Grandview, Mo.
September 26, 1911
Dear Bessie:
I am glad you and the rest had a good time Saturday. If we'd know soon enough, we'd have tried to make it better. I hope you can come out some afternoon and try our hilly tennis court. If I could only persuade the road overseer to come in with the grader we have a level court. I am sorry you got laid out on the road home.
I have been taking a layoff with tonsillitis since Sunday. I had to go to K.C. yesterday and get a new pair of glasses. I get stung for a new pair about every two years. This time it was for ten good dollars. Just carfare to St. Louis. I don't suppose I'd have gone if I could on account of my sore throat. I went around to Volker's to take Ruth to lunch and she couldn't go until one o'clock. I sat around for fifteen minutes and then told her I'd go home at 1:45 and take her some other day. Soon as I got home Mamma began doping me and I can neither hear nor see to do any good today. The deafness is from quinine and blindness from new specs. It is necessary to get used to a new pair, and I always wish for the old ones for a week. If I could get them, I'd throw these away. But I can't. Mary has another girl visiting her. She is from Chicago and has asked Mary to visit her next winter. Her brother was cashier in the Martin City bank for a while. He conferred all the Masonic degrees I have upon me.
I fear this is a very, very dull epistle but it is the best I can do today.
Say, sometimes I have to go to K.C at 9:00 A.M. and come home at five- thirty. Would you ever care to meet me and go to the Orpheum and then discharge me at Sheffield? The show is always more enjoyable if you have someone along to help appreciate it, don't you think? I like high-brow shows sometimes but I like the Orpheum all times. We had a fat man and his fat wife for dinner yesterday. He ate ten biscuits. He's my Battery friend, Elliot. His wife is a good cook, if she is fat, and I sometimes eat with them. They treat me just as fine as can be and we were glad to have them out. Next Sunday we have a bank teller and cashier billed for dinner. I really don't know what would happen if we didn't have someone for Sunday dinner.
Next time you come out, come on Sunday morning, stay for dinner and play tennis all afternoon. That is, if your religion is not against it. I see no harm in Sunday tennis provided there is no admission fee. Lee's Summit is a pokey town if they ran you out at ten-thirty. I bet the owner of that big car consigned me to regions noted for heat when he broke down. But it would have been nearly the same had you gone by K.C., for you weren't over six miles from here when you broke down. An auto is an unstable conveyance at times.
My head aches and I've run out of juice, as the electrician would say, and I hope you'll consider this a half letter-if not a letter and a half-and worth an answer.
Sincerely,
Harry