xt7sxk84kh2g https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7sxk84kh2g/data/mets.xml The Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. 1945 bulletins  English The Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Frontier Nursing Service Quarterly Bulletins The Quarterly Bulletin of The Frontier Nursing Service, Inc., Vol. 20, No. 3, Winter 1945 text The Quarterly Bulletin of The Frontier Nursing Service, Inc., Vol. 20, No. 3, Winter 1945 1945 2014 true xt7sxk84kh2g section xt7sxk84kh2g E/1 O t / l6’ U t'
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‘ VOLUME 20 WINTER, 1945 NUMBER 3
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ALISON BRAY, CHIEF COMMANDER ‘
BRITISH AUXILIARY TERRITORIAL SERVICE
Former courier of the Frontier Nursing Service
Al
We grateful] acknowledge the courtesy of Miss Edith Hall,
Y . .
‘ a courier from Cambridge, Mass.,
for permission to use the photograph on our cover. ·
 
THE QUARTERLY BULLETIN of THE FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE. Inc. rl
Published Quarterly by the Frontier Nursing Service, Lexington, Ky. ,  
Subscription Price $1.00 Per Year
Printed in conformity with Government wartime regulations for saving paper. C
 
VOLUME 20 WINTER, 1945 NUMBER 3 _
"Entered as second class matter June 30, 1926, at the Post Office at Lexington, Ky.,
under Act of March 3. 1879."  
Copyright 1945 Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. A
i

 N INDEX
. J —-——
E$`l ARTICLE AUTHOR PAGE
(
Beyond the Mountains 71
Conversation Piece (A Poem) 80
Diary of a Courier Patricia Pettit 3
Field Notes o 81
In Memoriam 53
In the Big City Clara-Louise Schiefer 50
Old Courier News 31
Old Staff News 55
Petunia at the Fair Amy Postorl 45
Round-Up of Petunia Florence Samson
Cartoons by Vanda Summers 46-49 _
The Little Black Dog 2
Time Heals Many Things Gladys Mobe0·g 69
Too Little But Not Too Late Helen E. Browne 30
BRIEF BITS
- A Day in the Life of a Nurse’s Aide Rosalie Bruce 70
Kermit and the Mail (Photograph) 52
Pitch Thy Behavior Low George Herbert 44
A Sayings of the Children 79
The Humphrey Children (Photograph) 29
True Tales T/ze Outpost 68
fn.! Washington Benefit for the F. N. S. 79
  VVe Ask God For Flowers Verb Sap h 44
l
El I u I

 I il-I‘lE LITTLE BLACK DOG;
A friend who sent us this poem said that it was written by a young  
boy, but she has been unable to trace the authorship. We are terribIy’sorry »  v
to be unable to give credit to a person or to a publication, if credit is due. ,
I wonder it Christ had a little black dog,  
All curly and woolly like mine; ·I
With two silky ears and a nose round and wet, j
And two eyes, brown and tender, that shine.  
I`m sure it he had, that little black dog  
‘ Knew right trom the start I·le was God;  
I-hat he needed no proot that Christ was divine,  
But lust worshipped the ground that I·Ie trod.  
I`m atraid that l·Ie hadn`t because I have read  
l·low l·le prayed in the garden alone; `
For all ot l·lis triends and disciples had tled, sy
Even Peter, the one called a stone. °
And,. oh. I am sure that little black dog,  
`With a heart so tender and warm,
Would never have lett l—lim to sutter alone, g  
But, creeping right under l·Iis arm, ‘
Would have licked those dear tingers, in agony clasped, `
And counting all tavors but loss, I
When they took l·lirn away would have trotted behind, y
And tollowed l·lirn quite to the Cross! Q, 
ti.

