The last Letter I have received from you was that of the 1st: instt: which I answered last week—I then mentioned to you that I had written some lines to Mrs: Hellen, in consequence of your observations in a preceding letter—and that I would send you a copy of them—They are accordingly now enclosed—Of their merit or demerit, a part belongs to yourself, as they were instigated by your remarks;...
On leaving Boston I had formed the Resolution of travelling only in the day-time, but at the close of the second day, arriving at Hartford, I found I should be four days more in getting to New York, unless I proceeded that same Evening, about forty miles to New-Haven—The roads were excellent for sleighing; I was alone in the Stage, and there was a moon bright almost as the morning—I therefore...
I have just this morning received your kind favour of the 2d: instt: which at once confirmed my apprehensions, and in some degree relieved my anxiety—From the time that the Saturday pass’d over untill now I have had an aching heart, and although I learn from your letter that you had been very ill, yet to know you were on the recovery, and had pass’d what I had long looked forward to as a very...
The day after I wrote you from Baltimore, that is to say on Thursday, I came to this place; though in the Night at Baltimore I was taken so ill, that I was afraid I should be obliged to postpone for a day or two the completion of my journey—I am however now as well as usual. The expedition with which I travell’d has given me two days more here than I expected when I left you—But they have been...
I have been expecting to hear from you these two or three days, and begin to feel some anxiety to learn how you all have been since I left you. Yesterday was the day at which the Session of Congress commenced, and a Quorum of both houses appeared—The President’s Message has just been read, and is very long—But it gives no information on the subjects of the highest importance to the Nation—the...
I have received but one letter from you since I left Boston, and that was written only two days after my departure—So long an interval during which I have not heard a word from you, and neither your mother, nor any other of the families here have received a line, begins to make me uneasy; and the state of our Charles when I came away, and of Kitty’s health when you wrote tends to increase that...
Here I am at length, established as an intimate, in the family of Dr: Waterhouse; but from a variety of delays I did not come from Boston, untill the Evening before last—And being once here I concluded to adhere a sufficient time to get habituated and reconciled to my new Situation before I would absent myself from it—This prevented me from going out yesterday to Quincy, according to my...
The Potowmac Bridge question is at last postponed untill the next Session of Congress, after seven days of as warm and close debate as I ever witness’d in the Senate—The postponement was carried by a single vote 17 to 16, and in all probability had the question on the Bill itself been taken, it would have prevailed—I have been so constantly engaged upon it, that I could not find time for...
In the course of the last week I received your kind favour of the 15th: instt: which in assuring me that your general health was so much improved gave me one of the most pleasing satisfactions that in my present state I am capable of enjoying—I have spent the week at Cambridge in a state of great tranquility, and without the occurrence of any incident worth mentioning to you; except the...
Last Evening I received with heart-felt pleasure your letter of the 25th: ulto: which was the first line I had from you since my departure—It has been a long time on the road, and should have reached me sooner— The information respecting the children was delightful—George’s reluctance at his french lesson he must overcome—No French—no Horse—I am glad John has begun seriously upon his...
Your letter of the 7th: and 9th: came to hand last Evening, and relieved me from the pinches of Imagination which had haunted me for three or four days, upon not hearing from you, or from my friends at Quincy—For the future I have no doubt I shall regularly get from you or from them a line as often as once or twice a week—just to say we are all well . I know not where the report could have...
Your letter of 26. Jany: enclosing one to your Mamma, reached me the same day that I wrote you last—I have myself no objection to the publication of my lines in the Anthology; but as they were address’d to your Sister, they belonged to her more than to me, you must answer for the printing to her—I know not that she would take any displeasure from it, and suppose you had reason for presuming on...
You will receive I presume at the same time with this a letter from me written yesterday at Quincy, in the ardour and satisfaction of Hope. This morning on my coming into Boston, your letter of the 23d: so lovely by its tender sensibility, so admirable by its resignation and fortitude, yet so distressing to me by the affliction in which it was written, and the marks of suffering apparent even...
I wrote you yesterday that little Walter had been again very ill the night before; but was better—He continued so untill the Evening—Dr: Weems had been sent for the night before last; but was gone to Alexandria, to attend Mrs: Merry, who is ill of a fever—On his return he came to Mr: Hellen’s, and pronounced that the child had the hives, but did not think him in any danger—He was so well that...
Since I wrote you last, which was on the 1st: of this month I have not heard from you—I enclose you now a letter from Eliza, who is unwell with a bad cough—Mrs: Hellen is also this day quite unwell—The rest of us are in usual health. Since Messrs. Bollman and Swartwout have been committed to prison, without bail, on a charge of high Treason, we have not heard any thing material from Burr—It is...
