the South. When I saw them in
New York, they were both looking extremely well; Cecilia fat, and
cheerful, and apparently very happy, in spite of her "incidents of
American travel." ...

The heat of the summer while we remained at Butler Place was something
quite indescribable, and hardly varied at all for several weeks, either
night or day, from between 90 and 100 degrees.

People sat up all night at their windows in town; and as for me, more
than once, in sheer desperation, after trying to sleep on a cane sofa
under the piazza, I wandered about more than half the night, on the
gravel walks of the garden, bare-footed,--_et dans le simple appareil
d'une beaute qu'on vient d'arracher au sommeil_.

We tried to sleep upon _everything_ in vain,--Indian matting was as hot
as woolen blankets. At last I laid a piece of oilcloth on my bed,
without even as much as a sheet over it, and though I could not sleep,
obtained as much relief from the heat as to be able to lie still. It was
terrible!...

I have been for two months up here, not having been allowed to go to the
Virginia springs, on account of the difficulty of carrying my children
there; but I am promised that we shall all go there next summer, when
there is to be something like a passable road, by which the
health-giving region may be approached....

I have an earnest desire to return to Europe in the autumn--not to stay
in England, unless my father should be there, but to go to him, wherever
he may be, and to spend a little time with my sister.... All this,
however, lies far ahead, and God knows what at present invisible
prospects may reveal and develop themselves on the surface of the
future, as a nearer light falls on it....

My youngest child's accomplishments are hitherto unaccompanied by a
syllable of speech or utterance, and the idea sometimes occurs to me
whether a child of mine could have enough genius to be dumb.

Good-bye, my dearest Harriet.

Ever affectionately yours,
F. A. B.

BUTLER PLACE, October 10th, 1839.
DEAR MRS. JAMESON,

Your interesting letter of 26th July reached me about ten days ago, at
Lenox, where, according to my wont, I was passing the hot months. I had
heard from dear Mr. Harness, a short time before, that you had suffered
much annoyance from the withdrawal of your father's pension. Your own
acc