Default Metadata, or override by section

  My Dear Friend,

I have to acknowledge the receipt of, not one communication only, this time, but three viz:—your kind postcard of Sept 3rd, your good letter of Sept 4th (wh reached me on Sat Sept 12th) & the copy of the Camden Post for Sept 1st wh arrived here on Sept 14th.

For each & all of these kind missives from your dear hand I now   return you my best and heartiest thanks, as well as for your loving messages to the "little church" wh. I duly delivered.

It touches us all deeply, but more especially myself, that you shd continue to write to us so often & in such good spirits in spite of your "catarrhal crises" "bad days" & general physical disability; & Warry tells me in a letter just recd—& for wh. I should be glad if you would kindly thank him for me—that   you write to few people now except your dear sister & myself. I cannot tell you how that piece of news touched me, filling my heart at once with humiliation and pride; & I can only say thanks, my dear, good old friend, for this signal token of your love, & God bless you now & for ever for it.

I am glad to hear of Dr Bucke's safe arrival at Camden & am wearying to hear about & from J.W.W. the news is now speeding across the Atlantic   & I expect its arrival in England by next mail.

I have had two good letters from HLT full of his pulsating cameraderie & loving kindness. God bless the dear good fellow & his loving helpmeet!

Last Sat I spent a few hours at Blackpool, where my mother, sister & nephew are staying for a few days

It is a town upon the Lancashire Coast, 40 miles from Bolton & a favourite resort of the people of Yorkshire & Lancashire who flock thither [illegible] their thousands in summer to enjoy the grand sea, and the exhilarating, ozonic breezes.

 

The weather was superbly fine & sunny—we have just passed thro' a 4 days hot spell but have now resumed our chronic condition under Jupiter Pluvius—& greatly did I enjoy my brief sojourn "by the sad sea waves."

I had a delicious bathe in the briny tide—then at the full—& spent the rest of the time in delightful loafing upon the splendid beach & in amusing my dear little nephew—donkey-riding, building sandcastles, digging & romping.

The country is now robed in autumn tints, the fields all glowing   with the golden grain ripe for the sickle or standing in "stooks"—the stalwart harvesters busy from rosy morn till dewy eve—some of them working by moonlight—& the sound of the reaping machine filling the air. (By the way it has often struck me that that sound fits in wonderfully with the surrounding of a harvest field tho' it is the voice of a modern machine) (Tace, Ruskin!)

On Friday next (Sept 18th) I purpose taking a week's holiday, spending 3 days of it   at Blackpool with my dear wife & the remainder at Annan, Scotland, among my beloved Kinsfolk & the scenes of my happy boyhood's days.

What a supremely senseless par. that was about you in the N.Y. Advertiser! The truly admirable reply in the Camden Post should "shame the silliness out of" the poor, self-styled critic. When brains become a marketable commodity scriblerus idioticus et hoc genus omne will have a chance. Till then let us pity—& forgive.

Wed Sept 16th 3pm

The mail has just come bringing me letters from you, from Warry & from Wallace! Hurrah! at   last we know that he has seen you face-to-face.

My best thanks to you for your kind letter about him. It does indeed rejoice my heart to hear the glad news from your hand & fills me with inexpressible emotion. Thanks & again thanks to you for your thoughtful kindness.

Warry's letter is a good long one & tells me all the particulars that I longed so much to know. I must try & send him a few lines by this mail.

Wallace's stay was brief but I understand that he is coming back to you on his return journey, & then you will have another good time together. Happy Wallace! Don't I envy him now?

God bless you & all the good folks around you & keep you all from harm is the prayer of

Yours affectionately J. Johnston.

PS Glad to hear that you were in such good trim—for you & that you had been out for a drive.