Dear Friends one and all

i take this opportunity to drop you a few lines for the first time to let you know that we are all well and hope you are enjoying the same blessing. We received a letter from you under the date of July 7th and one later from Grandma - Winters chilling blast have come and the snow is descending in sheets. We have been gathering corn for some time and pa is painting in town - us boys dont get to work in the shop much as it requires all our time on the farm and we have such a big one now - we have over 25 acres in wheat and 40 acres in corn and are going to fence in a large pasture this winter - i would like to see you all again but i suppose i will have to content myself with this country for some time to come yet but if i live i expect to visit that country sometime - Politics have been raging high in this country - the election is over and the Democrats seem to have carried the day in these diggings however each party seems confident of success.
i suppose you have heard of the Kansas difficulty which is now presumed to be at a close and come out a stave - at that you ought to see how our little town of Kirkville has improved in after years a printing press is new established in town and a steam mill is now in course of construction.
i have nothing of much interest to write but thought i write a few lines to let you know that i could i would have wrote ere this if i had got letters from you - i hope all you folks will write and write to me - write all about little frank and the rest of the folks - i suppose by the time this reaches its destination it will be Christmas so now I will close by wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.