| | | 30 July |
Chefoo, July 30
Dear Amy,
Nothing from you by last mail. Max will be back tomorrow, & we shall be glad to see her. It is very lonely without her. I enclose one of her late notes from Shanghai, & I have sent my brother John a letter of felicitations from Denby, our minister at Peking, highly appreciative of von Brandt. It only expresses my own opinion, but coming from an outsider will have with others more authority! I have asked him to send it to you. The marriage will probably take place abt. Aug 20. The whole country between Peking & the sea is under water, the river swollen by the most heavy rains having broken its ???? and Brandt will have a difficult, not to say dangerous task to get down, but no doubt hew will manage it somehow.
Allen writes me that he as seen Wharton's resignation in a late paper, which I am very sorry to hear. As Blaine is out, this leaves me without any friend at court, & sometimes one is useful.
Reflecting on Max's loss makes me feel how old I am. I have not till lately realized it much, but your mother & I will have to support each others' tottering steps. Her health, thank God, is perfectly good, but her loss of hearing & memory is sometimes very trying.
I wish I could hear that you were well. Russell says that you are stronger, but your eyes are troublesome & a sign of weakness. If you could could all come & camp in my ??? for a couple of months this autumn or next spring, it would do you a world of good, & give me a world of delight. My pictures of the little ones give me infinite pleasure.
Yours evr
A.H.
| | | 30 July |