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The original letter is in the envelope. The letter is dated September 4 whereas the envelope is postmarked September 9. Maybe Alma was waiting for her mother and/or Eva to finish a letter to Will. There certainly wouldn't have been another letter from Alma. They knew that the ship to the Philippines went only once a month.
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135 West Lorain St.
Oberlin O. Sept 4. 04.
Dear Will;
Please notice our new address. We shipped our goods Aug. 31. They arrived last night. I came up here to see that the house was cleaned and to receive the things. I telegraphed to Fred last night so I suppose he will be here Monday. Mama and Eva will not come up until the latter part of the week when we are a little more settled.
I spent a whole afternoon + part of the forenoon hunting up scrub women and then my heels were so blistered I couldn’t walk any more. Mr. Cowdery went out on his wheel and hunted and engaged two. I waited and waited and they didn’t appear. Then Mr. Cowdery went after them and one said her grandmother was sick and the other didn’t say much of anything. The colored people are an uncertain lot. My feet were so blistered I couldn’t hunt any more so I decided to do the cleaning myself. As a preliminary I engaged Karl Cowdery to kill the spiders. He came up two mornings and waged war on them. The house has been empty all summer and it was full of them. As I cleaned I kept unearthing them and I had to kill them. It almost gave me nervous prostration.
I wonder if you will be as surprised as we were at the cost of moving. Mother was almost paralyzed. The draying in Canton was $4.50. Freight $6.50 and draying in Oberlin $1.50. That does not include the piano and we sold our gas stoves. The principal expense will come in getting new carpets. We will have to have two new druggets which will cost about $20 apiece. They are good investments for they last a long time.
Lil is going to give me her iron bed and dressing table so we did not bring my bed. We are going to have things looking very nice. I am sure you will like it. We are going to buy Lil’s refrigerator so you won’t have to make one the next time you come.
I have spent my evenings in calling on my friends who are residents and getting information about milk men, butter men, egg men + groceries.
If we don’t get a letter from you the middle of this month I will give you up as a bad case and not write again until we do - so there! Do be good and write.
We sold our house to Helen Perkins for $1850. We had to pay the Real estate agent $25. We sold our gas stove for $10.50 and can get a hard coal one for $10. We had two wagon loads of rubbish taken away and got $1.00 for it. This sounds like a bill of expenses but you ought to be interested in moving expenses.
With love,
Alma
Oberlin O. Sept 4. 04.
Dear Will;
Please notice our new address. We shipped our goods Aug. 31. They arrived last night. I came up here to see that the house was cleaned and to receive the things. I telegraphed to Fred last night so I suppose he will be here Monday. Mama and Eva will not come up until the latter part of the week when we are a little more settled.
I spent a whole afternoon + part of the forenoon hunting up scrub women and then my heels were so blistered I couldn’t walk any more. Mr. Cowdery went out on his wheel and hunted and engaged two. I waited and waited and they didn’t appear. Then Mr. Cowdery went after them and one said her grandmother was sick and the other didn’t say much of anything. The colored people are an uncertain lot. My feet were so blistered I couldn’t hunt any more so I decided to do the cleaning myself. As a preliminary I engaged Karl Cowdery to kill the spiders. He came up two mornings and waged war on them. The house has been empty all summer and it was full of them. As I cleaned I kept unearthing them and I had to kill them. It almost gave me nervous prostration.
I wonder if you will be as surprised as we were at the cost of moving. Mother was almost paralyzed. The draying in Canton was $4.50. Freight $6.50 and draying in Oberlin $1.50. That does not include the piano and we sold our gas stoves. The principal expense will come in getting new carpets. We will have to have two new druggets which will cost about $20 apiece. They are good investments for they last a long time.
Lil is going to give me her iron bed and dressing table so we did not bring my bed. We are going to have things looking very nice. I am sure you will like it. We are going to buy Lil’s refrigerator so you won’t have to make one the next time you come.
I have spent my evenings in calling on my friends who are residents and getting information about milk men, butter men, egg men + groceries.
If we don’t get a letter from you the middle of this month I will give you up as a bad case and not write again until we do - so there! Do be good and write.
We sold our house to Helen Perkins for $1850. We had to pay the Real estate agent $25. We sold our gas stove for $10.50 and can get a hard coal one for $10. We had two wagon loads of rubbish taken away and got $1.00 for it. This sounds like a bill of expenses but you ought to be interested in moving expenses.
With love,
Alma
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1.
I spent a whole afternoon + part of the forenoon hunting up scrub women and then my heels were so blistered I couldn’t walk any more. Mr. Cowdery went out on his wheel and hunted and engaged two.
A wheel is a bicycle. See:
1897-07-27 NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ABOUT FRED'S BIKE TRIP
2.
The colored people are an uncertain lot.
Oh dear. But really it is rather a restrained comment given the frustration that the ever-vivid Alma must have felt. I'd say she knew she shouldn't be saying it.
3.
As a preliminary I engaged Karl Cowdery to kill the spiders. He came up two mornings and waged war on them. The house has been empty all summer and it was full of them. As I cleaned I kept unearthing them and I had to kill them. It almost gave me nervous prostration.
