | Author: | Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Landor's Cottage | | | Published: | 1994 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | During a pedestrian tour last summer, through one or two of
the river counties of New York, I found myself, as the day
declined, somewhat embarrassed about the road I was pursuing.
The land undulated very remarkably; and my path, for the last
hour, had wound about and about so confusedly, in its effort to
keep in the valleys, that I no longer knew in what direction lay
the sweet village of B—, where I had determined to stop for
the night. The sun had scarcely shone — strictly speaking — during
the day, which, nevertheless, had been unpleasantly warm. A
smoky mist, resembling that of the Indian summer, enveloped all
things, and, of course, added to my uncertainty. Not that I
cared much about the matter. If I did not hit upon the village
before sunset, or even before dark, it was more than possible
that a little Dutch farmhouse, or something of that kind, would
soon make its appearance — although, in fact, the neighbourhood
(perhaps on account of being more picturesque than fertile) was
very sparsely inhabited. At all events, with my knapsack for a
pillow, and my hound as a sentry, a bivouac in the open air was
just the thing which would have amused me. I sauntered
on, therefore, quite at ease — Ponto taking charge of my gun — until at
length, just as I had begun to consider whether the numerous
little glades that led hither and thither were intended to be
paths at all, I was conducted by one of the most promising of
them into an unquestionable carriage-track. There could be no
mistaking it. The traces of light wheels were evident; and
although the tall shrubberies and overgrown undergrowth met
overhead, there was no obstruction whatever below, even to the
passage of a Virginian mountain wagon — the most aspiring vehicle,
I take it, of its kind. The road, however, except in being open
through the wood — if wood be not too weighty a name for such an
assemblage of light trees — and except in the particulars of
evident wheel-tracks — bore no resemblance to any road I had
before seen. The tracks of which I speak were but faintly
perceptible, having been impressed upon the firm, yet pleasantly
moist surface of — what looked more like green Genoese velvet than
anything else. It
was grass, clearly — but grass such as we
seldom see out of England — so short, so thick, so even, and so
vivid in colour. Not a single impediment lay in the wheel-route —
not even a chip or dead twig. The stones that once obstructed
the way had been carefully placed — not thrown — along the sides of
the lane, so as to define its boundaries at bottom with a kind of
half-precise, half-negligent, and wholly picturesque definition.
Clumps of wild flowers grew everywhere, luxuriantly, in the
interspaces. | | Similar Items: | Find |
916 | Author: | Stewart, Elinore Pruitt | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Letters of a Woman Homesteader | | | Published: | 1994 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | Are you thinking I am lost, like the Babes
in the Wood? Well, I am not and I'm sure
the robins would have the time of their lives
getting leaves to cover me out here. I am
'way up close to the Forest Reserve of Utah,
within half a mile of the line, sixty miles
from the railroad. I was twenty-four hours
on the train and two days on the stage, and
oh, those two days! The snow was just be-ginning to melt and the mud was about the
worst I ever heard of. | | Similar Items: | Find |
917 | Author: | Turgenev, Ivan | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Living Mummy | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | "A DRY fisherman and a wet hunter make sorry figures," says the French proverb.
Never having had any turn for angling, I can form no opinion as to the feelings
of a fisherman in fine sunny weather — or tell how far, in foul
weather, the satisfaction he obtains from a good catch makes up for the
unpleasantness of getting drenched. But, for any one out shooting, rain is an
actual disaster. | | Similar Items: | Find |
918 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Life on the Mississippi | | | Published: | 2000 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | THE Mississippi is well worth reading about. It is not a
commonplace river, but on the contrary is in all ways remarkable.
Considering the Missouri its main branch, it is the longest
river in the world—four thousand three hundred miles.
It seems safe to say that it is also the crookedest river in the world,
since in one part of its journey it uses up one thousand three hundred
miles to cover the same ground that the crow would fly over in six
hundred and seventy-five. It discharges three times as much water
as the St. Lawrence, twenty-five times as much as the Rhine,
and three hundred and thirty-eight times as much as the Thames.
No other river has so vast a drainage-basin: it draws its water
supply from twenty-eight States and Territories; from Delaware,
on the Atlantic seaboard, and from all the country between that and Idaho
on the Pacific slope—a spread of forty-five degrees of longitude.
The Mississippi receives and carries to the Gulf water from
fifty-four subordinate rivers that are navigable by steamboats,
and from some hundreds that are navigable by flats and keels.
The area of its drainage-basin is as great as the combined areas
of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany,
Austria, Italy, and Turkey; and almost all this wide region is fertile;
the Mississippi valley, proper, is exceptionally so. | | Similar Items: | Find |
926 | Author: | Wilde, Oscar | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Lord Arthur Savile's Crime | | | Published: | 1995 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | IT was Lady Windermere's last reception before Easter,
and Bentinck House was even more crowded than
usual. Six cabinet ministers had come on from the Speaker's
Levee in their stars and ribands, all the pretty
women wore their smartest dresses, and at the end of the
picture-gallery stood the Princess Sophia of Carlsruhe, a
heavy Tartar-looking lady, with tiny black eyes and wonderful
emeralds, talking bad French at the top of her
voice and laughing immoderately at everything that was
said to her. It was certainly a wonderful medley of people.
