[Liverpool—Saturday, 16 June 1860]
Saturday 16th Left good Mrs Blodgets at ½ past 7 for the steamer. As were we bidding old England and our friends good-bye (nor was this done with a strange mixture of regrets and longings) I saw Mrs Stowe and her family on the boat. They were looking sad but I could not have divined what Hattie Beecher hastened to tell me, that Annie Howard was dead. She was so young and fresh yet for her sake I can be only thankful because I remember saying one day to Jamie how frail Annie’s health is and how illy adapted and prepared she seems to struggle through this life. I should have felt this still more strongly had I know[n] her age at that time. She was 21 but delicate and sensitive as a girl of 16 and I think few persons would have thought her older than that.
