We arrived at Jax at 7 AM & enjoyed breakfast. The drive was fine. No mishaps or anything.
Love
Walter
December 26, 1931
Walter is on his way to a scientific conference in New Orleans, where he’ll present his work on endemic typhus.
Postcard mailed from Funiak Springs, Florida.
Arrived at Funiak Springs about 6 PM. Am at the hotel where we stopped with Claudelle. Left Chas 9PM yesterday. Slept about 1 hr. Smoke and fog were terrible on Atlantic Coast. Had to drive slowly. No mishaps. Swamps here been on fire about 2 weeks. Fires are out now but smoke is there.
W.E.D.
December 29, 1931
Friday Night
Nov. 6, 1931.
Dearest Sweetheart:
Yours and Gilbert’s Sunday night waffles sounded good. Before many more Sunday nights Walter White and I will join you in such a feast. Tell Gilbert he’s getting gay a-partying until 4 A.M. He doesn’t have Walter White to awaken him early with tin cans and Easter eggs like he did on Elmwood.
November 6, 1931
The preliminary program of the Southern Med. Assn. is interesting. I see anumber of familiar names – Drs. Rees, Ricks, Massey etc. I should like very much to arrive early enough Friday to at least see the exhibit and I’d love to hear your paper. Perhaps you would rather your wife would not be present when you made a public speech. Some people feel self conscious if a member of the immediate family is present. Walter White might want to appear on the platform with you so I could remain at the hotel with him until you were through. Since there are only two through trains leaving here and one of them at midnight it looks like we will have to leave on the one at noon. It arrives in N.O. at 7:30 A.M. the following morning. That would be early for you to have to meet us, especially on the day that you would have to appear on the program. You would probably prefer spending the time before ten o’clock in final preparations. I really have not investigated the time of arrival in N.O. of the midnight train as I preferred not getting Walter White wide awake that time of night among sleeping passengers. However, if you think best, I can do it. Yes, the train trip from N.O. to Charleston will be delightful if you are with us. Honey, do you mind mailing me my new green winter coat so I may have it to wear on the train? You will find it in the tray of your big trunk in Walter White’s closet. It will be better to mail it to me here because if you carried it in your bag to N.O. it might be rather wrinkled for immediate wear. Also, I might need it before I arrive there. I don’t like to trouble you with it, but I believe it will be necessary. Thank you.
This afternoon Walter White and I made two calls, returning in time to join the crowd on neighbor John M. Garner’s lawn which had gathered to get a peek at Will Rogers. He arrived in Uvalde this afternoon by airplane and was the guest of the Garners. We walked up that way, really not expecting to see him as he was not planning to make a public appearance here. Just then the high school pep squad arrived, fresh from a victorious football game. They gave fifteen rahs for Rogers and out stepped Will himself. He and Mr. Garner joined the crowd in front and he talked for a few minutes in his humorous conversational way. Walter White saw nothing extraordinary about him. In fact he scarcely looked Will’s way. He was more interested in the lineup of cars.
Honey, I have not been able to get any more information concerning endemic typhus at Carrizo Springs. Tonight Mrs. Sutherland was here and I asked if she knew the name of a physician at that place. She said a Dr. Prickett had a small hospital there. If you are interested you can write him if you like. I thought of doing it myself but decided it would be better for you to do it.
We love you lots & lots. We are going to have a most pleasant trip home with you.
Always, your
Ina.
Wednesday Night.
Nov. 5, 1931*
Dearest Sweetheart:
No letter today, but I’m sure you are busy with your manuscript.
