I am going to Quincy with your Sister this forenoon—& shall be in Town on monday A—M—to attend Mr Stewart—I feel an anxiety respecting the price, your affection for me, may exceed the bounds of your circumstances, & that makes me regret that it was ever thought of—Mr Stewart was very polite, appeard sensible, & entertaining, but I did not say a word to him about the price, as you desired me...
your good Aunt Adams has made us a most agreeable visit—I wish you could accompanied her—She says you look relaxed, & are very unwell—That you are pressed with business, which you are obliged to attend yourself, & that induces you to set up late a nights—I have been long of the opinion, that midnight Oil never enriched the mind, nor the Purse—But in its consequences impoverished both—for...
3Elizabeth Smith Shaw to Mary Smith Cranch, 30 April 1785 (Adams Papers)
I have but a moments time to write you a Line, and send you by Mr. Allen the measure of Charles and Thomas Shirts. If you make them 2 now, each, it will be sufficient. I have indeed been made happy by receiving 2 Letters from my Sister, but we have none from my Cousin Nabby. I really commiserate her Situation—look round on every side, and infelicity must be her present portion. I suppose...
I was very much gratified to find that it was not the Presidents, your own, or your family’s Sickness which prevented your writing, & that the delay was owing only to much company, & that in the Circle was your excellent worthy Friend Mrs Cushing—I know both the President, & my Sister highly enjoy her society, & rank her among the faithful of the Earth, for she is one with whom you can realize...
I hope my dear Sister, & family are well, though I have not heard from her for three last mails—Has Col. Smith, & Sister, arrived Safe?—How is good Dr Tufts, & poor aged Phebe? I hope, she has solacing & comfortable views of the Heavenly world, & humble trust in Him, who has made of one blood all the Nations of the Earth—& has said, he who feareth God, & worketh righteousness shall be...
I too my Dear Sister, have to address you from the Bed of Sickness— The wednesday night after I wrote to you last, I was waked with a shaking fit great distress at my vitals, which was succeeded by a regular Lung fever—I have had specimens of this fever twice before in the course of my Life, but nothing so severe as now—But through the goodness of an ever kind Providence, the Crisis formed the...
The peircing cold air of this Month has made me quiver so that I could not quit the fire side scarcely for a moment, & it has gone to the marrow of Mr Peabody’s bones, so that it has made him very lame again, & is obliged to walk with a cane—But otherways he is a well as could be expected, for which I desire to be grateful, to that gracious Being who has brought us to see the return of another...
When you were here, I lent a great Coat, a small one—to Mrs Harrod, to keep of the rain, which she says, she put the next morning into the Carriage—I suppose your Man, forgot to bring it into the house—I thought it was at Mr Harrods, & did not send for it, till the week before I was sick—It has a piece set in behind on the shoulder—If it should be found, please to let it be taken care of—you...
Yesterday as soon as the mail arrived I sent to the Office full of expectation of receiving a Letter from my dear Sister—Are you all so absorbed in matrimonial affairs, as that none of your family can find leisure to give me the least intelligence how you progress, & how you all do?—Our amicable Cousin Hannah, has had the indisoluable knot completed at last, I see by the news paper—& your...
I have but just received your very Sisterly Letter, by Mrs Adams, handed me this morning. I immediately sat down & wrote to my Son, urged him to adjust his affairs with his Landlady, pay if possible, & thank her for any extra—kindness he has received—& quit her House as soon as convenient—I certainly know he may obtain respectable Boarding, at good Houses, for a less price—A little unconcern,...
I am sorry you did not find time to write me a line—reports are so various, & calamitous that it keeps me in constant agitation of mind—I am distressed for my country, & for my dear Boston friends, who I hear are moving as fast as they can find an asylum—I wanted, & intended to have written to my dear Son, & Mrs Foster, but I have been obliged this week to go to N ewbury, & have been to...
will be so good as to send the enclosed to Dr Tufts, & she will oblige me—I have not time now only to request you to give our love to the dear Lads, who are going to the arms of the best of Parents—May they reach him in safty, & rejoice his heart—My dear Brother, & Sister, have long sacrificed private feelings, to the publick Interest—Though I regret the satisfaction you are deprived of, in...
I have the pleasure to inform you, that your dear Grandchildren reached here Friday noon, safe, & are very well in health, & I do not know that a greater share was every enjoyed in this Town, & in the Towns near us, than has been for months past—The Spotted Fever has afflicted many families, north, & west of us, but as yet, we have been preserved—& I hope Heaven will continue its merciful...
I feel much obliged my Dear Sister, to the Christian Desciple for the mild, & pacific Principles, which he so zealously endeavours to inculcate—I hope the Writers feel there powerful influence upon their own Hearts—"Wrath, & Evil Speaking," never made one Proselite , any more than the tortures of an Inquisition—If we must be stigmatized, reprobated as Harties, fools, & Knaves, because we...
By yesterday mail I received your kind letter. It is indeed a great while since we have heard from each other, I have thought I would write every day, but have not had a moments leisure & I hoped we should be in better health for I did not wish to send you a doleful ditty of our troubles—for every family seems to have as much as they know how to bear—But for this month past we have been very...
