| Title: | C. Hobson, New York, To His Niece, [Richhill, Co Armagh?] |
|---|---|
| ID | 1448 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Hobson, C/48 |
| Year | 1893 |
| Sender | Hobson, C |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | employed at Mercantile Agency, clerk? |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | NYC, USA |
| Destination | Co. Armagh, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | Jane |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | uncle-niece |
| Source | T.1795/1: Copied by Permission of Miss M McDevitt, 14 Allworthy Avenue,Belfast, Ireland. #TYPE EMG C. Hobson, New York, U.S.A., To His Niece, Jane, [Rich Hill, Co. Armagh, Ireland?], Re Visit To Ontario. 3 December 1893. |
| Archive | Public Record Office Northern Ireland. |
| Doc. No. | 8903150 |
| Date | 03/12/1893 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | 05:04:1989 GC created 20:06:1989 PG input 21:06:19 |
| Word Count | 6025 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | 8903150 1 The Mercantile Agency R. G. Dun & Co. 314 & 316 Broadway New York Dec 3 1893 413 E72st New York My dear Jane I had a letter from you dated Nov [November?] 12/93 a week or so ago & was pleased to find that you and all at home were well I am well & so are the boys when last I seen them one or two weeks ago, I was pleased you were pleased with the verses I sent you, they are so real I knew they would meet your ease they were among my darling Alicias writings, I do not give her writings to everybody nor allow them to be copied That long letter may come now, It would have come sooner but I had painters & cleaners in my rooms & the mess they made knocked correspondence on the head for some weeks being alone work could only be done nights except when painters were at work & then John McGleenan came & staid [stayed?] until the painters were through & all went on right & safe in my absence, but they made me such a mess, not so much a mess as an upset of everything & I presume you have some idea of housecleaning so nights I had to get a woman in & clean up & fix things at my dictation as I only know where everything belonged & only last night Saturday Dec 2/93 did she put the finishing touches on all & now I feel a new man, clean walls ceilings floors &c, but I do not want such an ordeal in my lifetime again, thats how I feel towards housecleaning or painting, so you see writing was out of the question for some time. John McGleenan & family & myself are good friends his wife is a splendid woman, they have two children Katie & Sadie (Sarah) & that is the wifes name, Katie is about 13 yrs old & plays very nicely on the piano. Sadie is about 7 yrs old, both are nice children & both are very fond of me, when I call they usually want to know if I wont be down soon again, John is all right now & the wife thinks I had a good hand in making him so, He is the only neighbour I visit or bother with of course I see his brother Willy & wife as they live in the same house - John owns the house - Chas [Charles?] & Wm [William?] are doing very well business is a trifle dull with them just now but when they tell me how they are doing I tell them they have no room for complaint, that is when they let one know how much they take in weekly, then I tell them in the fact of the present bad times I see no reason for them to complain, times here just now are very dull & if business people can pay rent & expenses they are doing very well, the boys are well liked & popular. As for myself I am going along in the same old rut on a salary & never cared to branch out on my own account, having only myself to see to & now way up in years & beyond the energy business in this city calls for though I feel as youthful as when I was 25 yrs old - The real work I do is trifling I write a little now & then, read considerable, This you may not understand - I will strive & explain. The Mercantile Agency is an institution the object of which is to protect merchants against fraudulent creditors or creditors who may not have a financial basis for the credit they seek & are thus saved from going in debt depending on sales for payments of their debts & it is just this thing (easy method of getting credit) that ruins many an honest man. This Institution stops that, as the Agency [proposes?] 2 The Mercantile Agency R.J. Dun & Co 314 & 316 Broadway New York Dec 3 1893 to give to all its subscribers information bearing on the financtial [financial?] strenth [strength?], habits, characters, business ability & worthiness of credit with many other qualifications whether good or bad to all those who subcribe to the agency & we have a list of subscribers in this office alone numbering over 14,000 & all of this city alone, there is scarcely a wholesale house that does not enquire at this office whether the buyers who presents himself for credit or rent is worthy of it, our reporter has found him to stand in his own town or city, then it is for the seller to decide whether to sell him or not, we glean this information through reporters all over the United States, Canada, France, Germany & Great Briton [Britain?] including Ireland & Australia, Sanwich Islands & many other out