Delhi, Texas -- March 1st '10
Dear Lucy and all of u there,
We received your welcome letter of the 18th _____. We were all of us glad to hear from u, and to know of your doings. Yes, we are way down here in the land of Cotton, away from the wintry blasts of our forsaaken, and lost dear home there where we had gotten so cosily fixed up for the evening of our last days here on the earth. And I do say it is hard for us to be so ruthlessly torn up, and be draged out into this old wilderness world, and struggle for another place to stay, and live for it may be but a very few years more.
Then to leave those five very dear little grandchildren with whom I have been ever since they was born, to whom I was so much attached, and loved so sincerely. It grieves me every day, and they miss us so much.
Gertie and Lillian write us nice letters every once in a while, and Orville, and May write us that we dont hate to leave them there, any more than they do to have us go. But as your mother was failing so terribly, till she could hardly go at all on her bent and stiffened legs, and was so filled with aching pains, and as we had so faithfully tried so many things to help her, including Hydropathy, Ostropathy etc, together with useless drugs, till at last we felt that we must take her to a warmer climate if we could ever hope to cure her, Dr Phillips, of Northfield< advised us to go to Florida, and others there tell us that it the Rheumatics Sanitarium there. Clarence is _________ there now putting up a small house to live in. The changes are so sharp, and severe here, that it dont seem to do her much of any good yet, and we expect to start for the Florida country in about a month if she gets able to travel. It nearly used her up in coming down to Texas. I was terribly ______ affected by my old Cattarrhal troubles last winter, and the winter before that we thought I would have to get away from the winters. Last winter, I was so dreadfully bad that my beard came out in spots that made me look horrid, so I had to shave the lower part of my beard all off. This winter I caught on to a real good remedy, and when you wrote of Chesters Cattarrh, I do most certainly think if he will try it, it may cure him, if he is faithful in using it quite often every hour or two. It is called Hyomei pronounced Hi-o-me. It is sold, I think, at most all drugists and is guaranteed to cure or your money will be refunded. It costs one dollar an outfit. It helped me so much that I got nearly well, all but the hawking up of the phlegm. The breathing was so free. Oh I was before, so stuffed up in my nose, and I was almost suffocated to get my breath, that I had to run out in the fresh air sometimes to get relief. But in the summer time it was all gone so if I go where it will be all summer, I will not need any other help.
Now I am going to tell u. of a sure cure for that miserable costiveness that has troubled me most all of my long life. I invented it myself, some years ago. Just get some good wheat and pop it in a fine meshed corn popper, or you can bake it a little in a tin in the oven. Then get a good large coffee mill and grind the wheat all up fine, and if it is not fine enough by running it thru once, then put it thru again. And then take as much as 3 or 4 good big table spoonsful of it and wet it up with milk, or any kind of liquid, such as any of the stewed fruit juices, anything that will flavor it nice. Mix it to about the consistency of butter which seems to suit me the best. Use this at each meal as a "Breakfast Food", eat it with your bread, and tis good and it will not physic, but will make easy & natural evacuations, as long as you use it, and I think will cure the trouble in a young person if persevered in. It is a nature cure. It bakes the bran of the wheat so as to make it brittle and it will then all break and grind up as fine as the flour, and does not iritate the inside coatings of the bowels as does our ordinary graham flour, breads, which never did help comstipation. Stop the popping, or take off the fire just as soon as it stops its cracking noise. I make my own poppers, with the common window screen wire. This is a natural nutricious food remedy and is effective and sure. And if you use it u will live to thank your old grandpa many times in the blessed good time coming by and by. And if he, Chester, will be very careful, and not eat too much at his meals, always get up from the table a little hungry and stomach troubles will be better. Alice and family are all well. Now write us again. Our address will be Ruskin, Florida.
Yours most affectionately,
The mercury stands at 90 ____ this noon. Doors and windows all open. They say it is rather unusual. Alice and I will write next time.
Yours with love,