Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Helen Hunt Jackson, Dec 29, 1870
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Helen Hunt Jackson, Dec 29, 1870
Subject
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876
Jackson, Helen Hunt
Finances
Stebbins, Emma, 1815-1882
Relationships--Networks
Journalists/Writers
Reputation
Description
Charlotte Cushman refers to a "Note of Welcome" that Helen Hunt published recently and which speaks favourably about Cushman. Charlotte is grateful to Helen.
She speaks fondly of Emma Stebbins's sister, Mrs. Garland.
Transcripts courtesy of Nancy Knipe, Colorado College.
She speaks fondly of Emma Stebbins's sister, Mrs. Garland.
Transcripts courtesy of Nancy Knipe, Colorado College.
Creator
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876
Source
Colorado College, Tutt Library, Helen Hunt Jackson Papers, Part 2, Ms 0156, Box 2, Folder 34, letters from Charlotte Cushman to HH, 1869-70. Transcribed by Nancy Knipe, 2005.
Date
1870-12-29
Type
Reference
Letter Item Type Metadata
Text
[note in upper left hand corner of first page: Let me know Riggs' number in Catherine Street]
How sweet & lovely of you to think such beautiful things to-me-wards as I find in this darling little "Welcome," which came to me yesterday, & is more than any body ever said in such-wise to me. You are very very good to think so well of me. I wonder if can be true, or if it is only the beauty of your own soul investing me with grace, & so you love the beauty of nature which you yourself create. Never mind, it is a gorgeous thing to be so thought of, & I will flatter myself with it, be it how it may. I have a sweet sweet clear little lyric of yours in "Old & New" "Vintage" which has delighted me much. I know all about it, dear, and wherever it is poured, the having it to pour makes our own heart warm. Is it not so? Now that I am nearer to you, you must let me have all you write will you not? That I may put it into that little book, you know of! You can send on the printed slip. I will copy it & send you back the slip if you want it. I find a wee bit of paper pasted onto this slip wch [sic] looks as though it was the copy you were keeping for yourself. Let me know if it is so. & you shall have it back
Dear, did you read in that same number of "Old & New," a paper of Saint [Berin?] on the four gospels?
How you pop about in this cold weather. How could you be in New York, & then in Newport again so soon. I wonder at any body able to move in this weather. My ten winters in Rome have left me only water in my veins, & it freezes with these storms of wind & snow. But I brave it, notwithstanding. Not a day since I landed (except the four I was laid up in New York with my finger), but I have had my tramp and made myself warm for the time being, but today, oh today sounds dismal. The wind howls around the house & the trees roar like a perpetually coming railway train. I don't think I ever felt so cold.
How is it, dear, that your rooms have to be papered and painted now? It seems an awkward time of year for such work, why did you not "worry on" with it as it was for the present & then have it all nice and unsmoked for spring! But I can say you know all about it better than I.
Dearie if nothing comes to freeze me up, I propose going down to New York on the 11 or 12, to 218.E17" St. & on Saturday 14" going to Boston where I must stop on Sunday & then go on to Newport the next morning, at least this is my present plan, for I have a horror of the steamboat at this time of year, & am afraid of fire & water, & in this freezing weather rather encounter it in a railway boiler but if there is a "living reason" why I should come by the boat, [propound?] unto me, most learned, & I will be open to conviction. Let me know the best way to go to Newport at this season, & the way & the how & the why!
If you ever get as far as Riggs you will tell him that (God Willing) I shall be with him on the 16" & ask him, what he will charge me for an extra room with fire besides my set which I am to have for $65, for I don't suppose it would give more trouble to wait on three people/ladies [written above people] at dinner than it would to wait upon two, & I should like to ask Mrs. Garland, Miss Stebbins' sister to come & play me a little visit-she is such a sweet woman with a delicate body, a lovely spirit, & a fine mind. She has been so hospitable to me & I shall have been entertained here just as though I was in my own house for two months, so I should like to make her come to Newport if I could, but I want to know first what it will cost. You see dear this has been a habit of mine through life, & I can't do anything without counting the cost beforehand.
