A sister, Olive, who became Mrs. Moffitt, kept up the social position of the Boogher family. They had Virginia relatives and Frank was a graduate of the University of Virginia. I think he got his medical training in St. Louis and he became an excellent doctor and surgeon. (He removed a carbuncle from father's neck in our kitchen.) He started out in a downtown office and most of his patients were among the poor. However, he was highly respected in his profession among rich and poor. He married a beautiful woman who had been Billie's secretary for years, and Sank Norvell's also. They had one child. To this day this younger woman tries to get me to admit that a romance existed between her father and me. Dr. Boogher was an excellent doctor and an understanding and sympathetic friend to all of our family until he died. His friendship at that time was helpful to me because he knew some of the reasons for my illness and depression, although we discussed only books and music. There never was any familiarity between us.

For a day or two after the trip to Blue Spring I was exhausted. My strength was not returning as soon as hoped for. Again my bees were my chief interest. Extracting the ripened honey from the five hives and extra supers was a big job for Jens and me. It was a good season and I sold honey - to friends, relatives, and the Woman's Exchange. Then I settled back to indifference and depression. However the light that came through this darkness was some freedom from pain and nausea. Then father let me plan to go to New York to the Art Students' League to study. I had been so depressed that I took no interest in social affairs, in fact was not invited to balls or many parties. The ban against any contact with Mr. Chambers still existed and we respected it. I had been out of sight and mind of friends and relatives for so long that they did not miss me. I enjoyed talking and walking with Uncle Orville Matthews. He gave me good books.

My uncle's life with Aunt Zaid was not very happy as she was so devoted to their child Lillian and had antagonized his other three children. During the Caribbean cruise that he and father had enjoyed together, they probably had a libretto of the popular opera Mikado and they took the names of the chief members of the cast. My uncle was called Koko, father was the Lord High Chancellor, and brother Billie was called Nankipoo. My brother Billie enjoyed talking to Uncle Or about the trip he took with him on the U.S.S. Brooklyn (??). Uncle Or was a true Christian gentleman as well as an outstanding naval officer. Walking and talking with this lovable uncle helped me after father forbade me to see Mr. Chambers.

About this time father deposited a sum of money in a bank in my name to teach me how to use a checking account. Then he told me I should take some of the housekeeping responsibility. Mother ordered the food and I paid for it out of this account. Each month father gave me the money to pay the maids and the laundress, etc. This $100 was in one dollar bills. Help was cheaper then than now. My father insisted upon my counting these dollar bills because he said banks sometimes made mistakes. Just counting serial numbers might not do. All this was good preparation for the new freedom I was soon to enjoy in New York City.

A letter that I wrote to Mrs. McKesson shortly after my operation disturbed her because she thought I was depressed. She wrote mother asking about me and mother told her what it was and that I was improving. When I wrote Mrs. McKesson at Chappaqua that I planned on coming to New York in September to look for a boarding place, she told me to come early enough to have a visit before school opened. My spirits had gone up like the arrow again. I went to see friends, learned about their summer outings, plans, engagements, and marriages.

Father paid for my ticket to New York and gave me a good sum to deposit in a New York bank for my expenses. He was a very wise but worried father. I was glad that his brother would stay and use my room while I was gone. Father was about eighty then and he invited his older brother John Matthews from Little Rock to come to St. Louis, and two more brothers, William H. and George Matthews of New Orleans, to join them for a visit in St. Louis. Their only sister, Flora Gamble, lived near us. They all went together and had their photograph taken. It is a handsome group of six hearty, intelligent-looking elderly people. I am glad I have one of the pictures. My father lived twenty-two years after this, dying at 102 years of age. He was clear in mind to the end. My chief occupation in early September was putting my clothes in order, choosing the few that would be most useful, and buying only a few little necessities. I hoped to find a smart fall outfit in New York. I went over the beehives with Jens and left them in his care. He would take the honey and prepare the hives for winter. I had lunch with friends and relatives before I left. My departure date and plans for the winter were in the social notes, so any who were interested had the news. So off I went!