Lydia Maria Child, Letters of Lydia Maria Child, To the same.

Home Collections/Texts Perseus Catalog Research Grants Open Source About Help

Hide browse bar Your current position in the text is marked in blue. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position:

This text is part of:

19th-Century American

View text chunked by:

chapter : page
page

Table of Contents:

Prefatory note.

Publishers' note.

To Rev. Convers Francis .

Extracts from the journal of Miss Francis , kept when she first met Mr. Child .

To Rev. Doctor Allyn , Duxbury, Mass.

To David Lee Child .

To Miss Sarah Shaw , upon receiving a donation to the Anti-slavery cause.

To Rev. Convers Francis .

To Mrs. Ellis Gray Loring .

To Rev. Convers Francis .

To E. Carpenter .

To Rev. Convers Francis .

To E. Carpenter .

To Miss Henrietta Sargent .

To E. Carpenter .

To Mrs. Ellis Gray Loring .

To Rev. Convers Francis .

To Francis G. Shaw .

To Miss Henrietta Sargent .

To Rev. Convers Francis .

To Francis G. Shaw .

To Francis G. Shaw .

To Miss Augusta King .

To Rev. Convers Francis .

To Joseph carpenter.

To Mrs. E. C. Pierce .

To Mr. Ellis Gray Loring .

Extracts from letters from Dr. William Ellery Channing to Mrs. Child .

Reminiscences of Dr. Channing by Mrs. Child , written after his death and published in his memoirs.

To Rev. Convers Francis .

To Miss Augusta King .

To Miss Anna Loring .

To Miss Henrietta Sargent .

To Miss Augusta King .

To Prof. Convers Francis .

To Mrs. Nathaniel Silsbee .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Francis G. Shaw .

To Prof. Convers Francis .

To Ellis Gray Loring .

To Mrs. Nathaniel Silsbee .

To Joseph carpenter.

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Francis G. Shaw .

To Ellis Gray Loring .

To Prof. Convers Francis .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Mrs. Ellis Gray Loring .

To David Lee Child .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To David Lee Child

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To David Lee Child .

To Prof. Convers Francis .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Miss Anna Loring .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To David Lee Child .

To Prof. Convers Francis .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Mrs. Lucy Osgood .

Lines to L. M. Child , in response to her verses on the death of Elis Gray Loring .

Correspondence between Mrs. Child , John Brown , and Governor Wise and Mrs. Mason of Virginia .

Letter of Mrs. Mason .

Reply of Mrs. Child .

To Mrs. S. M. Parsons .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Samuel E. Sewall .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Mrs. . B. Shaw .

To Hon. Lemuel Shaw .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Miss Lucy Searle .

To Miss Henrietta Sargent .

To Miss Lucy Searle .

To Miss Henrietta Sargent .

To John G. Whittier .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Francis G. Shaw .

To Miss Lucy Searle .

To Miss Henrietta Sargent .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Miss Lucy Searle .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Miss Eliza Scudder .

To L. M. Child .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Francis G. Shaw .

Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Miss Eliza Scudder .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Miss Eliza Scudder .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Hon. George W. Julian .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Mrs. Anna Loring Dresel .

To Rev. Samuel J. May .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Rev. Samuel J. May .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Miss Eliza Scudder .

To Mrs. S. E. Sewall .

To Francis G. Shaw .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Francis G. Shaw .

To Miss Henrietta Sargent .

To Charles Sumner .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To John G. Whittier .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Miss Lucy Osgood .

To Francis G. Shaw .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To John G. Whittier .

To Mrs. S. M. Parsons .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Miss A. B. Francis .

To Mr. And Mrs. S. E. Sewall .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Mrs. S. E. Sewall .

To John G. Whittier .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Mrs. S. M. Parsons .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Mrs. S. B. Russell .

To Miss Anne Whitney .

To Miss A. B. Francis in Europe .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Mrs. S. E. Sewall .

To Miss Anne Whitney .

To Mrs. H. W. Seywall .

To Miss A. B. Francis .

To Mrs. S. B. Shaw .

To Theodore D. Weld .

To Francis G. Shaw .

To Mrs. S. S. Russell .

List of Mrs. Child 's works, with the date of their first publication as far as ascertained.

Standard and popular Library books, selected from the catalogue of Houghton , Mifflin and Co.

view as XML

To the same.

Gardiner [Maine], May 31, 1820.

You need not fear my becoming a Swedenborgian. I am in more danger of wrecking on the rocks of skepticism than of stranding on the shoals of fanaticism. I am apt to regard a system of religion as I do any other beautiful theory. It plays round the imagination, but fails to reach the heart. I wish I could find some religion in which my heart and understanding could unite; that amidst the darkest clouds of this life I might ever be cheered with the mild halo of religious consolation. With respect to Paley's system, I believe I said in my last that if I admitted your position, the next step was to acknowledge the spontaneous growth of goodness in the human heart.

Is this what you did not understand? In your answer [8] to my first letter on the subject, you say, “Is it always possible to foresee all the remote consequences of an action, so as to judge whether it is expedient or not? And even if it were, would not the time for action be past before we came to the decision?” In answer to that I made the above mentioned remark. If we often-time commit good actions without time to reflect on their tendency, does it not argue a natural impulse to good which takes root in the heart before we have time to calculate its growth? And now tell me plainly what system would you build on the ruins of Paley's?

Boston, Hougton Mifflin, 1884.

Tufts University provided support for entering this text.

view as XML

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.