Transcription:
put up with my wretchedness- bodily as well as spiritually while I forced the the good wife to skip home to the mountain to
cheer the heart of the aged and feble mother. -- sO you must feel that you box came on a fortunate day, and its address and
card from you went with the rest of the keepsakes into Roland's Truhe . When I think of you and your good father, and draw
a parallel with our home. I find sufficient relatedness to warm my heart. how rich ( is that a fit word? ) must not you and
your sister( or that there more of you besides the good mother? ) feel for being the children of a man so universally beloved.
To be in his presence mint be lie dwelling under a tree widely spread out in bough and leaf and singing his peacefull song
every hour of day and night. Then a person in blessed enough by a gracious God to commune with such living tree, he needs
neither rubies nor the treasures or Ophir to bring happiness to his home. And with us would that I could be a tree, a tree
to spread over our child. But only the freed soul of a shattered bole, a few limbs stuck out in weired manner can try to protect
him. -But he needs no more from me. The mother is all to him, his playmate, his protection, his doctor his saint, and God
creates friends for him wherever knowledge of his smiles, his constant cheer penetrates. Let me put to words to you what
I expressed some time since. Let me know the addresses of your father from time to times to that I might drop a line or greeting
to him in far off lands. Robinson Crusoe loved his man Friday, and so will your father appreciate a line from near where his
home is and where his heart dwells. - You , dear friend, save the stamps of his letters and add them to the collection that
I paste together for the little man . When you come this way , please us with your presence. Kindest regards to all that make
your home, even the trees and vines, dogs and chickens bluejays and doves. Special good wishes for your mother,Love from Roland
( who broke his arm twice in one month, in the same place almost ) and sincere greetings from the mother. your gratefull
friend illegible