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Rosa
New York March 11th/65
My dear sister
I wrote Sally a long letter
over two weeks ago. Did she receive it As
you both speak of having received very few letters
I think some must have miscarried. Give
my best love to dear Sally & thank her for her
letter & for the note in her letter to Elizabeth. Never
did a letter give more solid satisfaction tell her
E. was perfectly delighted & it certainly was a
very interesting letter. Elizabeth is getting on very
nicely indeed & is enjoying her visit - She tries
hard to do just Eight, & is very easily pleased.
My daughters & Mary Hopper are very attentive
to her, & she appreciates attention as much
as any one I ever saw. She has passed two days with
Julia & is going again tomorrow. She & I were going
to Williamsburgh Today, but there [struck through: is] was a heavy snow
last night, & it is just clearing away. Sarah Powell
was here yesterday & says they are certainly going
to move [?] here to N.Y. or Brooklyn - More
of them expect to go to [?] Wedding - [Our?] Kate
is going over to [?] to live - They get a nice little
[cross-written along left side]
[Morter?], Sue & Lizzie send best love. John has got
[cross-written along top]
a nice lot
of pictures to
send for your
wards & Julia
& [Elizabeth] have
made some
gorgeous pin
cushions.
Good bye
dear.
Write when
you can -
Always
thy loving
sister Rosa.
place for $250 a year. We are sorry to have them go so
far off. I suppose you have seen that the “Sumter”
escaped, notwithstanding the close watch
the [Chippeans?] had kept - She ran out during
a severe storm - It was a pitch dark night -
the wind blew such a gale that the ship had
to go 2 ½ miles further off for safer anchorage -
I hope now that Mr. W. will come home. I suit
part of his letter, & am aghast he enclosed from
a Gibraltar paper to James, & he published
them in the Post. Displacing of any more clear
Sundays, Willie & I decided not to care for cloudy
skies, & went to no 19. last Sunday to tea, & had
a nice time. Willie has become a farmer’s jig
dancer. He would be quite a feature at the
Point Lookout Theatre. I [underlined] wonder [/underlined] the manager
dont offer him our engagement. What a famous
time the girls must have had when they
visited the mortar boat! Mrs Underhill & Amelia Willets
were here yesterday & seemed
in excellent spirits about Emma - Annie took
tea with us at your house on Sunday. Give
my love to Emma & tell her that Willy & her
beloved looked entirely satisfied with each
other & the world at large - when I was them on
Sunday. Have you heard of Effie Shaw [Josephine Shaw Lowell]’s engagement
to [Colonel Charles Lowell] Lucy says he
is a splendid fellow - Mrs Shaw told me [added later: in confidence] of the
engagement a week ago, on the very day it took
place. It seems he offered himself by letter
a month before, (a very foolish thing for any
young man to do as Sarah said, & as [underlined] I [/underlined] most
emphatically assented to.) Effie did not accept
neither did she exactly refuse - But the young
man was disconsolate, & Effie not very joyous -
until at last she sent him word in a letter
to [Brof?], that she hoped he would come & see
them before being ordered off. [underlined] of course [/underlined] he came.
He asked for Mrs Shaw & then for Miss Effie, but
Effie was at the Sanitary & would be there
all that day & all the night, & on Saturday at
the ragged school. This was rather discouraging,
so the [man?] thought he would go to the Sanitary
rooms. Two or three hours later when Mrs Shaw
went to look after them, she saw them through
the glass door packing boxes as hard as they
could. Wasn’t it a nice way & a nice place
for a young soldier to become engaged? Dont
tell this story except to Sally, as Mrs. Shaw might
not like all the circumstances talked about. At
any rate I should not want them to come from me.
[underlined text on this page only is marked with the [u] tag]
The [u] engagement [/u] is public. Julia thinks [added later: from what Mrs Rachemann says] that
Miss Anna Haggerty is not [u] quite [/u] pleased with
Bob’s being connected with a coloured regiment
even is he [u] is [/u] the Colonel; & Mrs Rachemann
herself was [u] sure [/u] Jule was mistaken
about Mr & Mrs Shaw being downright, out-and-out
Abolitionists - We had a very pleasant
evening at your house a week ago - Mrs
Howard, the Sinclair’s & Sewell’s were there.