of the way places that I do not now recall to memory. The States is divided into districts, there are 68 offices in the US & they gather all the information in their district & each district, so that the same information that we have on our books can be had in the same form in California as in N.Y. [New York?] State. So you have an idea of their Bureau of information ie, The Merchantile Agency & in the reading reports to subscribers I am mostly employed all the day, there are a great number in this office doing just the same thing & this is the heaviest work I have to do, and in this way we get to be almost walking Geograpies [Geographers?], as there is not a City, Town, Village or Cross Roads in the US we do not meet at sometime & in many cases, yes, hundreds of cases I can tell what state & County a town is in without looking at our reference books, which are supplied for that purpose. I am now so used to this Kind of work that I am almost unfitted for anything else, it is easy & light & the hours are not too long, 72nd St is about 4 miles from the office. I leave home about a 1/4 past 7 in the morning & go down by the elevated Railroad I come home & can reach home by 7 in the evening & then have my [?]ake - read or walk & sometimes write a blowed up, Sarah Pearson is very exacting - says she likes to know each other well, I have often told her I would not write any more long letters & she answers yes you will & must tell me I must not be getting old as I plead that old age is creeping over me - she is older than I am, she was always lively, but has had many trials in later years, she has quite a family some of them married & some or one in Australia his name is Chas. [Charles?] called for me another Chas [Charles?] Pearson, also called for me is now in business in Dublin on his own account, but I do not know his address I did not see either of them since they were babies, the young man in Dublin is a son of Thomas Pearson a brother of Aicia [Alicia?]. Thomas died in 66 & I hear nothing of that branch of the family now, Sarah J is Isaacs wife & she is a good correspondent - Richhill has a good many fond memories of past enjoyment whose memories make me feel lonely when I stop to think but I'll stop right here & not think or I would stop writing altogether. 3 The Mercantile Agency R.G. Dun & Co. 314 & 316 Broadway New York Dec 3 1893 Now I will give you some of my experience while on my trip to Canada, in the early part of July last I started at 6 o'clock on a friday evening, John McGleenan seen me off & he looked as if I were going away for life & he said they all felt that way when I was gone, my destination was Fullerton Canaday [Canada?]. Our train being fast express, we stopped only at important stations, at these stations you can alight & go into the depot restaurant & have all you want to eat & drink by paying for it, I went by the Hudson River Railroad, this road runs for 150 or 200 miles directly on the bank of the River from which the Railroad takes its name & the largest Ocean Steamer could sail to Albany 150 miles with safety on this river without interference from rocks or cataracts & it is singular that it is so as the river flows through a range of mountains rising directly up out of the river, at this point the river is about 1/4 of a mile wide both above & below this range of mountains the river varies from 3 to 5 miles wide - on the other side of the river is another railroad called the West Shore Road, both running in the same direction the upper part of N.Y. [New York?] City is the [palaisades?] a range of perpendicular rocks averaging from 150 to 300 feet high and these rocks run along the river bank 22 miles with the west shore R. Raod between them & water, it has ofter occured that engines have plunged into the river, I always feel more safe when the train rate of 40 to 50 miles an hour you feel that there is a little hope [?] at all [?] as the river is deep. This scene is well known to all New Yorkers as it is a favorite [favourite?] steam boat excursion route in the sumer season Newburgh is a city in Orange County, N.Y. [New York?] state 60 miles from N.Y. [New York?] the excursion boats usually make that city their destination where you have time to have dinner & reach home about 9 P.M. round trip 50 cents all the attractive scenery of the Hudson ends above Newburgh & then you have a great streatch [stretch?] of silent river broken here & there only by sailing schooners & craft of many Kinds & the many day & night boats plying between Albany & New York, Your flying on next thing meets your view is the Catskills Mountains 12 miles inland their peaks almost frowning down upon you I had been on these mountains on two occassions with Alicia for her health, now an incident enters my mind that I must tell you that I saw at these mountains, I was standing on a platau [plateau?] before a hotel known at the Mountain House, way high up in the mountains & overlooking the Hudson River 12 miles away, which looks from this distance like a long green & blue ribbon, the spot where I stood was over a perpendicular rock the height of which I have no knowledge but the view was a super one, the incident refered [referred?] to is this, while I was looking out into space, the valley below was covered with fog & being far above it I could see all its movements for it heaved & fell like the swell of a smooth sea or a great canvas spread out horosantly [horizontally?] & while I looked & wondered it rent in two & up through the rent flew a crow, the rent closed again & the crow was left on top & it seemed the most lost crow I ever saw, it could not see a resting place - I wondered why it did not make for the mountains & it so near at hand but no, it wheeled & turned & never appeared to look upwards while I watched again the fog rent & Mr Crow dived down with a whoop, the fog closed as it had done before & I saw the crow no more. It vividly brought to my mind Noah, the Dove & the Ark, Alicia was not with me at the time & she was sorry for she like such things & was sorry I didnt come & tell her. 4 The Mercantile Agency R. G. Dun & Co 314 & 316 Broadway New York Dec 3 1893 you see I switched off my journey at the Catskill mountains now I am on the run again I now arrive at Albany, this is the capital of N.Yo [New York?] State where our state laws are made, it is now 10 o clock night & darkness shuts off all observation we stop 15 minutes, I had supper before I left N.Y. [New York.] & did not need anything, when the train rolled out of Albany, I composed myself to try & sleep, but could not, sat until I was tired then got up and walked about or stood by the door, you see in these trains you can walk the full length of the carriage or go into the next one, I stepped off the train at each stopping place for a full streatch [stretch?] of my legs feeling tired & sleepy, could have taken a sleeping birth [berth?] but did not want to do so now nearing morning, day broke about 3 o'clock felt tired & jaded out during the night still had 150 or 200 miles to go to reach Buffalo, I had been in that City before, we reached there at 1/2 past 8 A.M. everything was bustle & inquiry you find the right trail. From N.Y. [New York?] to Buffalo is about 450 miles. Suspension Bridge is 22 miles off, so we start again without any breakfast & I was right hungry, after an hour or so we reach sus. [suspension?] bridge, there are many stops in this short distance, crossing canals & lake [?] to let boats pass, it is all quite interesting, we run for several miles along the shores of Lake Erie, then I am told we are now running along the river Niagara, but we turn Northward & thus leave the Lake & River & next we reach is Sus [Suspension?] Bridge after considerable delay we move again, I wonder why we are going so slow, but all at [once?] I find we are on the Suspension Bridge which links the U.S. & Canada, we'r [we are?] crossing the river, I jump to my feet & to the window if you are nervous you had better not look out, you find yourself 300 feet above the most rapidly running River in the world coming directly from the falls, which are hid from view by a jutting bank in the river & the water beneath you is 300 feet deep, Such an awful place is a trial on many to cross & some do not rise from their seats the river I should say is 400 to 600 yards wide I will refer to this again on the larger sheet, now we have passed over into Canada, the first time I had been in her Majestys dominions since I left Ireland & felt kindly toward the old British flag- U S flag on the one side & the Union Jack on the other looking square in each others faces as much as to say thus far [halt there?] come but no further, yet they are neighbours and dwell in harmony & the Canadians are perfectly satisfied with their flag & Government & so is the US with theirs I say long may they remain so. Well right across the Bridge we stop, all our luggage or those that have any is taken out of the train & placed in sheds & we have got to open it for the custom house officers to inspect, then when all is fixed up everything is put back in the train & off we start on the last part of the journey, we are now in a new country & the difference is not apparent for a time, but after travelling some hours I look abroad on the face of the country & remark to my fellow traveler [traveller?] who happens to be an Ontario Canadian why the whole surface of the country seems to be flat. I says I have traveled [travelled?] now for some hours & I havent seen a hill, he smiled & replied that that was the first thing that strangers observed coming into Canada by way of Sus [Suspension?] Bridge, we were now traveling [travelling?] through Ontario & he told me the whole of Ontario was the same way with few exceptions, I afterwards found he was right & I found some of the exceptions & even they were not remarkable from the car windows so far as the eye could reach the view was only broken by fneces & trees & not near as many trees as I expected The whole of Ontario seems to be well under Cultvation [cultivation?]. One thing I noticed was the vast amount of orchards, but I could see no fruit In speaking of this with my friends afterwards, they told me there was no fruit, In speaking of this with my friends afterwards, they told me there was no fruit this year 5 The Mercantile Agency R. G. Dun & Co 314 & 316 Broadway New York Dec 4th 189 now coming on to the afternoon & running at Railroad Speed through another ocuntry & no breakfast yet, but first now to my joy a darkey (negro) came to the door of the car sounded his gong & told us in a loud voice dinner was now ready, I thought Gabriel had spoken, I was now in the smoking Car & the dining car usually is the very last on the train, I dident [didn't?] let the nigger get out of my sight until I was seated at dinner speeding along at the rate of 40 miles an hour upon the Canadian Pacific R.R. [Rail Raod?] you get all you call for & no matter how much you eat or how little you eat it is all the same price ie, 75 cents, I dont think they made much on me for I had lamb chops, tea corn cakes, fruit, pickles & filled up all the empty spaces & then I went back to my seat & had a smoke, The dining cars of nearly all roads in this & Canad are marvels of beauty & Cleanliness the food is beautifully cooked & handsomely served up, you see no cooking done as there is a private space for that, the cook & waiters invariably are negroes & know their business thoroughly & when the [they?] have opportunity dont neglect to let you know that they expect something for services though they are not allowed to do so, well after an hour or two more travel I arrived at Mitchel Station, the nearest station to Fullarton, my destination, I was met at the station by mine host with his buggie & driven out to his house in Fullarton some 6 miles from the station & arrived there a little before 6 P.M. - was received by the Dr's wife Susan Armstrong & other members of the family - received a hearty a welcome as if I had been a member of the family for years I had now just finished a 24 hour journed on rails & covered a little over 600 miles & felt fitagued [fatigued?] & sleepy, so after I had got washed & something to eat I could not bear up so the [they?] put me down upon a sofa & covered me like a baby, closed the door & left me to get a sleep some two hours afterwards I awoke & scarcely knew where I was so Susan came & told her I was wonderfully refreshed, she said she was glad & that friends were waiting for me in the parlor [parlour?] I hastened to my room & fixed myself up & came down and presented myself, was introduced all around the fact is I did not need this introduction as the [they?] were all familiar with my likeness & name & manner for years, only two had I seen before & that was the Dr & Susan his wife, last march when they were in New York & stopped a time at my house I had done everything I could to make them comfortable I had at that time a young woman named Maggie Connor Mary White knew this young woman very well, her father & I served out time together in Lurgan, & reverses made it necessary for her to make her own living, so I could leave the Dr & wife & go to work, so now I could see they wanted to repay my kind attention in every way they could think of - I think they out did me in that line, these friends were more closely related to Alicia than myself, through Alicia[s?] mother who was my fathers first cousin, they called me cousin & I was introduced every where as their cousin C M H from New York, Her original family live in Toronto 100 miles further on, the family consisted of father mother and 5 daughters - namely Mary - Alice - Susan - Annie & Carrie, all are married now but Carrie of course I presumed you know their name, Hobson & it was understood in Toronto that I was to pay a flying visit there but I knew nothing of this understanding until I was there & they were greatly dissapointed [disappointed?] when I did not visit them my time did not permit of it & I did not want or feel like making that journey after just finishing the first one I can make 150 miles journey with pleasure & ease but more than that is labour to me so I had to dissapoint [disappoint?] them, after I returned Mary gave me a regular blowing up for not calling to see her reminding me of the pleasant times she, Alicia & I spent in New York, she & Alicia were in the same situation in N.Y. [New York?] together & I must confess we had pleasant times, she is now Mrs Risk The Mercantile Agency R.G. DUN & Co Established 1841 150 Branch Offices New York Dec 5th 1893 next morning (Sunday) I was up bright & early having had a good nights sleep & was all myself again, after breakfast Dr & family & myself started for Church some 3 miles distant, we drove there, I was introduced to a great many of the congregation & to the Minister & family, by invitation we dined with him that day & attended Church at 4 PM same minister preaches in both Churches, He preaches in two churches one North & one South of his home in one morning & the other evening they are about 6 miles apart & he lives between the two His name is Hamilton & a Scotchman & has preached in these two churches for 35 yrs. They are all presbyterians and in fact this is a Scotch presbyterian settlement here again I was introduced to many strangers & received any number of invitations to call upon them at their homes, Susan accepted many of them for me. It was hay harvest when I was there, next day Monday Susan & I drove around to make our several calls, but found many of the folk we were to call on