South Dedham
Jan.6, 1862
Dear Friend,
I received your kind letter containing another for your
father which I have forwarded enclosed in a letter to Mr. Gleave. Your father & mother and many others will
be very glad to receive it.
I have no news to give you about Dedham. I have not been there since Election Day. Everything looked __ and dismal enough then,
I assure you. I saw Mr. Calder, he was enquiring
about you. He said Russele & Baker’s mill did run only a few days at a time
when they got orders enough to make it worth their while to start. There is a great number of men gone from
about here to be soldiers. The
population of South Dedham is very much reduced since the war is begun and the
business gone so bad. Miss Haley Morse
& Bagden are doing a little business making machines for wringing clothes
dry after washing and perhaps they and perhaps they are doing a little on furniture,
but not much. The Everetts started
their mill in October running 8 hours a day.
How long it will last is very uncertain.
They employ only a few men. You
never saw such hard times as there are here now. I have no doubt you are much better off in
the west than you would be if you were here now. And when
the trouble is going to end, who can tell?
It seems as if Old England was going to make bad worse. The traders Riddle & Mason left
Provincetown on the Cape 3 nights ago in a British gun boat at 6 o’clock
PM. At about half past 6 o’clock it
commenced blowing the most terrible gale of wind I ever saw and continued so all
night. The gale has done much damage. There is nothing known about them as I know
of yet. If they did escape a watery
grave they must have been very near it.
I have made a very good cavalry saddle tree such as I used to make for
the ___ Royal Horses. George Everett has
taken it to Washington. IT is being
finished with the leather work there and when it is ready it will be shown to
some of the leading men in that department.
I saw Frank Baker, who ___ of Dedham a short time since he
said he had written to you but he had not received any answer. His brother is First Lieutenant in the Dedham
Company of the 18th Mass. Volunteers.
Please not to trouble yourself about sending me any postage
stamps. I was very glad to have your
letter to send. Mr. Gleave wrote that your parents were very
uneasy about you, and I shall be very glad to hear from you again when it is
your pleasure to write.
My family are in good health and doing well.
I am most truly yours,
Thomas G. Price
I
have not heard anything about Mr. French since I wrote to you before.
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