My dearest Calvin

Your letter which I received on Saturday night cheered me up greatly, I hope you are really as "fine and fit" as you say. I am now feeling very well indeed, as I was not up to much and Ruby was writing, I did not write the family last week, thought one from R. sufficient, when the family is so scattered it makes a great deal of letter writing, but I am starting this Monday morning with a letter to you.

You will be glad to know that Edna is improving much, we have had a boat for two evenings and Ruby and she row, E. seems to enjoy the evening and the exercise ought to be good for her, she is inclined just to do nothing. So I feel that must just hire a boat as often as I can for her health's sake, she is really in good spirits though and often quite jolly and reads too sometimes. I really feel so thankful we can be here for it is the very place for us all, so very much nicer than over at Dorset, where there seems to be a lot of ordinary people in a large boarding house in a small village. Here are at present just ourselves, a young couple Mr. & Mrs. Johnston of Toronto he is teller (I think) in Dominion Trusts Co. she is quite young and a very nice little thing. She & R. are great friends and Mr. J. is so kind and nice as possible, to us all, does not smoke, very much the style of Harry Whittemore, but not delicate. He brought up his own canoe and takes us out whenever we like, R. often paddles. Well, Dorset is 1 1/4 miles across from us, so Friday and Saturday evenings the girls rowed me, and the Johnstons went in their canoe there and back, and round the island, a lovely spot just in front of us. We are close beside the narrows and it is certainly most beautiful. The other guests are a D.D. his wife and two little girls from Cleveland, very nice people too, so we are quite select, but the Johnstons go at the end of the week, it will be very dull for us unless someone else turns up, for I like a man near us when we go out in a boat. Yesterday we went to church to Dorset, Mr. Sparks son rowed E. and me and R. went with Mr. & Mrs. J. in the canoe, it was a beautiful morning, but while we were in church, a great storm of lighting and thunder and rain came on, this kept on till after one o'clock, so we decided to get dinner over there so we had a very good dinner at the boarding house for 25cts each and the weather cleared up, and we got home. The preacher was a Queen's student and did not do badly, but really seemed to have so little grasp and a weak looking chap in every way. It is depressing to see these specimens. I should think Macleod not a particularly improving place for [?] and from what I hear will never be much of a place. Mrs Steele said they were to take a coaching tour of Scotland, but was not I thought going further this season; they have indeed great opportunities. Am sending you two copies of "Life of Faith," Mary J. sent me, but really there seems so very little in them, it scarcely seems worth taking, what do you think? We have really had warm weather since we came, I should think it would be very warm in the cities, it seems more satisfactory to have come away in a warm summer. Our only draw back here is that there are no walks, one can only walk by going up hill over the rocks and you cannot walk even over to the P.O., but as R. and I have decided it is really for one to be where there is no excitement of any kind, it thoroughly rests ones nerves, only I think I do not get tired enough to sleep well, and we have been troubled too with mosquitoes some nights. But I am glad we still have some weeks before us, it is lovely to hear no sounds of trolleys or trains. With much love, Cal dear.

Your loving mother

M.B. McQuesten