Amanuensis Monday.

Letter from Jean Gow (Auchterarder, Scotland) to her son William Gow (Sydney, Australia), 27th of September 1893.

"Dear Son,

I just received your letter this morning & always glad to hear from you. You have got the paper of your fruit you think it might have had a better it was a mistake of me but I did not see it till I saw it in the paper & I could not help it then. In deed I was so bad of myself if Uncel [Uncle] Peter had not come. I dowt [doubt] you would not seen in the paper at all you think I might kept more to my self. I was so proud of you sending them that I could not hide your thoughtfulness of sending them so far to me I will be more so if you will send me some of your Oranges & I will know better if they are good or not. You saw I did not say if they were good you know heat corn is never good. They were very pretty to look at did you get the letter that they were corn & more as the young Sadie that wrote it was so kind to me. You have sent me Robert [William’s brother] address but I think you are making a card(?) of me now when you put Esquire to it. I will send his papers to you until I hear from you again & you can send them to him. Will he be far from where he was? Missie is gone to Kinross her address is Hygh St Kinross. I sent your address to Jeannie [William’s sister] long a go but everyone is so much taken up with themselves they have not much time to think of others at least it appears so. I had a letter from John [William’s brother] a long with yours this morning. He is thinking of coming for some days only if he can get away. You might come & join his company the days he will be here. I hope this will find you will & free of toothache. I am better than I have been for a long time so I will draw to close.

I remain your affectionate mother

Jane Gow.”

There was a significant lack of punctuation in the letter so I inserted full stops where I thought appropriate.

What were the main points I got from this letter?

• Jean would like William to send some Oranges to she can judge the,
• Jean is very proud of William for doing well on the farm
• She will send Robert’s papers to him, and he will forward them on to Robert
• Jeannie is busy, everyone is taken up with themselves, therefore not much time to think of others
• John is thinking of coming to Scotland from Ireland for some days
• Jean is asking William if he might join John’s company and visit Scotland as well.
• Jean is better than she has been in the past for a long time.