Gorgeous peeresses chattered affably to violent Radicals,
popular preachers brushed coat-tails with eminent sceptics,
a perfect bevy of bishops kept following a stout prima
donna from room to room, on the staircase stood several
royal academicians, disguised as artists, and it was said
that at one time the supper-room was absolutely crammed
with geniuses. In fact, it was one of Lady Windermere's
best nights, and the Princess stayed till nearly half-past
eleven. | | Similar Items: | Find |
928 | Author: | Zogbaum, Rufus F. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Life at an Indian Agency | | | Published: | 1994 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | THE treatment of the aboriginal inhabitants of the territories
over which the government of the United States has extended its
sway during the last twenty-five years has been — and still
continues to be — one of the most difficult problems ever
encountered in the development of any great nation. Marching
eastward from the Pacific and westward from the turbid waters of
the Missouri, stretching in two thin blue threads from the "British
line" to the Mexican frontier, our gallant little army has steadily
closed in on the savages, "rounding up" the scattered tribes and
gathering them in upon the immense reservations of land set apart
for their use. The government has established agencies to
represent it with the various tribes with which it has made
treaties, and it is the object of this paper simply to describe the
life at one of these agencies. | | Similar Items: | Find |
930 | Author: | Anonymous | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Louisiana Amendment the Same as Ours! | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | The pending amendment in this State is a copy of the Suffrage Amendment in
Louisiana except the property clause. The Constitutional Convention of Louisiana
adopted the amendment in 1898. It went into effect soon after. There has been
the fullest possible opportunity to study the question in all its detail. The
city elections last year were held under the provisions of the new constitution.
This year the State election was held under it. No word of complaint has been
heard. No white man has stated that his right to vote was denied. No test has
been made of the question in the courts. So we take it that the working of the
amendment in Louisiana will be its working in this State. It has stood a
practical test there. In order that the people of the State might have the
fullest information on this subject, Hon. Josephus Daniels, editor of the News and Observer, has been to the State of Louisiana and
made a study of the question in all its bearings. He was specially active in
seeking information as to whether white people are disfranchised. His letters
from the South are interesting reading. He interviewed men of every shade of
political opinion. He did not confine his investigation to the towns. The County
Parishes—our townships-were visited and people themselves sounded on
the subject. Attention is invited to some of the leading points taken from his
articles. In the light of experience the people of Louisiana declare unanimously
that their amendment was the only possible solution of the suffrage question,
and the amendment is regarded as an entirely satisfactory solution of it. | | Similar Items: | Find |
934 | Author: | Dunbar, Alice | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Lesie, the Choir Boy | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | OVER and above all things nature had been lavish to Lesie Channing in the matter
of a voice. It was a full, clear soprano with rich tones in it that presaged a
marvel of tone in later years. He loved to sing. It was a pure joy to him to
fill the hall and room of his tenement home with the only tunes that he
knew—"coon" songs and music-hall ballads. But while he delighted in
the sounds that he made, no one had ever told Lesie that his voice was
marvellous. | | Similar Items: | Find |
936 | Author: | Fox, John, 1863-1919 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come | | | Published: | 2001 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | THE days of that April had been days of mist and rain. Sometimes, for hours, there would
come a miracle of blue sky, white cloud, and yellow light, but always between dark and
dark the rain would fall and the mist creep up the mountains and steam from the
tops—only to roll together from either range, drip back into the valleys, and
lift, straightway, as mist again. So that, all the while Nature was trying to give lustier
life to every living thing in the lowland Bluegrass, all the while a gaunt skeleton was
stalking down the Cumberland— tapping with fleshless knuckles, now at some
unlovely cottage of faded white and green, and now at a log cabin, stark and gray. Passing
the mouth of Lonesome, he flashed his scythe into its unlifting shadows and went stalking
on. High up, at the source of the dismal little stream, the point of the shining blade
darted thrice into the open door of a cabin set
deep into a shaggy flank of Black Mountain, and three spirits, within, were quickly loosed
from aching flesh for the long flight into the unknown. | | Similar Items: | Find |
939 | Author: | Romeyn, Henry | Requires cookie* | | Title: | 'Little Africa': The Last Slave Cargo Landed in the United States | | | Published: | 1996 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | Among the passengers of the "Roger B. Taney," Captain Timothy Meaher, plying
between Mobile and Montgomery, Ala. in April, 1858, were a number of Northern
gentlemen returning to their homes after a winter spent in the South. The trip
occupied several days, and as might have been expected, the slavery question was
a fruitful theme of discussion. Captain Meaher, though born in Gardiner, Maine,
had removed, when a mere lad, to the Gulf States, and accumulated quite a
fortune for those days; a large portion of which was in "chattels" employed on
his half dozen steamboats, or on cotton plantations in the interior of the
state, and in lumbering among the pines and cypress lands near the coast. Of
course he was a defender of "the institution," and, in reply to the expressed
belief of one of his passengers that "with the supply by importation from Africa
cut off and any further spread in the Territories denied, the thing was doomed,"
he declared that, despite the stringent measures taken by most of the civilized
powers to crush out the over-sea traffic, it could be still carried on
successfully. In response to the disbelief expressed by his opponent, he offered
to wager any amount of money that he would "import a cargo in less than two
years, and no one be hanged for it." | | Similar Items: | Find |
940 | Author: | Shillaber, Benjamin Penhallow | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Life and Sayings of Mrs. Partington and others of the family | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | Description: | NOW, Isaac," said Mrs. Partington, as she came into the room with a
basket snugly covered over, "take our Tabby, and drop her somewhere, and see
that she don't come back again, for I am sick and tired of driving her out of
the butter. She is the thievinest creatur! But don't hurt her, Isaac; only take
care that she don't come back." | | Similar Items: | Find |
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