Letter from Alma to Will: 3/13/1906
Full size image is below.
A letter from Alma, in Oberlin, Ohio, to her older brother Will, in West Point, New York. Eva has tonsillitis.
1906-03-13: ~TOUR STOPS~---images---audio---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
This page is a stop in: The stop BEFORE this is: The stop AFTER this is:
1906-03-13: tour stops---~IMAGES~---audio---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
Front of envelopeImage #1 of four for this letterScroll down for the audio readingand for the transcript.
Back of envelopeImage #2 of four for this letterScroll down for the audio readingand for the transcript.
Page 1Image #3 of four for this letterScroll down for the audio readingand for the transcript.
Page 2Image #4 of four for this letterScroll down for the audio readingand for the transcript.
1906-03-13: tour stops---images---~AUDIO~---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
1906-03-13: tour stops---images---audio---~TRANSCRIPT~---notes---links---site navigation
Tuesday evening.
Dear Will
Eva wants me to write to tell you that she has tonsillitis and wants you to write to her. She has been in bed two days. The doctor has been over twice but she doesn’t seem to get much better. It takes some time for tonsillitis to wear out.
She was wishing last night that you were here to hold her hand. I think she would have taken Mr. Hammond as a substitute if she could have gotten him. He was here Sunday and when he was fooling around with Eva she caught his hands and held them. Then she sat for at least ten minutes holding his hands apparently unconscious that it wasn’t the usual thing to do. That was bad enough but after he went she calmly announced that “he had the dandiest hands to hold.” I fear you have a rival.
She wants you to write instanter. She pines for a letter.
With much love,
Alma.
Dear Will
Eva wants me to write to tell you that she has tonsillitis and wants you to write to her. She has been in bed two days. The doctor has been over twice but she doesn’t seem to get much better. It takes some time for tonsillitis to wear out.
She was wishing last night that you were here to hold her hand. I think she would have taken Mr. Hammond as a substitute if she could have gotten him. He was here Sunday and when he was fooling around with Eva she caught his hands and held them. Then she sat for at least ten minutes holding his hands apparently unconscious that it wasn’t the usual thing to do. That was bad enough but after he went she calmly announced that “he had the dandiest hands to hold.” I fear you have a rival.
She wants you to write instanter. She pines for a letter.
With much love,
Alma.
1906-03-13: tour stops---images---audio---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
Tuesday evening.
The envelope is postmarked March 14, 1906. That day was a Wednesday, so this letter was written on March 13, 1906.
2.
Eva wants me to write to tell you that she has tonsillitis and wants you to write to her. She has been in bed two days. The doctor has been over twice but she doesn’t seem to get much better. It takes some time for tonsillitis to wear out.
AG says that Maggie (Will's older daughter) said that it was a good thing that Eva got her tonsils removed before she converted to Christian Science. I haven't seen anything about Eva getting her tonsils removed, but I assume AG is quoting Maggie correctly.
Eva's conversion to Christian Science happened around 1913, and it seems plausible to imagine that the operation took place when she was still in Ohio, which would put it somewhere between this 1906 date and 1908. I figure recurring tonsillitis would be a real problem for a singer, and I wonder if there was some worry that the operation would affect her voice. (Googling tells me that removal of tonsils shouldn't affect the voice, but that the surgery itself might be risky for the voice, related to bleeding and to intubation.) There probably wasn't any worry about it affecting her health in any other way; the book Cheaper By the Dozen tells, among other things, about how all the kids (or anyway, I guess, the ones who were old enough) got their tonsils removed at the same time, and that was probably somewhere around 1910.
3.
She was wishing last night that you were here to hold her hand. I think she would have taken Mr. Hammond as a substitute if she could have gotten him. He was here Sunday and when he was fooling around with Eva she caught his hands and held them. Then she sat for at least ten minutes holding his hands apparently unconscious that it wasn’t the usual thing to do. That was bad enough but after he went she calmly announced that “he had the dandiest hands to hold.” I fear you have a rival.
This paragraph is the reason that I've included this letter in: Eva was definitely interested in guys.
Tuesday evening.
The envelope is postmarked March 14, 1906. That day was a Wednesday, so this letter was written on March 13, 1906.
2.
Eva wants me to write to tell you that she has tonsillitis and wants you to write to her. She has been in bed two days. The doctor has been over twice but she doesn’t seem to get much better. It takes some time for tonsillitis to wear out.
AG says that Maggie (Will's older daughter) said that it was a good thing that Eva got her tonsils removed before she converted to Christian Science. I haven't seen anything about Eva getting her tonsils removed, but I assume AG is quoting Maggie correctly.
Eva's conversion to Christian Science happened around 1913, and it seems plausible to imagine that the operation took place when she was still in Ohio, which would put it somewhere between this 1906 date and 1908. I figure recurring tonsillitis would be a real problem for a singer, and I wonder if there was some worry that the operation would affect her voice. (Googling tells me that removal of tonsils shouldn't affect the voice, but that the surgery itself might be risky for the voice, related to bleeding and to intubation.) There probably wasn't any worry about it affecting her health in any other way; the book Cheaper By the Dozen tells, among other things, about how all the kids (or anyway, I guess, the ones who were old enough) got their tonsils removed at the same time, and that was probably somewhere around 1910.
3.
She was wishing last night that you were here to hold her hand. I think she would have taken Mr. Hammond as a substitute if she could have gotten him. He was here Sunday and when he was fooling around with Eva she caught his hands and held them. Then she sat for at least ten minutes holding his hands apparently unconscious that it wasn’t the usual thing to do. That was bad enough but after he went she calmly announced that “he had the dandiest hands to hold.” I fear you have a rival.
This paragraph is the reason that I've included this letter in: Eva was definitely interested in guys.
1906-03-13: tour stops---images---audio---transcript---notes---~LINKS~---site navigation
DOCUMENT LISTS FOR PEOPLE:
- WILL: DOCUMENTS ----- Incoming
- ALMA: DOCUMENTS ----- Outgoing
- EVA: DOCUMENTS ----- Related
GENERAL DOCUMENT LISTS:
OTHER RELATED DOCUMENTS/PAGES:
1906-03-13: tour stops---images---audio---transcript---notes---links---~SITE NAVIGATION~-
WHERE AM I?
WHAT ARE THE PREVIOUS PAGE AND THE NEXT PAGE?