The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1869-11-20

Mark rw.,-, :.., ss:. See

The mos. useful and interesting letters we
get here from home are from children seven
or eight years old This is petrifed truth.
Happily they have got nothing else to talk
about but home, and neighbors and family
things their hetters think unworthy of trans
mission thousands of miles. They write SIM
ply and naturally, and without strain for effect.
They tell all they know, and then stop. They
seldom deal i'll distractions or homiiles. Con-
sequently their epistles are brief; but, treat
ing as they do of familiar scenes and persons,
always entertaining. Now, therefore, if you
would learn the art OF letter writing, let o
Child teach you. | have preserved letter
from a little girl years OF agc--preserved it
as curiosity, because it was the only letter 1
ever got from the States that had any infor-
nation in it. 1t ran thus:
ST.. Louis, 1865.
Uncle Mark, if you was here could tell
you about Moses in the bullrushes again, l
know it better now. Mr.. Sowberry has got
his leg broke off horse He was riding it
on Sunday. Margaret, that's the maid Mar
garet has taken all the spittoons, and slop
buckets and old jugs out of your room, because
she says she don't think you are coming back
any more, you have been gone too long. Sissy
McElroy's mother has got another little baby.
SiS ii"S NhShi al thC tlHC- IL SUi Ntl1c
blue eyes, like Mr.. Swimly that boards there
and looks Just like him. have got q new
doll, but Johnny Anderson pulled out one of
the legs out. Miss Dusenbcrry was here yes
tcrday gave her your picture but she said
she didn't want it. My cat has got more kit
tens-oh you can't think-twice as many as
Lottie Belden's. And there's one, such a
sweet little buff one with short tall, and |
named it tor you.
All of them's got names now-General
Grant and Halleck, and Moses, and Margaret,
and Deuteronomy, and Captain Scmmes, and
Exodus, and Leviticus, and Horace Greeley
all named but one, and am saving it because
the. one i named for y0u's been sick ali the
time since, and reckon It'll die 1t appears
to be mighty rough on the short-tailed kitten
for naming it tor me. wonder how the re-
served victim will stand it'll Uncle Mark,
do believe Hattie Caldwell likes you, and
know she thinks you are pretty, because
heard her say nothing could hurt your good
looks-nothing at all--shc said, even if you
weret to have the smallpox ever 50 bad, you
would be just as good looking as you were
before And ma says she's very smart Very
So no more this time, because General Grant
and Moses are fighting. ANNIE
This child treads on nay toes in every other
sentence, with perfect looseness, but in the
simplicity OF her time of life she dose not
know it,
! consider this model etter--an cminentlv
readable and entertaining letter, and, as | said
before, it contains more matter of interest and
real information than any letter | ever receiv-
ed from the East. | had rather hear about
cats at home and their truly remarkable
names, than listen to lot of stuff about people
am not acquainted with, or read .'The Evil
Effects OF the Intoxicating Bowl" illustrated
on the back with the picture of a ragged seal
lawag pelting away right and lett in the midst
OF his family circle with a junk bottle