Washington Feb. 15th 18
Dear Samuel,
Your letter of Jan. 29th has been on hand several
days, and most of the information contained has been very sa
tisfactory. You mention that yourself and most of the family
are troubled with bad colds, and are not so well as common. This
has given me a good deal of anxiety for your Mama & yourself,
more particularly, as either of your constitutions might by easily
affected by it. I hope for the best. Tomorrow or next day I shall
expect another letter from home, which I hope will give a
more favorable account of the family. My health continues
good. And since February commenced I have been relieved from
all fears of any bad effects of warm weather. Some part of the time
it has been extremely cold and blistering. Tho' the severity of the
cold has not likely been so intense here as in Vermont, yet the change
of temperature has been as great, if not greater. For the last weeks
the weather has become more mild, and thro' the whole of last night
we have had a severe rain storm from the East, which has not
yet entirely subsided. The winter has so far advanced that I hope
you have by this time got through the coldest part. I should like
to know what depth of snow you have- and whether Charles is
able to keep his pump from freezing through the late cold weather.
Also whether Conant has water to do any grinding-
What has become of Mr Corbin and family? I hear nothing
from any of them - nor from James. Does he hand over to
you the National Journal? and how do you like it? Do the
papers I send you arrive regularly? What has become of Mr Upham?
I expected that he might be froze to death in some of your severe
nights, if he remained in the situation I left him- I should
have no objection to sell William Hidden three or four joints of
the stove pipe, if I knew what it cost. But as there is no [ ]
he would be obliged to procure one before he could use them, and
he might as well get the joints at the same time - which he
could probably procure as cheap as I would be willing to spare them
for. Besides I intend to make use of them next fall.
If you get the newspapers you will see all the speculations
about the Congressional Caucus. It was held last evening agree-
ably to notification. I was not there, nor any of the Vermont
delegation. But I had a full account of it, and their proceedings
before I went to bed. 67 members of both houses of Congress attended
and two more voted by proxy, one of which was detained by sick-
ness, in the city, and the other has not been here during the session.
69 votes were given, 64 for Mr Crawford, 3 for Mr Adams - 1 for
General Jackson, & 1 for Mr Macon - for president - 57 votes for
Albert Galiten for Vice President - several seating votes, for whom
I have not heard. This proceeding is considered here as very im-
prudent - and it is thought will injure their candidates much much
more than help them. Mr Adams stands very high through the
country, and I have no doubt of his final triumph. General Jack-
son will most likely be Vice president; all speculations to the contrary
notwithstanding. Give
my
best love to your Mama, to Mary, and to the
family, and accept my sincere prayers for your and their happiness
Samuel C Crafts