Transcription:
1 Letterhead Portage, Wis., April 2 1878 My Dear Brother John At last Iv e got started writing to you I really do feel
ashamed of myself for permitting myself to neglect answering your always welcome letters I think however the cause is hard
times, unprosperous times, the terribly hard Scratching to make business go at all Last harvest everything looked more than
usually promising good crop fair prices c c It rained all the fall. We had no winter mud all through the winter months. So
we had no fall trade no winter illegible in margin: 00782