In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Adela arrived in Niagara Falls, Canada, on October 31, 1916, and became ill, but she still planned to go on to Boston, with hopes of a day or two in Philadelphia to see Ella. Instead she stayed at Niagara Falls until June 1917. Considering the bad effect on her health of a damp climate, Niagara Falls seems like an unfortunate choice for her. The occasional days of the bright, crisp cold invigorated her, but the overall atmosphere was damp. The precise state of Adela’s health, like the state of her finances, is hard to determine. She did suffer from recurring bouts of malaria, and she did have some form of arthritis. Damp weather aggravated her arthritis and affected her general feeling of well-being. Her tendency to get headaches probably wasn’t helped by the close work she did. Periodically she describes herself as one who has never been particularly healthy. Niagara Falls seems to have been a low point for her, aggravated by the fact that once she determined to leave she simply could not proceed, being unable to muster the energy to move on. Her letters frequently mention the difficulty of packing up, and since she had been traveling for several years by this time, her luggage may have seemed like an insurmountable problem. She was, however, not idle, and kept busy with the work on the Central American languages and her active correspondence. Reading between the lines, particularly in her letters to Ella, the days were long and tiresome. Her health did not improve. She was less inclined to try to return to the United States, since the “Chinese wall of new immigration laws” would make crossing the border “very difficult and unpleasant” (AB to Gordon, May 1, 1917, PA: Director’s Office). She regarded the questions she would be asked as nothing short of an inquisition. Finally, in spite of her fever and general ill health, she was able to leave Niagara Falls. She stopped in Montreal to rest and wait for an available berth on the train to the east so she could go on to Gaspé. There, the fresh air, flowers , and outdoor life began to revive her, but she remained ill and developed edema and phlebitis, 191 ______________________________________ Chapter Twenty-Nine In Search of Health Well, one must have ups + downs in life + I have been very fortunate in many ways. —Adela Breton to Ella Lewis, April ,  192 Chapter Twenty-Nine ______________________________________ so was forced to stay put with her leg up. Gradually she improved, and in early November she managed to move on to Perce, Quebec. She enjoyed being by the sea, but was concerned about the effect of the dampness on her arthritis and rheumatism. By December she was in Moncton, New Brunswick. A change of scene usually revived her, and the move to Moncton was no exception. The air was drier, and for that spring at least, there was little wind and much sunshine. She was gaining weight and felt better, although she was not well. The news from England worried her, and as Harry continued in his extended term as mayor of Rochester, she feared what the ongoing work and worry was doing to his health. She felt more isolated than ever, and her health still kept her from any amusements. “You don’t know how much I appreciate your kind letters, after all this long time that we have not met,” she wrote Ella (AB to Ella, Jan. 18, 1918, APS). “If I had not been so wretched after the grippe two years ago in Washington, it would have been so easy to come over + see you, + now it becomes more impossible. But you have a very warm place in my heart + I look back to our pleasant Sundays as white-stone days” (ibid.). Then disaster struck. On March 23 she fell on a bit of ice and sustained an “impacted fracture of the hip bone” of the same leg that had given her so much trouble the year before. After being x-rayed, her entire leg was put into a cast, leaving Adela unable to move. The prognosis was unsure. Adela might be a permanent invalid and unable to walk again. Or, the leg might be considerably shorter, which would cripple her. Another x-ray in seven weeks would show if there had been any healing. Her initial letters were cheerful; Adela was making the best of things. She wrote Hrdlička about the...

Share