Paul Family Letters 11 - 20

 H. Brayton Paul Family Letters, 11 - 20

11]  Oxford N. Y.  Mar. 9-1899

Dear Cousin Walter

I ought to have answered your letter before. I thought your letter was very nice.

Christmas I got a necktie and a pair of slippers and some home made candy. Down to the Christmas tree I got a picturebook and a box of candy. I go to school and I study arithmetic spelling and a third reader. My teachers name is Mr. Nearing and I think he is a good teacher.

The baby is 01 months old Papa and Mama are pretty well. School begins the 27 of March.

Raymond E Paul

Your cousin

[ Note attached by WEP: Raymond was about my age and the Son of father’s brother Eugene.]

[ Written on same kind of paper as letter 10; no envelope exists.]

12]  Barnum Minn  Dec 15  1896

Dear Walter

We were writing letters for our grammer lessons so I thought I would write you few lines. Albert Vaughn and me are thinking about going to your place.

I would like for you to the Christmas tree and I would for you to stay with me all night if you could and we will have a nice time I am learning good at school I hope they will have your sister for to teach us next term.

Our school will be out next friday and then we have vacation

So-good by

From Neil Scott

[ Note attached by WEP: This was one of Grace’s pupils when she taught 2 miles east of Barnum. The Albert Vaughn here mentioned Committed Suicide soon after,- Claiming he had been snubbed by one of the girls in his class.]

[ Written in red ink on 5 1/2 X 8 3/4" light blue lined tablet paper; on the reverse side is written in dark blue ink--How do you like my letter?; envelope 5 5/8 X 3 1/2" addressed in red ink--Master Walter Paul, Barnum Minn, Carlton County--with no evidence of having had an affixed stamp, and envelope is addressed upside down.]

13]  Moose Lake Minn  April 8 1899

Dear Walter

I am glad to see you I am is well and my brother too and we have nice time now and snow is all gone and when the spring-time was come then we have nice time we play on the crick with the boat and we swim on the water and the bird singing all time and when the winter come then the bird was all gone. and we got two little dog and two little calfs and I give to you two rabbit Steve give one and I give one and you give too him hay and clover potatoes and oats and water maybe little box to him then he going to sleep to the box and I got no more to write this time.

Your Truly

Joe Berlik     

Moose Lake Minn

[ Note attached by WEP: Joe Berlik, one of my Schoolmates at Split Rock]

[ Written in pencil on 5 3/44 X 8" blue lined tablet paper, darkened by age; no envelope exists.]

14]  Barnum Minn  Oct. 23, 06

Dear Friend Walter.-

Put on your best togs and come to Mr. Herberts next Saturday night, of course I mean if it doesn’t rain. And I think Clara will be there and go home with you. We are twisting and planning every way so we can all be there.

Now be sure to come.

Your friend

Pearl

[ WEP wrote in pencil below Pearl's signature: Pearl Curtis.]

[ Written in ink on 5 X 8" watermarked tablet stationery; envelope address- Mr. Walter Paul, Barnum Minn; postmark shows- Barnum Oct-- 12 M 1906 Minn.; the postage is a red Washington two cent stamp.]

Dear Friend

Clara said to tell you to bring the two rigs as Miss Cameron wants to go with us.

In haste

Pearl

[ One cent U. S. Postal Card with McKinley picture in the stamp location; in the upper left is the oval seal of the United States of America; the postmark shows- Bar--- --nn. Nov-- 10 AM 1906 Rec’d.]           

15]  Bemidji, Minn.,  Feb. 13-1900

Dear Brother Walter,-

I see you have been practicing writing. Am not sure but what you are about the best writer in the family now. Am so glad you all have a chance to go to school this winter. How long will it last and how much do you have to pay?

Tell Mother I am not sure how much cloth I got for that star quilt but think it was about 12 yd. for lining and all. I see by my old account book that it cost 72cts but the number of yards is not down. Think I calculated eight for lining and four to set it together with.

I think one of my skirt patterns will do all right for Clara if it is made a little shorter and perhaps narrower. Will try to send one of some kind before long. Is she going to have a new dress? Tell her if I don’t forget it when I come down I will bring her my black dress that Alice made for me. The waist is so narrow for me that it is very uncomfortable to work in and the skirt is altogether too short to wear afternoons. But it will make a real nice dress for her.

If it is not too late, tell Father not to pay the freight on the organ when he sends it. I will pay that when it comes.

We had another five dollar wedding last week.

We have that big rug that the Indians were making for us. It is a dandy.

