| Title: | Stewart, Frances to Edgeworth, Honora, 1827 |
|---|---|
| ID | 4737 |
| Collection | Revisiting Our Forest Home, The immigrant letters of Frances Stewart [J. L. Aoki] |
| File | stewart/19 |
| Year | 1827 |
| Sender | Stewart, Frances |
| Sender Gender | female |
| Sender Occupation | housewife |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Douro Township, Newcsatle District, Upper Canada |
| Destination | Ireland |
| Recipient | Edgeworth, Honora |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | friends |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 1150 |
| Genre | news, family life |
| Note | |
| Transcript | 1827: August 19 To Honora [Edgeworth], Ireland Douro 19th August, 1827 My dear Honora As I learned by Harriets last letter that you were to leave home soon for France, I dare say it may be many months before you receive this. But I was so completely conscience stricken by your letter that I can no longer delay making my confession and acknowledging that I am the negligent and ungrateful person, not so in reality, however, merely in appearance. I did my dear friend receive your long & kind letter last year & I also received that of Feb'y 14th 1827. My not telling you sooner of their arrival & thanking you for them was caused by my feeling that our life so very monotonous could not afford matter to make a long letter interesting & I did not like to return a short one for your charming folios. Now, however, events on your side of the world have caused some change in my plans about long & short letters & you see I am writing a short letter because its contents may be very old & you may have heard a great deal about us from some of your other correspondents before you can read this. I hope you may enjoy your trip to Paris more than you expected. Your reason for fearing to go amused me a little for I can scarcely conceive that you who have always lived so much in literary society & along with people to whom French is as familiar as their native tongue should so much fear visiting a country where everyone goes & which appears now so much in everyones power to visit. But be this as it may I am glad you have gone for I am quite sure you must have found it delightful. I am very sorry that poor Mrs. E. has suffered so very much from illness & hope that Harrowgate may have been of use to her. Pray give my kindest remembrance to her & my affectionate love to my dear Sneyd. Tell him I have read the Life of Monpensier with extreme interest. How very kind of Sneyd to think of his poor old playfellow & how gratifying it is to me to receive so many & such constant proofs of attachment from my dear friends. I dare say as you passed thro' England you visited Aunt Mary & how much the pleasure of your visit to her must have been encreased by her solitude during the absence of Mr. Mrs. & Miss Sneyd. My dear ever kind & considerate Aunt Mary who has been so to me ever since I was little Fanny Browne, pray give my tender love to her & thank her again & again for her handsome & useful presents. What an admirable bread knife & what a nice butter knife! They are both quite ornamental as well as very useful at our breakfast & tea table. Our home made loaves are a different shape from what you have I dare say seen at home, for we bake in what is here called a Bake kettle or Dutch oven & our loaves are like great huge cakes, more than loaves, so that a strong broad knife for cutting them adds considerably to the ease & expedition with which I may perform that operation, so necessary every morn & evening for a panel of impatient little animals called children. You my dearest Cricrac Crow friend have also been kindly considerate for our comforts. What a nice large thick hearth-rug! Our sparkling wooden fires made me afraid of its beauty being too soon spoiled as we have not yet had a fender so that I have but seldom used it. However, by Aunt Bess's good nature & generosity we shall enjoy its comfort this winter for I hear she is actually sending out a Fender. The Alphabet is a never ending source of amusement to little Bessy & William, the former particularly, 31/2 years old, who knows most of the letters. The Battledores & shuttlecocks were a new & delightful recreation for your young friends Anna & Ellen as well as many older people last winter. Our rooms are much too small & low for playing it within doors but on some of our calm clear days when the snow was so firmly encrusted with ice as to allow people to walk on it without sinking they used to play outside, & as such never had been seen in this part of the world before, many young English children who had left home infants or little children were quite surprised at this new amusement. I cannot tell you with what encreased interest I have lately re-read a great part of Capt'n Halls Journal which you sent me the year before last, for we have really seen & conversed with him & had the pleasure of & honour of having him & Mrs. Hall in this house. I have so many resources & pleasures now that I am never at a loss for employment & amusement, indeed, that I never was in my life yet & it is a feeling I only can conceive from description. My greatest want here is time to indulge myself in any of my favourite pursuits & a lively agreeable ladylike companion to converse with sometimes. These I hope I shall have in time. The first I hope is not far distant for when my nursling little Francis is able to take care of himself & require less watching I shall be able to do much more than I have since his birth, for having no Nursery or Nurse I am I may say at all hours of the day & night engaged a good deal with him. He is, however, one of the most easily managed dear little fat infants I ever saw. He is so good humoured & stout. He has pretty dark eyes & dark hair & when his cap is off is excessively like a person who perhaps you may have seen sometime or other, Mr. Smythe of Benison Lodge. This same man was cousin [ ] to my father & I am in hopes my little Franky may be like his Grandpapa. Here he comes as hungry as can be so I must stop & satisfy his apetite. And now I must end my long Epistle by assuring you my dear Honora that you possess the sincere affection of your old friend & companion, Fanny Stewart |
