Townfoot, 17 May 1883

A long newsy letter about health, mainly, and the wearying wait for letters from America.  In two places Marion is writing Aunt Agnes's messages for her.

Townfoot
Sanquhar
17th May 1883

My Dear Friends

It is now a long time since I wrote to you or got a letter from you. Aunt has been talking about you all so often this some time past that she told me just to write to you and say that she takes such wearing fits that she would be so pleased to get a letter often some times she says she is sure Uncle John would not know me now. 

I hope this will find you all in good health. Aunt has been wonderful well in health but she is failing she went away to Hawcleughside to help them to set potatoes and she is come home quite done out poor body she is so willing to work but she cannot Tam did not want her to go but she would go and try Tam & his wife and family are all well they have another addition to their family on the 17th of March they have two sons and a daughter now, Samuel, Tam, and Mary. I am not getting any better the doctor says I am weaker this last two or three weeks I feel it myself. Aunt tells me she thinks me more helpless every time she lifts me to get the bed made, but it is God's will and I hope he  will give me grace to be content with my lot whatever way I may be 

I may also tell you that my sister Sarah died on the 18th of April and has left three little ones which is likly to feel the want of their mother very much she has been ill for a long time her trouble was consumption there is many a different trouble we are afflicted with and all our afflictions are sent for some end if only we can see what for my brother James has had a sore time with typhus fever among his family his wife was worse than any of the children she was not thought to get better but God has his own ways of working she is getting better but very slowly she is able to sit up but can walk none yet James was nurse himself for two months but it was a blessing. He kept well himself for with eight children and their mother lying he would have plenty to do.

Uncle William and his wife and family are all well uncle is still working in the woods now I think I have told you about all our friends. We have had very cold weather this spring till this week it has been a little warmer they tell me that grass is far back yet. Tam is still with Mrs. Slimmon work about here is very dull and provision is very high. How are you getting on with your new business I hope you are doing well Aunt bids me say if she was only within reach she would go to th [torn paper] with you and she would keep you from wearing for altho her legs and arms are failing her tongue can wag yet and tell John if I had him between me and the door when I take a wearing fit for a letter he would think me as good at speaking as ever now I have written her story as near the way she has told me as I can now I am getting tired but hoping to hear from you soon and with kind regards to you all every one and all other friends I am your Affectionate friend Marion Brown

Townfoot, 11 October 1880

This letter is in pencil, so it's harder to read than most of Marion Brown's letters.  Maybe she lost track of her ink and pen in the move from Castle Mains?  It also features a child's scribbles, perhaps made long after Marion's pencil left the page.  It's a newsy letter:  Aunt is working as a cheesemaker at Auchengruith, at the George White farm, while the usual family member is recovering from childbirth; Tam is trying work beyond farm labour, hoping it will be steadier.  Marion isn't well, but she's expressing religious resignation, and she's glad that her right arm remains unaffected by the current version of her troubles.

(George White of Auchengruith farm was buried in Sanquhar Kirkyard, grave number 63 in Wilson.  Not clear if this is the same George White mentioned in an 1866 letter from Marion Brown, though a longtime familiarity might explain why Aunt Agnes was asked to come to his aid.)

Townfoot

Sanquhar 
11th October 1880

My Dear Friends

We was all glad to see your very welcome letter we weary to hear from you when you are so long in writing Aunt and me was talking about you all a night or two before your letter came and wondering how you was all going on and we was glad to see from your letter that you was all well when you wrote and I hope this will find you all still enjoying the same precious blessing for it is truly said that good health is nine tenths of all the Lord has ever given to any man for what is all this world to us if we have not health to enjoy it 

I am glad to be able to tell you that Aunt is in moderate health but is trubled very much with pains in her legs and back she has been at Auchengruith at George White's for six weeks making his cheese one of his daughters has a baby and he was very anxious for Aunt to go and make the cheese till she was able to work again, we are wearing to get her home again at least I am I don't like when she is away if I had not been close confined to bed, but I do feel the want of her very much for her to be away from home and making cheese now but poor body she has always the spirit and there is nothing lifts her spirits like making cheese.  