engaged in the hay harvest, in almost every case you would see one two or three daughters of a family moving the hay with machines sitting on it & driving one or two horses as the [cast?] might be & the men doing the heavier work they seem to do all their own work within themselves and hire very little help & that only for about 2 mos [months?] in the harvest season and all the rest of the year they do their own work so I thought Ontario was a poor prospect for a labouring man or a man without any trade & then wages are so low & everything so cheap compared with the U.S. as for instance meat you can buy for 7 to 9 cents per lb whereas in N.Y. at same time it was selling for 18 to 20 cents per lb & everything else in proportion labourers wages in N.Y. [New York?] is about 10 dollars per week in Canada 4 to 5 dols [dollars?] per week so the prospect of an emigrant getting rich soon in Ontario is not much unless he has money to begin with, among the houses we called at was one, an Irish family named McCullough, the family all born in Canada only the old people, the old gentleman is dead but the old lady still lives & gave the Irishman a hearty welcome even though he did come from New York I was told that this family were wo [worth?] $100,000 one hundred thousand dollars and with all this & though they did not work in in the fields the young women did all their own housework which to my bservation was no small matter, family consisted of mother, 5 sons & 2 daughters when we arrived here we were ushered into the parlor [parlours?] or two parlours [parlours?] one on each side of the hall & just as well furnished & appointed & kept as any City mansin [mansion?], & yet they were not above giving a helping hand in the hay if needed. After tea one of the daughters sat down to the piano & gave some fine selections & then she says Dr there's the Violin on top of the piano, he caught it up & seemed to be quite a professional player, this surprised me as I do not know that the Dr was a musician & both went at the music again with vigor [vigour?] & we had an all round good time & not one of the lassies that rode on the mowing machine & drove the horses but could entertain their friends in the same way & had the facilities also, Resting against one of the windows on a easel I noticed a half finished oil painting in course of painting by the younger of the two girls it was a swamp seen [scene?] with cat tails or ball rushes & birds sitting on the cat tails, the picture was so far completed that it showed the design well, So you see with all details of housekeeping & occasional harvest & helping they can do finer works also & seem to have something to take up all their time & as I said before this kind of thing is to be met with in almost every family & all the neighbors [neighbours?] live in harmony one with the other & if any one has toruble all are concerned about it & help each other if need be, so we left that house with instructions to bring me back another evening before I would leave but we had other calls to make so I did not get back there again, I had so many invitations it would have taken 3 mos [months?] in stead [instead?] of 10 days to have accepted & fulfilled them my time was now coming t an end in Canaday [Canada?] & Susan & Dr [?] determined I should make the most of it, so every day we started driving to many points of interest & gave me every opportunity to see all I could, one day we drove to St Marys some 16 miles distant, this is an old Canadian town & known as the stone town from the fact that it is built with stone almost entirely taken from the bottom of the raiver [river?] called the Thames, this river I presume is the largest river in Ontario there are not many rivers in Ontario quite unlike our own side where navigable rivers abound every where, there is a highway along the banks of this river, I mean on each side & we drove all the way to St Marys along the right bank of the river, now you will smile when I tell you than this river is about the width of the Blackwater I saw flowing or trinkling along its course, why I write so much about this river it is the pride of Ontario, as in the winter it is a great stream & overflows its banks & [roaderrys?] compelling travelers [travellers?] to take the higher ground & is then of great service to lumber men in floating great rafts of logs, but where the logs ome to cut in my travels through Ont. [Ontario?] we were caught in a thunder storm in St. Marys & were compelled to remain in the hotel until it was over, spoiling our plan for a visit to another friends family, but our horse (mare) her name is dorritt was a good one & she brought us home in good time. My favorite [favourite?] dog his name is Chi[?]io met us a long way from home & had to get into the buggy with us. So we reached home in time for tea & Mary Murray the girl had it just ready for us. This girl is a native of Lurgan where I served my time she had just been two years in the country & knew a great many Red Let, she roared & laughed, then I explained & all laughed Red Let was a redheaded woman that used to sell fish in Lurgan market place opposite where I served my time & like all fishwomen possessed of a very