October 15, 1904

From: Joseph Gleasure, The Square, Listowel, Ireland
To: Frank Gleasure, 459 Cambridge Street Allston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

My Dear Brother,

I hope the arrival of this letter will find you in perfect health.  I got the letters you were talking about and Annie said she would write so it was pretty late when she wrote.  I gave her some photographs to send you too.  They are not as good as I would wish them to be.  I hadn't time to take the children right, but I might around Christmas again.

We had the races last Tuesday and Wednesday.  They passed off very quiet.  My father is a little hoarse after them, for he was up the first night.  Annie met with an accident too the second night.  There is a merry-go-rounds in the Square and she went up and got dizzy, and a couple town's fellows brought her in in a fainting condition.  So when she was inside the door, she fainted altogether and didn't get out of it for about five or six hours.  The doctor made nothing of it, but she looked very bad for a while.  She is alright again.  It was the best races we had yet in the line of business.

I hope your hands are alright again.  Bridge Dillane got married last summer and their is nobody at home now, only the old couple.

I suppose you didn't go out to South Natick for a long time.  Miss Reardon would like to see you out again.  I got some civil service papers from her last summer.  They are a lot easier than the Civil Service examinations over here, but I think a fellow would do well in a big shipping store or some kind of a firm over there.  I am getting on very fair with my studies over here and I think after this year at school I would be alright.  I would like now if I was going over, but still I would be lonely in going away and leaving them all here.  The time wasn't long going since you left three years ago.

There are going to build a gymnasium hall in the sports field this winter.  I am using the dumb-bells all the time and I can put up a half wt. very easy.

We had fairly good weather up til this week, but today it is raining all the time and is very cold.  We will have enough of rain now til next Spring again.

I am sending you some photographs this time.  There are a couple of goods one there.  But they are not rightly finished off.  I got those tintype photos you sent.  You didn't change very much in your features.  My father wasn't pleased with them at all.  He said you should go to a right photographer when you were about it at all.  We would all like you to take your picture right the way we could show them to our friends.  Father said he wouldn't show those tintype pictures to nobody, for they would be saying you couldn't get them taken any other way.

I hope you will get back firing again before long, for if you got to be a driver you are alright.  As I have no more of interest to say.  I will remain

Your loving brother,

Joseph Gleasure