Dearest Cal,

It is Sat. afternoon as you see by the heading and Tom has just arrived in now beginning the cleaning process judging from the sound of the group. Mama's lying on the veranda in the hammock. It is a beautiful warm day with a West Wind so all the family are in good spirits.

Eleanor Ross is staying with us till Monday--she came on Wed. night.

Thank you very much for your fine letter. We had many a good laugh over it. Edna said it had begun to pall on her for she had heard it half a dozen times & then Mama had requested her several times to read it to her. But this she said when it was going to be read to Eleanor Ross just as it were to tone down the family's show of pride.¹

Life goes on in the same way here. None of us are like that race in "Bellum Gallicum" anxious for new things. The children here amuse us. One, small Margaret of two years toddled over the other morning. She seemed so interested in the peas I was shelling that I feared for the future & wouldn't let her eat anymore. Then she devoured a pansy. Ted [Edna] came to the conclusion she must be hungry & brought her out a piece of cake. And there she sat the cutest picture with her little bare feet & the plate of cake on her lap. She must have had a sense of tidiness lurking some place. It didn't appeal to Mary who had just swept the veranda but it did to us & if you still possess your camera send it would you. She ate the chocolate off the cake. Then she took the rest of the very crumbly cake in one small paw & with the other deliberately tilted all the crumbs from the plate on to the veranda. Then she took first one chubby little foot & then the other & slowly wiped the plate clean. Really you should have seen her. You'll have to have several of these before it will count a letter.

With much love,

Ruby

¹ This reading aloud of the family letters is a good indication of the importance of the letter as a literary document. Calvin is an excellent writer, often very amusing. We cannot be sure which of Calvin's letter this is referring to and it may have been loaned out and not returned.

Another instance of the perusing and re-reading of letters occurs in W6155 in which the children are amused by a letter written by Hilda when she was a small child.