Metadata
Title
David E. Hale to Sarah Josepha Hale
Date
1830/1839-09-02
September 2, [1830s]
Subject
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell, 1788-1879
Medium
Manuscripts
Language
eng
Type
text
Collection
Sarah Josepha Hale Collection, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia
Identifier
46-M-168
Rights
http://www.philaathenaeum.org/rights.html
Text
Sept.
My dear Mother
I received your letter (in answer
to one of mine written from Beaufort) with great
pleasure. I am happy to find that I have been
of some assistance to you & Horatio and believe
me when I say that I do not wish my repayment
for what I have sent or shall continue to send.
I expect to receive $200 clear of all
expenses at the end of December, if I should not
get so much still, however I will send you $100
- 1st of January. I did not know the true value
of money till I saw by your arrangement how much
$30 or $40 would assist in maintaining my sister[s?].
In this expensive country at the cheapest boarding
house I have to pay $30 a month which is less
than the citizens pay as I have a room in the [Fort?].
Besides this, I do not receive so much as I did
at Beaufort by $12 as I have no allowance in money for quarters
here. I have only my base pay $64 pr month
& $2 or $3 for fuel. But enough of this, it makes
one sick to look at, or talk of, money now, when I
think how thoughtlessly I spent it in Beaufort
where I might have lived so cheaply.
I wrote to you before I left Beaufort
and again when I arrived at Ft Moultrie, remitting $20
by my last letter. Have you received my letter?
I requested you to send my watch & four shirts
if you could without inconvenience. However, on second
thought, I will get my linen made here but I
wish you would send the watch if you have an
opportunity by one of the packets which run from Boston
to Charleston.
I believe I told you that I lost
my books. I do not intend to purchase any more -
they are so troublesome to carry about with me.
I find Charleston very much like other
cities, some of the streets remind me of Boston, but
the appearance of the people, their manners & mode of
living are very different from that of the good citizens
of B. I have become acquainted with a few of
the first families here, but the rancorous feeling of
the majority towards the officers has not entirely subsided.
Before the Nullification War when a large
number of Officer & Troops were sent here to [overcome?]
& subdue them if necessary. they were exceedingly polite
& hospitable to all officers of the Army: used to send
their carriages for them & almost compel the Officers
to accept their invitations. But all this kind feeling
vanished when they discovered that the Officers of the
U.S. Army might be called to fight not for but
against them.
They are now polite but cold except
a few who belong to the Union party or those whose
feelings are superior to [DE: ?] [resentment] towards an
officer who only performs his duty in obeying his
superior by taking up arms either to quell a rebellion
or to resist those whose madness would dissolve the Union.
Now, vanity aside, I will tell you something about
myself which may gratify you. A young married lady
of my acquaintance told a brother officer that she thought
I had one of the sweetest dispositions in the world.
Either my temper must have changed very much
or I must have obtained more command over it in
appearance at least. I trust it is so, and I know
that I have improved in knowledge of the world, the
'savoir faire' which is indespensable [indispensable] to a gentleman.
Many of the customs of the South which at first
appear singular to a New Englander after he becomes
habituated to them, tend to improve him in manner and
mode of thinking. His mind becomes more enlarged [ED: page torn]
I shall not regret having been stationed [ED: page torn]
short time at the South although it has proved more
expensive than living at the North. I expect shortly
to be transferred to the North for one Company of
our Regiment has been already sent there and the whole
will I hope go there in the course of a year -
I have written you quite a long letter for me
and I expect a long one from you in return.
Give my respects to my friends in Boston
& my love to my brothers & sisters.
Your affectionate Son
David E. Hale
P.S. I would send something for Horatio, but I have been obliged to
buy some furniture & have barely enough to pay my board.
My dear Mother
I received your letter (in answer
to one of mine written from Beaufort) with great
pleasure. I am happy to find that I have been
of some assistance to you & Horatio and believe
me when I say that I do not wish my repayment
for what I have sent or shall continue to send.
I expect to receive $200 clear of all
expenses at the end of December, if I should not
get so much still, however I will send you $100
- 1st of January. I did not know the true value
of money till I saw by your arrangement how much
$30 or $40 would assist in maintaining my sister[s?].
In this expensive country at the cheapest boarding
house I have to pay $30 a month which is less
than the citizens pay as I have a room in the [Fort?].
Besides this, I do not receive so much as I did
at Beaufort by $12 as I have no allowance in money for quarters
here. I have only my base pay $64 pr month
& $2 or $3 for fuel. But enough of this, it makes
one sick to look at, or talk of, money now, when I
think how thoughtlessly I spent it in Beaufort
where I might have lived so cheaply.
I wrote to you before I left Beaufort
and again when I arrived at Ft Moultrie, remitting $20
by my last letter. Have you received my letter?
I requested you to send my watch & four shirts
if you could without inconvenience. However, on second
thought, I will get my linen made here but I
wish you would send the watch if you have an
opportunity by one of the packets which run from Boston
to Charleston.
I believe I told you that I lost
my books. I do not intend to purchase any more -
they are so troublesome to carry about with me.
I find Charleston very much like other
cities, some of the streets remind me of Boston, but
the appearance of the people, their manners & mode of
living are very different from that of the good citizens
of B. I have become acquainted with a few of
the first families here, but the rancorous feeling of
the majority towards the officers has not entirely subsided.
Before the Nullification War when a large
number of Officer & Troops were sent here to [overcome?]
& subdue them if necessary. they were exceedingly polite
& hospitable to all officers of the Army: used to send
their carriages for them & almost compel the Officers
to accept their invitations. But all this kind feeling
vanished when they discovered that the Officers of the
U.S. Army might be called to fight not for but
against them.
They are now polite but cold except
a few who belong to the Union party or those whose
feelings are superior to [DE: ?] [resentment] towards an
officer who only performs his duty in obeying his
superior by taking up arms either to quell a rebellion
or to resist those whose madness would dissolve the Union.
Now, vanity aside, I will tell you something about
myself which may gratify you. A young married lady
of my acquaintance told a brother officer that she thought
I had one of the sweetest dispositions in the world.
Either my temper must have changed very much
or I must have obtained more command over it in
appearance at least. I trust it is so, and I know
that I have improved in knowledge of the world, the
'savoir faire' which is indespensable [indispensable] to a gentleman.
Many of the customs of the South which at first
appear singular to a New Englander after he becomes
habituated to them, tend to improve him in manner and
mode of thinking. His mind becomes more enlarged [ED: page torn]
I shall not regret having been stationed [ED: page torn]
short time at the South although it has proved more
expensive than living at the North. I expect shortly
to be transferred to the North for one Company of
our Regiment has been already sent there and the whole
will I hope go there in the course of a year -
I have written you quite a long letter for me
and I expect a long one from you in return.
Give my respects to my friends in Boston
& my love to my brothers & sisters.
Your affectionate Son
David E. Hale
P.S. I would send something for Horatio, but I have been obliged to
buy some furniture & have barely enough to pay my board.