Letter, Thomas J Tone to Elizabeth Torrence Tone, Feb 22 1899

Elizabeth Torrence Tone (1898-1985) was Thomas Jefferson Tone (1830-1903)'s granddaughter and would have been 13 months old at the time.

Bergen, Feb 22 99

My Dear Little Elizabeth

You can hardly imagine how my heart thrills because I am now writing to my precious grand daughter. I do not expect you yourself to be over jubilant about it because you do not know yet but what grandpa would as son open his heart to you as to any one. But grandpa has been disciplined 41 years to be very prudent about opening his heart to girls and so he considers this an unusual event.

But I do not wish to get to the solemn features of this thing but rather to take up the social outcomes of it. Grandpa loves you. There I told you the whole of it. Your picture is in my office. It is the prettiest I can find. Say, do you know how sorry I was that your teech ached so bad. I did wish they wold not ache so hard. You suffered so much. If I could have gone out to your house I would have explained it all out to you so it would not have pained you so. I don't say it to make you vain. Now don't you feel vain at all. It is true that you are pretty. It is one physiological fact. And it was necessary-- it had to be so, the law of "eternal fitness of things" required it. And it was owing to the law of "the survival of the fittest"-- an organic law it is, that when new teeth were given to you, that they should be beautiful in form, in size, in color, the very prefection of God's greatest work in creation, so to be suitable for your mouth. Oh just to think if it, that mouth of yours, the home of your sweet voice, the abode of your fascinating speech, the hiding place of your bewitching, frolicsome laugh, where your thoughts are breathed into life. When your hearts love takes on its heavenly spirit. Oh Elizabeth when the little ivories take their home in your mouth, it is a common affair. It is all important and needs to be nice as your own self. So if your gums get sore and inflamed, and so painful, still it was all necessary, it was required. If I could have told you all aout it. But you are better now. You are happy. From this time your molars will form a crowning part of your being. It would fill a volume, if it was small, to tell all the good service of the once aching molars but now handsome shiny ivories. So laugh and be merry. Sing and be glad. Shout in your joy. So far your all right. Dear little sweet, beautiful little birdie. But Elizabeth, what yo people say of you now. Why that you are learning to walk, and already quite a traveler. Well, Well. I did think you would be quiet and rest a little bit. I did not think that as soon as you had smashed the things in one room, that your ambition would be to destroy the whole house. Ah Elizabeth, Elizabeth, grandpa must pull your ear just a little bit. It will not do to spare the rod and spoil the child in your case. No, no.

Feb 27. I think Washingtons birth day had much to do with this letter so far. He never told a fib. Can you take a hint. I home and trust you are as good as he unreadable of being. Is it cold weather with you. It has been here. Cold for little girlies. Suppose you ask pa to put you on the cars and express you to Bergen, and you make a visit to grand ma & grand pa. How it would cheer us up. You might make all the noise you like. Every unreadable would be nice, even your cry would be unreadable and we would shake it all out of you. Are you glad you have unreadabe through your unreadable unreadable. Elizabeth, what do you study now, do you unreadable, are you idle or are you hands full of grand works.

Mar 19- How time flies. I suppose it is slow and long to you. Say do you know hy it takes grand pa so long t owrite to you. Well I will tell you. Grand-pa's right hand has lost the power to use a pen. The muscles & nerves that move the fingers so as to form letters have no power. Hence I write so I can hardly read my own writing and can write only very slow. It makes me dread to try to write at all. There is no unreadable or weakness in the hand, it can do all other things that it could as well as ever.

Now my dear little girl, you just keep on being good, and come and see grandpa someday, and maybe grandpa's hand will get well. Tell your pa + ma that we are well here, free from colds so far. Tell them to come with you when you visit us. Tell your Aunt Katy that we remember her nice visit last summer. Let me go and see your picture then I will say good bye.

Your loving grand pa
T. J. T.