Category: Bertha/Others

To Bertha from Marjorie – November 22nd, 1936

Dear Mrs. Buckler,

I feel like calling you Bertha but think it would be a piece of impertinence on my part although I have always heard Anne speak of you and although I have never seen you, I feel I already know you and think you must be a very nice person, and I know Anne is very fond of you.

I feel for this reason very pleased at the idea that you may be able to come and stay with Anne after I am gone, and I thought you might like to have from me a little idea of what your life would be with her and what would be expected of you. This is more difficult for Anne to say this than for me.

What Anna needs above all from whoever is with her is companionship and love in the full sense of the words. She also must feel that whomever is with her and what they do for her, they do willingly and enjoy doing, otherwise she would be very unhappy for she never likes to feel she is a burden to anyone. She likes more than anything to have the company of a helpful person and does not want to be left alone for too long periods. Otherwise, she is apt to get sad and depressed. He has many friends and enjoys going out to tea and having people in. This we always do together. Also, we play quite a bit of bridge although only with nice people and not for money. It is true I do give Anna massage and exercises, etcetera, and while this is important at intervals, I don’t think it is as important as her moral needs, such as having whoever was with her enjoyed being with her and loved her. That is the important thing. She needs of course help always now to walk. She is a little heavier and walks less, going for the most part in her little chair which I push.

Of course she has this little car which I drive and we have lots of fun with it, in fact I don’t know how we ever got on without it. I know you love Florence and so does Anne. That and your painting you have in common. However, I would like to tell you in advance so you will not be unhappy after, you will have very little free time, that is time to yourself. Anna and I do everything together and in that way she expects quite a lot. Some people would not like this so I thought you ought to know, I am very fond of Anne and mostly what pleases her pleases me, and we have great fun together and that is what she likes and cannot however be left alone much, not that physically she can’t be but only morally. As I have said before is that is the principal thing, to keep her cheerful and happy. She is as you, a very brave and courageous little soul, but needs above all, cheerful company.

She has been perfectly wonderful about my marriage and has not for a minute thought of herself but has only been rejoicing with me in my newfound happiness, which shows the greatness of her nature and greatness of her love for me and I shall never forget it because it is not going to be easy for her to readjust herself to her new life.

If you feel you would really like this life with her and would not feel too tied, I am sure you two would find it interesting and certainly you would be doing it a great deal of good making Anne happy. But if you do not wish to be tied considerably then perhaps it would not suit you. Anne wants you very much but she only wants someone who really would enjoy their life with her which can be a very happy one if taken with the right spirit.

I hope you won’t mind my writing or anything I have said, but I thought you ought to know would would be expected of you. I thank you so much for your good wishes to me, I feel sure I will be happy ___ Rodolfo is _____.

To Bertha from Beth Cary – October 25, 1938

St. Cloud Mirror

509 5th Ave. S.

Dear Bertha,

I was so glad to hear from you again; was afraid you had gone home last spring without stopping. Thought there might have been illness. Anyhow, my fear was groundless and we will be glad to have you anytime. Alice is away teaching and her bed is empty and waiting. Don’t expect her again until Thanksgiving.

We aren’t on relief yet and still get three meals a day do don’t worry. We try not to. [Note: The US unemployment rate was 19% in 1938.] This has been an exciting fall-politically. State elections are the 8th of Nov. here and things are plenty hot. We hope to oust the farm-laborites this time but it will be a squeeze as they spend state money to buy votes. [Note: The Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party was a left-wing political party that largely dominated Minnesota politics during the Great Depression, and was one of the most successful statewide third party movements in United States history. The Farmer-Labor governor was defeated in the 1938 election.]

The war scare kept us up nights and I’m not so sure that feeding the Czechs to the wolves will help any in the long run. [Note: She is referring to Hitler occupation of Czechoslovakia earlier that year.] It was tense here and Europe must have been a fright like sitting on a keg of dynamite.

Not going to tell you all the news as will see you so soon. Both Leigh and I spoke of you the week your letter was en route – Talk of mental telepathy.

Hope our lovely fall weather holds out a few weeks longer for your benefit. Never can remember seeing such a fall.

Let us know when to expect you.

Lots of love.

How are those tonsils?

Beth

To Spokane Bank from Bertha (draft letter) – Approx. 1948

[Note: Bertha is about 58 years old.]
[Note: In 1948, the First Federal Savings Loan Bank in Spokane commissioned her to do an Indian theme mural, and for accuracy in re-creating the figures, she lived with the Colville tribe at their reservation in eastern Washington. Likely from her memory bank, she also recreated scenes from frontier forts, including Fort Niobrara, where she had lived as a youth.]

I am glad to have the opportunity of thanking Mr. Lindsay, the director of the 1st Federal Savings and Loan and Mr. ______ for his most interesting commission to which I have spent devoted most of my painting and much of reading time during the past year.

