51John Adams to Abigail Adams, May 1772 (Adams Papers)
I take an opportunity by Mr. Kent, to let you know that I am at Plymouth, and pretty well. Shall not go for Barnstable untill Monday. There are now signs of a gathering Storm, so I shall make my self easy here for the Sabbath. I wish myself at Braintree. This wandering, itinerating Life grows more and more disagreable to me. I want to see my Wife and Children every Day, I want to see my Grass...
52Elizabeth Palmer to Abigail Adams, 16 July 1774 (Adams Papers)
I have this moment finished Copying The manuscript you was kind enough to Lend me, and must write a line, to beg your excuse for not Sooner returning it. I could not Steal the time to Copy it before, and was Loath to Lose it. I think it is a very Pretty thing; tho, (if you can excuse my Seeming arrogance, in Presuming to Criticise,) there are Some expressions in it, that Seem not quite...
53Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, 15 January 1767 (Adams Papers)
Your kind letter I receiv’d to day and am greatly rejoiced to hear you are all so well. I was very uneasy at not hearing from you, indeed my dear Sister the Winter never seem’d so tedious to me in the World. I daily count the days between this and the time I may probably see you. I could never feel so comfortable as I at present do, if I thought I should spend another Winter here. Indeed my...
54Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, 20 August 1774 (Adams Papers)
I thank you my dear Sister for all your kind offers. I have not been able yet to get Miss Dolly Read. I expected her yesterday: but what has prevented I cant say. As to moving, we want to see Mr. Russel before we talk again with Mr. Cleavely. Mr. Cranch is so hurried with Work that he does not know how to spare time to see after any thing, and I am so unwell that I am not able too. I do not...
55Hannah Storer Green to Abigail Smith, 1763 – 1764 (Adams Papers)
My inclinations, tho’ not my Expectations were very much disapointed in not sending you a long Letter the last time I wrote; however I must still beg your Patience and I will pay you all, the very first minute I can.—Patience my dear I recommend to you, upon more accounts than one, first upon your friends, secondly upon your own, for if you do not have Patience with me, I shall never pay you,...
56Elizabeth Smith to Abigail Adams, 8 February 1774 (Adams Papers)
When I cast my Eyes backward; and take a general survey, of the great alterations which have been made within these few Years, I behold a Portrait whose lines are marked with indeliable Characters—the fickleness of Fortune, the shortness and uncertainty of Life, and the instability of Human Affairs. Those who yesterday glided smoothly on, in the calm Sunshine of Prosperity, “fed high in...
57Elizabeth Smith to Abigail Adams, 7 March 1774 (Adams Papers)
I had written to the Deacon before I had received Yours, wherein I have your Sanction for it, and I had so far overcome the unconquerable aversion I have hitherto had, to writing on gilt Paper, as to use it for the first time and honour him with it. When I received the Bundle a Sabbath Eve I imagined it contained a Book, but on losening the string, something dropt which I supposed to be an...
58Isaac Smith Jr. to Abigail Adams, 21 February 1771 (Adams Papers)
Your kindness to me in a former absence, requires some acknowledgment in this. I write to you, therefore, with the view of repaying an obligation, not of giving you any entertainment. After a short, tho’ not a very comfortable passage over the Atlantic, I landed at Dover, a town remarkable for nothing but extortion, except the Castle, which was originally founded by Julius Caesar, and...
59William Tudor to Abigail Adams, 3 September 1774 (Adams Papers)
You may depend on my giving your Letter to Capt. Marston who sets out for Philadelphia on Monday. A safer Hand it could not go by. Pray let your Fears subside about Tumults—there have been none. There was an Assembly of 4000 Patriots at Cambridge yesterday—where the utmost Regularity was observ’d, and after finishing their Business they all repair’d to their homes in Quiet. They procur’d a...
60Cotton Tufts to Abigail Smith, 19 April 1764 (Adams Papers)
It was not forgetfulness, that prevented my writing. You must not ascribe to forgetfulness my not writing to You for some time past, it was A Fear had a Letter from me at the Time of Eruption and for some days after would have been disagreable. You must think, that Distance of Place or Even Pain and Distress is not able to erase the tender Affection which I have for my Friends and You my Dear...