 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE 2
DIARY OF A COURIER
by
PATRICIA PETTIT
· , Selections from letters written in 1940 to her mother,
E Mrs. George Kingsley of Minneapolis
Ll Editor’s foreword: The friendship between Patricia Petit (Pat) and
‘ her mother is shown throughout this correspondence, which we have been
privileged to read and to use. The recent death of Mrs. Kingsley is a heavy
blow to Patricia, but her life is sweetened now by a happy marriage and
' a daughter of her own. This child, Kathleen Marsh Kelly, will be writing
her letters to her mother when she too is a courier in the Frontier Nursing
Service some day.
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· PAT IN 1940
\Vith Robin Hood at Brutus
LAFAYETTE HOTEL
*  I MARCH 1, 1940 LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY
, I Dearest Darling: Here I am in Lexington and it’s too divine.
‘ Had a fairly vile trip down, what with long train hours and
lengthy stop—overs—got a very depressed and deserted feeling, —
but all of a sudden when I got here I was South. Everyone was

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4 THE QUARTERLY BULLETIN  
so sweet, and polite and cheeryi-—felt as if I’d lived here for  
years. My cab driver almost crooned to me, took me to the bus {
line, checked my duflle, and then literally tucked me into the  
arms of the doorman. The lobby is full of vets and horses, Man  
O’War, colts, saddle horses, and, Oh all! This is such a swell  t
hotel—my room is all pink and blue and crystal—too, too for f 
words. , ’
- MARCH 4, 1940 WENDOVER, KENTUCKY *
Darling: Here it is Sunday morning, on which day we can
do more or less as we please—and am I glad! I was certainly a
tired puppy last night. Yesterday we got up at seven—breakfast
at seven-thirty and then the fun began. We started grooming I
the horses, which is just about like grooming bears—furry-wooly Q
coats a mile long. Seemed as if as soon as we’d get one done  
someone would take another one out and bring it in caked with V, 
mud. They have great long tails that drag in the mud and bushy {
fetlocks. It is really something. All of them went in and out Q
three or four times. The ones that didn’t were turned out in a 7 
mud lot a few times to keep our hand in. We also cleaned tack-- Q 
i.e. soaping the saddles and scraping the girths; also washed  `
out a few saddle blankets which are a foot thick. The horses  h
themselves are an odd species of combination: plantation walk-  i
ing, gaited and mountain bred horsesj Very sturdy and sure-  
footed and shuffling.  
We had a gargantuan lunch at twelve and then Neville and  
I went out with two of the nurses. We forded the river, went ·‘
about a mile up the road, tied the horses and proceeded to claw
our way up a mountain. We were visiting two families who had »_
had pneumonia. In one cabin the mother and baby had both been  
sick. She looked very young and pathetic. The nurses bathed  ?
both the woman and the baby, while we took out the blankets j
and tried to get some of the bread, beans and cracker crumbs .
out of them. The sheets were made of ilour sacks. When we got  
back we rubbed the horses down and got tea. Then fed and  
watered horses till supper time.  I
After supper I came back here with Sheila. Soon Fanny and  T
_ Neville came back and we sat around and listened to the sym- ‘l·
phony. All of the four couriers are hunting people—Neville At-  

