MANUSCRIPT LETTER
BARNES, William. A 5½pp. a.l.s., with 2 integral blanks, 8°, on lined paper, dated Came Rectory, 28 July 1874, to Daniel Ricketson in New Bedford, Massachusetts, expressing thanks for his letter and a sense of remorse "as I had not for so very long a time sent you a few kindly words." His silence has been caused by "the loss of one of my five sons, who has left a wife and three small young children, and my mind has been too deeply saddened for cheerful correspondence, and my hand has fallen almost out of any writing but that which owed to the day as it came." However, he has much to thank God for "not least, in good children and good health" (para. 2). He walks "fourteen or fifteen miles every week about my parishes: and did on Sunday three full services of my two little churches." He expresses mixed satisfaction with an engraving of himself which is to appear in Mr. Conway's "Paper on Dorset" (para. 3), is happy to hear that Ricketson's family are "hale and healthy" (para. 4) and thanks him for "the kind offer of roof and rest at your home" (para. 5). He would also welcome him to Dorset "which is, indeed, small in lands, but not so small in name as the mother of children who are become as it were princes (in colonies) of many lands." He then remarks (paras. 6-8): "A Dorset-born man came to Dorchester to his old home the other day, and brought his wife, an American from the West. I showed her our little church and she was charmed with the oldness of what she saw, such as the oak pulpit made in 1624 .... She admired also the ivy which overspread so many of our walls .... Is your air too dry for the ivy [?]" He has "no spring-cart nor any carriage" but hires "a fly" for short journeys that cannot be covered by rail (para. 9). He concludes (para. 10): "I am not rich, but I have, like David, been upholder of the Lord ever since I was born and have been spared from a misuse of wealth for which I fear so many men will have to answer." In the post-script, Barnes refers to the enclosure of an ivy leaf: "from the verandah before our house," with original envelope.
Details
BARNES, William. A 5½pp. a.l.s., with 2 integral blanks, 8°, on lined paper, dated Came Rectory, 28 July 1874, to Daniel Ricketson in New Bedford, Massachusetts, expressing thanks for his letter and a sense of remorse "as I had not for so very long a time sent you a few kindly words." His silence has been caused by "the loss of one of my five sons, who has left a wife and three small young children, and my mind has been too deeply saddened for cheerful correspondence, and my hand has fallen almost out of any writing but that which owed to the day as it came." However, he has much to thank God for "not least, in good children and good health" (para. 2). He walks "fourteen or fifteen miles every week about my parishes: and did on Sunday three full services of my two little churches." He expresses mixed satisfaction with an engraving of himself which is to appear in Mr. Conway's "Paper on Dorset" (para. 3), is happy to hear that Ricketson's family are "hale and healthy" (para. 4) and thanks him for "the kind offer of roof and rest at your home" (para. 5). He would also welcome him to Dorset "which is, indeed, small in lands, but not so small in name as the mother of children who are become as it were princes (in colonies) of many lands." He then remarks (paras. 6-8): "A Dorset-born man came to Dorchester to his old home the other day, and brought his wife, an American from the West. I showed her our little church and she was charmed with the oldness of what she saw, such as the oak pulpit made in 1624 .... She admired also the ivy which overspread so many of our walls .... Is your air too dry for the ivy [?]" He has "no spring-cart nor any carriage" but hires "a fly" for short journeys that cannot be covered by rail (para. 9). He concludes (para. 10): "I am not rich, but I have, like David, been upholder of the Lord ever since I was born and have been spared from a misuse of wealth for which I fear so many men will have to answer." In the post-script, Barnes refers to the enclosure of an ivy leaf: "from the verandah before our house," with original envelope.