I believe it was Mr. ______ who first suggested that I paint a Spokane _____. It immediately appealed to me as the ideal subject for a Spokane bank. Not only because it was one of the earliest settlements in this past century, but because it was the very first commercial enterprise in this particular locality.

The work of an historical artist is like that of a newspaper reporter in some respects at least ______ collect as many facts as possible and then endeavor to present them to the public in an interesting a manner as possible.

So after making a few purely _____ sketches based on general information, I said about learning everything I could as possible about the subject.

The Indians were not quite new to me as I spent most of my early childhood in contact with them and have always carried with me memories of their camps, their dances, their horses, their children and their dogs.

I read everything I could lay my hands on that had to do with the early traders, explorers and Indians.

[Note: She lists various books and draft letter is cut short.]

Pages from booklet:

To Nell Babbitt from Bertha (letter never sent) – Approx. date

[Note: This was added: “She was a good looking enough woman in a undistinguished sort of way, paled as we are were in the tropics in ______ days when makeup was still regarded as vulgar – and why it isn’t still a bit of a puzzler.”]
 
2920 W. Denwood Avenue
Spokane, Washington

Dearest Nell,

Thank you so very much for your lovely letter and the beautiful handkerchief which I received on my birthday. You really should not have sent the letter but it was very sweet of you and I am enjoying it and using it with pride.

It does not seem possible that I have let two months pass without writing – but such a lot of work had piled up – and leisure hours, such as they are – and few enough – are so often interrupted – so that, thinking of you daily and intending to write. I have kept putting it off for the time when I could really collect my thoughts. Writing is so unsatisfactory as compared with seeing and visiting – to think that I had never made you understand what a great ______ and favor I considered the loan of your apartment – how deeply I appreciated it and how completely I realized the generosity of such an offer. Also, as I finally tell you, it came a time when the friendliness of the atmosphere was especially restful. It was almost – but alas, not quite like seeing you and Ethel to be in your home, recalling so many other times – over such a stretch of years.

Since beginning this, I’ve taken time off for lunch with Sally – whose day off it is – and an hour’s work in the studio – thinking as I worked along how awfully nice it would be if you could come out here and visit us sometime. You have never been one to dwell on your troubles but I do know from casual mentions of this or that occurrence, that you have had a hard life – lots of difficulties which you have met gallantly and I find myself wondering what the retirement conditions are in New York. It must surely be getting towards the time for you to take a rest. I hope there is some arrangement by which you can do so. I suppose the Social Security operates all over the country on the same basis – not much to live on – but better than nothing.

I infer that you still go to Newark when you are well enough. What about the headaches now? Am so distressed to know that you are always been subject to severe headaches, haven’t you?

How is Ethel? Is she able to do any drawing at present? We simply hate a lot of the book illustrations that are being done and would like to see some Bob Blossoms.

They own activities. A little painting here and there – a dozen things that _____ to be finished out aren’t, a little housekeeping that never really arrived, a bit of gardening that makes the beds look as if chicken has been scratching. I never felt such a muddler before – if any I could clear the seats once – I’d like to start over.

The winter has been mild – but spring has been interminably slow in coming. Half the hardy plants winter killed. It will be mid-summer before we realize that winter is over – and this spring has been complicated by a serious epidemic among the cats.

We have a cat family. I am ashamed to confess that the two we intended to keep, were three instead – and all females so before we knew it we had 10 cats, each one so charming in it’s own individual way that we couldn’t dispose of it. So 10 cats we had it sounds like some of the terrible old women we read of who live all alone with 40 cats and murder people.

While we haven’t taken to murder yet, although, Sally was threatening it at noon as she read her weekly book review and considered one of the modern poets. Said it had to be done but all of this is a discussion.

The 10 cats all were very sick – except the one pure white Angora – several at a time for one solid month – extra expense for the vet, for medicine – for special food – endless newspaper to burn, etcetera, etcetera – but we pulled them through 100% – and still have 10 cats. There’s the white one, Sugarplum, the black one Caliope, her black son, Bruno, her black and white son with a patch over one eye, Pagliacci, her black with white paws daughter, Tippy Toe – her brother, the big ex-tomcat, Rosetti with beautiful tiger markings and Pixie, the little tiger cat and Linxie, the big longhaired calico and ______ the wooly tan Persian and Lilli who looks like exactly like Leslie Caron and who came to us out of the bushes last summer. Besides these 10, we have two visiting tomcats who come see our ladies. Decided it was a good place and appealed to my sympathies so that they have to have handouts once a day. It’s quite a place – enough to satisfy any cat lover – and discussed anyone else but keeps us busy. Perhaps if you can come and see us, we won’t have so many by that time for we…

[Note: Draft letter ends]