Bargaintown Sept. 6^–
1841.
My Dear Madam,
I must entreat your
pardon for omitting so long to write to
you. From the time I left you until I
arrived home (on the 1^st inst) I was all
the time on the move, & found no time
nor opportunity to write a word, & since
my return I have been completely engaged
in bringing up my work, which as
you may suppose, has got very much
in arrray. I am very glad that my duties
are not so pressing & important as those
of the Governor of New York. If they
were half as much so, I should sink
under them. I left your pretty town on
the afternoon of the same day you started
for Niagara, & reached Saratoga the next
evening. I was much amused by the various
novelties of the place, but not much
benefitted by drinking the water. It made
me sicker than I have been for years,
& certainly, if I were go through again, it

will not be for the purpose of drinking
that abominable water.
I was at Florida, two weeks ago this day
& I am sorry to say that nothing short of
duty to my little girl can ever induce
me to go there again. At every visit I
find it more & more unpleasant.
Well, be it so, time is a certain cure for
all the ills of this life. I think Judge S.
has failed very much. Mrs S. was looking
better than when I saw her in May, &
evidently went about house with more
ease & facility. Caroline was very well &
has grown a good deal, Julia does not
seem in good health, still, she was attending
to her charge as usual. If Harm can be
secured by good work, I think Julia is
quite safe. I brought my boys home with me,
& they are now living with Mr Colt, a
Presbyterian Clergyman at May's Landing.
It is a safe good place. I am alone in my
house once more, & lonely enought it is. It is hard
for me to stay here, & in order to make my
existence endurable, I am obliged to be busy
all the time. My political friends would
do me a great kindness by sending me to
Trenton this winter, but I don't know how
it will be. One party in this quarter is

full of great & ambitious men, so that
the chance for individual fufilment
is rather small
Remember me to all, & especially to your good
son Augustus, whom I love very much for his
mild amiable manner. I hope I shall know
him when he becomes a man in years, as he
is now in station. Please say to the Misses
Wood that I looked for them in New York,
with great diligence &, as they know, with
little success.
Very affectionately Yours,
M. D. Canfield
Mr Granger having relieved me of post office
duties, at my request I am obliged to tax my
friends with postage. However, I will be merciful.

M^rs W. H. Seward
Auburn,
Cayuga Co
N.Y.
hBargaintown N.J.
Sep. 7
18 3/4
hDr Canfield
Sep 1841