Mrs. O'Connor1 writes Mrs. Channing2 that you are in New York—I write you, on a forlorn hope, to offer you our best welcome if any thing should induce you to turn Eastward. We have to offer entertainment, not brillieant , but quiet & unconstrained. You would find some loc.01257.002.jpg few persons here whom I think you would like to meet. To balance this on the other side is all New York! All for which I can really answer is the sincere desire to see you here in a home-like way– I think we have a home that is worth something, & that we gladly open to you.
Will you not visit us?
Yrs truly Wm. F. Channing loc.01257.003.jpg loc.01257.004.jpgCorrespondent:
William F. Channing
(1820–1901), son of William Ellery Channing, and also Ellen O'Connor's
brother-in-law, was by training a doctor, but devoted most of his life to
scientific experiments. With Moses G. Farmer, he perfected the first fire-alarm
system. He was the author of Notes on the Medical Applications
of Electricity (Boston: Daniel Davis, Jr., and Joseph M. Wightman,
1849). Ellen O'Connor visited him frequently in Providence, Rhode Island, and
Whitman stayed at his home in October, 1868.