Letter from Helen Hunt to Charlotte Cushman, Oct 7, 1872
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Helen Hunt to Charlotte Cushman, Oct 7, 1872
Subject
Relationships-- Intimate--Same-sex
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876
Gender Norms
Jackson, Helen Hunt
Description
A love letter of Helen Hunt about how much she misses and wants to see her Queen, Charlotte Cushman, again. Helen Hunt also talks about a man who heard Cushman talk and is fascinated by her genius.
For transcripts, please also see Colorado College.
Credit
Library of Congress, Charlotte Cushman Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.For transcripts, please also see Colorado College.
Creator
Hunt, Helen Jackson, 1830-1885
Source
LoC, CCP 11: 3402-3404
Date
1872-10-07
Type
Reference
Letter Item Type Metadata
Text
[3402] Beloved Queen,
It was only my own verses which I wanted to send you, the one I had told you of before, the "+++.”
It seemed incongruous after I had left you, that I should have made such strenuous efforts to reach you with them at once. But I had the feeling that you were setting out on the most trackless of journeyings, and that I should never hit you anywhere.
Oh, my dear Queen, it grieves me that I cannot see you. I never dreamed that you would wander off so early. I
[3403] thought I should come and sit at your feet, in your own house, for three or four days, as you asked me, in the beginning of my winter. But I shall certainly overtake you once more, either at Providence or Boston. I shall not call that last hurried look a Goodbye.—
It makes me anxious when I recollect how tired you looked Thursday night. Oh - do not run risks with your precious self. Think how we love you.—
Give me just half a minute, some day, not much more – and send me the list of your engagements that I may
[reverse 3402] know where you are to be. Perhaps, I may hear you more than once. The Horatius rings in my ears still – and the “Lying together in silence”! I never knew what a poem that was till I heard you read it.
I wish you could have seen Adams Ayer[?] that night, the man I told you of, who was with me; he is deaf in one ear; he heard every word you said! -- He is a simple hearted quiet gentle person; he lost [underlined] color [underlined] under the Horatius! At end of it, he said, “That is all [underlined] I can bear.” -- The next day he said, “I am hearing her all the time”! Oh you grand [word crossed out] darling woman,
[reverse 3403] do you realize what it is to be so great as you are! And then to have your heart too! When I said to him “Her heart is as great as her genius”, he sighed [underlined] and said, “If there can be such women why are there not more.” He has a story poor fellow. All the men I see now-a-days have. My sympathies are fast going over to their side as the side on the whole of the greatest sufferin and oppression. –
Miss Woolsey and I are alone here. The woods are ablaze; my little [den?] also, with as much of the woods as I can get in. Oh will you ever ever see my Bethlehem.
God bless you my +++ Lady. Goodnight -
Your faithful love Helen H
[added on 3402 vertically] Do you want some bright leaves & ferns to take out next? I am pressing sections of the +++
It was only my own verses which I wanted to send you, the one I had told you of before, the "+++.”
It seemed incongruous after I had left you, that I should have made such strenuous efforts to reach you with them at once. But I had the feeling that you were setting out on the most trackless of journeyings, and that I should never hit you anywhere.
Oh, my dear Queen, it grieves me that I cannot see you. I never dreamed that you would wander off so early. I
[3403] thought I should come and sit at your feet, in your own house, for three or four days, as you asked me, in the beginning of my winter. But I shall certainly overtake you once more, either at Providence or Boston. I shall not call that last hurried look a Goodbye.—
It makes me anxious when I recollect how tired you looked Thursday night. Oh - do not run risks with your precious self. Think how we love you.—
Give me just half a minute, some day, not much more – and send me the list of your engagements that I may
[reverse 3402] know where you are to be. Perhaps, I may hear you more than once. The Horatius rings in my ears still – and the “Lying together in silence”! I never knew what a poem that was till I heard you read it.
I wish you could have seen Adams Ayer[?] that night, the man I told you of, who was with me; he is deaf in one ear; he heard every word you said! -- He is a simple hearted quiet gentle person; he lost [underlined] color [underlined] under the Horatius! At end of it, he said, “That is all [underlined] I can bear.” -- The next day he said, “I am hearing her all the time”! Oh you grand [word crossed out] darling woman,
[reverse 3403] do you realize what it is to be so great as you are! And then to have your heart too! When I said to him “Her heart is as great as her genius”, he sighed [underlined] and said, “If there can be such women why are there not more.” He has a story poor fellow. All the men I see now-a-days have. My sympathies are fast going over to their side as the side on the whole of the greatest sufferin and oppression. –
Miss Woolsey and I are alone here. The woods are ablaze; my little [den?] also, with as much of the woods as I can get in. Oh will you ever ever see my Bethlehem.
God bless you my +++ Lady. Goodnight -
Your faithful love Helen H
[added on 3402 vertically] Do you want some bright leaves & ferns to take out next? I am pressing sections of the +++
From
Hunt, Helen Jackson, 1830-1885
To
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876
Location
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Geocode (Latitude)
40.6178915
Geocode (Longitude)
-75.3786521
Social Bookmarking
Geolocation
Collection
Citation
Hunt, Helen Jackson, 1830-1885, “Letter from Helen Hunt to Charlotte Cushman, Oct 7, 1872,” Archival Gossip Collection, accessed April 24, 2024, https://www.archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/209.