Letter from Elizabeth Palmer Peabody to Rebecca Amory Lowell

Miss E. P. Peabody

June 2nd 1837

New York 19 Irving Place

My dear Miss Lowell, -

I was unexpectedly detained a day longer in Boston by the mistake of a [?] [maker ?] and I grieve to say I did forget that I had as it were appointed a meeting with you - But I did not probably think you would go - & so I did not think to Countersay it - as in one or two other instances - I can only say for excuse that I was very much Confused at the last moment. But I am very glad to get the letters & very much obliged -

I found here when I arrived last night a letter from you - from Mr Snelling - & from poor [Mrs ?] Solger herself. - I cannot think there can be law anywhere for a person to forfeit a house for which they have paid & all whose taxes they have paid { ? ? ?] ever since Dr. S died or was disabled. No notice was ever served to her those two years that she ever knew of - & of course she did not know of the absolvement Dr Solger led his life [ ?] &

the $2000 was paid her and she went straight to Mr Hooper and paid what he had advanced who had paid the bill before it was due in order to deliver her from the person who had sold the house and wanted to get it back again. This is a clear case of a dwindling trick by some desperate rascal who takes advantage of her helplesness. I have already written the whole account of the matter to a noble and gifted young lawyer of Washing -ton - Marcellus Bailey - and begged him to go to her at once and see all about it - telling him how entirely every cent has been honorably paid that she knew was due and I feel sure she will be righted. I do not know whether you know that the first $1000 paid on that house was borrowed from some men - Germans I believe principally for whom Dr Solgen obtained places as treasury clerks - and who immediatly when he was sick came to clean him[ ?] - and whom she kept

at bay by paying monthly all the salary which she received (getting the rest of her living by the boarders and her french scholars) and she promised them she would pay all if they would not torment him. She has continued to pay ever since by these [ ?] statements and lately told me she had still three hundred dollars to pay. She is therefore without means to buy off the man and he ought not to be bought off. - She says now her french lessons stop and her boarders diminish for the Summer. But she had just received a letter from me in which I spoke as usual a great deal of her husband and she says that has comforted her so much (the sympathy) that she feels calmer - and sent to her lawyer to see if he would not adjust it. I do not know his name or character and so I asked Mr Bailey to go and see about it. She will do all that can be done and I have written to her that I have done so. Mrs Dana is perfectly friendly to Mrs Solgen - and perfectly sincere subjectedly - but I must tell you that she is not reliable being a victim of epileptic fits - and always in a state of insanity - though not perhaps of derangement - Should

you ever see and talk with her you would perceive that this is so and I happen to know it - & so does Mrs Solgen - who discovered his insanity by her own observation before she was told of it by me with its cause. I do not doubt however that there is something very important in her report by Julius. I know he is utterly uncontrollable by his mother - and by himself - so powerful is his temperament and so wholly undisciplined as he has always been. Dr Solgen had very false theories with respect to his duties as husband and father though the most pure & profound feelings - and he trusted too implicitly to circumstances to instruct the mind - and was too jealous of using his personal influence over their thinking. Hence Mrs Solgen never knew the grounds of her protestant faith but only his anti-catholicism and the children had no clear ideas of duly given to them. Julius needed this especially being passionate rather than intellectual & poor Mrs Solgen has neither the comforts of Protestant or Catholic religion - and realises nothing in the universe greater than her own broken heart - which is to me such a testimony to the reality of the soul who is love. I have written to Mrs Sol gen that we have all - you - Mr Snelling and I - all her friends heard rumours of his dangerous condition - and we think that someplace must be found where he can go and be educated feeling the control over him of a strong will - and having

his mind trained to self discipline or he will be ruined, and that no money he can earn now should be put in competition with it. I have therefore prepared her for any suggestion her friends may make - and I shall speak to Mr Kafp about it - Dr Solgen's German friend in New York. Mrs Solgen will not be surprised at my advice to her about Julius because his faults are a common subject be tween us. He has a good heart and loves her as many another undutiful son loves his mother - but having no selfcontrol constantly dis pleases her. Mrs Ripley is all but dead and Mrs Simmons can do nothing but nurse her and try not attempt it - having taken her to her house - while Elizabeth keeps the old manse and has a family to board with her in which she is much interested - Julius needs a man to take care of him - I wish there were a