Tam and his wife and little Samuel are all well Tam has been ????? [line of penciled writing is smudged at the crease] this some time he thought it would be a more steady job than labouring for labouring work is very scarce and for myself I may say I am a poor helpless creature lying in bed and scarce able to ???? [another smudged line on the fold] self  I have very little power in my left arm but I ought to be very thankful as long as my right arm is not affected but our heavenly father has promised that he will lay no more on us than we are able to bear but human nature is hard to bend and some times I feel it very hard to look at the bright side of the dark[?] clouds that comes before me, 

Aunt bids me tell you that she is pleased to know you have such a nice cow and she hops she will do well but she is not much taken up with the turkeys, as far as I hear there has not been good crops this year and potatoes especially and they are moderate in price in the meantime two shillings and four pence per hunderweight for the best early potatoes.

Uncle William and his family are all well I must stop for it has taken me a long time to write this and I am very tired I hope you will not be long in writing give our united love to uncle Joseph and all enquiring friends and except of the same to you all every one from your affectionate cousin, Marion Brown

Tower Cottages, 20 November 1876

Short, rather grouchy note, reporting Aunt Agnes's disappointment about the lack of correspondence from her brothers in America. The winter has been early and hard so far in Sanquhar, and it's making Aunt's rheumatisms worse. Marion's health is also worse than recently, and "I cannot walk a step with a sore back." Crops were good, and "we are not traveling far to hear many news"--maybe a comment on the Tower Cottages being closer to the town than their old home at the Bogg.

Tower Cottages
Novr. 20th 1976

Dear Uncle

It is now so long since we heard from any of you that we have been wearing very much to know how you are all keeping I am sure there has not a day passed for three weeks past but Aunt has had some one at the post to see if there was not a letter from America but no there has no news come yet so Aunt just told me this morning that I was to write to you this time and see if you would answer any quicker as Uncle Joseph or James Bryden. She thinks far more about any of you being long in writting now as she did when we was at the Bogg she has not so much work to do and gets more time to think some times she will say I think Joseph & John has forgot that they have a sister in this country now at all I have to say that she hopes you are all well and that some of you will not be long in writting. You have to tell Bryden from her that he told her in fun that she was long in getting the tea ready but she thinks in reallity that he is long in writting this time.

We have had very cold weather of late the snow was lying white on the hills for some days and now we are having rain every day and today the rain is just falling in torrents so I may say that winter seems to set in very soon this year. In general there has been good crops the corn potatoes and turnips has all been very good at the Tower and we are not traveling far to hear many news. Aunt is some times very bad with rheumatisms in her legs and arms and the changeable weather make her feel them more and for me I am not very strong some days I cannot walk a step with a sore back. now I will stop hopping to hear from you soon and with kind love to you and all friends I remain your affectionate neice Marion Brown

Tower Cottages, 25 October 1874

[Image at left: Portrait of a young woman from family albums, labeled "Jane Law" in pencil on the back; there's another photograph of Miss Jane Law posted here]

Last letter surviving from 1874. Marion Brown's health has taken a turn: she was blind for a week, and still has sore eyes; for five weeks, she has been unable to speak "any louder than a whisper." But she's writing to James Bryden anyway. Aunt is still missing her cows and the Bogg; Tam Scott is working in a coal pit now that the harvest season has ended. In Dunmore, Marion Glencross's friend Jane Law (pictured at left) is getting married--but James and Marion G still haven't got married. Marion B still hopes to attend their wedding in America, and "kick up a right spree."

Tower Cottages
25 October 1874

My Dear Friend

I received your very welcome letter this day week and was very glad to see from it that you and all friend was well when you wrote which is the greatest blessing we can enjoy in this world. I have not been so well this last five weeks I cannot speak any louder than a whisper and I have had sore eyes I was blind for a week but I am thankful that my eyes is a little better and I hope I will continue well if it is Gods will.

