The 6th of May 1926

Dear Mrs. Ruth!

Is it your fault, or is it ours, or it could be both your and our fault that it has become so deathly silent on the roads between Hannaford and Northfield?

But the house is standing here on Manitou Avenue. The porch will have glass and screen and will be very, very pleasant in the summer. Won’t you come? Both me and my wife think you should!

Are you busy in the evening? Terribly busy? What I want – oh, not so much. Sit yourself down and translate for me into good English the last chapter of The Earth-Founding. Begin on page 168. But I must have it finished before the 1st of June. Payment – of course!

Both this and the invitation is serious and not trickery. Period.

O.E. Rølvaag