1869 September 5, Vale of Chamouni, to My dear Alexis

              Vale of Chamouni 1st day
Sep. 5 1869

My dear Alexis,

As my letters have mostly been addressed to the females of the family, I am going to try & male one now to thee, in answer to thy very nice & acceptable one wh. I recd at Geneva day before yesterday. The points where we expect letters are generally considered some of the most interesting of the route, & great excitement prevails when we reach these places until our fate is decided by the return of our reputation to the bankers. This time the deputy was W Evans who was a successful messenger, & returned laden with at least a doz. for Cos. E - & for me, mothers & Amy’s & thine with one from E.S.C. with wh. forms I felt quite contented. I must confess I left reading the French part of thine till the last. I think it looked so very idiomatic, & scientific that I knew it wd. be a work of time & tho’ a few weeks foreign I am not a proficient in the languages yet. We have it is true heard an immense amt. of jabbering of one kind or another - but the common people seem to speak an impure kind of French wh. you cant always understand - & all thru Switzerland they talk what is called Swertzer dutch wh. is awful & incomprehensible. It is only once in a while you get hold of any body that speaks respectable French - In the “Lewis Bernel” [?] style -