Balmoral Belfast
10th September 1892[i]
My Dear Sister Josephine,
Not much wonder your spirits had a notion of oozing out someplace, under pressure of such weight - of bed blankets: it was bad enough to get an overhaul from the Commissioners through no fault of yours (Interrupted till to-day: 12th September) without having a supplementary overhaul from Mr. Bowen: but I have great-hopes of your spirits as long as they think of oozing out at the toes of your shoes (in spite of their dilapidated condition) instead of going in the opposite direction, & making a way for themselves through the top of the top storey: I highly approve of low spirits making off by the “fire escape”, instead of displacing the slates to snake a way through the roof: In the latter case the furniture of the upper storey would suffer in the former case, one casts rather an affectionate glance, on the defective part of the lower storey which provided a way of escape for the worse than useless temporary tenant.
And now dear Joe do not you think it is high time you enlightened the mind, of this benighted sister of yours, with regard to the part you purpose playing in the American project? I have received a little information concerning it; from branches of the home & foreign offices; but know nothing of why you changed your mind and turned the good ship “Intention” right about for an American port instead of an Australian one as at first purposed. I am more than content with the arrangement at the same time that I like to reason, why? Not for reasoning’s sake but for satisfaction’s sake I sincerely hope your average will keep good for the remainder of your time: you need the money & you do not, I am quite sure, either require or desire another overhaul, from either the Board or your kindly Considerate (?) Manager. If landlords are tyrannical oppressors: Managers of N. Schools are, as a rule; doubly tyrannical & unreasonably inconsiderate, oppressors of an already sufficiently harassed body. Well dear, Joe! There is one thing that all the Managers in Ireland cannot take from us, aye: two things: 1st our faith in the God who has done all thing well for us heretofore, & in whose hands we can trust our future with all appertaining to it; as well as ourselves: and 2nd the high good spirits, & hopeful temperaments, with which our God has endowed (I think) every member of our family: and it is a dowry that I, for one, would not wish to exchange for the wealth of the greatest millionaire on earth. With Jehovah ______ for our God: with home ties & home love (no matter how separated) & high spirits & hopeful natures, I think we are the happiest family, one & all, under the sun: we should let our whole life be one ceaseless song of praise & love & gratitude: May God grant, that we may daily grow more like our Great Example & worthier <sic> the name of Children of the Heavenly King.
My Dear Josephine: do any of the papers, at home, give an account of the meetings held in the Convention hall & elsewhere: it is simply amazing to see the crowds that gather to every meeting: the Convention hall is supposed to accommodate 15,000 people: imagine it packed: crowds standing outside who have failed to gain admission, whole over meetings outside: I think there were often as many outside as inside: on Friday night (the last night of Mr. Moody‘s mission:) those who could not gain admission to the Convention hall, were told to go to Fitzroy Avenue Pres. Church: where Mr. McNeill would preach: the Fitzroy church was filled & still there was a great overflow meeting outside, addressed by the Rev. Henry Montgomery: the whole three preachers, preaching within gunshot, as I may say, stone’s throw of each other: We in Fitzroy Avenue Church, could hardly fix our attention on Rev. I McNeill as we could hear Rev. Montgomery (who was addressing the outside overflow meeting;) almost as distinctly: when our meting was about half through Dr. Williams came for Rev McNeill to assist in the Convention Hall, where a great number were under conviction & required personal dealing, & although there was quite a band of ministers there already, they were insufficient fro the work before them: - the overflow meeting, outside & part of our meeting in Fitzroy, rushed away to try & get a peep into the excited Convention Hall, & Mr. Montgomery & others took Mr. McNeill’s place: it was almost 12 o’clock when the meeting in the Convention Hall broke up: I am sure Mr. Moody’s work here has been greatly blessed, both to pastors, of all denominations, & people; some Roman Catholic’s have been converted, amongst whom, is one priest, (of St. Malachy‘s Chapel, in this town.) Mr. McNeill, is continuing the work, at present, which Mr. Moody began: & I sincerely hope there will yet be, even a greater manifestation of God’s power, it is uncertain yet: how long Mr. McNeill may remain here: I think it depends largely on the work being done: he has engagements until Saturday at any rate. Mr. McNeill, is rather an uncouth looking man, of about 50, his hair has a slightly sandy tinge; but pretty dark, & unkempt looking, he is about the height of father, & has a seemingly weather beaten face; is vigorous, has no gray hairs, as far as I can see: he was, to use his own expression, “born & reared in the County Antrim”. & on that footing, counts kindred with the people of Belfast: he has studied & knows human nature, can describe the different characters to a T; possesses a keen sense of humour, knows when, how & where to strike home: & is no way slow or backward in doing it. I enjoy his addresses much more than Mr. Moody’s: I think, it is because he goes deeper, & further than Mr. Moody: but Mr. Moody has effectually started the great work of evangelising not only the Town of Belfast, but the whole country for many miles around, inclusive of smaller towns: & he had the pleasure of witnessing the ingathering of much of the fruit of his labour. The full extent - of the fruit of his labour must remain unrevealed, till that day when the Lord makes up His Jewels & counts that “this & that man were born there.” So I leave them!
