16 July 1877 • New York, N.Y. ( UCCL 01451)
(SUPERSEDED)
you & Rosa and Bay must keep a sharp lookout on the young birdlings up at the pond & see them begin life. They are ready to fly, now. Keep the squirrel supplied with nuts, if he comes around. If you have a very fine sunset, put a blanket over it & keep it till I come. Aunt Sue will give you one. I saw a lovely sunset yesterday, reflected in the water of the Jersey marshes. It was a beautiful, still evening—no sound but just one cow singing, & some frogs—(frosches.)
There are some bells close here, & a man who rings chimes. That man will die some day, & then he will wish he had behaved himself. I saw a cat yesterday, with 4 legs—& yet it was only a yellow cat, & rather small, too, for its size. They were not all fore legs—several of them were hind legs; indeed almost a majority of them were. Write me.
LLMT , 196–97; Davis 1978, 4; Christie’s catalog, 17 May 1991, lot 90, partial publication; Sotheby’s catalog, 29 October 1996, no. 6904, lot 210, partial publication.
The letter was among those which, in the 1950s, Clara Clemens Samossoud gave or sold to Chester L. Davis, Sr. After his death in 1987, it became part of the collection of Chester L. Davis, Jr. The letter was sold by Christie’s in 1991 to James Lowe, who in turn sold it to the Jacobses.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.