Dear friends:-I hope the cold germs will not go to you on this sheet of paper. I don't see why I never have any immunity in the fall - but always I catch what is offered and this year it's a bad brand. So the Robin will fly with only a little message from me though I'd like to write more - but he must fly.
It was so good to have the '96 reunion last spring, and to see some of you. I wish everyone might have been here. That's certainly one of the joys of living here, for we do see more old friends here than happen to get together at any other place I'm sure. Mollie Bass Bayley and her Elizabeth came from Seattle. You see we're adding her to the Robin list - I don't quite know why we never did before. Elizabeth is grown up enough so that it seems possible that she'll be here soon. Now Lucy's Katherine's time of entrance does seem rather remote as yet. You see I'm wanting the nieces to come!
The girls are just coming back and the town is waking up. It's so deadly quiet here in the summer, and yet the beginning is always hard. This year it is doubly so, for Dr. Clapp is now emeritus, as most of you know. It seems as if I couldn't teach without her, for while she hasn't "supervised" me for years, yet I've had her inspiration. The department is being divided into Zoölogical and Physiological sections, entirely distinct, as it was clumsy to run otherwise. Ann Morgan is in charge of the Zoölogy, and she's a lot like Dr. Clapp in originality and freedom of spirit. I have the physiology and wish I could do it better. I'm going to try.
The summer after Elizabeth left was horrid - so hot and wearing. My mother lost ground a lot, and has not yet gotten it all back though she is improving I think. Her companion is not well either, and whether she will be able to stay I don't know - of course I hope so, for the search for a companion is hard work. In the last of the summer I had a few days at the Isles of Shoals and two weeks with Dr. Clapp at Woods Hole. She has brought a lot there and will put up a summer bungalow next year. You should have seen her chop down trees and pull up poison ivy in clearing her wilderness! But Woods Hole is no longer simply idyllic. It's complex and finished like all the rest of the world - and while we rejoice in all that means better facilities we mourn for the unconventional old days.
We live in the same place this year, but the College Inn has left us and moved to a grand big house of their own - up next [to] the parsonage. Eva and Alice Little have worked hard in planning and putting through the extensive remodelling. Dr. Hooker is running our house. More of the faculty have come here and we expect a pleasant year. Either one year from now, or possibly two years from now we expect to have a grand faculty apartment house. Some of the faculty will remain on campus, but they don't encourage large numbers to stay there, for the demand for students' rooms is so great.
Good night - and my love to you all.
South Hadley, Mass
Oct. 3, 1916