GIRLHOOD
1839-1843; _aet._ 20-23
The torch that lit these silent halls,
Has now extinguished been;
The windows of the soul are dark,
And all is gloom within.
But lo! it shines, a star in heav'n,
And through death's murky night,
The ruins of the stately pile
Gleam softly in its light.
And it shall be a beacon star
To cheer us, and to guide;
For we would live as thou hast lived,
And die as thou hast died.
_Julia Ward_, on her father's death, 1839.
In Julia's childhood her brother Sam was her ideal and her idol. She
describes him as a "handsome youth, quick of wit and tender of heart,
brilliant in promise, and with a great and versatile power of work in
him." He had early shown special proficiency in mathematics, and to the
end of his life rejoiced in being one of the few persons who clearly
understood the function called "_Gamma_." His masters expected great
things from him; but his brilliant and effervescent spirit was forced
into the Wall Street mould, with kindly intent but disastrous effect.
His life was checkered, sun and shadow; but from first to last, he
remained the delight of all who knew him. Sam Ward; Uncle Sam to three
generations, his was a name to conjure with: the soul of generosity, the
essence of wit, the spirit of kindliness. No one ever looked in his
face, ever met the kindling glance of his dark eyes, ever saw the
sunshine break in his smile, without forgetting all else in love and
admiration of one of the most enchanting personalities that ever
brightened the world.
Sam Ward returned from Europe in 1835, and took up his residence under
his father's roof. In 1838 he married Emily, daughter of William B.
Astor. The wedding was a grand one. Julia was first bridesmaid, and wore
a dress of white _moiré_, then a material of the newest fashion. Those
were the days of the _ferronière_, an ornament then so popular that
"evening dress was scarcely considered complete without it."[11] Julia
begged for one, and her father gave her a charming string of pearls,
which she wore with great contentment at the wedding.
[11] _Reminiscences_, p. 65.
The young couple took up their residence with the family at "The
Corner," the Francises having by this time moved to a house of their
own.
With all these changes, little by little, the discipline relaxed, the
doors opened wider. The bridal pair, _fêted_ everywhere, must, in their
turn, entertain their friends; and in these entertainments the daughters
of the house must have their share.
Julia Ward was now nineteen, in the fulness of her early bloom. Her
red-gold hair was no longer regarded as a misfortune; her gray eyes were
large and well opened; her complexion of dazzling purity. Her finely
chiselled features, and the beauty of her hands and arms, made an
_ensemble_ which could not fail to impress all who saw her. Add to this
her singing, her wit, and the charm which was all and always her own,
and we have the _Diva Julia_, as she was called by some who loved her.
Her sisters, also, were growing up, each exquisitely attractive in her
way: they became known as the "Three Graces of Bond Street." Louisa was
like a damask rose, Annie like a dark lily; dark, too, of eyes and hair
were Sam and Marion, while Henry was fair and blue-eyed.
At this distance of time, it may not be unpardonable to touch briefly on
another aspect of our mother's youth; indeed, it would hardly be candid
to avoid it. From the first she seems to have stirred the hearts of men.
Her masters, old and young, fell in love with her almost as a matter of
course. Gilded youth and sober middle-age fared no better; her girlhood
passed to the sound of sighing.
"My dear," said an intimate friend of the three, speaking of these days,
"Louisa had her admirers, and Annie had hers; but when the men saw your
mother, they just _flopped_!"
Among her papers we have found many relics of these days, from the faded
epistle addressed, "_à Julie, _la respectée_, _la choisie_, _l'aimée_,
_la chérie_," to the stern letter in which Mr. Ward "desires not to
conceal from the Rev. Mr. ---- the deliberate and dispassionate opinion,
that a gentleman whose sacred office commanded ready access to his roof,
might well have earlier ascertained the views of a widow'd Father on a
subject so involving the happiness of his child."
The unhappy suitor's note to Miss Julia is enclosed, and Mr. Ward
trusts that "the return will be considered by the Rev. Mr. ---- as
finally terminating the matter therein referred to."
Julia had for her suitors a tender and compassionate sympathy. She could
not love them, she would not marry them, but she was very sorry for
them, and--it must be admitted--she liked to be adored. So she sang
duets with one, read German with another, Anglo-Saxon with a third; for
all, perhaps, she may have had something the feeling of her "_Coquette
et Tendre_" in "Passion Flowers."
