Dear Enemy

I suppose you think that's funny? It's true. Judy and Jervis know it,

and that's why they asked me to come. So you see, when they have

shown so much confidence in me, I can't throw them over in quite the

unceremonious fashion you suggest. So long as I am here, I am going to

accomplish just as much as it is given one person to accomplish every

twenty-four hours. I am going to turn the place over to my successor

with things moving fast in the right direction.

But in the meantime please don't wash your hands of me under the belief

that I'm too busy to be homesick; for I'm not. I wake up every morning

and stare at Mrs. Lippett's wallpaper in a sort of daze, feeling as

though it's some bad dream, and I'm not really here. What on earth was I

thinking of to turn my back upon my nice cheerful own home and the good

times that by rights are mine? I frequently agree with your opinion of

my sanity.

But why, may I ask, should you be making such a fuss? You wouldn't be

seeing me in any case. Worcester is quite as far from Washington as the

John Grier Home. And I will add, for your further comfort, that whereas

there is no man in the neighborhood of this asylum who admires red hair,

in Worcester there are several. Therefore, most difficult of men, please

be appeased. I didn't come entirely to spite you. I wanted an adventure

in life, and, oh dear! oh dear! I'm having it! PLEASE write soon, and

cheer me up. Yours in sackcloth,

SALLIE.

THE JOHN GRIER HOME,

February 24. Dear Judy:

You tell Jervis that I am not hasty at forming judgments. I have a

sweet, sunny, unsuspicious nature, and I like everybody, almost. But no

one could like that Scotch doctor. He NEVER smiles.

He paid me another visit this afternoon. I invited him to accommodate

himself in one of Mrs. Lippett's electric-blue chairs, and then sat

down opposite to enjoy the harmony. He was dressed in a mustard-colored

homespun, with a dash of green and a glint of yellow in the weave, a

"heather mixture" calculated to add life to a dull Scotch moor. Purple

socks and a red tie, with an amethyst pin, completed the picture.

Clearly, your paragon of a doctor is not going to be of much assistance

in pulling up the esthetic tone of this establishment.

During the fifteen minutes of his call he succinctly outlined all the

changes he wishes to see accomplished in this institution. HE forsooth!

And what, may I ask, are the duties of a superintendent? Is she merely a

figurehead to take orders from the visiting physician?