File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Mary (Appleton) Mackintosh, 6 August 1849 (bad80b8d-ae22-45b5-bb41-495105910ffc).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-019#021

Portland. Aug 6th 1849.
Dear Mary,
Most welcome was your letter with its pleasant accounts of your voyage &c. I am very glad you saw Fayal & the Dabneys. Sam, who is now here, loves to hear the praises of friends with whom he was domesticated so long & has often talked to me of the beauty of their garden & the kindness of their hearts. Our friends, the Websters in Cambridge, will be also glad you were there. I saw Mrs Dabney (Miss Webster that was) just before I left home.
Our painful anxieties and long watching here are now over – Henry's father is at last at rest – after many years of suffering & depression which made life almost a burden to him.
He died on the 3d at three o'clock in the morning – most peacefully. The day before I was with him all day – he was evidently dying, & no longer recognised anyone, but it was a great comfort to see so gentle & nat [p. 2] ural a departure – he met death as a friend and not as an enemy. If he could have recovered sufficient consciousness to have spoken a few words to us, it would have been an additional consolation, for during this last illness he has not spoken at all beyond a greeting, but we rejoice his spirit is peacefully released from the ‘body of death’ it has carried so many years. He was a most pious, excellent man, beloved and respected by all, & it is touching to see the general interest of all the citizens here. I shall never forget his affectionate greeting to me as ‘his daughter’ the first time I ever came here, & his tenderness ever since. It has been a great satisfaction to me to help nurse him - & his memory is very dear to me.
Henry was his favorite son, & has loved his father with all the warmth of his heart. He feels his loss keenly, but is comforted by the thought of his release. Annie has nursed him so constantly for so many years, that his death will [p. 3] make a great change in her life. He has never been out of her thoughts, & she was never willing to leave him for more than a day or two. I fear she will be much broken down now, after the first excitement is over, but she has a strong Xtian faith to bear her up. His countenance had a beautiful expression after death, - it had recovered the look of his youth, and the sadness it has worn of late years was forever obliterated. The funeral took place yesterday afternoon. Dr. Nichols (the Dr. Channing of Portland & a very remarkable man) made a very beautiful & appropriate prayer at the house, which was filled with old & young. About fifty members of the bar preceded the hearse, a voluntary tribute of respect. He was buried in a cemetery overlooking a beautiful landscape of woods & water – just at sunset – one of nature's many symbols of the resurrection.
There is a gloom & depression of the nerves about such an occasion, despite one's radiant faith that life flows on forever like a river & that death is [p. 4] but the shadow of its shores, which makes me today too weary to write you all I should like about this good & admirable man. He always reminded me of Grandfather in his appearance & character - & like all the family was overflowing with love and gentleness. When Charley was a baby he used to place him on his pillow (if too ill to be up), and caress him, repeating “Grandpapa's comfort” again & again. He always had them on his knee or would amuse them with his tool-chest constructing something for them. They little know what a friend they have lost.
We shall probably remain here a fortnight or three weeks longer (which will end the vacation) as Henry has some business matters to attend to, & the climate is so cool & pleasant the children could not be in a better place. They are very thriving. We have quiet, excellent rooms in this Hotel, with our meals by ourselves in our parlor, & are not troubled by any of the million people rushing thro’ here to the White Hills. We see from the windows small gloved hands from the windows of coaches, damsels in linen sacks (such a sacked city as this is) bounding up the steps with all the joy of travellers [sic] of sixteen, elderly gentlemen & young [p. 1 cross] lads following & think of days of Niagara travel. Mrs Bowditch Lucy Nichols that was) passed thro’ the other day with Ned Austin & James Amory on their way to Moosehead Lake, & we had a pleasant drive together to Cape Elisabeth. I am very glad you will be, or are, in Wales to enjoy your friends & the sea-side together & trust no Cholera will come near you & that you will gain all the strength you need.
Henry’s much love. Kisses to the chicks – I shall write Robert for the 12th – Give my love to Madame Sismondi whim I should so like to know
Yr aff Fanny

• Keywords: correspondence; long archives; frances e. a. longfellow papers (long 20257); frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; people; document; events; death; subject; health and illness; social life; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1849 (1011/002.001-019); (LONG-FileUnitName)