1897, February 12

From: Reverend David Jones, at Sleaford, England [this is John's father, who was an ordained minister]

To: John Adkins Jones, at (location unknown)

My dear John:

I am pleased to hear that you are getting on so satisfactorily. I hope your change of situation will not be in any way prejudicial to you. If your new berth will prove permanent, it will be a good move. There could be no doubt of your success provided health continues and that the right lines be pursued. You will need more salary, now that you have gone into house-keeping. It must be very pleasant for you and Gerty to be near enough to see each other occasionally.

I have made enquiries concerning the publication you named but there seems to be no publication devoted exclusively to cycles: what literature is devoed to them I am told appears along with other productions of kindred nature.

I suppose you have received your legacy of £40 from the estate of the late Miss Lancaster. I was quite surprised to hear that she ahd anything to leave to you and your brother & sisters; for although she had a nice sum & inherited the estate of her brother William some years ago, I thought that her ill health and her utter dependence upon other people had reduced her means to something approaching nil.

I have nothing to relate of local or family interest. Miss Cookes' father at Pinchbeck is in a critical state of health. Your grandmother is still living and is in her 89^th year, having been born May 21, 1808. With love to yourself and your wife, I remain, your father, D. Jones.

P.S. enclosed to Gertie, I send a note of the ?? Manufacturer(?)