| Title: | McIlrath, James L to McIlrath, William, 1891 |
|---|---|
| ID | 4523 |
| Collection | The McIlrath Letters: A family history in letters from New Zealand to Ireland (1860-1915) [Bassett, McKee et al.] |
| File | mcilrath/42 |
| Year | 1891 |
| Sender | McIlrath, James L |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | farmer |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Lakeside, Canterbury, New Zealand |
| Destination | Killinchy, Co. Down, Northern Ireland |
| Recipient | McIlrath, William |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | brothers |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 1167 |
| Genre | family, illness, decease, weather, harvesting |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Lakeside Canterbury N.Z. February 24th 1891 Dear Brother William I received your welcome and kind letter by last mail. It is refreshing to get news from (Home) I still call it Home yet although I have lived longer here than in old Ireland, but I believe if we lived here for a century we would still call the place of our birth Home. It is refreshing to hear that you are all well and our Dear Mother is honoured with such a ripe old age. For the loss of your daughter I can easily know how you would all feel having experience. I think I may say there is not a pang that rends the heart of which I have not had a part. But we are told that the Lord loveth whom he chasteneth and that he will in no wise lay upon us more than we can bear, but still I have been constrained to say with Him who spake as never man spake. Father if it is possible let this cup pass from me but not my will but thine be done. My cup was overflowing and I had to drink it to the very dregs and a bitter drink it was that night my dear partner breathed her last. I like not to recount tales of woe but I cannot help giving you an outline of what I have come through for nearly the past two years. On the 22nd of May 1889 my dear Wife left home to visit her brothers William and Robert (Robert you will know). Her sister Mrs Anthony formerly Harriett was to accompany her. She lives in Christchurch. They spent the first day in Christchurch seeing the Museum, Domain and gardens and was going to wait until after the 24th as I had advised her not to travel by train on the Queen's Birthday as the train would be crowded and they had a distance of 80 miles to go by rail. But alas for human hopes and plans, she went to bed feeling tired and unwell and was not up for three months. I received a telegram to go to see her at once and for those three months I was going a distance of 32 miles by train and 3 miles to train by trap, once and twice a week to see her. I took a Doctor with me that had attended her before, one Doctor was with her and a third was called in to hold a consultation and the case was pronounced hopeless. Still she recovered and got home very weak but gradually got almost as well as ever. Before she left I felt my left knee a bit stiff but, it being our winter that I was so much by train, I got gradually worse and as she recovered my knee got worse and on the 28th of this month last year I was compelled to keep to bed out of which - not even on the bedroom floor. For seven months I could not turn to the right side or to the left. Weeks without sleep, lanced three times, and the skin came off my back with being so much lying on it. It was thought I would never be out of that bed alive but God ordered it otherwise. Well all this time my Dear Wife was nursing me tenderly as only Wife or Mother can, and when at last a faint gleam of hope broke through of my recovery, wearied with anxiety and sleepless nights she was forced to take to bed and never rallied. The Doctors would not allow us in the one bedroom so that all mutual communication ceased and I never saw her again only the evening before she died I was carried through to see her but could not sit but a few minutes and had to be carried back to bed. That was the last look I should see of one who had been a faithful partner for over 21 years. The cup was nearly full now but when a few hours after I was told she was dead, it overflowed. The decree had gone forth and partake I must. Doubts and fears had to yield to stern reality and Oh the bitterness of that cup, it may be faintly imagined but words is inadequate to describe its effects. Time may modify but not wholly eradicate until the great physician prescribes the cure that relieves us from all infirmities. Friends and Neighbours in abundance came to sympathise and attend the funeral but among all I felt alone. There was a gap, a void, a chasm that all combined could not fill. Brother Hamilton and his oldest son stopped about a week and did all in their power to assist and alleviate our misery. It was doubted that shock would be fatal to me in my weak state but the Almighty who moves in most mysterious ways saw fit to sustain and gradually to lead to my recovery for which I feel most devoutly thankful. I can now go about a little and drive out by myself but I never get out of the trap away from home. I feel really sick of this subject and would rather have wrote sooner only I believe we should let, like a sick patient, sorrow sleep. I should write to brother John and will soon but I do not like to recapitulate this woeful tale at present. Do show him this and tell him and family I will write and that I am truly sorry about not being able to reply to their several kind letters, and my two oldest boys Johnie and William was on a visit to their Uncle Hamilton's and brought home the portraits of three of as fine young ladies as we have seen for a long time and asked me to guess who they were but I could never have guessed if they had not told me. When you write again let me know how our old friends and playmates the Messrs Jellies and sisters are, I many times think of them. We have had one of the driest summers here this one that I remember, it puts me in mind of hearing the old people talk of the year of short corn, it is short enough here this year. We have just finished stacking, Johnie can manage the reaper and binder very well. It is nice to see the sheafs come off bound, but still I think the old harvest with the hook looked merry. Wishing you all health and happiness and that when I write again it will not be such a gloomy subject. I may say all the family is well, there are four boys Johnie 21, William 18, Robert 16, and James Hamilton 15 and three girls Matilda 14, Agnes 13, and Eva 11. The oldest 21 and the youngest 11 years. I remain your affectionate brother, James L. McIlrath |
