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hearty child. Oh! Milton as soon as
we can get a little money together
we msst get some place which is
our own - any old shake down on
Long Island, or the Maine Coast or
any old place; just so it was ours
and we were independent - I would
not care what it was. Well it will all
come right some day if we do our
duty uncomplainingly and I am
sure no one knows from either of us
how keen the heartache and the pain
of this life apart. I am like thee if
I let go my hold on my self one instant,
if I let myself think I could
not stand it. Jeannot is a great
comfort and joy to me - there go his
little bare feet pattering through the
hall this instant and here he comes
up stairs to hunt "Momimie"[?] - he is
never long content away from me. Here
he is with a handful of pea pods

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which he is turning into butterflies.
He seems to have a great deal more
imagination than he used to - now
the butterflies have been torn asunder &
he has a fleet of boats which he is
happily sailing on the "Sea of Sceau[?]".

He likes play things of his own
devising. Mrs. Wright brought him
such a lovely book on birds with
excellent plates & simple, comprehensible
reading matter. We study it together,
and then hunt all about the
lawn for nests and birds to illustrate

We had a real tragedy lately amongst
our bird friends - a little song
sparrow down in the strawberry
patch laid her five eggs, and set on
them and when they hatched the
big black ants got in the nest and
literally devoured the young birds: I
did not know that such cannibalism
obtained in the insect world.