Letter from Frances Adeline Seward to Lazette Miller Worden, December 14, 1864
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Letter from Frances Adeline Seward to Lazette Miller Worden, December 14, 1864
transcriberTranscriber:spp:lxw
student editorTranscriber:spp:ekk
Distributor:Seward Family Digital Archive
Institution:University of Rochester
Repository:Rare Books and Special Collections
Date:1864-12-14
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Letter from Frances Adeline Seward to Lazette Miller Worden, December 14, 1864
action: sent
sender:
Frances Seward
Person
Name: Frances Seward
Birth: 1844-12-09
Death: 1866-10-29
Person
location:
Washington D.C. DC
Place
Name: City: Washington D.C.
County:
State: DC
Country: US
Place
receiver:
Lazette Worden
Person
Name: Lazette Worden
Birth: 1803-11-01
Death: 1875-10-03
Person
location:
UnknownUnknown
transcription: lxw
revision: crb 2016-09-07
<>
Page 1
Washington Dec 14th 1864
Tuesday morning
Thank you, dear Aunty a great
many times for the birthday
souvenir of which you send me
word, I can see the "blue & gold
Shelley
Name: Percy Shelley
Birth: 1792-08-04
Death: 1822-07-08
" scarcely less distinctly than
if it lay on the table before
me and I imagine my happy
fingers turning over the leaves,
pausing in new wonderment
at the ringing, soaring "Skylark,"
lingering tenderly over the sweet
plaintive measures of the seren-
ade, "I aside from dreams of thee"
passing on to seek the beauties others
have singled out & then returning
to find new favorites of my own
and all this in dainty "blue & gold"
that shall remind me every time
I open it of what a dear kind
Aunty I have, & how pleasantly
she testified her remembrance that
Page 2
December 9th made me twenty.
I should have written to thank
you before, but Friday dear Mother
Name: Frances Seward
Birth: 1805-09-24
Death: 1865-06-21
was sick, and had many things
to make her forget to tell me
your message, which your letter
of Thursday, rec'd yesterday re-
called to her mind.
Friday morning. My letter was
laid aside to be finished when
Mother was not writing. Mean time
yours has reached us telling us
of the death of poor Mrs Curtis
I am sitting in the library
with Augustus
Name: Augustus Seward
Birth: 1826-10-01
Death: 1876-09-11
& the doves. A. is
reading the papers. & the doves
are so still they must be trying
hard to keep warm with their
pretty feathers. The little
hen has persisted for weeks
in sitting on an addled egg
which we all agree ought to
be taken from her but no one
Page 3
has courage to commit a deed which
will appear so unjust in her ruby
eyes.
Clarence
Name: Clarence Seward
Birth: 1828-10-07
Death: 1897-07-24
was here yesterday. Says
they are partly settled in their
new house in N. York
Name: City: New York
County:
State: NY
Country: US
.
Tuesday, after I began this letter
I went out to make a little list
of seven calls. At Mrs Peale's
Name: Lucinda Peale
Birth: 1814-03-08
Death: 1889-02-03
I met
her clergyman, Mr Hall
Name: Charles Hall
Birth: 1820-11-07
Death: 1895-04-25
, whom
I do not like but I learned from
him a pretty anecdote which
I will repeat to you. It is about
the origin of the "Culprit Fay"
Is not "Crow-nest" the name of
the scene? Well, a lady who
stood looking at that very
beautiful scenery ^landscape^ remarked
how difficult it would be ^even^ with
such exquisite scenery to write
an interesting poem without
classical allusions. Shortly
after Drake
Name: Joseph Drake
Birth: 1795-08-07
Death: 1820-09-21
handed her the
Page 4
Culprit Fay, "as an experiment.
Perhaps you knew this before
and now I have it down
on paper it seems a very
little thing to write after all.
But the experiment was a
success, was it not?
