Letter, Kate Gleason to James Gleason
A letter from Kate Gleason to her brother, James Gleason. Kate discusses money and Jim’s school exams and tells him that he can linger in Ithaca before returning to work at the family’s tool shop in Rochester. She hints that there have recently been some bad accidents at the shop. She updates Jim on the family’s yacht, their new cook, and upcoming plans of her various social clubs.
[page 1]
William Gleason,
Manufacturer of Machinists Tools,
Office, Brown’s Race,
Rochester, N.Y., June 4th. 1889
Dear Jim,-
Enclosed please find the $80 as requested. This makes
$485 I have sent you this year which is well within the appropri-
ation and you are to be congratulated on your economy. You can
do as you like about staying over to take “O.W.J.”, I suppose if you
try it this time, it will make your chances better of passing next
time you try. But I should think that unless the spring exam’s
in it are unusually easy, you would not have much chance of getting
through for by this time you must be rather rusty in a study you took
last fall and you won’t have any time to bohn up on it. Father
does’nt care whether you stay over another week or not, no one has
lost an arm or a leg in the shop in the last twenty-four hours so
that the gloom is beginning to clear away.
George was expected home
to-morrow but I do not see the arrival of his ship in the morning
paper and as he does not reach Rochester until the day after his boat
reaches New York, he probably will not be here until Thursday or after.
I can’t give you any information as to whether the boys have
changed the Modjeska’s keel or not. You will be surprised when
you find out how little we see of those fellows now. I am not sure I
would be able to recognize any of them on the street, it’s so long
since I have seen them. But you will not find that Emma and I are
any thinner in consequence of this neglect of us. The fact is we
[page 2]
are both tired of that crowd and I think you must be too so we won’t
any of us shed any tears over their dereliction.
We have a new cook, one who used to work for Emma before her
father married again. She is all right so far and we are in hopes
she will be an improvement on the last one we had.
One of the members
of the German Club, Miss Pfaefflin, was married Saturday. She is
living in the William Allen residence on Lake Av. and has invited
the club down to a reception. You remember the last reception held
in that mansion was a political one and turned out badly for the
host, -this one won’t be so tragic.
The Ignorance Club is to have a
picnic on the 13th. and there are a number of celebraties coming to
it. I am going to take a half a day off for it and Father is med-
itating on being one of our distinguished guests, in case he can af-
ford to leave the shop that day.
I spent an hour of my valuable time
this morning talking to Sam Brickner who is a Delta U living in the
D.U. club house in New York City. That is why this N.Y. dft. is
so sort of worn out, it was from rolling it back and forth in my
hand while talking to him. He and I decided to have a re-union
banquet of our Free Academy class so that I suppose I may look for-
ward to a good square meal sometime during the next two weeks.
Lovingly,
Kate.