Landour
12th September 1860

My Dearest Mother,
You will be thinking we have quite forgotten you – not so my dear. Dear James has been so unsettled we could not write both; you and my friends in England have been sadly neglected. I have been seriously ill since the end of last February; I was on my bed three months and never lifted or turn either one side or the other. At last I was carried like a child before I could put my feet on the ground. I was not allowed to be dressed for another fortnight but laid on the couch on the veranda and after carried out in a Dooley on the Plain at 5 in the morning before sunrise. Very soon I was able to walk and I went to stay with Mrs Captain WALLACE where I and my little boy have been treated like their own. Dear James (was) coming now and then, and dining and sometimes liked my teas since I was getting better. Dear little Jamie has been suffering with his back teeth; many, many have died the same age, in teething. The reason (it) has been so trying and so very hot. I have just left Mrs Captain WALLACE and am now in the Landour Hills with my little boy where the climate is as cold as England and considered much more healthy.
If please God all is well, we shall stay here until November when I hope to be quite strong and well; and little Jamie quite rosy. Mrs Captain (?)and Mrs Captain WALLACE are so anxious for me (that) they paid all my expenses to date and dear James came to dine there, the day I left before we parted. I am here close to Mrs FLEETWOOD WILLIAMS, the Commissioners of Meerut come here every hot season. Dear James is doing their silver dishes; they are so kind and often send me nice things and I often spend the day there. This is the lady who gave your dear little grandson his handsome christening robe and Mrs Captain WALLACE his cloak, and Mrs Colonel HOGGE his beautiful hood and many things very nice; their own could not have had better. Dear little Jamie is two years old on the fourteenth of this month, today is the 12th and he has just come in with a fine bunch of flowers which grow wild here like in the gardens of England.
My  dearest mother, you must excuse this hurried letter; I will write again soon. I know James is up to his eyes in business to get the dishes done as Mrs Williams goes down to Meerut next month. I trust you have been well all this time and the dear children and all dear friends. I am looking down upon the clouds here-such beautiful views, I never beheld (before); every house is on a hill, some above, some below and you see hundreds of miles. Sometimes the river is overspread with beautiful clouds as though you could walk on them.

God bless you my dearest mother until I can get a line from you with our fondest love and kisses from dear James, little Jamie and my self.

I am my dearest mother your affectionate daughter

Rebecca Johnston.