[Lydia] Maria [Child] ALS to Louise [Louisa Loring], December 1, 1845

New York, Dec 1st 1845.

Dear Louise,

My magnificent cloak arrived
yesterday, in a box big enough to hold ten cloaks.
You do everything on a large scale. The cover of the
box was smashed in, but the contents arrived
without spot or blemish. The only fault I have to
find, is that it is a great deal too handsome for
me. I shall have to do as the sailor did with
his new vest, made to surpass the Admiral's; I shall
have to wear it wrong side out, and tell people,
"No sham here - all silk". It will be a
very precious cloak to me, and I shall bear in
most grateful remembrance all the dear and
friendly hands that have worked upon it.

I don't clearly know what the cord
and tassels are put on for; but I suppose I shall
soon find some fashionable body to tell me. I will
ask Carry Sturgis. She has gone to the Musical
Institute to night, with John. I did not go, because
it rains, and two dreadfully correct singers are to sustain
the principal parts. With my love for impulse and
geniality, it seems to me as if I should die of science
and correctness. There is an immense amount of