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  _ Fnowrinn Nunsmc; smizvicm _;
l kinson hunts with Middleburg, Fany McIlvain with Brandywine,
l Emma Coulter with Uniontown, and Sheila Clark with Radnor.
  All have horses (plural advisedly). This morning we could sleep
  as late as we wanted to and then get our own breakfast. So I’ve
 t finished breakfast and am now sitting looking out over the river.
f  The most incredible thing is the mud; there is no dry land at all.
, Y Everything, at least here at Wendover, is mud. Of course all my
  footwear is wrong—I can’t stand the hiking boots and simply
l won’t wear them. What I need are rubber boots or cowboy boots.
If you should run into a pair of size seven and one—haH cowboy
boots, with round toes, don’t forget your darling daughter—I
sure could use ’em. My moccasins are fine but not in mud; my
. own boots are of course ridiculous and the hiking boots an
t abomination. ,
V  MARCH 5, 1940 WENDOVER
P Due to the rain the last few days the river has come up so -
Q high we couldn’t get across on the horses so we went down the
{  river in the funny little flat bottom Vboat to the ford—crossed
j  and were met by the truck on the other side. Life in the moun-
 * tains is never without some excitement or other.
Q  This is the most fascinating country. Whether we go up
Q;  or down the river we follow the river along a funny rocky trail
 A cut into the mountain. It seems as if you’d come to a dead end,
  but the valley opens up in fold after fold and deeper and deeper.
  The river cuts in across the trail every so often. The mail comes
_· out from Hyden on a tiny mule that carries the mail on a fifteen ‘
mile route, making thirty miles daily. Bed now. Love you, dear,
_ Pat.
 z MARCH 6, 1940 WENDOVER
j Darling: This will be the last letter you’ll have from me for
. a week because tomorrow morning I’m starting out with Fanny
  . on upper rounds. This means we put a clean shirt and nightie
  in saddlebags and start out making the rounds of the nursing
 · centers back further up in the mountains. We will probably be
 2 gene four days, getting back next Saturday. I’m awfully excited
E about it. Never have gone off before on horseback with my `
;. clothes in my saddle bags.
i.
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 6 THE QUARTERLY BULLETIN  
MARCH 7, 1940 BEECH FORK NURSING CENTER  
Left Wendover about two and started up the river further  
back into the mountains—Fanny rode Lassie, a black mare who  
is fine once you get on her, but who kicks like a mule when she T
is saddled. I was riding Kelpie, a chubby little mahogany bay §
mare with an angelic disposition and a divine running walk. We * ,
went through a lot of lovely pines and the combination of pines,  
mountains, deep green river which breaks into foamy white  
rapids around huge grey rocks makes the country beautiful and l"
varied. The "road" crosses and recrosses the river. The fords  
were fairly shallow but very rocky. Every few miles along the  
way we passed cabins where the thin, cold-looking children j
stared at us shyly, but the older people all were friendly. There E
were always a few pigs and a mule at these places. The people  
ride the mules to go "outside" except when the people may be  
tide-bound, as they call it, i.e. when the river rises. At one yl
point the road passed under a rock cliff which hung out over  
the river. This rock extended the length of a city block and not  
only completely covered the road but hung beyond it and over {
the river. We finally came up onto a fairly modern dirt road  
along which we rode about a mile to the nursing center. This . 
center is the Beech Fork Center. It is a pleasant white frame  
house with a neat four-stall barn at the side. We came in j
through the inevitable "pull gates." The stalls were ready for  1
our horses and after we had rubbed them down and put them Yi
away, we went up to the house. We were met at the door by  
Inty—-one of the two Beech Fork nurses (from Chicago), who  
welcomed us with great cordiality. The center is very comfort-  
able, having a living room with a big fireplace.  ,
After a hot bath and a change of clothes from our saddle- T 
bags we had a huge supper: roast pork, browned potatoes,  ‘
pickles, jam, carrots, cole slaw, baked onions and butterscotch E'
pudding. All the outside supplies come from Lexington by parcel l`
post to the little post office at Beech Fork by the postman’s mule.  {
Green, the other nurse had had a night call and so was resting  Q
but appeared later and is a very genial Britisher. After supper ·
we listened to the radio, played Chinese checkers and tumbled (__
into bed at 9:30. Up at seven and had another huge meal.  
Groomed our horses and tacked a few nails into a loose shoe  
E

   imonrmn Nunsmc. smnvicm 7
  of Lassie’s, checked over the center’s three horses: Captain Pat,
g Erin and Senator; cleaned their tack and got Senator ready for
  Green. These nurses at the centers are not only graduate nurses
J but are graduate midwives. The fact that it is almost impossible
E to reach a doctor, the closest one being our medical director at
q » Hyden, makes it necessary for them to be terribly well trained.
  - MARCH 8, 1940 RED BIRD NURSING CENTER
E Left Beech Fork about 2:00 p.m. Green rode a little way
. with us and then waved goodbye as we started up the Bad Creek
  trail. The ride was through slightly different country as we
E were climbing a good deal of the time; we passed fewer cabins
_, and rode a great deal in the creek beds. The country is very
if rugged and everywhere are tiny rocky creeks and mossy rocks.
fg We followed Bad Creek up to its head and then crossed a gap
  and followed Bowens Creek to the Red Bird River. When we
  reached the river the country changed quite a lot—the valley
; broadened out and for the first time we could really see a little —
  way. The encircling hills were lower—or perhaps we were higher
i  and closer to theirsummits. It was a pleasant change to be a
  little away from the weight of the mountains that have seemed
j to overhang and enclose us.
 , The center at Flat Creek is built on the plan which has been
  adopted for several of the centers: a large combination living
  room and dining room with a stone fireplace and bay window,
  two single bedrooms and a double room, the clinic and waiting
  room, a bath, a kitchen and a maid’s room.
  When we got to the house a warm fire and tea were wait-
 ' ing for us. Benny, the nurse who is young and English, was
 L quite tired, but very cordial. The day before she had taken a
;, patient, who had been carried by stretcher three miles out of
  the hills, in to the Hyden Hospital. When she finally got back
 , · and to bed she was called for a delivery. Just as she got on her
 Q horse a second harassed father arrived on a mule and begged
 i that she come to his wife. The places were three miles apart
` and as her horse had been out all day, she walked or, as she
  says, ran from one cabin to the other over three miles of rough
  rocky mountain trail all night. She was afraid she’d miss them `
  both but she did finally "catch" both babies.

