Monthly Archives: May 2011

January 6, 1925

Washington D.C.
Jan 6, 1925.

Dear Ina,

Your letter gave me a thrill, for the double envelope looked as though it might have been an announcement or invitation to a wedding. It was quite a relief to see handwriting inside, though you made me wish that I had been there during the holidays.

The scientific meetings have closed and most of the men have gone, but there are a few visitors even yet. Mr. Bishopp will probably be here for several days yet. I brought so much skin from the patients in Florida that it has given me a real job here. We estimated the time it would require to complete the work and with night work as I have had during the past six weeks, I’ll be here until March 1st. I doubted if they would allow me to stay here that long but Mr. Bishopp has agreed to it. This will put me in Dallas about the time Dr. and Mrs. Roark come down and no doubt some of the Dallas folks will go to Uvalde with them. I am in hopes that I can go pretty soon after arriving at Dallas for I want to see you.

January 6, 1925

January 6, 1925

We will not get a special appropriation for the Florida work next year as our Chief would not accept it until he was sure that the project belonged to this Bureau. The fact is that it does not belong to us but the Director of Research for the whole Department agreed that I could continue even though it does not belong to us, but we cannot get an appropriation specially for it. This means that I’ll have to work single-handed again. Though I am in hopes that I can get Dr. White to come down during the clinic.

I wouldn’t take anything for the experience with Dr. White. It is better than a special course in a University on the same thing. He is an MD and PhD but goes to a University for special work quite often, yet. He is about 55 years old. I couldn’t possibly have a better man to work with on this problem.

The parasite causing the creeping eruption is about 1/50 of an inch long and 1/1200 of an inch wide, and there is only one to a lesion. This may give you an idea of what the problem is. The color is the same as human tissue. It has to be stained and then studied microscopically under oil immersion magnification. No wonder Dr. K.S. hadn’t been able to locate it during 14 years of practice. I really believed that I had the thing isolated last summer when I wrote you about it, but the people here didn’t think I could be right. This time we have it in sections in human skin so there is no question about it. If you can find time I’d be mighty glad to hear from you.

Always
Walter.

December 30, 1924

Washington D.C.
Dec. 30, 1924.

Dear Ina,

This is some stationery and I am using it to write to a mighty sweet little girl. I am not so sure that she wants me to write to her but when she sent such nice stationery I am going to write anyway.

Today I have been attending the scientific meetings and have found them very interesting. Mr. Bishopp came this morning. I had expected Mr. Parman too, for he is on two papers but I guess Mr. Bishopp will present them.

December 30, 1924

December 30, 1924

I met Prof. Harris of Miss. A&M this noon and have spent most of today with him. He seemed just as interested in me as when I left college and has been quite an inspiration to me. He has been talking to me regarding a PhD degree. He thinks that now is the time for me to work for it. I have been thinking of this for some little time and if possible I want to arrange so that I can get credit for my work with the Bureau.

I am getting along very well with the sectioning and staining and have the causative parasite in sections, but have not made an attempt to have it identified until Mr. Bishopp came up. The problem is out of our domain but if possible I want to arrange to continue the work.

I hope you will let me hear from you often as I enjoy your letters more than you know. I hope the New Year will be the happiest you have ever had.

Always
Walter.

December 24, 1924

Washington D.C.
Dec. 24, 1924.

Dear Ina,

I was quite surprised to get the lovely box of stationery and it was mighty sweet of you to think of me so kindly. I hope that you are enjoying your Christmas and you don’t know how very much I would like to be with you.

I am glad that you like the new home and I wish I were there for your first Christmas in it. I haven’t had dinner as yet but I had to tell you how pleased I was to be remembered by you.

December 24, 1924

December 24, 1924

Am invited to dinner tomorrow but that wouldn’t be like eating with you.

With very best wishes for a Merry Christmas and hoping the New Year will be the best you have ever had, I am,

Always,
Walter.

P.S. Will write in a day or two.

December 14, 1924

Wash. D.C.
Dec. 14, 1924.

Dear Ina,

For sometime I have been expecting and hoping that I might have a letter from you, but perhaps I don’t deserve one. If I have been a disappointment to you I am very sorry and I hope you will forgive me. I intended to be fair with you and I hope you will think of that way. If I could only see you I believe we would have a better understanding. Of course I can’t possibly get through here until after Christmas but I hope I can see you when I return to Texas.

Won’t you kindly write?

Sincerely,
Walter.

December 14, 1924

December 14, 1924

November 30, 1924

Sunday A.M.

My Dear Ina,

I expected you to write me a pretty severe letter and I almost dreaded to read it, for I felt guilty of having been quite mean in writing. However, I was not aware that it had been so long. I was at West Palm Beach only a day when I returned and that probably accounts for the fact that I did not fill my promise in writing from there. I was rushed when I returned to Jax and I am sure that I did not write a letter of any nature until I reached Washington. But just the same it was mean of me to have waited so long and I deserved a good calling for it. Instead, you wrote a most wonderful letter and you don’t know how much I appreciated it nor how much it is helping.

November 30, 1924

November 30, 1924

You were quite right in saying that I could not be sure of myself in so short a time. I am not sure, and that is where your letter helps me. You seem to understand me and my dilemma. I know that everything will come out for the best, and I always feel that things happen for the best. The Supreme Being has a way of doing things that we cannot always understand. The fact that I met you and learned to care so much in so short a time, and that our ideas seemed so perfect in harmony, was no doubt more than a coincidence or happening. You haven’t heard me say anything about religion but in a large manner I believe in predestination. The Bible certainly teaches it in the case of Judas. I cannot believe that everything is predestined, but I do believe that through our conscience we are influenced by a Divine Plan. I believe we are held accountable for violating what our conscience dictates to us.

You have been an inspiration to me and you don’t know how much I really do care for you. I really feel that I love you best, but I believe that the other loves me more. Of course you and I have been together very little and I doubt if you can tell whether or not that you love me. My hope is that I can be with you more and then we will be more sure of ourselves. I had planned on seeing you Christmas, but it has developed that my work here will keep me going until after that time. I have worked every evening since I’ve been here and holidays too, except Thanksgiving when I had dinner with Dr. and Mrs. Roark. Mr. Bishopp writes that it would be fine to attend the meeting of the American Association of Economic Entomologists which will be held here during the Christmas holidays. I know that I can’t possibly finish the sectioning and staining before that time, so I’ll plan to attend the meeting. I came up without an overcoat as I expected to get through shortly, but am writing Mr. Laake to ship it to me. I had really planned on seeing you, Dear, and am disappointed. I hope you will believe me. Maybe I can run down for a few days during the early part of the year, that is if you feel that you would like to see me. If you don’t care to see me I would appreciate your telling me.

The sections of skin removed from patients in Florida have been brought here and I am working under Dr. White and am doing my own sectioning. They are first put through a number of solutions and then embedded in paraffin blocks. From these blocks I use a machine to cut the sections, which are mounted on slides in the order that they occur in the skin specimen. They are then subjected to 15 various treatments and stains, so that the complete structure can be studied microscopically. It is a tedious task and when they are completed I’ll probably have 20,000 sections for study. I wanted to give you an idea of what I was doing.

The appropriation bill has not passed as yet and we will not know until about April, but a request was made by Dr. K.S. with endorsements of the State and City Health boards. The Senator promised support, so no doubt but that we will get enough to do some good work in Florida another year. I believe the station will be permanent when it is established for there are a number of problems to be worked out by our Bureau on the line we are following.

I certainly enjoyed the work down there and I like the climate year round.

I am enclosing a newspaper account which we ran about the time I left Florida. It isn’t complete by any means and couldn’t be at this stage of the study. We also reported at the Southern Med. Meeting at New Orleans last week. I’ll send a copy of it when it is published.

You do understand me, Dear, and I hope you will be patient with me. I’ll try and not disappoint you again, for it hurts to know that I did not keep my word about writing from W. Palm Beach.

You are wonderful and your letters are an inspiration.

Sincerely,
Walter

Clipping in separate envelope.

Government Experts Finish Study of Creeping Eruption (clipping)

Government Experts Finish Study of Creeping Eruption (clipping)

November 16, 1924

Wash. D.C.
Sunday Nov. 16th.

Dear Ina,

It was nice of you not to be offended when I failed to write regularly. I have been rushed and am yet on the go. I thought it possible to get through here so that I could attend the Southern Med. Assn with Dr. Kirby-Smith at New Orleans, but it is too much. Am preparing a preliminary report for the meeting which will be read by Dr. K.S. when he gives his report.

November 16, 1924

November 16, 1924

I cannot tell you just how long I’ll be here but probably a couple of weeks or longer. I have not yet started on the sections of skin which were removed at Jax, and this is a long tedious job. As soon as I complete this part of it, I will go to Dallas. Have shipped lots of material there and hope to have the causative thing isolated so that I can make some detail studies of it when I get down there. This part of the work will have to be completed before I will know definitely just what I shall work with when I return to Dallas.

I have had quite a few letters from South Dakota and I know that the young lady really loves me, though for a long time I thought it was more like the love of a brother and sister. I want you to know about it though it isn’t pleasant to tell you about it. The fact that I lived with them and knew them so well probably accounted for the fact that I felt this way about it. I guess she felt so certain that we would be married that the situation became more like that of a couple who had been married for years or similar to a brother and sister who lived at home. She took everything for granted and in the meantime I felt that we were drifting apart. When I left there, the mother was very bitter toward me, simply because I didn’t stay there. The young lady, however, wanted me to do what I thought best.

That was the situation when I met you, and I have to admit that I fell pretty hard for you. Had you accepted when I proposed I know that I would not have kept up the South Dak correspondence. Since then the young lady has made me believe that she loves me, and there is no doubt in my mind. The mother has also written and she feels quite differently toward me now. I do love the young lady though at the time I met you, I felt that it was more of a brotherly love. You see I had been about the same as a father and brother to her for a number of years, and came to feel that way, rather than as a sweetheart. I want you to know just how it stands before you discover whether or not you do love me.

I have no plans to be married at the present time and under the conditions I believe it best to let a little time help me. It is a question of life time happiness and I don’t believe in rushing into it until one is certain.

I feel that I know her too well and that I do not know you well enough. I trust you will see it as I do and will understand that I have no secrets, but want to be fair and above board with everything.

Write me here for I will be here for at least two weeks.

Always,
Walter.

November 13, 1924

Postcard

November 13, 1924

November 13, 1924

Arrived here this P.M. Will write letter in day or two. Guess I’ll be here about 3 weeks. Address c/o Bureau of Entomology. I like Jax so well I hated to leave there. Will not go to meeting at New Orleans as I won’t have time to finish the work here.

Walter.

October 30, 1924

Miami, Florida,
Oct 30, 1924

Dear Ina,

Your letter of the 22nd was forwarded to me today and can assure you that I was more than pleased to get it. I didn’t remember that the date was four months from the time I met you, as it seems so much longer.

I am on my way to Homestead Florida tomorrow morning and will spend a day or so there. Will then return to West Palm Beach and spend about a week in work there. The latter part of next week I expect to be in Jacksonville and after a few days will go to Washington. You might address me at Jax as usual in the next letter, and week after next it should be sent to Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D.C.

October 30, 1924

October 30, 1924

My work is just as interesting as ever and I have had recent findings which make it seem that I can begin to see the “handwriting on the wall.” I hope that I have gotten at the real cause, but the details will have to be worked out partly when I am in Washington and mostly when I return to Dallas. When I return to Dallas I’ll have to be able to produce the disease experimentally in order to prove that I have the real cause.

I wish that I could see you and visit as you suggested, as quite often things come into my mind that I would like to discuss with you. To write them would only mean a confusion with possible misunderstandings.

I have never known anyone with whom I felt had ideas so similar to my own and whom I admired so much in so short a time. I wish it had been possible for me to have seen you more and to have known you better when I was there. There might be something that you would not like in me and vice versa. It is well to know pretty well what one likes and dislikes, and at times it requires some time to find out. I honestly feel that we know one another exceptionally well for so short a time but should know each other better. I do feel that I know the young lady in South Dakota too well to love her as a sweetheart, though I must admit that I care a great deal for her. I really care so much for her that I should have exercised more reserve in writing to you as I have. I have had pity for her and no doubt this has developed into a love much stronger on her part than on my own.

Will write you again when I return to West Palm Beach which will be about Sunday or Monday.

Always,
Walter.

October 26, 1924

St. Augustine, Florida
Sunday Oct 26th

My Dear Ina,

I came here last night and will probably be here until some time tomorrow when I will go down the state. Expect to go about as far as there is any land. Will spend a few days at Palm Beach and at the National Park south of there.

I stopped here because we had two severe cases of creeping eruption which originated here at exactly the same spot. Plumbers were installing a furnace in a new building and at one place both became heavily infected with creeping eruption. It has been about three weeks and at this time there should be a development in the soil which would be visible to the naked eye, and of such a stage that it could be determined. The peculiar part of the origin of infestations is that there is no particular reason from a sanitary point of view, and the places would never be suspected unless one was familiar with the origin of the disease.

