| Title: | Joseph Wood, Wisconsin, U.S.A., to "Dear Brother". |
|---|---|
| ID | 3412 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Wood, Joseph/6 |
| Year | 1858 |
| Sender | Wood, Joseph |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | teacher |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Wisconsin, USA |
| Destination | N.Ireland? |
| Recipient | unknown |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | brothers |
| Source | Donated by Miss Maureen Carr, 40 Breda Park, Belfast BT8 4JR |
| Archive | The Ulster American Folk Park |
| Doc. No. | 9612194 |
| Date | 07/03/1858 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 03:12:96. |
| Word Count | 1335 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Mount Pleasant Green County Wis. [Wisconsin?] March 7th 1858 Dear Brother we received your letter duly were glad to hear that you were doing well. We were much interested with your description of the [stained] Crystal Palace. I am sure it would be a splendid performance and I know you would enjoy it first rate while reading your account [of it?] I felt almost as I could fancy myself amongst you [looking?] with intense interest to the beautiful and touching solos in the Messiah or Judas Macabeus, but more especially to the sublime and overpowering force of "Israel in Egypt" performed by so large a number I can [imagine?] must be eminently grand but I suppose the ideal for the case would fall far short of the real. It is now some time since I heard a thoroughly good performance of music As we were coming to America Elizh [Elizabeth?] and I while in Liverpool went one night to St. George's Hall to hear Mr Best perform on the great Organ. The programme [consisted?] of an overture [Marituna?] (Wallace): Decd [deceased?] [then?] [Varrisk?] [------he?] two pen- [stained] "Reminiscences of the Music to Shakespeare's Play Richard 2nd [stained] (op. [opus?] 39) ([solo?]) [stained] I was not [stained] very grand [stained] [we?] Graveshead the [stained] the and [stained] the best we may expect to hear for some time the [stained] of music generally I believe [John?] [stained] has [stained] [took?] it some kind or other there [stained] the writer [stained] [kind?] [they?] do not [stained] the [----?] come [stained] from [stained] [resins?] [seams?] [faded] [stained] now and then and we go to their house [stained] are the best singers in this neighborhood that I am [stained] bass viola a few weeks about christmas This [stained] [time?] the [stained] we used to [stained] is very for a [---?] Music but has not [fr---?] [stained] with the Oratorio [stained] [performance?] of an [oration?] but [there?] is [stained] me [thats?] and [----y?] I hear the other parts going on at the same time and [that?] has to do instead of [hearing?] it [--------y?] [faded] that [youve?] had commenced teaching writing and [oration?] [faded] I shall be glad to hear that you still [contrive?] teaching. It will be something for you and [partake?] tend to keep you in practice [--?] little - You did not say exactly how much you were receiving for it. My term of teaching is nearly out now (for this season at least) I have only one week more to teach [---?] then I suppose I shall have to change my occupation and commence writing on the farm if the [weather?] [be?] [still?] the term of school this winter was four months [faded] [few] the winter and a female teacher in the summer season in most of the schools and the teachers are chiefly young and unmarried persons they commonly board around amongst the inhabitants of the District the states are divided into counties [for?] unusual dimensions there is however some regard to order in the division of states as the counties are generally bountiful by straight lines so that for the most part the counties are in the form of squares, parallelograms or some such figures but such is not the invariable rule. The counties are again divided into townships of about 6 miles square as near as possible (We live in the township of Mt. Pleasant) and again the townships called school District I believe the rule that each District should be about 2 miles square making nine District in a township But when a township is very unequally settled that is when some parts of a township ar [are?] much more densely populated other this rule is not strictly attended to. I think there is seven or eight districts in this Township Each district has one school the inhabitants of the Districts meet in the school House twice a year to appoint officers and to determine the school term for the season The officers elected are Treasurer Clerk and Director the clerk has power to engage a teacher but previous to engagement each teacher has to apply to the town's superintendent to be examined and obtain a certificate they are very particular about the pronunciation of words - Webster's Dictionary is regarded as the standard here and each school is provided with one for the use of the teacher. - The classes do not [read?] in the bible and Testament as they do in most common schools in England but out of books that [faded] [possession?] [for?] [schools?] [The?] kinds most commonly used now about here is 'Sanders series' it consists of five Readers - Geography is a great deal thought of Cornell's Geography is used is used in most of the common schools and in some of the higher schools too. Thomson's Arithmetic is used. In some of the common school's Thomson's higher Arithmetic is used as well as praised. But my school was not very far advanced. I have had none [working?] in the higher arithmetic. One of my scholars has just got through [his?] practical arithmetic and a few more are getting on pretty well with it Thomson's Practical Arithmetic is a pretty large work the [largest?] common Arithmetic I have seen - There is [quite?] a large [treatise?] on [fractions?] cancellation is much used in working fractions and indeed in all other cases where it is available Federal money being on the Decimal system is much easier to calculate than English money. The denominations of Federal money are Mills - cents, Dimes Dollars Eagles and Double Eagles but accounts are usually expressed in Dollars, cents and Mills thus $25,625 is read twenty five dollars, sixty two cents, five mills, whereas if it was read according to the denominations it would be two Eagles five Dollars six Dimes two cents and five mills - All the [------?] to the left of the point are read as dollars the first two places right of the point are cents the third Mills and the rest decimals of a mill But Sterling money is taught here as well as federal and then there is the [faded] in some of the states 8 shillings make a Dollar - in some 7 shillings and six pence in others 6 shillings and so on - In Wisconsin 8 shillings make a Dollar what is called 2 shilling here is about as large as an English sixpence and about the same value There is a variety [of?] different coins Double Eagles Eagles half Eagles and Dollars are gold coins, half Dollars, quarter Dollars, shillings, Dimes, half Dimes and three cent pieces are silver coins - cents and half cents, copper - mills are not coined we have had a very pleasant winter I do not remember that we saw so fine and agreeable a winter before We have had but little snow. There has been now and then a few days of cold weather. When the wind blows from west or northwest then as the yankees say I tell you it blows might cold; but the greatest part of this winter we have had south winds and that I think has caused the winter to be considerably warmer than usual. |
