Dr. Esther L. Richards
41 West Preston Street
Baltimore, Maryland10-31-31
Lady dear,
It has been many months since that long, interesting letter came from you in Europe. I did not answer it because you seemed to be touring over the continent. I had thought I might see you in September, but during my three weeks off I went to New Hampshire. Dover is not far from Nashua I discovered. I would have driven over, but I could not remember your cousin's last name. "Jessie" is all I've ever heard you call her. I was in Dover from the first of Sept. to the 14th. Then I went to N.Y.C. for a few days, & then I went up to visit a friend in Carmel, N.Y. returning here the 20th. I had hoped I could drive to N.Y.C. via South Hadley and spend a day or two, but the hot wave settled that. The last two summers have been trying with heat and emergencies and all the depressing circumstances of these dark times. Ours is the specialty, and the only one that is not only busy but overworked more than usual. All other beds in hospitals are half full, and dispensaries slack. But we have huge patronage, and it has to be attended to and it is very sickening business. Day after day one sits & listens to human misery, & tries to put heart into people who do not want to live; and when one looks at their lives one cannot blame them. I wont [sic] go into that. It's my business, and I shall see it through.
Mrs. Howard has had no business, and has been in the mts since May, coming down occasionally for a few days. I am alone in the house, but I don't mind that. The quiet is a great relief after being with people all day. I am trying to cut out as many extraneous activities as possible this year. Since returning I have declined 30 invitations to speak, confining my efforts in this line to community fund activities. The situation at the Clinic is as complicated as ever. We [are] wealthy in numbers of staff, and poor in people who actually do constructive work. There is nothing I can do about it, so I have resigned myself to facts, and am trying to live from day to day. MacMillan is bringing out a book of mine in January. Its prospect leaves me strangely unthrilled. They deviled the life out of me for it. I think it is relatively poor stuff. Did I write you that I accepted the chairmanship of the Educational Policies Committee of the AAUW left vacant by Miss Comstock when she went on the Wickersham Commission. I am about as fitted for it as presiding over a bank directors' organization. Miss Woolley put it on the basis of a personal favor to her, and I could not decently refuse.
Tell me about yourself, and how it seems to be back. I can imagine nothing finer than to spend a year in the peace and serenity of old Europe working on a scientific problem without haste and with an opportunity to shut the world out for a bit. How is the department going? I have not seen or heard anything of Ann since you have been away. I shared your letters with Miriam Brailey whom I occasionally meet on the street.
Please write and let me hear how you are. With dear love.