Letter, Kate Gleason to James Gleason
A letter from Kate Gleason to her brother, James Gleason. Kate discusses minor business matters and expresses the hope that the company can make enough in May to last through the summer. She asks if Jim has seen the house that she has bought. She notes the greater number of women in Ithaca (presumably meaning an increase in the number of women attending college), and wonders if she should have gone to a “young ladies” school to be “polished.”
[page 1]
Ithaca, May 20, 1888.
Dear Jim;-
Your two letters in one
week have almost stunned
me; is this a sign that
you like to write letters
now? In regard to that
expressage on the Kerr – Murray
gears, you better show the re-
ceipt they sent you to the
express [illegible] and get the $675
we paid them back. I
think there will be no diffi-
culty for they gave us back
the money all right, the time
they charged the expressage
on the [oysters?] which [Uncle?]
Andrew had already prepaid.
The bill was not sent
[page 2]
to [Noble & Hace?] for the
racks because the price
we had contracted to do
them for, $150 each, was
too little. You remember, on
account of a projection
on them you could’nt get
as many on the machine as
you figured on and when
I asked Papa about making
out the bill, he had’nt time
to look the matter up to tell
whether he ought to stick to
the contract price or charge
by the hour.
I hope we will get some
more orders because we
usually have to take in
enough in May to last through
the summer and those on
the books when I left must
be pretty well filled.
[page 3]
What do you think of my
coming home? You know I’m
perfectly ready to come any
time and if it would be
apt to please the folks much
more to see me now than a
month from now, – I would like
to know it.
There are a great many more
girls here now than the last
time I lived here but I
doubt whether the quality has
changed. The beauties are
not numerous enough to escape
all attention. I was just
thinking this afternoon that it
might have been better for me
to take the course Mamma
recommended. – spend those
three years at a fashionable
girl’s young ladies school where
I might have acquired a polish
that would stand me in better
[page 4]
stead when meeting customers
than the solid knowledge
I have gained here.