Dear Bess:

It was my intention to see you at the Orpheum today but Uncle Harrison was taken sick yesterday and I had to stay up all night last night, so therefore I must stay at home.

The mine has gone by the board. I have lost out on it entirely. If Uncle Harry had not been sick I should have gone down there Tuesday evening. It is a setback from which I don't suppose I shall very soon recover. If I don't lose all the livestock I have, it will only be because I shall turn it over to Mamma. I shall join the class who can't sign checks of their own I suppose. It is a hard nut to crack but it has to be done. There was never one of our name who had sense enough to make money. I am n o exception.

I shall endeavor to make the farm go as usual but I'll have to stay on it. My finances are completely exhausted and I suppose they'll remain so for some months to come. Perhaps at some future date I'll get a mine or something that will make money.

We are very uneasy about Uncle Harry. It would just be our luck for him to die now and leave everything he has in a mess. It is to be expected.

I hope you will have some patience with me and let me come down sometimes (when I have the carfare). You would do better perhaps if you pitch me into the ash heap and pick someone with more sense and ability and not such a soft head. My position se ems to be that of following a mule up a corn row rather than directing the centers of finance. I hope I never send you another letter as foolish as this one but I thought I ought to tell you, and if Uncle Harry does not improve I'll have to stay with him.

Very sincerely,

Harry