Capitol at Washington, store it full and ship to your orders as the
Southern market may require. I can send it
in planks for skating floors, in statuettes for the mantel, in shavings
for juleps, or in solution for ice cream and general purposes. It
is a big thing! I inclose a thin slip as
a sample. Did you ever see such charming ice? _From Mr. Pike Wandel, of
New Orleans, to Mr. Jabez Hope, in Chicago, December 24, 1877._ Your
letter was so abominably defaced by blotting and blurring that it was
entirely illegible.
It must have come all the way by water. By the aid of chemicals
and photography, however, I have made it out. But you forgot to inclose
the sample
of ice. I have sold off everything (at an alarming sacrifice, I am sorry
to say) and inclose draft for net amount. Shall
begin to spar for orders at once. I trust everything to you--but, I say,
has anybody tried to grow ice in _this_ vicinity? There is Lake
Ponchartrain, you know. _From Mr. Jabez Hope, in Chicago, to
Mr. Pike Wandel, of New Orleans, February 27, 1878._ Wannie dear, it
would do you good to see our new warehouse
for the ice. Though made of boards, and run up rather
hastily, it is as pretty
as a picture, and cost a deal of money, though I pay no ground rent. It
is about as big as the Capitol at Washington. Do you think it ought to
have a steeple? I have it nearly filled--fifty
men cutting and storing, day and night--awful cold work! By the way, the
ice, whi