I wonder if this is an indication as to why Alma spent her career studying ferns rather than spiders.
4.
The draying in Canton was $4.50. Freight $6.50 and draying in Oberlin $1.50.
From:
www.alsharqi.co/glossary/what-is-draying/#:~:text=Draying%20refers%20to%20the%20movement,ships%2C%20trains%2C%20and%20trucks.
Draying refers to the movement of goods over short distances, typically from a port or rail yard to a nearby warehouse or distribution center.
So: $4.50 to get the stuff from the old house in Canton to the long-haul carrier, $6.50 for the long-haul carrier from Canton to Oberlin, and $1.50 to get the stuff from the long-haul carrier to the new house in Oberlin.
5.
We will have to have two new druggets which will cost about $20 apiece. They are good investments for they last a long time.
From Wikipedia:
Druggett or drugget is "a coarse woollen fabric felted or woven, self-coloured or printed one side". Jonathan Swift refers to being "in druggets drest, of thirteen pence a yard".
Formerly, a drugget was a sort of cheap stuff, very thin and narrow, usually made of wool, or half wool and half silk or linen; it may have been corded but was usually plain. The term is now applied to a coarse fabric having a cotton warp and a wool filling, used for rugs, tablecloths, etc.
6.
Lil is going to give me her iron bed and dressing table so we did not bring my bed.
Lil is Lily Love, who is part of the Non-Family page for Mabel, Lil, Steenie, and Orestes. It sounds as though Lil was about to move east, where she would eventually end up living with Mabel Watson in Philadelphia.
7.
We are going to buy Lil’s refrigerator so you won’t have to make one the next time you come.
I guess it's "make one". I don't get it, but maybe it's referring to some incident in the past.
8.
We sold our house to Helen Perkins for $1850. We had to pay the Real estate agent $25.
A $25 commission on $1850 makes it 1.35%. These days realtors get a commission more like 5-6%.
I spent a whole afternoon + part of the forenoon hunting up scrub women and then my heels were so blistered I couldn’t walk any more. Mr. Cowdery went out on his wheel and hunted and engaged two.
A wheel is a bicycle. See:
1897-07-27 NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ABOUT FRED'S BIKE TRIP
2.
The colored people are an uncertain lot.
Oh dear. But really it is rather a restrained comment given the frustration that the ever-vivid Alma must have felt. I'd say she knew she shouldn't be saying it.
3.
As a preliminary I engaged Karl Cowdery to kill the spiders. He came up two mornings and waged war on them. The house has been empty all summer and it was full of them. As I cleaned I kept unearthing them and I had to kill them. It almost gave me nervous prostration.
I wonder if this is an indication as to why Alma spent her career studying ferns rather than spiders.
4.
The draying in Canton was $4.50. Freight $6.50 and draying in Oberlin $1.50.
From:
www.alsharqi.co/glossary/what-is-draying/#:~:text=Draying%20refers%20to%20the%20movement,ships%2C%20trains%2C%20and%20trucks.
Draying refers to the movement of goods over short distances, typically from a port or rail yard to a nearby warehouse or distribution center.
So: $4.50 to get the stuff from the old house in Canton to the long-haul carrier, $6.50 for the long-haul carrier from Canton to Oberlin, and $1.50 to get the stuff from the long-haul carrier to the new house in Oberlin.
5.
We will have to have two new druggets which will cost about $20 apiece. They are good investments for they last a long time.
From Wikipedia:
Druggett or drugget is "a coarse woollen fabric felted or woven, self-coloured or printed one side". Jonathan Swift refers to being "in druggets drest, of thirteen pence a yard".
Formerly, a drugget was a sort of cheap stuff, very thin and narrow, usually made of wool, or half wool and half silk or linen; it may have been corded but was usually plain. The term is now applied to a coarse fabric having a cotton warp and a wool filling, used for rugs, tablecloths, etc.
6.
Lil is going to give me her iron bed and dressing table so we did not bring my bed.
Lil is Lily Love, who is part of the Non-Family page for Mabel, Lil, Steenie, and Orestes. It sounds as though Lil was about to move east, where she would eventually end up living with Mabel Watson in Philadelphia.
7.
We are going to buy Lil’s refrigerator so you won’t have to make one the next time you come.
I guess it's "make one". I don't get it, but maybe it's referring to some incident in the past.
8.
We sold our house to Helen Perkins for $1850. We had to pay the Real estate agent $25.
A $25 commission on $1850 makes it 1.35%. These days realtors get a commission more like 5-6%.
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LINKS TO OTHER RELEVANT PAGES IN THIS WEBSITE
DOCUMENT LISTS FOR PEOPLE:
- WILL: DOCUMENTS ----- Incoming
- ALMA: DOCUMENTS ----- Outgoing
- FRED: DOCUMENTS ----- Related
- EVA: DOCUMENTS ----- Related
- MAMA MARGARET: DOCUMENTS ----- Related
- NON-FAMILY: MABEL, LIL, STEENIE, AND ORESTES ----- Lil
RELATED DOCUMENTS/PAGES:
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