Guess there is nothing more of importance to write this time, so will stop writing and go down town with George.

It is very cold here this week. Write often.

With much love to you all from

Grace

[ Written in black ink on 8 X 9 7/8" paper with pale blue lines running lengthwise, the sheet folded in half across the middle to make four pages, three with the letter; on the last page W  PAUL is rubber stamped about ten times; no envelope exists.]

16]  Monday, Evening

Dear Ralph,

How are you?

Today before supper I went out side to bring in some wood and I went over to look at the rat trap I set by the brick pile were his hole is. It was quite dark ans I couldn’t see very well, I saw that the trap was sprung, I came in the house and got the flashlight, I went outside looked at the trap, it was sprung but there was no rat, although there were fresh tracks all around it (The trap) was on its side.

How cold  or how warm is down there? “It’s quite fair here.”

Saturday I went the show, the name of the show was “Pepper”

I haven’t much to say now and it is getting along towards bedtime.

Your Brother,

Kenneth

P.S. Did you get Dad’s card?

[ Written in pencil on crisp unlined paper 8 1/2 X 11"; the letter size post office envelope has the round purple and white embossed three cent stamp with the head of Washington in profile; the return address is- Kenneth Paul, 711 Minn. Ave. (Bemidji, Minn. is preprented) and the mailing address is- Ralph Paul, St, Paul, Minn. with C/O N. P. Hospital in the lower left corner; the postmark is dated Oct 19, 1936, 9 pm.]

17]  Moose Lake, Minn.  Nov. 25-1897

Dear Brother Walter,

I expect it is “Thanksgiving” to day and so am having a holiday and will write to you as it must be about your turn now, don’t you think so? But really I don’t know what to write as it seems hardly no time since I wrote before and every-thing is moving along just the same now as it was then. We are both real well and hope you all are the same.

Yesterday it snowed real hard nearly all day so Mrs. Kwapick got the sleighs ready and drove down to school after us. Her horses have no shoes on and they slipped quite badly crossing the river but the snow was deep enough over the ice so they got across the first time all right but coming back “Queen” fell flat almost as quick as she got onto the ice but she got up and the “King” fell down and floundered around like everything. The boys put hay on the ice before she drove on but it did not seem to help much. Mrs. K. was terribly frightened, but the boys unhitched the horses and finally got them across all right and then we all got out and pulled and pushed the sleigh across. She is going to get it chopped up or fixed some way so we can get across all right to go to Moose Lake Saturday. It has snowed nearly all day to-day too. Andrew was out nearly all forenoon looking for partridges but saw none. He has shot three and we have two of them frozen up in our “refrigerator” now.

I suppose you are quite busy, now that Andrew is away, doing chores etc. I think I shall always board myself after this when teaching school, and it will be your turn to come and stay with me and go to school next time. as I am afraid Ma could hardly spare Clara.

What do you think, there was only one scholar in my school (except Andrew, of course) who knew what I meant by the “earth.” Perhaps they knew what it was in Polish but did not know what the English word meant.

Well there doesn’t seem to be much to write so I will have to stop. You can write to me some time and you need not take pains to make it real nice but just scribble off a lot of something.

Your loving sister  Grace

[ Written across the top of the first page in purple pencil: Friday evening. Last night I dreamed that Melvin was bothering you and in trying to push him away I knocked his head against the house so hard that Ma said she heard him swear. I woke myself up crying over it I felt so bad because he swore and I had hurt him.  G.]

[ Written in black ink on 5 X 7 3/4" smooth tablet paper with light blue lines, two sheets, four pages of writing; the address is- Master Walter Paul, Barnum Minn.; the postmark shows-Nov. 27, 1897, 11 AM.]

18]  Moose Lake, Minn.  Nov. 25-1897

Dear Sister Clara,-

Andrew and I were wondering which you had for your Thanksgiving dinner, spare rib or bear steak, we had mutton stew and it was fine. I baked bread this morning so as to have enough to last over Sunday as I can not bake Saturday if I go to town. This afternoon I am boiling some beets for the first time. Guess I shall get another kettle as I need it quite badly. This morning Mrs. K. gave me nearly a quart of milk and said I was not to put it on the book because it was for Thanksgiving. And when I went to get potatoes for dinner my sack was nearly empty and she said take what more I needed out of her sack and not  measure them because it was Thanksgiving day. So I took just a few but Pelagia (the oldest girl) would not let me go untill she had heaped my dish up as full as she could carry it and then took along a handfull besides. Nothing pleases the children more than to do some little thing for me. Little Stella (about 2 years old, or more) comes in nearly every day to shake hands with me but they can never get her to come untill she is sure her hands are perfectly clean. This morning after she was washed and combed she came in and I decorated her in great shape with chrysanthemums. She was wonderfully pleased but never says a word to me. Mrs. K. is real jolly and we have lots of fun. She went to one of the neighbors a little while ago and when she came in to say good bye she said she was going to see if she could find a place to stay to-night because there were so many here that there was no room for her. When she comes back I am going to tell her she can’t stay here and will have to go on to the next house.

