had a settee constructed--cushions, covers, etc.,
cut out and mainly stitched by my own fair fingers; we stuffed it with
the native moss; and I had a pretty white _peignoir_ made for it, with
stuff which I got from that emporium of fashionable luxury, Darien; and
this was quite an item of elegance, as well as comfort. Another table in
my sitting-room was an old, rickety, rheumatic piece of furniture of the
"old Major's," the infirmities of which I gayly concealed under a
Macgregor plaid shawl, never burdening its elderly limbs with any
greater weight than a vase of flowers; and by the help of plenty of this
exquisite, ornamental furniture of nature's own providing, and a
tolerable collection of books, which we had taken down to the South with
us, my sitting-room did not look uncomfortable or uncheerful.

If, however, I am to winter there again this year, I shall endeavor to
make it a little more like the dwelling of civilized human beings by the
introduction of locks to the doors, instead of wooden latches pulled by
pack-thread; and bells, of which at present there is but one in the
whole house, and that is a noose, hanging just outside the sitting-room
door, by which I expected to be caught and throttled every time I went
in and out....

I am ever yours,
F. A. B.

LENOX, August 9th, 1839.

I turn from interchange of thought and feeling with my friends here,
dearest Harriet, to read again an unanswered letter of yours; and as I
dwell upon your affectionate words, while my eyes wander over the
beautiful landscape which my window commands, my mind is filled with the
consideration of the great treasure of love that has been bestowed upon
me out of so many hearts, and I wonder as I ponder. God knows how
devoutly I thank Him for this blessing above all others, granted to me
in a measure so far above my deserts, that my gratitude is mingled with
surprise and a sense of my own unworthiness, which enhances my
appreciation of my great good fortune in this respect.... In seasons of
self-reproach and self-condemnation it is an encouragement and a
consolation, and helps to lift one from the dust, to reflect that good
and noble spirits have loved one--spirits too good and too noble, one
would fain persuade one's self, to love what is utterly base and
unworthy....

You ask me if I have ke