Dear Josephine, what do you think of dear May’s letter?[ii] What would you think of Hospital nursing? I think (if I could support myself at the same time) I would like to learn type setting. It seems to fall in more with my natural taste than anything else & unless one has some liking for the course they pursue, they can never excel. I think dear May’s letter gives us a good many ideas we did not before possess. & ideas that might be put to practical account, with success. & I remember reading somewhere that in America, no matter what you are apprenticed to, there is a salary from the very commencement. Which is a decided advantage: don’t you relish the idea of the little family gathering that our meeting must to dear May & Janie.[iii] Just if dear father & mother & Lizzie, Daisy, Samuel & Willie could be there too: if father & mother could be there, I wonder if there will be cheap tickets to the World’s Fair:[iv] I wish there would: but dear I must keep my thoughts in some bounds, at least while I am transferring them to paper: they assume all sorts of wild shapes occasionally. Now do not neglect to write soon & give a graphic & detailed account of all your plans & how you are progressing with the making of your underclothing etc. by the bye, any of my clothes (night dresses, chemises, etc.) that are at home, I wish you would gather them together: so that they will be ready for then. I suppose Maggie Lemon will be going to Inch now: if so she should be worth two pounds a year, in relieving you all of a lot of work & it would be nice if she could be spared to crochet some for you: she could make trimming for your second class clothes: but Swiss embroideries would I think be best for your 1st class or particular things. I shall try & send you home a pattern of the umbrella skirt, it is so easily made, that in that way something could be saved, by making some skirts for yourself. I have made up my old black cashmere, & it looks so well that folk can hardly believe I made it myself.: I’ll just tell you a secret, “Though I say it as shouldn’t”, if the umbrella skirts keep in fashion, I can make them with iver a dressmaker in Oireland [v] & it is an immense saving: if I possibly can afford it, I mean to get the two bodices made in Belfast by a good dressmaker: & skirt I shall make myself: what do you think of that my dear?
Dear Josephine, Mr. Wilson, was in since I began to write & of course I ran down to him: the Sentinel was lying on the table: he said “do you get the Sentinel from home,” I said, “Yes! Father sends it to me; no Belfast paper could equal it with me.” He laughed & thought I was a wonderful girl! He got the Standard for a number of years: whether he was ever a liberal or not, I cannot say, but certainly he is not now. I was making him laugh about different things: one was; about what I was reading: I told him I was reading The Life of Christ, by Rev Farrar, ___ of Westminster: after we talked a few minutes about it; I said , “& I am reading David Copper field (by Dickens) there is a wide difference the extremes:” Mr. Wilson, pushed his hat away back & laughed heartily: the same time putting his arm round me & drawing me to him: “As I see”, he says, “You like to form your own judgment of things:” I said “certainly!” & of course I was laughing too: then he told me he never heard David Copperfield mentioned but it reminded him of his old College days: he & Mr. Beatty: (now our senior missionary in India,) were ’chums’ & when they were out in the dinner hour, they set to reading ’Copperfield’ when their dinner was over: they had about 21 spare minutes every day & thus they, together read Copperfield: but one day Beatty coaxed him ___ go till they would have their photo’s taken on the same card, he gave in & went: but as he could not spare any time from ’David C’ he took the book with him & read while his photo was being taken. My dear does that [vi] – I was inquiring about cooking or confectionary lessons but find such cannot be hand only by being apprenticed to the business. How are dear Marmee’s chickens doing? & how many has she? Tell dear daddie I have nearly finished the reading of his paper, & enjoyed it. I see by it Dr. Craig’s brother: our Cousin Fred, [vii] is appointed doctor of the Cholera hospital with a salary of £5 per week, to be doubled in case of any cases of cholera. So he should step this way & see his cousin Alice. And now dear Joe, please, enjoy this rigmarole. With fond love to dear mother & father, Lizzie, Daisy, Samuel & Willie & with much love to yourself I am dear Josephine
Your loving sister Alice E. Elder
[The following squeezed into the left margin and top of the first page.]
