Letters - Dear Cousin Leon - Yours truly, Alice E. Anderson

Dear Reader,
      The next scores or so of posts will be not my own writings, but correspondences of my Great-Grandfather Leon Gould. This letter is to his cousin, Alice, whom he later married! Great-Grandpa Leon had a large family (of 11 children), and journeyed as secretary to Alexander Smith in the RLDS church before eventually joining the Church of Christ (TL) and becoming an Apostle. His descendants have been blessed with a rich spiritual heritage and many true family accounts of  what can only be called miracles. If you read these letters and are interested in reading more of the Gould family history, look for a book titled "Trek of Faith" by Peggy Tucker. These letters contain the original spelling mistakes and have not been corrected. Feel free to print and keep these letters in your own family history files if you so wish. In the future, a book of Leon's writings will be made available. Enjoy!



                                                                                                               Moose, Beltrami Co.
                                                                                                                  Minnesota
                                                                                                                 Nov. 6, 1898
Mr. Leon Gould,
Henning, Minn.

Dear Cousin Leon:- Your welcome letter reached me Friday the fourth. Was glad to get it you may be sure. I got a letter from Bertha Hunter the same day. I have also taken pity on Lute and wrote him a long letter. Poor boy. I had not written too him before since right away after we got home from Reunion.
A great sister am I not?

     I am enjoying good health. My school is one third out. The remainder of your term will soon fly. I have wondering what you could have been thinking of to have asked me such a question as you did. Where do they have two teachers in the same room? I do not see the need of two because they could not both hear a class recite at the same time, could they? Of course never tried teaching in such a place I can not say how I would like it. I think I would like the nine months part of it alright.

     How about that 4 and 5 question, I do not believe it would right to say 4’s and 5’s are 9’s, because there are no limited about of 4’s and 5’s expressed. We might say six 4’s and 5’s and that would not make an equal number of 9’s at all. Do you see what I am trying to get at?

    You see I do not think that expression, any of it would be right at all. I still cling to the idea that 4 and 5 are 9. Let me give you another proof. Would you, in speaking of a married couple supposing their names were Fred and Fanny, say; Fred and Fanny is one. You see.

My scholars are all in the first ready but two. There are eight enrolled now.

     I will acknowledge that I was mistaken in that point in law but I was not the only one for I heard ma say not long ago that she had always thought the same way that I did and that grandpa Whiting had thought that way too until he looked the matter up. But still if you have any evidence to prove that you were right I would be willing to hear it.

   If I should take a claim up here I would not have to live on it all the time for five years. A day and night or two every six months would not be so bad.

I believe I like the italic type for writing letters better than the other.
You letter head is all right I suppo-se if you really feel that way. Do you head all your letters that way?

    Well it is colder this morning that it has been at all before. We have no snow yet and I am not sorry at all you may be sure, as I do not fancy wading around in the snow. I have been thinking
of taking a trip this afternoon. Up to Moose a foot. I haven’t been there since I came and we have so much trouble about getting our mail that I thought I would like to go myself once. They will keep our mail laying around a week or so and some of the folks here up every two or three days.
Last Sunday I got two books, one was “The Life of Washington” the other “The Life of Lincoln”. I have read some on the last and find it as interesting as a story. There were sent from Springfield, Ohio. I do not see who could have had them sent to me but they are very nice presents and I am very much obliged who ever did it.

    I will send you a piece of poetry that I think is very pretty. I do not know who the author is but would like to,.

    Say you remember I corrected you on the pronunciation of legend one day at the reunion. Well I looked that up, that word up in Webster’s Dictionary, it is the improved or something that way I believe, I do not remember the name for sure but anyway it is pronounced the way I said, legend.
Say, I wish you would pick out the mistakes I make in grammer, writing, and spelling in my letter and tell me of them. If you will I believe it would be a great benefit to me. Now I am going to commence on you by asking you why you put a period after Miss. Is it an abbreviation, if so of what?

    Mrs. Near has been gone nearly all this week so May and I have had to bach, it. We were quite badly freightened one night, it was last Thursday night. There was a large red streak in the sky in the west and another in the north west. We could not imagine what would cause them unless it was big fires way off somewhere, but there were no signs of a fire the next day so do know know what caused it.
If you are not careful you will loose that knight some day for it most always turns out that if a person thinks more if anything that it is worth something will happen to it.

    Maude says that P.S. intends to winder in California. Poor girl I sometimes wonder if she is really reconciled to her fate. I never yet thanked you for taking so much interest in me as to try to get the Supt. to give me a permit, but I do so now. So the Supt. finally sent me a bond for Cetificate after all she did. Say I do not think it quite right for a person to go and find out how another stands in his examinations when he doesn’t want any one to find out.

Well I have run out of anything to write so I shall have to close hoping to hear from you again in the near future.
May is just now making the cats have a fight for amusement.

I still remain---, I was going to say, the same old Alice, but that is a mistake for I am not exactly the same, a person will change as he grows older. So now I will subscribe myself as:
                                                                   
                                                                         Yours truly, Alice E. Anderson.