NAWSA           GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE                  Weller, Katherine

9th July 1932
Alice, my best friend,
to day I have with me Olga Kerensey who wrote for
me a letter to Mr. Bustlett. It was short, but
true, containing the truth only.
I am sure that you make secret of the state
of your health, and I am afraid that your
eyes are also not strong. My own eyes are so
weak now that I can neither read or write,
and my doctor does not hope that you it will
soon improve. It makes me very miserable[, but]
[my health] to feel that my health will be
worse and worse [and] in future. I feel myself
very weak and no good for anything. It is a
bitter future, but one has to try and be reconciled.
I bless you with all my heart
Your devoted
Catherine
(Weller)

Neleîniêu Tereîva Karpatska Rus.
September 13, 1931
My dear Miss Blackwell,
It was very pleasant to receive your kind
letter, and I must thank you for the trouble you have
taken to gratify Babushka's wish for a little publicity
for my work. I will confess to you that the act seemed
a little futile to me, but so long as it gives a little bit of
pleasure to Baboushka in these later months of her life I
am more than glad that it has been done. I am hoping
to see her this winter, but probably not before Christmas-
though I should like it to be earlier. It is extraordinary
how the spirit continues to glow in that frail, worn-out
body - it glows, but it flickers. The world will be a bleaker
place than it is when she has gone out of it, and often
it seems bleak enough now. But it is even a little
startling to reflect what a wide circle of human beings
draw inspiration, hope, and courage from the existence
of our very old, infirm, penniless [?]!
I think it is you who have given to her the greatest
joy during these later years insomuch as you leave afforded
her the means of fulfilment of her heart's desire,
i.e. education for the young people in whom she is interested.
I trust that you will not feel it presumptuous on my
hard to profit by your letter to the extent of asking you
to order for me a copy of your book on Catherine 
Breshkovsky, which I have wished to possess ever since
Mrs. Albertson sent me your "Lucy Stone," with the

announcement enclosed. The difficulty has been as always
sending money from this country, and also to know
how much to send. Perhaps it [??ts] the same as the
book I have, three dollars, and, in that hope I will enclose
a check for the sum.
It will be somewhat interesting to see if the [Cl??]
[Regirli?] really prints your letter, and it is possible that
I shall not know as I have lately discontinued my [??d?].
- after certainly more than a quarter of a century of companionship.
I felt that I could not longer tolerate
the bolshevik sympathies of the editor. But I shall
miss the paper in many ways. Had I seen the
letter earlier I would have asked you to modify the
statement as to my property. I have not left it all
to the How, for the capital must justly go to my daughter
so that I have only left in [G?????lovania] my real estate,
and such of my invested savings as I feel it right to
alienate. The longer I live the more these will be. I hope.
Thanking you for your kind letter, and beautiful
words of encouragement, I remain,
cordially yours
Katherine Weller

Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.