I am afraid I shall be bankrupt in my epistolary account with Anne & yourself. however the tide of business, like that of the ocean, will wait for nobody. I send for Cornelia a little poem, the grasshopper’s ball, to begin her collection. the yankee story is for yourself. thank Mary for her letters, but tell her it is written in a cypher of which I have not the key. she must therefore tell it all to me when I come home. I shall write to Anne by the cart, because it will carry a box of flower roots which I shall consign to her care, but not to be opened till we get to Monticello, & have every thing ready for planting them as soon as they are opened. I shall write by this post to your Mama, so I conclude with my kisses to you all.