stefansson-wrangel-09-20-001

File "Maurer"

P Aug. 31

Canton, Ohio August 11th, 1921

Dr. Vilhjalmur Stefansson c/o Ellison White Chautauqua Miles City, Montana

Dear Sir:

I want to thank you because of the trouble I gave you the other day when I sent a telegram to Fred in your care. I did not know how else I could be sure of reaching him. Inclosed is a check for two dollars which I think will cover the cost of retransmission of the message.

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I hope you will be willing to read further.

The expedition of next summer more than mildly interests me. I want to be a part of it. Will you tell me what part of the work I might do so that I can spend my spare time during the coming winter preparing for it?

I suspect your aversion to taking me along, but I am not a child, Mr. Stefansson, nor is this desire an idle fancy. I am a woman - old enough to know what I want to do and to use the judgment of maturity. As to the propriety of my being a member of the party, I guess

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it will be alright so long as Fred is there.

If colonization and development are two of the objects of the expedition, certainly it will not be well to exclude women. Colonization has never been successful without them. Of course there are many women who are pampered and petted and could never survive the hardships of the north either mentally or physically, but, scattered over the earth are a few of us who have been born with the desire to labor hand in hand with our fellow men and women for the development and progression of the world. We cannot all do our share in the same way, so why, if I want to stake my life to the frozen north, shouldn't I?

What portion of the work can you assign me? How do you desire that I go about my preparation for it?

Please consider this matter carefully, Mr. Stefansson, won't you? I believe you will not be hasty and unwise. Life is not worth living if one has not something to live for, and all that is worth living for is that which one wants most to do.

In a recent letter to Fred,

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addressed to Great Falls, and which now he will not receive, I told him that should your plans be to come east at the time he was returning home, he should invite you to our out-of-door-down-in-the-countrybreakfast-over-an-open-fire on the twenty-eighth. Should it be possible for you to be with us at that time or to stop in Canton anytime during the winter, I am sure we shall be glad to offer you whatever hospitality we can. A friend of Fred's will always be welcome. - He is such a splendid boy!-

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I hope we shall have the pleasure in the near future of becoming acquainted with you.

Trusting you will give my letter due consideration, and thanking you again for your trouble about the Telegram, I am

Yours respectfully, Ruth Maurer

Box 365 Canton Ohio.