Ere I knew life's sober meaning,
Nature taught me simple wiles,
Gave this color, rising, waning,
Gave these shadows, deepening smiles.
More she taught me, sighing, singing,
Taught me free to think and move,
Taught this fond instinctive clinging
To the helpful arm of love.
The suitors called her "_Diva_," but in the family circle she was
"Jules," or "Jolie Julie." The family letters of this period are full of
affectionate cheerfulness.
When "Jolie Julie" is away on a visit, the others send her a composite
letter. Louisa threatens to shut her up on her return with nothing to
read but her Anglo-Saxon grammar and "Beowulf." ("If that does not give
you a distaste for all wolves," she says, "not excepting those _Long
fellows_,[12] I do not know what will!")
[12] Longfellow had lent her "Beowulf."
Annie tells of opening the window in Julia's room and of all the
poetical ideas flying out and away.
Emily, her brother's wife, describes Mr. Ward sighing, "Where is my
beauty?" as he sits at the table; and the letter closes with a lively
picture of the books in the library "heaving their dusty sides in sorrow
for her absence."
In describing life at "The Corner," we must not forget the evenings at
No. 23, Colonel Henry Ward's house. Uncle Henry and his namesake son
(the boy who was to "see death approaching with joy"!) were musical.
When Mr. Ward permitted (in his later and more lenient days) an informal
dance at "The Corner," the three girls sent for Uncle Henry as naturally
as they sent for the hair-dressing and salad-making _émigrés_; and the
stately, handsome gentleman came, and played waltzes and polkas with
cheerful patience all the evening.
On Sunday the whole family from "The Corner" took tea with Uncle Henry,
and music was the order of the evening. Mr. Ward delighted in these
occasions, and was never ready to go home. When Uncle Henry thought it
was bedtime, he would go to the piano and play the "Rogue's March."
(Twice flogged for stealing a sheep,
Thrice flogged for de_sar_tion!
If ever I go for a soldier again,
The devil may be my portion!
We hear the fife shrill through the lively air!)
"No! no, Colonel!" Mr. Ward would cry. "We won't march yet; give us half
an hour more!" And in affectionate mischief he would stay the half-hour
through before marshalling his flock back to "The Corner."
A stern period was put to all this innocent gayety by the death of Mr.
Ward, at the age of fifty-three. His life, always laborious, had been
doubly so since the death of his wife. Stunned at first by the blow, his
strong sense of duty soon roused him to resume his daily
responsibilities--with a difference, however. Religion had always been a
powerful factor in his life; henceforth it was to be his main
inspiration, and he found his chief comfort in works of public and
private beneficence.
An earnest patriot, he was no politician; but when his services were
needed by city, state, or country, they were always forthcoming.
Throughout the series of financial disasters beginning with Andrew
Jackson's refusal to renew the charter of the Bank of the United States,
and culminating in the panic of 1837, Mr. Ward acted with vigor,
decision, and sagacity. His denunciation of the removal of the public
deposits from the Bank of the United States by the famous Specie
Circular as "an act so lawless, violent, and fraught with disaster, that
it would and must eventually overthrow the men and the party that
resorted to it," was justified, literally and entirely.
The crisis of 1836-37 called for all the strength, wisdom, and public
spirit that the men of the country could show. Mr. Ward labored day and
night to prevent the dishonor of the banks of New York.
"Individual effort, however, was vain, and the 10th of May saw all the
banks reduced to suspend specie payments; and upon no man did that
disastrous day close with deeper mortification than upon him.
Personally, and in his business relations, this event affected Mr. Ward
as little possibly as any one at all connected with affairs; but, in his
estimation, it vitally wounded the commercial honor and character of the
city. He was not, however, a man to waste, in unavailing regrets, hours
that might be more advantageously employed to repair the evil, and he
therefore at once set about the arrangement of measures for inducing and
enabling the banks to resume at the earliest possible moment."[13]
[13] _The Late Samuel Ward_, by Mr. Charles King.
