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W2458 TO DR. CALVIN BROOKS MCQUESTEN from his brother Isaac McQuesten
Nov 6 1875 [estimated date, incorrect in Calendar]1
To: Dr. Calvin Brooks McQuesten [New York]
From: Hamilton, Ontario

My dear Brother,

You had better go & have beefsteak & truffles & champagne out of this draft for it is a case where you may not inaptly

Place your thumb on your nose
And spread your fingers wide

At me, for I relied on sending them as before, all charges payable on delivery. Instead of which I had to pay freight to bridge, for which you will find receipt; and then make a deposit on a/c of duties, a copy of which I make on back hereof. So if you pay them, see that the receipt expresses it clearly, & then return at once to me, so that I may present it here. However meantime the draft had been got, so bray away. Confound it! I did more internal & external too, execrating of Yankee & Yankee rascality, than I have ever done before. The Counsel deliberately stated that he was entitled to fees amounting to some $6 or $8 before question of amt. of duty came in at all; but on going to a R.R. official whom I knew & found the whole statement to be untrue & that nothing should be paid him. Pure laziness alone prevented my giving him the money then & bringing him before the Police Magistrate for obtaining money under false pretenses.

You are the dirtiest, lousiest, meanest, most cowardly and tricky nation that the Almighty ever cursed the earth with. Well, we'll drop the subject.

Why don't you out of regard for Mary get a pug. By-the-way is the Spitz2 male or female. You speak of 'he' & 'her'. Oh that I could have fifty dogs all in the house at the same time. Thrice happy is that man to whom his wife will allow such delights.

Made 130 or 140 galls of wine this year.3 Do not know how it will turn out, but gave it more care this year than it has ever had before. Let me hear of safe arrival of etc. Hope they will give some good bellyaches.

As ever yours,

I.B. McQuesten

[Written at bottom sideways:]
(Copy) (Form F.105)
Great Western Railways,
Freight Department
Hamilton Station, Nov 4 noon 1875
Received from Mr. I.B.
McQuesten $7.11 deposit on a/c duty &c on 11 Bble apples.

T.J. Lymkey

[The bill is enclosed:]
"11 B[?] apples. Owner's risk of freezing P. Paid $2.89."

T.J. Lymkey

[Enclosed with letter but not transcribed here is a list of 21 General Notices and Conditions of Carriage.]

1 The date on the letter is written as 6/11/75. The date in the Calendar is written as June 11, 1875, but this is likely incorrect since the Bill from the Railway is dated November 4, 1875 and states that there is some risk of freezing. So the letter should be dated Nov. 11, 1875. See also Calendar for W2458, which is written as June 11, 1875, and should be Nov. 6, 1875, and W2466 which is written 9/11/75 and interpreted as Sept. 11, and likely should be Nov 9, 1875.

2 "Spitz" is a group of dogs including the Alaskan Husky, Alaskan Malamute, Chow Chow, and Pomeranian breeds, as well as many others. In W4275, Mary Baker McQuesten had asked her brother-in-law to find a "white spitz" for the family, which may indicate that the McQuesten's dog was a White German Spitz, a breed which originated in Germany in the late stone age (approximately 3000 B.C.).

3 See also W2476 in which Isaac is making champagne. Isaac developed an early dependency on Alcohol (CMQPW 8). See W2275, W2511, W2520, E2-2, and others.


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Copyright 2002 Whitehern Historic House and Garden
The development of this website was directed by Mary Anderson, Ph.D. and Janelle Baldwin, M.A.
Please direct questions and comments to Mary Anderson, Ph.D.

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