From Thomas Waters Sr. to his wife Elizabeth Waters (May 19, 1840)

[Thomas Waters, R.M., to his wife, Elizabeth]

Birmingham 19 May 1840

My Dear Wife,

I am going to send two recruits to Woolwich under the charge of Corp.¹ Fennell. I send you some needles l/s a hundred with the box, I send you a little of the Cocoa I brought with me, John’s
answers me as well and it may be you may take a fancy to a little, it is very comforting to the stomach if the cocoa is properly made, there should not be much put in at once neither should it be over sweetened, it takes little sugar, and I recommend, where you take but little, it to be made in the small coffee pot, I think it more convenient than the saucepan, I have mine that way, I send 6 needle-cases 1d, they may amuse the young children, 12 patty-pans l/s 5 paste cutters 8d, I bought three boxes of matches, 100 in each, I send you 2 boxes, a bundle of slate pencils 1 l/2d – 2 Souvenirs 2d, they are all trifling things, they cost but little and they show that my thoughts are upon home- I hope you are getting round again a little after the hurry and flurry is over, I feel much for the shock you must have experienced and your being so much at a loss whom to choose to attend you in your confinement and I am thoroughly at a loss whom to advise you to have, at all events I wish you to have the one in whom you have the most confidence, let it cost what it will- Thomas by this time is getting pretty well over his sea-sickness and beginning to feel a little at home in his voyage of life and future prospects, it is a life of peril, but none is without peril from the first entrance into life, see the untimely end of Lord Wm. Russell in the 73rd year of his life, indeed we all know, if we think upon it, that life is no more certain on shore than on board in the open ocean, for where we are, there the Almighty is, who is able to save in one place as in another, therefore, his will be done who has permitted us to have our inclinations, let us pray that he will guide them right. The Cake was very good I enjoyed it much but I think the oven was rather too hot in which it was baked, nevertheless the cake is gone and was not long in going after it began to go- I find by the London Directory that Mess.^rs Cruickshank & Co., 122 & 123 Fenchurch St. are West India merchants & ship owners, and insurance brokers, therefore, I imagine they are of some consideration in the Mercantile World, I strongly recommend Mary to keep a journal of domestic and local occurances as it will greatly assist her in her correspondence with her brother abroad. I hope our young folks will be early risers now the Summer is coming on. May is fast passing and soon we shall have winter again, but the morning is the time for the young folks to learn their lessons and imbibe health sweet health. Mary I have no doubt makes good use of the morning, she will be like the Primrose as blooming and fresh, and John is the boy that will get on in the World and Bengimen I have no doubt will follow him in his good career. Elizabeth will make a nice woman and she will help Sarah up after her and assist in taking care of Jane etc. Mother and all.

I am sorry the gooseberry bushes are not so thick of fruit as I could wish them for the children and you but however we must hope for a better harvest next year, although I think some of the berries are hid under the leaves sheltering themselves this cold weather and will make their appearance when they are ripe and some of them a mouthful-Horatio Bisset has been providentially blessed with a friend in a stranger when he could meet with no assistance from his nearest kin but however so it is, God is all when we least expect him and why should we despair, when we have no one else to look to and need no one, else, as long as He is our friend-  I am glad the Fig trees are blooming it is a good sign that they are not barren I hope you will be able to partake of some of the fruit, I believe it is very wholesome, so the Rhubarb has made its appearance at last although it hid itself so long in the winter weather, but patience never failing patience will bring forth fruit at last, come what will, with perseverance.  Heaven bless you my dear and send you a safe delivery and may you get well over it and be able with a joyful countenance to welcome your husband home on his return, and may we never part again unless it is the Almighty’s will otherwise for our children’s good and their parents’- remember me to our dear and, I hope, good children, may they be ever a blessing to their mother and do what they can for her, giving her as little trouble and uneasiness as possible-

Yours ever true Thomas Waters