Tuesday evening Father
Name: William Seward
Birth: 1801-05-16
Death: 1872-10-10
& I
took a family dinner at Gov. Morgan's
Name: Edwin Morgan
Birth: 1811-02-08
Death: 1883-02-14
. Mrs Morgan
Name: Eliza Morgan
Birth: 1810-12-10
Death: 1885-03-26
learning of your continued
ill health and alluded to
her pleasant recollections of
meeting you at our house.
I met Wm Robinson
Name: William Robinson
Birth: 1834-06-18
Death: 1921-10-21
there.
Wednesday evening there were
four strangers here to dine
Mr
Name: Charles Spencer
Birth: 1824-02-13
Death: 1887-08-11
& Mrs Chas S. Spencer
Name: Celia Spencer
Birth: 1831-07-23
Death: 1917-12-04
(Mr S. is Pres of Union Central
Committee or League or something
in N. York) Hon. Chauncey Depew
& Mr Husted
Name: Alfred Husted
Birth: 1840
Death:
a young
man formerly President the
Wide Awakes in Albany
Name: City: Albany
County: Albany
State: NY
Country: US
.
Mrs Spencer used to live in
Editorial Note: The letter ends abruptly and there are no other pages
Washington Dec 14th 1864
Tuesday morning
Thank you, dear Aunty a great
many times for the birthday
souvenir of which you send me
word, I can see the "blue & gold
Shelley
Person
if it lay on the table before
me and I imagine my happy
fingers turning over the leaves,
pausing in new wonderment
at the ringing, soaring "Skylark,"
lingering tenderly over the sweet
plaintive measures of the seren-
ade, "I aside from dreams of thee"
passing on to seek the beauties others
have singled out & then returning
to find new favorites of my own
and all this in dainty "blue & gold"
that shall remind me every time
I open it of what a dear kind
Aunty I have, & how pleasantly
she testified her remembrance that
December 9th made me twenty.
I should have written to thank
you before, but Friday dear Mother
Person
was sick, and had many things
to make her forget to tell me
your message, which your letter
of Thursday, rec'd yesterday re-
called to her mind.
Friday morning. My letter was
laid aside to be finished when
Mother was not writing. Mean time
yours has reached us telling us
of the death of poor Mrs Curtis
Unknown
.I am sitting in the library
with Augustus
Person
reading the papers. & the doves
are so still they must be trying
hard to keep warm with their
pretty feathers. The little
hen has persisted for weeks
in sitting on an addled egg
which we all agree ought to
be taken from her but no one
has courage to commit a deed which
will appear so unjust in her ruby
eyes.
Clarence
Person
they are partly settled in their
new house in N. York
Place
Tuesday, after I began this letter
I went out to make a little list
of seven calls. At Mrs Peale's
Person
her clergyman, Mr Hall
Person
I do not like but I learned from
him a pretty anecdote which
I will repeat to you. It is about
the origin of the "Culprit Fay"
Is not "Crow-nest" the name of
the scene? Well, a lady who
stood looking at that very
beautiful scenery ^landscape^ remarked
how difficult it would be ^even^ with
such exquisite scenery to write
an interesting poem without
classical allusions. Shortly
after Drake
Person
Culprit Fay, "as an experiment.
Perhaps you knew this before
and now I have it down
on paper it seems a very
little thing to write after all.
But the experiment was a
success, was it not?
Tuesday evening Father
Person
took a family dinner at Gov. Morgan's
Person
Person
learning of your continued
ill health and alluded to
her pleasant recollections of
meeting you at our house.
I met Wm Robinson
Person
Wednesday evening there were
four strangers here to dine
Mr
Person
Person
(Mr S. is Pres of Union Central
Committee or League or something
in N. York) Hon. Chauncey Depew
Unknown
& Mr Husted
Person
man formerly President the
Wide Awakes in Albany
Place
Mrs Spencer used to live in
Editorial Note: The letter ends abruptly and there are no other pagesEditorial Note
date:
Wednesday, December 14, 1864
receiver:
sender:
year: