11, City Road,
Higher Openshaw,
Manchester.

Feb. 19th. 1900.

My dear Kate,

I went to Masboro'[?] on the Saturday after I left Lymm, & on that snowy Sunday, the 11th, I had three services. I spoke to the Endeavourers in the afternoon. The trustees invited me for next year, for the fourth time, & I have an invitation for chapels Sermons to Bradford for the fifth time. So, you see, the places are not getting tired of me.

I took the Midland express from Rotherham to St. Pancras on the Monday morning, finding my way with tolerable ease to Whitechapel. Thirty seven students put in an appearance, but two were sent home by the Medical examiners, and one did not turn up until mid-day on Tuesday, so we sent him back, as we had got through a good deal of the work, & could not go over it again for one man. The examination of 34 men, on such a number of subjects, is no easy task. We got done at tea-time on Wednesday.

I stayed with the Rev. W. Wray, at West Ham. His wife is a very nice person. They treated me splendidly, & have invited me to stay with them again, if I go to London next year. On Wednesday evening, Mr. & Mrs. Bickerton, & a young man staying with them had supper at Mr. Wray's with me. I enjoyed their company very much. Mr. & Mrs. Wray like Mr. Bickerton very much as a pastor & a preacher, and he seems to be very nice, & has a very pleasant wife. Mr. Bickerton was enquiring about you, & wished to be remembered to Wilson. Mr. Wray has a fine little boy two & a half years old. The weather was very disagreeable, & on the Monday night two of the young men & I were obliged to ride on the outside of the Tram & Bus to West Ham. But I have taken no harm.

On Thursday Mr. Wray, who was coming to Sheffield on some chapel business, and I left his house at about 8-30 in the morning, and got the Great Northern express at King's Cross. Very wisely we came in a Dining Car, and had a very good dinner, consisting of Soup, Grilled Mutton Chop & Mashed Potatoes, &c, and Rice Pudding, followed by biscuit & cheese, for 2/. - Soda water -/6 & attendant /3. We were very comfortable, notwithstanding that we were snowed up once or twice & the snow was falling a good part of the way. We were two hours late when we reached the Central. When I go long journeys in the future, & especially on Connexional business, I intend to patronise the Dining Saloon. The Connexion can afford to give us a dinner in our journey when we do our work for nothing.

I have only slight remains of my cold, but I have been very tired since I came. Yesterday evening I preached the funeral sermon of Mr. Ashurn, one of our local preachers at Wellington St, to a large congregation. Mother & Annie are at class to-night, & I and Chris are keeping house. Mr. Stowe was preaching here yesterday, & spent the day at our house. Our people liked him very much.

Annie & mother have been in the City to-day, engaged in their beloved employments of shopping & visiting the dressmaker. Mother's appetite is a little better, but she does not improve as much as I should like. When the spring comes, & she gets out more she will be better, I hope. We had a very pleasant evening at Mr. Eastwood's. We all enjoyed ourselves very much.

The young men whom we examined in London did not as a whole acquit themselves very creditably. A good many of them will fail. We shall, however, pass a good many of them - probably 40 or so of the Leeds & London batches - to the written examination.

I am glad you are keeping tolerably well & have grace to take care of yourself at nights. We shall be delighted to see you & Wilson soon. It is a great pleasure, especially to me, when you make a good long stay with us.

Love to Wilson & yourself from all,

Your Affectionate Father
John Watson
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Letter to his daughter Kate.

11, City Road,
Higher Openshaw,
Manchester.

Oct 1st, 1900.

