[Lydia] Maria [Child] ALS to Louisa Loring, August 14, 1843

the presence of conventional forms. I would give a great
deal if I could live near you and Ellis, for I never ex-
-pect to love anybody as I love you. I have chosen
to make N. York my home, because I am convinced that
it is, for various reasons, the best place for me. That it
is a city of strangers, and brings up no old associations to
give me pain, is a great item in its favor. Having resolved
to build my nest here, I have resolved to make every-
-thing as pleasant as I can, and think everything is as
pleasant as I can. I should probably have poor success
in this effort, were it not for the unvarying kindness of
my good son John, and the consciousness that he greatly
needs his adopted mother. He is now devoting himself
to David's comfort, with his usual zeal making
people happy. At present, the air seems more impure
to David, and the streets dirtier, and the noises louder,
than they will a few months hence. For myself, I have
actually become attached to the street-cries, and should
miss them as a pleasant sound. Some street-organ
answers, instead of a cuckoo, for a "wandering voice";
and I have learned that is just as picturesque, if one
can only imagine so, to see the stars between openings in
brick walls, as it is, "In Yorkshire dales
Among the rocks and winding scars,