This was accomplished within the year. About the same time the Bank of
England sent to Prime, Ward & King a loan of nearly five million dollars
in gold. Mr. King says, "This extraordinary mark of confidence, this
well-earned tribute to the prudence and integrity of the house, Mr. Ward
did not affect to undervalue, and confirming, as it did, the sagacity of
his own views, and the results which he had so confidently foretold, it
was not lost upon the community in the midst of which he lived."
Our mother never forgot the afternoon when Brother Sam came into her
study on his return from Wall Street and cried out to her:--
"Julia, men have been going up and down the office stairs all day long,
carrying little wooden kegs of gold on their backs, marked 'Prime, Ward
& King' and filled with English gold!"
That English gold saved the honor of the Empire State, and the fact that
her father procured the loan was the greatest asset in her inheritance
from the old firm.
Mr. Ward did not see the kegs, for he was in bed, prostrated by a severe
fit of sickness brought on by his labors for the public honor. The few
years that remained to him were a very martyrdom, his old enemy,
rheumatic gout, attacking him more and more fiercely; but his spirit was
indomitable. He labored almost single-handed to establish the Bank of
Commerce, and became its first president, stipulating that he should
receive no compensation. What he did receive was his death-warrant. The
dampness of the freshly plastered walls of the new building brought on
in the spring of 1839 two successive attacks so severe that he could not
rally from them. Still he toiled on, giving all his energies to perfect
and consolidate the enterprise which he believed would be of lasting
benefit to his beloved city.
In October of the same year came another financial crisis. The banks of
Philadelphia and the Southern States suspended specie payments, and
every effort was made to induce the New York banks to follow suit. Mr.
Ward was ill at Newport, but hearing the news he hurried back and threw
himself into the conflict, exhorting, sustaining, encouraging.
A friend protested, warning him of the peril to his enfeebled health of
such exertions. "I should esteem life itself not unworthily sacrificed,"
said Mr. Ward, "if by word or deed, I could aid the banks in adhering
faithfully to their duty."
For nearly two weeks he labored, till the work was done, his city's
honor and fair fame secure; then he went home literally to die,
departing this life, November 27, 1839.
Julia was with him when he died, his hand in hers. The beauty of his
countenance in death was such that Anne Hall, the well-known miniature
painter, begged permission to paint it, and his descendants may still
gaze on the majestic features in their serene repose.
Our mother writes of this time: "I cannot, even now, bear to dwell upon
the desolate hush which fell upon our house when its stately head lay,
silent and cold, in the midst of weeping friends and children."[14]
[14] _Reminiscences_, p. 53.
Her love for her father was to cease only with her life. She never
failed to record his birthday in her diary, with some word of tender
remembrance.
Shortly before Mr. Ward's death, Sam and his wife had moved to a house
of their own. The five unmarried children would have been desolate,
indeed, if left to themselves in the great house: but to the joy and
comfort of all, their bachelor uncle, John Ward, left his own house and
came to live with them. From this time until his death in 1866, he was a
second father to them.
_Uncle John!_ The words call up memories of our own childhood. We see a
tall, stalwart figure, clad in loose-fitting garments; a noble head
crowned by a small brown scratch wig; a countenance beaming with
kindliness and humor. A Manila cheroot is between his lips--the
fragrance of one never fails to call up his image--and he caresses an
unamiable little dog which he fondly loves. He offers a grand-niece a
silk dress if she will make it up herself. This was the "Uncle John" of
No. 8 Bond Street, one of the worthies of Wall Street, and uncle, by
courtesy, to half New York.
In his youth he had received an injury which deprived him of speech for
more than a year. It was feared that he would never speak again; one day
his mother, trying to help him in some small matter, and not succeeding
to her mind, cried, "I am a poor, awkward, old woman!"
"_No, you are not!_" exclaimed John Ward; and the trouble was over.
His devotion to his orphan nieces and nephews was constant and
beautiful. He desired ardently that the three girls should be good
housekeepers, and grudged the amount of time which one of them at least
devoted to books and music. To them also he was fond of giving
dress-materials, with the proviso that they should make them up for
themselves. This they managed to do, "with a good deal of help from the
family seamstress."
