I hope the afflicting intelligence which you must receive from your Friends at Washington, will not be too suddenly burst upon you, but that your best Friend may have been intrusted with it, that he may prepare your mind for the heavey tydings. I know that mrs Hellen was a dear and favorite sister to you all, and well deserving of your attachment. The circumstances which deprived you of her,...
152From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 22 February 1811 (Adams Papers)
The Schooner Washington owned by mr Gray is ready to Sail for St Petersburgh. I have already sent some Letters on Board of her, but the great bulk mr Erving is charged with, and when he will Sail, I know not. he has been ready, and waiting this Month for his Dispatches. concequently our Letters are already a Month old. There is a Charm in a Letter of recent date, Consisting in its very...
Your Letter, my dear Caroline, gave me pleasure. As all your’s are calculated to enliven the spirits, I take them as a cordial, which during the residence of the baldpated winter and a close confinement to my chamber for several weeks, I have been much in want of. And now what return can I make you—What can you expect from age, debility and weakness? Why, you shall have the return of a...
I received your Letter by the Mail of yesterday, and by the return of it to day I write you a few lines to give you all the information which I have been able to collect respecting your Son; mr George Beal who lodges near him; and is frequently going back to to Boston & returning I get him to call and inquire after him. my last account was on monday two days Since. he reports that he is...
your Letter of Novbr 16th was an unexpected pleasure, for after yours of october the 13th, I had given up the Idea of receiving a line from you untill june, or july. you may easily imagine that your Letter was not only an unexpected, but a welcome guest, and the more so as it came drest in smiles of more content, than some of your Letters. I do not however wonder at your dislike of a climate...
I received your Letters by the Mail of yesterday, and by the return of it to day I write to give you all the information I have been able to collect, respecting your Son Mr George Black has lodgings near him and is frequently at Quincy. I got him to call and bring me word respecting him. my last account was on Monday, 2 days since. he was then getting better; tho not able to go out. the...
157From Abigail Smith Adams to Hannah Phillips Cushing, 2 March 1811 (Adams Papers)
How often I have in imagination I have visited you this Dreary season. I know not, but not a day has past without my thinking of you, and wishing that it had been my good fortune to have been situated in the Neighbourhood of you. then would your cheering countenance have enlivened the confinement I have experienced since I saw you. for the week after I was taken sick and am now only leaving my...
158From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 4 March 1811 (Adams Papers)
You will no doubt receive from the President of the United States permission to return home, as he has been pleased to appoint you to an important office in the judiciary of the United States. the unanimous approbation of the Senate, and the Satisfaction which all parties unite in expressing must weigh in your mind powerfully. From What ever motives this general consent arrises, it proves,...
159From Abigail Smith Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 4 March 1811 (Adams Papers)
When I wrote last to you, I was at a loss What to say to you, to console, and reconcile you to your situation. the thought struck me to say, that some light might spring up, where we did not foresee it, and extricate you from your difficulties. Such a light appears to me to have arrisen in the midst of surrounding darkness, by the appointment of mr Adams an associate judge of the Supreem...
160From Abigail Smith Adams to Hannah Phillips Cushing, 5 March 1811 (Adams Papers)
I believe I may say with truth, that I have been your daily visitor through the dreary season of winter, and altho not visible to you, I have sometimes seated myself by your fire side, and held sweet converse with you; and not unfrequently regretted that it was not my good fortune to have been situated near your dwelling; then would your cheering countenance have enlivened the confinement I...