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this and the next page are Ann's account of the flood and Joseph's accident referenced in Anna Mayo Metcalf's letter 

I meant you take Mrs. Sewall's book: will send it when J. does his bosom do'nt forget the pattern Mrs. Jewell wants, when you send. Mrs. Jewell had some narrow velvet ribbon left of her thibet, which she gave me to trim the waist and sleeves of my new dress which fits well. I think I shall like it. The new stove works well, saves me a deal of vexation in respect to funnel. C. did a good job: I am much obliged. The six dolls he lent me are now on hand, subject to his order if he says so, I will send five of it, in a letter to Isaac from Charles. I want very much to send him, do'nt know whether I shall be able to or not. write me how much I have of Almeda's Sat. Went down town in the morning, bought some of Town's Spellingbook which I have decided to introduce in to School: paid my bill at White's which amounted after deducting tuition to $5,44: I left a note pinned on Mr. Hardy's door, stating I would be there at 2 o'clock to take a lesson in painting if convenient for him. At recess, the girls told me, that the water in the 'stream' had risen so that it carried off the upper bridge and that it feared the two others would go the next high tide. A freshet has been feared for some days, on account of the vast quantities of ice above Oldtown and the ice so strong in the narrows below High head. Oldtown bridge had already gone and Basin Mills at Stillwater. The water at Rose place surrounded that building so that large trees in the front yard, looked like shrubs, and Mr. Theodore Brown's house a few roads off on the other side of the street - could only be approached by boats, he himself was moved out that afternoon on a bier or litter, & they were getting the furniture out in boats: he had been deranged most of the time the last week or two, and it is thought can not survive long. A great many people walked up to the Rose place to see the spectacle, but the next day we all could see a much greater upside down written between lines of the above the delapided buildings, broken sidewalks, rueful faces, lime stacked and strewed over the streets- the whole of Main Street filled with boards rafted up there for safety. Fenno lost all his books, so did Lewis, Stuckney dry goods all wet- most got their goods up stairs. Mr. Jewell lost three or 4 thousand dolls, in corn and flour: J. Fish all his property: 50 thousand dolls. Goss and Upham's store house was carried off with its pork, corn, flour etc. Ladd lost 5000 dolls, all his property, great hills of ice are left on the wharves that people say can not melt away till Aug. The water fell as much as 10 feet in five minutes when it went all the bridges have gone, the new market, 14 o 15 sawmills, more than twenty buildings along on the river, many poor people turned out of doors: Lucy, where you and I sat at Antislavery Circle, was under water, the families had to run out of their houses in the middle of the night, boards are laid across the bridge so we can go over on foot. [left-hand side] seven at night the whole jam came down from Oldtown broke a passage through the narrows to the ocean. The toll bridge sailed off majestically on the ice, & mills of Corporation owned by John Fish worth fifty thousand dollars insured? for 15 thousand. I cannot give you any idea of the desolation?