Metadata
Title
Sarah Josepha Hale to David E. Hale
Creator
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell, 1788-1879
Date
1832-11-11
November 11, 1832
Medium
Manuscripts
Language
eng
Type
text
Collection
Sarah Josepha Hale Collection, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia
Identifier
46-M-144
Rights
http://www.philaathenaeum.org/rights.html
Text
Boston, Nov. 11, 1832 -
My dear Son - I returned from my
jaunt into N.H. last Tuesday, and
found your letter awaiting me.
I went to Newport - the place & people
seem much as usual to me - but you
would find changes. Mr. & Mrs. Edes are
the same, however, & desired much love
to you. Henry Baldwin & William [Forsaith?]
are both in Boston, working at
the printer's trade. Do you wish you
were with them?
Your Aunt & family in Keene are well,
and said much of you. I hope next year
you will be able to visit all your friends.
I brought Martha Ann with me to spend
the winter, Josepha will pass the time
at Concord, with her Aunt Barton. Horatio
& Willey are well & happy - and
my own health is tolerable.
With regard to your choice - I highly
approve it - and will do all I can to
assist you in obtaining the situation.
You must yourself to the utmost.
There is an examination in Jan. I think,
see if you cannot be better prepared
to meet it then you have ever been
the half-yearly examinations. And
try to obtain the favor of Colonel Thayer
& all your instructors. [Their?] good
word will do much. I will write
to Woodbury, the Secy. of War - he is my
friend, and if you have good recommendations
from West Point, I trust
we shall be successful.
I am, just now, quite disposed
to be melancholy. I believe I named to
you Dr. Spurzheim - the great phrenologist
from Germany. He died last
night! The event has cast a gloom
over our city, and it should - for he
was a man devoted to doing good -
and had he lived to make, as he
intended the tour of our country, &
lectured before the people, I feel
confident his influence on education
and social improvement
would have been of inestimable
value. - He is to be buried next
Saturday - and everything which
can testify the respect our citizens felt
for his character & labors here will
be done. Alas - how poor is human
life - our hopes & wishes & schemes,
how soon they end. And such a
man must die in the full strength
of his intellect - & in the full pursuit
of all that is pure & beneficial to
the human race - and others, who are
burdens or pests to society live on.
But the good ar [are?] blessed in life or death,
and that thought should console us for
Dr. Spurzheim. He was good as well
as great.
The children all send love.
Hastily but affectionately,
Sarah J. Hale.
For / Cadet D. E. Hale
West-Point
N. York
My dear Son - I returned from my
jaunt into N.H. last Tuesday, and
found your letter awaiting me.
I went to Newport - the place & people
seem much as usual to me - but you
would find changes. Mr. & Mrs. Edes are
the same, however, & desired much love
to you. Henry Baldwin & William [Forsaith?]
are both in Boston, working at
the printer's trade. Do you wish you
were with them?
Your Aunt & family in Keene are well,
and said much of you. I hope next year
you will be able to visit all your friends.
I brought Martha Ann with me to spend
the winter, Josepha will pass the time
at Concord, with her Aunt Barton. Horatio
& Willey are well & happy - and
my own health is tolerable.
With regard to your choice - I highly
approve it - and will do all I can to
assist you in obtaining the situation.
You must yourself to the utmost.
There is an examination in Jan. I think,
see if you cannot be better prepared
to meet it then you have ever been
the half-yearly examinations. And
try to obtain the favor of Colonel Thayer
& all your instructors. [Their?] good
word will do much. I will write
to Woodbury, the Secy. of War - he is my
friend, and if you have good recommendations
from West Point, I trust
we shall be successful.
I am, just now, quite disposed
to be melancholy. I believe I named to
you Dr. Spurzheim - the great phrenologist
from Germany. He died last
night! The event has cast a gloom
over our city, and it should - for he
was a man devoted to doing good -
and had he lived to make, as he
intended the tour of our country, &
lectured before the people, I feel
confident his influence on education
and social improvement
would have been of inestimable
value. - He is to be buried next
Saturday - and everything which
can testify the respect our citizens felt
for his character & labors here will
be done. Alas - how poor is human
life - our hopes & wishes & schemes,
how soon they end. And such a
man must die in the full strength
of his intellect - & in the full pursuit
of all that is pure & beneficial to
the human race - and others, who are
burdens or pests to society live on.
But the good ar [are?] blessed in life or death,
and that thought should console us for
Dr. Spurzheim. He was good as well
as great.
The children all send love.
Hastily but affectionately,
Sarah J. Hale.
For / Cadet D. E. Hale
West-Point
N. York