&
COPY
{From a letter written to Mother and Dad Hoose, March 16, 1936.)
Ruth's letter telling about Mother's illness gave us all a great
shock,, and we have felt so pnxious about you all, • imply lo'ngtrrg
with an unspeakable longing to be able to be here with vo  *n<* b*
\- 'p?  some use like the rest of the children.  There is only one way
in which we can help,- that- is, to "send you messages by way of
the Throne", as a member of our womens1 Bible Class said so beauti-
* fully a few davs ago,- meaning of course that when we are not able
to sneak directlv to ones about whom we are concerned, we can always
talk to f?r*' j=>Vv* "♦.  And we have not neglected that.  This last
letter seems to prove that the Father has answered our prayers and
those of others who have most certainly been praying;  for Ruth
gives us the good word that you are better, Mother, and that she
and the doctor and all the rest believe that you will be getting up
again one of these fine days, and able to be about the house.  That
is wonderful!  It is splendid to hear from Dad about your faith n
and your willingness tc let the Father have His way in all the future
plans for your life,- that if He wants you to get well, that is
fine;  if He needs you to help Him Elsewhere, then you are quite
ready to trust Him, and putting your hand in His, to follow wherever
■fie leads.  The fact that you feel that way about it, and so the
matter is in God's hands, we know that all is well with you in any
case.
Your illness has made me think a great deal about you,
Mother dear, and about the truly wonderful woman you, my own beloved
mother-in-law, are!  One day I got my little note-book out, and
got Sari to recall with me all the incidents that he could possibly
reaall about his childhood, and about you both, and the things yuu
did and said, and the things you accomplished in your lives there on
the farm that I so loved, and yet was so helpless, being city-born
and city-bred, about doing the things that I so admired in you.
Perhaps that was one reason I always admired you so much!  I well
remember how we used to sit around the dining-table after meals,
or around the big stove in the living-room, munching applea that
Dad had brought up from the cellar, or eating hickory-nuts that Earl
had cracked (what would I not give for a good mess of those hickory-
nuts right this minute!)  and you would all recall the things that
had happened in the long-ago when Earl and Dean were little shavers!
Reminiscences that warmed the very cockles of your feearts and mine, and
precious beyond all words to describe. Well, these things were the
things that I wanted Earl to tell me over again.  He did tell me a
lot of things, and I thought of a lot more; but we must do some
more thinking and remembering together.  And then some day, when
I get a great inspiration, I hope to write it all up.  Yes, some
folks seem to think that if I tried I have the talent to write
something,- and wouldn(t it be wonderful if I could write the story
of ftalinda Hoose, painting with my brush dipped in the blended colors
that are bold with love and tender with remembrance, a word- picture
that would reveal the splendid kind of a woman that I know that you
are, yet the kind that you have never suspected yourself of being,
as you lived your daily life there among the Pennsylvania hills.
I love you, Mother dear, and have learned many a lesson from you!