Almost a year into their journey, Helen had returned to care for her ailing mother in Honeoye, New York. Frederick stayed behind for a few months longer, revisiting old friends. He wrote to her on July 12, 1887, from Bridport, England (fans of British crime series may recognize the region from Broadchurch, fans of the Victorian novel may know the area better as Thomas Hardy's Wessex.).
When Helen returned home, however, she walked into a delicate situation that require some maneuvering. Her father had not been pleased, to say the least. In fact, whether she knew it or not at this point, he had cut her out of his will shortly after her wedding. Her mother, on the other hand, at least by 1887, must have wished them happiness. Frederick wrote to Helen that, to her mother, “If I sent her all the kind messages my heart would glad dictate I would send her many. I am glad you have such a mother and that she may still remain with you yet many days.”
Later in the letter, he refers to her younger sister, Lorinda Short. Lorinda and her family also did not approve of the Douglasses' marriage. "I note what you say of the people on the farm at Honeoye," he remarks. "It is fortunate for now & that this world and that America is not wholly composed of Shorts." The Shorts must have said something pointed about Frederick himself, because he points out that "I need give myself no concern about the hate and malice of the Shorts or the Longs. We move in very different grooves." A pun!
Then, his thoughts turn to Helen and the approbation that she bears, "I hope you will bear yourself not proudly, but with your own dignity wherever you go in Honeoye you will neither be ashamed of yourself nor of your husband." He need not worry, she adored him.
Of her siblings, Helen had been closest to her next younger sister, Jennie. Jennie supported the Douglasses and appears to have been caring for their mother until Helen arrived. "I believe all you say and all that the Dr says of your excellent sister Jennie," Frederick commented. "She is as good as she is brave.”
As for her sister Eva, she was herself travelling to England and had been expected to arrive in Liverpool on June 30th. In an earlier letter, Frederick mentioned to Helen that, "Should I see Miss Eva on the streets of that city, I shall not put myself in her way for if she hates me it must give her pain to see me and I do not desire to give her the least pain during her brief tour abroad." Clearly, she did not approve of the marriage either (and this is one of the reasons that I do not believe that she is the other woman in the picture with Douglass and Helen).
His thoughts, ultimately, turn to home: “On some accounts I should like to stay abroad a month or two longer – but I still have fear that my business is suffering and at any rate it is time that I was on Cedar hill – looking over my books and papers." He had been visiting old friends, or the children of old friends, or sometimes the grandchildren of old friends, which had become a bit depressing. Then, of course, he did not want to wear out his welcome, although, "My friends here have not yet tired of me – and I think would not if stayed in England a year longer." There was the matter of his temperament, as well, and he admitted, "I am too independent in spirit to live long on my friends even when they desire me to do so.”
As for the return journey, well, her new Paris dress may have to lose its "tremendous box" but he would bring it home, and purchase another trunk to accommodate their accumulated goods.
"With a heartful of love Your husband,” he signed off. Then, he departed for Street to visit Helen Bright Clark.
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Source: Frederick Douglass to Helen [Pitts] Douglass, Bridport, 12 July 1887, and Carlisle, 28 June 1887, General Correspondence, Frederick Douglass Papers, Library of Congress.
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