Tell Ma I may not write next week because I don’t expect there will be much of any thing to write and of course I am real busy all the time. So if you don’t hear from me next week you may know we are all well and everything all right. Hope to get this mailed in time for you to get it this week Saturday So far we have used about 33 lbs. of potatoes, and we don’t scrimp eather.

Have not had my mail since Andrew came but shall expect a letter from home when I get it again.

Must stop now and fix my beets.

With much love to all

from Grace

[ Written in black ink on the same kind of paper as letter 17; no envelope exists.]

19]  [No inside address or date]

Dear Mother,-

I have just finished eating supper and thought while I was letting it “settle” and waiting for Andrew to finish I would tell you what an awfully  good appetite I have. the only trouble is I can’t hold all I would like to eat, everything tastes so good, it seems something as it was after having the fever. So I guess I shant get very poor this winter. Well Andrew is through and sits here whistling with his feet up on my trunk so I must stop and wash my dishes. I see there is about a spoonful of those warmed up potatoes left and they were so good with that gravy we had left from dinner that I wish I could eat them but I am so full now they will have to wait. 

In haste.

Grace

I am drinking tea to my heart’s content, and Andrew thinks it nice to have all the tea & coffee he wants.

G.

In town Saturday. Had a nice long ride this morning and did not get very cold. just got a letter from Arthur.

All well. In haste

Grace

[ The three letters immediately above are stapled together by WEP with drawings by Andrew and this note by WEP:  Written while Andrew was attending school with Grace in Split Rock. Note his map=on one side the immediate surroundings of the Kwapick house=on the opposite side a map of the surrounding Country. The Sketch he made of a log house shows the side addition in which Grace boarded herself, and we three children while we were with her.]

[ Written in ink on paper as before; the first postscript is in ink, the second in pencil; no envelope exists.]

20]  Moose Lake, Minn.  Feb. 6-1898

Dear Brother Walter,-

Andrew is writing to Clara this time so I will write to you.

I went to church to-day to see the shows. There were lots of people there, and five babies to be Christened but the father of one  of them had not paid enough to the church so guess that one did not get Christened. You just ought to have heard them holler when the God-fathers took them, it seemed as though their throats would split, but then it was a chang from the singing I had heard so much of.

You wrote that Arthur was skidding logs now. Does he get the same wages as before?

I see you and Clara have been practicing vertical writing and you both do real well. Let me know when you get your copies nearly finished and I will try to send you some more. We enjoyed those nice long letters so much. Expect Mr. Berlik will get my mail to-morrow and I will try to send this by him Wednesday, as he is going with cord-wood every other day this week.

We are very anxious to hear if the money has come for the fox skin yet. We don’t understand why they didn’t send it right back, or do they have to sell the skin first?

Yes, we have received one package of papers and expect another when we get the mail.

A man from Duluth came down to Moose Lake a short time ago on purpose to sell me an organ, but found that I was too far from town for him to call on me, so wrote a letter and went back, but sold one in M. L. He is working for the “Duluth Music Co.” I also had a letter from the “Hoare Music Co.” saying they had an $85 organ which had been used about one year that I could have for $40 cash before Feb. 1. They said Carrie was in the store while they were writing I had written to her asking a few questions about buying an organ. I shall send a letter to the Cornish Co. and one to the Hoare Co. this week.

My scholars are learning pieces now for the last day of school. We only have 2 1/2 mo. more and that will soon be gone, the time passes so rapidly with us. Well, there doesn’t seem to be much to write so may as well stop and snatch a few minutes to read. Don’t know whether I will write next week or not, will wait and see if there is any thing to write. Expect they are having a nice time over to Mike K’s to-night as they have a keg of beer there in honor of that baby.

We are getting along finely and hope you are all well. I send a letter to Aunt Lydia this week too. All write when you can.

Much love to you all from.

Grace

[ Note attached by WEP: Written from “Split Rock” where she was teaching.]

[ Written in black ink on 5 X 7 7/8" paper with faint blue lines; no envelope exists.]