[Front of Letter]
Care
[Mr Thos [Thomas?] Battersby?]
[Inn Keeper?]
[Dromore?]
[County Down?]
[Ireland?]
[For Robert Taylor?]
[Ireland?]
[Stamped above address]
PAID [--?]
[Stamped on left
[CARLISLE?]
S F S
[Page 1]
Cumberland Co Pennsylvania
Sept 28th 1821
Dear Mother Brother & Sister
Your kind letter
of March 9th I Recd [received?] 18th June which give
[sic] me great satisfaction to hear that you are all well.
I am in a tolerable good state of health at present
thanks be to God as he has always favoured me with his
mercies, I have been much afflicted to a pain of the
breast for some time [but?] I never felt it after the
sea sickness [---?] [----?] [------?] I [immediately?]
[---lied?] to a Doctor [That?] [put?] a [blisking?]
[plaster?] on my breast and kept me taking medicine for
two months the blister relieved me a little but [Did?]
[not?] [banish?] [it?] [altogether?] as I always feel
it yet and [when] I ride or walk and sometimes
a very heavy spitt [spit?] [also?] reduced my diet to weak
tea and [bread?] twice [and?] [it?] [is?] [---?] during
that time I remain very weak and delicate yet [unfavorable?]
always to attend my school the doctors tell me that it to
[too?] [censsing?] for me and rather injurious to me [that?]
say if I had another sail on the sea it would do me good I
only [be?] about eight days in February during which time I
get the best attendance from the gentleman and Lady I [boarded?]
with she takes as much care of me as if I had been her son and
I believe there was as many people coming to see me as if I had
been in my own [native?] land I Returned to my school as soon
as I got up fatthery [feathery?] not very able for [fear?] I should
[lapse?] it as that is the [time?] the [they?] are largest I
was far [spent?] in spring for my appetite was gone I thought
the time very [long?] [---?] [--?] [many?] a time I was at
[home?] although I wanted nothing unless I was in a strange
house what is all the riches or pleasures of this world to me
if I have not my health [along?] with [theirs?] I moved in May
from that schoolhouse about two miles farther Down the creek
where I have got about thirty schollars [scholars?] at two
doller [dollars?] per quarter and in [winter?] I will have more
scholars I board with [Mr?] Winter a brother in law to the sheriff
of this county and gets it for one dollar per week I have a good
comfortable schoolhouse a few paces of the [trunk?] of the creek
yellow [beeches?] by name which is nearly as large as the
[Banwith?] but much handsomer the [two?] nearly meet across and
I can sit on in the house and view the fishes playing.
[Page 2]
which I assure you is very handsome -----
I live about five miles from Carlisle where we have meeting houses
[of?] all [sorts?] and [Denominations?] I go to hear the [Revd?]
George Duffield Presbyterian clergyman in Carlisle as there is none
nearer except some Methodists and Dutch my schoolhouse
was built [chiefly?] for a Dutch [meeting?] house and they have
meeting [sic] in it every thirteen weeks for the Dutch [Dont?] care
much for religion here times are getting no better here farmers
cannot get any price for their produce and then they will not employ
any hand that they [can?] [--?] [-----?] [--?] [--?] [---?] [----?]
[----?] [no?] [w---?] [it?] [nursery?] and [---?] [be?] [paid?]
[fall---?] is going [adle?] as there is no work going on except
[public?] and very few of them [and?] may travel weeks and never
get a days work [--?] flower [flour?] [is?] 5 Dollars per
barrel and whiskey 25 cents per Gallon beef 4 cent per lb if a man
[could?] [be?] [in?] [----?] [---scion?] [money?] he could purchase
property [cheap?] at sherriffs [sheriffs?] [rules?] as there is
plenty of them [every?] Day and you may guess when old [freeholders?]
are a [selling?] [out?] [what?] [could?] a beginner [Do?] and a man
that has five hundred acres of land has [to?] work every Day or he
[could?] not keep going a man here will plow [plough?] an acre and
a half in one day and he will cut three acres of [grass?] in a day
with a [cradle?] the [they?] [have?] [generally?] done [seeding?]
now and and they share [all?] the [harvest? settled in July this
summer has been [deplorable?] [each?] all along and they [the?]
winters are very cold here the water has been frozen to my hair
frequently before I get dried in the morning and [we?] [have?]
