Letter
#54 to son Alex in Australia
Glasgow, April 22nd. 1861
145 Great Eastern Road.
My Dear Son
I had no letter by last mail and only one paper,
but your letter of January and your's and Williams of February came by this
mail. I feel confident you are now a rising family and that the Dicks are again
to be an honourable and distinguished race, I hope you have met with honourable
partners and that all will go merry as a marriage bell. And I may yet be as
snug as a half-pay major.
Jack's speculations have been rather numerous and
poor to be pleasant and I feel for pushing disappointed Jack, but I see the
time not far off when he will be one of Magee & Dick's best men. I had
always an opinion that Jack was cut out for a business hand and I think it
would have been fortunate had he pushed in long ago, though at nominal wages.
Though Magee & Dick & Co. must be sadly
embarrassed for some time I see they will by and by have an extensive business
and require hands. Dress up Jack and set him to work. You will find him one of
the best, and no mistake.
William has got a start in a way I did not
anticipate. It is disagreeable no doubt keeping impudent, careless and stupid
men right. I know that well. Still one must just do it as good humouredly as
possible; the humorous does far better than the severe. The passionate style
does not do at all. He wont triffle with belts or aught of that sort. What a lesson
he has got. You have all had perils we would not have thought of facing could
we have foreseen them and I am thankful matters are no worse.
Big Jammie Pollock got married and has set up as a
master joiner in Anderston. Jock Smith's wife died of cancer of the breast. Her
breast was cut in the infirmary and she died there. Rob't Stevenson, the
shoemaker's wife died also. Mr. Duncan, the baker, (A. Wilson's brother in law)
has taken a farm in Cowal, Argylshire. He occupies Wylie's old shop. It is
taken for a Co-operative store.
In the cutting and block printing line there is no
revival, but machine printing is pretty brisk; turkey red shops slack. James
Hall leaves Busby. A Mr. Macadam is engaged in his place. Mr. W.A. Hall has
advertised his house for sale so it is believed he intends to leave. It is not
known where J. Hall goes. It seems Andrew is doing well in America.
James Dick always said you would get on yet, but he
thinks drink a dangerous species of merchandise, but he hopes there is no
danger of you being done by it.
I have yet got only one paper by this mail, a Ballarat
"Star". I am not well informed on Australian ministerial movements,
but I saw in an English paper they had proposed a tax on butter, cheese &c.
when imported. The longer you live will come more and more to the conclusion
that there are few men qualified to manage any extensive undertaking and
particularly to manage the affairs of a state, to exact what is just and equal
betwixt man and man, to take the best means to secure necessary ends and when a
party at all like the thing casts up, be thankful and give them all the support
in your power and let a few eminent
good deeds cover a multitude of sins. Ballarat is likely to return Gillies
though Cahapman is the better qualified for a legislator and would do the petty
Ballarat work better. Your chattering magpies (Dons & Co.) are a nuisance in the house. Every measure must exactly
suit their ignorant untutored minds. It does not occur to them they may be wrong
and other men right. And they ought, when a measure is in the right direction, to meet their learned opponents more than
halfway. The just and necessary doctrines of compromise and forebears are are unknown to them.
I shall do a little at Busby. We are not constant,
but I do not see how I can better myself in
the meantime. I very nearly keep myself. Our Bonhill are in their usual.
I am your affectionate
Father,
Alex'r Dick.
Names
& Notes on Letter #54
Magee
& Dick
Jammie
Pollock
Jock
Smith
Rob't Stevenson
Mr.
Duncan
A. Wilson
James
Hall
Mr. W.A.
Hall
Andrew
Hall
James
Dick
- transcription and
Names/Notes by Ian A Scales, c.1989 (note- the ‘original’ transcription was in printed format on
paper, and has been re-formatted using OCR – so may have some inaccuracies
which have escaped my editing – C. S-P)
Scans of the original letter (click
on the image below for a larger file; note the order of the pages p.4-1,
then p.2-3):
p.4,1
p.2,3
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