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8 THE QUARTERLY BULLETIN  
Right after breakfast I rode out with Benny to make her k
nursing visits. We first called on one of last night’s deliveries. ,
We tied the horses at the mouth of a creek and clawed our way  
up an incredible creek bed, up over tree roots, boulders and  § 
fallen logs to the cabin on a small flattish spot.  
The new "least one" was a lovely baby-—-purple-red and Y
wrinkled with a mop of black hair. We rode back about a mile E
and a half down the road and then up another creek. All the  
cabins are on the various little creeks and so are comparatively  
easy to find. The next cabin we were going to was about two _  
miles up the creek, and here lives the second of the two last .p 
night’s deliveries. This is a two-room cabin housing about ten  *
people. There were three beds, a bureau and a iireplace in one  
room; and the stove and a kitchen table in the other. The beds  
had clean spreads on them and clean pillows and the children  
were also clean. There were no windows but the fire made a =
cheery light. The walls and ceiling were completely covered ji
with sheets of newspapers to keep out draughts, really a pleas- y
ant surprise. i
As we were on our way back to the center we met Fanny j}
who was looking for us to tell Ben of a message of another  
woman in labor four miles up Rocky Fork. We had lunch and  
started Ben on her way. Then we headed down Red Bird River Q;
for the Red Bird Center. It was a short and pleasant ride; the  
dirt road through deep mud in places was good and wound along  
the river through a twisting succession of overlapping valleys.  
When we got to the center it was early so we had lots of time I
to prowl around. The house is built on the same plan as Flat  
Creek except that it is made of logs. I forgot to say that two  
of the high points of Flat Creek are Tiger, the collie, and Mary,  I
the maid. Mary is the envy of the Service. She is a beautiful i 
cook, makes slip covers for chairs and lovely quilts, milks the  
cow and feeds the horses. We are now sitting around the fire,  
with two Red Bird dogs, drinking our coffee. Pi
MARCH 9, 1940 _ WENDOVER  
After a big breakfast at Red Bird we leisurely groomed and  
_got the horses ready and about ten o’c1ock we rode down the _  
hill from the center and out the pull-gate, and started back  _
ly; _ `

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  l Fnoivrimn NURSING smnvicm 9
E towards Wendover. We followed a dirt road all the way and for
Q the first time were away from the rivers. The country was less
{ wild and the going good. We reached Wendover about 2:30 p.m.
  having covered the twenty-five miles in four and one-half hours.
 [ These little horses are marvelous. They never go out of a walk
i  l or running walk but cover miles and miles of rough country
H ` tirelessly. Kelpie and Lassie were still fresh and keen when we
  got in. It is amazing how quickly they cover the ground.
  MARCH 14, 1940 _ WENDOVER
 ” I’m weary tonight. Fanny and I have split up our six horses .
Q;  and this morning I really labored over mine. Babbette, the grey
  mare, was filthy. She stood out in the rain until eleven-thirty
g last night waiting for Sybil to deliver Alabam’s baby. I washed
T her tail out and rinsed it with bluing. Big Joe is a swine of the
. first water. He wallows every night, but I did him and Blackie
if fairly well. It takes me twice as long as Fanny, but I just plod
  along. Then we did tack, washed all the muddy stirrups and
Q girths, oiled some old leather, etc. We took Blackie and Traveler
  (they’re being rehabilitated) out for light walking exercise.
  Right after lunch Fanny went up river to take a message and
3 I carried a saw down to the ford where they are working on a
  foot bridge. When we got back we peered at poor Tramp’s eye
  for awhile and decided to discontinue the hot compresses. We
  retired with an armful of vet books and decided it was opthalmia
  and changed treatment accordingly. Then Aggie sent me back
» _ to the ford with a note for two girls who were going to a fu-
1; neral, also bringing "Mrs. Possum," the Beech Fork collie back
Q; with them. Buckett is taking her on to Lexington with her to-
  morrow to see the vet. Fanny decided Babbette should be turned
 ` out as today is Wendover clinic day and the nurses don’t go
  out, so I braided her tail up and wrapped it in rags so it wouldn’t
§ get dirty. Then it was time to get tea, and then water the horses
i and take a bran mash to Tramp down in the isolation stall. By
,‘ that time I was mud, muck and manure from head to foot so
  I took a bath and then had dinner. Being dead tired I came right
·‘ back home here to the Garden House and am sitting downstairs
  _ in Aggie’s office writing. It is amazing the way livestock wanders ,
·   about——we never go down the road that we don’t meet a couple H

