Letter from Mulberry, April 18, 1880, to 'Dear Kate' (continued), with continuation of the earlier letter
Book 1, Page 38 ·1880
Transcription
A two-page spread continuing the two letters begun on the previous scan. Both are in brown ink. A vertical pencilled annotation in a later hand runs along the top margin of the left page (partly legible).
Left page (continuation of earlier letter)
[Vertical pencilled annotation along the top of the left page — only fragments legible against the cross-written ink]: the most [illegible] / [illegible] our [holiest?] feelings [illegible].
[…] given up all plans, and never means to argue any points with any one, but just means to live from day to day — I think she looks forward to living with Christie & resting upon his decisions for her. I am sure she will be quieter & happier. Books seems to her as great a resource as ever. She spent hours of last Tuesday reading Jeremy Taylor in the nice edition here; the large print she said was such a help to her eyes. She found a nice copy of Josephus’s History & became absorbed in it one day; caught Uncle John & read out several pages to him, & he laughed & said he had not heard so much preaching in twenty years. She was delighted with that old “History of Eric” that you remember we found here, […]
[Left-page letter continues on a page not present in this scan sequence.]
Right page (continuation of April 18, 1880 letter to Kate)
[…] with the likeness of O’Connor the translator, which reminded us of Father. She found some beautifully expressed thoughts most poetical, & she said there were plots for novels that could be made most interesting. One thing pleased & amused her greatly, which she read out to Uncle John — the advice of an old Irish king to his son. To trust a woman & be gentle & tender to her, & she would be most faithful — but not to trust one in a thousand men!! She says she will arrange her summer things, & go up to the Farm about the first of June when Tote goes. Fannie came over twice, & pressed Sis to go & stay with her at Wappahoola — I had a pleasant surprise in getting by mail the likenesses of Bessie […]
AI Notes
A two-page spread continuing both letters from page 037. The left page continues the earlier letter, describing the subject’s love of books — Jeremy Taylor, Josephus, the ‘History of Eric’ — and her readings to Uncle John. The right page continues the April 18, 1880 letter to Kate, with reflections on an Irish king’s advice to his son, plans to go up to the Farm with Tote about the first of June, a visit from Fannie, and the arrival by mail of likenesses (photographs) of Bessie. The third party the writer ‘will be leaning’ on is Christie (a male — ‘his decisions for her’); she will be ‘quieter & happier’ under his guidance. The translator whose likeness reminded the writer of Father is O’Connor — most likely William O’Connor Morris or, given the ‘translator’ framing, the Irish translator Charles O’Connor. The cross-written vertical annotation along the left margin of the left page is in pencil and only partly legible (fragments such as ‘the most…’ and what may be ‘Florida’ or ‘flowers’ are visible but the full sense is lost). The literary references on the page are Jeremy Taylor, Josephus’s History, the History of Eric (likely the 1878 Eric Brighteyes-precursor or a child’s history known to the family), and the advice of an old Irish king to his son — a recurring trope in 19th-century Irish historical anthologies.
Right-page letter continues on a page not present in this scan sequence.