21John Adams to Abigail Smith, 30 September 1764 (Adams Papers)
I have this Evening been to see the Girl.—What Girl? Pray, what Right have you to go after Girls?—Why, my Dear, the Girl I mentioned to you, Miss Alice Brackett. But Miss has hitherto acted in the Character of an House-Keeper, and her noble aspiring Spirit had rather rise to be a Wife than descend to be a Maid. To be serious, however, she says her Uncle, whose House she keeps cannot possibly...
22Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, 15 January 1767 (Adams Papers)
Your kind letter I receiv’d to day and am greatly rejoiced to hear you are all so well. I was very uneasy at not hearing from you, indeed my dear Sister the Winter never seem’d so tedious to me in the World. I daily count the days between this and the time I may probably see you. I could never feel so comfortable as I at present do, if I thought I should spend another Winter here. Indeed my...
23John Adams to Abigail Adams, 29 June 1769 (Adams Papers)
I embrace with Joy, this Opportunity of writing you. Mr. Langdon, who is to be the Bearer, was so good as to call this Morning, to know if I had any Letters to send. You’l therefore of Course, treat him civilly and give him Thanks. We are now but beginning the Business of Falmouth Court. The Weather has been for three days, so hot, as to render the Business of the Court very irksome, indeed,...
24John Adams to Abigail Adams, 1 July 1769 (Adams Papers)
We have lived thro the Heat, and Toil, and Confusion of this Week. We have tried three of the Kennebeck Proprietors Actions and have been fortunate enough to obtain them all. Mr. Bowdoins great Case with Lord Edgcumbe, and Dr. Gardiners great Cause with William Tyng the sherriff of this County particularly. There are about 60 or 70 Actions now remaining on the Dockett, and When we shall get...
25Isaac Smith Jr. to Abigail Adams, 21 February 1771 (Adams Papers)
Your kindness to me in a former absence, requires some acknowledgment in this. I write to you, therefore, with the view of repaying an obligation, not of giving you any entertainment. After a short, tho’ not a very comfortable passage over the Atlantic, I landed at Dover, a town remarkable for nothing but extortion, except the Castle, which was originally founded by Julius Caesar, and...
26John Adams to Abigail Adams, 17 September 1771 (Adams Papers)
There is no Business here —And I presume as little at Braintree. The Pause in the English Trade, has made Husbandmen and Manufacturers, and increased Industry and Frugality, and thereby diminished the Number of Debts and Debtors, and Suits and Suiters. But the hourly Arrival of Ships from England deeply loaden with dry Goods, and the extravagant Credit that is dayly given to Country Traders,...
27John Adams to Abigail Adams, May 1772 (Adams Papers)
I take an opportunity by Mr. Kent, to let you know that I am at Plymouth, and pretty well. Shall not go for Barnstable untill Monday. There are now signs of a gathering Storm, so I shall make my self easy here for the Sabbath. I wish myself at Braintree. This wandering, itinerating Life grows more and more disagreable to me. I want to see my Wife and Children every Day, I want to see my Grass...
28Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams, 25 July 1773 (Adams Papers)
I shall pass over in silence the Complementary introduction to your Letter, not because these Expressions of Esteem are frequently words of Course without any other design but to Convey an Idea of politeness as the Characteristick of the person the most Lavish therein. But in you I Consider anything of the kind as the Natural result of a Friendly heart dispose’d to think well of all those who...
29Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams, 19 January 1774 (Adams Papers)
I sincerely Congratulate my much Esteemed friend on the Restoration of the invaluable Blessing of Health: without which (if I may so Express it) Life is but a painful Blank. May it be long: very long before she again knows an interuption. But by the stile and spirit of yours of the 5th December one would judge you was quite as much affected by the shocks of the political as the Natural...
30Elizabeth Smith to Abigail Adams, 8 February 1774 (Adams Papers)
When I cast my Eyes backward; and take a general survey, of the great alterations which have been made within these few Years, I behold a Portrait whose lines are marked with indeliable Characters—the fickleness of Fortune, the shortness and uncertainty of Life, and the instability of Human Affairs. Those who yesterday glided smoothly on, in the calm Sunshine of Prosperity, “fed high in...