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Ames, Iowa. Monday July 11. 1881.
Dear Papa. It rained so hard last night that water came into our cellar 5 in. deep. Mamma is glad you didn't take your rubber boots for Nana put them on and waded in the water to get the potatoes for break fast. Mr. Norman and Mr. Lucas came to see how much rain fell. It was 5.6
I[f?] the passenger train from the
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Prof. C. E. Bessey Cincinnati Ohio
Care of [?] of Am. Association for the Advancement of Science – Grand Hotel
Ames, Iowa. Aug, 16, 1881.
Dear papa,
I want to see you very much. I think the engines in Toledo are very funny. It was so cold here yesterday morning that we had a fire. To-day it is very warm.
Nana has gone to [?] to-day. How warm is it in Cincinnati? Are you coming home in the day-time or in the night? Please write a letter if you have time.
Good by From your little Eddie.
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El Paso, Feb. 17th '81.
My Dear Brother:
I've just time to answer yours of the [??] but not enough to write as I should like to; but I can assure you that I am all right, although you have not heard from me for a long time. Neither the Indians nor the "children of the sun" have me, though some other poor fellows in this country have not been so fortunate.
You spoke of the marriage of [Prest.?] Welch's daughter Vera. Ah [Well?] a-day! still well a-day! Surely I must be "all unblest", and my way of life ready to fall into the "[?] and yellow leaf." But blessed
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be the [?] for their consolation, for doth not the poet Laureat say: "'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all". and another "There's naught in this life sweet If men were wise to see it [But?] only melancholy, Oh, sweetest melancholy!"
But the [?] of the fates is game, so far, at least, as I am [?] armed for there is naught for [them? to confront?], It's all a blank.
I am indeed fortunate in escaping the signs of this winter in the North. All, except Californians agree in pronouncing this a good place to winter, so far as [?] is concerned. The proportion of cloudy to clear days is very small here, and when clear [Page Break] it is always warm and pleasant. But I do not like this part of the south; I've long since concluded that I cannot reside permanently, in a region where it doesn't rain. I now see that we need the rainy weather in order to fully appreciate the clear sunny days, and vice versa. Why: I would rather see a howling winter's day just now – or an "April day" than a fortnight of this clear, dead, dry weather, which needs to be interspersed with rainy days in order to be appreciated. I don't know what sort of Spring they have in this land but I fancy it must be a shabby affair. Try to image a Spring without warm rains dashing over the