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Show 233 A March 9, 1904 letter thanks the children for sending some candy but expresses a desire for "something sweeter." Nellie seems to have recovered from an illness. Ellis exhorts them to unity and love, desiring that they be each other's best friend. They have informed her that some of the debts are paid (probably from money she has sent home). She is delighted but tells them not to deny themselves what they need, and to let her know of other incoming bills. Some day, she affirms, things will get straightened out. When she gets home they will talk about the next year's school teaching. She asks Olea how music and other things are going. Bard has told his mother that Olea seems so much more light-hearted than she has been recently. Ellis asks Nellie to write another of her lovely letters, inquires how she is doing in school, and promises to take her along next summer if she will try to be "patient and helpful and content and happy." Ellis is sorry that Aunt Lizzie's folks, Bardella and Lottie in particular, have been ill and hopes they will soon recover. How is your father feeling now? (my emphasis) Their brother Bard, she says, left for the North on Monday and is making quite a struggle. She prays that their efforts as a family will be "crowned with success." Eight years later, in 1912, Nellie (now 22) is away from home in the care of a Sister Johnson. She is apparently about to become a school teacher. Ellis is 65 and is living at 713 Second Avenue with her daughter Ellis Musser. Rather, daughter Ellis and her children |
