But in the meantime please don't wash your hands of me under the belief
that I'm too busy to be homesick; for I'm not. I wake up every morning
and stare at Mrs. Lippett's wallpaper in a sort of daze, feeling as
though it's some bad dream, and I'm not really here. What on earth was I
thinking of to turn my back upon my nice cheerful own home and the good
times that by rights are mine? I frequently agree with your opinion of
my sanity.
But why, may I ask, should you be making such a fuss? You wouldn't be
seeing me in any case. Worcester is quite as far from Washington as the
John Grier Home. And I will add, for your further comfort, that whereas
there is no man in the neighborhood of this asylum who admires red hair,
in Worcester there are several. Therefore, most difficult of men, please
be appeased. I didn't come entirely to spite you. I wanted an adventure
in life, and, oh dear! oh dear! I'm having it! PLEASE write soon, and
cheer me up. Yours in sackcloth,
SALLIE.
THE JOHN GRIER HOME,
February 24. Dear Judy:
You tell Jervis that I am not hasty at forming judgments. I have a
sweet, sunny, unsuspicious nature, and I like everybody, almost. But no
one could like that Scotch doctor. He NEVER smiles.
He paid me another visit this afternoon. I invited him to accommodate
himself in one of Mrs. Lippett's electric-blue chairs, and then sat
down opposite to enjoy the harmony. He was dressed in a mustard-colored
homespun, with a dash of green and a glint of yellow in the weave, a
"heather mixture" calculated to add life to a dull Scotch moor. Purple
socks and a red tie, with an amethyst pin, completed the picture.
Clearly, your paragon of a doctor is not going to be of much assistance
in pulling up the esthetic tone of this establishment.
During the fifteen minutes of his call he succinctly outlined all the
changes he wishes to see accomplished in this institution. HE forsooth!
And what, may I ask, are the duties of a superintendent? Is she merely a
figurehead to take orders from the visiting physician?
It's up wi' the bonnets o' McBride and MacRae!
I am,
Indignantly yours, SALLIE.
THE JOHN GRIER HOME,
Monday.
Dear Dr. MacRae:
I am sending this note by Sadie Kate, as it seems impossible to reach
you by telephone. Is the person who calls herself Mrs. McGur-rk and
hangs up in the middle of a sentence your housekeeper? If she answers
the telephone often, I don't see how your patients have any patience
left.
As you did not come this morning, per agreement, and the painters did
come, I was fain to choose a cheerful corn color to be placed upon the
walls of your new laboratory room. I trust there is nothing unhygienic
about corn color.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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