Edward W. Axson to Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre

Title

Edward W. Axson to Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre

Creator

Axson, Edward W.

Identifier

WWP17297

Date

1902 August 26

Description

Edward Axson sends birthday greetings to Jessie Wilson Sayre and tells her about his travels in Georgia with his wife.

Source

Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University

Language

English

Text

My dear Jessie

I know your birthday will soon be here and I wish I had athe nicest kind of birthday present for you. But as I havent and as it is so unsatisfactory sending for things by mail I am going to write you a birthday letter instead and send you a picture of someone you may know. We had a letter from Madge yesterday and she tells me you girls are all down at the shore with Cousin Mary—but as she didnt say where I will have to send this to Princeton. I know you are having a nice time there—going in bathing every day I suppose. Have you and Margaret learned to swim yet and is that Nellie girl as much afraid of the water as she was at Sag. I suppose she is very brave now and goes in far enough to get her knee wet.
Have you heard anything about our fine trip South by sea? You know we sailed from N.
Y. by the Savannah Line and had a delightful voyage—lasting from Saturday night till Tuesday morning. The sea was like a sheet of glass the whole time so that I didnt have the opportunity of seeing how good (or how poor) a sailor I am—Florence had already had her test when she went abroad two years ago. But quiet as it was a few of the people on board became sick—one of them a bride on her honeymoon trip. One day we had the good fortune to run into a school of whales, five or six of them—something rarely seen on that course. They played around us, coming to the surface, blowing and then diving under for a long time. Besides the whales we saw a number of other interesting things—flying fish, a shark and a great many porpoises. These, you know, of are big fish six or seven feet long, and they delight to keep just in front of the ships bow, leaping over one another and playing there sometimes for a half hour at a time. We went down on the City of Savannah, the nicest boat on the line, and I was greatly interested in her splendid engines and machinery—tho' I cant say that Floris was equally interested. The Chief Engineer told me passengers were not allowed below in the engine room, but I made friends with some of the engineers and would slip down when he wasnt there. The temperature down in the boiler room sometimes reaches 185 or 190°—imagine staying in such a temperature. I would be wringing wet after my brief visits.
We spent twenty four hours in Savannah and had a very pleasant time tho' Palmer was the only one of the cousins there. Next morning we left for Atlanta where we stopped off a few hours to see dear Aunt Lou. She was so delighted to see Florence. That night we took the sleeper for Nashville. We were both very glad to get back to our little home with its dogs & chickens &c (the latter alas! not as numerous as when we left) and have been very busy since we returned getting things back into shape. It looked like a wilderness—Well I must close now to catch the mail. Wishing Jessie a veryhappy birthday & with lots of love from Floris & me for all the girls—Ever lovingly
Ed

Original Format

Letter

To

Sayre, Jessie Woodrow Wilson, 1887-1933

Files

http://resources.presidentwilson.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/EAtoJWS19020826.pdf

Tags

Citation

Axson, Edward W., “Edward W. Axson to Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre,” 1902 August 26, WWP17297, Jessie Wilson Sayre Correspondence, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.