My dear Joe I hope this will not be over weight. Give my love to Jessie.[viii] I had a letter from Louise[ix] but cannot answer it yet, please give my love to her, & I would like dear Samuel’s address.
Alice
Perhaps I shall send papers to Daisy & Willie [x] this time if they will accept them instead of letters, as they would only cost me a halfpenny each.
NOTES:
- This is one of the most important letters from the collected correspondence as it reveals a great deal about the daily life of the Elders, the hopes and aspirations of the Elder girls, and also directly relates to the emigration of Josephine Elder to the United States.
As with all the letters I have attempted to include as much of the original punctuation as possible, without confusing the modern reader.[Return to Letter]
- May is Maria Jane Elder who was generally called May by the family. She was the Matron of the Newark Orphan Asylum in Newark, NJ, at the time this letter was written. I think this letter indicates that that Alice was planning to go to America with Josephine and/or join Josephine and May there at a later date.
Certainly she intended to attend the World’s Fair in Chicago.
Newark Orphan Asylum
323 High Street
Incorporated February 1848
This picture was taken in 1910. I found this image at: http://www.oldnewark.com/hospitals/orphano.htm along with the 1900 Census of "Inmates" Newark Orphan Asylum. Unfortunately, Maria Jane Elder is recorded as Maria J. Elden, Assistant, White, Female, b. 1864, age 36, pob Ireland, occupation: Seamstress. [Return to Letter]
- The Janie referred to here is another sister, Jane Marshall Elder, who married one William A. Smith, 04 Jun 1889, and this marriage, so far as I can tell, seems to have taken place in Newark, also. They had two children and Jane died in Newark in 1920. Josephine stayed with Jane and William Smith when she first
arrived in the United States. [Return to Letter]
- This is most probably a reference to the Chicago World’s Fair that was held in 1893. This event was publicized worldwide and many tourists from Europe and elsewhere flocked to Chicago to see George Ferris' huge new wheel. The axle for the 1,2000-ton Ferris Wheel was the largest steel forging in the world. Other technologies also had their debut at this world's fair: the postcard and the
hamburger. Alice’s enthusiasms are charming. She is as excited over the World’s
Fair, a secular entertainment, as she is over Mr. Moody’s ‘mission’. [Return to Letter]
- “Iver” and “Oireland” are phonetically spelled to indicate Alice is imitating a broad Irish brogue. [Return to Letter]
- Alice E. Elder died on 22 Jan 1893, at the Royal Hospital, Belfast, only 4 months and 12 days after she penned this letter. One wonders how Mr. Wilson, who thought her to be a ‘wonderful girl’, was affected by her death. [Return to Letter]
- Here is another Craig connection, his name may be Fred or Frederick Craig and he is a Dr. However, in Britain medical doctors are often called simply Mr. rather than Dr. There appear to be two Drs. Craig here the first mentioned Dr. Craig and our Cousin Fred who is appointed a doctor to the Cholera Hospital. [Return to Letter]
- I am not sure who Jessie is, possibly a cousin or friend living in Inch. [Return to Letter]
- I am not sure who Louise is, possibly a cousin or friend living in Inch. [Return to Letter]
- Daisy & Willie are Alexandria (Daisy) Elder Elliott and William Elliott. [Return to Letter]