My dear little Cally,

It seems as if we had lost you altogether, so long ago it is since you left us.¹ I hope you are feeling a great deal stronger. Today is Thanksgiving day. In the morning we went to church and in the afternoon went down to the orchard to see Mrs. Bettles and Tom. You must know they have left Hespeler and are back living at the orchard. Mrs. Bettles was asking for you. The orchard is quite bare now; Peter has gathered in all the apples and pears and was bringing in the roots to-day. We had a very lonely dinner to-day. Tiny, Hilda & Ruby went to Grandpapa McQuesten's and it made us very sad to think of so many being away. Last year Uncle Calvin [Brooks McQuesten]was here and Grandmama and Muriel, and to-day there were only four at the table.² You must be having a great time of it in New York, going to the Parks and seeing all the sights. I wish you could write yourself and tell us all about it. We got Jone's photograph the other day, it is pretty good but not so pleasant looking as he is, for he had got to be, generally, a very happy laughing little fellow. Tell Uncle Calvin I have just received his card and will write him in a few days. The children do not forget you, they are always [part of the letter missing].

¹ Calvin was born with some disability in his left hand and some weakness on his left side, and this continued throughout his life. Calvin did go to stay with his uncle for treatment for a time in 1882. See W4297, W4301, W4305, W4309. Calvin also suffered from the family's mental illness or nervous disease and had frequent breakdowns when under stress. See W5317, W8734.

² Mary's mother had died on August 12, 1882 and her fifth child Muriel passed away only a few weeks later on August 27 at the age of 20 months.