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

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)