Transcription:
in margin: 542 Portage April 21st. 1888 Dear John Here is your birthday, and I congratulate you, and wish you many very
happy days and years of life It seems very wonderful to me that I should be spared to see three of my children over fifty
years of age This brings me face to face with realities making me to see and feel very plainly that my span of life is nearly
accomplished