LETTER: Autograph letter signed.
Howe, Julia Ward. Autograph letter signed, “Julia Ward,” to F.C.H. Wilder, Forwarded from Boston, Oct. 15, 1840.
One large waxed leaf; folded to make four 8 x 10” pages; three sides of text, one side with address and signed in pencil at a later date: For Lillie, Julia Ward (Howe); some rust stains; creased from folding. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
A letter to Julia Ward Howe’s childhood friend F.C.H. Wilder in New York, thanking her for her condolences after the death of Howe’s brother, Henry (“Harry”). The letter describes Harry’s final days and reads in full:
I have received your letter, and doubt not that it was sincerely and kindly meant. Though the days of old familiar friendship are ended for us, I trust, for the sake of the faith which we both profess, that our hearts are mutually (?) of any unkindness or bitterness of feeling, and that, as members of our great family, and of the church of Christ on earth, we can still in some degree, feel both for and with each other.
Our recent affliction has been severe. A fortnight of dreadful anxiety, succeeded by a blow which our saddest anticipations had scarcely realized, were indeed enough to overwhelm us, but I trust that God has been with some of us, enabling us to profit by His fatherly correction, and to commit with ourselves, and the brother we so dearly love, into His just and merciful hands.
My true and dear friend, Mary Ward, has been with us for a few days, and left us on Saturday. Throughout the whole, she has shown the beautiful spirit of Christian resignation, and though her agony has been almost unto death, the language of her humbled heart has been “not my will, but thine.” Her family are much affected by her affliction and more by the manner in which she bears it—in both they recognize the power and the tender compassion of the God in whom she trusts, and to whose service she now unreservedly dedicates her life. I am much comforted respecting my dear brother, by the belief and hope that he has entered into life. His increasing seriousness & exemplary conduct toward us since my father’s death, gave me great joy. During his illness he was often very wild—but when his reason recovered its energy, he prayed aloud and continually, spoke of himself as happy, and often told us of his approaching death, with perfect composure. He bore the greatest suffering with the utmost patience and gentleness. I feel that it would be most ungrateful to persist in grieving for the body, when we have reason to think that God has death so mercifully with the soul, and in the hope of meeting my brother in happiness hereafter, I can resign him during the brief remainder of my life.
For the worldling, I should not speak fully of these circumstances, for I cannot but grieve that dear Harry had not made a full and public profession of religion, which I believe that it was in his heart to do so—but the Christian will rejoice with me and give glory to God, in the hope that through this infinite misery, this dear, wayward wanderer has been gathered to the great shepherd of the sheep.
The girls are well, and send much love to yourself and mother, for whom I present my most affectionate remembrance. I bid you farewell, Francina, and pray God to bless and guide us both.
Believe me.
Yours truly,
Julia Ward
This letter was written when Howe was only 21 and just beginning to write poetry and literary criticism. The recipient of the letter, F.C.H. Wilder (“Francina”), does not look up in standard biographic references. Mary Ward, no relation, was a close friend of Howe’s who lived in Boston. The two friends frequently attended lectures by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller. One biography of Howe indicates that Mary was betrothed to Henry, which would explain her reaction to his unexpected death (Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910, by Laura E. Richards & Maud Howe Elliott, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1915).
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