When Julia published her first literary venture, a translation of
Lamartine's "Jocelyne," Uncle John showed her a favorable notice of it
in a newspaper, saying: "This is my little girl who knows about books,
and writes an article and has it printed, but I wish she knew more about
housekeeping."
"A sentiment," she adds, "which in after years I had occasion to echo
with fervor."
While Sam was her ideal of youthful manhood, Henry was her mate, the
nearest to her in age and in sympathy. The bond between them was close
and tender; and when in October, 1840, he died of typhoid fever, the
blow fell on her with crushing severity.
"When he closed his eyes," she says, "I would gladly, oh, so gladly have
died with him!" And again, "I remember the time as one without light or
comfort."
She turned to seek consolation in religion, and--naturally--in that
aspect of religion which had been presented to her childish mind as the
true and only one. At this time a great Calvinistic revival was going on
in New York, and a zealous friend persuaded Julia to attend some of the
meetings. In her anguish of grief, the gloomy doctrines of natural
depravity, of an angry and vengeful Deity, of a salvation possible only
through certain strictly defined channels, came home to her with
terrible force. Her deeply religious nature sought the Divine under
however portentous an aspect it was presented; her poet's imagination
clung to the uplifted Cross; these were days of emotion, of fervor, of
exaltation alternating with abasement; _thought_ was to come later.
While under these influences, Julia, now at the head of the household,
enforced her Calvinistic principles with rigor. The family were allowed
only cold meat on Sunday, to their great discomfort; the rather
uninviting midday dinner was named by Uncle John "Sentiment"; but at six
o'clock they were given hot tea, and this he called "Bliss." Pious
exhortations, sisterly admonitions, were the order of the day. "The Old
Bird"--this _nom de tendresse_ had now superseded "Jolie Julie," and was
to be hers while her sisters and brothers lived--hovered over the
younger ones with maternal anxiety. In the poems and letters of this
period, she adopts unconsciously the phraseology of the day.
Being away on a visit, she writes to her sisters: "Believe me, it is
better to set aside, untasted, the cup of human enjoyment, than to drink
it to the bitter dregs, and then seek for something better, which may
not be granted to us. The _manna_ fell from heaven early in the morning,
those who then neglected to gather it were left without nourishment; it
is early in life's morning that we must gather the heavenly food, which
can alone support us through the burden and heat of the day."
The emotional fervor of this time was heightened by a complication which
arose from it. A young clergyman of brilliant powers and passionate
nature fell deeply in love with Julia, and pressed his suit with such
ardor that she consented to a semi-engagement. Fortunately, a visit to
Boston gave her time to examine her feelings. Relieved from the pressure
of a twofold excitement, breathing a calmer and a freer air, she
realized that there could be no true union between her and the Rev. Mr.
----, and the connection was broken off.
The course of Julia's studies had for some years been leading her into
wider fields of thought.
In her brother's library she found George Sand and Balzac, and read such
books as he selected for her. In German she became familiar with Goethe,
Jean Paul, and Matthias Claudius. She describes the sense of
intellectual freedom derived from these studies as "half delightful,
half alarming."
Mr. Ward one day had undertaken to read an English translation of
"Faust" and came to her in great alarm. "My daughter," he said, "I hope
that you have not read this wicked book!" She had read it, and "Wilhelm
Meister," too (though in later life she thought the latter "not
altogether good reading for the youth of our country"). Shelley was
forbidden, and Byron allowed only in small and carefully selected doses.
The twofold bereavement which weighed so heavily upon her checked for a
time the development of her thought, throwing her back on the ideas
which her childhood had received without question; but her buoyant
spirit could not remain long submerged, and as the poignancy of grief
abated, her mind sought eagerly for clearer vision.
In the quiet of her own room, the bounds of thought and of faith
stretched wide and wider. Vision often came in a flash: witness the
moment when the question of Matthias Claudius, "And is He not also the
God of the Japanese?" changed from a shocking suggestion to an eternal
truth. Witness also the moment when, after reading "Paradise Lost," she
saw "the picture of an eternal evil, of Satan and his ministers
subjugated, indeed, by God, but not conquered, and able to maintain
against Him an opposition as eternal as his goodness. This appeared to
me impossible, and I threw away, once and forever, the thought of the
terrible hell which till then had always formed part of my belief. In
its place I cherished the persuasion that the victory of goodness must
consist in making everything good, and that Satan himself could have no
shield strong enough to resist permanently the divine power of the
divine spirit."
