Title: | Stewart, Frances to Beaufort, Louisa, 1861 |
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ID | 4769 |
Collection | Revisiting Our Forest Home_The immigrant letters of Frances Stewart [J. L. Aoki] |
File | stewart/51 |
Year | 1861 |
Sender | Stewart, Frances |
Sender Gender | female |
Sender Occupation | housewife |
Sender Religion | unknown |
Origin | Douro Township, Newcsatle District, Upper Canada |
Destination | Ireland |
Recipient | Beaufort, Louisa |
Recipient Gender | female |
Relationship | friends |
Source | |
Archive | |
Doc. No. | |
Date | |
Partial Date | |
Doc. Type | |
Log | unknown |
Word Count | 366 |
Genre | anecdote |
Note | |
Transcript | 1861: August 6 To Louisa Beaufort, Ireland Tuesday Night 12 oclock 6 Aug't 1861 My dearest Louisa Though so late I must add a few lines to tell you a little incident which took place lately. Kate who is passionately fond of flowers & gardening took me one evening last month to a nursery near Peterboro to see the varieties of Roses & Peonies &c all in bloom. So we walked and wandered about to our hearts content & examined all the Fuschias & other plants in the houses & were just coming away when the old gardener said, Oh Mrs. Brown, come here & I will give you a nice flower that smells delightful. So he took us to a little bushy shrub & plucked off some dark colored flowers which certainly did smell "delightful" & I saw it was the old Pimento or allspice tree you used to have at Collon & I had never seen one since those dear old days. So I said I had not seen one of them for 50 years nearly!! & that I saw it in Ireland. And were you ever in Ireland? said he. I said yes, I had been. Did you ever know a place called Dundalk, said he? Oh yes, said I, did you ever hear of a place called Collon for it was there I last saw the Allspice shrub. Well now, said the old money, sure, thats where I lived! & served my time in Lord Oriel's gardens under one John Rourke! Did you ever hear of Lord Oriel? Oh yes, said I, I once knew him & have often been in his gardens & have seen Rourke too. So the poor old man seemed quite astonished that I had seen or heard of "John Rourke" and no doubt I do remember him well & you may suppose how many old recollections came to my mind from the poor old Allspice tree & old Rourke. But I must go to bed. It has struck One & I am nearly blind. My pen is bad & my hand painful from rheumatism but my heart love with you dear Louisa. Your affect' old F. Stewart |