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10 THE QUARTERLY BULLETIN  
of pigs and cows out for a stroll. However any cow loose in l
Hyden is put in jail and has to be bailed out for a buck. The _ {
Hospital cow spent a night in jail last week.  
· MARCH 15, 1940 WENDOVER  
Darling: Had the first clear day we’ve had today and it FQ
was too lovely——brilliant sun and crisp air. It was such fun w`
having Neville and Sheila back from rounds. They both sat on ~
my bed last night and talked and giggled till all hours. We got l ,
the horses and tack done up in no time this morning with four  
of us working. The sun put us all in a puckish mood and we  
braided tails and rode bareback up and down in front of the  
stable practicing putting the beasts into their running walk.  ¥
At lunch Sybil Holmes (the Wendover nurse) asked me if  Z
I’d like to got out on district visits with her this afternoon and  
of course I would. We went up Hurricane almost to the head  l.
and it was so lovely with the stream rushing down over the  I
rocks and the sun shining in patches on the trail. We visited  .
two new babies and made four health calls. One of the new * 
l babies we saw was a fine three months’ old lad named Wallace gi
and his three year old brother was named Bruce. Their mother  
was very pleasant appearing. These people are extraordinarily  
self-possessed and courteous. They always put chairs next the  {
fire for us and are very pleasant. Mountain traflic was quite  
heavy on Hurricane today and we met lots of people on mules ,  Y
or on foot. All of them greeted us with a pleasant "howdy" or  P
"evenin." The hills are full of little one-man coal mines and we Q
passed quite a few mules dragging sleds of coal. Q 
MARCH 18, 1940 WENDOVER  
Darling: Didn’t write yesterday as the mail doesn’t go Sun-   ·
days. It was another glorious day and we finished work in no    .
time—then Fanny and I rode in to Hyden to take a horse in to  
the Hospital. It was great fun because it was the first time I  
had really had a chance to see Hyden or to go up to the Hos- y 
pital at all. The little town was simply a-buzz: mules and ponies  
tied all along the street and a million mountaineers laughing q.
about in front of the tiny courthouse. The Hospital is way up ‘._
the mountain, behind and overlooking the town. We got there  
|,¤  
1; - i

  
z
E I .
  `
é Faonwina Nuasmc. smzvicm ii
i just at lunch time and tied our horses on the picket line with
. E the district nurses’ horses. The Hospital barn is new and is
FQ; built on a larger scale but the same plan that the center barns
  · are: a long aisle with big double doors at each end and stalls
  along each side. We had a pleasant lunch in the usual informal
F F.N.S. style: district nurses coming in all during. lunch in riding
Ml clothes. After lunch we visited around and chatted.
  · MARCH 19, 1940 · ` AWENDOVER
  Darling: Have a sinking spell tonight and am about to go
  to sleep here and now. Neville left at five this morning to take “ ·
,j three crippled children to Louisville. She rode Big Joe down and
 { across the river and tied him to a tree, where we got him later.
 . Four horses went out at eight—thirty, and we couriers spent the
5  rest of the morning doing some leisurely grooming. I went in to
 , Hyden right after lunch on Kelpie to get some stuff at the Hos-
  pital for Sybil. Had a pleasant tea at the Hospital and started
  back with Gloria, a mare used by a district nurse. She had a
it  sore back and we have to fix her up. On the way back a gor-
,  geous thunder storm broke and Kelpie, Gloria and I scurried
  home through the mountains accompanied by great crashes of
Q  thunder and flashes of lightning. Didn’t get back till six as I
  had to do a few errands in Hyden for the girls and had to ford
  the river higher up to go up Bowling Branch to get a specimen
 g for Sybil. Had quite a time Ending the ford as I hadn’t been
J  over it before and the storm made it quite dark——also riled up
 ` the river so the shoal water was hard to see. I forded back to
  the road and went down and forded again at our own ford at
 - Muncie, for it isn’t possible to follow the river on this side up _
  from Bowling Branch.
  MARCH 20, 1940 FLAT CREEK NURSING CENTER
  ‘ Tacked up the horses right after breakfast and set out for
  Flat Creek. It was a perfect day, clear and sunny but cool enough
F to be fresh. I rode Kelpie, Sheila, Lassie and Green was on her
l old faithful Captain Pat; stopped along the way to take a pic-
_· i ture of a woman with a red bandana on, who was making soap
  in a kettle under a hemlock tree. When we reached the State I
  road, instead of turning left to Beech Fork we went up Stinnett
k

