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Mrs. Franklin Pierce. A.L.S. as First Lady, 8

Currency:USD Category:Antiques Start Price:700.00 USD Estimated At:1,400.00 - 1,700.00 USD
Mrs. Franklin Pierce. A.L.S. as First Lady, 8
Mrs. Franklin Pierce. A.L.S. as First Lady, 8 pp., black-bordered stationery, no date but 1853, not long after the inauguration. To her sister, following the death of her son Benjamin, who died tragically in a freak railroad accident as the family was travelling from Concord, N.H. to Boston only two weeks before the inauguration of Pres. Pierce. "...My own loss and lack seems very heavy; sometimes almost more than I can bear. The last two nights my dear boy has been in my dreams with peculiar vividness. May God forgive this aching yearning that I feel so much...Mr. Pierce...is at present much burdened with cares and perplexities. He came in half an hour since from his office and prepared himself for a ride on horseback which he has not been able to (do) for more than a week...Yesterday he was in his office from half-past 8 until five when came in to dress for...a Congressional dinner...He has had but three large dinners yet, at all of which I have appeared, but not at the evening receptions...Little interruptions are very abundant here...My heart has been aching...bitterly. I came accidentally upon some of my previous child's things so familiarly connected with him...but I was taken off in the midst and obliged to turn and seem interested in other things...I felt as if it was almost cruel...." Signed "Jane." Fine. An extraordinary letter.