In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

57 letter 20  To Edmund Clarence Stedman August 25, [1860] Kennett Square, Pennsylvania Cedarcroft1 25 August Dear Stedman Your notice created quite a commotion last night among us, especially as you made the mistake of putting in Mrs. Taylor sen.2 For my part I am pleased being fond of publicity, as you know. Your paper is creditable I think, but it is a miserable mistake in the not having amusements noticed.3 How do you get on—how is Laura—are the children well—have you plenty of money, how is your health? I want to get back to the barracks in 13th Street4 —and shall be there before many days I hope. I am to rebegin housekeeping in my usual style of splendor and munificence. I shall buy 6 new glasses, one new table cloth, and be happy. I pore over my Ms5 every day, struggle, fight, despair and hope over it. I have a hundred and twenty-five pages done—not yet half completed. If it proves a failure I shall have a fit of sickness. I cannot work as fast as I am prepared in mind, on account of my not being well, and the care of Willy. I have to do everything for him, wash, dress, feed, and watch him. I hope we are to have some good times together in the coming months. ______ atmosphere is electrical don’t you think so?6 Steddy and Steddyfied? with an Elizabethan spirit permeating—or rather percolating it! To say nothing of Tom,7 Leland,8 Bayard and others. If you come across any choice spirits save them up for my prey at our den. I expect the condition of the rooms, beds, clothes, etc. is awful. I am going to have a dreadful clean as soon as I come, and shall come down like the day of judgement on the debris. You of course have no spare time for writing verse—what a pity. I fear my poetical days are over—I am growing gray every minute—my soul is getting ashen— Yours ever E.D.B.S. 58 Manuscript: Edmund Clarence Stedman Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University (typescript) notes 1. Cedarcroft, Taylor’s country estate in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, was completed in the summer of 1860 and the Stoddards were visiting the Taylors for the dedication of the estate on Saturday, August 18, 1860. Guests at the ceremony includedwritersandeditorssuchasRalphWaldoEmerson,JamesRussellLowell, Horace Greeley, and John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). 2. Bayard Taylor’s mother, Rebecca Way Taylor. Taylor and Richard composed a one-act drama, Love at a Hotel, which was performed in honor of the dedication of Cedarcroft. Both Marie Taylor and Stoddard had roles in the play, the latter as “Mehitable Johnes, of Squam Neck, Chambermaid.” See playbill, Allison-Shelley Collection, Pennsylvania State University. The “notice” referred to here is a review of the performance, written by Stedman and published in the World on August 24, 1860.“Mrs.Taylorsen.”mayhaveobjectedtobeingnamedinthenoticebecauseher Quaker beliefs would have prohibited her attendance at a dramatic performance. 3. Stedman joined Manton Marble’s New York Evening World as editor of the weekly edition in July 1860 and was promoted to day editor in August. 4. In April 1860, Stedman took a “bachelor room” at the house on Thirteenth StreetwheretheStoddardsandtheTaylorsalsolived.Stedman’swifeandchildren lived in a rented cottage in Strawberry Farms, New Jersey, a utopian community establishedbyAlbertBrisbane(1809–1890).HeleftThirteenthStreetonSeptember 10, 1860, to room with another friend on Fourth Street (Diary, Edmund Clarence Stedman Papers, Columbia University). 5. The Morgesons. 6. The underline before the word “atmosphere” appears in the typescript. It is not clear whether this was a dash in the original manuscript or was intended to stand in for a word that the transcriber either could not read or wanted to leave out of the typescript. 7. Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907), American poet, novelist, and editor. 8. American journalist and editor Charles Godfrey Leland (1824–1903). ...

Share