Blackwell Family
Elizabeth Blackwell

From A.C. SwintonPrivate.
ARALUEN,
HINDHEAD,
HASLEMERE.

Sunday 20.10.1901
Dear Dr. Elizabeth
You will regret
to learn that we are not thriving well at
Hindhead, despite of its fresh air &
far-reaching wild scenery.  As I
feared, May has got moped & into
a much weaker state, if not fatally
so, as Dr. Hooker states it.
For a long time she has abstained
from ever going out in the grounds,
and remains almost entirely in her
room, and latterly in bed.  To make
matters much worse, we are in a 
servantless state, and despite of
weeks of effort - we cannot get
one.  Bad as it is elsewhere, here
it is far more difficult to get any
good servant, or any.
My wife, on whose behalf I
sounwisely came here, is suffering much
from fatigue, & it seems likely to end
by our having to shut the house up,
& try a rest to change somewhere as
soon as we can move May.
I much want to go to London about
pressing matters, but I cannot do so,
as things are.  Perhaps, if you are
going up to a lecture at Mr. Stapley's
or elsewhere, I might avail
myself of your judgement as to
what is best to be done as I
cannot now write further of
the state of things.
I now more
particularly want to know if
you are acquainted with any
convalescent home where we
could wisely let May go, if we
cannot do better with her.  She
seems to ascribe her want

of self-entertainment and daughterly
feeling towards her parents,
as our fault, though we know
it is mainly due to her anaemic
state.
Where, can you favour
us by stating, is the best place
to seek a nurse if we have to
get one here?  Most of these want
a servant to wait upon them,
but we could not do with a person
of that sort seeing that we are
servantless & want much to get
my wife relief from the strain
upon her.
It seems to me that
we much need an Institution
under the supervision of humane
ladies where afflicted people, able
to pay, can have proper care, &
also one for nurses who getfood ready, & do what requires to be done
otherwise for their patient, themselves.
It seems that there is much need of 
philanthropic Institutions of the
kind, as the pay spirit & do as
little as you can & get the most you
can for it, are destroying the truth
& kindliness which should animate
human relations.
Miss Arabella Shore has passed
away, and if you would care to have
the memoir of her sister Louisa &
some of her Poetry and her Appreciation
by Frederic Harrison, I will get you
a copy when in London.  The cousins
of the family one mostly meets with, & their
intense affection for each other seems
rarer still.  They were nobles in the
true sense, & many a one must be the
richer through their lives.  With best
of wishes to you Miss Barry.
A.C. Swinton