Letter #58 to son Alex
in Australia
Busby, 24th. Aug't. 1861
My Dear Son,
I have received your's and Jack's of 27th.
June. You are getting sportive; no bad sign and Jack is hopeful. I am both pleased
and proud of the attention you all give my declining years, I discounted your
draft and paid two pence for two stamps. The other banks used only one stamp.
I got down to Leven yesterday and bought a suit
of clothes. The Leven folks are well. James Wilson was down on parole, but
Joseph is so bad in mind they could not get him to sign the papers necessary
for the executors to make a settlement agreeable to his father's will. So James
& Margery will get £10 a year in place of their two hundreds for some time.
There will be about as much over as will keep Joseph.
David Alexander did not write you as you had
been informed; out of sight, out of mind holds too true with other folks than
lads & lasses. I dare say were you to return you would feel rather queer
when you saw how few cared to ask you did. William Moody got married the other
day, but you know all about it.
Busby works are shut on Saturday. Trade is
checked in consequence of the war in America. You will see flaming accounts of
the battle of Manassis in the papers. Part of two large armies met and fought,
but the importance of the affair rests on the circumstance that the troops of
the Northern States got panic stricken and ran helter skelter, throwing
everything away. They had about 450 killed. The Southern Troops had had enough
as they did not follow. Had energetic pursuit been made, Washington would have
been their's. The fun of the thing is, the braggart spirit the States
Government exhibited, and brow beating all the European Powers, their troops to
run away, that could beat all creation, makes them a laughing stock at present.
Alex Russell is out at present. His master had
quarrelled with him and he left. I doubt he is to turn out like the other
Russells. Annie is in the wareroom and has one hundred pounds in the bank.
Aunty still makes the meal &c. I hear that James Mc Farlane that used to
print here has drowned himself at Belfast and James Campbell that printed and
made shoes was killed by falling from a buss. Mr. D. Loudon is in rather a poor
state of health; his son in Australia never writes him.
I
am glad your parlour is comfortable & your fire good; your prospects
cheerful. It is …a merry a heart and
lightsome pen……appears that with prudence you are on the highway to fortune and
above standing in a battering rain at the old Gravel Pits &c. Of course you
keep yourselves well informed of the state of the markets all the world over
and of the state of your customers.
Jack is 25 years of age this month with no
prospect of making a living by his present trade, so he proposes at last to get
into a store. And it is perhaps the best change he can make at present. I hope
he has got it. And if he does not get a good offer, push the store trade. I think
he will succeed and no doubt he will have good backing. If William does not get
a good managership I suppose he will follow Jack into the store trade. No doubt
he has polished up a bit and got a genteel address. I have no fear but they
will make but good rear men; you are in front and a good leader. Not so bad
prospects.
The harvest is getting pretty well over in
England, but in the west of Scotland rainy weather these six weeks and floods.
Potatoes are getting diseased. The crops are looking ....so far amiss. And
should favourable weather come our harvest will be a fair one; save potatoes,
they seem to be going, going.
Block printing is still backward; little doing
at Barrhead, Paisley and Kilmarnock. There is a little stir with cutters;
cutting blocks for paper printing when the duty ceases. Jas. Hall is off and
Mr. MacAdam is in his place. Mr. W. A. Hall continues as formerly. Mr. James
has not got a place.
There are about 26 printers at Busby. We are
not constant and I do not know how the married men live. There are other four
new patterns cut and we will likely do a bit order with them now and then.
I am, your affectionate Father,
Alex'r Dick.
Names & Notes on
Letter #58
James Wilson
Joseph Wilson
Margery Wilsson
David Alexander
William Moody
Mary, Annie & Alex Russell
James McFarlane
James Campbell
D. Loudon
James Hall
Mr. MacAdam
Mr. W. A. Hall
- 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 version; note
the order of the pages p.4-1, then p.2-3):
p.4,1
p.2,3
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