My dear Sister,

I am much obliged for your kind letters, and the only reason why I have delayed answering them is that I was waiting until my wife returned home on Saturday, in order that I might be able to tell you how she really is. She has improved by her six weeks stay at Lymm, and has a better appetite. But she is very worn and thin still, and with very little strength. But still we are hoping for continued improvement. What she really is depending upon for recovery is an improving appetite. The doctors we have consulted all say that there is no organic disease. Dr. Yeats, a very skilful doctor, says the supply of food my wife has been able to take has been too small. It was really a process of slow starvation for lack of any appetite for her food, and this has been going on for, I should think, fifteen or sixteen months, so that while she was, when we left the College, more than 13 stones in weight, she is now only 7 stones 10 lbs.. What she needs is rest - but our difficulty has been to keep her idle - plenty of food and fresh air. If then we can repress my wife's activity, and her appetite keeps up, we are hoping to see her pick up again. During her mother's absence at Lymm, Annie has been my housekeeper, and she is rapidly advancing in her capabilities in that respect.

Kate & Annie & my wife are out this afternoon in the City doing some shopping for Annie. This is such an interesting business that my wife felt very much inclined to go, and as the day is beautifully fine the outing, we hope, will do her good. We live 3 or 4 miles from the scene of their operations.

As they will see this letter before it leaves, I may say that we all join in love to you & all my dear nephews & nieces.

Yours as ever,
John Watson

P. S. I am much obliged for information about Phebe. I am always dependent on you for it, and, if you are not at Seaham, I can only learn that she got a cheque from the entry in my Bank Book, a few weeks after. JW.
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Letter to Annie Watson (nee Potts), widow of his brother Cuthbert

[Manchester]

[early 1901?]

My dear Kate,

Mother has not been so well the last two or three days. To-day Dr. Jones says she must go to bed, & take rest for a fortnight at least. The faintings she has had indicate weakness in the circulation of the heart, and she will have a better chance with entire rest. So she has just gone to bed, & we have made a fire in the room, and tried to make things comfortable. I am glad Dr. Jones has done this. The stairs are far too steep & toilsome for her in her weak condition. I trust the rest will do her good.

Our meetings are still splendid - 78 converts on Sunday last, 55 on Monday evening, and about 30 last evening. There have been more than 40 belonging to our church. Mr. Dargue[?] is here to-night, & will also take Thursday night and Sunday evening again.

At Droylsden also the work is going on - 28 adults last night. We have in this neighbourhood at present days of the Son of Man with power.

I trust you & Wilson are keeping well.

Kindest affection from all to you both.

Your ever loving Father
John Watson
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Letter to his daughter Kate.

Rouge Rue,
Guernsey,

April 16th, 1909.

My dear Clement,

Your father, mother and Dorothy left this morning. I need not say how much we miss them. Their visit has been a great joy to us. In our daily fellowship with them, our outings together, and in the relinking of former association they have cheered and put fresh heart into us. Personally, I am deeply in their debt for stimulus and health in an increased degree - bodily, mentally, & spiritually. I could say much more, but you can imagine the rest. I must, however, mention the youngest of the party. She and Winifred are full of mutual love and fun, and in the study of their books. If their examination of maps is evidence they must have increased their knowledge of Geography.

I must not forget to mention a grand concert by Agnes Nicholl & company. Her husband Hamilton Hardy, or Harty, was the accompanist. It was very fine in all respects. A young singer, Carmen Hill, had a firm contralto voice and splendid execution, if that be the right word for singers.

The Navy Scare is largely got up for party purpose. It will "fizzle" out by & bye. Mr. Macphail's idea was held by Bishop Butler and is as old as the "Analogy", but the nations have never been able to put it [into] practice, and I hold that a nation has a divine right to protect itself from aggression. Were England, for example, to put it into practice she would, in the present state of the world, soon disappear from the scene. It is not the duty of any nation to seek martyrdom. Besides, it would be only a part of the nation that would take this quixotic attitude - though Quixo fought even windmills. And this part of the nation has no right to commit the rest to destruction (unsought for) through their action, or inaction. Turkey is just now an object lesson.

You have chosen well to read Thackery & Browning. I need not speak of the last but the first is one of the greatest, if not the greatest of Victorian novelists. When abroad I used to read him to my wife. In this way we went through all his best books, Pendennis, with Costigan and his daughter, is excellent. The best of his is "Esmond" and then "Vanity Fair". Thackery used to make me now laugh and then almost cry. He is such a wonderful alternation of the comic and tragic. Dickens and he were both great. But I cannot but think that Thackery will outlast his great compeer in the estimation of those who are able to judge. But why compare them. Both picture life inimitably - The one the life of the poor & neglected, The other the foibles, vanities, and virtues of the middle class. Many things that Dickens caricatured, for instance imprisonment for debt, has been done away, largely through him.

