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59 letter 21  To Edmund Clarence Stedman August 17, 1861 Mattapoisett, Massachusetts 17th Aug. 1861 Dear Stedman I thought I should see you before this, or I might have written you in answer your letter to me. Word of mouth is much better than word of pen. I think you said, you were not able to be found fault with. That’s a woman’s excuse. I have found fault with you and I must. You knew perfectly well, that I never spoke of your wife to you, or answered you when you spoke of her, wasn’t that enough for you to keep her away? Do you expect that your friends are going to shuffle their behavior to her as you do?1 I heard of you at Bull Run and I was pleased.2 How delighted the Ludlows3 were at your letter and your conduct. L himself is a noble hearted man! Mrs L. praises you to the skies—let that comfort you for my abuse. I wish you were home again, I want to see you. I should like to have you live with us at Miss Swifts.4 Stoddard isn’t enough for me to quarrel with. We are in our little house by the sea, Stod. Wilson & I.5 What a chat we would have if you were along. I have not seen my lord Marble6 in a long time. The World is a wretched, venal sheet. Good bye. Your amiable Elizabeth Manuscript: Edmund Clarence Stedman Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University 60 notes 1.TheargumentreferredtohereapparentlybegansometimeinearlyMay1861. OnMay14,RichardwrotealettertoStedmaninwhichheaskedthatLauraStedman no longer accompany Edmund to the Stoddards’ home, explaining: “Your own account of your home difficulties last winter, a matter from which I have stood entirely aloof, has made [Elizabeth] dislike Mrs Stedman. It may be prejudice, call it so, if you will; still the fact remains the same” (Edmund Clarence Stedman Papers, Columbia University). 2. Stedman’s letter on the battle of Bull Run, published in the New York World, on July 23, 1861, and later reprinted as a pamphlet by Rudd & Carleton, was widely regarded as one of the best accounts of the conflict. Although he did not mention the incident in his own report, a correspondent for the Philadelphia Inquirer described Stedman taking up the flag of the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment in an attempt to rally the troops during their retreat. At the time this letter was written, Stedman appears to have been in Washington, D.C. 3. Fitz Hugh Ludlow (1836–1870) was the author of The Hasheesh Eater (1857), a work that brought instant popularity to the young writer. He was married to Rosalie Osborne (1841?–1893) in 1859. 4. From 1861 to 1872, the Stoddards lived intermittently at a boardinghouse on Tenth Street in New York City owned by a Miss Swift (possibly Ann Swift). According to Lilian Woodman Aldrich (1844–1927), the Stoddards’ home at Miss Swift’s was one of “three literary centres in New York” in the early 1860s (the other two being Pfaffs beer cellar and the Century Club) (Crowding Memories 14). 5.Inthesummerof1861,RichardStoddardpurchasedahouseinMattapoisett. His mother, Sophia Gurney Stoddard Gallon, and her husband, James Gallon (??–1870), lived there throughout the year, while the Stoddards visited during the summer months. 6. Manton Marble, editor of the New York World. See biographical note. ...

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