p.

I hope my dear cousin thou art not
unhappy, and do not suppose thou art, but
that this world has been stained to thee once
its burdens press more heavily than they used
to do. let the bright gem that is added to thy
Saviors crown render it to thee more lovely
if possible, and the cross lighter to bear the
few remaining years of thy earthly pilgrimage
then will thy affliction prove a blessing in disguise.

I very much want to hear from you.
we have heard such sad accounts of the effects
of a late frost please write soon as practi-
ble and tell us all about it. We feel that we
can sympathize with you for the rememberance
of last year is fresh before us. our wheat was
so nearly cut off by the successive rains and then
came a hot sun that seemed to scald the wheat
or injured it in some way so that a great
deal was not cut, but there seems to have
been a great deal of wheat of the previous years
growth, there has been a great deal carried
into market this seaon. back in the new
settlements where they have not had an oppor-

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tunity of raising a crop which is not generally
done until the second year thier living must
have mostly been of corn.

Amelia and Brinton, within the
last 8 months have visited all the meetings in
Iowa, and have, I suppose returned. I want to
see them very much. they could tell us a great
deal. Father and Mother set out
for brother Georges to day to be gone about
four weeks. Father Mother Henry and self
took a little trip back in to the country as far
as Sigourney to pay the taxes on our Kiokuk
farm, we had a very pleasant though somewhat
fatiguing ride over a very hilly part of the
country. Iowa is far better timbered than I
expected to find it, at least the portion passed
through, seems not greatly wanting in that
nescessary article for the comfort of man.
We returned by the farm and rode over it
the same mellow [lusture?] rested on those
beautifully undulating slopes that so
enraptured me five years ago. It was quite
surprising to mark the improvements of so