Muskrat, Wyoming
September 12, 1906
Dear Miss Waxham,
. . . When I received your letter I lay awake . . . out in the sagebrush curled up in my buggy robes and thought and studied astronomy . . . You have no idea how pleased I was to hear from you and it is beyond my pencil to express the satisfaction I felt. Thank you very much for the picture. It does not flatter you any, but at the same time it is very lifelike . . . Of course it will cause many a sharp twinge and heartache to have to take “no” for an answer, but I will never blame you for it in the least and I will never be sorry that I met you . . . I know the folly of hoping that your “no” is not final, but in spite of that knowledge, in spite of my better judgment, and in spite of all I can do to the contrary, I know that I will hope until the day that you are married. Only then I will know that the sentence is irrevocable . . .
Yours Sincerely,
John G. Love
November 12, 1906
Dear Miss Waxham,
. . . I know that you have not been brought up to cook and labor. I have never been on the lookout for a slave and would not utter a word of censure if you never learned or if you got ambitious and make a “batch” of biscuits that proved fatal to my favorite dog. I honestly believe that I could idolize you to such an extent as to not utter a harsh word. “Little girl,” I will do my level best to win you and will be the happiest mortal on earth if I can see the ring that I wear on my watch chain flash on your finger. It has never been worn by or offered to another . . .
We had one very hard storm and several herders lost their lives but that I think was their own fault.
February 15, 1907
Dear Mr Love,
I am fortunate in having two letters from you to answer in one . . . The days have been comparatively dull . . . I am too busy for dances here, if I care to go, which I do not. They are prosaic affairs in the boys’ fraternity houses—not at all like the “Hailey Ball!” . . . The seven months I spent at the ranch I would not exchange for any other seven months in my life. They seem shorter than seven weeks, even seven days, here.
Dear Miss Waxham,
. . . I for one am glad that your curiosity led you to drift up here to Wyoming and now my supreme desire in life is to persuade you to come back . . .
April 3, 1909
Dear Mr. Love—
There are reasons galore why I should not write so often. I’m a beast to write at all. It makes you—(maybe?)—think that “no” is not “no,” but “perhaps,” or “yes,” or anything else . . .
Good wishes for your busy season from E.W.
P.S. I like you very much.
October 12th, 1909
Dear Miss Waxham,
. . . I am once more in debt, but if my season of bad luck has come to an end and the winter is not too severe, I will come out with flying colors in the spring . . . .Your picture nicely framed now adorns the wagon . . .
October 25th, 1909
Dear Miss Waxham,
. . . There is no use in my fixing up the house anymore, papering, etc., until I know how it should be done and I won’t know that until you see it and say how it ought to be fixed.. If you never see it, I don’t want it fixed, for I won’t live here. We could live very comfortably in the wagon while our house was being fixed up to suit you if you only would say yes.
January 1, 1910
Dear Mr. Love,
. . . Suppose that you lost everything that you have and a little more; and suppose that for the best reason in the world I wanted you to ask me to say “yes.” What would you do?
January 11,1910
Dear Miss Waxham,
. . . Hope is far far from being dead yet, “little girl.” I have lost over twenty thousand dollars in the last forty days. If I lose another twenty thousand, hope will still live and not even be very feeble . . . If I were with you, I would throw my arms around you and kiss you and wait eagerly for the kiss that I have waited over four years for.
