
Thank you for papers sent, & for all loving thought. I hope you are "holding your own."
I must have gained a little here, for I sleep more, and have a better appetite. I am
going to be weighed, I weighed 95 the day before I left Washington. I write now especially
to tell you that I intend to leave here next Monday, Sept. 16, unless a storm should
prevent. We have to go to Eastport 12 miles by wagon, & then take steamer to
Boston. If it is stormy, Mrs. Porter says we must take the next boat, that
would be Sept. 18. Wednesday. But in any case after you get this letter, my
address
will be
care of my nephew in Boston which I will give in a separate slip. I shall make a few
short stops with nieces & others till I return home, & as my nephew is a fixture, he will forward any thing to me
wherever I am. I shall not go home till into October I think. We have had such a wet
& rainy summer there that I know I better wait a while. I dread, dear Walt, I can't tell any
one how much I dread the going back
home. I say home, but the sense of loneliness that
overtakes me when I think of going is heart-sickening. And the uncertainty of all
adds to it. If I were sure that I could make any arrangement to keep a home, I
should feel better, but all is so cloudy & misty. But I try to keep up a good
heart, & not to worry my friends with my troubles.
I have one hope that I am clinging to, and that is that my sister Mrs. Channing may
come on. She has not been East since they went to Cal. five years next month, &
she wants to come if their finances will allow, & it will be the greatest
comfort & help to me, as she can advise me better than any one, what to do,
& help me about disposing of William's papers &c. He
left all to me absolutely, but I should be so glad of help in many matters, &
wish I had any one near at hand who could advise with me.
Do you think there is
any good picture of William? one that you really like?
Appleton has sent for me for the Encyclopedia, & I have not the one that I like
best here with me, & the best of the late ones is not
to my mind. How do you like the one in "The Great
Cryptogram?"
Thanks for the papers. Critic came yesterday with the Hawthorne letters. I was glad to see them.
You will see what a remote place this is, & how protected the shore when I tell you that
the heavy sea of last Sunday & Monday did not reach us. It is the only seashore
place that I ever touched where there is never any surf.
Good by.
I send my address on the enclosed slip.
With love always— Nelly O'Connor.(over)

I have a picture of William taken long ago that I like very much but would it be as satisfactory to the friends generally as the later ones, taken four years ago?
If you are able to write, I should like your thought in this matter.
Yours— Nelly O'Connor. the address is care Charles E Legg 146 Devonshire St: Boston Mass: