Abbot Letters to Hannah Rantoul

Elizabeth (Abbot) Bowditch to Hannah Rantoul, 19 August 1845

[From Elizabeth in Tarboro, North Carolina, to Hannah in Beverly. She describes another visit to the country, and the common use of tobacco, even among women; talks more about the blacks; mentions a visit to the Tarboro Female Academy; talks about the Black Tongue disease; and mentions and asks about activities and mutual friends.

Addressed to "Miss Hannah L Rantoul, Beverly, Massachusetts." A separate notation by Hannah says "Mrs. Joseph H. Bowditch, Tarborough, N. C., August 19th, 1845." Postmarked "TARBOH N. C. Aug 21." BHS ID#948.001.1277.]

Tarborough, August 19th, 45

My dear sister H.,

I am very much behind you in letter writing my dear girl, but now I mean you shall have a good long full sheet to pay for it. Two letters have I rec'd from you since I wrote last, one by mail, and one by the box. I was glad to receive them you cannot doubt, and felt as if you were dearer to me than ever when the box came. It was on Sunday and how gladly I seized the letters (so many) you can hardly imagine. It was next to seeing all of you.

I did not receive one from E. W.¹ She was in Danvers, G.² said, and yesterday I rec'd a letter from G'a saying she was in Boston. So you do not see her much, now she is with you. I was thinking that you were walking to Hospital Pt.³ and visiting Moonlight Rock on your beach in company every eve'g.

How many times do I think of you when the moon is shining so brightly, and of the many and various topics we have discussed in your chamber on such an eve'g. And of our reading together, how pleasantly we have passed many hours, and what a pleasure to be able to recall them at will.

You say there are many changes taking place all around, and more especially in the church. You have so many strangers to attend that I should hardly know where I was to go there. Beverly will be a great place soon, and your walks to Hospital Pt. will not be as pleasant as formerly. It will be like going through the fashionable part of the town much less [__?__] &c.

G'a wrote me of Mr. Loring's loss. Just as he had every thing fixed to his mind and hers, she was taken suddenly away. He must feel melancholy indeed to have been deprived of his wife at such a time.

Since I wrote you last, I have made a country visit, about which I know G'a has told you. I was very much pleased, and wished many times that you could all be of the party. We enjoyed ourselves in a real old-fashioned country way, under no restraint, at liberty to walk, ride, and do as we pleased at any time. And what made every thing so very agreeable was that every body was delighted to see us. It is not necessary to send compliments to be hospitably received. If one will but go and make himself free and easy, using every thing as it were his own, it is all that is required.

I shall soon smoke a pipe I expect, for of all smokers I never saw any come up to the Carolinians. If an old lady sits down to have a talk with you, she must first go and get her pipe, the handle of which is nearly a yard long made of cane, call Jenny or Peggy or Ria to bring some fire to light it, and then one of the troop will start as fast as her legs will carry her, and back she will come with a coal between two pine knots, put it into Missa's pipe, wait and see if it puffs good, and then if all is right fly back again and deposit her coal upon the kitchen hearth. And if Missa don't smoke as if she enjoyed it, I never saw enjoyment in this world.

Much tobacco is used in various ways among gents and ladies. Some use it to chew, some in the form of snuff, and others smoke it. I saw large quantities of it growing while in the country, though more cotton than tobacco is cultivated in this section. The leaf is larger than the Rhubarb, becoming smaller and smaller as it grows up. That I saw was about two feet high. The cotton looks very prettily in bloom. The leaf is thin pointed, and of a beautiful green color, and the blossom is much like a single Althea, white, red, & yellow.

Everything, that was new and strange I saw and heard. The negroes at work would cast a sly look at me as I viewed them from head to foot. Indeed I could hardly keep my eyes off of them, they looked so funny. I think my dear girl they are a very happy class of beings, and love Master and Missa better than any body. And if a negro man or woman is industrious, he or she can earn a great deal of money. Some have much ambition, while others care for little else but eat, drink, and sleep, which they will do at any time you will let them.

Wednesday 20th. I put away your letter yesterday without finishing it, as I intended when I commenced that it might have gone by the mail last eve'g, but having a little cold, which I know not how I came by, I felt really sick and put it away for next mail. It is not here as with you. We can only mail our letters Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and as I missed Tuesday shall have to wait till tomorrow. It is much better (my cold) today, but is not a bad one. I have been so well, that I shall call a little one sickness.

I presume this letter will arrive just in season to welcome you home, after having been gone a fortnight. I hope you have had a pleasant tour, and will feel like sitting down and writing me a long letter immediately. Please thank your kind Father⁴ for two papers that I have rec'd from him. I was much pleased I can assure you.

I attended an examination of the Tarboro Female Academy⁵ the other day, and it was very unlike the Boy's School that I visited some months ago, of which G. read you an account I presume. If she did not, ask her too. It was a real specimen of country teaching. This young ladies school is kept by a minister⁶ and his lady,⁷ both natives of this state. She is one of the finest ladies I ever met with, and in her company I have taken much pleasure during my residence here. Her name is Owen, has three fine children,^{8, 9, 10} and lives so prettily. We tried very hard to get boarded with her, or indeed Jo. Henry¹¹ did before I came, but she was unwilling to have the care. I reckon she had a presentment that I should plague her mightily, and no do[____] I should have done so.