New vistas were opening everywhere before her. She made acquaintance
with Margaret Fuller, who read her poems, and urged her to publish them.
Of one of these poems, Miss Fuller writes:--
"It is the record of days of genuine inspiration,--of days when the soul
lay in the light, when the spiritual harmonies were clearly apprehended
and great religious symbols reanimated with their original meaning. Its
numbers have the fulness and sweetness of young love, young life. Its
gifts were great and demand the service of a long day's work to
_requite_ and to interpret them. I can hardly realize that the Julia
Ward I have seen has lived this life. It has not yet pervaded her whole
being, though I can recall something of it in the steady light of her
eye. May she become all attempered and ennobled by this music. I saw in
her taste, the capacity for genius, and the utmost delicacy of
passionate feeling, but caught no glimpse at the time of this higher
mood.... If she publishes, I would not have her omit the lines about the
'lonely room.' The personal interest with which they stamp that part is
slight and delicate....
"S. MARGARET FULLER.
"I know of many persons in my own circle to whom I think the poem would
be especially grateful."[15]
[15] This manuscript poem was lost, together with many others of the
period, a loss always regretted by our mother.
On every hand she met people, who like herself were pressing forward,
seeking new light. She heard Channing preach, heard him say that God
loves bad men as well as good; another window opened in her soul. Again,
on a journey to Boston, she met Ralph Waldo Emerson. The train being
delayed at a wayside station, she saw the Transcendentalist, whom she
had pictured as hardly human, carrying on his shoulder the child of a
poor and weary woman; her heart warmed to him, and they soon made
acquaintance. She, with the ardor of youth, gave him at some length the
religious views which she still held in the main, and with which she
felt he would not agree. She enlarged upon the personal presence of
Satan on this earth, on his power over man. Mr. Emerson replied with
gentle courtesy, "Surely the Angel must be stronger than the Demon!" She
never forgot these words; another window opened, and a wide one.
Julia Ward had come a long way from old Ascension Church, where Peter
Stuyvesant, in a full brown wig, carried round the plate, and the
Reverend Manton (afterwards Bishop) Eastburn preached sermons "remarked
for their good English"; and where communicants were not expected to go
to balls or theatres.
The years of mourning over, the Ward sisters took up the pursuits
natural to their age and position. Louisa was now eighteen, very
beautiful, already showing the rare social gift which distinguished her
through life. The two sisters began a season of visiting, dancing, and
all manner of gayeties.
The following letter illustrates this period of her girlhood:--
_To her sisters_
BOSTON (1842).
Friday, that's all I know about to-day.
MY DEAREST CHICKS,--
Though I have a right to be tired, having talked and danced for the two
last nights, yet my enjoyment is most imperfect until I have shared it
with you, so I must needs write to you, and tell you what a very nice
time I am having. Last night I went to a party at Miss Shaw's, given to
_Boz and me_, at least, I was invited before he came here, so think that
I will only give him an equal share of the honor. I danced a good deal,
with some very agreeable partners, and talked as usual with Sumner,
Hillard,[16] Longo,[17] etc. I was quite pleased that Boz recognized
Fanny Appleton and myself, and gave us a smile and bow _en passant_. He
could do no more, being almost torn to pieces by the crowd which throngs
his footsteps, wherever he goes. I like to look at him, he has a bright
and most speaking countenance, and his face is all wrinkled with the
lines, not of care, but of laughter. His manners are very free and
cordial, and he seems to be as capital a fellow as one would suppose
from his writings. He circulates as universally as small change, and
understands the art of gratifying others without troubling himself, of
letting himself be seen without displaying himself--now this speaks for
his real good taste, and shows that if not a gentleman born and bred, he
is at least a man, every inch of him.
[16] George S. Hillard.
[17] Longfellow.
... I have had hardly the least dash of Transcendentalism, and that of
the very best description, a lecture and a visit from Emerson, in both
of which he said beautiful things, and to-morrow (don't be shocked!) a
conversation at Miss Fuller's, which I shall treasure up for your
amusement and instruction. I have also heard (don't go into hysterics!)
