Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Mary Cushman, Nov 18, 1844
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Charlotte is not feeling very well and would like to stick to her homeopathic medicine that she started to take in the US. Sallie is with Charlotte and Macready has already sent some notes to make sure that Charlotte arrived safely.
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Library of Congress, Charlotte Cushman Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.Creator
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[16] Dear Mother
When I left home. I told you that you must not look for a letter from me until the middle of December. for I thought the steamer left Liverpool at the same day. she did Boston. but I find that she does not leave until tomorrow. & I am more than happy at the thought that I am enabled to assure you of my safety. at least two weeks earlier than you expected our voyage has been unusually long & provoking every day giving us promise of good weather. & as often sending us head minds & squalls. with the exception of one day. we have not had a fair wind since we started. four or five of our first days were dreadfully squally we have had three days of calm. dead calm & a succession of southerly winds. which although it has presented one passage from being a cold one has made it very rainy: The last few days has been fine & last night we had every prospect of getting a pilot immediately. but no such luck we may not get one all day & so may not get into Liverpool until tomorrow morning. fearing this, I have not dared to wait to get on shore to write. but have thought it wise to get my letters ready. To send on board the steam ship as soon as I arrive. I cannot tell you how happy I shall be to get my letters from home tomorrow. it will be the only relief that I shall have in my exile to get letters from home. & I hope you will write by every opportunity if you only write by steamers. I shall get but three letters between now & March. but there is a sailing packet comes every every 5 days. so that if you write to me every Sunday. It will give me great satisfaction I was not as sea sick as I expected to be. for three or four days. a nausea. as disagreeable as possible. kept me in my birth of the Ladies Cabin. but I knew if I only kept on deck. I should not be ill
[16 reverse] so I got there as fact as I could. & remained up there nearly all the time never going near the cabin until it was time to go to bed I have taken but 3 meals in the cabin since I left. & those were yesterday: when the ship was very quiet. Sally has been a great company to me. in this. for I should have been but ill served. for the steward has been very ill. & hardly able to wait upon the two other ladies. so that. so far. I am very glad I have taken her. She was sick in the early part of the time but has got very well now. I have got much time[?] since I left. I dont [sic] think I have been sea sick enough to do me any good perhaps the climate of England may improve me. Monday Evening. I had procured then far with my letter when I heard them shout to the capt that a "tug boat" was in sight. so looking up my desk. I +++ on deck. & found it true. We were being boarded by a pilot — I can hardly express to you my strange feelings upon finding myself so near England I have been dreadfully low spirited upon my passage. & on finding myself this morning looking upon the Welsh Mountains. that I had heard so much about & in plays so often acted upon. I could hardly realise that it could be true. That I Charlotte Cushman would be in England by night—yet so it is—we were all day being towed up & after having taken tea. I am sitting [inserted] here at the +++. The first hotel in Liverpool. with Mr & Mrs Bliss—two of the passengers who have been very very kind to me. & begged me to go with them. They are newly married people—quite rich—from +++. & have been the only [ones] of all our passengers whom I could associate with, at all— writing home. It was so dark when we left the ship. seven o'clock that I could see nothing of Liverpool. So can say nothing but that as we came up from the docks. the warehouses. all dark brown stone looked to me like prisons. a dense fog. rendered the +++ +++ +++ but for the gas lights. But I shall write again by the +++
[17] of the 21st. & will then tell you what I think. I should have told you that on the morning of the 8th. I came near being washed over board. I was sitting on deck during the squalls—holding on by the back of the +++— when a sea struck us. & washed seat & me. & two sailors. entirely over the other side of the ship. & but for the rolling up of that side we should have gone over, I never was so frightened in my life. nor even when overboard off Long[?] Wharf more wet. I thought for a moment that I was indeed gone—& felt that Susan's wish the last Sunday before I left Phila was likely to be gratified however fortune favours the brave. & I was picked up the most dripping young woman that you ever saw: We had a narrow escape from being driven ashore last night upon the coast of Wales. a violent squall sprang up +++ suddenly & unexpectedly for it had been a beautiful night but for the +++ greatest care. we should have been on shore at +++ head—so our passage has been one of some consequence to me. it has taught me a lesson or two. & perhaps may be the means of making me better. I found on arriving at the Hotel here. that Macready had sent down from London three times to see if I had arrived. & I also found a letter from Barton—welcoming me to England. I have in all about 70 letters of introduction. & I suppose I may make some friends—but as it is I feel most miserable & lonely. Pray write to me. by every opportunity. & if you see Dr Kitchen ask him the name of the medicine he gave me for constipation. I dont [sic] like to take any other than Homeopathic medicine & I have been a great sufferer on my voyage from that cause. I have just recd a letter by the steamship that left Boston on the 8th of Nov. from Mr Gardette[?]. So I don’t [sic] feel as though I was as far from home as I really am. To all who love me. remember me with the warmest feelings of affection & believe me your aff daughter
Charlotte
[17 reverse] I am very sorry Charles did not think it worth which to do as I wished him in the way of remaining in N.J. to look for business +++ +++ the money I left with him for that purpose. however it does not matter perhaps. +++ +++ +++ +++ or he would have done differently Kiss dear but for me. & tell him when his aunty comes here She will bring him beautiful presents. so he must not forget her. by the bye. be cautious what you say before him. he spoke +++ kitchen often probable destination of those articles you made for me? throw overboard—dont [sic] say any thing about it to him—but be careful what you say before him. for he knows much more than you think he does. his exclamation. after I left the +++ day I did. was "How glad I am. [Them two has spoke] time is much more sense & observation in him. Than there looks to be
[16 top, vertical] Dear Mother I want Charles to ask Hahn. to go to the Park Theater with a note from him to Barry. & ask for my Mss.[?] of the Printers Apprentice. have it done up & sent out to Liverpool by one of the Phila packets after asking Burton for my part of [Josepha] which he was to have copied & given to me before I left which I want sent with it. / dont [sic] fail in this as I may want to use it. God bless you Goodnight just as I wrote this I heard the clock strike 12. The 1st clock I have heard since that in the State House Phila
