The Selected Letters of Elizabeth Stoddard

Letter 62. To Edmund Clarence Stedman, [Early December 1879]

183 letter 62 To Edmund Clarence Stedman [Early December 1879] New York City, New York Dear Stedman I understand now why people in our position are given to “damnable iteration”1 — My point in writing is to tell you that I think Lorry should be taken from school and obtain some place to work in for wages—he is already more “educated” than half the boys his age, this week he is sixteen, and I am sure would at once do himself credit.2 Things are closing round us mighty fast. There is no money for any body. I have just read a letter from our grocer who justly says he cannot afford to carry so large bills, and incloses ours of over 200— If the agent and other creditors should close on us—where could we go, what do. I have had a letter from my father lately reproaching me for not paying the remnant of our summer’s board due him. That avenue is closed. All that I can do it appears is to go about looking respectable in another man’s clothes, of which, I do not see the money they cost—talk about the irony of fate! I could add some new items. For the past two months Stoddard has worked hard for Scribner Armstrong,3 NA Review,4 Brit Ency5 —and Independent—and we cannot live by literature. 365 days work would not much more than pay the rent. Don’t worry, I intreat you, but be wise for me— Dont trust to appearances if you come, the blazing fire, the dogs on the rug, the grapes on the salver may hide, but they do not prevent the fact of my wretchedness—I am so crushed by the utter change in my husband that I am dazed, paralyzed, wild. Sat was our anniversary6 —not a reference to it—he has not even taken me by the hand for more than a year. My dear this is for you only—but it is awful hard to bear, for with all my faults my heart is an affectionate one—and it kills me not to be loved. Forgive me if I have 184 intruded upon your feelings, but I am so lonesome sometimes, that I feel like a lost child. Yours Elizabeth Manuscript: Edmund Clarence Stedman Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University notes 1. From Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part One, Act 1, Scene 2. Falstaff tells Hal, “O, thou hast damnable iteration, and art indeed able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon me, Hal—God forgive thee for it!” 2. In a May 1881 letter to Julia Dorr, Stoddard lamented the necessity of having Lorry work. “Be thankful every fibre of you, that you can let your boy choose which he chooses—Lorry ought to be apprenticed to Art—he has that within capable of the highest training—Without it he will not be what he might” (Julia Ripley Dorr Papers, Middlebury College). 3. From 1871 to 1878, Andrew C. Armstrong (??–??) was a partner in Scribner, Armstrong & Co. In 1877, Armstrong retired, but later returned to the publishing business as A. C. Armstrong & Son, with whom Richard Stoddard published three books in 1880. 4. North American Review. 5. Richard Stoddard contributed an article about Nathaniel Hawthorne to the prestigious ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The ninth edition, which consistedoftwenty-fourvolumesandappearedbetween1875and1889,wasknown as the “scholars’ encyclopeaedia” because of the high intellectual standards set by the editors. 6. December 6, 1879, was the Stoddards’ twenty-seventh wedding anniversary. 185 “Edmund Clarence Stedman at 50” (c. 1883). Courtesy of New York Public Library, “The Pageant of America” Collection. ...