Dickinson's poor health worried her family. They felt
sure that her earlier shock (which today would be called a nervous
breakdown) was causing all her health problems. Dickinson's sister
Lavinia carried the burden of all the household chores so that
her sister could spent her days locked away in her room, writing
and reading. Dickinson's writing haven was filled with plants and
flowers. She often sent notes to her sister-in-law Sue Gilbert
with a pretty dried flower enclosed.
In 1866, Austin and Sue welcomed another baby into the
family, a girl named Martha, whom everyone called Mattie. Dickinson adored
her little niece and nephew, and they deeply loved the aunt across
the lawn who often gave them sweets and notes in a basket lowered
from her bedroom window.
In 1870, Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Emily Dickinson would
finally meet face to face. In early August, Higginson wrote Dickinson
a note saying he would be in Amherst for business around the fifteenth
and would like to come see her. She replied saying she would be
delighted to finally meet him. After dropping off his suitcases
at a hotel in Amherst, Higginson arrived the Dickinson home. We
have detailed facts of the meeting, because Higginson wrote a letter
to his wife that night. While waiting for Dickinson in the parlor,
he spotted two of his recent books displayed on the shelves. When
Dickinson did enter the room, she looked almost like an apparition,
holding two day lilies in her hands. She held the flowers out to
Higginson, whispering: "These are my introduction." The two had
a lengthy, odd conversation. Higginson spent most of the visit staring
at the unusual woman in wonderment and trying to guess at the meaning
of her inscrutable statements. Their conversation that day ranged
from her dog, Carlo, who was now dead, to Shakespeare, to her poetry.
Dickinson gave Higginson a picture of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's
hands as a parting gift.
On June 15th, 1874, Edward Dickinson, who was now serving on
the Massachusetts State Legislature, left for Boston to attend
the first session of the legislature. The night before he left,
he and Dickinson shared a quiet evening together in the parlor.
She played the piano for him and he seemed unusually mild and reflective. Although
he and Dickinson had had their differences, Dickinson loved him
immensely, and she was his favorite child. When Edward left that
June day, the rest of the Dickinsons stayed home, as they usually
did when Edward traveled to Boston or to Washington. The next day,
just as Mrs. Dickinson, Emily Dickinson, and Lavinia were sitting
down to dinner, Austin appeared in the doorway holding a telegram
in his hand. It was a note from a doctor in Boston, advising the
family to hurry to Tremont House where Edward Dickinson was staying.
Edward was gravely ill. As Lavinia and Austin hastened to prepare
the horses (Emily would stay home with Mrs. Dickinson), Austin
received another telegram saying that Mr. Dickinson was dead.
On June 19th, so many mourners were packed into the Dickinson
house in Amherst that they spilled out onto the lawn. Emily Dickinson
remained in her room during the funeral. She had made a lovely
funeral wreath of daisies and this was the only adornment on Edward
Dickinson's coffin. For a week after the funeral, Dickinson wandered
around the house in a daze. Exactly one year after Edward's death,
Dickinson's mother woke up and found she couldn't move her limbs.
She had likely suffered a severe stroke. She was feeble and required
constant care, which Dickinson administered to her. In her confusion,
Mrs. Dickinson often asked for her dead husband.
That same year, tragedy was tempered by joy when Sue Gilbert gave
birth to a third child, Thomas Gilbert. Ned was fourteen by this
time, and Martha nine, and they called their little brother Gib. The
child, with his long blond hair and rambunctious spirit, was a delight
to everyone. His doting aunt Emily spoiled him.
Otis Lord's health had been declining, and he had spent
time in a country resort. On his way back from the resort, rejuvenated
and healthier, Otis Lord stopped by the Dickinson house for a visit. While
there, he helped Emily Dickinson, Mrs. Dickinson, and Lavinia draw
up their wills. Mr. Dickinson had died without resolving his own
will, and it had taken years to untangle the resulting mess. During
Lord's visit, Dickinson and Lord renewed their friendship, and
their tender feelings for each other escalated. Lord was still
married, though. In December, Lord was appointed to the Bench of
the Massachusetts Supreme Court and so his visits to Amherst grew
less frequent. Dickinson and Lord continued to exchange loving
letters.
That winter was a bad one: Dickinson's nephew Ned was
showing signs of epilepsy, Mrs. Dickinson remained very weak and required
constant care, Samuel Bowles was quite ill, and Thomas Wentworth
Higginson's wife died. In December, Otis Lord's wife died.
