[No paragraph breaks in the original letter; some added here for ease of reading.]Marion March 25th /82
My dear Sister
It seems a long time since we have had a letter from you. Cousin Will Shaw sent us a card when Mattie died. I wrote a letter from Uncle & family & Will wrote us a long letter telling us of his trip to Pa saying he had taken dinner at Cy's & that he was just the same Cy he rised to be[.] It does me so much good & we are looking forward with pleasure anticipating a visit to Pa this summer[.]
Husband got to carrying the Church all on his shoulders felt it was getting too heavy[.] He was'nt feeling well; had AyspepesiaLo about three weeks ago he called a meeting of the Congregation & offered his resignation. It surprised & aroused the Church wonderfully. They sent a committee consisting of all the officers; Elders, deacons & Trustees to confer with him & report at the next meeting[.] They assured him of their love & cooperation talked over all the seeming difficulties until he was satisfied he had a work to be done here yet. The next meeting was the most enthusiastic we ever had in church[.] Thirty speeches were made by different ones expressive of their love & affection & passed a resolution to give us three months vacation & give us a purse of not less than two hundred doll to travel on[.] Over two hundred doll was subscribed on the spot. we feel more strongly bound to our people than ever before[.] They say they dident [sic] know how much they thought of their Pastor before & we feel we have a loving indulgent people[.]
We were over to Mr Carethers funeral & I took a very severe cold but feel much better today[.] Hodge & Bertha have both had mumps but are better[.] Mumps is the only epidemic we have had in Marion this winter but there is a great great deal of sickness in C.K. Scarlet fever is the most alarming[.] We saw Christy & Sadie at Vinton[.] Sadie has made a change while Mrs Carethers is gone. She is Matron teacher & Mother to Madge & Berta [.] [sic] She expects to be gone two weeks[.] Christy said he had a long letter from the family in Dakotah. They are well & jubilent [sic] over their New Home.
You have not told me one word about John since you went home[.] Has anything been done about Masters Estate[?]
Write soon. We have not decided when we will take our vacation[.] Perhaps not till the warm months.
Much love to Husband & children
Your loving sister MaryGive a kiss to Jo [Gertrude's baby brother] & tell him not to forget his Aunt Mary[.] Tell Lida [Gertrude's sister] Rosa is looking anxiously for a letter[.]
[Gertrude's mother was a stepmother; her name was Margaret Christy, and she married Gertrude's father when Gertrude was about 4 years old. I wasn't able to trace this sister Mary, since I didn't know what state she lived in or her married name. I'm sure the Christy mentioned above was a relative carrying the family name as a first name. Gertrude's brother Morrison is a good example of that tradition; her father's grandmother had a maiden name of Morrison.]