She Is Small And Thin,
Full Of Life And Interest In Everything, And Her Brains As Active As
Ever, - Seems To Have Known Every One Of Interest.
I went there again to
tea-dinner last evening, and we talked about everything and everybody
under Heaven nearly!
Her clever daughter and very pretty grand-daughter,
Miss Perkins, have read widely, and our subjects of discussion were
endless. Of course at the afternoon party there were numbers of people,
and they told me they were quite delighted at my arrival, for the place
was very dull now, and it was quite an excitement! Last evening a
Professor Shields was at Mrs. Bruen's, and gave me his book on "Science
and Faith." I have had three invitations to dine _to-day_, which,
of course I had to decline. To go on with yesterday's journal, we
lunched with a Mrs. Bell, and met there Miss Perkins and another nice
young lady, and a queer specimen, a Mr. W - -, who travels about the
Continent with eight children, and aggravated me by saying he was more
at home in France than in England. We had several made up dishes,
chiefly fish, but little I could eat! Three children came down
afterwards and were made very much of, as usual; then Mrs. Belmont
called for us in her barouche, and took us a delightful drive by the
sea, but it was very cold, and as I had not brought my only warm wrap to
Newport, I borrowed a seal skin jacket from Mrs. Bell; I find I have
only brought _one_ gown that I could have well done without, but I
should be glad of two or three more things.
This place is something like _Ryde_, with numbers of villas, which
in summer weather have beautiful lawns and gardens, and are filled with
all the smart people from New York and Boston, &c.; in the season, they
say it is wonderfully pretty and gay, and the few people remaining are
so sorry I did not see Newport in all its glory, but I can guess what it
would be, and I should dislike the kind of life they lead and the
intense frivolity and absence of any kind of occupation, excepting
dressing and flirtation! I think the _cream_ had been left behind.
This morning Professor Shields took us a drive to the two
_Beaches_, two little bays with bathing sands, and then we drove to
Miss Mason, who lives in a very pretty villa with her sister, and is
very rich, and we all walked together to the _Cliff_, where there
is a fashionable promenade, with rocks and sea on one side and green
turf and the villas with their gardens all open on the other. If any one
has a pretty house or place here it is all exposed to the public gaze,
and even _use_, a great deal! We then drove to Mrs. Bruen's, where
Hedley and I lunched. I am surprised to find how _fresh_ the memory
of my brother Hedley still remains in the minds of people, who I thought
would have been too young to have heard of him at the time of his death,
or too old to remember now what they had heard and read. Miss Mason and
her friend spoke about him with such real feeling, and said they had
been _brought up_ on his "memoirs." Mrs. Bruen and her family, and
Professor Shields and many others speak to me as if I was quite a
_friend_, because of my relationship to Hedley! Isn't this curious
after thirty years? They all asked about _Lucy_, and were so
romantic as to be rather distressed that she had ever married; but I
told them what a good man her husband was, and that she was so active
and useful, and that it would have been a great pity if she had been
_lost_ as a wife and mother, &c. Mrs. Bruen, among other things,
spoke of spiritualism, and said she knew from personal experience there
was much truth in it. A relation and intimate friend was a powerful
medium, and many extraordinary things, such as moving of furniture,
(heavy chairs and tables, &c.) and raps, &c., took place under
circumstances which made imposition impossible, there being frequently
no one present but Mrs. Bruen and her two daughters and this lady
medium. A table at the _end_ of the room would suddenly tilt up and
rap. A large dining room table would tilt up, while all the things
arranged for dinner on it would remain immovable - the lady not touching
it. They all seemed to think that spiritualism had a bad influence, and
Mrs. Bruen thinks _bad_ spirits are at work. She is a wonderful old
lady, past ninety, but full of energy and interest, moving large trees
and making alterations constantly in her house and garden. She kissed me
at parting, and I said "I shall tell my mother what a charming old lady
you are," and she said, "give her my kind regards, and tell her how glad
I was to see you." Well, at last with many hand-shakes and all talking
at once, we parted, and I met Gibson at the station, and we returned to
Boston yesterday, October 25th. I am now writing to you on Sunday from
the Hotel Brunswick. Last evening Dick was out when we arrived, with
Evelyn at a concert, for which I had tickets, but I was too tired to go;
this morning we went to hear Dr. P. Brooks, the great preacher who
everyone was raving about last spring in London, (or was it _last_
year?) his church is like a great _temple_, or public hall, and
cost [pound symbol]180,000. Mr. Winthrop gave us his pew, so we were
well placed, and as he is _very_ rapid and not very loud, the
strain to hear his discourse would have been very great if we had not
been near. "In such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh."
Christ comes to us in many ways, and through the long ages of the Old
Testament and Christian dispensations he has been continually
_shewing_ Himself, - all great events and promises have partial
fulfilments, - little _milleniums_ have taken pace, and heavenly
Jerusalems have been raised in many a church, in many a gathering of
God's people, - all foreshadowing the _Great Event_ which, will
bring God to man.
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