Dear Miss Addams,
I wonder if so great a woman ever as Miss Addams does not sometimes like to be told by her friends how much they love her and how much good she has done them?
When I was living in the Settlement, you influenced me more than you can possibly imagine, and in all the years that have intervened since then you have been the inspiration of much that has been best in me. And when I have fallen so far below my ideals [page 2] still it was the thought of you that made me pluck up courage and try again.
It is a great thing in this world to go about inspiring every one to be better work harder and love more fervently.
I never think of you without gratitude and love to you for just being what you are, and for what you have been to me and still are. And as I sit here on Jan. 1. 1910, wishing my friends a Happy New Year, I wondered if it would not contribute a wish [page 3] toward that happiness, just to be told how much their lives had helped me and why I loved them so dearly.
Madam Severance is another one, and she came to me through you. She is to celebrate her ninetieth birthday at the Friday Morning Club. Jan. 14. She is such a brave true soul.
With much sincerity & love a Happy and prosperous New Year
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