So Mary Frances opened it and read:
Dear Mary Frances:
You will be glad to hear that father is safe in the hospital and improving very rapidly. His leg was broken just above the ankle, and he is suffering from the shock of the accident. The doctors say that it will be a week or ten days, perhaps longer, before we can bring him home.
I am sending a newspaper which tells about the train wreck and explains how it happened.
You and Billy are in my thoughts every hour of the day and many times at night, too; but I am not worried because I know that Katie will take good care of you both.
Father says that he is racing with time to get well enough to return home to you dear children, and that he will tell you the whole story when he arrives.
Aunt Maria sends love and says that she will teach you to crochet when she comes—and that you may practice the stitches which she has already taught you.