Letter 78 ~ October 30, 1918

Minnie writes me again from her parents farm near Manhattan. She says she is anxious to resume teaching in Sherman Township but the Riley County schools remains suspended due to the influenza epidemic.

Addressed to Ward C. Griffing, 164th Depot Brigade, 25th Company, Camp Funston, Kansas

Manhattan, Kansas
October 30, 1918

Dearest Ward:

Nothing much to write about, just the same old routine. These letters are so spicy I bet you just fall head over heels to get them.

I have just so much to do; I don’t know how to plan it to get all done. I’ve been fooling around the last two weeks and this week I know I must get busy to get everything I want to done before I go back to school. I’m going to spend most of the time writing that book review. I want to get it finished as soon as I can because when I get back up there I want to spend most of my evening’s knitting.

I talked to your mother this morning. You didn’t get a very long visit at home, did you? It would have been fine if you could have had a pass till Monday morning. We are hoping you can get off most every weekend, but of course you can’t tell.

I’m going to your home this evening to get those [grain] samples. I sure am glad to get them, boy. I asked you once how much you wanted for them but it was quite a long while ago and I’ve forgotten what you said. I should have paid you Saturday evening but didn’t think of it. You tell me how much – maybe your folks will tho – and I’ll pay you the next time I see you. I’m sorry to have bothered you about them – you not being at home.

[My sister] Bertha is going to live at Fall’s Church, Virginia – a little town out from Washington [D. C.]. An electric car line goes out there. [Her husband] Charlie [Scholer] says the country is so pretty around there. They can get rooms much cheaper out there and it will be just as nice for Bertha and [their infant daughter] Ruth and may be nicer.

[My brother] Wayne has a new book – “The Riders of the Purple Sage” by Zane Grey. He thinks it is fine. I want to read it if I get a chance before I leave or take it with me.

Ross Arnold goes up to Ogden every two weeks. You know Rosa lives up there now. I’m surprised that she doesn’t have a soldier boy living close to the camp.

Just now heard Bertha say it was getting awfully black in the west. I sure wish it wouldn’t rain. We had enough moisture today for months I think. Good bye, dear Boy, -- Minnie G. F.

Footnotes:

• Riders of the Purple Sage (1912) has been called the most popular western novel of all time. It is set in the mysterious canyon country of southern Utah, and the rugged landscape the novel inhabits is more than a backdrop for the action. Villains and heroes both try to use the stone labyrinth to their advantage, but it is the landscape's power and majesty that dictate the final result. Portraying the conflict between Mormon and non-Mormon settlers over the possession of land in the 1870s, the novel questions the right of a religion to tyrannize its followers and deprive them of freedom in the name of good.