the goody fowler sisters

image from h.p.lovecraft archive.

my dear little grandchildren:-
598 angell street
providence, r.i.
may 1, 1923

''arrived in salem, i stroll'd a while through the venerable streets, and finally embark'd for danvers--call'd "salem-village" in the 17th century, and forming the seat of most of the witch-craft cases of 1692. ... i beheld the tall chimney and ivy'd walls of a splendid brick house of later colonial design, and espy'd a sign which proclaim'd it open for publick inspection ... inform'd by the sign that this was the capt. samuel fowler house, built 1809, accessible for eight-pence, and the property of the society for the preservation of new-england antiquities, i loudly sounded the knocker and awaited developement, nothing develop'd, i then knock'd at the side door, but with equal futility. then i noted a door half open in a miserable "ell" at the back of the house; and believing the place tenanted, made a third trial there. ....

''my summons was answer'd simultaneously by two of the most pitiful and decrepit--looking persons imaginable--hideous old women more sinister than the witches of 1692 ... the smaller, and probably older of the two spoke first--in a hoarse rattleing voice that dimly suggested death, ... if however their weird aspect and hideous squalor were sinister; what can one say of the contrast involv'd when the guttural salutation to the speaker became intelligible? for despite the omnipresent evidence of a slatternly decadence beyond words, this ancient witch was mumbling forth a courtly and aristocratic welcome, in language and accents beyond question bespeaking the gentlest birth and proudest cultivation! ...

''yes--it was the old, old new-england story of family decay and aristocratic pauperism ... these tatter'd ancients were the misses fowler, own grand daughters of the proud seafarer and fighter who in his dashing prime had built that house for the comfort, dignity, and splendour of his descendents. ... the great-grandmother of these poor relics was that sprightly mrs. page who, at the time of the colonial tea agitation, serv'd her guests with the beverage on the roof after her husband had forbidden her to serve it under his roof.''

yr. most aff: ancestor and obt: servt: grandpa theobald.

h.p.lovecraft, selected letters.

starry tea set via notcothulhu.