Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Helen Hunt, July 24, 1873
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Helen Hunt, July 24, 1873
Subject
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876
Cushman, Emma Crow, 1839-1920
Jackson, Helen Hunt
Stebbins, Emma, 1815-1882
Illness
Social Events--Travels
Social Events--Salons and Receptions
Description
Charlotte Cushman apologizes for writing less often. She is in a better state of health but Emma Stebbins is not well. Cushman turned 55.
Transcripts courtesy of Nancy Knipe, Colorado College.
Transcripts courtesy of Nancy Knipe, Colorado College.
Creator
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876
Date
1873-07-024
Type
Reference
Letter Item Type Metadata
Text
Carina
– it is so long since I have written to you that you will have forgotten the look of my handwriting but you will have heard all about me from your friends here, I am sure, & so your kind heart will have been satisfied. Even though I did not send you off a letter to say I am getting on very well [underlined]—eat well, sleep well, look well—(my friends say) & in fact all seems well with me! Care you desire to know more. The iron I am taking in, as ballast, seems to be carrying me on pretty straight, & I am a marvel to my friends who doubt if I have been ill. Aufond[?], my trouble exists. I am trying to live with it, fight it, & perhaps who knows, it may be well for me to have it. They say (my doctors) if it was “malignant, you could not gain flesh.” & certainly I do gain flesh. I am going to Barkers this day, to be weighed! Every thing in Newport looks “dressed up” Everything is gay & bright, this last week has been so cool & crisp & fresh that a shawl has been a comfort in driving. I have been much pressed with correspondence, & much taken up with visitors since I came, so that I have toiled, as usual but the weather, since the 16”, last Sunday, has been so beneficently cool that all has been easy, & I have not know [sic] how tired I was until the night came & I would go to sleep over the newspaper, which I wanted to read, after tea. I have not seen your friend Mrs. Pell, though I hear she is much benefitted by your iron. Bye the by dear, I want to ask you, how the iron, which is usually very constipating [underlined] (saving your presence!) affects you, in that respect. I asked you what preparation you took & if you would send me the prescription, but not receiving it in time I got some of the pyrophosphate (green glassy looking stuff, & had it powdered— was that right) & gave to Miss Stebbins, but after the third day, she became so dreadfully constipated as to make a bad attack of hemorrhoids, so I was obliged to stop it. Please tell me something about it & its action, or if it causes, what it did, in her, what should she do to remedy that evil & still get the good of the iron! Answer thou sphinx! Dear, I was invited in a very pleasant way, by your “gentle soul,” to a literary gathering at her house for last Saty night, and up to the last moment hoped to go, but I was busy as ten bees, making calls all that morning & driving in the afternoon to Mrs. Lows (out at the Fox place), so that when night came & I took off my dress to make myself fit to be seen, to go to Mrs. [Davies’?] I was so tired that I had to send a note instead of going. Carissima, Miss Stebbins sends me word that a sweet little bookie has arrived at Hyde Park for me, which has in it a sweet sonnet addressed to "CC" she "won’t send it, but will wait & bring it to me when she comes" which I hope will be on the 8th. It shall serve to me for my birthday [greeting?] from you, & when we meet you shall write my name & July 23d, which yesterday counted me 55, by the clock. I had as happy a day as could have, away from Miss Stebbins, my dear little children are very well & happy, all brought me little offerings, & flowers surrounded me on every side. Emma Cushman is not over well. I wonder if Newport agrees with her. On the 16th of August I expect to go to Beech Bluff Swampscott Mass for a fortnight or so, & then, return here, for September. I am afraid [underlined] I shall not get to Bethlehem but we shall see, as the time draws near I am a coward at the journey. I who never feared anything before. God bless you dear. I’ve your note of the 12th. I am so truly thankful you are better. God bless you dear, always your loving C.C.
– it is so long since I have written to you that you will have forgotten the look of my handwriting but you will have heard all about me from your friends here, I am sure, & so your kind heart will have been satisfied. Even though I did not send you off a letter to say I am getting on very well [underlined]—eat well, sleep well, look well—(my friends say) & in fact all seems well with me! Care you desire to know more. The iron I am taking in, as ballast, seems to be carrying me on pretty straight, & I am a marvel to my friends who doubt if I have been ill. Aufond[?], my trouble exists. I am trying to live with it, fight it, & perhaps who knows, it may be well for me to have it. They say (my doctors) if it was “malignant, you could not gain flesh.” & certainly I do gain flesh. I am going to Barkers this day, to be weighed! Every thing in Newport looks “dressed up” Everything is gay & bright, this last week has been so cool & crisp & fresh that a shawl has been a comfort in driving. I have been much pressed with correspondence, & much taken up with visitors since I came, so that I have toiled, as usual but the weather, since the 16”, last Sunday, has been so beneficently cool that all has been easy, & I have not know [sic] how tired I was until the night came & I would go to sleep over the newspaper, which I wanted to read, after tea. I have not seen your friend Mrs. Pell, though I hear she is much benefitted by your iron. Bye the by dear, I want to ask you, how the iron, which is usually very constipating [underlined] (saving your presence!) affects you, in that respect. I asked you what preparation you took & if you would send me the prescription, but not receiving it in time I got some of the pyrophosphate (green glassy looking stuff, & had it powdered— was that right) & gave to Miss Stebbins, but after the third day, she became so dreadfully constipated as to make a bad attack of hemorrhoids, so I was obliged to stop it. Please tell me something about it & its action, or if it causes, what it did, in her, what should she do to remedy that evil & still get the good of the iron! Answer thou sphinx! Dear, I was invited in a very pleasant way, by your “gentle soul,” to a literary gathering at her house for last Saty night, and up to the last moment hoped to go, but I was busy as ten bees, making calls all that morning & driving in the afternoon to Mrs. Lows (out at the Fox place), so that when night came & I took off my dress to make myself fit to be seen, to go to Mrs. [Davies’?] I was so tired that I had to send a note instead of going. Carissima, Miss Stebbins sends me word that a sweet little bookie has arrived at Hyde Park for me, which has in it a sweet sonnet addressed to "CC" she "won’t send it, but will wait & bring it to me when she comes" which I hope will be on the 8th. It shall serve to me for my birthday [greeting?] from you, & when we meet you shall write my name & July 23d, which yesterday counted me 55, by the clock. I had as happy a day as could have, away from Miss Stebbins, my dear little children are very well & happy, all brought me little offerings, & flowers surrounded me on every side. Emma Cushman is not over well. I wonder if Newport agrees with her. On the 16th of August I expect to go to Beech Bluff Swampscott Mass for a fortnight or so, & then, return here, for September. I am afraid [underlined] I shall not get to Bethlehem but we shall see, as the time draws near I am a coward at the journey. I who never feared anything before. God bless you dear. I’ve your note of the 12th. I am so truly thankful you are better. God bless you dear, always your loving C.C.
From
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876
To
Jackson, Helen Hunt, 1830-1885
Location
De Blois Cottage, Newport, RI
Geocode (Latitude)
41.4899827
Geocode (Longitude)
-71.3137707
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, July 24, 1873,” Archival Gossip Collection, accessed April 19, 2024, https://www.archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/265.