Grandview Apr. 28, 1913
Dear Bess:
I have put the two hired men to work and am stealing an hour to write you. You'll get this a day earlier if I succeed in getting it mailed this afternoon. I suppose you are house cleaning for fair this morning. Mary would like to be but she is so everlastingly busy concocting a dinner for four hungry men that house cleaning has been very happily pushed aside. I'm hoping it'll stay pushed until Mamma comes home. Then I can dodge it perhaps. Luella is a lot better this morning. Neither of the kids have shown any signs of being sick yet. I hope they both have the measles and be done with it. I can't see what anyone wants to wait till he's grown to have kid ailments for. You know Ethel succeeded in having mumps after she had been a school teacher some years. I have always been sorry I didn't see her when she was at her worst. She has always considered it an act of Providence that I didn't show up.
It is up to me to distribute some three hundred pounds of timothy seed over a good-sized patch of the landscape this afternoon. It seems that sowing things is a continued in our next process on this farm. It seems to me that we sow from March to September and reap between times. I am looking forward with agony to haying time. There will only be some 150 tons to put up. I suppose I'll be strong enough for a big leaguer when that job is over. It is a back-breaking job but very good appetite developer. Almost as good as tennis but somewhat more long-drawn-out. Here's hoping you got your court rolled today.
I have read Miss Tish's adventure with the Syrian. She's a grand old maid. I hardly know which to admire the most, Tish or Lizzie. If Lizzie didn't smoke, I'd favor her without hesitation.
I am hoping to get to town this week but if the weather stays good I fear I won't make it. I have a date with Dr. Witmer on Wednesday or Thursday but I may not keep it. You know I am not very reliable on doctor dates, especially when it's time to pay. I have a notion though that Dr. Witmer is almost honest – a bad failing in a doctor.
Please consider this worth an answer. May I see you Sunday if not sooner?
Most sincerely, Harry