John Rice letter to Celestia Colby 13 Apr 1892

Cherry Valley Apr 13/92

Sister mine

Your ever welcomb Letter was resived last evening And it finds us Still boath on earth Tho we have Sufferd untold agony And why it is that we half to suffer so when others are blest with health I cant tell I am all alone to day And that is the time that I take to write For my Head is so bad that I cant write or do any buisness when thare is any nois around Dio and Branch are over to Geo And Crissa and Lee have gon to Richmond after Cora She has ben gon over thare ten days visiting

Crissie relitves and thare is so many of them that it takes A good while to visit all Cora School begins two weeks from today She is agoing to teach whare she did last winter We dont now hardley how to spare her this Summer for We are agoing to have fare men comens to work for us the tenth of May on our Barn they are agoing to take out all the Cils and Flores and put in new ones and take of the siding and put on new siding I dont feel able to do it But half to To save the barn I feel that I am doing it for some wone else to on occupy If Joel would stay to home and help me I would feel more like making improvement But he was home all winter and never done a chore

not even feched in the watter that he wash in He says he shant even do any more work at home But that he is agoing to have a good time as he goes along Now I work hard as long as I could and saved for my children and it greves me to have them turn out so My farm begins to look like A Widdows farm But I cant work it And it dont pay to hier I told Joel if he would stay home and work the Place I would bord him and give him half he could make and would buy him A horse to work beside of mine And when thare was nothing to do at home he might take the team and team it But he chose to work out He is working for A Man by the name of Smock on the Perry Tuttle Place Perry Tuttle is ded

Wife is living in Florida with one of her Girls Geo has got A Boy going on Five weeks old I have not seen it yet but they say it is quite A nice child But I feel sorrrow for her For it will make it harder for her And she had all she could stand before Along the last of March it came of pleasant here And the roads became drie and it got to be good wheeling And people begun to put in their oats but last friday Night it comence to Snow and has snowed ever cence till this morning The sun came out and the Snow is running fast And it begins to look like spring again Lee tap what maples we had in

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our dare yard this Spring and we made five galons of Molasses he is all buisnses yet and he wants to work out but I ant agoing to let him. I tell him if he will stay at home and do the chores and go to School til he is fifteen years old I will then send him of to School and put him for A Teacher and then he can make money faster than he can working out on A Farm And I think he will stick by me I tell you It a bad plan to let A Boy go of to work when they are thirteen I think If I had keep Joel to home it would have better for him But I wanted him to learn to work and that Mary Colman would keep him strate so I let him go I got A Letter