Metadata
Title
Mrs. C. A. Hopkinson to Sarah Josepha Hale
Correction - appears to be Sarah Josepha Hale to Mrs. C. A. Hopkinson.
Correction - appears to be Sarah Josepha Hale to Mrs. C. A. Hopkinson.
Date
1866-05-12
May 12, 1866
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-111
Rights
http://www.philaathenaeum.org/rights.html
Text
Philadelphia, May 12th, 1866
My Dear Mrs. Hopkinson -
Your letter has not been
forgotten. other pressing duties have
delayed my reply. Enclosed is a
poem (it will appear in the
June no.) written by a dear friend
of mine; I hope you will like it.
You asked me, in a former letter,
if you could do anything to help
me - Yes - if you feel inclined to write
me a letter, that I may publish condemning
[DE: ?] the "fatal facility" of [divorces?]
in our land - the duty of every wife
to consider marriage a sacred institution
[DE: (it is the] safeguard of woman's
honor and influence [DE: )] and herself one
of its guardians and defenders.
The beauty of domestic life when
the married pair study the happiness
of each other and even if the
disappointment [DE: ?][?]
it the nobleness of duty and the
[ED: the following text appears sideways along the left side of the page]
I will not commend your book to my friends - as I wished
to do. The word I wrote was in hope that you had
[ED: the following text appears upside down at the top of the page]
-[rather mistaken this best way?], than
purposely omitted references to Gospel
examples. [DE: I hoped that] Your letter
has disturbed these [DE: hopes].[Still?] I
shall not give up the hope that you will
see the true "Light," believe in the true "[?]
that was God."
[ED: the following text appears within lines at the bottom of the page and is somewhat illegible. This is a best attempt]
is a theme that angels, if they ever write novels must find that
for a song of thankfulness the earth yet has home Edens [?]
[and?] even if the [?] of life.
moral strength of self-discipline and self-renunciation
there is are influences [DE: which] that purifies
feeling and [?] [?]
and the blessings of God on the peace
-makers and on those who suffering
from wrong, still do good and
forgive is the [DE: blessed] sweet reward of the righteous
All these sentiments and virtues
should be u[??]ed on the young wives and
young girls in our country.
"This [civil?] war" has not lessened
but increased the number of marriages
- as statistics show. -I have
been told that many officers
wives (young brides) are living in
Boston, New York and other cities.
This manner of living for the wife must absorb
all the pay of the husband. When
the war is over and the married
couple begin life together, will there
not be more room for disappointments
and domestic troubles
than if these wives had remained with
their parents or friends and [DE: or even]in some useful employ and saved
the money spent in idleness and gossip,
(to give their manner of boarding life
its least rebuke) for the dear home
of their own which each wife should
be anticipating?
Your article, in Mrs. Philps'
work "Our Country"- and your
former letters to me on the industry
of young ladies were excellent and
[?] that you have the talent to
[?} [???}ntually, this reform on
the women of our land.
And now my dear friend - what shall
I say on the subject of our religion?
Shall we take Jesus Christ for our
Saviour Redeemer Judge and jury
with [believer?] Thomas - "my Lord and my God?"
Thus He is to me. Or call Him
only the Teacher. Exemplar in human - sent
to show men how to make themselves
Teachers and Exemplars, and call
Him, as I once heard Mr. W. Emerson
"The peasant of Gallille"?-
Can we [DE: ?] consistently call ourselves by the
name of Christians and deny
the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ?
He declared His Divinity and His power
to save men from their sins, which
only God can do. - "I and my Father
are one." - "I am the bread of life."
- I lay down my life for the Sheep."
"I have power to lay it down and power
to take it again." "I am the way, the
truth and the life:"- "Before Abraham
was I am."- "He that believeth in Me
though he were dead shall live." - [DE: He?]
"Whosoever liveth and believeth in me
shall never die.""I pray for them also
which shall believe in Me."- "If ye
believe not that I am He ye shall die
in your sins."- "Go ye, therefore, and teach
all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
Thus Jesus Christ not only claimed to be
one with the Father, but he claimed
Divine honors with the Father. If he
spoke truth He was one with God and
was God. If He did not speak
truth - then He was an imposter-
and surely you would not take Him
for a Teacher and Exemplar if you
believed He had asserted what was not
true. He must be our "Lord and our
God" or we have no Saviour, [DE:?] no
help, no hope. We are of the Gentile
world and our only claim to the
promises of [DE: ?] men which Jehovah made in
the Old Testament, our only [?]to the
protection of the Moral Law, and all the
privileges the Bible gives Christian
women over their heathen sister,
all, all come by and from the
Lord Jesus Christ. "Made of a woman"
as our Saviour was, wherever His
Gospel is belived [believed] it protects, instructs,
[DE: ?] and saves all women. For thou to reject
[DE: ?] [?] God with us [DE: is to] [?] to me like giving up all
[DE: hope for] claim to happiness in this [DE: life world,] life -
all hope of Heaven in the life to come
You will not wonder, therefore that [DE:that] feeling as I do,
my heart was deeply pained by the
lack, in your "Hints for the Nursery," of
[DE: ? ?] sympathy with the Gospel of
Jesus, with Him coming to earth to save us [? ?]
[DE: a little child where he would save]
come as a babe on His mother's bosom,
[DE: us from our Jesus]; [DE: ?] And then so pitying and
protecting as He was to womanhood,
so loving and gentle to [DE: childhood] [?] little children
it seemed to me [DE: impossible] strange beyond measure that a grandmother
would write a book of instruction for
[DE: all] young mothers watching over infancy, and
leave out [DE: the infancy of] all reference to the Divine
Saviour, who uplifted motherhood to
the companionship of [?], [DE: that] in asserting
that these has were of childhood and made
a "little child" the type of heavenly g[?].-
Oh, my dear friend [DE: I was] you do
not understand how deeply I was pained the
My Dear Mrs. Hopkinson -
Your letter has not been
forgotten. other pressing duties have
delayed my reply. Enclosed is a
poem (it will appear in the
June no.) written by a dear friend
of mine; I hope you will like it.
