| Title: | [?], Farmington, USA, to John Patterson, Ireland |
|---|---|
| ID | 2078 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Patterson, Alexander/5 |
| Year | 1897 |
| Sender | Patterson, Alexander |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | farmer |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Farmington, Canada? |
| Destination | Ireland |
| Recipient | Patterson, John |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | brothers |
| Source | Mr & Mrs S.V. Thompson, 4 Grove Park, Lenzie, Glasgow, G66 5AH |
| Archive | The Ulster American Folk Park, Omagh |
| Doc. No. | 9507032 |
| Date | 21/01/1897 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 29:06:1995. |
| Word Count | 644 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Farmington Jan. [January?] 21st 1897 Dear John So long a space of time has passed since I heard from, or of you that I am insdentl [incidental?]] whether I am writing to a resident of this earth or of the unknown land whither no communication by letter, telegraph or telephone has as yet found its way _ I cannot indeed date the last I heard from you but am certain I wrote twice since and had nearly decided to write this time to Thomas K. _ I thought I might count on three correspondents from your side in the trio of yourself Mr Scott & Mr English but all the holidays have passed with an empty box in the post office so far as you all are concern I may tell the reader of this whoever he may be that I am still enjoying the great blessing of health of body & soundness of mind, that my appetite is good and my sleep refreshing & pleasant and am more than ever the wonder of my neighbors [neighbours?], in the performance of a journey on foot _ All these blessings extended so long render life much happier than I could have expected. Still I feel old age not forgetting me entirely _ My hearing is greatly failed & I am very forgetful. I frequently go to the barn or up stairs and forget what I went for till I stop & consider _ Allucting [electing?] to sleep I go early to bed & generally awake about two to three oclock sometimes sooner, when memory reverts (as Robinson Crusoe, by the aid of Wm. [William?] Cowper puts it )" I think of my own native land & in his own words, in in a moment I wish to be there" _ I cannot say the wish applies to me _ Still the spot of the home of one's childhood often brings tender recollections _ to quote another poet _ "The never failing brook, the busy mill, the decent church that topt [topped?] the neighbouring hill are all presented so vividly that one would accuse Goldsmith of having taken the picture while standing on the unknown ship of Antony Maguckion in the two arches still spanning the stream still do honor [honour?] to the builder as I pressure they do _ In those waking hours the church of date 1668 occupies more than its share of my thoughts _ Robt. [Robert?] once wrote me of his short stay in N. York [New York?] said he went into Trinity Church Broadway, but that with all its show of fine Architecture the old homely building at the pound left it for behind in the ivy clasping in its arms the form of an open bible in the Eastern Window _ But there are thoughts of a still more personal character to me springing from the green turf carpeting the grates of forefathers & relations outsides and within the railing [aside?] the table where (at least some of them) knelt down to revere the emblems of that "love which loves unto the end & there same spots the water ([emblems?] also) dropt on my own brow" in the name of the Father & of the Son & of the Holy Ghost" - There I sway here and the first sermon, or if not there in the one little room of my Grandmother where sermons, not very literary in style were common there. Last but not least the psalms given out & sung by our old friend Mr John Russel who, it strikes me had a peculiar fondness for the 5th a verse from which comes pleasantly _ I trust profitably to mind in those waking hours already alluded to "Thou in the Morn _ My voice shalt hear _ And with the day dawning To thee devoutly I'll look up _ To thee devoutly prays Words : 644 |
