[Letter from Georgia Cavett to Mittie Sorrell, October 8, 1918]

Text: "Tuesday October 8, 1918. Dear Pretty - ‘Scuse me for not writing but I have just been so miserably lonesome some how I just have not written to you or Judie either but I won’t do it any more. Mr. Edge came by before school yesterday morning and said we better […] miss school for this week on account of the Influenza & I told him alright so I came on home and I mended things yesterday and got ready to wash, but it was already this morning so I put it off again. Mr. & Mrs. Ball went to Alamo yesterday but came back. Mr. B is ill this morning one of the convict boys came down after her. They are camped a mile north of town. Mr. B has just returned from Santa Fe from the Republican convention Gov. Lindsey is a great friend of theirs & they were sorry he did not get the nomination again. Both the Dem & Repub tickets are headed with a Mex for Gov. Walton was nominated by the Dem for State Senator again. The Balls think the Dem. candidate is the better man, though they are Republicans. You see they are getting “political pie” now from Lindsey. Mr. B. Has charge of the convicts that is he is the “Camp Boss”. Another man is the road builder. They have two white boys cooking (Casey & Stone) they are fair haired boys & are in for stealing cattle for the man they worked for. Mr & Mrs Ball are going to try to get them out. They are just nice seeming boys. They come up to the house here often for Mr Ball and did I tell you I went out with Mrs B & ate supper one Saturday night. They get a half of beef every Friday evening & Casey is the meat cook. He knows how to fix meat fine. Mrs. B. always goes out there Sundays to spend the day & Kasey sent me four big steaks my but it was good. I believe in being good & kind to them but think of giving a dance & having the two cooks there to dance & two of the Mex boths [sic] to make music. The Porters (the Section House people) had them one night last week while Mr. Ball was gone up to Santa Fe. The Balls have land over at Partalis [Portales?] that was irrigated by one of those big companies & it broke so they have a lot of that land now that is not any value to them without water. They do not know what they are going to do now as Lindsey did not get in. They will be building on this road till Xmas she thinks. Some little boys picked up 400 lbs of coal for us at .25 per hundred. I have me some boards stored up & I get sage brush. My Catarrh [sic] has been bad lately so I got Mrs B to get me a bottle of Swifts specific yesterday. The next mon. salary I will have Simms send to Austin to American National & then I will write a check for you & you can draw it out. We do not want any money in banks these days do we. Mrs Ball gets the Kansas City Star (Daily) so you just _write_ me a letter, instead of the American. Tell me do _you_ ever hear any thing about any of our boys “_Over_ there?” I heard yesterday Germany was asking for an Armistice. I want to devastate [sic] her old country to Berlin and raze it to the ground. Don’t you? Well I am glad you got the c[…] sold. I know e ought to have had more for them, but then I did not want to carry them over. I wish I could be there to help you enjoy the flowers. I hope you can get your pit fixed so you won’t lose them. This is a dry dusty place. The dirt p[…]ders a lot worse than Orange. Mrs B has the Rheumatism in her knee so she does not want to drink this well water & we bring drinking water from the Section house at least a quarter mile. They bring it from Orogrande & put it in a tank beside the road. I do not know whether Simms has announced yet or not Mr Tipton the Supt who preceded Simms & now in Alamo school has announced on the Dem. ticket. I hope Tipton will get it. I dont think people here like Simms much. It is cloudy today & sprinkled a little bit. I wish it could rain. I am glad you have had good rains & I wish there would be a late frost too. It does not seem so easy to raise the loan this time. I dont see why they dont compel this multi-millionaires to give up all they have down to 1 million for that is enough for one man & it would be so easily fixed. I do not know a thing to write about as you will see. I have not heard from Judie in a long time. I do not know why she doesn’t write. Did you get your dress? I sent her over shoes & coat & some school work & her wool & knitted petticoats. I have to pay $7.79 freight from Sierra Blanca. That is robbery is it not? Please write I am so _lonesy_. Do you ever hear any thing of Roger? & how is Sidney? Now write. Longly Georgia I am very grateful that we are getting along & well as we are. Ow is school there? How are the Madings?"