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12 THE QUARTERLY BULLETIN  
Creek. Stopped for a minute while Green picked up some things F
_ at her tiny one-room clinic which is for the patients at the edge _
of her district. About a mile up Stinnett Creek Green left us to  
our own devices. We found our way with no trouble. Sheila is  
a wonderful traveling companion; being cheerful, amusing and  
enthusiastic. We took our time and ambled along in the sun.  
About two we stopped for lunch, tied the horses up, unsaddled i
and climbed out on a grey rock projecting into a bubbling creek.  
As we ate and basked in the sun we watched four ducks come $
down the stream. They were like little canoes. They shot the  
rapids and steered with their feet and tails. When they reached  .
the quiet pond below our rock they stopped to perform-circled ;
and dove-—1iterally standing on their heads in the water. About 1;
three we started on, riding along broad smooth trails banked ;
deep with rhododendron, laurel and holly, and always with the  
water bubbling along below us or beside us or around us. The i
scenery is amazing—it is huge and grand in its larger aspect, ; 
and yet it is intimate and cozy. Every turn of the trail and twist  
of the river brought us to a new and different scene: little clear-  
ings and tiny vistas made up an ever shifting kaleidoscope of  
rocks, trees, fallen logs (so moss covered they look like great  
bars of green velvet) ; families of pigs or mountain cows all ar-  
ranging themselves in exquisite pictures; glades in the woods; F
rapids, then deep, still pools under black-green hemlocks; cabins  
with smoke curling up, set deep in the forest or up on the bare  
side of a mountain.  
As we reached the top of a mountain and turned a corner  
we found we had caught up with the sun and the big peaceful  i
valley of Red Bird River. was spread out before us, warm in the _
late afternoon sun. Reached the center about tea time and after O .
grooming the horses, watering and feeding, we came in for a il
wonderful hot tea presided over by Charlie, a nurse-midwife  ,
from New Hampshire, and Tiger, the old collie. After a hot bath  
and clean clothes we ate a huge dinner and are now sitting  
around thinking of bed. .
MARCH 21, 1940 RED BIRD  .»
We spent a busy morning cleaning tack and horses, clean-  
ing up the tackroom andhayloft, and generally making our- '  Q
I
ll:  
V l

