Chicago, April 13—
Dear Charley. The house is pretty near finnished Charley & it looks fine & worth all the trouble & Grace come out with me to see it yest. & is plum nuts over it so evry things OK but my troubles isent over yet & heres the lattest. The village of Allison has ordered us to put in a new cement sidewalk & we got to have a side walk up in to the yard up to the house as well as a long the st. & its going to cost a even $100.
Well thats pretty bad but that aint nothing. I asked a man a bout soing grass seeds & fixing up the yard & he says it must got to be graded 1st. I says what do you mean graded & he says its all ups & downs & the ground a round the house is lower all ready then the ground out by the st. I says it was in my contrack for the contrackter to grade the lot but he dident do it so I got an other man to grade it for $60. He says well then you got stung for $60 because they hasent been no gradeing did that I can see. I argude with him a bout it but he says he wouldent so no grass seeds or have anything to do with it un lest it was graded & he said he would grade it & put black dirt on it so as the grass would grow & all so put in a drive way of cement & gravvle all for $150.
Well Charley they wasent nothing for me to do but hire him & did you ever here any thing like it.
The gas has been ran in to the house from the st. & the stove should ought to be there any day now & the house is all wirde for electrick lts. & all that part of it is OK & the only thing there doing now is fixing up the flors with pollish & when thats did theyll be all threw but it takes time to do that & I wisht it was all over because wear sick of bording to say nothing of paying for the bord & paying the carpenter all the time. & I still got the finnished hard ware to pay for & thats $70 & when the 1 of july comes theyll be $60 int. to pay so you see I got some thing to worry me Charley & I bet John E. rockefellow would be worring to if he was me.
Allison, Ill., May 6—
Brother Charley. I bet you wont never believe it but wear in our house & we been here 2 hole days. The furniturs here & the movers busted it all to peaces but we dont mind a little thing like that. Grace is tickled to death & as long as shes plesed its all OK but I got so much to do I aint got much time to write.
I called up the archateck today to see would he come out & see if things looked OK to him but he was still sick yet but the cousin come out & we was haveing supper & he set down with us tho we dident have nothing to eat because the gas stove aint come yet & even if it come it wouldent do no good because the gas aint conected. Well the archatecks cousin says the house looks OK to him accept that theys a few things the matter & should ought to be fixed up. He says you got a mitey nice place here for $2,000 besides what you payed for the lot. I says where do you get that stuff $2,000 besides what we payed for the lot. We payed $1,500 for the lot besides int. & I dont know how much more then $2,000 the house is going to cost us but I bet its closter to $3,000 & then I & him set down & figured it up. They aint no chance now for getting the bank payed up before the 5 yrs. is up so 1st theys $2,000 & then theys $320 int. on the $2,000. Then theys $25 for the garantee polisy that I payed when I got the lot & $25 for an other 1 when I got the money at the bank. And I payed for the finnished hard ware twict & thats $70 each time or $140. Then I give the bank $30 for insurence & $30 for comishon & I give them $75 for my bal. on what I owed the archateck & the $25 I give him to start with & $50 for the wall paper. That money I give them for the archateck & the wall paper was payed out some wheres else so I pay that twict & $60 for gradeing but that gradeing dident take so I payed $150 more for the same job the 2nd time & $50 for 2 extra closets in the house & $300 for the carpenter that done the work when the contrackter quit on me & $100 for cement walk & its all cracked all ready & $46 for moveing & storeing the furnitur & its all busted to peaces & $50 extra for electrick lt. fixtures because Grace seen some she liked & of corse they was the most expensiv & $30 for a extra cote of paint that I dont know weather we needed it or not & I dont know weather it was ever put on & $96 for our bord bill where we stayed at.
Well we figured that all up & it amt. to $1,600 & that dont include
