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Will very much wants Kathleen and the kids to join him in Texas, even though the house that they'll be living in has inadequate furnishings and also bedbugs.
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Fort Sam Houston, Texas,
May 21, 1918.

Dear Kathleen,
​
Your letter of the 16th came yesterday.  You didn’t say when you were coming.  I hope the list of Q.M. stuff I sent you in the last letter will look like enough to keep house on.  I am inclosing a laundry list, hoping that it will look very attractive.  You musn’t wait for the furniture, for it may not be here for a long time yet.  I had a wire to-day from Major Harrington saying the excess freight would amount to $102.69, and asking for check for it, and to wire that I was sending it so as to avoid delay.  I sent it and wired him.  As it will be a carload it may not take so long as we expect.  It is supper time, and as you have trained me up to be prompt for my meals, I will run along and finish this later.

May 22.  I am finishing this after office hours and may have to stop again for supper.  There is no one taking care of me.  I guess you know how much I need some one.  You asked about the insects.  I will begin with the least obnoxious.  The flies seem to have all died of starvation.  I noticed quite a few dead one on the window sills and did not see any live ones.  I have seen only one cockroach.  As for the other things I thought of them the very first thing.  After observing for a while I decided there were none.  From what occured last I am afraid I was mistaken, although nothing has been definitely proven.  Yesterday I spoke to one of the Engineer Seargents about it.  He inquired and found out that none of the bedding in the house had been servants bedding.  I also asked him to see the Q.M. and see if he could get something for the Cockroaches.  This morning he brought back a can of stuff to be quite the thing for both kinds.  He said it smelled so bad you couldn’t stay in the house for a couple of days after using it.  He told me yesterday that he had a friend who was in the business of keeping places free from all such things by the year.  I told him not to bother about it, but after last night’s experience I think I will change my decision.  I may give the Q.M.’s stuff a try first.

On our recent trip to Medina Lake we went to the upper end.  It was a 45 mile trip.  The first half of the trip was over fine roads, after that the road runs in a mountainous region where there are many very rough spots.  The road in many places is cut right in the roch, which is very soft.  Of course it wears so as to become very rough.  The scenery however made the trip one worth taking particularly if it is not done in too much of a hurry.  I want to take you on it if Eva will permit it.  I have been wondering why you never tell me anything about her.  Will she be able to take rides when she comes here?  How large is she now?  Does anybody know anything about it or suspect anything yet?  If so, what do they think about it?  Have you told Ruthy what you promised to tell her?  I have jumped off of the trip.  We took bedding along in a truck.  The Lymans slept in the truck and I slept on the ground.  It was fine.  There was a party of campers near us who spent a good part of the night shooting craps.  They made so much noise that Mr. Lyman could not sleep and Mrs. Lyman said he kept her awake fussing about them.  I suppose I had better explain that you don’t shoot craps with a gun but with dice.  They didn’t bother me a little bit.  On the way up we saw a herd of 5 or 6 deer.  I saw only one of them myself.  It did not impress me as much as it would have if we had not had a herd in the quadrangle.  They were right in the middle of the road, I suppose about three or four hundred yards ahead of us.

The trunk with the silver came a long time ago, but I have not looked at it.

I don’t think you know how much I miss you, and I don’t believe you know how lonely it is living in a nearly empty house by yourself.  Of course I never stay home at nights.  If you don’t look out I will get so I can’t stay at home.  I am sorry I haven’t any more trips to make right now.  I envy myself all the trips I could have taken in the Cincinnati and Louisville districts.  The only trip I am reasonably sure of taking is another one to Brownsville when the river gets down to ordinary low water.  That may not be very far off as it has gone down most of the way already.

It is supper time again.  Give my love to all the family and hugs and kisses to yourself, Margaret, and Billy.

With lots of love to my girl,

Will

P.S. Tell Margaret I am glad she is getting to be such a handy girl about taking care of herself.

W.
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1.
I hope the list of Q.M. stuff I sent you in the last letter will look like enough to keep house on.
Q.M. is Quartermaster.  The letter Will is talking about must be:
2.
There is no one taking care of me.  I guess you know how much I need some one.
Yeah, right.  Will is totally able to take care of himself.

3.
Yesterday I spoke to one of the Engineer Seargents about it.  He inquired and found out that none of the bedding in the house had been servants bedding. 
I'm seeing racism here.  There's a letter that I don't think I've uploaded yet, written by Mama Margaret in 1915 or 1916 when she was housekeeping for Will and toddler Maggie in Savannah.  She talks about bedbugs, and mentions that a neighbor told her the problem originated with the colored servants.  So when Will found bedbugs in the house in Texas that he and Kathleen were living in, his first assumption was that the problem must have originated with colored servants there.

4.
On our recent trip to Medina Lake we went to the upper end.
Will had mentioned in the 5/18/2018 that he would be going on this trip.  As I noted in that letter, Wikipedia says:
Medina Lake is a reservoir on the Medina River in the Texas Hill Country of the United States. It is operated by the Bexar/Medina/Atascosa County Agricultural District. Medina Dam was completed in 1913 in a privately financed project, creating the lake to supply irrigation water for local agricultural use. Lake Medina is in northeastern Medina County and southeastern Bandera County, about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of San Antonio.

5.
I want to take you on it if Eva will permit it.
Kay was born nearly 7 months later, on December 13, 1918.  It sounds as though Will and Kathleen were thinking of naming her for Will's youngest sister Eva, but later changed their minds.
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