1838 November 11, Haverford, to Dear Father, Philadelphia

              Haverford, 11th mo. 11th, 1838

Dear Father,

We received thy letter to Franky, last 3rd day, I believe, containing the cheering information, that thee might perhaps be appointed on a committee of the Mangers to visit the school some time.  If this is all the foundation we are to have, of hope of a visit, I think we shall be poorly off.  You must remember that it is four weeks since we left home, and a visit from all would be very acceptable.  I am afraid however this cold weather will not be likely to tempt you out in the country.  We have had the thermometer below freezing point for two or three days past.  The frost finished the dahlias a week or two ago and I think the hardier plants will go before long is this weather continues.  One of the flues in the Green-house is finished, so that William is able to keep up a heat sufficient for the plants.  Grandfather will be glad to hear that the flue draws admirably, and the fire can be regulated with the greatest ease, so as to produce almost any degree of heat.  William works very slowly at the flues, and I am afraid it will take him nearly all of the winter to finish the other three.  I do not suppose unless we have uncommonly cold weather this winter that it will be necessary to keep up a fire in more than two or three of the four furnaces at any time.  So that even if it should take him a long time to get them built we shall not be likely to suffer from the cold.  What I am afraid of is that it will take the time which he would otherwise have given to raising of young plants.  I hope however he will find time to do both.

Have Mother or Mary looked at those Dahlias we tried to dry in sand in vacation.  I put the tub on the top shelf in the back