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convulsions -- vomiting &c. from drink-; the mother & sisters
would nurse them through these dreadful spells again & again-;
they ought to have been more sternly dealt with -- Good
Dr. Booth was far too easy & gentle -- he erred as did Eli
of old, in not restraining and correcting his wild and wayward
boys -- They were recklessly extravagant, and ran up the
most frightful bills at the stores, which the good Doctor
settled without a complaint-; he was sinking into an alarming
depth of debt-; he had two plantations going on in the county,
but as he said, "his cup was never up when it rained"-- his
overseers managed badly; his crops were generally failures-;
his collections from his practice were poor, and year by year
he settled his enormous store accounts by renewing notes, and
compounding interest -- Between his dissipated boys and his
debts, he had enough to bow him down --

During this visit, I made the acquaintance of Will Coe-,
who was then a clerk in "Croom's Store"-; the "Brick Store",
at the "Corner" -- Afterwards Mr. Munroe's store -- I was
exceedingly pleased with Will --, and came to know much of
him in after days --

After a day or two spent pleasantly here, I returned with
sister Callie to Mrs. Sibley's Rocky Comfort plantation, and
from there took her to bro. John's plantation near
Marianna --

He was making preparations to remove to Quincy to locate
himself there for the practice of Dentistry -- I spent a week
or two with them all, and learning, in one of mother's letters,