I received Mr. Rogers' book that you sent and am reading it, maybe better said - I am wrestling with it. I look forward to being able to talk with you about it. Some of it is troubling. It is so very different from what I've heard from preachers in the Sequatchie Valley and here in the Elk Valley. I say troubling because Mr. Rogers' and your belief describe God as a lot more loving and merciful than others.
Grand John L. says for you to watch out for those hard-shell Baptists down that way. He says they really like a mean God and you'd better not go talking about a good God, they won't allow it. Alex asked me to send you his greetings. He is so very fond of you and impressed by your work. He's reading Mr. Rogers' book with relish. He pesters me with wanting to talk about it and we've spent quite a few evenings in talks about it. Mama Bear says it sounds a lot like an Indian God to her. Mother hasn't said much but when the conversation is changed she tells us to go back to that 'preacher's book' talk. Uncle Joe T. listens but doesn't comment and Aunt Mary keeps her quiet, too. I don't think they object to the ideas. They seem worried about J. N. He's been in New Orleans for nearly two years. He got a job with General Wheeler at his carriage company there the summer of '66. Our general and J. N. became fast friends. Miss Daniella had been kind to him, too. J. N. is sorta lost because of the general's removal to north Alabama nearly two years ago.
During the war, with J. N. as a corporal and 'Fightin' Joe' a general, they didn't seem near the same age. As civilians, they do. J. N. is 29 and the general is 34. The general and little family - Miss Daniella, her nine-year-old son Richard Sherrod, their girls (Lucy - 4, Annie - 2, and baby Ella, born in the summer) - left New Orleans in early winter of '68 for Courtland. Miss Daniella's high and mighty father had been wanting them back with him at Caladonia since they left in February, 1866. He offered the general a farm set up and half the profits. Miss Daniella has a claim on her dead husband's land and Mr. Jones is scheming to get it for her from his family. There's no end to that mans' wheeling and dealing according to what the general has told J. N. Our general, J. N. says, just chuckles and says Miss Daniella is what he wanted and her father was an added feature of the situation. Says Colonel Richard Jones has had his way for nearly forty years and a mere horse soldier is not going to change his plans or check his offense. J. N. is due here in spring. He and the general have made some arrangement about the wagon and carriage business. Grand and I are to talk with Mr. Gleghorn at the bank about a building in Fayetteville and suppliers in Cincinnati. Oh, you might know some of the firms there he should contact. He says there are the best hardware and equipment companies in Cincinnati for what his business will need.