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for me. This is a splendid county for stock of all kinds except sheep the cockle burrs ruin them but cattle and mules will live all winter on cane without any food besides & pigs grow faster than I ever saw anywhere else. I have quite a flourishing hen house about 25 hens that I bought from old Belote - & 6 or 8 muscovy ducks these last are very wild & unmanageable they can live on the creek & scarcely ever come to the house so that I am afraid I shall loose them - my hens are hatching now & I hope to have an abundant supply of chickens for the summer I set 5 the other night - I attend to them myself & never let any body else have anything to do with them. You ask if I have had a nice time hunting I might have had if I had had the time to spare for I never saw so many ducks & geese in my life & other game abundant but I have only killed a few ducks around the house here, being too busy to go after them - if there was a church in the neighborhood I should be perfectly satisfied with the country it suits me in every other respect, high water & wind excepted.
I am glad to hear you are going to Mr Hill & hope you will really try to do your best & make up for the time you have lost - you will never forgive yourself if you fail now to get an education & you
can blame nobody but yourself if you fail besides you can not tell how long your father will be able to afford you these advantages So many others in the country have been entirely deprived of them through no fault of theirs & it may be the case with you, so now is the time for you to work.
We are so distressed to hear of Ma's continued sickness I can scarcely realize that she is sick. I hope by this time she is entirely recovered. Annie recd yesterday a letter from Becca Ruffin which she will answer as soon as she can. She has too much to do to write much I tell you having breakfast before sunrise dinner at 12 & Supper at 7 keeps everything here stirring. We try to be very punctual for one overseer acts with us & all the hands stop as long as we do so that we have to move in time. Tell Benehan that Lilly has a beautiful puppy black & white I have not named it yet. My friend & former clerk in the army Mr. Patterson has been spending a week with us & I have enjoyed his company very much. I have a right nice horse. I got him in Memphis for $150.00 & the negroes named him Bully because he is nearly the colour of Flat River Bully at home he is a very good horse for my purposes. Tell Mr. Cameron that Mr. Stone gave us some syrup that he made in Georgia which is very nice indeed & that he says that he made for your Father has not yet been sold perhaps he had better write to Judge Wright & get it sent on to him.
Best love to all from us it is 12 oclock & I must get up at 5 1/2 so good night.
Affectionately Your Brother G.P. Collins
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