| Title: | Earl of Ava to the Marchioness of Dufferin & Ava |
|---|---|
| ID | 946 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Earl of Ava, Archibald/21 |
| Year | 1893 |
| Sender | Archibald, Earl of Ava |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | army officer |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Texas, USA |
| Destination | Europe? |
| Recipient | Hariot, Marchioness of Dufferin & Ava |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | son-mother |
| Source | D/1231/101: Deposited by Lady Hermione Blackwood |
| Archive | The Public Record Office, Northern Ireland |
| Doc. No. | 9808241 |
| Date | 08/06/1893 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 11:08:98. |
| Word Count | 1070 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Texas 8th June My dear Mama. I have received all my letters I think I told you. They were delayed for various reasons but turned up eventually. The last is dated May 22nd and tells me you are going to Cadogands in June and to Ireland afterwards. I do hope you will enjoy your short holiday. I wrote to father but not to you I think about Uncle W's will. I was much surprised as ever when you wrote first about Grandmamas interpretation of it I thought she had probably been mistaken. Certainly it is good fortune for the Blackwoods. I have been taking a weeks rest or rather more I think but one never pays any attention to dates here and have been staying at two little towns Annavilla & Clarendon. At each place were a few Englishmen & Scotchmen and of course like [----?] we flocked & eat & drank together. I dont believe that any Englishman really has any friend in an american of course I am not talking of the educated new yorker or Bostonian but of the average native. They dislike us and are as jealous as they could be to every Englishman I have met tells one. And a native has few qualities to make him in any respect a friend or companion. He only thinks of the mighty dollar and looks on everything from a [-------?] & moneyed view. In no sense of the word is he ever a sportsman and the Texas man has no idea beyond a steer or his dry good's store. They all chew tobacco & smoke & this they cant do in a decent fashion. When not at work they invariably sit about & whittle wood with a pocket knife. I haven't met a man yet who [---'---?] this habit. After supper you'll see them anywhere squatting about cawing away steadily at any stray piece of wood they can pick up. When they've sliced it till no more remains they commence again on a fresh piece. At meals they are like mutes at a funeral. They do not introduce strangers to their women folk so I have seen little of them, but I should think no women had such a hard time as the women out west. In comparison to the men they are much more refined in manners & appearance. They always seem to turn out in clothes fresh from the laundry & have a finished appearance the men never get. But the dry climate [----? them quickly & I believe they are all more or less delicate. I seem to have abused the men but they undoubtedly have their good qualities. They are very hospitable and never by any chance interfere or make remarks about a stranger. They also seem to be remarkably plucky under adversity and take misfortune however it may come in grim silence. This town Clarendon had just been half burnt for the second time. Some of the people have lost as much as 10,000 dollars worth but have started again with a quiet determination to get it back. The two fires have made money scarce & half or more of the people are broke and I dont see how they are going to become prosperous. Cheek pulls some of them through. Amvilla is a town that was boomed and after the boom collapsed. The Hotel Keeper who has built a place there that would be good on Belfast Lough advertised in all the Eastern papers that Amvilla was a certain cure for consumptives. Invalids eventually turned up & have kept him going fairly well. There is a hotel here where the proprietor stepped off the roof in his excitement during the fire. He was in no danger of being burnt but he got so excited sending directions to the servant girl & nigger bot that he took a leap into space. He escaped with a severe shaking but he sits in his veranda & tells the adventure to anyone who goes round. He explained to me how he did not lose his presence of mind & that he did not forget to "catch up with his right leg" when he found the left moving forward on its own account. Dogs in Texas are divided into [----?] four classes. Faists, bench legged faists, bird dogs & yaller dogs. As far as I can make out a Faist is any kind of house dog or pet. A bench legged faist is one of the above with bow legs, a bird dog is anything in the shape of a hound or pointer, & a yellow dog covers everything else no matter what breed or colour. The other night I went to a recitation & say meeting. The first man on the stage was a methodist parson who made a long prayer in an awful whine & prayed that the audience & also the performer's might be blessed. Then appeared a youth who made a sort of speech holding his hands out in an appealing manner to the audience. Then came a particularly fragile & angular girl with high cheek bones who recited a long poem about a life boat which she had pulled out to the [-----?] on the atlantic billows. This heroic damsel was followed by two men one of whom blew an instrument while the other whistled. They were followed by a boy who recited about a man who "worried about it". Every fourth line came the words "and he worried about it" First about the End of the world & then his washing & I forget all the other things he worried about. One Sunday in Amvilla I went to a methodist meeting. Texans are excitable though grave but are easily carried away by noise or shouting, therefore at a methodist meeting they give way on occasions. A girl and two boys were "saved" the time I was there. They what they call "get religion". Lots of them groaned as if in pain when praying. The saved ones shout & laugh & cry. "Oh Lordy. Lordy. I've got the Lord I am so happy". I think most of them are only religious while in church. I have three weeks more out in camp and then move north & shall be glad when the time comes. With love to Father I remain my dear Mama Your affect [affectionate?] Archie |
