BALFOUR (Clara Lucas, 1808-1878, Writer, Campaigner for Temperance and Women's Education)

Autograph Letter Signed to Mr and Mrs HOOD, with transcription, saying that "although it would have been a great delight to have shaken hands with you on Saturday - yet ... I am deeply grateful for your united kind wishes to my husband & myself - and of course, still more for the sweet poetic expression of thoughts & feelings sent us by Mr Paxton Hood", the Revd. Edwin Paxton HOOD, (1820-1885, Congregational Minister and Writer), "It is 37 years since I heard my old friend - a mere youth then - with all the glow of youthful eloquence speak for what I deemed the right. I bless God for him, & with him ... We have crossed each others path at Studley, at Ebley [Gloucestershire] - dear Ebley! in Cornwall - & elsewhere ... I can truly say I have even had a tear for his sorrows, and a throb of delight for his joys ... My husband unites with me in all kindly wishes ... that your path 'may shine more & more unto the perfect day'", with a P.S. saying she is staying with her daughter "[Cecile] Mrs D[awson] Burns", 4 sides 8vo., 99 King Henry's Road, London, N.W., 28th September (Transcription)
99 King Henry's Road, NW
Sep. 28 / 74
Dear Mr and Mrs Hood,
Although it would have been a great delight to have shaken hands with you on Saturday - yet, as that could not be I am deeply grateful for your united kind wishes to my husband & myself - and of course, still more for the sweet [Side 2] poetic expression of thoughts & feelings sent us by Mr Paxton Hood. It is 37 years since I heard my old friend - a mere youth then - with all the glow of youthful eloquence speak for what I deemed the right. I bless God for him, & with him, that through all the changing scenes of life - his work has been earnest, and blessed.
[Side 3] We have crossed each others path at Studley, at Ebley [Gloucestershire] - dear Ebley! in Cornwall - & elsewhere, in the long track of years - I can truly say I have even had a tear for his sorrows, and a throb of delight for his joys - & sincere admiration of his genius. [Side 4] My husband unites with me in all kindly wishes that you both may have many many happy years before you & that your path "may shine more & more unto the perfect day".
Faithfully Yours
Clara Lucas Balfour
PS I am staying a few days at my daughters Mrs D Burns.

In 1824 Clara Lucas married James Balfour (1796-1884). They lived in straitened circumstances, made worse by her husband's drinking. Their lives changed on 9th October 1837, when they heard Paxton Hood. James signed the pledge, and Clara a week later.
Thereafter she wrote and travelled widely in England. An early article brought her the friendship of Thomas and Jane Carlyle, and Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the preface for her 'Morning Dewdrops', 1853. She lectured not only on temperance, but also on women's roles. Education was not simply to allow a woman to perform her traditional duties better, but to make her a true 'help-meet' to man, not his inferior.

Item Date:  1874

Stock No:  55870      £125

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