From early morning till late evening, all churches are open and
service is performed.
I wish you could be undeceived about the income of this Consulate. Mr.
Hawthorne now knows actually everything about it. . . . He goes from us
at nine, and we do not see him again till five!!! I only wish we could
be pelted within an inch of our lives with a hailstorm of sovereigns,
so as to satisfy every one's most gorgeous hopes; but I am afraid we
shall have but a gentle shower, after all. . . . I am sorry I have had
the expectation of so much, because I am rather disappointed to be so
circumscribed. With my husband's present constant devotion to the
duties of his office, he could no more write a syllable than he could
build a cathedral. . . . He never writes by candle-light. . . . Mr.
Crittendon tells Mr. Hawthorne that he thinks he may save $5000 a year
by economy. He himself, living in a very quiet manner, not going into
society, has spent $4000 a year. He thinks we must spend more. People
will not let Mr. Hawthorne alone, as they have Mr. Crittendon,
because they feel as if they had a right to him, and he cannot well
forego their claim. "The Scarlet Letter" seems to have placed him on a
pinnacle of fame and love here. . . . It will give you pleasure, I
think, to hear that Mr. Cecil read a volume of "The Scarlet Letter"
the other day which was one of the thirty-fifth thousand of one
publisher. Is it not provoking that the author should not have even
one penny a volume?
I have only room to put in the truest, warmest sympathy with all your
efforts and trials, and the wish that I could lift you up out of all,
and sorrow that I cannot.
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