17. "AT GAVOTTE'S CAMP" November 16, 1912.
MY DEAR FRIEND,—
At last I can write you as I want to. I am
afraid you think I am going to wait until the
"bairns" are grown up before writing to my
friends, but indeed I shall not. I fully intend
to "gather roses while I may." Since God
has given me two blessings, children and
friends, I shall enjoy them both as I go
along.
I must tell you why I have not written as I
should have done. All summer long my eyes
were so strained and painful that I had to let
all reading and writing go. And I have suffered
terribly with my back. But now I am
able to be about again, do most of my own
work, and my eyes are much better. So now
I shall not treat you so badly again. If you
could only know how kind every one is to me,
you would know that even ill health has its
compensations out here. Dear Mrs. Louderer,
with her goose-grease, her bread, and
her delicious "kuchens." Mrs. O'Shaughnessy,
with her cheery ways, her tireless
friendship, and willing, capable hands.
Gavotte even, with his tidbits of game and
fish. Dear little Cora Belle came often to see
me, sometimes bringing me a little of Grandpa's
latest cure, which I received on faith,
for, of course, I could not really swallow any
of it. Zebbie's nephew, Parker Carter, came
out, spent the summer with him, and they
have now gone back to Yell County, leaving
Gavotte in charge again.
Gavotte had a most interesting and prosperous
summer. He was commissioned by a
wealthy Easterner to procure some fossils.
I had had such a confined summer that Clyde
took me out to Gavotte's camp as soon as I
was able to sit up and be driven. We found
him away over in the bad lands camped in a
fine little grove. He is a charming man to
visit at any time, and we found him in a
particularly happy mood. He had just begun to
quarry a gigantic find; he had piles of specimens;
he had packed and shipped some rare
specimens of fossil plants, but his "beeg
find" came later and he was jubilant. To
dig fossils successfully requires great care
and knowledge, but it is a work in which
Gavotte excels. He is a splendid cook. I
almost believe he could make a Johnny Reb
like codfish, and that night we had a delicious
supper and all the time listening to a learned
discourse about prehistoric things. I enjoyed
the meal and I enjoyed the talk, but I could
not sleep peacefully for being chased in
my dreams by pterodactyls, dinosaurs, and
iguanodons, besides a great many horrible
creatures whose names I have forgotten. Of
course, when the ground begins to freeze and
snow comes, fossil-mining is done for until
summer comes, so Gavotte tends the critters
and traps this winter. I shall not get to go
to the mountains this winter. The babies are
too small, but there is always some happy
and interesting thing happening, and I shall
have two pleasures each time, my own enjoyment,
and getting to tell you of them.