A Day since I saw Mrs Harrod & she informed me that you had thoughts of making us a visit, & to take your Daughter Adams, Abigail, Elizabeth, & Thomas, in the Carriage with you—Will not the President do us the favour of a visit—Mr Peabody & I, both wish we had anything in this Town to render it more agreeable—When I lived in Haverhill, we could have company to amuse him more congenial to his...
It is a long time my Dear Sister, since I have written to you; but I consider it a priviledge that we can think of our Friends, animate our Souls by a view of their useful lives, & refresh ourselves by a retrospect of past scenes, when we cannot find one leisure moment to visit them, or impress our Ideas upon paper.— Ever since Thansgiving we have had one, or other of our Family sick in bed,...
I was in hopes of receiving a Letter by yesterdays Mail from you—I was glad to see by the News Papers that Col. Smith, who formerly girded on the Sword for his country’s defence, was now opening his mouth, I trust in wisdom, advocating the same noble cause—What will be the issue of the present agitation of your State, & ours, I cannot predict, but I fear, unless great pains is taken to...
I received your letter yesterday, which informed me of yours, & Mrs Smith’s intended visit, & am glad if you were able to go, & were disposed “to bury the Hatchet ,” it is certainly best, when we are all so far advanced in age, & hope to meet in those blest abodes where Peace, & Love reign forever—where raging Party Spirit, Injustice, ambition, & mavolence cease— you had a fine day for your...
By last Friday mail, I received your very excellent Letter, wherein you observe, it was thought a journey might be of service to your health, I have not time now to make any remarks, only upon this part of your Letter, & warmly would second the motion, & would wish you to set off immediately, without stoping to adjust every preliminary —For if you do, you will see, I fear so many Lions, in the...
It is a sad misfortune to dear Connections when their Friends do not love to write—Some I know have not time, & some have not ability, & some foolishly averse—I have not heard from Mr Fosters family, since Abby’s return from Boston.—I wish I knew how my Son likes his new Boarding place—&c—I hope he has not been confined by Rhumatism this winter—& am very sorry Mrs Smith inherits the infirmity...
Your very interesting Letter of last week in which you mention the departure of your dear Caroline, with so much affectionate regret, is a pleasing evidence of her intrinsick worth.—I hope she has comfortably reached her Home, & is seated by her worthy Partner in their own Mansion, kindly welcomed to the arms of a fond Mother, where she may safely repose without fear of molestation, or dread...
To day I re ceived your Letter with its contents all safe, & thank you for your care & for your obliging me with the perusal of your Son’s excellent Letter—I consider every word as Truth —a just representation of the state of our affairs, of which we have little, I believe in our public papers—I have not time to say now what I wish—I shall inclose his letter, for dear you may want it, & the...
Last Tuesday the Horn blew to announce the Departure of the Mail an Hour sooner than the usual Time, which obliged me to break of abrubtly, even without any Signature—Though I suppose you would know from whom it came, by the badness of the writing, & local Circumstances—I find since my last Fall sickness that my hands tremble more than they used— Not received a Letter from you, nor my Cousin,...
25From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Mary Smith Cranch, January 1808 (Adams Papers)
Abby was indeed very happy to receive a letter from so worthy, beloved, & good an Aunt—& it gives me sincere pleasure to find you were able to take your pen in hand, & convey Instruction & entertainment to your Friend—The long turn of cold weather has been very unfavourable for retiring into a chamber, for any literary pursuit, even at the other end of the room the Ink would freeze The only...
Mr Lion and his intended I suppose so , as the modern phrase is, called here last Wednesday—I was very glad to see any one from your house, that could give me any information of my Dear Sisters health & welfare—I told Mary, she I fancied, was going to add one more pair to the Nuptial Circle of your Dometicks—She with down cast smiling simpers, blushed the Affirmative— She talked as if she...
To tell you that I am exceedingly grieved , to hear that you have been very sick, would be to inform you, of what I am sure you already know. For, when three Sisters love each other, with such sincere affection, the One, does not experience Sorrow, Pain, or affliction of any kind, but the Others Heart wishes to relieve, & vibrates in tender Unison. Like a well organized musical Instrument, one...
your good grandchildren are just gone to repose in the arms of sweet Sleep, soothed by the consciousness of having endeavoured I trust to perform their duty to one of the best of Parents—I was so pleased with their coming to see us, that I could not bear to deprive myself of one moment of their company till they had retired to their bed—And now I embrace one moment, to assure you, of my...
You will now have no occasion to wish for more Snow, if at Quincy you are favoured with as much as we are in Atkinson—I find it adds much to the coldness of the Atmosphere, though it has made it better travelling—I hope I feel grateful to Heaven for preserving us as yet, in so much better health than we had in our family last winter— The spotted fever, I see by the papers, has again commenced...
It has been a cold backward Spring, & Abby could not get abroad as I wished, she has a great deal of pain in her side yet, but I think her feverish habit abates, if her appetite was but good I should be greatly encouraged, & hope she would soon be as well as ever—I am rejoiced to hear Mrs Foster has a Daughter, & comfortable, from what you wrote, I was greatly concerned about her. Mrs Norton &...