October 10th 1879 - Bridgewater on Loddon

My dear Dada,

I received your kind & welcome letter with cheque enclosed, for which many thanks. I hope the cattle with turn out very profitable & that Loddon meat will be appreciated at Charlton. I shall expect to hear soon how you liked the cattle & the weight of them if you can let one know.

We have had a splendid rain here this week, it will do a great amount of good, with a few more such rains we ought to have a good harvest & with the prospect of a good price things are a little brighter. I hope we will not be disappointed, the sheep are getting on very well, that we have down here. The first lot brought down are nice & fat for our own use but would hardly be fat enough for you. We have about six weeks yet to run on the hill for the sheep & so long as we could get rid of them & have the money by that time it would be sufficient for us, after they are shorn they ought to fatten very quickly, in about a month from this I would like to begin to get rid of them.

I am thankful to say that we are all pretty well. Mary is keeping well & baby is thriving nicely, growing fast & getting quite fat. She takes a lot of notice & sometimes laughs aloud. Robbie is growing fast but has been rather poorly this day or two. I expect he has got a bit of a cold through the change in the weather so hope he will be all right again in a day or two.

Hope all are well at Charlton. I have not had an opportunity of writing to Johnny since I received his by Christopher but will try to write next week if all is well. Please give our united love to all & accept the best love of your affectionate son,

William Henry Wingfield

The cheque I received is not crossed, it is not safe to send them that way.

My dear Mamma,

As Willie has left a space I will fill it up. I am happy to say baby is getting on nicely & growing. She is very good & sleeps well. Eliza was down last week, she is quite pleased about the cotton you sent her last Saturday. Rickie & I went up to ???.       Gerard ??? had to go up, there was coming back on the Sunday, so I thought the drive would do baby & I good. I expect to short weather there next week, if all is well, The men will be down, shearing, so will not get much sewing done. Gerard has been down here over a week, they have finished cutting the hay – Miss Gardiner crocheted us a pair of woollen boots & sent them down, blue & white, it was very kind of her. I have not been up to Jewhursts yet if so change the robe I would like to get her a little hat and a piece of merino for her Sunday frock, Robbie has not been very well the last two or three days, bad in his stomach, I think he has been eating too many onions.

My dear Mamma, will stop for the present as Willie is waiting to post this. I am glad to hear you are all well. I expect by this time you have killed one of the cattle. I hope Dada will like them.

With love to John & C & with fondest love to Dada & your dear self,

Am your loving daughter

Mary Jane.