Letter from S. Baker to Arnold Parker inquiring of conditions in Stanly County, North Carolina. Letter includes a racial slur. Transcription: Home 28th April 1826 ? A. Parker The intimate acquaintance which we have formed will plead my apology for the liberty & take me addressing you and especially when I inform you that it is a leisure rainy day; it is quite gratifying to me to have the pleasure of hearing from an acquaintance of whom I have formed a favorable opinion; I hope you will therefore soon after the receipt of this give me an answer an account of matters and things in general in old Stanly. I have been waiting to hear from you for some time, and in fact I am getting somewhat impatient to be called upon to assist you in extricating yourself from the rocks and quicksands of celibacy and placing yourself substancially upon the blissful shores of matrimony; as you know you promised I should be present on that occasion; at all events write me how you are getting along, how all the girls are getting along and how every body else is getting along; as to myself I am getting along first rate perfectly in ? a packet? I am full of rocks and no body to throw them at. Give my respects to those persons in Stanly that you think to be my friends; and tell the ballance that they is no ? for dis [racial slur] for want of room and something to ? I must bring my communication to a close. Respectfully & Truly S. Baker Mr. A. P. P. S. Direct your answer to the Mouth of Wilson Grayson Co. Va.