[1418 East 63d St., Seattle]
At last, after the long weekend, comes your welcome letter of July 20th – I think the Air Mail must have met with adverse winds this time, or the boat did. Anyway, I am very happy to hear that my first letter – the first letter I have ever sent by air! you are only beginning now to understand how very oldfashioned I am, madam – arrived, as I was particularly apprehensive about the fate of that aeroplane or airplane. ThankAmericaSeattle, Washington State;h1;a4 you for the topography of SeATTle, which sounds rather a lovely place. You do not give figures of the pop. but I gather that it is expanding – have you yet clomb [sic] Mt. Rainier (17,000 ft.) inHale, Emilyappearance and characteristics;v7her Jantzen suit;b1 your Jantzen suit, whatever that may be – is it a bathing dress – the other costume sounds very attractive anyway – will there be no snapshots of this summer? And what, pray, do you mean by your changed shape? Iappearance (TSE's)figure;b8;a1 am painfully aware of getting shapeless, myself, and have even caught myself in the very middleaged posture of sitting with my hands folded over my stomach – which indicates that there is too much stomach; butFaber, Geoffreyhis annual effort to diet;a8 Geoffrey has just gone through his annual course of three weeks banting,1 on Carlsbad salts and orange juice, and he always looks so hideous after it that I think well maybe it is better to leave shapes alone. AnywayHale, Emilyappearance and characteristics;v7EH encouraged to gain weight;a8, you can afford to be fatter than you were a year ago.
IPerkins, Dr John Carroll (EH's uncle)Perkins household apparently restored;a2 am so very glad that the Perkins household is restored again. I have always understood that sneezing and coughing first were as dangerous as anything after an operation, and it is quite providential that no harm was done.
This is only a tiny note of acknowledgement, because I am rushed after this weekend, and I am not sure of getting back this afternoon. I am very happy that my enclosures and proofs have the intended effect – andTriumphal MarchEH appreciates;a6 thank you, my dear, for your appreciative words about the poem, which, as I told you, is only one section of a poem. If not this afternoon, I shall start a long letter tomorrow. Ton
1.‘Banting’ refers to the diet publicised by the (sometime obese) undertaker William Banting (1796–1878), who advocated the elimination of carbohydrates, sugars and starches: his popular pamphlet Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public appeared first in 1864.
11.GeoffreyFaber, Geoffrey Faber (1889–1961), publisher and poet: see Biographical Register.
3.DrPerkins, Dr John Carroll (EH's uncle) John Carroll Perkins (1862–1950), Minister of King’s Chapel, Boston: see Biographical Register.