1895

To you '95 men scattered hither and yon, I'm announcing that the winter, now just behind us, in Vermont and New Hampshire, was tough and a bit depressing. One hundred and fourteen inches of snow, as I understand it, dropped down in weekly consignments beginning Thanksgiving week and continuing well into March. Arthur Bugbee, Jesse Marden,Henry Loud at als didn't shovel a peck of snow in California. I hear that there was a scarcity of rain, even, in their residential area.

Since March 21 to date of writing, Mrs. Stevens and I have been in Winter Park, part of the time sweltering in hot weather but most of the time just comfortable. Joel Harley and family have been here all winter. By family" I mean Mrs. H., daughter Gertrude Lamb, and latterly Francis Lamb Esq., a well-known Madison, Wisconsin lawyer.

Frank Austin is a year-round resident here on his "Five Acres of Paradise." He is busy as any one of his thousands of bees. He has one trained hen and a black cat. Also a few notorious spiders and a smattering of doodle bugs. Frank inadvertently aroused the ire of the van-guard of his bee army quite recently and consequently was decidedly stung six times. It was a real case of getting it in the neck. The swelling had levelled off the last time I saw him. A hen trained to flop and jump up and peck at a piece of bread held at arms' length horizontally, I never saw before. Frank's hen really seemed to know a thing or two.

I heard from Mrs. Hack a few weeks ago. Her grandson Bruce, she writes, is headed for Exeter and Dartmouth.

I have a letter before me, from Bill Foster. He writes: "I do not think anything has occurred to me worthy of being published in the Post-Re unionist. All I can say is that I am still practicing law, although not quite as actively as formerly.

Secretary, White River Junction, Vt. Treasurer, Eagle Hotel, Concord, N. H. Class Agent, 8 Zamora St., Jamaica Plain, Mass.