Skip to main content

  • Walter E. Dandy Letter 05/04/1914

    The Johns Hopkins Hospital

    Baltimore, Md.

    May 4, 1914

    Dear Mother and Father,

    This has been a rather dull week with not much to do. Dr. Halsted is back, but has had very little to say and has said nothing about next year's plan. I believe I will go to Chicago sometime this summer and see what is there. I ought to get enough experience this summer to satisfy me if I want to start out. It is a very funny situation, trying to decide between money and honor; one day you think one thing and another, another, but whatever you do turns out for the best theoretically.

    I just got the check for $721 and will sent it to Porter tomorrow. It was quite a temptation to have so much money and not put it in MoPac but maybe it is safer and better where it is. I think the MoPac finances have about straightened out now and the stock will rise. It is at the bottom now. I think the rise in notes will soon be permitted and that will help too. I don't believe there will be war. That will also help. It ought to jump straight up now. MK&T preferred is selling for 35 and pays 4% or about 12% which is doing pretty well but they are just earning the interest and no more but they ought to pull up too. The market is quite good now for investment. Take it from an old timer like myself who has lost nearly half of what he put in. Every cloud has its silver lining as you know.

    I think your suggestion of turning Mexico over to the Negros is an excellent one, one of the best I have heard, but it will probably not happen.

    We have a very pathetic case. One of the pioneers in X-ray, Dr. Baetjer, the professor at Hopkins has lost an eye and part of every finger on both hands and now cancer has developed and it is probably only a question of time until he dies. He is very optimistic in spite of all his troubles. Another woman died of cancer of the gall bladder. One year ago her gall bladder was removed on account of gall stones and I accidently detected a minute cancer and reported it as such. No attention was paid to it, and today she died of cancer. Then it might have been possible to cure, but now there was no hope.

    We are having beautiful weather, but I don't get much chance to assimilate much. You say you will wait until September and I think probably that is best. You mention your feeling of chagrin when you see my clothes. They are yours not mine. I am what you made me and evolved me. My clothes are like the decorations of trees and flowers, the recipient of a higher power and merely the adornment of its gratitude and its forces. I shall have to go to the nurses annual dance next week and wear them.

    Hoping you are in the best of health as I am at present.

    Your loving son, Walter

We use cookies to improve the performance of our site, to analyze the traffic to our site, and to personalize your experience of the site. You can control cookies through your browser settings. Please find more information on the cookies used on our site. Privacy Policy

×