Please address us at

No 1115 Forty First St

Chicago Ill-

 

Chicago, Dec 12th (1886)

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My Dear Brother

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I presume you have heard by way of home folks before this, of the death of sister Tempe. It came quite suddenly upon us though we knew that she was quite out of health and when they decided that she had some disease about her from which she could not recover, we still thought she would linger along some weeks and I was waiting to hear from sister Mary to know if she could go east when news came that she had already passed away. I regret so much that I hadn’t gone as soon as I knew there was no hopes of her recovery, perhaps then I should have been too late but if they had only telegraphed me I could have got there before she died, but what a comfort to know that death had no terrors for her, still she wanted to see her sisters. Three years ago she spent about six months with Mary and I and we both tried to keep her through the summer but no, she had promised Elvira to be back in April and she must go. She seemed to enjoy her visit very much and every letter afterwards spoke of the good times she had, I can’t realise at all that she is gone. We tried to persuade Elvira to come and make her home with us, or at least stay through the winter but it was Tempe’s wish that she stay there on account of Lucius’ health being so poor, at any rate till Spring, then I don’t know what she will decide upon. In one of George’s letters he said that you wrote that you had written to me and after a time received the letter back from the dead letter office. Perhaps you didn’t put on our number, if so it would remain at the Central Office until advertised and then sent to Washington as we seldom see the list of advertised letters. Our family is somewhat scattered this winter, Fordyce has just gone to New Orleans, or to Florence a little south of N.C. to take charge of a mill for preparing the moss that grows so abundantly down there for upholstering purposes, mattresses, etc., they call it moss hair, it is just as good as hair and much cheaper. Leslie spent last year in Florida, commencing an orange grove but the cold weather they had there last winter nearly used up their little trees so he left his partner to see to things there and has been earning what he could up north during the summer. He is now in Kansas but his father has written for him to come down there which I suppose he will do about the first of Jan. Olive and Stella are both home, Stella does shorthand and type writing in a lawyer’s office. We also have Mary’s youngest boy, Howard, living with us. He is an artist for an illustrated paper here, the Rambler. I spent a couple of weeks with Mary in October. We talked of writing to you then but didn’t know how to direct being sure that you must have a P.O. nearer then Kamiloops since the rail-road is completed. I saw the name Shuswap at the head of a letter written by you in G.W. Reynold’s paper and find by Elvira that that is your P.O. address, and now as you have a R.R. so near and so direct, why can’t you visit your childhood home? I wish you could have come before death claimed any of our number. I haven’t been back east since during the war in 1864. I think, of course there are great changes there as well as everywhere else. We are having very warm weather for the time of year, have had no snow but a few flakes. I expect you have lots of snow during the winter and are your winters very, very long?

With much love

from Sister Adeline