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13 Pomeworth Street, Stoneham, Mass.,
May 27, 1932.

Dear Folks,
  I was glad to get your letter a day or two ago, and to know that everything was going as well as it does.  I thought, though, by the way you spoke that you yourself were not feeling extra well.  Is your stomach bothering you again?  Or has it been bad all the time?  I remember that last year you had a bad time with it.  Are you taking turkey rhubarb at all now?
  I hope that you are having some of the good things that are in the market now.  Strawberries are very reasonable, but I believe they do not agree with you very well.  But cream is very cheap and delicious now.  I have been getting it for some time now at the First National for 15¢ a jar.  It is heavy and yellow.  Green vegetables and fruits are also good now.  I have been eating almost no meat lately, but I get a cream cheese every little while.  In fact I try to keep it on hand all of the time.  I get the Philadelphia brand for 10¢.  I think that it is very reasonable.  I do hope that you are living well, and not trying to save money on your food.  Doris wouldn't want you to do that.
  After I had mailed my last letter to you, I remembered that I had not told you what I started out to about what Miss Garland and I saw at the Arnold Arboretum.  First of all, of course, it was the lilacs, purple of all shades from the lightest to the deepest hues, some very lovely and rare kinds.  Then there were pink ones, some almost blue, and then the white ones.  The foliage and plumes of some of the varieties are quite different from our regular ones here in Massachusetts.  Then we went over to see the azaleas.  I can not really describe them to you adequately, but perhaps I can give you a little idea of what they looked like.  There were long hedges of them the color of flame, which grow as tall as your large syringa or taller.  There were some other colors too, pink and orchid,-but the mass impression one got was that of a huge fire or conflagration, when viewed from even a short distance.  We saw some pink dogwood in blossom and a great deal of the white.  We sa w one tree that looked like a hawthorn, but it didn't have any thorns on it.  Miss G. was sure that it was a hawthorn nevertheless.
  She has gone home over the week-end, and will not be back until Monday night, so I have three days to myself.  I hope that I shall feel like working.  Usually, whether from reaction or not, I don't know, I am laid up half sick as soon as she departs.
  I am ever so glad that you got your bird bath.  I have thought many times about getting you one.  I think that I should have in spite of everything if I had known that you wanted it so very much.  Where have you got it set up, and what color is it? I t was goof of Leonard to make it for you.  Her evidently has not forgotten all that Mr. Holmes has done for him,- at the time of the fire and at other times.
  I am sorry for Mrs. Lowe. It is good that she has money enough to take care of her.  That helps.
  I hope that Maud's flowers do well.  She takes a good deal of comfort with such things.  Did you get some fertilizer for your things this year.  It will be a waste of labor if you do not, I am afraid.  There are a lot of good commercial fertilizers that you can get from the stores.  Loma is well advertised, but burns if you are not careful about using it according to directions.  Probably Maud can tell you ablut some good one.
  Ihope that Mr. Holmes will change his mind about going out