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Happy times at Fernbank are coming!
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Woods Hole, Mass., Aug. 21, 1922.
Dear Kathleen,
Alma’s house is coming along very nicely. They put on nearly all of the siding to-day. The contractor said he did not expect to get the whole thing done for about 3 weeks. One of Alma’s neighbors slept in her house on the 6th day after it was started, but the carpenters thought she was an awful nuisance. Alma is going to try to stand in with the carpenters by staying out of hers until it is nearly done.
We went out swimming this afternoon. It was still a little rough, but not so rough that you could not swim comfortably. I have been practising the overarm side stroke. I think I am getting it very well on the right side. On my left side it comes by streaks. I think I will have it in a couple of more days. Alma is doing the same stroke but only on the left side, which is the natural one for her. She thinks that is because she sleeps on that side.
I am leaving here tomorrow morning. I think I will try some more places with the Flexway. Boston is so scattered and it is so hard to get around in it that you cannot get much done in a day. It is a very interesting place though, and I think could be all right for selling T’lexways for somebody that knew it. I expect to get back to South Hadley in about two or three days, so keep on sending my mail there.
There are three University of Cincinnati people here, Dean Schneider, Dr. and Mrs. Malone. The Malones are friends of Alma’s and I met them. I missed seeing Dean Schneider. This morning Alma and I drove by him and Mrs. Malone. We spoke to her but I did not notice Dean Schneider and he was not sure about me until he asked Mrs. Malone. She told us about it a little later. I put on some better clothes and called on him the hotel, but had gone to Nantucket for the day.
I am expecting to mail you a small amount of moss. The coarser one is sphagnum, some species of which were used for surgical dressings during the war. They are more absorbent than cotton and are considered better for dressings. The Indians used it for diapers. The finer one is a broom moss, because the leaves go to one side like a brush or broom. Please put both of them in a glass with a little water on the bottom and some kind of cover on the top so that they will not dry out too fast. Alma said they will live for several months that way and perhaps might live indefinitely. The sphagnum is the kind that makes peat bogs. Some botanists think that some of these plants have been living since glacial times, the lower [???] part dying as the plant and the bog grow upward.
This will certainly be a fine place for the children. Alma said that that was one of her main reasons for building her cottage.
It was rather late when we finished our swim so we had an early supper and went out to look for lycopodium and gametophytes. The woods we went to turned out to be sandy, this made the ground too dry for them, the drainage was too good.
Monday.
Alma has decided to go back with me. We are going back via Boston. I got a check from Alma to keep the wolf from the door until the check comes.
There are some very pretty houses around here. Some of them are big enough for hotels. This is a great place for men and women to go bareheaded. It is quite a handy custom. You also see a good many old clothes (mostly on the men) and bobbed hair elsewhere.
Alma has been talking to the builder and is about ready to start, so I must close. It seems since I have seen you and the kids, and although I have been having a fine time it will be great to get back. Has Buster forgotten his Daddy? Did he know you when you returned?
With lots of love and kisses,
Will
Dear Kathleen,
Alma’s house is coming along very nicely. They put on nearly all of the siding to-day. The contractor said he did not expect to get the whole thing done for about 3 weeks. One of Alma’s neighbors slept in her house on the 6th day after it was started, but the carpenters thought she was an awful nuisance. Alma is going to try to stand in with the carpenters by staying out of hers until it is nearly done.
We went out swimming this afternoon. It was still a little rough, but not so rough that you could not swim comfortably. I have been practising the overarm side stroke. I think I am getting it very well on the right side. On my left side it comes by streaks. I think I will have it in a couple of more days. Alma is doing the same stroke but only on the left side, which is the natural one for her. She thinks that is because she sleeps on that side.
I am leaving here tomorrow morning. I think I will try some more places with the Flexway. Boston is so scattered and it is so hard to get around in it that you cannot get much done in a day. It is a very interesting place though, and I think could be all right for selling T’lexways for somebody that knew it. I expect to get back to South Hadley in about two or three days, so keep on sending my mail there.
There are three University of Cincinnati people here, Dean Schneider, Dr. and Mrs. Malone. The Malones are friends of Alma’s and I met them. I missed seeing Dean Schneider. This morning Alma and I drove by him and Mrs. Malone. We spoke to her but I did not notice Dean Schneider and he was not sure about me until he asked Mrs. Malone. She told us about it a little later. I put on some better clothes and called on him the hotel, but had gone to Nantucket for the day.
I am expecting to mail you a small amount of moss. The coarser one is sphagnum, some species of which were used for surgical dressings during the war. They are more absorbent than cotton and are considered better for dressings. The Indians used it for diapers. The finer one is a broom moss, because the leaves go to one side like a brush or broom. Please put both of them in a glass with a little water on the bottom and some kind of cover on the top so that they will not dry out too fast. Alma said they will live for several months that way and perhaps might live indefinitely. The sphagnum is the kind that makes peat bogs. Some botanists think that some of these plants have been living since glacial times, the lower [???] part dying as the plant and the bog grow upward.
This will certainly be a fine place for the children. Alma said that that was one of her main reasons for building her cottage.
It was rather late when we finished our swim so we had an early supper and went out to look for lycopodium and gametophytes. The woods we went to turned out to be sandy, this made the ground too dry for them, the drainage was too good.
Monday.
Alma has decided to go back with me. We are going back via Boston. I got a check from Alma to keep the wolf from the door until the check comes.
There are some very pretty houses around here. Some of them are big enough for hotels. This is a great place for men and women to go bareheaded. It is quite a handy custom. You also see a good many old clothes (mostly on the men) and bobbed hair elsewhere.
Alma has been talking to the builder and is about ready to start, so I must close. It seems since I have seen you and the kids, and although I have been having a fine time it will be great to get back. Has Buster forgotten his Daddy? Did he know you when you returned?
With lots of love and kisses,
Will
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I think I will try some more places with the Flexway.
I couldn't read the writing here, and thought it was T'lexway, until I read a letter that Will's father-in-law, WJ Farmer, wrote to him a couple of months later:
1922-10-03 LETTER FROM WJ FARMER TO WILL
I have been having an endurance test on my own acct with "Flexway".
But I still don't know what Flexway is. Googling doesn't give me anything.
I am expecting to mail you a small amount of moss.
The caption to one of the pictures of Alma in her lab in the 1950s says "fern cultures in peat in the small dishes" so I guess that's what this is about.
Has Buster forgotten his Daddy?
I guess Will is still not used to the baby having a name - i.e. Roger. I'm glad Will had an interim name for him.
I couldn't read the writing here, and thought it was T'lexway, until I read a letter that Will's father-in-law, WJ Farmer, wrote to him a couple of months later:
1922-10-03 LETTER FROM WJ FARMER TO WILL
I have been having an endurance test on my own acct with "Flexway".
But I still don't know what Flexway is. Googling doesn't give me anything.
I am expecting to mail you a small amount of moss.
The caption to one of the pictures of Alma in her lab in the 1950s says "fern cultures in peat in the small dishes" so I guess that's what this is about.
Has Buster forgotten his Daddy?
I guess Will is still not used to the baby having a name - i.e. Roger. I'm glad Will had an interim name for him.
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DOCUMENT LISTS FOR PEOPLE:
- WILL: DOCUMENTS ----- Outgoing
- ALMA: DOCUMENTS ----- Related
- KATHLEEN: DOCUMENTS ----- Incoming
- THE NEXT GENERATION: DOCUMENTS ----- Roger
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- THIS PAGE IS: 1922-08-21 LETTER FROM WILL TO KATHLEEN
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