1851-05-18_Letter-A_Alvord-to-MyDearMyrtillaAndChildren

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Ship Esther May in the Cattegat May 18, 1851

My Dear Myrtilla & Dear Children

As we are drawing near Elsinore I have determined to have a few lines ready for you although you will hardly expect to hear from me from thence & I know not that I can with certainty get my letter ashore so that it will go. We have had a quick passage, 27 days out to day, and we expect to be on the [illegible] tomorrow at least. It was very rough for the first two or three weeks & I was very sea sick most of the time -- but since there the weather has been very pleasant & the winds light. I will not here give any description of things as they have occurred from day to day. I have kept a memorandum of events in a Note Book which I intend to send to you in my trunk from St. Petersburg. My health is now quite good & appetite has returned although digestion is not very perfect. It seems like getting well from a severe fit of sickness & I can hardly tell you how much I suffered; with no [illegible] friend like yourself near to comfort me, Ezra being much in the same condition & the Captain constantly occupied with working the Ship. My head has sympathized in the suffering of the stomach, & dizziness with return of the old pain when there was much motion, added greatly to my trouble. It quite discouraged me for a while in regard to traveling & indeed in regard to any very speedy recovery, if ever. My spirits sunk lower xxx though not entirely for I endeavoured to to feel that all was right & if turn aside from my work in the Gospel of Ch. I must & could submit some precious seasons of what seemed to his Divine Communion I certainly have had. How often I thought of you & the dear baby & of what

Last edit 11 months ago by GideonFrench
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we should all do hereafter. At the present time I find my head improving although I can read & write only to a very limited extent—The Books I bought I can but glance over, which is quite a trial to me, as they were books of information. My hope now is that, thorough recovery from the effects of sea sickness with the bracing effect of food as soon as I can get my stomach strong enough to recieve it will increase my nervous strength & of course improve my head. Perhaps I shall not feel The full & The best influence of my voyage until I have been for some time & have my plans [unclear]. Therefore as when I left—The decision upon which, you will hear (of a Divine Providence pursuit) from St. P. Do not think from all this that I am low spirited. I am in very good spirit now, & full of high expectation—but I thought you ought to know exactly how I have been. For a few days past the weather has been most beautiful—& and a little time I mean to forget what preceded, I shall not attempt to travel unless I feel quite fit for it, yet I may prefer not to come back in the [sloop?], but in the steamer, in any case At present however do not look for me, at all, until the 1st Oct, for I think there is now as much prospect of my staying till then, as when I left—But you know I have never been quite as sanguine in regard to a recovery as some of my friends—I hope you are well, & I expect enjoying yourself greatly. You are of course in the midst of a beautiful Spring—while here it is quite cold. Though I do not suffer in this respect. I quite almost envy you. Your happiness this Summer—You will enjoy everything for my sake. I could not be satisfied to stay away unless I knew—this would be so—Dont think# much of me. I shall be well taken care of. & shall soon be back to spend I trust the remainder of my days in the bosom if ny dear family—Dear Julia & Charley, I love them much more than I supposed I did—Take good care of them. Teach them every thing good—I think of them especially since absent as included in our covenant with God. My prayer is that they may live to be useful. # "Think", is here to be understood in the Southern sense.

Last edit about 1 year ago by GideonFrench
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[G CNS] I hope Charles will talk quite plain when I come back, & that Julia will have have learned to read some. Tell her that her father ^loves her very much &^ wants to have her learn. Be especially careful about their eating green fruit. I suppose you will have been to Winsted before receiving this & expect to hear you tell of having a pleasant time. Write me all about every thing. Give particulars of the Revival there & also write all you hear from S. Boston good, bad or indifferent. I shall correspond only with you as I must avoid writing all I can (only as I intend writing Deac. Samuels & the Sabbath School over). Direct your letters as we planned, (through Baker & Monsell of Boston) untill you hear again. I find everything pleasant on board the ship. All are especially kind to me & the Captain seems to understand his business perfectly. It is wonderful how skillful all hands are in working the vessel & how strait the course to his place of destination. When we made Fair Island (the first land ^we saw, one of^ the Orkneys) she was pointed exactly right. It was, so when we came in sight of the Hage, also the Scar at the entrance of the Cattegal. ^(19th)^ We had a bad night last night among these shoals and locks it being dark and rainy -- but this morning the wind became fair & we are soon expecting to see Elsinore. Our stop there will be but half an hour & then on into the Baltic. Our ship is very vast & the Capt. is desirous of getting there the first out this Spring. I suppose we have gone past 300 vessels since we started, which were coming the same way as ourselves, 150 at least since we entered the Cattegal. You can hardly have any idea of the number of vessels in these waters. Some 50 or 75 are now in sight -- most of them large vessels -- & going to some place up the Baltic.(7 oC p.m.) The wind died away a few hours, & we supposed we we should not get in this evenging, but it springs up fresh again & we shall soon be there if nothing happens to prevent. I had dropped my pen, but now after tea resume it again. (You would smile to see our tea table but everything is very nice.). I am not sick at all now, though we have rocked about a great deal since yesterday -- nor has my head ached any to day. Ezra is quite well & sends his kind regards. He has his violin along & a number of music books & we

Last edit about 1 year ago by Scot French
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often sing. The Capt. sometimes joins. Ezra is scratching away as I am a letter to his father. And now my dear-est friend I bid you good bye again for a few weeks, when you will hear from me again (Deo volente). I charge you not to worry about me. Be very happy with your friends, your children & in sweet daily communion with your Saviour and also in leaving me in the hands of that great & good Being who has so graciously promised — & who [illegible] has taken care of both of us. — The few months that intervene now separating us will soon glide away — & we shall meet again to tell each other many things in testimony of the divine goodness. — Give my love to your father & mother sisters & brothers & send the same when you write to mine — all mine & all yours. — I hope you will write to Winsted as often as you get a letter from me.

Your absent though very affectionate husband J. W. Alvord

P. S. I write in a hurry, with the ship tossing, & you will excuse all defects — You will probably wonder how I have got to be such a sailor as to write as well as I do under these circumstances — Yrs J. W. A

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