| Title: | Stewart, Frances to Waller, Maria, 1850 |
|---|---|
| ID | 4752 |
| Collection | Revisiting Our Forest Home, The immigrant letters of Frances Stewart [J. L. Aoki] |
| File | stewart/34 |
| Year | 1850 |
| Sender | Stewart, Frances |
| Sender Gender | female |
| Sender Occupation | housewife |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Douro Township, Newcsatle District, Upper Canada |
| Destination | Ireland |
| Recipient | Waller, Maria |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | niece-aunt |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 1100 |
| Genre | news, family life |
| Note | |
| Transcript | 1850: November 1526 To "Aunt Mother," Ireland Auburn 15 Nov'r 1850 My dearly loved Aunt Mother About ten days ago I received your letters, always welcome, & most thankful am I to find a continuation of pleasing accounts of your health & happiness.... How perceptibly I have felt the comfort of this since my dear sons have been separated from me. When their dear Papa was here he never could bear the thought of their leaving home & he arranged so that each should have a farm ready & near this where each sh'd commence for themselves at 21. But his plans all ended with his life, and I am decidedly of opinion that it is better for young men to go a little into the world & feel their way thro' life. It shews them what life is and teaches them how to be independent. My dear boys had never been from home till last summer & I trust it has not injured them. Poor dear Frank has not succeeded so prosperously as John. He took a wrong direction at first & went to some people merely to see them "en passant" but they advised him to stay there instead of going nearer to where John was & he found they were not his best advisers. He has been now more than two months out of employment, not earning anything & forced into some expense by illness. He had a tedious & debilitating complaint, a sort of aguish fever & when I heard last he was weak & had caught a bad cold which gave him a cough & pain in his chest. But as he has always been very healthy 1 hope with common care & prudence he may soon be well. He had some prospect of employment as teacher in a school which he seemed inclined to take up whenever his health should permit. He was offered £6-5-0 per month which w'd be £75 a year but he w'd only take it for the winter months, I suppose as he w'd like some more active employment for a permanent occupation. I wrote to beg he would come home for the winter but he could not. He is determined not to come till he has some money to begin in earnest at his own farm. He seems a good deal cast down by his illness & idleness but I hope he is by this time better in every way. George has completed the job in which he was engaged & has got safe back to Toronto for which I am most thankful as I was excessively uneasy at his having the dangerous voyage on Lake Huron to undertake at this tempestuous time of year. However, in this Providence guided them for the wind proved contrary & the danger was so evident that the party determined to travel by land tho' a most fatiguing & difficult matter & they walked through the woods for four days & carried all their luggage on their backs to Goderich & there took waggons to Hamilton. I heard very seldom from my loved boy for the last two months. It was so difficult to have letters conveyed & the last interval was so long that I became very uneasy. However, at last came a hurried & short letter from Toronto saying he had at last reached it in safety tho' much wearied & all his clothes worn to rags. I have not heard since but he had some thoughts of remaining in Toronto for the winter & pursuing his studies under his friend Flemings direction as he has now opened an office there & will take pupils. This will I trust prove advantageous to George but he had not made any agreement with Fleming so I don't know anything of terms &c &c or how he is to earn enough to support him there but I expect another letter soon & thank God I shall now be able to assist him myself if he requires it. I wish to help on all my sons as long as I am permitted to be with them & give them every advantage that I can in education. How thankful I am that I shall I hope have the means in my power if I live a few years longer. Oh yes I have much to be thankful for tho' I do sometimes give way to weakness when perplexities overcome me. For a woman is a very helpless creature in this world & I have been so completely unaccustomed to acting for myself in any way or degree for the last 34 years of my life & particularly after I became subject to asthma that now I really am ignorant of everything & become bewildered & constantly forget things which ought to be done, always having had those with me who could think & act for me much better than I could for myself & now I miss the assistance of my children so much tho' indeed they are always helping me as much as they can.... And now my dearest Aunt, with love to every member of your family absent & present, I am your ever affect' child F. Stewart forgive great haste [Thefollowing text is located on one sheet loosely inserted in the above letter] Thank you my dear & loved Aunt for getting me the little books & Tracts you said you were going to send me in the Box. I do give many of those you send & lend many. I have let Hugh Whites sermons to several & Stevensons on the 22d Psalm. I wish very much to have all the works of Rev'd H. Blunt. Aunt Sutton sent me his lectures on Abraham & I have his lectures on the [ ]. I should like his lectures on St. Paul & St. Peter & the life of Christ if you could get them cheap second hand & pay for them out of my money dear Aunt. I have no time as I have had 50 interruptions. I would write the remainder of my Cobourg visit if I had time but I forget where I stopped. I am ashamed to send such a useless uninteresting scrawl, indeed my own Aunt you must employ Maria to read this to you for it is not fit for your eyes. Give my love to dear kind James & to my Athboy brother & sister & to all my Rockfietd darlings & all old friends who remember or care for me. Ever your affect' child FS |
