Memoir of Mary L. Ware, Wife of Henry Ware, Jr.Hall, Edward B. (Edward Brooks)
Religion
Memoir of Mary L. Ware, Wife of Henry Ware, Jr.
Hall, Edward B. (Edward Brooks)
Unitarians -- United States -- Biography; Ware, Mary L. (Mary Lovell), 1798-1849
In June, Mr. and Mrs. Ware were separated for a time, she taking
lodgings with her infant at Waltham Abbey, and he making an excursion
alone for his health. Soon after he left her, Mary wrote to him
thus:--"I am quite sure it was best for you to go, though there was some
risk in it. If you only keep a sharp watch upon your 'excitables,' not
mistaking the effect of them for strength, and so do not overdo, you
will, I doubt not, be better for the jaunt; you will be gaining much
mental satisfaction, and I am sure that will help the body.... Yours to
'Miss Pickard' is just received. The dear little Miss is as good as
possible; she knows how much I wish I were with you, and coos and smiles
all the time to make me contented. I am thankful you are so well, and
though I should have richly enjoyed being with you, I am sure it is
better for you to be alone. I want to go to Chatham next week, if I feel
better, but it is such a luxury to be at rest! O, dearest, how we shall
enjoy it! I have had time to think a little, and collect my scattered
wits, and I could pour out volumes of the result of my cogitations--but
_voila_! the end of my paper! Do all you can, see all you can without
injury, gain all that is possible to gain, and above all, _feel_ that
you have time enough; that is, don't feel 'hurried'; it is destructive
to comfort and profit."
In this letter we find also a hint, which tells something of Mary's
continued thoughtfulness and generous provision for that poor old aunt
whom she left at Osmotherly five years before. On first arriving in
England, she had again visited, with her husband, that scene of singular
interest and mingled recollections. And now that Mr. Ware is journeying
alone in that direction, she writes to him: "Should you go to Osmotherly
(which is not quite worth while, as it would take you two days), give
Aunty her yearly allowance, if you can,--ten pounds. But no, I remember
you did not take enough with you. Write her a word,--it will please her;
and pay the postage." This was said at the very time that Mrs. Ware had
denied herself the pleasure of going with her husband, on account of the
added expense of travelling with an infant. She continued that annuity
to her aunt as long as she lived, and a friend thinks it was doubled
part of the time. We bring the fact to notice, because, from a delicacy
which ought not, perhaps, to suppress facts so illustrative of
character, we have forborne to give half the proof we found, in letters
and in conversation with friends, of her noble generosity in connection
with the strictest domestic economy, and withal a personal self-denial
and simplicity that caused remark, if not censure. Could all the facts
be given of her early surrender of property to a considerable amount,
when she might have held it, and the rigid restriction of her personal
expenditure, through life, within the limits of bare comfort and
respectability, while there were times when she could have done much
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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