Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-03-31

Bears Mrs. Thomas:
have been absent so long 1 guess 1
have been marked off the roll as no
one calls for me now, but 1 have kept
in touch with you all along. The wee
baby 1 wrote of last is now a school
girl who is tall enough to rub her gol-
den curls on mama's shoulder and now
there is a dear little fellow of six with
blue eyes and golden curls who sees all
things and keeps mama busy reading
and telling "Brer Rabbit stories and
answering a lot of puzzling questions.
He has a book of Bible stories which
he calls his Bible and he carries it
around with him ever waiting for me to
sit down, then he and the book are in
my lap with a new picture or an old
one that he likes to hear about. And
read / must before l am allowed to be-
gin work. We have had such a mild
winter the flowers are peeping out and
the fruit trees beginning to bloom. The
birds are singing and little chicks
chipping and both make me long for a
ramble in the woods or a trip fishing
on the creek. 1 am just waiting for
the song of the hooking bird and the
dogwood blossoms then L shall march
forth to ramble and fish. 1t does not
matter much whether L catch any fish
or not, if they give my hook a nibble
or two it sends the thrills up the pole
and make me. feel again all the bouy-
ancy of youth. And l find myself long
ing for the old slippery rock at the old
home and want to have bare feet to
climb it. Once when only ten 1 was
climbing that rock, showing all the 9TH
ers how easily it could be DONE when
10 out went my feet and quickly /
found myself in the deep pond. When /
! Fz1A
when 1 remembered mama had told me
not to climb that rock and my wet and
muddy dress would tell it all. Remem-
bering all this I straightway proceeded
to have a hard chill and 1 was dosed
and put to bed. / wonder what has be-
come of Rowgan, haven't seen a word
from him in ages. l thought of him
| last summer when we remodeled our
cottage, putting on another story and
adding a nice roomy kitchen. All my
vines had to be torn down and the flow
ers were tramped down but l am en-
joying my new house and l expect to
have the flowers again some day.
loved every plank in the dear little
home and hated to see it torn UP, but
since the oldest girl has finished high
school and will be at home it called
: for more room and the two baby girls
are growing fast so the nest had grown
entirely too small.
Into my life has come many sorrows
| since last I wrote. Dear old Dady Is
! gone and the oldest brother and sister,
Then a tiny baby has gone from my
baby sisters. She lives far away from
us and it was her first baby. When
the pitiful message came Cant you
come to herr" reached me over the tele-
phone / packed my suit case and was
on my way to her in less than an
hour. 1t was hard to decide where du-
ty called me as our revival was in prog
ress at that time. / felt like L was
needed here, and knew she would have
every care. yet l went to her and found
her almost heart broken and ready to
give up. She had buried the little babe
before ] reached them. This made the
fourth death in less than two years yet
I am trying to say Gods will be done.
Now as l have opened up the way how
many of the first writer's will get busy
and give us a good long letter as of
long ago? Let's hear from all of you.
I won't call the roll but you who are
so silent let's hear from you.
Very truly,
AnnTE IVAN