Aunt is about her useal way but is always the same as if she was not at home when she has no cows to work with she says that she would like to see you here she thinks you would cheer her up the time you was here. You tell me in your letter that Jane Law is going to be married about the end of this month she is going to beat you and Marion but as the saying goes there is luck in lesure I always think that I have to be over in time to get your wedding and if I should chance to be there I would kick up a right spree.

It has been very wet weather this long time if one day is dry the next is sure to be wet every body is busy here just now raiseing there potatoes and from what I hear there is a very good crop throughout the country.

Now James you see this letter is commenced on the 23rd of October and this is the eight of November and you will see by the beginning of it that I have not been so well and I can tell you that I have had very sore eyes and could scarcly see any but I am glad that they are improving now or I could not write so well.

Tam is working in a coal pit now since he came home from his harvest but he does not like it very well and the coal trade is not so brisk here as it was last year.

You may tell Marion that we are wearing very much to get a letter from her. now I must stop at this time I hope I will can write more next time if spared & well & with kind love to you and all friends and may God be your guide is the desire of your affectionate friend Marion Brown

I hope you will not be long in writting M. B.

Tower Cottages, 6 September 1874

Marion's writing to James Bryden again, joking about when he'll finally get married (he's been in America for a long time, and promised to Marion Glencross, but so far no wedding); she also laughs that if they have twins at "the first throw," she'll come help with the nursing. Once again, the subject matter of their letters reveals an extraordinary intimacy for a man and woman who are not kin, or lovers, or even neighbors. In more serious news, Aunt is still hurting from the move from the Bogg, and Tam Scott is working but still not strong. Finally, Marion sends a little token of friendship: a feather and some heather for James's hat.

Tower Cottages
September 6th, 1874

My Dear Friend

With great pleasure I take my pen to write you a few lines to let you know how we are all getting on. I hope this will find you all well and I am glad to be able to tell you that we are better as we have been about the time I got your last letter Aunt was not well at all she is often troubled with her head and rheumatisms & you will understand as well as I can tell you that she is entirely of her way and she can never get above leaving the Bogg. Tom is away to his harvest just now it is not a big one there is only twenty acers but he is never very strong so it is just as well that he got a place that they had not much to cut. hay is very scarce in this country this year but corn looks very well & I think the potatoes is keeping pretty free from disease this year as yet.

I hope uncle John & Marion is both well & likewise uncle Joseph and his family. I was surprised when you told me about John Johnstone's wife having twines she had not put off much time I don't think they could be more than ten months married when they were born I hope they are all doing well but I never hear a word of little Sarah send me word how she is getting on. You told me to get married and have twins at the first throw but when are you thinking about getting married now you never tell me that and if you have twins I think I will come over and help to nurse them for every one say I am a good nurse

Aunt sends her kind love to you and bids me say that she thinks you are the only one that minds her for she think uncle John & Marion has forgot her this time it is so long since we had a letter from them & you are to tell them she is wearing very much to hear from them now I will stop I have been a prisoner to the house for a week but I feel a little better so with kind love to you and all friends I remain your affectionate Friend

Marion Brown

I send you a feather and a little peice of heather to wear in the side of your hat. M. B.

Bogg, 6 October 1873

More bad news: Cousin Tam Scott, the only man in the household, recently released from Dumfries jail, is now quite ill with lung and heart troubles (sounds like tuberculosis). He "spits a great deal of blood" and cannot work. There are lasting hard feelings related to his "tousel" of a Wilson girl, too, because his uncle Joseph is married to a Wilson. Marion, meanwhile, is experiencing speech impairment again, and taking "galvanic shooks" for them. (Soon after Marion describes her recent bout of speechlessness, she says of the family controversy with the Wilsons, "there is no use saying a word." S0 Marion Brown finds herself both literally and figuratively unable to speak effectively.)

But in America, the Glencrosses have a new house (probably an addition to the core building on Helen Street); Aunt imagines having a "crack" with emigrated friends over "auld lang syne affairs," and Marion dreams of dancing on the Glencross's new floors.

