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THE AUSTIN PAPERS
already taken into view and a thousand more- It is a dog's life to say the least of it- But I am not yet a free man- I am sti11 a slave- I must be here to finish the ]and business and to try and systematise our political affairs otherwise we shalJ all go overboard. Gen. Zavala is here and will live with me some time- Grayson and some others wilJ be with us- There is much to do, and it is of the greatest importance---circumstances have made me a kind of center for public opinion, but one man (with the ]and affairs on his hand) cannot do all I must be at aU this expense, tho I am compensated for it fully, by the society of such men as Zavala and Grayson-there never were better men than they are I must therefore have sheets and blankets and some other things-and beds-the house is not large enough to have a family-we must have pri- vate rooms to write in, far from noise or interruption- The formation of a govt. (perhaps of a nation) is to be sketched out- The day]y progress of events is to [be] watched over, and public excitement kept from going too fast, or too slow-a thousand things ~re to be done- But you will say that I ought not to be at all this expense- have I not always been a pack-horse? -I must continue to be so a little while longer-and am wi]]ing to be so for the genera] good I want a barrel of salt beef-1 of salt pork-some flour-some boxes of wine that WiJliams sent to Mckinney for me-he said I could take some of them. 2 beds and bedding-a barrel good whiskey-some spoons- some rice-some beans-send them by th~ steam boat, also if Mrs WilJiams can spare the oxen and wagon I wish to keep it to haul wood untill I can buy one-and some cows for milk, for I have nothing. I want a brick layer to build the kitchen chimney which has fallen down in the great rain -I would like to have one set of bed curtains-I must receive visitors and must be a little decent to receive them-I want hand irons for the fire place and shovel and tongs-in fact as housekeeping is a new thing I hardly know what I want- I never think of such things untill I need them. I have no blankets or bedding at all that I know of I ought to have some, ask Mrs Williams as to old Mary I shall hire a woman to help her- Show this to Mckinny and Jack and the ladies, and among you fi( me out with· something. As to the cost-it must go where the cost of my trip to Mexico went, and where I expect much more will go-that is to serve the country if that, is well served we shall all of us have enough, for we shall aU prosper in common and I shall be very well satisfied with that kind of compensation I ask no other- TeU Emily I will attend to all my own private affairs as soon as I can- but the great cause of the country is the first thing- y our Brother STEPHEN
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