My dear Brother,

I wrote you a few lines a week ago and was taken down sick again, but now am up and hope that weather and quietness will favor [sic] me till I get a little toughened when I will try and fill up a large space, which quite frightens me, in the waist band of my trousers. No use talking the expectation of an attack of Pneumonia is not a cheerful thing to look in the face, but am thankful to my friend and my God that it turned out so well.

Tomorrow if it is pleasant and warmer shall go out.

Mrs. Ackerman has been confined to her room for a month, there has been a doubt as to the disease and I am opposed by all, but hope to come out right, if it is to be a fatal disease; altho' prefer to be wrong if she can, recover entirely.

Don't forget to send Mrs. Mary E. Flanders a photo of father if you can find.¹ I have just received a queer letter from her, but shall not answer it till the Probate court day is past and am too late. I do not want any money from any of the family nor do I want to be mixed up in any of their affairs.² Aunt Kate did not mention that I had any claim there, when she wrote me, so suppose she either did not intend for me to know or intended for me to find out, of course it was the animus I looked at not the amount, but as I said I am sick, thank fortune, and can keep out of trouble. Love to all and well wishes for yourself and a kiss for Miss "Tiny" (correct or no correct)³ I am.

Yours Sincerely

Calvin B. McQuesten

¹ Mary E. (Lerned) Flanders and Kate (Catharine) are the sisters of Dr. Calvin Brooks' mother Margarette B. (Lerned) McQuesten who died on July 13, 1841. On May 13, 1875 Dr. Calvin returned a signed statement to H.E. Perkins when requested. It read: "Mr. McQuesten, will you please sign the deed and return the same to McQuesten to the Misses Lerned, Hopkinton. Lucy will write you from Hopkinton." Calvin noted on the reverse side "signed before Notary Public Rublin Burbell and certified from Mr. Walsh County Clerk and mailed May 13, 1875" (W1426). Lucy was also a sister of Margarette (Lerned) McQuesten.

² Mary (Lerned) Flanders was trying to inherit her deceased half-sister Elizabeth Lerned's meagre estate. See W1067 and footnote for more information on the lawsuit.

³ The spelling is indistinct here (possibly in Latin). Dr. Calvin Brooks wrote "Tiny" in large letters and he may be suggesting that the one-year old baby, Mary Baldwin McQuesten, who was given the sobriquet at birth (March 20, 1874), was no longer "Tiny" in size.