You have characterised Thackeray most accurately. Try "Esmond", unless you have read it. It has, like Scott, a background of English history. I am glad you are going to read "Mansfield Park". There are three others. Two of them splendid - "Northanger Abbey" and "Persuasion", and though inferior, "Sense & Sensibility" has much merit.

I am done both paper and strength, but I keep within safe bounds.

With much loving regard,
Yours as ever,
John Watson
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Letter to Clement Gerrard

[to his future son-in-law Richard Cowie]

'Sunrise',
Rouge Rue,
Guernsey C.I.

May 13. 1910.

My Dear Dick,

I wish to make Nance a present of Scotts Novels and of George Eliot's on the occasion of her wedding. But it has been suggested by Kate that as you probably have some of their books already it would be well for me to ask you to inform me of what you have of theirs on your shelves. Will you at your earliest convenience do this? Nance herself has some of Scott's. It would be a pity to have duplicates.

You have been made acquainted with our visit to Jersey which was most enjoyable. As for myself I am wonderfully refreshed in mind and body, and I am by care of myself and exercise trying to keep well for some time, if the Lord will. We shall be glad to see you once more, and I am not the least so. You will not be able to say until Conference where you will be stationed, nor would I fret about it. I have no doubt but what you will in patience possess your soul.

Politically we are living in stirring, and for many anxious times. May all things be overruled by a gracious providence for good! The new king is warmly greeted by the country.

With loving regards,
I am yours truly
John Watson

Mrs Richard Cowie,
Gloucester Road,
Malmesbury,
Wiltshire

Guernsey,

July 19th, 1910

My dear Nance,

Thanks for your card expressing your desires for my welfare - universal, continued, and enlarging, (so I may paraphrase the matter), to which I can assure you I say Amen. In plain English, I may say that I keep up many things largely because my girl, now absent in person but ever present to my mind, would wish me to do them.

Your letter to Kate, together with Dick's asides on cards, enables me to understand what your house & position among the people are now, & likely to be in the future. Your prospects seem rosy, but you must get out of the present house at once. Do not repeat your mother's experiences, in this respect, in the Openshaw house.

You will, all being well, see the lot of us, if Wilson's arrangement be carried out, on the 20th of September. His holiday is for 10 days. How long mine will be, let time & chance determine.

Your loving Father
John Watson

[P. S.] (Mr & Mrs Garland to be remembered) JW
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Postcard to his daughter Annie

Guernsey,

Nov. 27th, 1911.

My dear Nance.

"Nance & Baby continue." Such is the beginning of the first para on Dick's postcard recd. this morning. I will say nothing of the anxiety I felt before the baby was born, which was shared in by all of us, nor of the load lifted from us by the news which came from Dick that a pretty little girl had appeared, as the late Rev. J. Southron would have said, on this sublunary scene. We could have thrown up our hats with joy. This was moderated by the reflection that you were not as yet free from danger.

One or two excerpts from Dick's last card give one assurance & gladness. "Nance has had a very good night". Anent the baby: "eats & sleeps well"; "has plenty of energy; convinced she is a suffragette, a militant one". It depends upon what they fight for and how they contend in those coming days. If she is to be a stone-throwing, window smashing "suffr." I trust your prediction will be false. May you and she continue to thrive & prosper for time & when it is no more.

Many things I could write about. For instance the tea I am going [to] to-day, which I have given as my dearest Nance gave a tea or teas for the chapel, when she was at home -- which I do with added joy, because I am grandfather to such a bonny, good baby; good, albeit she cries, which is a sign of strength & spirit. Kate & Wilson are taking all the burden of the tea & "tree"[?] to-day. Remember with loving wishes to Dick & the baby, and take a large measure yourself.