October 26, 1924

October 26, 1924

I’ll probably be down the state for about a week or 10 days and when I return to Jax I’ll probably be there only a few days before I go to Washington. Will have to make a preliminary report so that Dr. Kirby-Smith can use it at the Southern Med. Meeting in New Orleans. It will not be complete, but a more complete report will be made at the Am. Med. Assn. in New York next June. Dr. K.S. will show the slides and discuss my report at New Orleans. It is barely possible that I’ll be there but I hardly think so as I’ll probably go to Dallas as soon as I have completed my work at Washington. I do not expect to be in Wash. any longer than is necessary for I don’t particularly like it there. So many do like it but not for me. I expect to work hard during the hours, which are short and to take enough library material out to keep me busy during the evenings.

I am sending some material to Dallas and I’ll still have something to do when I arrive there. There are several details which I would like to work out before next June. If possible I want to keep away from any co-operative work with the Public Health Service for I now feel that I have found bottom by myself and would like to solve the rest of it.

Lots of tourists coming to Florida now. One could count 40 to 50 cars per hour on a road leading to Jacksonville. Most of them go further south on both coasts. Sarasota on the West Coast is destined to become another Miami. Real estate is booming, but not ranch or farm property. The farmers own very little land, and won’t allow any body to fence theirs. Cattle run at large and anyone building a fence is apt to have it cut into pieces. The cattle are scrubs and worth very little. The markets handle a great deal of Western beef as the Florida cattle are so tough one can hardly eat it. Northern people have tried to fence large ranches and bring in pure bred cattle but the fences are always cut and if guards are put on them, some one shoots them from the bushes.

I am looking forward to Christmas time when I can see you again. It seems like a long time since I left Uvalde. I love you lots and can’t help but believe that you love me at least a little, though you won’t tell me.

Kindest regards to Mother, Father, and Sister and lots of love for yourself.

Always,
Walter

October 19, 1924

Sunday Afternoon.
Oct 19, 1924.

Dear Walter:

Your letter came as a relief, and it made me happy again. I had already figured how long it would take you to receive my letter, and then how long it would be before I could receive a reply. Your letter came exactly the hour I expected it, and it certainly saved me a great disappointment by its being on time. When I mailed my last letter to you I almost felt like doing as our Court house janitor’s little four year old son did a few days ago. The little boy’s Aunt at Yoakum, Texas had just sent his mother some pretty red beads, and nothing would do but that the mother must write the aunt at once to send the little boy some beads too. They sent him down to the postoffice alone to mail the letter. That was at eleven o’clock in the morning – noon came, but the little boy did not return. His parents searched, but he was nowhere to be found. Finally, about three-thirty in the afternoon, Son came home. When they asked him where on earth he had been so long his reply was “Well, I was just waitin’ for my beads.” So I felt very much like sitting in the post office and waiting for a reply to the letter I had just written. I suppose you thought I was foolish for writing such a letter, but I hope you will forgive me for it. That was just the way I was feeling, and just the way I would have talked to you had you been here, so I just wrote it. I want you to know that I appreciated the letter you wrote in reply, and appreciate your frankness in telling me of the things that thappened while you were living in Aberdeen. I sincerely hope that the whole affair will turn out for the best.

October 19, 1924

October 19, 1924

Mr. and Mrs. Parman returned from their Tenn. visit two days ago and reported a “grand and glorious” time. They were gone only two weeks, and a high school boy here took care of things while they were gone. None of the entomologists from out of town came for special work while they were gone. Mr. and Mrs. Parman came by this morning and asked all of us to go up in the canyons with them to spend the day, but Claudelle and I had some special church work today, Papa was out of town, and Mama didn’t want to go without us, so we didn’t accept the invitation.

The Baptists have been having a big revival for the past week, and we have been enjoying it very much. I think a revival of the “old time religion” is the finest thing in the world for Uvalde right now. There seems to be so much hatred and strife among the people here and some people refuse to speak to each other – all on account of political differences. It is a terrible condition of affairs, and I can’t help but believe that this revival will do a great deal toward re-uniting them.

No, we haven’t moved yet. I think it will be the first of November before we go. We went up to the ranch a few days ago and think we will like it fine after the house is repaired some. We are very anxious to get out there so that we can begin to make it look more like someone is interested in making it look home-like. The weeds are about waist high in the yard, part of the fence is down, the doorsteps are almost down, and dozens of other things need repairing.

Walter, it makes me awfully happy every time I think of your coming Christmas. It seems like an age since you were here, but really it will have been only about six months Christmas since I first met you. That is a half year though, isn’t it. Anyhow, I surely will be glad when the time comes.

I must hurry and mail this so it will get off on the next train.

Sincerely,
Ina