Walter White is sleeping soundly. He has gotten so he takes only one nap a day and that is usually just before noon. He surely leads us a merry chase the rest of the day. Unless we latch the louvers (and the screen latches are useless unless they are too high for him to reach) he will hardly stay in the house. The fresh air and sunshine are fine for him and we are glad he likes the great outdoors. It would be more convenient, however, if he were satisfied with Mama’s & Papa’s yard as a playground. He insists on “goin’ wawkin” at all hours and it is impossible to exhaust him. I am doing more walking now than I have done in many a day. It is good for both of us though. He has to be watched every minute that he is in the yard here because there is no fence and he is so quick that he can be away in a minute. Don’t worry though. One of us is on the job all the time. That nice, high solid board fence and gate at Charleston will be fine. I think he would enjoy a sand pile in a good sunny place there now. The beach would would be lovely. There is some red sand in the yard here and he enjoys throwing handfuls of it above his head. Sometimes you have a red handed son. Before the weather turned cool he had something on one shoulder that we thought was heat. It itched when he was too warm and it gradually spread to the other shoulder, his neck and finally his face. The cool weather did not seem to help it. After he had had it for over two weeks I asked Dr. Knox to look at it. He said it was nettle rash or – how do you spell “Erticaria”? [urticaria, aka hives]. I suggested that we probably had been giving him too much acid food – lots of orange juice and apple sauce. He agreed that it was caused by that and advised us to eliminate the apple sauce. He also prescribed some medicine which we purchased and gave him – a liquid and some powders. It seemed like a joke to give W.W. medicine. He felt good (but he looked terrible), it seemed, except that the itching troubled him. We bathed the places with soda water and that helped greatly. His face was swollen some when Claudelle came but by the time she was ready to leave he looked well enough for her to take some pictures of him. The rash has disappeared now and he is feeling fine. It upsets me for even the least thing to get wrong with Walter White when you are away. He is so sweet and so valuable to us.
November 5, 1931
Marguerite is getting on well as could be expected they say. Her trouble was a ruptured ovary. They removed it. They said her abdomen was so full of blood that they dipped it out by the handful. The doctors seemed to know their business and there were two graduate nurses present. They expect to give Marguerite a blood transfusion tonight. If Bob’s blood types I imagine he will be the one to furnish it. He said he had killed lots of deer but he never saw one lose as much blood as Marguerite did.
It is good to think that we are really going to see you soon. You are going to find your son about the most interesting thing you have ever seen. I love to play with him and see how quickly he learns and develops. He is much less babyish and much more boyish than when you saw him. The family can hardly talk of his leaving. They are going to miss him dreadfully. The neighbors will miss him too. Mrs. Cain said she didn’t know what she was going to do after he left. Bertie said she was going to leave home the day he did because she couldn’t stand to tell him goodbye. She told her mother that if she could have a son like Walter White she wouldn’t mind having one before she married. She is to be married in a few months I think. She said she wanted a dozen children. She loves them so. After she has had one she will probably cut the number some as there isn’t a great deal of fun in bringing one into the world. They are more than worth it after they arrive though. I just wonder how we got along without ours as long as we did.
Lots & lots of love from all of us.
Always, your
Ina.
* November 5 was a Thursday; I’m guessing Ina got the date right and day wrong.
Wednesday A.M.
Nov. 1931.
Dearest Sweetheart:
Your letters of Friday and Saturday came yesterday. They were both very interesting.
I agree with Mr. and Mrs. Hall in regard to the amount of work accomplished on the sand fly problem. It seems that you have gone forward with great speed. The fact that it is such a difficult problem and practically no previous work has been done on it makes it all the more remarkable.
November 4, 1931
Your interpretation of Walter White’s letter was very good. How did you know? You are an understanding father.
The information about Mr. Abbott is interesting. Poor fellow, I feel sorry for him. I know he isn’t normal. We should not blame him so much. He is probably just naturally that way and can’t help himself.
I’m so glad you purchased the suit. It sounds pretty and serviceable. It will save your expensive gray suit for best wear. You needed one to wear to the lab. That clothing store will be a blessing to the town if the merchandise is as good as it seems. It was mighty sweet of you to think of purchasing one for Papa’s Xmas gift. I told Mama about it and she said they would not let you do such a thing. Papa said the same when she told him. They appreciate it very much, and so do I, but they do not want you to spend that much on his gift. He still has his blue serge suit that he wore in our wedding and it looks like new.
Honey, Papa, Thelma and I together purchased a dress for Mama’s birthday. Her birthday is on the 5th of this month but we have already bought the gift. She appreciates it so much. The dress and hat are sort of a powder blue, and they are very becoming to her. She looks prettier in them than I have seen her in a long time. It was thoughtful of you to mention it. Your name goes in on the dress and hat. Mother Dove has a birthday some day this month but I have forgotten the exact date. Heretofore, we have been celebrating her birthday in October but when she was in Charleston she told me it was November instead. You know better than I what she would prefer as a gift. Will you please send something nice to her?