Your ever loving father,
John Watson

Kate [mistake - should be Winifred] has just come in from the "High School". She is to go to what we expect is a good "Advanced School". Miss Wright & Miss Opie & others are to sing to-night. Clifford said to-day -- "Why do people talk about eating dry bread. Do they ever eat wet bread?" Talking of a change at the supper we ask him if he would like it. He said It would be a change to have bread & nothing to tea. He is clearly a humorist in embryo. JW
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Letter to his daughter Annie, after birth of grand-daughter Kathleen Cowie.

Lyndhurst,
Burnham Road,
Malmesbury,
Wilts.

[1911?]

[previous page missing]

I broke down nearly 10 years ago. I take fairly long walks down & up fields & over stiles without the use of a stick. It is what I did not expect a while ago. The Lord may give a little more of this renewed strength.

As to books, I have not read Maeterlink's book. I know him as a writer. I must get one of his books from the Library in Guernsey. "The Autocrat of the Breakfast, &c" is an old companion which I have in my bookcase. It is indeed a fine, rich blend of excellencies. Sometimes people too much underrate their education. As to yourself, you have nothing to trouble about. You express yourself in good English, and having youth on your side you have, (besides the means) probably a long career of improvement open for you. Dick having a good lot of books, I am making use of them. Beside the daily & weekly papers, I am engaged with Belloc on "The French Revolution". Darwin's "Origin of Species", which I trust you have, or will read, if for nothing but for beauty & clarity of expression.

We are having a perfect day for weather. I am glad you are coming to visit us: you will enjoy this old-world place, and its many fine walks; and can have, if the weather is fine, a trip to Bath &c, &c., if you choose. JW
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Postcard to Clement Gerrard (probably), written at the house of his daughter Annie.

Rouge Rue,
Guernsey

[1912?]

My dear Nance,

Just a line or two to show that, though I have not written to you, [you] are not forgotten by me. This Sunday morning all the rest are at Chapel, so I take the opportunity of writing to you. How does Dick get on during the wet weather? For one thing, he has plenty of exercise in the open air. And Kathleen is getting over her vaccination trouble, I hope. It is indeed through looking at her and Nance on the study mantlepiece that I got the idea of writing this letter.

I am more like myself again since I got rid of the catarrh, from which for a week or two I have been a little upset. I am going, all being well, to chapel this evening to hear Wilson preach. This morning during my early hours of waiting to rise, I was trying to picture your house & surroundings at Malmesbury; and wondering whether I should ever see you in your new place at Witney; at which place, by the way, I saw in Wesley's Journal that he had a correspond[ent] living there. You will be so near to Oxford as almost able to catch a little of its learned aroma.

Shall I live till then? Well, if God will I may. I got a short time since Dr Bostock to examine me, to see whether what your young doctor said of my heart being slow in its action was true. He did so and said that it was only slightly irregular in its acting, as might be expected from my age; but, perhaps in jest, he said something about we might see in some ten years time.

Enough about myself. All the rest are in fairly good health. Clifford talks a deal about his doings at Malmesbury. He is getting on. Winifred is doing splendidly at her new school, and likes it, but Kate will tell you of that. Her reports from Miss Morony[?], the head teacher, are very full of commendation. Lily Eccles is a great help in the house and she works well in the Sunday school. I think she has, since she got over her weariness & trouble in consequence of the long watching over her father, improved very much in health and all round.

Wilson has a lot of work, not only in our own church, but in his position & influence in Nonconformity. He is preparing to give a lecture under Free Church auspices at two or three places on Disestablishment; as a counterblast, I presume, to some antagonistic lecturing by the Church against the Disestablishment of the Welsh Church.

This letter is lengthening as I proceed, so I must call halt. My love to Dick & you, and a large measure to dearest Kathleen.

Your ever loving Father
John Watson.

P.S. Have been reading some good books of late from [the] Library - one by Eden Philpotts called "Children of the Mist, a Dartmoor story" - very good.
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Letter to his daughter Annie.