Edward wrote his letters with a nib-tipped pen, dipped in an inkwell.
His light came from a candle, the sun or a gas lamp.
He appropriately respected how relationships were strictly defined and formal, so his communication was courteous and respectful. Inscription was slow, formal, deliberate and, in his case, joyous and hopeful.
This is his first letter...
Harvard University
Sat. Eve.
Ma chere cousine,
Will you write to me? If so, I will proceed; if not, I will end immediately; because, of course you would not wish to receive a letter, which you would not be willing to answer. Therefore, in order that I may do nothing contrary to your desire, I will repeat the query,-"Will you write to me?"
As there is no answer, I shall, according to the principle that "Silence gives consent," take it for granted that your answer is in the affirmative, and act accordingly. If I have erred in my premise, I shall consider the not answering of my note an indication of your displeasure and of course must presume that both my letter and myself are highly objectionable to you and will endeavor for the future, to wound your feelings no more. But I can not believe that you entertain quite so bad an opinion of me and therefore will entreat you to write. If but one line, yet do write to me: the oftener the better.
When I bade you good-bye, on my departure from Salem, I felt as sorry and loth to go as it were possible for me to feel under any circumstances. I left the table before I had finished, in order that I might see you once more before you went to school, but I reached the house five minutes too late. You had just gone, and yet as I gazed down Chestnut Street, if perchance I might see and overtake you before you turned at the corner, there was no Lizzie in sight. As I took my seat in the cars, my thoughts again and again carried me to the source of my pleasant visit, and I lamented the summons that called me home, yes home that I wished so much to see.
Owing to my long and protracted stay in Salem, I did not go to Dedham and see my sister Liz as I originally intended, but was compelled to defer my visit until some time during the present term.
How do my slippers advance? From a source you little suspect, I learned that they were already begun. Slippers do not need "shoe strings" to tie them, do they?
You may expect me to fly down and spend some Sabbath with you when you little dream of my coming. I shall come down some time with JW. So don't be frightened if I drop down very suddenly some time.
But it is 12 o'clock and I have to get up to prayers tomorrow at 5 ½, so I must to bed.
Adieu
Edward
(Do write)
His light came from a candle, the sun or a gas lamp.
He appropriately respected how relationships were strictly defined and formal, so his communication was courteous and respectful. Inscription was slow, formal, deliberate and, in his case, joyous and hopeful.
This is his first letter...
Harvard University
Sat. Eve.
Ma chere cousine,
Will you write to me? If so, I will proceed; if not, I will end immediately; because, of course you would not wish to receive a letter, which you would not be willing to answer. Therefore, in order that I may do nothing contrary to your desire, I will repeat the query,-"Will you write to me?"
As there is no answer, I shall, according to the principle that "Silence gives consent," take it for granted that your answer is in the affirmative, and act accordingly. If I have erred in my premise, I shall consider the not answering of my note an indication of your displeasure and of course must presume that both my letter and myself are highly objectionable to you and will endeavor for the future, to wound your feelings no more. But I can not believe that you entertain quite so bad an opinion of me and therefore will entreat you to write. If but one line, yet do write to me: the oftener the better.
When I bade you good-bye, on my departure from Salem, I felt as sorry and loth to go as it were possible for me to feel under any circumstances. I left the table before I had finished, in order that I might see you once more before you went to school, but I reached the house five minutes too late. You had just gone, and yet as I gazed down Chestnut Street, if perchance I might see and overtake you before you turned at the corner, there was no Lizzie in sight. As I took my seat in the cars, my thoughts again and again carried me to the source of my pleasant visit, and I lamented the summons that called me home, yes home that I wished so much to see.
Owing to my long and protracted stay in Salem, I did not go to Dedham and see my sister Liz as I originally intended, but was compelled to defer my visit until some time during the present term.
How do my slippers advance? From a source you little suspect, I learned that they were already begun. Slippers do not need "shoe strings" to tie them, do they?
You may expect me to fly down and spend some Sabbath with you when you little dream of my coming. I shall come down some time with JW. So don't be frightened if I drop down very suddenly some time.
But it is 12 o'clock and I have to get up to prayers tomorrow at 5 ½, so I must to bed.
Adieu
Edward
(Do write)
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