As regards the apples of discord (meaning thereby the plums, pears,
peaches, and whatever besides) we sincerely hope you will take as many
of them as you please, and on such grounds as may cause them to taste
most agreeably. If you choose to make a raid, and to seize the fruit
with the strong hand, so far from offering any armed resistance, we
shall not so much as remonstrate. But would it not be wiser to drop
the question of right, and receive it as a free-will offering from us?
We have not shrunk from the word "gift," although we happen to be so
much the poorer of two parties, that it is rather a suspicious word
from you to us. Or, if this do not suit you, you can take the fruit in
humble requital of some of the many favors bestowed in times past and
which we may perhaps remember more faithfully than you do.
And then the recollection of this slight acidity of sentiment, between
friends of some years' standing, may impart a pleasant and spirited
flavor to the preserves and jams, when they come upon your table. At
any rate, take what you want and that speedily, or there will be
little else than a parcel of rotten plums to dispute about.
With kind regards to Mr. Tappan,
Very truly yours, N. H.
Mrs. Hawthorne writes to her sister, Miss E. P. Peabody:--
I send you Mr. Tappan's answer, so noble and beautiful. Mr. Hawthorne
wrote him a beautiful note in reply, in which he said: "My dear sir, I
trust you will not put more weight than it deserves upon a letter
which I wrote rather to relieve Sophia of what might have disturbed
her, than because I look upon the affair in a serious light.
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