_Oak Hill_, April 16th, ½ past 6 A.M. [1841]
Most beloved, I have a few moments to spare before breakfast; and
perhaps thou wilt let me spend them in talking to thee. Thy two
letters blessed me yesterday, having been brought by some private
messenger of Mrs. Ripley's. Very joyful was I to hear from my Dove,
and my heart gave a mighty heave and swell. That cough of thine--I do
wish it would take its departure, for I cannot bear to think of thy
tender little frame being shaken with it all night long.
Dearest, since I last wrote thee, there has been an addition to our
community of four gentlemen in sables, who promise to be among our
most useful and respectable members. They arrived yesterday, about
noon. Mr. Ripley had proposed to them to join us, no longer ago than
that very morning. I had some conversation with them in the afternoon,
and was glad to hear them express much satisfaction with their new
abode, and all the arrangements. They do not appear to be very
communicative, however--or perhaps it may be merely an external
reserve, like that of thy husband, to shield their delicacy. Several
of their prominent characteristics, as well as their black attire,
lead me to believe that they are members of the clerical profession;
but I have not yet ascertained from their own lips, what has been the
nature of their past lives. I trust to have much pleasure in their
society, and, sooner or later, that we shall all of us derive great
strength from our intercourse with them. I cannot too highly applaud
the readiness with which these four gentlemen in black have thrown
aside all the fopperies and flummeries, which have their origin in a
false state of society. When I last saw them, they looked as
heroically regardless of the stains and soils incident to our
profession, as thy husband did when he emerged from the gold mine.
Ownest wife, thy husband has milked a cow!!!
Belovedest, the herd have rebelled against the usurpation of Miss
Fuller's cow; and whenever they are turned out of the barn, she is
compelled to take refuge under our protection. So much did she impede
thy husband's labors, by keeping close to him, that he found it
necessary to give her two or three gentle pats with a shovel; but
still she preferred to trust herself to my tender mercies, rather
than venture among the horns of the herd. She is not an amiable cow;
but she has a very intelligent face, and seems to be of a reflective
cast of character. I doubt not that she will soon perceive the
expediency of being on good terms with the rest of the sisterhood. I
have not been twenty yards from our house and barn; but I begin to
perceive that this is a beautiful place. The scenery is of a mild and
placid character, with nothing bold in its character; but I think its
beauties will grow upon us, and make us love it the more, the longer
we live here. There is a brook, so near the house that we shall [be]
able to hear it ripple, in the summer evenings; but, for agricultural
purposes, it has been made to flow in a straight and rectangular
fashion, which does it infinite damage, as a picturesque object.
Naughtiest, it was a moment or two before I could think whom thou
didst mean by Mr. Dismal View. Why, he is one of the best of the
brotherhood, so far as cheerfulness goes; for, if he do not laugh
himself, he makes the rest of us laugh continually. He is the
quaintest and queerest personage thou didst ever see--full of dry
jokes, the humor of which is so incorporated with the strange
twistifications of his physiognomy, that his sayings ought to be
written down, accompanied with illustrations by Cruikshank. Then he
keeps quoting innumerable scraps of Latin, and makes classical
allusions, while we are turning over the gold mine; and the contrast
between the nature of his employment and the character of his thoughts
is irresistibly ludicrous.
Sweetest, I have written this epistle in the parlor, while Farmer
Ripley, and Farmer Farley, and Farmer Dismal View, are talking about
their agricultural concerns, around the fire. So thou wilt not wonder
if it is not a classical piece of composition, either in point of
thought or expression. I shall have just time before breakfast is
ready--the boy has just come to call us now--but still I will tell
thee that I love thee infinitely; and that I long for thee
unspeakably, but yet with a happy longing. The rest of them have gone
into the breakfast room;...
(Portion of letter missing)
Miss Sophia A. Peabody,
13 West street,
Boston.