Recipient of K. Pearson to H.S. Hacker, 14th April 1927.
14 Apr 1927
Description:

‘... I shall stay [at ‘O.S.H.’] for next week if I have a good report of M.S.P. Moll has had three pups living two reds & a piebald. I wonder what Lady B. made of the brass plate?'

Recipient of K. Pearson to H.S. Hacker, 19th March 1922.
19 Mar 1922
Description:

‘... I sent a remuneration to the Columbia Trust yesterday & it should be placed to your account about the same time as this reaches you. Please inquire in the course of the week after this reaches you. I thought you would be having extra expenses from illness & at any rate you will need money for your summer expedition. It is very difficult to advise you all this way off & with my very limited knowledge, but I think you will have competent advisors closer to-hand. I had some talks with Dr Watson recently & there seems some chance that Miss Bell & she may try next session experiments on trying by retarding or speeding up embryonic development to produce anomalies & then testing whether they are inherited. I should get our house into order for that purpose. We are definitely closing down the dog breeding...

...

Yu Niu is at Vet’s with her litter, 3 out of 5 pups survive. Ben has come back disgraced from Worcester, but Hans has made up for his son.

Ever your loving father,

K.P.’

Recipient of K. Pearson to H.S. Hacker, 23rd Nov. 1912.
23 Nov 1912
Description:

‘... At Oxford they are going to build a chemical laboratory opposite Mrs Weeldon’s house. She rather despairs, but I think she ought to be able to sell her home at a high price to the new professor. Choo is growing a round bolster, she is horribly lazy & fat. Ling, as brave a dog as ever. I have no news of the others, but trust they do well. I have got some skins of wild dogs coming from Australia; one an albino...’

Recipient of K. Pearson to H.S. Hacker, 28th March 1928.
28 Mar 1928
Description:

‘My dear daughters,

It seems rather mean to write to neither of you for ten weeks and then to take the opportunity of affectionate letters from both of you to write a joint letter! But it has been rather uphill work this term... However perhaps the top of March hill is in sight & one can walk without puffing and panting down the slope towards summer. Mother & I came down [to Coldharbour] on Sunday Egon seeing us off at Victoria & Ben accompanying us down, with disastrous effects on mother’s & my coats, for he is in his usual state of moult. I think he is glad to be here though he has had already three or four beatings for absolutely unprovoked assaults on [William Patton?] Ker. He has been out for three walks, Saturday afternoon and twice today with Ker & myself & is then perfectly peaceful, but what he cannot stand is any affection shown by Ker to ourselves... Mr Morant has just come back from Brunn (or Brno) and Vienna. In the former place there was much material, which he was allowed to measure, but he had to sign a statement that he would not publish it! In the latter place there was very little, but he was allowed to do anything he liked & the museum folk were very kind. Mahr[?] asked him to a lecture on Stonehenge & gave him a supper after,- but he found them all very bitter against the Czechs, whereas in Czechoslovakia they could talk nothing but evil of the Austrians! – a century will hardly lay the bitterness of the Great War.

Of laboratory matters you will have heard that Egon has got his degree & says he shall never use it. That Get[?] had three puppies of which two died & that the remaining one probably suffers from ulcers of the body wall! Just what Get would be sure to produce. Settie has two very fine puppies,- alas! both males and we await Poll’s litter this next week.'

Recipient of K. Pearson to H.S. Hacker, 31st May 1912.
31 May 1912
Description:

‘... You went to Aurundel[?] it is time, but where were your eyes. Did I hear anything of white peacocks? Not a line. Did I catch a reference to white goats? Not a whiff thereof. Did I hear any stories of the white cattle, of the white rabbits, of the white poultry? Not a hint. You did not even tell me that the squirrel or the weasel – had it no tail to speak the truth? – was white. Consider next time not only the tail but the ears & the nose & the run[?] – and you will not say a “squirrel or a weasel.” How do you know it was not a stoat or a rat, or, further, a wild cat in deed...

Now there is a horrid row. Ling bangs against the door – all is hubbub – it is forsooth the postman & as no one comes I shall go & see what he has brought. Alack all for mother! Ling & Choo desire bones & are reproachful because I deal not in such things. I warrant you they would prefer me to Ada at most times, but at 9.30 their hearts are set kitchenwards and bones have more savour than the caresses of a master. I hear Ada coming up with lemonade – there will be joy in the canine beasts. What thin stuff is the affection of the youthful!

...’

Recipient of K. Pearson to H.S. Hacker, 5th Aug. 1918.
5 Aug 1918
Description:

‘... I have been fairly busy with Femur in the morning – a great relief from gunnery and gardening in the afternoon. Otherwise the walks have only been dog exercisers. The dogs seem all very fit, but Meg & Dinah fight whenever they get a chance. D. is a very affectionate little person. Tonight we have a fire & Meg & Hans are on the rug in front of it – quite like winter...’

Recipient of K. Pearson to H.S. Hacker, 5th June 1922.
5 Jun 1922