As Dickinson became more reclusive in her early thirties, her visits to The Evergreens slowed. In a letter believed to have been written in 1858, she sends her regrets to “Susie”, politely declining a social invitation: “Susie – You will forgive me, for I never visit. I am from the fields, you know, and while quite at home with the Dandelion, make but a sorry figure in a Drawing – room – Did you ask me out with a bunch of Daisies, I should thank you, and accept – but with Roses – “Lilies” – “Solomon” himself – suffers much embarrassment! Do not mind me Susie – If I do not come with my feet, in my heart I come – talk the most, and laugh the longest – stay when all the rest have gone -”
Correspondence from Emily Dickinson to Susan Phelps, Box 1, Folder 70, Emily Dickinson Collection, Amherst College Archives & Special Collections.
Courtesy of Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College
