From William Wright   July 11th 1843.

Cincinnati | July 11th 1843.

My dear Jack

It gave me great pleasure to receive a newspaper from you if it had been a letter it would have met a much heartier welcome as it is I am thankful for small favours and large ones in proportion. It is now a long time since I had the pleasure of hearing from you and I am very anxious to have a line from you I would like to learn from you how all our old acquaintances are getting along. I do not expect that you will be able to give me any account of a number of them. But as you are in a constant correspondence with your Father you must be in possession of a great many incidents that would interest me. So that Jack if you would condescend to take up your pen for five minutes and give me all the particulars you know of any of them you would place me under very great obligations to you I would also like to learn a little about yourself how many sprees,¹ rows, and love scrapes you have been engaged in – Oh I forgot myself for I should remember that you are too sober a man for anything of the kind with the exception of the latter, and as that is part of the nature of an Irishman I may reasonably expect that you have had your share of them. It would give me great pleasure to hear you signify an intention of emigrating to this country nay to this city for it possesses so many opportunities for a young man to acquire the requisite information to enable him to earn an honest independence. I do not mean to confine my remarks to mercantile pursuits. But the Law, Medicine &c. are within the reach of almost every young man here are several schools of medicine, law &c. whose charges and hours of attendance are so regulated that 2/3 of the classes are composed of young men who attend to other occupations in the interim and earn sufficient to defray the expenses of their board and studies. I will state a case which came within my own knowledge. The subject of it is a young Irishman of the name of Lindsay.² He resided for some time in Canada and while there became acquainted and married a young woman also from Ireland. They married in opposition of their friends and as it usually happens they were cast upon the world friendless pennyless and inexperienced but I saw him a few days after his arrival. At the time he was relating some of his misfortunes to a teacher of book-keeping with whom I was at the time learning, by accident I overheard the conversation it consisted of his having travelled very far and a great portion of the way on foot in search of employment and being unsuccessful in his applications, and it ended in his asking the teacher if he could give him some employment I was sorry when I heard the teacher say it was not in his power. A few days after his case became known to an Irishman of the name of Andrews,³ and he interested himself about him and after a short time procured for him employment in a lawyer’s office. After some time he commenced studying and will in the course of a few months receive his diploma to practice. That is only one case of the hundreds which happen in Cincinnati. I will give you another, A few years ago a very young lad was doing business in dry goods⁴ stores his father had died some years previous and left him unprovided for. Some of his father’s acquaintances procured for him the situation with dry good stores. Whilst there some law books fell into his hands and it struck him that he might obtain a knowledge of the law and he commenced studying and in a short time he went through a regular course of studies and is now a good lawyer in good practice. So that on the whole there are a great many advantages which we possess over the old country. But it is our children which possess them all – education is so abundantly supplied by the State to all children who are not able to pay for it.⁵ It you should ever think of coming out make straight for Cincinnati and in it you shall find as hearty and as welcome a reception as you would wish. In fact I have been for some time looking forward to the day that I would be able to grasp your hand in the streets of this goodly city. I do not see any hindrance to your at once starting except that of leaving your honoured parents. Since I last wrote to you I have been informed of my poor Father’s death.⁶ It was a sore trial to me to me to be so far away from him in his last hours for I have ever been his favourite. His last days have been days of suffering and trial. May his all forgiving Saviour pardon his offences and give him that peace and happiness which the world and all its gifts could not bestow. I will now give you some particulars about myself I have been blessed with another lovely child a little girl – she is now a month old and is as large and plump as a child of three months. I haved called her Kate after my revered Mother. May she resemble her in her many virtues is my most ardent wish and prayer. I am getting along in business and at present am in treaty for an old and established Stand which my aunt is about giving up. If I succeed it will be a very fortunate move for me. It is a dry goods stores which she occupied, and made a vast deal of money in, within the last ten years. Since we commenced business here I and my wife have acquired a knowledge of the dry goods trade so that I can now measure a yard of calico⁷ as well as weigh a pound of tea or a cwt.⁸ of iron as I have done since I came here. It is not often that a person in the old country learns 2 or 3 different business in 2 years. But it often happens here that a man who is in the grocery line now will in two years hence be in the hard ware line or erecting a steam saw mill on the Arkansas river or a distillery on the Rio Grande in Mexico. But what will surprise and probably please you most about myself is that within the present month I have had an operation performed upon my left eye for squinting and it has succeeded admirably. I am now nearly free of any deformity and the surgeon has guaranteed that within 3 months it will be impossible to discover which has been defected. I will endeavour to give you a sketch of the operation;⁹ you may recollect that my left eye turned inwards. The patient is placed upon his back and a large spectacles with the glasses out is fixed and made tight upon the face then small silver wire is placed under the upper eye lid and then made fast to the spectacles the same is done to the lower lid in order to keep eye open, the muscle is then taken up on a small instrument with a hook on the point. This muscle is then detached from the eye it almost immediately reverts to its proper position. The cause of squinting is occasioned by one of the muscles being too short or contracted when it is detached the eye naturally goes into its proper place after 14 days the muscle again attaches itself to the eye but further back and a uniform action takes place. What is very singular, there is very little pain and no loss of time occasioned by the operation. After it was performed it felt like as if there was a quantity of sand thrown into it, that was the only inconvenience I felt and that only for one evening. I am obliged to close on account of the post office closing.¹⁰ I have not received a letter from you for the last 6 months you must on receipt of this immediately sit down and make me amends for it. I sent you and am sending with this some newspapers, please to let my mother know you had heard from me I am not writing to them by this packet¹¹ and I would like them to know I am well. Give my best respects and love to your Father and his family Sarah¹² joins with me in kind regards and good wishes for your welfare she expects one day to have the pleasure of grasping the hand of her husband’s earliest and best friend in which wish I heartily join and remain

ever yours | William Wright

I have lately heard of some of your productions in poetry appearing in the public press I think you might at least have sent me a copy for inspection particularly as it related to some of our loved haunts¹³ please do not put me to the trouble of asking for it again. I must not forget to return you my thanks for your newspapers I have received some of them were from my brother-in-law and I admire them very much adieu | W. Wright

You are now two letters in my debt and I don’t give long credit – so pay up Jack.

RI MS JT/1/5/1808–10

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