Mount Auburn Cemetery

Boston Dec^r 26th [186]3

Zelotes Hosmer Esq^r, Beloit, Wis.

Dear Sir,

Yours of 14^th [last?] came duly to hand with draft for $10. for which I send you the enclosed receipted bill. The frost is now & has been since the receipt of your note quite deep & the work will be done as soon as frost permits.

From the mound, I had always supposed you had a tomb, & was quite surprised to learn from you that such is not the case. The tomb privilege there however is worth nothing, because the ground is so low, it would be wet, & no one would be willing to sink one there. We have abundance of side hill better adapted to the purpose. The price of lots there - the current rate - is 50 cts per foot. That is what our last sale was made at; making your lot worth $150, or with the posts &c. $160. The mound would not be available in new grading, as the whole lot will need raising three or four feet.

What cost you $60 on the 18^th day of Nov^r 1881 is now worth $150. You have had a venerable length of possession, viz. 32 years and with 192 per ct added for interest, you should be entitled to $115.20 + 60 = $175.20. But, although the prices have advanced enough to cover interest, in some cases, they will not in the case of the older proprietors: and rarely has it been the case that an old lot would bring a sum equal to interests added, because there are so many new ones equally eligible. Generally, however, where a proprietor wishes to sell out, he has had some use of his lot, which is deemed an offset to the failure to receive interest.

If you wish to authorize me to sell your lot for the sum named - $160 - I will do the best I can to dispose of it: and can probably do so in the Spring, if not earlier.

Very truly yours,

A.J. Coolidge Sec.y

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