You asked me, in a former letter,
if you could do anything to help
me - Yes - if you feel inclined to write
me a letter, that I may publish condemning
[DE: ?] the "fatal facility" of [divorces?]
in our land - the duty of every wife
to consider marriage a sacred institution
[DE: (it is the] safeguard of woman's
honor and influence [DE: )] and herself one
of its guardians and defenders.
The beauty of domestic life when
the married pair study the happiness
of each other and even if the
disappointment [DE: ?][?]
it the nobleness of duty and the
[ED: the following text appears sideways along the left side of the page]
I will not commend your book to my friends - as I wished
to do. The word I wrote was in hope that you had
[ED: the following text appears upside down at the top of the page]
-[rather mistaken this best way?], than
purposely omitted references to Gospel
examples. [DE: I hoped that] Your letter
has disturbed these [DE: hopes].[Still?] I
shall not give up the hope that you will
see the true "Light," believe in the true "[?]
that was God."
[ED: the following text appears within lines at the bottom of the page and is somewhat illegible. This is a best attempt]
is a theme that angels, if they ever write novels must find that
for a song of thankfulness the earth yet has home Edens [?]
[and?] even if the [?] of life.
moral strength of self-discipline and self-renunciation
there is are influences [DE: which] that purifies
feeling and [?] [?]
and the blessings of God on the peace
-makers and on those who suffering
from wrong, still do good and
forgive is the [DE: blessed] sweet reward of the righteous
All these sentiments and virtues
should be u[??]ed on the young wives and
young girls in our country.
"This [civil?] war" has not lessened
but increased the number of marriages
- as statistics show. -I have
been told that many officers
wives (young brides) are living in
Boston, New York and other cities.
This manner of living for the wife must absorb
all the pay of the husband. When
the war is over and the married
couple begin life together, will there
not be more room for disappointments
and domestic troubles
than if these wives had remained with
their parents or friends and [DE: or even]in some useful employ and saved
the money spent in idleness and gossip,
(to give their manner of boarding life
its least rebuke) for the dear home
of their own which each wife should
be anticipating?
Your article, in Mrs. Philps'
work "Our Country"- and your
former letters to me on the industry
of young ladies were excellent and
[?] that you have the talent to
[?} [???}ntually, this reform on
the women of our land.
And now my dear friend - what shall
I say on the subject of our religion?
Shall we take Jesus Christ for our
Saviour Redeemer Judge and jury
with [believer?] Thomas - "my Lord and my God?"
Thus He is to me. Or call Him
only the Teacher. Exemplar in human - sent
to show men how to make themselves
Teachers and Exemplars, and call
Him, as I once heard Mr. W. Emerson
"The peasant of Gallille"?-
Can we [DE: ?] consistently call ourselves by the
name of Christians and deny
the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ?
He declared His Divinity and His power
to save men from their sins, which
only God can do. - "I and my Father
are one." - "I am the bread of life."
- I lay down my life for the Sheep."
"I have power to lay it down and power
to take it again." "I am the way, the
truth and the life:"- "Before Abraham
was I am."- "He that believeth in Me
though he were dead shall live." - [DE: He?]
"Whosoever liveth and believeth in me
shall never die.""I pray for them also
which shall believe in Me."- "If ye
believe not that I am He ye shall die
in your sins."- "Go ye, therefore, and teach
all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
Thus Jesus Christ not only claimed to be
one with the Father, but he claimed
Divine honors with the Father. If he
spoke truth He was one with God and
was God. If He did not speak
truth - then He was an imposter-
and surely you would not take Him
for a Teacher and Exemplar if you
believed He had asserted what was not
true. He must be our "Lord and our
God" or we have no Saviour, [DE:?] no
help, no hope. We are of the Gentile
world and our only claim to the
promises of [DE: ?] men which Jehovah made in
the Old Testament, our only [?]to the
protection of the Moral Law, and all the
privileges the Bible gives Christian
women over their heathen sister,
all, all come by and from the
Lord Jesus Christ. "Made of a woman"
as our Saviour was, wherever His
Gospel is belived [believed] it protects, instructs,
[DE: ?] and saves all women. For thou to reject
[DE: ?] [?] God with us [DE: is to] [?] to me like giving up all
[DE: hope for] claim to happiness in this [DE: life world,] life -
all hope of Heaven in the life to come
You will not wonder, therefore that [DE:that] feeling as I do,
my heart was deeply pained by the
lack, in your "Hints for the Nursery," of
[DE: ? ?] sympathy with the Gospel of
Jesus, with Him coming to earth to save us [? ?]
[DE: a little child where he would save]
come as a babe on His mother's bosom,
[DE: us from our Jesus]; [DE: ?] And then so pitying and
protecting as He was to womanhood,
so loving and gentle to [DE: childhood] [?] little children
it seemed to me [DE: impossible] strange beyond measure that a grandmother
would write a book of instruction for
[DE: all] young mothers watching over infancy, and
leave out [DE: the infancy of] all reference to the Divine
Saviour, who uplifted motherhood to
the companionship of [?], [DE: that] in asserting
that these has were of childhood and made
a "little child" the type of heavenly g[?].-
Oh, my dear friend [DE: I was] you do
not understand how deeply I was pained the