Dr. Channing once. It was a rare chance, as he does not now preach once
in a year. His discourse was very beautiful--and oh, such a sermon as I
heard from Father Taylor! I was almost disposed to say, "surely never
man spake like this man." And now good-bye. I must shut up the budget,
and keep some for a rainy day. God bless my darling sisters. Love to
dear Sam and Uncle. Your
DUDIE.
In these days also she first met her future husband.
Samuel Gridley Howe was at this time (1842) forty-one years of age; his
life had been a stirring and adventurous one. After passing through
Brown University, and the Harvard Medical School, in 1824 he threw in
his lot with the people of Greece, then engaged in their War of
Independence, and for six years shared their labor and hardships in the
field, and on shipboard, being surgeon-in-chief first to the Greek army,
then to the fleet. It was noted by a companion in arms, that "the only
fault found with him was that he always would be in the fight, and was
only a surgeon when the battle was over." He eventually found, however,
that his work was to be constructive, not destructive.
The people were perishing for lack of food; he returned to America,
preached a crusade, and took back to Greece a shipload of food and
clothing for the starving women and children. Having fed them, he set
them to work; built a hospital and a mole (which stands to this day in
Ægina), founded a colony, and turned the half-naked peasants into
farmers. These matters have been fully related elsewhere.[18]
[18] _Letters and Journals of Samuel Gridley Howe._
Returning to this country in 1831, he took up the education of the
blind, which was to be chief among the multifarious labors of his life.
When Julia Ward first met him, he had been for nine years Director of
the Perkins Institution for the Blind, and was known throughout the
civilized world as the man who had first taught language to a blind deaf
mute (Laura Bridgman).
Up to this time a person thus afflicted was classed with idiots,
"because," as Blackstone says, "his mind cannot be reached." This dictum
had been recently reaffirmed by a body of learned men. Dr. Howe thought
otherwise. Briefly, he invented a new science. "He carefully reasoned
out every step of the way, and made a full and clear record of the
methods which he invented, not for his pupils alone, but for the whole
afflicted class for which he opened the way to human fellowship.... His
methods have been employed in all subsequent cases, and after seventy
years of trial remain the standard."[19]
[19] _Memoir of Dr. Samuel G. Howe_, by Julia Ward Howe.
Hand in hand with Dorothea Dix, he was beginning the great fight for
helping and uplifting the insane; was already, with Horace Mann,
considering the condition of the common schools, and forging the
weapons for other fights which laid the foundations of the school system
of Massachusetts. Later, he was to take up the cause of the
feeble-minded, the deaf mute, the prisoner, the slave; throughout his
life, no one in "trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other
adversity" was ever to call on him in vain.
His friends called him the "Chevalier"; partly because the King of
Greece had made him a Knight of St. George, but more because they saw in
him a good knight without fear and without reproach. Charles Sumner was
his _alter ego_, the brother of his heart; others of his intimates at
that time were Longfellow, George Hillard, Cornelius Felton, Henry
Cleveland. This little knot of friends called themselves "The Five of
Clubs," and met often to make merry and to discuss the things of life.
The summer of 1842 was spent by Julia Ward and her sisters at a cottage
in the neighborhood of Boston, in company with their friend Mary
Ward.[20] Here Longfellow and Sumner often visited them, and here Julia
first heard of the Chevalier and his wonderful achievement in educating
Laura Bridgman. Deeply interested, she gladly accepted the offer of the
two friends to drive her and her sisters over to the Perkins
Institution. She has described how "Mr. Sumner, looking out of a window,
said, 'Oh! here comes Howe on his black horse.' I looked out also, and
beheld a noble rider on a noble steed."
[20] Afterward Mrs. Charles H. Dorr. This lady was of no kin to them.
She had been betrothed to their brother Henry, and was the lifelong
friend of all three sisters.
The slender, military figure, the jet-black hair, keen blue eyes, and
brilliant complexion, above all the vivid presence, like the flash of a
sword--all these could not fail to impress the young girl deeply; the
Chevalier, on his part, saw and recognized the _Diva Julia_ of his
friends' description. She has told us "how acquaintance ripened into
good-will" between the two.
