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Portage, Wis., Dec.9, 1894. Dear brother John: Your letter and precious book are here, and give me greater pleasure than
I have experienced in a long time. I had just been wishing for something profitable to read, and deploring the fact that books
were out of my reach, when this, your own book, is before me, and now I will read and study it half the winter at least. And
then it is very pleasant to be remembered in this way. The children, too, all jumped up and down, and made me promise that
I would read it aloud to them. I am sorry your letter was so short, for you write so seldom. Have you commenced on a second
book yet? You ask how we are getting on. It begins to seem as if we were to have a mild winter as we have had two weeks of
elegant weather, which is a great thing in our favor, and the cool air, or some other good influence, is giving me an appetite
-- something I have not had in a long time. I have been sick all summer and fall, but begin to hope that I am going to regain
my former degree of health. I had begun to fear that I was going to relapse into invalidism. The children are well and happy.
Ethel is a great help and comfort to me. Walter has found so little demand for building that he is putting forth effort in
another direction -- the city water of Philadelphia has been so bad the last year that it suggested the idea of going into
the spring water business and accordingly he leased a spring some miles from the city and delivers clear sprint water. This
business, like every other, just now, however, develops slowly and requires all the patience we possess. I have no doubt a
good time will come some time, but the waiting is something terrible. Mary writes that she wonders how many more vials of
wrath are yet to be poured out upon us. Tell David when you see him that his Anne has been here and made us a short visit.
She was on her way back from Madison where she had gone as a witness in some case. She says she is well, but I thought she
looked thin and as if she needed more fresh air. She says she means to visit California in the near future. Give my love
to Maggie and tell her I received her kind letter. Love to your own little family and yourself, Affectionately your sister,
Joanna Muir Brown