The Bogg
October 6th 1873

My Dear Cousin

I was very glad to see your letter for I always weary to hear from you and I hope this will find you and your father and all the rest of our friends well when it reaches you. I am sorry to have to tell you that Cousin Tom has not been well for the last six weeks and is not much better yet the Doctor says that his heart is bad and his left lung is infected and he spits a great deal of blood at times he takes very little meat and the doctor says he is to take every thing that is supporting and take care and not get himself wet and he has not to work any but the worst of it is he is not able to work any however I hope he may soon get a little better for Aunt thinks so much over him and no wonder for I may say he is her all.

We have got all our hay in but we have a great want this year they have been at the hill gathering bent every day that was dry but it has been very wet weather the whole summer through our potatoe crop is wonderful good but we have very few turnips. so I doubt the cows will not fare so well. Aunt has a good lot of swine this year there is seven that she is fattening and ten little pigs to sell.

now I think I have given you a pretty fair account of all the things about the bogg. You will have had a busy summer getting your hew house set in order but now when it is finished you will have plenty of room and I could like very well to be over to the house heating and I can tell you I would dance a good gig to help to dry the flower. I was five weeks that I could not speak but the doctor gave me Galvanic shooks that has done me good and I hope I may keep well now for I was feared when it came on this time for the last time I was bad I could not speak none for twenty three months however I ought to be very thankful that I am a little better.

I dont know what Rob Wilson would mean to send word to Marion to come home again but she is never content where ever she is and uncle Joseph will be the more of a fool if ever he comes home with her for he was just kept in misery with her here and I suppose it will be much the same with her in America. However quiteness is best and there is no use saying a word.

Aunt sends her kind love to your Father and your self and wishes you both good health to enjoy your new house and the first time you see Mrs. Law you are to give her Aunts kind compliments and say she would like very much to have a crack with her over auld lang syne affairs now I hope you will not be long in writting after you get this letter and let us know how you are all getting on and with kind to you and your Father I remain your loving Cousin
Marion Brown

PS. give James Bryden and all other friends my kind love M. B.

Bogg, 11 September 1872

A chatty letter from the Bogg to John Glencross, mostly on the subjects of crops and cows. Turnips, potatoes, corn, and the haying are covered, as well as the cow disease hitting Brandley's. There's a list of what the Bogg folks recently sent to Dunmore--two pairs of men's drawers, two men's shirts, a boy's shirt and cravat, an apron and a bow of ribbon for various relations, old and young.

Dear Uncle

You will be thinking me long in answering your very welcome letter for we are always glad to see a letter from you. I hope this will find you & Marion and all the rest of our friends beside you in moderate good health when it reaches you and I am glad to be able to tell you that this leaves us all wonderful well Aunt has not been so strong this last week but I think it is just with working to hard in the hay time when she had none of the girls in the house to help her However I hope she will soon gain her useal strength again.

We have got all our hay up a good while since but it has been such wet weather this some time that we have got none in yet we had it all in ricks before Thornhill fair this year so I don't think we was far behind. We have a fair crop of potatoes and not many diseased yet but the turnips crop is very bad they tell me the turnips is so bad they are not worth pulling so I don't know what Aunt will do this back end for she will have nothing for her cows at all. they are failing sooner this year I think it is oweing to them having the disease in the spring. The same kind of disease is at old Brandleys just now but I hope it will not come to ours again or it will be a bad job.

There is a great deal of repairs going on about Brandleys and they tell me they have not near done yet we have got up a good big hay shed and that will be a great help our byre is all to be repaired to before the cows begins to lie in again so they will not have to be long till they are at it.

Tom is going to be at Brandleys in the harvest time so we will not have him much for some time. Uncle William gave us a call today as he was going down to Sanquhar and he has a good deal of his hay to put up yet and some of it has been lying cut for three weeks and it will not be in good order now he has a very bad turnip crop they are mostly rotten but his potatoes and corn is a wonderful good crop he is wearing very much to have his hay finished for it has been a long hay time for his first year.

