Elsa and I are beginning a second time through the 40 hours of listening to Abigail Adams: Letters, edited by Edith Gelles.
I am encouraged each time she quotes scripture (usually the Psalms) when writing to her husband, John Adams. Life was far from easy while he was away from home for months on end working with the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, she and the children were so near Bunker Hill that they couldn't eat or sleep through the roaring of cannons, and their hospitable natures were stretched by the many refugees from Boston.
Abigail's rich vocabulary, wide literary knowledge and humor come through in the old-fashioned English - regularly bringing us smiles. One adjective which did so was used as she reported on the favorable growing conditions for their crops: "charming."
"...having lately had a charming rain which was much wanted..." ~ Abigail Adams
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