To his sister Mary.]

St. Louis, Mo.,
Sept. 7th, 1858.

DEAR SISTER:

Your letter was received in due time and I should have answered it
immediately, but that I had mailed a letter from Julia to Jennie the
morning of the receipt of yours. I thought then to wait for two or
three weeks; by that time there was so much sickness in my family, and
Freddy so dangerously ill, that I thought I would not write until his
fate was decided. He was nearly taken from us by the bilious, then by
the typhoid fever; but he is now convalescing. Some seven of the
negroes have been sick. Mrs. Sharp is here on a visit, and she and one
of her children are sick; and Julia and I are both sick with chills
and fever. If I had written to you earlier it would have been whilst
Fred's case was a doubtful one, and I did not want to distress you
when it could have done no good to anyone.--I have been thinking of
paying you a visit this fall, but I now think it extremely doubtful
whether I shall be able to. Not being able to even attend to my hands,
much less work myself, I am getting behindhand, so that I shall have
to stay here and attend to my business. Cannot some of you come and
pay us a visit? Jennie has not answered Julia's letter yet. Did she
receive it? I was coming to the city the day it was written to hear a
political speech, and it was too late to get it in the post office, so
I gave it to a young man to put in the next morning. It is for this
reason I asked the question.

Write to me soon. I hope you have had none of the sickness we have