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Ferrisburgh 2nd month 22nd 1859

Dear Sister

I suppose thou art wondering why bro
R. is so remiss in answering my call for the needful.
I should have written & sent thee some money long
ago, but for the best of reasons - I had not the cash
& knew not where to attain it. I have got a [little?] at
last & now send thee a draft [underline]for fifteen dollars[/underline]
which I hope will meet thy immediate necessities.

Now for a short chapter of news. Religion & measles are
at present the principal topics of interest in this neighbor-
hood, the former with the advent of short evenings warm
weather & muddy roads will doubtless [deter?] though the
methodists have had a pretty prosperous run & the Congre-
gationalists have put in for a share of the spoils, tho as
usual in this town have come off second best. Mrs & Miss
Parker - our [back?] [house?] neighbors, have been brought into
the fold of the latter church. As to the latter epidemic
it has prevailed very extensively this month & is likely to
continue for some time to come as several have lately
come down with it & many others have been exposed
who have not yet manifested the symptoms. Reuban [jr?] &
Elinor Parker have had it & recovered, Hatty Hale is now con-
fined with it & Laura Whalen has been very ill for 15 or 16
days but yesterday was better. I cannot name her disease
think it is in some way connected with her domestic relations.
Dr. Maxfield, whom I saw there yesterday told me he had
had 200 cases of measles, in nearly all cases the disease