Wednesday night.
We have had Ina Marie all day so I did not have an opportunity to finish your letter. Bob’s baby sister, Marguerite, suddenly became dangerously ill at their ranch home last night and they rushed her to Uvalde. She is a tiny thing – not much larger than Thelma Lee – and is very young. She has been married about a year or more. A few months ago she had a miscarriage. She seemed to have recovered until terrific pains struck her last night. They carried her to Thelma & Bob’s, and Dr. Merritt, who has a little hospital here, examined her some then and thoroughly at 9:30 this A.M. He said she was pregnant in the tubes, that there was a laceration there and that she was bleeding to death inside. He advised immediate operation and said she would not live to reach San Antonio if they attempted to carry her there for the operation. By the time her family arrived and the family doctor from Sabinal it was late this evening. They carried her to the Merritt hospital here. There were five doctors present, but I don’t know just how good they are. Thelma phoned after the operation was over and said Marguerite had not yet come out from under the ether but the doctors still had hopes for her. It seemed that after they opened her up (that is a poor way of expressing it but you know what I mean) they found she was not pregnant and that one of her ovaries had to come out. I do not know the particulars but perhaps Mama & Papa will know when they return from Thelma’s. They carried Ina Marie home tonight and I am expecting them any time now. I do hope she recovers. It would be terrible if she didn’t.
I love you, Sweetheart, very very much. I’d love so much to be with you this very minute. You don’t know how much I miss you – you really don’t.
Always, your
Ina.
Monday Night.
Nov. 3, 1931.
Dearest Sweetheart:
Your letter of Thursday night came this A.M.
I know you are a busy man. Dr. Bishopp should feel very proud of the Charleston lab – especially my husband. It is lovely that he is to give the address to the Ent. Soc. of America.
November 3, 1931
You said you thought Walter White and I should arrive in New Orleans on the 20th. I’d love to see your exhibit if it is still up at the meeting when we arrive. Since we will arrive at 7:30 A.M. you may prefer that we make it the 21st so that we can leave immediately for Charleston. Either way will be alright with us. The main thing is to see you soon.
I’m so glad that Gilbert is manifesting so much interest in his night school work and is progressing so rapidly. I know it is a relief to you to feel that you can soon turn that sort of thing over to him. You have a lab force to be proud of.
Our son may be a musician. I don’t know for sure yet. He has learned to open the piano, climb upon the bench and my! how he does play. Tonight he played from memory for a while, then he stopped suddenly. There was no sheet music in sight, but he pointed to the front of the piano and said “onna book.” After I placed the music before him he bent over the keys and played, looking very intently at the music all the while. It was amusing to us, but he took it very seriously.
But our son will not be a barber. That is, unless he does it for revenge. His hair had gotten so long that Mama tried every week or so to trim it a little. The moment Walter White saw the scissors or heard the hair being cut he was up in arms. She improved his looks some but just a little at a time. We were explaining our difficulties to Bertie, so she volunteered to carry him to a beauty shop to have it cut. He thinks anything she says or does is quite right and we thought he would not be reminded of former ordeals if she carried him. Also, he might be less frightened if a lady cut his hair. She carried him this P.M. at 2:30. She said it nearly broke her heart when he would plead in a tearful voice “Down, Bertie down.” She took him on her lap and she, as well as everyone else, tried to divert his mind. He was pretty badly frightened I’m sure, but he must not have been as much so as usual because she said he had quiet moments during the ordeal. I did not go, but I might as well have gone because I felt almost as if he were undergoing an operation without my being there. It looks as if you or I or both of us will have to take lessons in barberism and care for his hair until he is old enough to decide whether or not he wishes to join the “Sons of David” or whatever creed it is that forbids cutting hair.
The article regarding tax on airplane gas indicates that South Carolina is a little heavy on her taxes. If the airplane gas tax is abolished I’m afraid highway #17 will suffer.
