May–December 1954

Dear G. Roger: July 13, 1954

Summer doldrums. Rainey in Vermont, Kidder in New Brunswick, and me in charge of the moo in case of crises. Hope there will be none. Am working at home (greater peace there) on manuscripts, and only coming in on Tuesdays and Fridays. So far have finished and sent off Kiran Harman grave for Gladys, and am now doing Gordion preliminary report for 1953 for Dick, to be followed by Gordion I.L.N. and then Balkh for Dick too. so warn him. Geraldine is gone abroad for the summer (on profits from television); Reuben will be off for London at the end of the week. Anna B. is around, cramming for thesis business at library. So is Ruth Fiesel, working again at Bryn Mawr library on beginning greek grammar projects. Ellen is aboit, editing etc.; she wants to take her vacation in the winter not now, so that during the free two weeks ahe can take her Bryn Mawr exams. Guess she will be here all summer. Hiram in New Haven.

Adana's tribe flourishing; no more accidents since she sat on one of them and squashed it (guess I wrote about that). They now have their eyes open and are becoming active and walking around - three weeks old after all, and Mabel could tell you what the equivalent children's age for that in dogs in, probably about a year and a half. VERY cute. One sold to Charles; promised one to Peggy and another to her brother Henry; also one, if they want it, to the Rumson tribe who kept Sty last summer. Think of keeping one or maybe two: there is a big dog puppy, mostly white but with grey patches, whose official name is Afyonkarahissar but whom I call Buster, the biggest and greediest and most active of the lot; and I think I will keep a dark colored female just for variety. Don't know yet which: Ankara or Alaca or Antalya or Antakya or Alishar. Will try to sell the rest, proceeds to Gordion fund. Am asking $ 100 each. They are beginning to eat, robbing Adana of her breakfast when she is not looking, and I am beginning to feed them meal and milk fussed up with bone meal and codliveroil. Hope she doesn't sit on any more of them, but expect that even if she is not a princess they are now bigger than peas. But this is not all; last Wednesday night Filby began to produce, and kept on producing until there were nine. They are all right thank God; cannot be certain but think that Isty rather than Izzy is their pa. It must have happened that one night Fildy was home from Princeton and before she went off again as not yet being finished to Devon. And actually she produced in exactly the same length of time as Adana did - fifty nine days. There are five boys and four girls; three dark, four white, and two spotted. Think I will keep one white male again for variety, and maybe one dark female. Which makes a prospect of eight permanents! Can you bear it? But if I see that they sell well, perhaps I will keep only one of Adanas and one of Filbys. Her children are somewhat punier than Adanas were, partly because she is younger and less mature, and partly because Adanas pregnancy was planned and I began to feed her codliveroil and other such dainties well in advance, while I thought Filby was safe and only realized about a week before the creatures came that they were on the way, definitely, and started to do the same for her. But they have all survived so far and are growing, and she hasnt sat on any yet. This letter seems to be mostly about dogs but there is little else to write about just at present.

Love and kisses from Kohler (she says).

So far has not been bad, but heat wave predicted for tomorrow - 90 to 95 in New York, which would be 95-100 for Philadelphia. Yestersay at Columbia Mo. according to radio went to 113. Anner glad she is here not there. Maybe I got sufficiently stewed last summer in Pakistan not to notice it this summer here.

No more news about Egyptian expedition. No more news about Ecbatana expedition. No more news about department of archaeology. Nothing new from Machteld. Probably now in vicinity of Antalya. No news of Mabel or her intentions. No further Curium business that I can think of just at present. As I said, summer doldrums. So will stop now.

Handwritten: Roy