Thursday Morn. 

dont you wish that it would quit writing. it is so poor I expect you cant read it. we had the hardest rain last night of the season. such thunder & lightening & the rain just poured all night long. there was a little wind when it first come. it was very little sleep that I got. had to sleep with the children too. I am afraid the creeks will all be up so high that Will cant get home. the wind is blowing from the south west & looks rainy yet I wonder if you are having storms too.

Well, I was going to tell you how amazingly good & sociable (& yet how decietful) Aunt Millie can be to. us when she wants a favor. she come down last Thurs afternoon through the mud & it had been raining & looked like it would pour down. & did while she was here, she told Ell she said, that she was coming down to see hew I was getting along. thats what she was & at the same time I thought she had an object in view. & in a little while she commenced they never had anyway of going. they wanted some wall paper & paint -- could not clean house & they was doing nothing but worry & wanted to know if we knew of anyone going to Trenton or any place else soon. & she knew as well as I did that we had to go somewhere this week & that was her object of course. I had to tell her we was going & that Ellen could go but then we got fooled out of it. we dont mind her going with us anywhere. we always have scare fun & the roads are long & company makes them seem shorter. but she always wants to buy everything she sees and never knows what to do about it. she was going to get so much the other day if we had went it would taken her always to decide so I don’t know what they will do about it now. but Aunt Millie would not have come in the mud & rain if we had all been sick. dont say anything to Matt Tarte about them, she may come back & tell them Ellen has a notion of buing the organ but she dont know what to do about it if she gets it & I dont think she can learn to play. & she has no voice at all for singing. but you won’t care to hear any more about them. she said if I would get her yarn she would knit a calla lily mat for my table for she said she was always botherin no, guess I will get for they are so pretty. she has one.

she gave me a cactus & an oleander not long ago & always seems clever. the red (ping?) is in bloom & some of the roses. My snowball did not bloom. I moved it this spring. I hope you will have good luck with your flowers. I can see you working with them. how I would like to helped you. do you always think of me when you visit mas grave. & think I have not that one privlege even that the rest of you have. it is strange her grave does not settle, so many people ask me if you are better satisfied than you was at first. I hardly know how to tell them for you never say. Mrs Colvin was with Carrie, she looked pitiful. was dressed in mourning. they said they heard pa was coming back & that your baby was dead, but I told them how much it weighed. Will Mc has been laid up with rheumatism for some time. John plowed 1/2 day for him. I guess that Ed is there now. he went by here on Wills horse one day. we will go to Wolfes this month I hope, as I did not make my trip & they are harder on me than all the work I do. I wish we had a buggy. There will be so much to do in a short time. lots of raspberries & cherries & I have to get some sewing done first. tell Less we will answer his letter soon. John always asks when we get a letter what your all doin & how much corn you have out & where the Dude is.

I guess he is pretty well satisfied here when he scotches about Kan. I never say anything. he generaly quits when he snuffs & spits a few times. Blandle will ask me where she shall get to when he comes in to dinner. she is so afraid he will throw his old waist on her. he did a time or two & she looks for it. here is the desired lock of hair out of the back of her head. it looks longer on her head. she wont have her hair cut off. her bangs comb below her nose & I have to always keep them in tins at home. they was ruining her forhead. I have to fix all her dresses. she wore her new one Sat. did you make the dress Will sent you that way or the blk calico. I have none to make. Well I have written enough for once & nothing either. but still I don’t know when to quit. I expect I will not write such much when your company is there. write soon. much love to you all.

from Hellen