University of Virginia Library

Your very kind & affectionate letter arrived when I was
confined to my bed from an accident to my foot which ran some risk
of proving a dangerous one. All danger was averted by care and attention
though I had a tedious confinement of about 5 weeks. I do
not exaggerate, nay I fall short of the truth; when I say your
letter was a real solace to me-the tender ties of our early happy
days seem to cast a radiance over the present & future as well as
the past. How vividly did the past rise up before me with all its
joys & sorrow. Your first great grief, my dear Eliza is the death
of your Mother. What a black day it was to me-how desolate miserable
I was. I was so young in sorrow that I did not even know my
proper place was by your side. Mr. Read gave us a holyday; and oh
what a sorrowful time it was-it was the first cloud on my horizon,
as well as yours, & even now it looms forth among other griefs with
such distinctness.

You really are so young & bright that I am tempted to forget
the 25 years that have passed since your marriage and believe
you ot be the same Eliza who shared with me dear Otwayanna's
ridicule as being "pleased with a feather & tickled with a straw".
Your promise to visit me in October gives me great pleasure. I hope
you will not allow yourself to be deterred from a faithful performance.
I have for you & Maria violated the laws of my country,
Maine liquor laws and all & surreptiously obtained spirit & made
a huge jar of brandy peaches for your delectation. Will not say
there may not be a little of the old time cordial of Perfect Love
brewing for you besides the intangible portion in my heart.

Lucy I think had rather an ambition to write to Mrs.
Harrison for me again & rather hesitated hinted as much to me but
I felt a kind of jealously of any ones answering your letter but
my own self. I was constantly expecting to be about in a few days;
and the Dr. assured me I would be & reserved the privilege until I
recovered.

I see George has accepted a situation in Charlottesville.
I congratulate you on having him so near you. I think you an enviable
woman with 6 fine boys. My dear only son is a constant sour
source of solicitude-he is so far from me & his constitution is
very feeble. He fell off 10 lb the week before he left me & whom
one has just flesh enough to cover their bones 10 pounds is a
serious loss. He met with a great affliction when he was at home
in the death of a young friend & this affected his health & spirits
very much- he left home exceedingly depressed so as to give me
the greatest anxiety. I hope from the tone of his letters that
his spirits have revived. I think I mentioned to you his being
warmly attached to two youths members of the Baptist Church one of
them a boy of great amiability & intelligence & of a most angelic

temper was taken with typhoid fever and died about 10 days before
Patrick went to college. He is better satisfied from home this
year & more & more pleased with Emory & Henry. They have accomodations
for 250 young men. The country is a very abundant & health
one. The professors very able and very kind so that Patrick has
only to regret his separation from friends & home.

I have been having quite a lonely time this summer. Anna
& Henry feel very much wronged not to have one of the girls with
them constantly. I never have more than two & frequently only one
member of my family besides Mr. Cabell. If I had six great fine
boys like you I would not have time to be lonesome. My sister as
well as Anna are always ready to rob me of the girls; so that when
I keep them at home it is with great difficulty.

I hope Mrs. Smith found her summer excursion beneficial to
her eyes. We have a very interesting young lady in our nrighborhood
a member of your church Miss Matilda Smiley who says she is a
acquaintance of both of your daughters & expressed a great desire
to visit yo when you come to see me. She is our young & lovely
poetess "Matilda" but I greatly fear that we shall not long have
the privilege of her society on earth; she has just lost a favorite
brother & nephew and her affliction has greatly impaired her
health. She has once before had a hemorhage from her lungs & her
disease has returned on her with great violence & ther is scarcely
a possibility of her restoration.

My sisters unite with me in anticipating a great deal of
enjoyment in seeing you. Margaret has the most vivid recollections
connected with you & your family & wishes me to give her timely
notice so as to get to see you as soon as possible. I am afraid
from the time you named `October' that I shall not have the pleasure
of seeing Dr. Harrison with you. It would be a great gratification
to me to see him here & I shall not dispair of his coming
at some future time.

I suppose you heard cousin Polly through the death of an
uncle had had a large accession to her fortune and could afford to
lose an "interminable series" of rich dark green barege veils. I
have not seen her since my return home. I dare say we are two
jolly s we shall meet about the time of Willies marriage. I
hope you are going to bring Rosalie. Speaking of cousin Polly
reminds me of her quixotic excursion in behalf of cousin Pollys
veil. Do not my dear Eliza imitate my bad example & make me wait
so long to hear from you. Lucy criticised my excuse & reminded me
said I reminded her of Mr. Squeers who was so crippled in his legs
that he could not hold a pen & that she did not see what my foot
had to do with my writing but I was alarmed at my symptoms & out of
spirits at the prospect of parting with Patrick for 10 months so
that I did not have the heart to write.

The girls nursed me so well & arranged Patricks clothes
& kept house for me that I rather think I improved and feel strong
er than when I saw you at the University.

Give my most affectionate regard to Dr. Harrison. I have
the most pleasant remembrances of his knidness & hospitality although
he was being pulled "seven ways for Sunday" & one can
scarcely understand how he found time to have a kind feeling for
every body. I hope to see him "more quiet time". Remember me to
your daughters & sons Peachey & Ned as well as George & believe me
dear Eliza