I hope soon to keep house myself. We are waiting only for a house to be vacated, and then I shall have my hands full. Why can't you, when I do have that care, come on & help me? I am so little, that they will manage me (the blacks I mean). I do believe people here think I am a kind of dummy. They say "You are so little Mrs. Bowditch. Why you look like a little girl." Well, I had some hope that the balmy south would make me grow up ever so high, but have given it up now, and am faced to be content as I am.

Georgiana writes me that the Black Tongue¹² is prevailing with you, and that our family have not escaped. It made me frightened until I read all were better. Here it is a much dreaded disease, and must be of a different kind altogether, for very few cases have been cured. It is said that the sufferer is in a dreadful condition, and is a pitiable object to behold. Now the danger is over, and it seems to have all died away, I will venture to write. What an excitement prevailed at the time. People in its neighborhood, hearing that it was in town, would not come themselves, nor allow their negroes to do so, on any business whatsoever. And one case was mentioned to me, wh. made me laugh a great deal. Mr. Taylor (a gent whom we visited while in the country) went some miles to see a friend. This friend saw him coming, and knowing that he visited Tarborough very often, sent his negro to ask him where he had just come from. Mr. T. says "Tarborough." "Massa says you must not come in, for he is afraid of the Black Tongue." So he had to go home again. The disease was so dreadful, that it was greatly dreaded as much so as the Cholera or Small Pox. There were no cases near us, and I did not fear, I suppose because I was ignorant of the consequences. Nothing has been heard of it for nearly two months.

You speak of attending a meeting of the Charitable Society,¹³ the only one I think since my absence, and you missed me. Thank you. I love to be missed by those I love. You will have G'a instead of me this winter. What do you say to my coming home to B. (I have two homes now) every Friday eve? Think it will do? I wish I could have helped you sew on the sheets for the poor [__?__]. What Elliot [?] is it?

Do you hear any thing from Mary Louisa?¹⁴ Her mother¹⁵ you say is with her. Is it not time to hear some good news from that quarter?

Ga says that J. McKean¹⁶ has given up housekeeping. Why is that, do you know?

Was it not funny that Mr. March and Mr. Libbey should have recognized in each other old friends on the memorable eve'g!! How did Mr. March suit your fancy. He is the one that I promised you, and you have not even expressed your like or dislike of him. He was much pleased with the appearance of the ladies of Beverly. He promised us a visit in Tarborough this summer, but we have not yet seen him.

You tell me news of S. J. Howe.¹⁷ I hope she will have the good fortune to bring it¹⁸ up healthy.

I am sorry to hear of E. Worsley's¹⁹ indisposition. Is she thought to be consumptive?

How is E. Whitteridge?²⁰ Does she not live along a great while. I expected to have heard of her death ere this.

Jane²¹ must mean something particular when she says she is expecting you will go off before a great while. What is it? Don't be bashful, tell me. I shall have to get her to write me a P. S. in G's letter and tell me all about it. Thank her for her love, also your parents. Give mine to all of them. In answer to Jane's question "How I like being married," I must refer her to F. W. Choate,²² who tells G. that he thinks I am disappointed & have not realized what I anticipated. He judges me from every one else, for he says no person ever comes up to his or her expectations in that respect. Poor man, I hope I shall never feel as he does, for he must be unhappy.

Please say at our house that I shall write them on Sunday, and that I rec'd a letter from G'a last Monday. Also the Register today. That comes as regular as clockwork, and does me a "heap" of good, as the "country's" say here. They do have some of the most envious expressions, that would make you laugh mightily.

I have just stopped a few moments to eat some nuts I have just had sent me, and as I sat picking out the meats, I could not help thinking how pretty Fred's²³ little hands would look in the dish, and wished he was by me. They were not cracked very well, and I reckon he would have been so impatient to get at the meat, he would have wanted Libby to pick them out. Little rogue. Don't you want him in your S. school class? No I shall have him in mine.

Give much love to all our family and E. W. if at home, and say I am expecting a letter from her. Write again soon. I promise you I will be better another time.

When you see Miss Frink²⁴ thank her for a letter I got by the box. I shall write her an answer very shortly.

I must now bid you good bye after giving you Jo. Henry's best respects. Your miniature looks just like you and is very valuable. What did E. B. W. think of mine. With love to every body, I remain y'r aff. sister.

H., don't you ever see Sarah?²⁵ I thought you would visit much.

Thursday morn'g.

Before I mail this, I must say good morn'g to you, and when I see you will make all proper explanations why I have not written. I hope it will not be a long long while. I shall write home very soon. I hope to be able to mail one on Sunday. Again with love to all, not forgetting A. W. A.²⁶ (I wish she had written me by the box.)

I will bid you good bye for not so long a time as before.

Your true sister E.

 

Copyright Charles Towne. Usage of this work is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0
Compiler: Charles Towne

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