Word Count: 66,084
Summary of Events:
Josiah returned to Linlithgow for the weekend and talked with Uncle Roderick about his MacEachern relatives, who were described to him as being the sort of people who had worked hard to get where they were, and had no intentions of taking any backward steps, also saying that he believed the Glaswegian MacEacherns were anomalous, not Josiah's father. The following day Josiah was given a letter by his mother that she wanted him to include in his next letter to Evangelina; concerned about what it might contain, Josiah decided to read it for himself before he decided whether he would send it or not . . .
Excerpt of the Day:
Miss Dunbar,
I find it quite difficult to extend a greeting to you, considering that you are quite effectively a stranger to me, nonetheless, owing to your nascent relationship with my son, I have every intention of communicating with you favourably, for his need for a woman in his life is quite great.
However, in marrying Josiah you must not merely be a suitable wife to stand by his side, you must also be suitable to bear his children, for it would be no good for a man to have a wife who is unable to bear him children, as we are commanded of the Lord to be fruitful and multiply, and such is achieved through childbearing.
To that end I am quite concerned that you would not have the stamina nor ability to carry an infant to the full time without it or yourself — or both — dying, and I certainly don’t think Josiah should make a good father without a wife, if I am quite frank with you, for his rather ungainly frame could make him rather careless with an infant; to be frank the fact that he made the choice to enter into medicine is quite beyond me, for I certainly think that his size is rather unsuitable to the care necessary for practising medicine, nonetheless, he seems to be doing well in his studies, so maybe the care I have often associated with medical practitioners is not as much of an asset I thought it was.
Your poor health also gives me concern about your suitability for the mission field, for I am sure you are well aware that the climes of the mission field are rarely akin to those of home, which could bode well for your health, but also could not, and considering your ultimate destination, I should think the latter would be true.
It is my hope, thus, that you do realise what you are getting yourself into, for even if the climate is a warmer one, by and large, the conditions are also reasonably squalid, and thus there are great risks to those weak in health — after all, even the physically strong can be sundered by disease in squalor, for my husband was no weakling, and yet he is now twenty years in the grave, forcing our labours to an end, although it pleases me to no end that my son will be going to the field to take them up again since I have been unable to do so.
If you are able to survive childbirth, I am very concerned for your ability to survive in the midst of all the squalor which you shall know, and I do hope that you are well aware of it, nonetheless if I may take the liberty of informing you of the details of the conditions which are rarely made clear to those destined for the field before their arrival.
Josiah skimmed the disturbing accounts, he’d heard them too many times before and was still worried about being given nightmares by them, for Mother was not one who could make even frightful things sound pleasant.
I find it quite difficult to extend a greeting to you, considering that you are quite effectively a stranger to me, nonetheless, owing to your nascent relationship with my son, I have every intention of communicating with you favourably, for his need for a woman in his life is quite great.
However, in marrying Josiah you must not merely be a suitable wife to stand by his side, you must also be suitable to bear his children, for it would be no good for a man to have a wife who is unable to bear him children, as we are commanded of the Lord to be fruitful and multiply, and such is achieved through childbearing.
To that end I am quite concerned that you would not have the stamina nor ability to carry an infant to the full time without it or yourself — or both — dying, and I certainly don’t think Josiah should make a good father without a wife, if I am quite frank with you, for his rather ungainly frame could make him rather careless with an infant; to be frank the fact that he made the choice to enter into medicine is quite beyond me, for I certainly think that his size is rather unsuitable to the care necessary for practising medicine, nonetheless, he seems to be doing well in his studies, so maybe the care I have often associated with medical practitioners is not as much of an asset I thought it was.
Your poor health also gives me concern about your suitability for the mission field, for I am sure you are well aware that the climes of the mission field are rarely akin to those of home, which could bode well for your health, but also could not, and considering your ultimate destination, I should think the latter would be true.
It is my hope, thus, that you do realise what you are getting yourself into, for even if the climate is a warmer one, by and large, the conditions are also reasonably squalid, and thus there are great risks to those weak in health — after all, even the physically strong can be sundered by disease in squalor, for my husband was no weakling, and yet he is now twenty years in the grave, forcing our labours to an end, although it pleases me to no end that my son will be going to the field to take them up again since I have been unable to do so.
If you are able to survive childbirth, I am very concerned for your ability to survive in the midst of all the squalor which you shall know, and I do hope that you are well aware of it, nonetheless if I may take the liberty of informing you of the details of the conditions which are rarely made clear to those destined for the field before their arrival.
Josiah skimmed the disturbing accounts, he’d heard them too many times before and was still worried about being given nightmares by them, for Mother was not one who could make even frightful things sound pleasant.
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