Oct. 29, 1905.
My dear sister Mary,I was glad as usual to get your letter, and will proceed to answer it. I have just written to Helen. How do you like my new stationery? It is not exactly Holyoke blue.
I have been reading "The Madonna of the Tubs" [?] by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. It is a very nice little story to read for recreation as you can read the whole book in an hour and a half or so. I like to do a little reading Sundays, although the day is far too short for all I want to do. After I finished Helen's letter I went over to see Bessie and then Flora Parker came in to Bessie's room and we had a real good time. By the way Flora never took a picture of my room, as she left so soon.
Wasn't it funny that I wrote in my letter that met yours of Marian's broken engagement? I think you must have been amused at my startling news.
I am sorry Georgie has whooping-cough. I hope he won't be very sick with it. I don't see how you, Mary, can take it when you had it so hard.
Helen's engagement doesn't seem to be very secret, does it?
Last Tuesday afternoon I was breaking a piece of glass tubing, in the Chemistry laboratory (I can spell that word now, thanks to Auntie) and the glass slipped and cut two of my fingers on my left hand and my thumb on my right hand. They bled quite badly and Alice Thompson did them up for me. I had hurried to get my dishes down as my laboratory work begins at two and I was rather warm and I suppose the sight of so much blood and excitement from it made me feel very faint. While she was fixing my fingers I thought I should faint, so she took me to the open window and gave me some water and I felt better. I was wet with swe[a]t all over. She told me I better not stay the rest of the time, and she thought I'd better go to Dr. Underhill, and have them fixed up, so I went right down and she did them up again with gauze bandages. They weren't such awful cuts only I thought I better have them fixed up right in case there was any glass in them. She told me to come and see her again Thursday, so she changed the bandages that day and put on coat [sic] plaster instead. It has been rather awk[w]ard working, but I have gotten along pretty well. I got a substitute one day for my dishes. I took the coat [sic] plaster off yesterday. Two of them are about well, but the other persists to bleed a little. It cost me twenty five cents. Marian's visit cost me seventy-five cents. I don't know whether she forgot that you have to pay for meals and staying overnight in the College houses, or she thought it was my place to pay. Which do you think? Of course I asked her to stay with me, as she hadn't any other place to go, but she wrote and told me she was comming. [sic]
Bessie has the Derry News. George sends it to her, and we read in the last one a letter from Albert Melvin to his mother. It told of his arrival in Constantinople. His friend had some kind of electrical machine and the people thought it some kind of dangerous weapon and so they arrested them. They were kept in a shed like place for some time and then tried by some severe looking judges. At last they were sent to the American Ministers, who were quite indignent [sic] over the arrest. The joke of it was they didn't know they had been arrested till it was all over, as they couldn't understand them of course.
There was also an account of an attack on Howard Ayer of Salem by a drunk man. He [k]nocked the man over thanks to Pinkerton athletics.
Ruth Gilmore was in here this morning to see if I had a vase she might borrow. Her Aunt Miss Gilmore sent her some pinks and chrysanthemums. I see quite a little of her. Your loving sister.