Richard Horne letter to his mother, Maria Patridge Horne, June 24, 1826

              Staten Island, North America

Quarantine Ground

June 24th 1826



Dear Mother



I have at length arrived in this long-desired land, safe from the infection and the miseries of Vera Cruz. I have only received one letter from England since I left, though I have written at least two dozen /---/. The one I speak of was from you, which came to hand about two months ago at farthest. And this letter, except that it informed me of the good health of all /---/ of you, was very unsatisfactory as it appeared to be an answer to my third, no mention or notice whatever being made of the former ones. These however contained matters of importance and it ^is by no means an amusing situation to send dollars (hard-earned) across the wide sea, without knowing what has become of them. Now I ^have left Vera Cruz I expect half a dozen letters which /---/ must have been on the way to me, will arrive. I have made some arrangements to have them sent back to England but fear very few will return. We have all been deceived extremely mean and ungenerous. Those who remained longest with them fared worse. Glad I left the service one month ^or even three months sooner, I should have had nearly 40 pounds more than I /---/ have at present. This unexpected blow has rather damped the pleasure I was anticipating of taking



[page break]





[bottom of page]



I sent my mother 200 dollars for my outfit R.H.H.  as a compliment /---/