It was hoped the drier weather would help her get over TB. Their Austin brothers Ell and Lon were already in Kansas.
Walton, December 8, 1878 to Miss Ida A. Austin, 103 Christopher St., NY
Dear Ida,
I have long since (if memory serves me right) been your debtor. Now I shall try and pay the debt.
Last Summer I disappointed you by not visiting you at Halfway Brook and now should I disappoint you again by visiting you unexpectedly would it not be the same or equal to two negatives in the same sentence which make it affirmative?
I am teaching now. But next season think I shall commence tilling the soil and may find it convenient as well as necessary to visit N. York and then shall make it a point to call upon you.
Emogene [Emma] talks about your going West but it seems more like a vision than a reality.
There is room enough in the West but I don’t think you have much idea of leaving N. York.
Write soon and often. Give me all the news.
Yours affectionately, Chester Beers
Previous Posts
1. Is that the New Teacher?
2. The Math Tutor
3. Chester Beers to Friend Emma, Correspondence Continues
4. What is the News? October 29, 1869
5. The Merry Laugh of the Village School
6. Teaching Advice in a Poem
7. I Would Not Wait for Erie’s Train
8. 1870 Highland
9. Mrs. Prindle’s Soliloquy
10. February 28, 1870, What Is the News?
11. Who Teaches in the Village, April 1870
12. Fair Hagan’s Pool, June 1870
13. Shades of Night, 1870
14. Deposit, New York, 1871
15. Dear Father, January 1872
16. Emma Attends Albany Normal, March 1872
17. Lumberland Schoolhouse, 1872
18. Verdant Meadows, June 1, 1873
19. I Have Been Very Busy, August 30, 1873
20. 1874–1875
21. 1876, A Challenging Year
22. Impossible To Be Your Friend, 1876
23. The Old Schoolhouse, May 1876
24. Centennial 1876
26. Save Your Patience, June 1876
27. More 1876 Centennial Images
28. Old Acquaintance, February 1877
29. New York Visit? 1877
30. Fall 1877
31. Letter to Miss Aida Austin, October 1877
31B. Aida Receives Another Letter, December 1877
32. School, January 1878
33. Not Always in a Humor to Write, July 1878
34. The Same Broken Phrases, Fall 1878
