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139 letter 46 To Whitelaw Reid May 9, 1870 Mattapoisett, Massachusetts Mattapoisett Mass May 9th ’70 Dear Mr Reid I do not know Mrs Runkle’s1 address. Please send the enclosed to her. How sorry I was not to bid you farewell! Your last words to me at the Century2 were— Be a good woman! Oh my friend, what a world of ignorance that speech revealed to me! It is an excellent general text, but I have no time to preach a sermon out. If you live long enough you will give me the affection I ask for, which will be a help to you—for when a man loves a woman in the shady side of life, one who is a woman of sorrows, who is capable of understanding the evil and the good, he can but be sustained by her sympathy and friendship— I wish you could drop in upon us; to my delight, our Stoddard is well and happy his beautiful library here is such a satisfaction. We are not in our own little house but at my father’s, an ancient domicile built by my great Grandfather. We have a wood fire in our little paneled parlor and look out upon the sea from little panes of glass. To me it is the place of graves, for I am the last of my brothers and sisters unburied.3 I mean however to write here. The atmosphere is always a heroic rude tonic to my mind. Here, I am natural, and strong the city makes me weak and whimpering. There I want hot house flowers and flounces. Here I am contented with those feelings which come from quiet contemplation. Understand me more, and believe in Stoddard’s and my friendship for you. If you go to Boston do come here, it’s only two and a half hours 140 [illegible] ride to this station by rail. We have the remains of the General’s4 claret, and the fish are plenty. Ever yours, EDB Stoddard Manuscript: Whitelaw Reid Papers, Library of Congress notes 1. Probably Lucia Isabella Gilbert Runkle (1844–??), editorial writer and contributor to the New York Tribune. Reid was managing editor of the Tribune under Horace Greeley at the time this letter was written. 2.TheCenturyAssociation,oftenreferredtoastheCenturyClub,wasfounded in 1847 by William Cullen Bryant and other New York City men to promote appreciation for the fine arts. Richard Stoddard became a member in 1863, and the club’sfirstpermanentheadquarterswerebuiltin1869.AlthoughtheCenturyClub didn’t admit women until 1989, Stoddard seems to have been there and spoken to Reid. Their conversation, and Stoddard’s comments in this letter, may have had some connection to the trial of Daniel McFarland for the murder of Albert Deane Richardson (1833–1869), a friend of Reid’s and a writer and editor for the New York Tribune. McFarland had shot Richardson in the Tribune offices in November 1869becauseRichardsonwaslivingwithhisestrangedwife,AbbySageMcFarland (1838–1900). The trial began in early April and concluded on May 11, 1870, when the jury found McFarland not guilty. 3. Wilson Barstow Jr. died on March 16, 1869, and Altol Barstow, Stoddard’s last surviving sibling, died on August 19, 1869. 4. Probably Wilson, who was a general when he died. See biographical note. ...

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