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Letter from Mattie V. Oblinger to Thomas Family, May 19, 1873

Courtesy of the Nebraska State Historical Society, Oblinger Family Collection

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May 19^th 1873
At Home in our own house and a sod at that And just eat dinner

Dear friends as I have an opportunity to send a letter to the office I will send you a few hastly composed lines Billie Mote come to our house saturday {Begin deleted text}evening{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}morning{End inserted text} he is going to Grafton this afternoon so I will not have time to write much We have considerable of rain since I came here Saturday night it rained very hard It is too wet to plant corn some are ready but have to wait a day or so for the ground to dry off The plants and shrubery that I brought I put on Giles place I was looking at them last evening they look very promising the Dialetre especialy We went to Mr Cambels yesterday to church and sabbath school They live seven miles south of here The minister failed to come so there was society meeting Mr Cambels are real Kentuckians wish you could hear them talk We took dinner with them Uriah & Billie are talking U A C is lying on the {Begin deleted text}bed{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}Lounge{End inserted text} and Ella is teasing him for his book We moved in to our house last Wednesday (U. W. O birthday ) I suppose you would like to see us in our sod house It is not quite so convenient as a nice frame but I would as soon live in it as the cabins I have lived in and then we are at home which makes it more comfortable I ripped our Waggon sheet in too have it arround too sides and have several papers up so the boys think it looks real well the Uriahs¹ made a bed stead and a Lounge so could have some thing to sleep on The only objection I have we have no floor yet will be better this fall I got one tea cup & saucer and the corner of the glass on the little hero picture broken Pretty good luck I think my goods got here two days before I did Uriah had taken them out to Mr Houks Uriah was plowing sod this fore noon talks of planting some this after noon he has twenty acres surounded have ten of it broke Doc & Billie & Uriah C stayed with us I know you would have laughed to see us fixing their bed we set bo{Begin inserted text}x{End inserted text}es to the side of the Lounge and enlarged Uriahs bed for all of them We enjoyed the fun and they enjoyed their bed as much as if they had been in a nice parlor bed room U. C.² & Doc sung while I got supper They call Doc Sam out here sounds very odd to me wish you could see his whiskers shaved all off but what is on his chin an lip I told him I wanted some to send you but he could not see it He has worked one day at his house I have got acquainted with some here They are not hard to get acquainted The boys went to Sutton Saturday after noon I went along to see the town and country on our way we seen three Antelopes U C shot at them for fun Charlie if you was here you would never get done looking for you can see ever so far comeing from Sutton we could see the Co seat which was eleven miles from us We got a letter from you U C says tell Kate D that he gloreis in her spunk and for peace and joy to go with her but She must not do so when she comes to Neb There is some here looks as though they would like if some girls would come around I am real sorry to hear of Aunt Elizas ailments Hope she may get well I saw J Arn{Begin inserted text}u{End inserted text}ot on the cars He told me that Two of the {Begin deleted text}Swg{End deleted text} Swigart boys and their wives started to Oregan the same morning I started so Rose Thomas has gone farther west than I have The other {Begin deleted text}was{End deleted text} woman was a Larose

I am washing to day This after noon is little cloudy with the sun shineing occasionaly Ella is as hearty as she can be and has an appetite like a little horse I never cooked for such appetites as I have since I been here some times I think I will cook enough of some things for two meals but the boys clean them every time

We are all well I must close for this time I am as ever your sister & daughter Our love to all

M V O