We love you lots & lots, Honey.
Good-night, and I hope you sleep good.
Always, your
Ina.
Saturday A.M.
Oct. 31, 1931.
Dearest Sweetheart:
Walter White and I are sitting by the fire writing to you. He wrote on my letter some too. He enjoys having us take him on our laps and tell him how he is going to get on the “chu chu twain” and go see Daddy. He sits real still and smiles.
October 31, 1931
Your letter of Monday night enclosing one from Mrs. Bucklin came yesterday. I’m relieved that she is in a home where she will be cared for. I understand the Eastern Star home is a good one. I have thought of her so often and wondered what she was doing. She is pathetic. She has so much spirit and a love for the comforts and beauties of life. I am going to write her soon. It is queer that we failed to receive her last letter.
Honey, I’m sorry I alarmed you about Papa’s condition. You see, his back has been weak ever since he was a young man and every time he does any heavy lifting he suffers greatly with backache. He has had that trouble so much that when we ask him how he feels, we just naturally expect him to say “alright except my back hurts so bad.” It seems that “blues” or worry makes his back ache terribly. So, even though no one in either of the cars suffered even the slightest physical injury, his back became sympathetic when he found that he would have a repair bill. It amounted to about $26.00* and would have been more if Papa had not happened in the garage in time. The owner of the car had carried it to the garage to be overhauled. Of course it all would have been charged to Papa. He (Papa) told the garage men to use their judgement about the repairs that would be necessary as a result of the accident. He of course was willing to stand that expense, but no other.
It will be lovely if your sandfly treatments give a 95% kill. It should seem marvelous to people who have been annoyed by the pests so long. I’m anxious to know just what your plans are for extensive treatments. Congratulations! I’m so proud of the progress you have made on that problem as well as on others. You will have interesting material for the Christmas paper.
The cool weather we have been having yesterday and today makes me appreciate your saying that the heaters at home and the lab are in working order. Do you think the house we are now in will be a great deal more easily heated than the Elmwood one?
The pecan crop in the yard was light this year but Papa has about 200 lbs. from his trees. Some of them are real large ones too. There is only one tree among them that is an ungrafted native pecan.
It is good to know that it will be only a few weeks before we can be seeing you.
We surely do love you, Honey.
Always, your
Ina.
* $392.53 in today’s money.
Thursday Night.
Oct. 29, 1931.
Dearest Sweetheart:
It is almost eleven o’clock and I have been sewing buttons on Walter White’s shirts for hours. Mama and I have almost finished seven winter pants suits for him. You see, he had no long sleeve suits and none can be bought ready made in Uvalde. These, with his red overcoat that I made, should almost complete his winter wardrobe. Boys’ clothes, we have decided, are much more difficult to make than girls’. I bought over fifty buttons at one time.
October 29, 1931
Tonight feels a little wintery. We had a fire in one of the fireplaces early this morning. I am glad our circulating heater is in working order now. We may need it a few times this winter. Do you think you will need a gas heater at the lab this winter? We have one for sale, you know.
There was no letter today but I’m looking forward to one tomorrow. You are very busy with manuscripts, exhibits etc. I’m sure.
We hope you are getting along comfortably at home. Tell Rebecca I’m trusting her to take good care of you. The housekeeping is probably very easy now since Walter White and I are not there to scatter things.
Kind regards to the lab force and the Robinsons and the Shaws and Wilsons in case you should see them.
I love you, Honey, and I hope you sleep good.
Always, your devoted
Ina.
Tuesday Night
Oct. 27, 1931.
Dearest Sweetheart:
Giles Rawles (Johnie’s brother) spent this evening with us. His wife and baby remained in Columbia, Mississippi while Giles and his wife’s brother are making a tour of Texas, “prospecting.” When he saw Walter White he immediately said he was just like you. Didn’t you meet him once when we were here or has he just seen your picture? I believe he and his wife were visiting here at that time. Yes, I know they were because we all went into Mexico together and took some pictures. She was the one with the babyish voice, you remember.
