Writings by Susan Dickinson: Correspondence with Kate Anthon

	White Bridge Grasmere Westmorland Sept. 6th Dearest Sue Once more I write you from this sweet spot. - The Summer has gone all too quickly, and soon I too must depart - How I shall hate to go, Harrow is well enough - but I shall find no Lake, no mountains - no woods - and I shall pine for them, - I can linger on here until the last days of Sept - and then tear myself away - with tears in my eyes!
	I am often tempted to live permanently at Grasmere but the winters are damp - & my lungs irritable, and I suppose, I should miss some things always to be obtained in dear old London, Music for instance, wh. one cannot live without - -- I was delighted to receive your precious letter in July - & to know you were well, & intensely enjoying every moment in your picturesque home - How you must love it! I wish I could have been there with you. I often dream I am sitting in the verandah by your side - So you have decided to spend next winter
	in New York - I dare say you will enjoy the change - - When a blizzard comes. You can shut your eyes & think only of Nice, and the olives. & oranges & lemons around the Villa Lilas Blanc! - Matty will be happy, for you tell me the Captain returns to stay - so nothing else matters to her! And you dear, can sun yourself in their great happiness - - We have passed a cool summer here - but it has been fearfully hot in London & the South of England - - I am much interested in the approaching boat race - between Harvard and
	Cambridge. It takes place on Saturday - of course being an American. I most earnestly hope Harvard will win - I may live in England until I die - but my heart is still in America. And I am continually driven back into the Past - our own sacred Past - The golden days you & I have spent together - Oh! dear Sue how vividly I recal [sic] them! Those happy visits at your house! Those celestial gatherings in the Library - The blazing wood fire - Emily - Austin, - The music - The rampant fun - The inextinguishable laughter. The uproarious
	spirits of our chosen - our most congenial circle, - Years have passed away - I have roamed far & wide - sat at many pleasant fire-sides - seen many kind faces - - laughed & talked with many people - but they all fade into insignificance and grow dim before the remembered lustre of those radiant evenings! - No more of this - we cannot bear it - much has forever gone, but our love remains imperishable. - Only life is passing and I never see you -
	never see you -- -- -- I am falling too much into the Minor Key - I will stop at once & go out for a walk - - (Later -) I have just returned from a long scramble, I went to a farm down in the "Easedale Valley" to pay Mrs. Craghill for the butter, - She is a busy woman - quite unconscious of the Paradise in wh. she lives. High Mts, in every direction - Heather crop [crags?] - green fields - River Rothay (Wordsworth's Rothay) rippling past her very door - all so beautiful - Around the cottage a motley assemblage of children of all ages - dogs - sheep - cows -
	chickens - - "would I please to cam[?] in?" - I was tired & gladly seated myself in her rocking chair - She talks incessantly - but I could understand very little of her Westmorland dialect. - When I came away the scene was one of transcendent beauty - The shadows on "Helm Crag" "Seat Sandal" & the whole range on to "Helvellyn" too exquisite for words - I tried to direct her gaze to these superb heights - but without success - How true it is that a degree of education is absolutely necessary to enable any one to appreciate Nature - however she makes delicious butter, & I cannot
H bMS Am 1118.95, Box 9	so after all she is superior to me - for what would life be - without butter! - Now my blessed Sue I will say goodbye - I am tired - Mary[?] is coming in with tea - Oh! if you & Matty were only here - My best love to the dear child - & to the Captain - - Do write soon very soon - Direct here until the end of Sept - & then to Harrow - Ever & ever your own loving Katie - (Your letter was such a treat - I have read it many times,


	Image reproduced by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University. Not to be reproduced in whole or in part without permission. Transcription and commentary copyright 1998 by Martha Nell Smith, Laura Elyn Lauth, and Lara Vetter, all rights reserved Maintained by Rebecca Mooney <rnmooney@umd.edu> Last updated on January 23, 2008