   -
i
&  
E selves useful. Right after lunch we started out for Red Bird,
_. leading Tommy. It was a pleasant day though slightly overcast.
  The ride was short and provided an interesting contrast to the
  day before. At times we rode down lanes with fences on either
  side. Got to Red Bird about three to find Brownie also here-
  spending a night on her way to take over Flat Creek. With
_- Tommy, Kelpie, Lassie and Brownie’s horse the place is oozing,
  one horse in the cow shed and one in the runway between the
  stalls. Red Bird is most charming: flowers, plants, magazines,
Y attractive pictures and well—served meals. Vanda is a refresh-
 , ing, vigorous and charming person. Often it is hard to remember
  how remote we are, except when you are reminded by some-
t thing like having no ice. Weighed myself on Vanda’s clinic scales
; and find I weigh 145, fifteen pounds more than I did when I
  came here. I have gained five pounds a week. It’s ten—thirty and
  bedtime and tomorrow is 25 miles home on the road.
 y MARCH 25, 1940 WENDOVER
  Darling: Here it is Sunday and after a week of perfect
  weather it’s snowing, really snowing and hard. The mountains
  are again deep under a white blanket and the river looks almost
  black. Yesterday Fanny went down to Dry Hill (half way to
 . Confluence) to get a horse to bring in and Jean Hollins went to
 Y Hyden to the Hospital. Sheila, Neville and I had a field day.
  We now have twelve horses here and every stall full. Did them
  all up and spent extra time trying to clean up the ones that have
 V just come in: Tommy from Flat Creek and Sunny (who is in
  foal) from Red Bird and Camp from Confluence. After lunch
,3. Sheila and I took a bag of seed and a message for Sybil up to
_i * Hense Mosely’s. It was sunny and we rode up a creek bed.
  The trees were thick on either side and the bed was rocky.
 V When we got higher we could look back down the creek bed for .
  a very long way. It was too lovely, the sun dappled by the trees I
{ and the water splashing down over the rocks. Then we went
  on and climbed what looked like a precipice to a higher level
above the creek and followed a trail high up over the creek to
  a clearing way back. It really looked like colonial days; a log
  cabin and long barn and corral in a clearing. I used to feel a I
  little smothered by having the mountains so close all around
1
ij *

 14 THE QUARTERLY BULLETIN  
us, but I have gotten to love them now and feel protected by  ‘
them. I feel as if I should be terrified when I have to go out- Q
side. I know a great expanse of country will scare me to death. {
These majestic mountains bring such a feeling of timelessness. g
Last night in the milky light of a full moon everything was  
silvery and the river always seems to be chatting to itself. {
' MARCH 28, 1940 WENDOVER  
Darling: This has been quite a busy day. When we got up  
this morning we found Sheila had gone out earlier with Sybil Y
on a delivery. While we were grooming the horses we got a call E 
to send a relief horse down to Confluence as Rogue had gone if
lame, so Neville threw toothbrush and sandwich in her saddle-  
bags and went off on Babbette, leading Kelpie. She’l1 be back ;
tomorrow sometime. After lunch Fanny went up Muncie with _·
some messages and I wended my way up the river to John’s  
creek. Had a lovely afternoon—rode Tommy whom I enjoy and
j the day was warm and sunny. Found the two houses without lj
, any trouble.
MARCH 29, 1940 WENDOVER ‘
Today has been quiet as far as actual happenings went and  
yet busy. Cherry (the nurse from Possum Bend) has been ill  
here at Wendover for awhile and she and Fanny went down  
to Lexington today. They went down the river to the ford by Q
boat as it was easier on Cherry. About noon Neville got in from  
Confluence quite tired. Around three we had a call that Mrs.  
Breckinridge was coming out from Hyden with an archdeacon   .
who is to hold a belated Easter Communion Service tomorrow  
and baptize Dr. Kooser’s baby while he is here. At five Aggie L
and Jean came in from Red Bird. So the day went by with the  
horses doing a continual gavotte in and out. Sheila leaves to-  
morrow at five in the morning and we are all, especially me,  ¥
very sad. She is the life of the whole place with her squeals .  
and shrieks and excitement. She is now frantically plunging
around, packing, washing her hair and plucking her eyebrows _ —_
in between sad farewells. That’s about all for today. Am going ?
up now to help Sheila pack. The Garden House will certainly  
be quiet without her.  
1
I

 i ’  
g APRIL 2, 1940 WENDOVER
g A Darling: Just as we were having lunch a terrific storm came
i up. It was really glorious. Turned black as pitch with a high
  wind and thunder and lightning. Could see the rain coming in
  great white clouds down on the mountain side. It cleared up
A`  about three and I took Camp out for a ride, got tea, took a
at bath, watered the horses and am now waiting for dinner. I
  think we are going on rounds tomorrow if Aggie gets word to-
$1 night that the fords are safe. She hasn’t been able to reach
 g Brutus yet. They never send us to Brutus unless they are
f;  expecting us because it’s so far. The ’phone connections are so
ii poor that messages have to be relayed and sometimes it is sev-
 V ‘ eral days before a message can get through. Every day there
, are more and more signs of spring: little patches of green, a
  few buds on the trees, and more spring iiowers every day.
  APRIL 3, 1940 BRUTUS NURSING CEN