Faribault -- Oct 13-1901
Dear Lucy,
I dont know but you will think we have all forgotten you, but such is not the case. You and yours are often in my mind. Would'ent I like to step in and see you all again. We are all in usual health and find plenty of work to do. Alice and I have canned 120 cans of different kinds of fruit. Crops are not as good as they was last season. But we will have more than enough to do us. Our potatoes were late planted and will be quite a crop notwithstanding the dry hot weather. We have six acres. Potatoes are scarce and high. They have retailed all the fall for $1.00 per bushel, but are not quite as high now. We find a good market for them at the institutions. There are 900 inmatess at eh Imbecile, with the employees. They build a new building about every year. Alice has painted and papered all the rooms but the kitchen. Father is painting the outside of the house. I suppose we will have to have a new barn next year. Our evergreens look nice. We will have so much small fruit another season. Father grafted most of the apple orchard and the plums.
That black hen must be a wonderful hen. I am glad I left her with you. She had done so well for you. You remember my hens laid every day in Cal., but they dont do it here, excepting the first summer after we came back. I have made lots of butter this summer. Have supplied 5 families part of the time, besides ourselves. We get 20 cts a lb. I think your fowls must help ever so much towards your living. Is'ent it nice to have plenty of milk and butter of your own make. We keep the black Langshens, yet I would like to try in ____________. Is fruit very plenty with you this season? There has been 2 or 3 carloads of peaches, brought into F. this season. We laid in our share of them. The Alberta was the finest, came from Mo. We dont want for all kinds of fruit. It is brought in large quantities from all the fruit countries. Plenty of tropical fruitss, too.
Well I must tell you, Orville & May have another baby girl, 6 weeks old. It is big and fat, 10 lbs to begin with.
Gerty is quite a girl, grows fast. She is Grandpa's companion when he is out of doors. Orville built an addition to his house this fall. It wont be finished inside until another year. The children havent forgotten Grandpa & Grandma have they? The other day I came across Chester's little letter he wrote to his grandpa last Christmas. I suppose the children are all going to school now. Gerty will have to go to school in F. when she goes. Is Mother Clewett living yet? I must close with love to you and all the family. Let us here from you soon.
Your Affect.,
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Faribault, Minn.
Dear sister Lucy,
It seems as if there was bound to be a long interval of silence between our letters, but we have one consolation. We know that we are not forgotten meanwhile. It seems as if I had been so busy all summer that it was pretty hard to get down to letter writing. I was away from home all last winter and spring that the work got so behind. It has been hard work to catch up again. It was so terrible hot through the summer, it was all one could do to do what had to be done. We had a good many raspberries and I had to do a good deal of the picking. We had 300 qts of red ones to sell. They brought 20 cts per qt. of the season. We had strawberries, black raspberries and currants besides, but apples are very scarse this year, owing to such a large crop last year. I wish you could see our place. It looks so nice with all the young trees, evergreens a
& fruit trees which father has set out. He has three peach trees which are growing nicely. They are from 5 to 7 ft high and ought to bloom next year. Wouldn't it be fine if we could have some peaches here. They do raise them here some. Our garden didnot do very well. It was so dry and not, but we have quite a good supply of nice squash & pumpkins & they go pretty good in pies. Well I have got pretty well and strong again although my stomach is not so strong. But I can eat a good deal more than I could. I am able to eat bread again. I am so glad too, because it was such a task to make biscuits. I suppose I'll be troubled more or less, always with my stomach. I wish you could have seen my nice display of flowers which I managed to have in spite of the dry weather they had to endure. My bed of pansies are a fine sight at present, so large and such beautiful colors. It has been raining so much this fall and that and the cool autum days are just what they delight in. I also have a nice lot of house plants & 18 geraniums. Don't you think we will have plenty of bloosoms this winter. Butter-nuts are so plentiful this year, father has gathered a fine lot. It would be fine if you all could step in and enjoy a good old fashioned butternut crack and candy pull. I wonder if Howard remembers the time we made candy out in Dak. and went out in the moonlight and pulled it for dear life to see which one would have the whitest candy. We don't have such lively times anymore. It is a very quiet neighborhood here. We hardly ever have much company. I get pretty lonesome sometimes when I have time to think about it. But there is a better time coming, when I get married. There won't be much time then to get lonesome. Do you suppose that will ever happen. I am 26 years old this fall. I guess i'll have to hurry or I will be an old maid and then my chances will be pretty slim sure. Unless perhaps I might do like Lizzie Kerr, go to Cal. and take some old fellow as we heard she did. Jane Weatherson is very low, she has a cancer. I don't think she can live much longer. I suppose you will be much surprised to hear that Mary has another fine boy born the 16th of May. I staay with her at the time. He is such a nice baby and so healthy, they let me name him Glen Whitney
[Alice Miller]