Dr. Esther Loring Richards
41 W. Preston Street
Baltimore, Maryland5-2-27 [sic]
Lady dear,
It was a joy to have you, & I'm glad you feel better. Ann was here for dinner, seems the same to me as ever, I see no change in her from years ago. She came to 2 of my classes, & spoke at the College Club. Fri. night.
Now about Betsy Crofts & her engagement to Collison. I'm ging to give you facts that are unprofessional. Collison was a pt. of mine for several months & I know all about him. Betsy had a chance to come over & talk to me about him, but she didn't do it, preferring to talk with the intern. Collison is a mentally sick man, & always will be. He belongs to the manic-depressive group & has passed from a depression to a hypo-manic state in which he now is. Yale recognized it & sent him back to us. He is not off enough to be committed, but has no insight into his trouble. He will never be able to support a family. He is not really in love with Betsy; in fact the last time we saw him he had made up his mind to break the engagement. Evidently he has changed it, as is so characteristic of his disease. He comes of poor stuff W. Va. family who accused him of having relations with B. as long ago as last summer.
Collison had his first depression as a junior in College. He tried to do phys. research, at Yale, but never got any where. Then he drifted into medicine, & broke down at a local hospital here while he was taking his internship. He'll do the same in pharmacology. If Betsy marries him her life is ruined. Had she asked me I would have told her these things. It was not my business to thrust my views of her engagement upon her.
Much love
Esther