Aunt sends her kind love to you all and she sent a pair of drawers to you and uncle Joseph with John Johnstone your ones is the pair with no top band and he has a shirt to you & uncle Joseph and a shirt for Tom and a cravat for little James & Nannie as they got none before and a apron for Aunt Marion and I sent a bow of ribbon for Cousin Marion's hair we would have sent more but Johnstone had not much room.

I dont know what Mr Kennedy is going to do about the cows yet Aunt thinks he will say nothing till the first lift[?] of cheese goes and then he will say what he means to do. Give all our friends my kind regards and except of the same to your self not forgetting James Bryden tell him he must excuse me for being so long in writting to him as I have had a burned hand and has not been good at writting say to him he might write and let me know if his thumb is better now I will say goodbye expecting to hear from you soon I remain your loving neice Marion Brown

PS be sure to write soon MB

Bogg, 14 September 1871

Disease and harvest work are the main topics here: Aunt Agnes and cousin John Glencross have both been ill in recent times as Marion Brown writes this letter. Aunt, however, is so hard-working, "she will make cheese till she falls into the whey tub." The crops have also been diseased, both the potatoes and the turnips, but they hay was plentiful and Aunt made a lot of cheese in its season.

Dear Uncle

You will be thinking I am long in answering your most welcome letter and welcome it was for we was wearing very much to get a letter from yourself altho we was always hearing how you & Marion was getting on when uncle Joseph wrote that did not satisify us for many a time both Aunt & myself wondered what was come over you However we was very glad to see from your letter that you was well and I am happy to say this leaves us in moderate health but I think Aunt will do as you said in your letter she will make cheese till she falls into the whey tub she has not been so strong this summer she is often troubled with a pain in her back and when it comes in she can scarcly walk and it is a queer house when she can not go about in her useal way but I hope she will keep well if it is Gods will without his help we can do nothing and we ought to be very thankful as long as we are in a moderate state of health.

I must begin and tell you what is going on about the Bogg all the hay is in now and Tam tells me there is as much as was last year we have two as big stacks and the shed filled and those big ricks so I think what ever is wanting there will be no want of hay the potatoe crop is not so good in some parts they are mostly gone with disease our potatoes are diseased to but not so bad yet as some of our neighbours is they tell me the turnips is not very good either they are going with that finger and toe disease so I think the hay will be the most plentiful crop we have. the cows has been wonderful good this year Aunt thinks her cheese will be heavier this year as they were last year. and for pigs Aunt has not so many this year she will have three ready to kill about Martinmas and one breader she thinks will be a good one and another breeder she does not know what it will do yet there is a disease among swine here just now and a great many people is lossing there swine out and out

I have to tell you from uncle William that he has been at Brandleys in harvest they have all the corn cut but none in yet uncle Williams wife & family are all well at present my father and Brother and all the rest of our friends here are all in moderate health.

Cousin John Glencross at Carmacoup has been very bad he has had inflammation of the lung and liver he was very bad for six weeks but the last letter I got from him he was a little better and able to sit up an hour or two. You are to tell uncle Joseph that we got in all our hay in three days there was five hourse one day and four the other two and you are to say from Aunt that she was well served for forkers she had three young men and one married one John Laing Samuel Ballingtyne Robert Hannen these were the three young ones and Thomas McGeachan and you are to tell him from Tam that the day the five horse was on Robert Hannen and him was very hard kept for there was just three forkers at the stack for three at the field and by the time they were at the head of the stack Tam was begun to spell uncle William had to keep the stack for James Hunter was among sheep.

now I will stop as I am going to write a piece to Marion so I will say goodbye remaining your affectionate neice Marion

be sure and write before long you don't believe how Aunt wearies to hear from you M. B.

Bogg, 28 October 1870

This is a short, four-page letter, sent to coincide with the journey of Joseph Glencross and his wife Marion (another Marion!) and son James and others, from Sanquhar to Dunmore, Pennsylvania. Joseph had been one of the last men of the family remaining in Sanquhar; with his departure, Marion Brown's life became a little more precarious, and her reasons to write letters increased. We get a lot of details of the departure, from the perspective of the left-behind family members: was the little boy feeling well? did Aunt Marion keep the velvet safe? How was their passage across the Irish Channel (rumors said it might have been rough)? Marion Brown begs for details.