amiable disposition as to tonuge [tongue?] & fist. The Dr would burst out & roar again when he would think of it. The Dr could not go with us everywhere as he had to pay close attention to his office & patients & at that time his hands were full, Susan is a good hand with a horse, can hitch him up &c all women who live in either countries can do the smae, for myself I never had any saturday & my last but night previous wa sa busy night with us packing up and making ready to catch the 8 AM train - Susan packed my Valice [valise?] (ptfolio) & she would stop now and again and say cant you stay a week or to [two?] more, throw old New York overboard and just make your home here, Indeed they made me feel like staying, but I had to go, poor Mary, the girl the tears rolled down her cheeks when she seen me start, I was the only Irishman she had seen in her two years in this Country so next morning bright & early the house was astir, evening before Susan told me not to te[s?]t myself with rising early or keeping watch for she knew I had a long and tedious journey before me & she would pay attention to the rising part which she faithfully did, so next morning about 6 o clock I was awoke, so we had a hurried breakfast a little before 7 o clock I & the whole family were on the way to the station, Dr driving & we reached the station a few minutes ahead of time I left the old country without half the escort & indeed it was a trying time even to myself, for it really showed me that all my kind friends were not lost to me yet, and with feelings of good will to everybody I stepped aboard the train amid the flutter of handkerchiefs &c the train pulled out & soon all were lost to sight. After several hours I reached Paris, here I was delayed for 2 hours, 10 minutes later the Canadian Pacific Express came along & the next stop of importance was the old City of Hamilton, I had been familier [familiar?] with its name from infancy - and many of the old neighbours located here, it was here Thomas Maginnis's bro [brother?] Wm [William?] & sister Mary located & many others that I remembered, but having no address I proceeded next important stop was St Catherines & East Suspension Bridge & Niagara Falls, the latter I will refer to agian on larger sheet. Now I am on the U.S. side and hurrying on toward Buffalo, where we change cars, tis now about 9 o'clock night so 1/2 an hour later we pull out of Buffalo on the home streatch [stretch?] of 450 miles & reahc home next morning at 1/2 ast 10 & John McGleenan met me & carried my Valice [Valise?], went home with him & had dinner with him, his wife wanted me to go to sleep there but I pushed home & found things just as I left them 10 days before. On opening my Valice [Valise?] I found Susan had put all the good things of Canada in it, I washed, changed as if I had never been away Now my long letter has ended 8 The Merchantile Agency R.G. Dun & Co 314 & 316 Broadway New York Dec 11th 1893 Now dear Jane in conclusion you have seen what a long epistle I have given you & it took some time to write it, I intended making it larger by enclosing your Aunts & my own likeness. I got your Aunts likeness duplicated for the purpose, but I could not get my own in time & wishing you to have this before xmas I did not send either but will sometime soon. In return for this letter I wish you to send me your likeness as I want to know your features. The book you will find, tied with cord open carefully & in back fly leaf you will find two pounds (soverens) [sovereigns?] folded in it, you will find in centre of book a stone which will tell you where it came from & when I thought it a better memento than leaves & more lasting. Now if you have holidays at Christmas you might go down home & see your father & Robt [Robert?] & no doubt they would be glad to see you & it would somewhat revive your fathers spirits & cheer him up, if you go give them my best wishes & kind regards to Mary White & your Aunt Mary Hobson if you see her. If it is not convenient for you to go home all right [alright?] just as seems best to yourself. No Jane I do not expect to go over there with Chas [Charles?] next summer & have no intention of ever crossing the Atlantic again. I certianly would be very glad to see the old familiar scenes & you & others, but I see no prospect for it. It seems strange no doubt to you why I do not write you Uncle John's family, well I will just say it is all a misunderstanding & not one jot or tittle [title?] of it my fault in word or deed, could enlighten you very much on this point, Christy did tell the boys enver to mention his name in my presence, for why? I do not know, of course I do not know what was written hence however friendship 3000 miles away is of little use when needed or I could not bring myself to make apologies for no offence committed by me, however I will go no further into this subject as it would lead me on to write a volume & only make me feel bad. Now it is wearing late & I want to post this tomorrow, take it down town with me to G.P.O. [General Post Office?] in the morning. So now wishing you a very enjoyable Christmas & happy new year I bid you farewell for the present. Affectionately your Uncle CM Hobson |
