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Thackeray's Letters to an American Family
Thackeray's Letters to an American Family Author:William Makepeace Thackeray Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Miss LIBBY STRONG Following are three letters addressed by Thackeray to Miss Libby Strong, niece of Mr. Baxter, who was an inmate of the family at the Brown H... more »ouse during both the visits of the novelist to America, and who is referred to several times in the previous letters of this series as " Miss Libby." These letters were all written in remembrance of the birthday of Miss Strong, which coincided with that of Thackeray. The second was addressed to both Miss Lucy Baxter and Miss Strong, and bears on the last page two L's to indicate this fact. Miss Strong is now Mrs. Alfred Leonard Curtis of New Tork. Basle, 18 July, 1853 MY Dear Libby. Ju§lto show that I don't forget my promise to write to you on this the 18th £1?thJ birthday you have known in this wicked world, I tear a leaf out of a book (for I have no desk with me up stairs,) and I write a God bless you and a many happy returns of the day to you and all others who were born on your day. We are set out on a little tour. It's ever so many weeks since I have heard from the Second Avenue and the last news I had of it was that a baker's shop had been burned and some people killed jumping out of window. We have come from Baden to day, where we spent 10 very jolly days,and I should have made you some verses: but, Miss, I was better employed spinning prose for my family, and getting on at a fine rate. This is just like an American hotel, and I was showing my daughters a regular American table d'hote (there were a score of you all at supper as we dined at a separate table) and just as I was saying how comfortable it was to see them all again: how I felt back in the auld country (your's you know is the auld country with me—) I 'm sorry to say no less than 5 people—two of 'em ladies—put their knives down their throats, at w1...« less