Metadata
Title
E. Ocker Smith to Sarah Josepha Hale
Correction: Likely from E. [Elizabeth] Oakes Smith
Correction: Likely from E. [Elizabeth] Oakes Smith
Date
1851-06-30
June 30, 1851
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-075
Rights
http://www.philaathenaeum.org/rights.html
Text
Providence R.I. 30th June,
1851
My Dear Mrs Hale,
I received your very kind
letter just as I was stepping into the
carriage on my way to Providence R.I.
I am but half convinced in regard to
my article, but do e'er as you will in
the matter and I will be content. At
least I wish you would try to send me
an entire copy as it comes out, that
I may join the fragments.
I write this in my chamber
at the house of Rev. Dr Hedge, (author
of the Prose Writers of Germany) where
I am spending my time most happily,
and where the Providence people are doing
everything to make me in love with
them. Tomorrow night I am to [lecture?],
with the prospect of a very fine audience.
I congratulate you upon the progress
of your great work. I know your [?],
and I know also your generous
appreciation of the labors of others, and
I do not doubt it will be very popular.
My health is good, and the more
the kindness with which my two audiences
have received me, gives me
a [?] hope that I will find this
field a desirable one to me. Still I
have not the least [petty?] ambition to
be called popular, I [say?] my [say?] [correctly?]
as I feel, and shall retire at any
time without discomfort let the indications
be what they may, God has been
pleased to bestow upon me great freedom
of nature, that in following
indications of any kind, I [?] {?]
in so doing, and every [?] I find this
[powers?] of being [?], the results
I trust will be good if not great
to others - for myself I ask nothing,
expect nothing. I am a child of
God's will, following in his way.
My beloved Valentine has gone to
his friends at the [east?], where he writes
me he is improving in health.
I, of course had no time to see
Mr. L[?], so fear I shall not be able
to do so before autumn. If you write
him will you, please ask him to send
me a copy of my portrait, addressed Portland, Maine,
Care of Hon. [DE: Judge][Ashur?] [?]. I shall
be there most likely next week. Would
you be willing to let me see what
you say about me? I wrote to Mr
[Hart?], who sent to me about his book, but
have not heard from him in acknowledgement.
Do you know I sometimes
feel [?] vexed at the cavalier manner
with which I am treated by editors and
publishers in Philadelphia or [?]
with the cordial appreciation, and interest
of the highest order of intellect in every other
part of the country. I am no toady, and would
be unwilling to think that spirit commendable
[or?] [essential?] in your region, and being
unburdened with fussy and selfish ambition,
being also quite [?] of my position,
I bide my time with composure. I
look back upon my hard struggles with a
shudder - I wonder that I am alive,
and the fact that I am so, and that I am
strong, {ED: crease in paper obscures writing]is proof
that a field is before me, broader and
better than I have hitherto occupied.
I have seen Mrs. [Wh?] here with
much interest - Mr. Davis the lecturer and
I might go to see Mr. [Hall?](?)
[Mrs?] Burgess, a woman of [some?] literature,
and more wealth, and allied [?] of the
most accomplished scholars of the day, as well
as a little [?] of others, esteemed here.
I trust you will drop me a
line in Portland. Affectionately yrs E. Oakes Smith
1851
My Dear Mrs Hale,
I received your very kind
letter just as I was stepping into the
carriage on my way to Providence R.I.
I am but half convinced in regard to
my article, but do e'er as you will in
the matter and I will be content. At
least I wish you would try to send me
an entire copy as it comes out, that
I may join the fragments.
I write this in my chamber
at the house of Rev. Dr Hedge, (author
of the Prose Writers of Germany) where
I am spending my time most happily,
and where the Providence people are doing
everything to make me in love with
them. Tomorrow night I am to [lecture?],
with the prospect of a very fine audience.
I congratulate you upon the progress
of your great work. I know your [?],
and I know also your generous
appreciation of the labors of others, and
I do not doubt it will be very popular.
My health is good, and the more
the kindness with which my two audiences
have received me, gives me
a [?] hope that I will find this
field a desirable one to me. Still I
have not the least [petty?] ambition to
be called popular, I [say?] my [say?] [correctly?]
as I feel, and shall retire at any
time without discomfort let the indications
be what they may, God has been
pleased to bestow upon me great freedom
of nature, that in following
indications of any kind, I [?] {?]
in so doing, and every [?] I find this
[powers?] of being [?], the results
I trust will be good if not great
to others - for myself I ask nothing,
expect nothing. I am a child of
God's will, following in his way.
My beloved Valentine has gone to
his friends at the [east?], where he writes
me he is improving in health.
I, of course had no time to see
Mr. L[?], so fear I shall not be able
to do so before autumn. If you write
him will you, please ask him to send
me a copy of my portrait, addressed Portland, Maine,
Care of Hon. [DE: Judge][Ashur?] [?]. I shall
be there most likely next week. Would
you be willing to let me see what
you say about me? I wrote to Mr
[Hart?], who sent to me about his book, but
have not heard from him in acknowledgement.
Do you know I sometimes
feel [?] vexed at the cavalier manner
with which I am treated by editors and
publishers in Philadelphia or [?]
with the cordial appreciation, and interest
of the highest order of intellect in every other
part of the country. I am no toady, and would
be unwilling to think that spirit commendable
[or?] [essential?] in your region, and being
unburdened with fussy and selfish ambition,
being also quite [?] of my position,
I bide my time with composure. I
look back upon my hard struggles with a
shudder - I wonder that I am alive,
and the fact that I am so, and that I am
strong, {ED: crease in paper obscures writing]is proof
that a field is before me, broader and
better than I have hitherto occupied.
I have seen Mrs. [Wh?] here with
much interest - Mr. Davis the lecturer and
I might go to see Mr. [Hall?](?)
[Mrs?] Burgess, a woman of [some?] literature,
and more wealth, and allied [?] of the
most accomplished scholars of the day, as well
as a little [?] of others, esteemed here.
I trust you will drop me a
line in Portland. Affectionately yrs E. Oakes Smith