What a beautiful place it is! There is everything here
that there is at Brunswick except the sea,--a great exception.
Yesterday I was out all the forenoon sketching elms. There is no end
to the beauty of these trees. I shall fill my book with them before I
get through. We had a levee at Professor Park's last week,--quite a
brilliant affair. Today there is to be a fishing party to go to Salem
beach and have a chowder.
"It seems almost too good to be true that we are going to have such a
house in such a beautiful place, and to live here among all these
agreeable people, where everybody seems to love you so much and to
think so much of you. I am almost afraid to accept it, and should not,
did I not see the Hand that gives it all and know that it is both firm
and true. He knows if it is best for us, and His blessing addeth no
sorrow therewith. I cannot describe to you the constant undercurrent
of love and joy and peace ever flowing through my soul. I am so happy
--so blessed!"
The literary work of this summer was directed toward preparing
articles on many subjects for the "New York Independent" and the
"National Era," as well as collecting material for future books. That
the "Pearl of Orr's Island," which afterward appeared as a serial in
the "Independent," was already contemplated, is shown by a letter
written July 29th, in which Mrs. Stowe says: "What a lovely place
Andover is! So many beautiful walks! Last evening a number of us
climbed Prospect Hill, and had a most charming walk.
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