 | Letters of Mrs. Adams, |  |
TO JOHN ADAMS.
Your favor of December 9th, came to hand this
evening from Philadelphia. By the same post I received
a letter from Mr. Lovell, transcribing some
passages from one of the same date to him, and the
only one, he says, which he has received since your
absence, and his pocket book proves, that he has
written eighteen different times; yet possibly you
may have received as few from him. The watery
world alone can boast of large packets received;—a
will not be discouraged. I will persist in writing,
though but one in ten should reach you. I have
been impatient for an opportunity, none having offered
since January, when the Alliance sailed, which,
my presaging mind assures me, will arrive safe in
France, and I hope will return as safely.
Accept my thanks for the care you take of me, in
so kindly providing for me the articles you mention.
Should they arrive safe, they will be a great assistance
to me. The safest way, you tell me, of supplying
my wants, is by drafts; but I cannot get hard
money for bills. You had as good tell me to procure
diamonds for them; and, when bills will fetch
but five for one, hard money will exchange ten,
which I think is very provoking; and I must give at
the rate of ten, and sometimes twenty, for one, for
every article I purchase. I blush whilst I give you
a price current;—all butcher's meat from a dollar to
eight shillings per pound; corn twenty-five dollars,
rye thirty, per bushel; flour fifty pounds per hundred;
potatoes ten dollars per bushel; butter twelve
shillings a pound, cheese eight; sugar twelve shillings
a pound; molasses twelve dollars per gallon;
labor six and eight dollars a day; a common cow,
from sixty to seventy pounds; and all English goods
in proportion. This is our present situation. It is a
risk to send me any thing across the water, I know;
yet, if one in three arrives, I should be a gainer. I
have studied, and do study, every method of economy
in my power; otherwise a mint of money would not
forty dollars per week apiece at a school. I there
fore thought it most prudent to request Mr. Thaxter
to look after them, giving him his board and the use
of the office, which he readily accepted, and, having
passed the winter with me, will continue through the
summer, as I see no probability of the times speedily
growing better.
We have had much talk of peace through the
mediation of Spain, and great news from Spain, and
a thousand reports, as various as the persons who
tell them; yet I believe slowly, and rely more upon
the information of my friend, than on all the whole
legion of stories which rise with the sun, and set as
soon. Respecting Georgia,[1]
other friends have written
you. I shall add nothing of my own, but that
I believe it will finally be a fortunate event to us.
Our vessels have been fortunate in making prizes,
though many were taken in the fall of the year. We
have been greatly distressed for [want of] grain. I
scarcely know the looks or taste of biscuit or flour
for this four months; yet thousands have been much
worse off, having no grain of any sort.
The great commotion raised here by Mr. Deane
has sunk into contempt for his character; and it
would be better for him to leave a country, which is
now supposed to have been injured by him. His
friends are silent, not knowing how to extricate him.
He most certainly had art enough, in the beginning,
to blow up a flame, and to set the whole continent in
agitation.
More than a month has passed away since writing
the above, and no opportunity has yet offered of conveying
you a line; next to the pain of not receiving,
is that of not being able to send a token of remembrance
and affection. (You must excuse my not copying,
as paper is ten dollars per quire.) Last week a
packet arrived from Brest, with despatches for Congress,
but no private letters. I was disappointed, but
did not complain. You would have written, I know,
had you supposed she was coming to Boston. By
her we heard of the safe arrival of the Alliance in
France, which gave me much pleasure. May she
have as safe a return to us again. Last week, arrived
here the frigate Warren, after a successful
cruise. She had been out about six weeks, in company
with the Queen of France, and the Ranger,
Captain Jones. They fell in with, and captured, a
fleet, bound from New York to Georgia, consisting
of ship Jason, twenty guns, and one hundred and
fifty men; ship Maria, sixteen guns, eighty-four
men, having on board eighteen hundred barrels of
flour; privateer schooner Hibernian, eight guns,
and forty-five men; brigs Patriot, Prince Frederick,
Bachelor John, and schooner Chance; all of which
are safe arrived, to the universal joy and satisfaction
who were captured, acknowledge that this loss will
be severely felt by the enemy, and it is hoped that
it will give General Lincoln important advantages
over him in Georgia.
Respecting domestic affairs, I shall do tolerably,
whilst my credit is well supported abroad; and my
demands there shall be as small as possible, considering
the state of things here; but I cannot purchase
a bushel of grain under three hard dollars, though
the scarcity of that article makes it dearer than other
things.
My pen is really so bad that I cannot add any further,
than that I am wholly
| Letters of Mrs. Adams, | |