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“Blissful Evenings”

Decades after gathering with the Dickinsons in their parlor at The Evergreens, close friend Kate Scott Anthon shared her memories with Martha Dickinson Bianchi, the poet’s niece and sole remaining member of the family: “The old blissful evenings at Austin’s! Rare hours full of merriment, brilliant wit, and inexhaustible laughter. Emily with her dog & lantern! often at the piano, playing weird and beautiful melodies, all from her own inspiration! Oh! She was a choice spirit! Your dear Mother also, so witty & intellectual, & uncommon in every way. Those heavenly nights are gone forever! One can only live on the memory of them!”

Mrs. Kate Anthon to Martha Dickinson Bianchi, Oct 8, 1917, in Martha Dickinson Bianchi, Emily Dickinson: Face To Face (Houghton Mifflin, 1932),156.

Glimpse of The Evergreens parlor from an entrance hall with deep red, dark wood, and gilt finishings.