Only think of Mrs Sinclair being such a belle
in [Washington] as you describe her in your letter
to Lucy! It is a little hard to comprehend.
Poor Miss Greely is back again & at the Brevoort
House - Our boy is in excellent
condition & spirits. He takes to Elizabeth its is
really polite & attentive to her - It would make
you laugh to hear him call his father to order
He continues devoted to Bessie Francis, & was made
exceedingly happy yesterday by hearing that
she was coming to New York to live next fall.
He says she is going “to marry her in all directions.”
He also says that he “is going to save up all his
money & buy [u] lots [/u] of children”, & Mary Ann is to
be the nurse - He says his first boy is to be named
“Bob” - & he proposes having an [u] Ed [/u] & a [/u] Bill [/u], &
a [u] Johnny [/u]. His girls are to [added later: be called] [u] Lucy, Julia & Sally [/u], & then
he says he must have a [u] Rosalie [/u] & an [u] Abby [/u]. Aren’t you
5
sorry for poor Bessie? - Hepworth is coming
out finely, isn’t he? But what [underlined] do [/underlined] you make
of Banks? The letter from Baton Rouge about
him in this morning’s Tribune is very alarming,
it seems to me. Mrs Frothingham proposes
sending you some nice dressing gowns,
shirts & drawers if you would like to have them.
I am delighted to hear about the prospects of [underlined] one [/underlined]
Hospital, “The William & Robert Hospital” as
John proposes to christen it - Julia & Lucy
always seem to be very compassionable to each
other when they are alone - We love dearly
to have them come here, & shall go to see them
often. John goes every Sunday night
I begin to have [underlined] suspicions [/underlined] about Mary Hopper,
but may be mistaken - Mother H. begins to
look quite like herself - I think we shall
keep Elizabeth four or five weeks - She was
nervous & pretty at first but has greatly improved
& disposed to make the [underlined] best [/underlined] instead of the [underlined] worst [/underlined].
If Charles Sumner speaks here, as has been rumoured
I shall take E. to hear him. She
does not seem to care to go about for the
sake of going - She looks & seems better in all
respects than she did when she was here before.
Her head doesn’t shake at all, & she does not
sleep [underlined] nearly [/underlined] as much. She has knit a soldier’s
stocking since she has been here, & is now knitting
a pair for “Sister Mary”. Willie is as kind & loving
to said “sister Mary” as ever - [So far?] he says
he “loves her just as if she was a [underlined] real [/underlined] sister.”
Jim Hailand spent a couple of days with
us last week. We brought a full-rigged brig made
for him to give Willie by a sailor on the Island, way over
from the Third Avenue cars! How he ever did
it I cannot imagine - I have written a
shockingly gossippy letter, & I am afraid
decidedly stupid withal - Maybe we shall
have better luck next time - Oh I forgot one
piece of news. [Jon?] & Larrie Choate called on me
the other day & informed me that they had
taken a small house in 21st St between 6th &
7th Avenues, for five years. I’ve added that
if at the expiration of that time it should be
too small for them they would move - Carter
& his sister Abby passed an evening with us last
week. Langdell has gone to Boston & meant to
go to see Mrs Dwight. He & John [Weiss?] up their
Saturday night club, Willie sends her best love
& a [boxed] sweet kiss [/boxed] to his Aunt Abby & cousin Sally -
he was delighted with the paper thee sent him.
Rosalie De Wolf Hopper letter to Abby Hopper Gibbons
'Rosa" De Wolf Hopper was Abby's sister-in-law. Expresses concern that Abby and Sally are not receiving her letters. Discusses recent events concerning family/friends. Tells the story of the engagement of Josephine Shaw and Col. Charles Lowell.
Hopper, Rosa De Wolf (Rosalie), 1826-1910
1863-03-11
6 pages
reformatted digital
Abby Hopper Gibbons Papers, SFHL-RG5-174
Abby Hopper Gibbons Papers, SFHL-RG5-174 --http://archives.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/resources/5174ahgi
A00181359