[no?] [have?] [no?] [sic] [wet?] [weather?] [we?] have great fun
riding in slays [sleighs?] on the snow drawn by one or two horses
that will [go?] fifty miles a day quite easy I would have wrote
[sic] sooner only when I heard Peter McCavet was in Baltimore
I [wished?] to see him first he came here the 12th inst and is
well and has 7 seven dolars [dollars?] per month and found working
[sic] at a turnpike about two miles hence I assure it was a great
satisfaction for me to see him he was along with James Brown in
Baltimore who is well and speaks of going home this fall Peter will
write in a few days
[Page 3]
Brother you mentioned to me about going on with my buisiness
[business?] to which I cannot give you any satisfactory answer
from the state of my health at present. they had a [fine?]
[college?] in Carlisle to the misconduct of the students in fighting
[Duels?] broke it up [but?] the [they?] will have [professors?]
in it again spring as the Legislature has granted them one thousand
Dollars and the [they?] have raised in Carlisle and its [vicinity?]
[fifty?] [thousand?] Dollars a year for [five?] [years?] by
Supscription [subscription?]; if James [Magowan?] comes to this
[country?] he should bring the [-ncestariar?] [plan?] of [teaching?]
with him I believe I could have got [one?] hundred dollars a year
in town for teaching [[p--ers?] one hundred and [ninety?] [fewer?]
[in?] [number?] if I had undertaken it and a man that [understands?]
[it?] it will meet [with?] [increasing?] [encouragement?] [alone?]
[----?] [----?] [----?] [----?] [----?] [sent?] [a?] [letter?] [--?]
his [sister?] [he?] [lives?] [about?] [----?] [alone?] [this?] near
the turn of mechanicsburg [then?] [all?] and family [--?] [---?]
and [June?] [wrote?] [--?] his sister about a [month?] [---?]
Betsey [Magivern?] [is?] [well?] and lives [in?] [Carlisle?]
she is [thinking?] [----?] [a?] [letter?] [from?] [her?] sister
for she has got none yet [---?] [---?] send home [some?] [money?]
the first oppurtunity [opportunity?] [---?] Hugh Magowan is well
[and?] [David?][---?] well Robt [Robert?] [Magowan?] and family is
well and lives [----?] last [saturday?] night and Sunday [---?] [--?] [---?] [your?] [patience?] but it is a little worth [---?] [it?] [---?] [better?] [th---?] [----?] paper please [---?] [---?]
[love?] [to?] [Aunt?] and [Hugh?] and if he would write me a little
I should be very happy to receive it [perhaps?] [he?] [Doesnt?]
[count?] me worthy of one please to remember me to [William?] Brown
and family to [Mr?] William Brown and family [and?] William
Wallace and family to [Messrs?] James and Charles Gilespies
[Gillespie?] to Robt [Robert?] Watt and to all my enquiring friends
acquaintances and schoolfellows and any of my old acquaintances
[that?] [would?] [count?] me [worthy?] [of?] [a?] [letter?]
I would feel very happy to receive it please to write as
soon as this comes to hand and send me word [hence?]
Mother and sister [has?] there [their?] healths [sic] I can
[encourage?] no person to come here except Girls and they can do well
as it is an assylum [asylum?] for them
Please to write immediately
[South?] Township I remain with very
great respect Sir
your affectionate
[Mr?] Robt [Robert?] Taylor Brother
John Taylor
[Written along right side of Page 3]
Dear Mother if you [conveniently?] could get any oppertunity [opportunity?]
[of?] sending me I set in at the [---?] in the same purple of more fine
shirts [as?] made with the sleeve gathered in [broad?] again as [---s?]
you made one at the wrist and the shoulder strap [about?] [-?] [another?]
[pair?] of [trousers?] [when?] [stockings?] and wrist[bands?] a little
[broader?] together with the same as I had you might send me [and?] if you
could get a piece of linnen [linen?] [twil---?][-eers?] and I [will?] [get?]
[them?] [made?] [here?] [as?] [much?] of it [as?] [would?] [make?] [one?]
Or two pairs of [b--?] and perhaps some time [--?] [would?] be in those articles [able to recompense [would?] [be?] [very?] [acceptable?] to your loving son
I am for ever [y---?] [John Taylor?]
