11To John Adams from Mercy Otis Warren, 3 April 1776 (Adams Papers)
The sudden departure of the plunderers of Boston and the removal of the Continental troops from Cambridge occasions a temporary calm in the eastern region; but if the storm should again burst upon this quarter, I fear we shall be too destitute of skillful navigators, to oppose its fury with success: though we have still a few left among us whose tried courage and experience has set danger at...
12Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams, 17 April 1776 (Adams Papers)
If my dear friend Required only a very Long Letter to make it agreable I Could Easily Gratify her but I know There must be many more Requisits to make it pleasing to her taste. If you Measure by Lines I Can at once Comply, if by Sentiment I fear I shall fall short. But as Curiosity seems to be awake with Regard to the Company I keep and the Manner of spending my time I will Endeavour to...
13Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams, 27 May 1776 (Adams Papers)
My dear Mrs. Adams will undoubtedly Wonder that she has not heard from me since I Left Braintree, but want of Health, a Variety of Avocations, with some Axiety of Another Nature must be my Excuse. I have scarcely taken up a pen since my Return to Plimouth. Indeed I feel as if I was about to quit the use of it. So Great is the force of Habit that not accustoming myself to that Employment in...
14Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776 (Adams Papers)
A Lame Hand still prevents me the free use of Either the Nedle or the pen. Yet I take up the Latter and Attempt a Line or two just to Let my Dear Friend know that both myself and Family are in better Health than when she was at Plimouth. I Enclose a Number of papers which Came to hand yesterday from Philadelphia, with Directions to send them to the foot of Pens Hill when Read. I also send...
15Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams, 4 September 1776 (Adams Papers)
Is my Dear Mrs. Adams too Much Engagd with Company, is her Family sick, or is she inattentive to What Gives pleasure to her Friend, that I have not heard a Word from her since I Left the Capital. How dos my Dear Charles do. I Long to hear if that sweet boy is perfectly Recovered. I felt Great pain in Leaving him so Ill, but as I hear nothing since Conclude he must be better. Has Naby her...
16Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams, 15 October 1776 (Adams Papers)
Nothing but the Greatest affection for my dear Mrs. Adams Would Induce me to Break over the Avocations of this busey Morning, and to quit the Conversation of my Friends who Leave me tomorrow, to scrable over a Hasty Line in Token that I have not Forgot you. Mr. Warren promissed to Make all the Apoligies Necessary for my Long silence. Mine is the Loss and the Mortifycation and on that...
17Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams, 1 December 1776 (Adams Papers)
It is A Long time since I had the Happiness of hearing from my Braintree Friends. Dos my dear Mrs. Adams think I am Indebted a Letter. If she dos Let her Recollect A Moment and she will find she is mistaken. Or is she so wholly Engrossed with the Ideas of her own Happiness as to think Little of the absent. Why should I Interrupt for a moment if this is the Case, the Vivacity and Cheerfulness...
18Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams, 1 March 1777 (Adams Papers)
For once I have followed the Example of my Friend, and have Long delayed a Reply to her Letter. And though I Cannot Complain of my Eyes as an Excuse, yet I have other Weaknesses to plead that are more than a Ballence, and to say Nothing of the Intelectual system, the Weakness of my Constitution, the Febleness of my Limbs, and the pains in my spirits , for several months past is sufficient to...
19Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams, 21 May 1777 (Adams Papers)
I this day Received a few lines from my Friend, whose Long silence I have not been able to Account for but suppose her Letters are Directed southward. Have you any Late private Inteligence from that quarter, and do our Friends their Really think we shall be Invaded on all sides, or do they mean only to advise us to be Ready. My heart at times almost dies within me only with the Apprehension...
20Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams, 14 June 1777 (Adams Papers)
Could I write you any agreable Inteligence I would with pleasure Grasp the pen And Call of my Friends Attention a Moment from her Domestic avocations, but so much Avarice and Venallity, so much Annemosity and Contention, so much pride and Weakness predominate both in the Capital and the Cottage that I fear it will be Long: very Long before good tidings are Wafted on Every Wind and the Halcyon...