October 27, 1931
You would be amused to hear your son call Papa “Nickey” and “Humpkin” (Mama’s pet name for Papa). He has been in the yard almost all today. This afternoon Mr. Dougharty has been thrashing the pecans and W.W. has been helping him pick them up. Sometimes he decides to take them out of the bucket by the handful and scatter them. He fills his pockets and a little glass with them. He likes the taste of them but we do not give him many. He puts one under his little bare foot and says “onna cwack it,” or squeezes one in each fist and says the same thing.
It is lovely that you have so much enthusiastic cooperation in preparing the exhibits etc. for the meetings. I’m glad that you, Mr. Hall and Mr. Hull are going to present “The Sandfly Problem” in December. It should be of great interest to those attending the meetings because of its importance and the lack of previous work done on the problem. I’m glad you are planning to be present at the meetings although we are going to miss you. If Mr. Hall goes also perhaps Pauline and little David would stay with Walter White and me. We would enjoy having them and none of us would get so lonesome. Perhaps we could find a cot or something for David to sleep on.
I was so amused at your comments on Charleston that I read that part of your letter aloud to Mama. She said tell you that the more you disliked Charleston the better pleased she was. This speculation about Dallas is something to my wife’s ears and that about Jacksonville isn’t exactly bad. It would seem too good to be true if we could return to Dallas to live. If that cannot be, Jacksonville would be nice – certainly a great deal nicer than Charleston. Anyhow, those things are pleasant to think about. I can’t believe we are settled in Charleston for life, but I am beginning to feel that it would not be bad at all to live there for a while longer. It is a good experience. It makes us appreciate other places. By the way, yesterday a neighbor of ours remarked to Papa that they were trying to kill all the rats at Carrizo Springs because they were spreading typhus. Papa did not inquire into it but when he told Mama she was all keyed up over it, thinking that you might go down there to do some work. He will make further inquiries and I will let you know. Are you interested in getting material from there if possible, or do you think it would be worth the trip? I do not know a Carrizo Springs physician’s name to whom you could write for information. It would be lovely if you could come.
Yes, Honey, I love you too even though you live at Charleston. I’d love you if you lived at Kuippa [?].
Good-night and I hope you sleep good.
Always, your
Ina.
Sunday Night.
Oct. 4, 1931.
Dearest Sweetheart:
Mama and I went to church tonight while Papa kept Walter White. Walter White was almost asleep when we left him. Mr. Palmer brought us home. We had not been with him over a minute before he began asking about Claudelle.
October 4, 1931
I really did carry W.W. to Sunday School this morning. Mrs. Pilgreen has the cradle roll class and has three assistants. W.W. decided he didn’t want me to leave him with the crowd of strange little boys and girls so I stayed in the room with him. He was satisfied and immediately started playing with the little trains, automobiles, blocks, boxes etc. etc. that were provided. I gave him a dime to drop in the collection box but he would not do it until Mrs. Pilgreen showed him how. Then he dropped his in the slot, and, when a timid little boy would not drop his in, Walter White took it and did it for him. It was lots of fun to watch them. It really is a Sunday kindergarten where the teachers watch and study the pupils while they play together. They try to teach them to be unselfish etc. For those that are large enough and care to take part there are songs and nature studies. It is really fine and the children enjoy it. After a Sunday or two they are willing for their parents to leave them for their own classes. The Mothers’ class is just across the hall from the children’s. After it was all over Walter White was the last one to leave. He had just opened a closet door and found the closet full of playthings. He wanted to stay. He can say “choo-choo train,” “autobile” and anything else he wants to say. Ina Marie spent today with us. W.W. feels more kindly toward her now. Occasionally he suddenly leans toward her and says “kiss.” Of course she is always ready and it is real sweet. Sometimes he changes his mind before she reaches him so he pushes her away. He is not as unselfish with his toys as he used to be. He is going to have to learn how to play with other children. He holds his own almost too well now.
By the way, Honey, I forgot last night to ask you to thank Dr. Shelmire for his invitation to us to visit them.
I imagine you and Mr. Hall started on your trip to Florida today. The checks have had time to reach Charleston. I hope you will have a pleasant trip. Also, that you will continue to write often. I can hardly wait to receive your report on the Tampa situation.
We love you ever so much.
Always, your
Ina.