The Chevalier, eager to push the acquaintance further, went to New York
to call on the Diva and her family. In a private journal of the time we
find the following glimpse of the pair:--
"Walked down Broadway with all the fashion and met the pretty
blue-stocking, Miss Julia Ward, with her admirer, Dr. Howe, just home
from Europe. She had on a blue satin cloak and a white muslin dress. I
looked to see if she had on blue stockings, but I think not. I suspect
that her stockings were pink, and she wore low slippers, as Grandmamma
does. They say she dreams in Italian and quotes French verses. She sang
very prettily at a party last evening, and accompanied herself on the
piano. I noticed how white her hands were."
During a subsequent visit to Boston in the winter of 1842-43, Julia Ward
and Dr. Howe became engaged. The engagement was warmly welcomed by the
friends of both.
Charles Sumner writes to Julia:--
"Howe has told me, with eyes flashing with joy, that you have received
his love. May God make you happy in his heart, as I know he will be
happy in yours! A truer heart was never offered to woman. I know him
well. I know the depth, strength, and constancy of his affections, as
the whole world knows the beauty of his life and character. And oh! how
I rejoice that these are all to mingle in loving harmony with your great
gifts of heart and mind. God bless you! God bless you both! You will
strengthen each other for the duties of life; and the most beautiful
happiness shall be yours--that derived from inextinguishable mutual
love, and from the consciousness of duty done.
"You have accepted my dear Howe as your lover; pray let me ever be
"Your most affectionate friend,
"CHARLES SUMNER.
"P.S. Sir Huldbrand has subdued the restless Undine, and the soul has
been inspired into her; and her 'wickedness' shall cease."
Longfellow's letter to Dr. Howe also has been preserved among the
precious relics of the time.
MY DEAREST CHEVALIER,--
From the deepest dungeons of my heart, all the imprisoned sympathies and
affections of my nature cry aloud to you, saying "All hail!" On my
return from Portland this afternoon, I found your note, and before
reading it I read in Sumner's eyes your happiness. The great riddle of
life is no longer a riddle to you; the great mystery is solved. I need
not say to you how very deeply and devoutly I rejoice with you; and no
one more so, I assure you. Among all your friends, I am the oldest
friend of your fair young bride; she is a beautiful spirit, a truth,
which friendship has learned by heart in a few years. Love has taught
you in as many hours!
Of course you seem to be transfigured and glorified. You walk above in
the June air, while Sumner and I, like the poor (sprites) in "Faust,"
who were struggling far down in the cracks and fissures of the rocks,
cry out to you, "O take us with you! take us with you!"
In fine, my dear Doctor, God bless you and yours. You know already how
much I approve your choice. I went to your office this afternoon to tell
you with my own lips; but you were not there. Take, therefore, this
brief expression of my happiness at knowing you are so happy; and
believe me
Ever sincerely your friend,
LONGFELLOW.
CAMBRIDGE, Feb. 20, 1843.
At the same time Diva writes to her brother Sam:--
"The Chevalier says truly--I am the captive of his bow and spear. His
true devotion has won me from the world, and from myself. The past is
already fading from my sight; already, I begin to live with him in the
future, which shall be as calmly bright as true love can make it. I am
perfectly satisfied to sacrifice to one so noble and earnest the day
dreams of my youth. He will make life more beautiful to me than a
dream....
"The Chevalier is very presumptuous--says that he will not lose sight of
me for one day, that I must stay here till he can return with me to New
York. The Chevalier is very impertinent, speaks of two or three months,
when I speak of two or three years, and seems determined to have his
own way: but, dear Bunny, the Chevalier's way will be a very charming
way, and is, henceforth, to be mine."
It was not to be supposed that the Chevalier would wait longer for his
bride than was absolutely necessary. The wedding preparations were
hurried on, most of them being made by Sisters Annie and Louisa, as
Julia could not be brought down from the clouds sufficiently to give
them much attention. It was hard even to make her choose her wedding
dress; but this was finally decided upon, "a white embroidered muslin,
exquisitely fine, to be worn over a satin 'slip.'"
The wedding, a quiet one, took place at Samuel Ward's house, on April
23, 1843, and four days later, Chevalier and Diva sailed together for
Europe.