The other topic of this letter: cheese and potatoes. It's been a good season at the Bogg, and Aunt Agnes wants her brothers to know she's looking at a better-than-average winter this time.

The "Miss Law" who will be receiving the imported velvet might be the Jane Law who was depicted in the portrait with Marion Glencross, which I posted last month.

"The Bogg"
October 28th 1870

My Dear Cousin

I expected to have wrote to you last week but with the hurry of uncle Joseph going away I did not get it done however I hope this will find you and your father both in good health and if all has gone right by the time you get this letter you will have uncle Joseph and his family beside you. I was very sorry to see him going away but if it has to be better for him in America as here we should not grumble at him going away. Aunt Nannie is very dull since he left and she sends her kind regards to you and wishes you to write soon as you get this letter and let her know how they were all on their journey and how little James is for Aunt thought he was not well that morning they left here

you may tell uncle Joseph that Dr. Kennedy was up seeing us the Sunday after he left and was saying he would be getting a rough day on the Irish Channel I may tell you that we have got our potatoes in and we have fourteen carts of good potatoes and surely that was a good crop and we have got our cheeses weighed and got 131 away yesterday and that is a good left of them for they took a good deal of work to keep them clean and Aunt says you have to tell your father and uncle Joseph that she thinks she will get better on as she did last year for the cheeses has weighed better and tell uncle Joseph that William Cron of Kirkconnel has got the cheese this year for there is a talk of Mr. Baird going to fail but for the truth of it I don't know you must let me know if Aunt Marion got the velvet safe to Miss Law it was the only thing she had I was feared about for it was not cut. I have scarcly been so well since uncle left so with kind love to all friends you must excuse me writting more at this time I am your loving Cousin Marion Brown "The Bogg" Sanquhar Dumfriesshire Scotland

PS please write as soon as you get this M. B.

Bogg, 23 December 1869

This week, the fourth and last letter from 1869. It's an eight-page letter that starts with a note written by John Glencross's brother William Glencross (set in green below), whose spelling isn't quite as standard as Marion Brown's. This letter features several voices, in fact, because Marion takes dictation (set in blue below) from Aunt Agnes (John and William's sister), and relays a message from uncle Joseph (their brother) as well. There are also reports about Helen's mother (that's John Glencross's mother-in-law, Marion Glencross's maternal grandmother, living near Dumfries--John wanted to send her money, but Marion Brown doesn't have the right address yet), and John's son John, a shepherd living in Scotland.

This letter features one of the loveliest passages in the letters, in which Marion Brown urges John Glencross to take care of his teenaged daughter's education--"for it is the best fortune you can give her to make her a good scholar." Marion Brown reminds her uncle that anything can happen in life, but learning can't be taken away; and that her own circumstances would be very different if she had not learned to read and write.

John Glencross and other American friends sent gifts to Sanquhar for the holidays--a check for Aunt Agnes, apples for Marion (who confesses a love for roasted apples). In return, Agnes has a progress report on John's long-promised trousers, and Marion sends a photo of a kinsman.

"The Bogg" Dec. 23rd 1869

Dear Brother it is not often that i write you but as i am just hear at present i will let you know how i am geten on and i am very happy that i can inform you that we are all in good health at present and hops that you and marrion are still enjoyen good health it is a blessen we cannot be to thankful for his goodness to us for god is a bountiful giver and may each one be mad gratful receivers from his hand

i most asuredly owe my kindest love to you for the gift i received from you may gods hand be a round you in all your doings i have bean doen nothing since we came home but a month of winter weather will work in and then we will to the hills again in health permit there is nothing doin about sanquhar so we must just wate a little the days get out a little

as our friend marrion is just watin to give an account of the bog cows and swin i will bid you and all friends goodnght Wm. Glencross

