stefansson-wrangel-09-20-057-001

Maurer

November 24, 1923.

Dear Delphine:

I have recently written you a long letter. This
is merely a note of thanks for yours of November 13th, enclosing
a copy of Fred's letter to you.

I see the emphasis on the shortage of food more
than I had expected. Still I think the interpretation we dis-
cussed at Cleveland is the correct one. I imagine his mind worked
about as mine would have under the circumstances. I would have
felt that the people on the Island were quite safe to leave, since
they had nearly enough food to last them till mid-summer and would
certainly be able to get some game when the daylight came back.
I still feel sure, however, that had they considered the journey
to the mainland very dangerous they would not have made it, know-
ing that they were almost certain to get game on Wrangell Island
eventually - although perhaps only after a period of some privation.

I take it that if he had written a long letter,
going into all details, he would have assigned several reasons for
the trip - one the expectation of perhaps seeing me on the Siberian
coast (see Crawford's letter), second the desire to communicate
with the outside world for various reasons, one of them being to
get orders from me by wireless in case I were not in Siberia. The
third reason would be to relieve the commissariat on the Island by
taking away half the party and the dogs on a trip which, while it
certainly had some dangers, was nevertheless in their minds not a
desperate venture.

I am very glad to have Fred's letter, for I am
perhaps more anxious than anyone else to understand thoroughly not
only what happened to everyone in the party but how they felt about
what did happen.

I hope you are over the severe cold you had when you
were in Cleveland. If you are not, be sure to save your strength
when you have a bad cold. There is nothing so good for it as com-
plete rest.

I would very much like to have a copy of your pic-
ture of the three boys taken in Seattle. If you will send me the
better one of the two (if there is a difference), I will have a
negative made of it, returning to you the picture itself and also one
or two copies.

Mrs. F. W. Maurer,
911 Robbins Avenue, Niles, Ohio.