Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Helen Hunt, March 12, 1871
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Helen Hunt, March 12, 1871
Subject
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876
Jackson, Helen Hunt
Illness
Finances
Description
Creator
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876
Date
1871-03-12
Type
Reference
Letter Item Type Metadata
Text
Dearest friend,
Your little note of the 8th, sent out in search of me to my bankers, reached me last night, & rebuked me that I had delayed so long in writing to you after leaving Newport, but before you receive this, you will have learned why I did not & could not write.
This little word of loving finding you to take you another Roman letter, which I hope you will not be too bored to try to dispose of for me. I have heard nothing about the last, but shall hope to see it printed & send my poor friend the money for it. This one I like very much.
Dear, don’t be dumb [last three words underlined]! Imagine yourself a troubadour writing to the Queen of your soul, & then perhaps you won’t be dumb any more. You have dressed me in the beauty & grace of your own imagination & so [underlined], have made something before which you are dumb. This poem you gave me of Two Loves, is exquisite, do, do write me more verses & they shall live forever & make your long book known here where I am, & a whole bevy of sweet girls good true & clever are “after them.”
Ah, dear. I am sad, but I try think how much more sad my condition might be & try to be thankful. I might be poor, forsaken, wretched & still have the same trouble which I have now, but I am surrounded by loving hearts & good of all kinds is poured out upon me. I will let you know when I decide [underlined] upon anything, as yet I am still in doubt! But leaning more & more towards laying myself down under the surgeon’s hand once more—ah if God would only send me some light to help me to decide by.
Darling I brought all my dried leaves away & they are still bright besides I love them for what they said & did to me when I first went to Newport. Ah what a [lovely] house this is & how sweetly kind they are to me. How intensely happy I could be here but for this heartache. Will you remember me most kindly to “Col. & Mrs. Higginson,” & Miss Pell, & all who love you. Please have this note dropped for me at Mrs. Cunningham’s & believe me
Ever you faithfully loving CC
[Note written across first page]: would you find out for me through Mrs. Higginson, & she through her relatives the Gibbs’ [underlined] whether they will take $1500 for their house for the year of course they putting it in order and making a bathroom, & the attendant conveniences [last two words underlined] which do not now exist inside the house.
Your little note of the 8th, sent out in search of me to my bankers, reached me last night, & rebuked me that I had delayed so long in writing to you after leaving Newport, but before you receive this, you will have learned why I did not & could not write.
This little word of loving finding you to take you another Roman letter, which I hope you will not be too bored to try to dispose of for me. I have heard nothing about the last, but shall hope to see it printed & send my poor friend the money for it. This one I like very much.
Dear, don’t be dumb [last three words underlined]! Imagine yourself a troubadour writing to the Queen of your soul, & then perhaps you won’t be dumb any more. You have dressed me in the beauty & grace of your own imagination & so [underlined], have made something before which you are dumb. This poem you gave me of Two Loves, is exquisite, do, do write me more verses & they shall live forever & make your long book known here where I am, & a whole bevy of sweet girls good true & clever are “after them.”
Ah, dear. I am sad, but I try think how much more sad my condition might be & try to be thankful. I might be poor, forsaken, wretched & still have the same trouble which I have now, but I am surrounded by loving hearts & good of all kinds is poured out upon me. I will let you know when I decide [underlined] upon anything, as yet I am still in doubt! But leaning more & more towards laying myself down under the surgeon’s hand once more—ah if God would only send me some light to help me to decide by.
Darling I brought all my dried leaves away & they are still bright besides I love them for what they said & did to me when I first went to Newport. Ah what a [lovely] house this is & how sweetly kind they are to me. How intensely happy I could be here but for this heartache. Will you remember me most kindly to “Col. & Mrs. Higginson,” & Miss Pell, & all who love you. Please have this note dropped for me at Mrs. Cunningham’s & believe me
Ever you faithfully loving CC
[Note written across first page]: would you find out for me through Mrs. Higginson, & she through her relatives the Gibbs’ [underlined] whether they will take $1500 for their house for the year of course they putting it in order and making a bathroom, & the attendant conveniences [last two words underlined] which do not now exist inside the house.
From
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876
To
Jackson, Helen Hunt, 1830-1885
Location
Villa Boscobel
Tremont
Westchester Co., NY
Tremont
Westchester Co., NY
Geocode (Latitude)
40.8400475
Geocode (Longitude)
-73.8427671
Provenance
Helen Hunt Jackson Papers, Part 2, Ms 0156, Box 1, Folder 17, letters from Charlotte Cushman to HH, 1871-75. Transcribed by Nancy Knipe, 2007, https://libraryweb.coloradocollege.edu/library/specialcollections/Manuscript/HHJ2-1-17.html. Accessed 30 March, 2020.
Social Bookmarking
Geolocation
Collection
Citation
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876, “Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Helen Hunt, March 12, 1871,” Archival Gossip Collection, accessed July 22, 2024, https://archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/255.