Sunday, October 12, 2014

Diary of Josephine Shaw Lowell: August 17, 1861

Mr. Field and the Curtises took tea here. Mr. Gay1 was to have come but for some reason didn't. These fearful times make us so suspicious! I know that we all go to bed tonight fearing that he had bad news and wanted to let us pass a quiet night and not hear it until tomorrow. It seems always as though we were walking over mines, which may at any moment blow up and destroy all we love most.

We never knew before how much we loved our country. To think that we suffer and fear all this for her! The Stars and Stripes will always be infinitely dear to us now after we have sacrificed so much to them, or rather to the right which they represent. What can be the end of all this misery? Nothing seems to be done by us and everything is done by the Rebels. Discontent with the Administration is growing fast, and if they don't do something, there are many people who will be disgusted with war and ask for peace. “How long, oh Lord, how long?” It is true what Mrs. Child2 says: “The Lord is tedious, but He's sure.” We must do something soon. It's impossible that this inaction should continue much longer. This suspense is horrible.
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1 Sidney Howard Gay, managing editor, New York Tribune.
2 Lydia Maria Child, author.

SOURCE: William Rhinelander Stewart, The Philanthropic Work of Josephine Shaw Lowell, p. 16-7

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