Letter from William Henry Seward to William Henry Seward Jr., May 4, 1859
xml:
Letter from William Henry Seward to William Henry Seward Jr., May 4,
1859
transcriber
Transcriber:spp:cnk
student editorTranscriber:spp:msf
Distributor:Seward Family Digital Archive
Institution:University of Rochester
Repository:Rare Books and Special Collections
Date:1859-05-04
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Letter from William Henry Seward to William Henry Seward Jr., May 4, 1859
action: sent
sender: William Seward
Birth: 1801-05-16
Death: 1872-10-10
location: New York, NY
receiver: William Seward
Birth: 1839-06-18
Death: 1920-04-29
location: UnknownUnknown
transcription: cnk
revision: amc 2020-11-25
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Page 1
Astor House May 4th 1859
My dear William
I received your mothers
Birth: 1805-09-24 Death: 1865-06-21
letters last night, two of them, together
with three of Lord Napier
Birth: 1819-09-19 Death: 1898-12-19
and Mr
Hamilton
Unknown
. The latter have determined me to stop in London. for perhaps a
week, long enough to organize my
plan of travel on the continent.
I have inquired about the ship. She
is a strong vessel of 1800 to 2000 tons
in perfectly good condition and insu-
red by the Underwriters at the
very lowest rate of premium. She
is considered a safer vessel than
either of the Cunard steamers. She
is as yet unknown in this trade
and relatively to the Cunard ones
a smaller vessel. Hence she is
not appreciated. I like her all
the better, for she will not be crowded
with frivolous people.
What a touching thing that was that
I saw last night just at the corner
of the Astor House under its eaves. A
mean poor ^old^ woman
Unknown
sat on the pavement having a large basket, a bushel or
more of biscuits and cakes to sell
The crowd hurried by up street and
down street and across the streets but
lent her no customer where ^little^ coin might
secure her a lodging for the night. A
young woman
Unknown
with a babyUnknown
a year old perhaps passed up, she had a small
basket designed to hold what food
chance or charity might afford to sus-
tain herself and child – but it was empty,
she looked at the head merchant’s
Unknown
store wistfully inquiringly and passed on. She
turned back, approached timidly and
begged for a roll, but was refused –
she hugged the baby, drew her shawl
around her - and passed on. I called
her back, and directed the old hag to give
her some bread – offering her a dime at the
same hand, she writhed her face, turned
the silver over, carefully examined to see
that it was indeed a real metal – handed
out two or three small biscuits, but not
until I threatened to withdraw the coin
did she increase the stock thrown into
the little basket. The trade however was
accomplished, the infant put his
hand in fed, laughed, talked and
with its mother was but soon lost
in the multitudes of Broadway.
Your affectionate father
William H. Seward
William H. Seward Junior.