Dear uncle you see I have got uncle William started to write a bit this time but his hand is shaking very bad and I will take the pen a little. I am very glad to be able to tell you that we are all standing the winter pretty well at "the Bogg" as far as it is gone yet which is a great blessing for when we have not got health we cannot enjoy much. I must surely send you my very best thanks for the present you sent me it was so kind of you to mind me among the rest of our friends bu as I say many a time our heavenly Father always provids for the helpless for it is now five years since I could do anything for myself and I have always been well taken care of and I hope God will guide you and give you plenty as long as you are in this world to need it. Aunt Nany was very proud of her present to she is getting very frail now just scarcly able to go about but very contented and happy Mary is wonderful well she is able to go about and do the turns up and down the house

now I will tell you about Helens Mother she is left Dabton and is living with an old lady near Dumfries. she is very healthy and comfortable it was my grandmother at Carronbridge I got the account from and I sent away one letter and I have not had the right address for it is come back to me again but I will do what I can to find her right address before I send away the money.

now here comes Aunt from the byre and she says I have just to write down as she speaks to me. I have to give you her compliments and say that she got the check chashed all right and uncle William came home just the day before I got your letter and he went to the bank with her and she is very proud over her Christmas gift and she will have a good cup of tea over it. And she has visitied none this two years and no saying but you may be the first she will set out to see. and the web she was expected you to get your trousers of is ready now and if well she is expecting to get you a pair with Turnbull in the spring for the tailor was telling us he was willing to take any thing we liked to send.

Now comes an account of the live stock the cows did very well in the forepart of the summer but they all took the Murrain in the end of the harvest and the milk went entirely of them and we had a bad time of it for they were kept in the house for six weeks and never got out not even for a drink and it was very hard work to carry water for so many of them but we had two very willing girls and it was astonishing how we got on now for the swine department I have sold three fat ones one was twelve stones and the other two were somewhere about thirteen stones each and I got seven and eight pence a stone. and they paid my three summer girls at the term and I have two to kill yet and I had two litters of pigs and I will have fourteen of them for sale and they will average about thirteen shillings each so you see I have been very lucky with my pigs now I think I have said my share of the letter so with kind love to you and Marion I will say good night from your sister Agnes---

When I told uncle Joseph I was going to write he said I was to tell you they were all well and he is going to write to you some time and he is very much obliged to you for your kindness for it came in very good stead this winter weather.

perhaps you will have heard before this reaches you about the loss of some of our old neighbours there has been a good many sudden deaths lately James Slimmon died very suddenly about a month since and James Hunters wife died about a fortnight since she was just a week ill and never neither spoke nor moved all the time she was ill. death is never a stranger just showing us that is left that this is not our resting place.

it is a good while since I had a letter from Cousin John I tell him he is very lazy at writting for very often I write him two for one. I have got two cards to send to you one of uncle John Wylies which I will send this time and one of his son Roberts which I will send next time if spared to write again.

give Marion my kind love and tell her to be anxious at the school for it is the best fortune you can give her to make her a good scholar for when once learned no one can take it from her and no saying what we are to need if uncle James had not made me a moderate good scholar what would have become of me now when I have to write every thing I want to say but when she is at school you will have more to do but when one has moderate health they are busy

I had nearly forgot to say that our turnip crop did very well this year but the potatoes were not so good and we had no corn Aunt thought she would be as well without it and she got her oat meal from Mr. Kerr Whitehill and very good meal it is.

you must give my kind love to David Williams and tell him I was very proud over the apples he sent me and if I was with you I could nearly live on apples for I am very fond of roasted ones. I think if I was over among you I would be useful at times to altho I can neither walk nor speak I could sew on a button or knitt a stocking as need might require. Maggie Williamson has not been very well she has had a bad turn with her head but it is a good thing she is getting better again so you may tell David I am just waiting for an account of his marriage some day. now uncle I hope you will excuse so many blunders in this letter for my head gets very stupid at times so with kind love to Marion and yourself and all enquireing friends I remain your affectionate neice Marion Brown

please write soon and a happy new year to you all