{Lutheran Theological Seminary and Waterloo College
Waterloo, Ont.,} Mar. 1, 1925
Dear Mother:
As I have been at home, really more than at home all day, I have no excuse for not giving you my weekly letter at the regular time. What I mean by “more than at home” is that we are in on quarantine. I told you in my last letter of Carolus being sick. Well, he felt well enough to start to school on Wednesday morning, but when he came home at noon he has a suspicious looking rash on his face and I kept him at home the rest of the day. Thursday morning his face, hands, arms and body were pretty well peppered with rash. I sent for the Dr. who examined him and diagnosed the case as Chicken-pox. In order to make sure of it I had him to call in also the Health Officer who confirmed the diagnosis and said it was undoubtedly chicken-pox. Carolus is not very sick, but is still in bed is thoroughly peppered. A placard was put on the house and I have had to keep all the children at home from school since Wednesday noon. I am allowed to go over to the Seminary for my lectures, but have not been any where else since then. I could have gone down to Church this morning, but thought it better to stay away. One thing about the case is that I have not been altogether satisfied in my own mind that it is chicken-pox that Carolus has. He has the
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pox in the hair on his head, on the palms of his hands and soles of his feet and even within his nostrils. I am afraid there is a possibility that it might be small pox that he has; but I don’t like to set up my lay view against that of two doctors and hope they are right. But the fact remains that one of the day students who went to the College from Kitchener and studied in the same room with Carolus is in the Kitchener Isolation Hospital as a small pox patient and the only other fellows who studied in the same room is sick in the Seminary with a similar eruption. I told the Dr. about this, and while he thought it made the case look a little suspicious, he still was convinced that all that Carolus has is the chicken-pox. In that case I imagine the diagnosis of the Kitchener boy’s disease was incorrect. As a matter of fact it was also first pronounced chicken pox. None of the other children have taken the disease as yet and we are keeping Carolus isolated as much as possible. However, as none of them have had chicken-pox, it is almost too much to hope that they will escape. We had some of the roughest weather over the week end that we have had all winter. It became very cold Friday with heavy wind which reached 70 miles an hour. This kept up all Friday and Saturday, and, though the temperature only reached zero, it was felt more keenly than the much colder weather back in Jan’y. To-day was somewhat milder and it snowed all day. I would have had snow to shovel, but I paid Herman and Robert to do it for me. Last night
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at about 9:30, I think it was, we felt a slight earth-quake here. I noticed the movement, but it was very gentle and I would not have thought any thing of it if Prof. Dr. Willison had not phoned over and asked me if I had not felt any thing. He said he felt it and looked up and saw his electric light swaying, also a plant on his window. It was at a time when the wind had gone down; so it was undoubtedly a tremor. The children have been having gay times and making things wild around the house since they have been kept in - all except Carolus who rater resents staying in bed. To-day, I played chess with each of the boys, Herman, Arthur and Robert and came out victorious over them all. Herman is just waiting till I finish this letter to redeem his reputation. We also played the game “What do you know about Canada?” In this game, the boys being a little fresher than I, had slightly the better of it. Ruth has been teaching the baby the Ten Commandments as far as she knows them herself, which is about the first three. She says them and the baby repeats the words right after her. Little Catharine is a wonder when it comes to singing. She can sing Jesus Lover of My Soul, God save the King, Come hither ye Faithful and Jolly, Jolly Santa Claus
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and perhaps several other pieces without ever making a mistake in the time. Eileen has her first tooth out. She heard that her cousin Monica had a tooth out and I think she didn’t want to be behind [?] and worked hers loose. The funny thing about it was that Arthur persuaded her to let him pull it out. He told her the best way was to tie a string around it and attach the other end to the door knob. She allowed him to do this and as they were going toward the door he gave the string a jerk and pulled the tooth. He said afterwards he wasn’t going to undergo the risk of having her change her mind. She cried from fright, but soon was quite proud of her vacant space. Enclosed I am sending you the latest post-card pictures of our Seminary. We think it makes a very respectable appearance with the new extension. Well, I think I have made up for my brevity of last week and as I have no more news of special importance to impart, I will close. With love to you all,
I am,
Very sincerely yours,
[signed] Carroll H. Little