This one word goes to you carissa as a New Years word of God bless you. If I had known where to have written in New York, you should have had one on Thurs. eve or morning. Goodbye, dear, continue to think well of me & believe that I am ever faithfully your attached C.C.
How sweet & lovely of you to think such beautiful things to-me-wards as I find in this darling little "Welcome," which came to me yesterday, & is more than any body ever said in such-wise to me. You are very very good to think so well of me. I wonder if can be true, or if it is only the beauty of your own soul investing me with grace, & so you love the beauty of nature which you yourself create. Never mind, it is a gorgeous thing to be so thought of, & I will flatter myself with it, be it how it may. I have a sweet sweet clear little lyric of yours in "Old & New" "Vintage" which has delighted me much. I know all about it, dear, and wherever it is poured, the having it to pour makes our own heart warm. Is it not so? Now that I am nearer to you, you must let me have all you write will you not? That I may put it into that little book, you know of! You can send on the printed slip. I will copy it & send you back the slip if you want it. I find a wee bit of paper pasted onto this slip wch [sic] looks as though it was the copy you were keeping for yourself. Let me know if it is so. & you shall have it back
Dear, did you read in that same number of "Old & New," a paper of Saint [Berin?] on the four gospels?
How you pop about in this cold weather. How could you be in New York, & then in Newport again so soon. I wonder at any body able to move in this weather. My ten winters in Rome have left me only water in my veins, & it freezes with these storms of wind & snow. But I brave it, notwithstanding. Not a day since I landed (except the four I was laid up in New York with my finger), but I have had my tramp and made myself warm for the time being, but today, oh today sounds dismal. The wind howls around the house & the trees roar like a perpetually coming railway train. I don't think I ever felt so cold.
How is it, dear, that your rooms have to be papered and painted now? It seems an awkward time of year for such work, why did you not "worry on" with it as it was for the present & then have it all nice and unsmoked for spring! But I can say you know all about it better than I.
Dearie if nothing comes to freeze me up, I propose going down to New York on the 11 or 12, to 218.E17" St. & on Saturday 14" going to Boston where I must stop on Sunday & then go on to Newport the next morning, at least this is my present plan, for I have a horror of the steamboat at this time of year, & am afraid of fire & water, & in this freezing weather rather encounter it in a railway boiler but if there is a "living reason" why I should come by the boat, [propound?] unto me, most learned, & I will be open to conviction. Let me know the best way to go to Newport at this season, & the way & the how & the why!
If you ever get as far as Riggs you will tell him that (God Willing) I shall be with him on the 16" & ask him, what he will charge me for an extra room with fire besides my set which I am to have for $65, for I don't suppose it would give more trouble to wait on three people/ladies [written above people] at dinner than it would to wait upon two, & I should like to ask Mrs. Garland, Miss Stebbins' sister to come & play me a little visit-she is such a sweet woman with a delicate body, a lovely spirit, & a fine mind. She has been so hospitable to me & I shall have been entertained here just as though I was in my own house for two months, so I should like to make her come to Newport if I could, but I want to know first what it will cost. You see dear this has been a habit of mine through life, & I can't do anything without counting the cost beforehand.
This one word goes to you carissa as a New Years word of God bless you. If I had known where to have written in New York, you should have had one on Thurs. eve or morning. Goodbye, dear, continue to think well of me & believe that I am ever faithfully your attached C.C.
From
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876
To
Jackson, Helen Hunt, 1830-1885
Location
Hyde Park
NY, US
NY, US
Geocode (Latitude)
41.7847232
Geocode (Longitude)
-73.9332461
Social Bookmarking
Geolocation
Collection
Citation
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876, “Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Helen Hunt Jackson, Dec 29, 1870,” Archival Gossip Collection, accessed April 25, 2024, https://www.archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/449.