Since I wrote you last, when we were in the midst of a hurricane from the Northwest, untill this moment, we have had the coldest spell of weather I ever knew in this place—On that day as I wrote you, the windows were blown in and broken down here at the capitol—Houses or at least one House was unroofed—Carriages were overset; and Mr: Quincy undertaking to walk home was so much overpowered by...
On going yesterday into Boston, I received Mr: Hellen’s letter of the 22d: of last Month, with the few lines which I am afraid you must have cruelly suffered in writing; and also your’s of the 24th: which at least administered the consolation of knowing that you were as well as you could expect—My great concern is that in the tender effort you made when thus severely ill to write, was too...
I was just going to account as well as I could for your having been two days over the accustomed time, without receiving my first letter from this place, dated the 22d: of last month, of which delay you complain in your’s of the 29th: when receiving that of the next day, I rejoyce to find in it, that you had been relieved from your anxiety and received my letter—A new Post-Office seldom fails,...
I yesterday enclosed you a letter from Adelaide, under a blank cover, because I was all the morning writing to my brother, and when I came to enclose the letter to you, it was so late that I had not time to add a line with it—I now send a letter from Kitty for Caroline, and must tell you that we are well; excepting Mrs: Boyd’s child which continues in the same State of illness from time to...
Since I wrote you last I have been a little affected with the rhumatism in my shoulder, so that I did not attend at Mrs: Erskine’s Ball—I had also something of a cold, and was disinclined to be out so late at Night as a Ball necessarily imports—Your Mamma and the Girls were there: the company was numerous and the party very agreeable. We have this day received a Message from the President,...
I did not expect to have written you this day from this place; for as I have before mentioned to you, my present occupations confine me so closely and continually that I cannot spare the time to come out here every week; but yesterday afternoon, Dr: Waterhouse having occasion to come as far as Mr Baxter’s, within a mile of my father’s house took me with him; and I expect to return this Evening...
52From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 1 May 1806 (Adams Papers)
Untill this day, I have been from the moment when I left you, in such continual motion that I have not had a moment of leisure to perform the promise I made, of writing to you on my way home—We had a rainy day from Washington to Baltimore, where I parted with Messrs: Tracy and Dana, on the moment of our arrival—Mr: McHenry having taken them both to his House—They were to come on two days...
I cannot suffer this day to pass without wishing you and our dear children many and many happy returns of it though my fingers are almost too numb to write—The year has introduced itself with great severity; though with delightful weather—My thermometer this morning stood at 9. which is precisely the lowest point to which it descended through the whole course of last Winter. The Senate...
The Children are both in perfect health; both contented with their situations, and both beloved by all around them—George appears to have lost none of his sensibility, but has a placidness and ease of temper, which must have come to him I think from some of his Remote Ancestors—He reads tolerably well, and still prides himself as much as ever in his learning. He agrees very well with his...
Last Evening I received your truly kind & affectionate letter of the 1st: instt: and most sincerely reciprocate every sentiment of kindness it contains—It is impossible for me to enjoy life without your affection, and the assurance of possessing it must always be grateful to my heart—So great and so numerous are the blessings for which I ought to be impress’d with the favour of Providence,...
I write you a line from the Stage–Office: having just this moment arrived, and intending in half an hour to start in the Mail–Stage for Philadelphia—The weather is so fine, and the roads are so good, that I am afraid of losing the advantages they offer, and recollect the admonition to take time by the forelock—I hope to be in Philadelphia, to–morrow morning before day light; and shall pass the...
From the moment when I left you untill the present, I have been so constantly in motion, that I have not been able to write you, on the road—Nor have I put pen to paper, except to direct a couple of pamphlets which I purchased for Mr: Shaw, at New-York—I came on as far as New-Haven by Land—Then embarked in a packet and landed at New-York last Sunday morning—After passing that day at Coll:...
I pass’d the day yesterday, in anxious expectation of having a letter from you again, but it did not come—The fear that your illness should have continued or returned to prevent your writing, heavily weighs upon me; and the only probable contingency that my Imagination offers me to account for your omission again to write at the usual time is that you received my letter enclosing the deed on...
Since I wrote you, which was last Thursday, I have received three letters from you, which call for a particular Answer—I must however defer it untill to-morrow; for at this time we are in the midst of a debate on the Bridge question; to which I must give all my attention—The weather too is so cold that I am scarcely able to write in my seat—My thermometer stood this morning at 6. degrees. I am...
I thank you for your letter, and Kitty for her watch paper— I had like to have had no watch-case to put it in—For at Baltimore I lost my watch for several hours, I need not tell you how—for thereby hangs a tail.—Suffice it to say that having occasion for my seal, on closing my letter to you from that place, I found my watch was missing—I immediately recollected where I had last left it; but it...