A LETTER FROMJOHN McCRAE TO MAUDE ABBOTT: JANUARY 9, 1918 I. N. DUBIN* While going through the collection of Maude Abbott papers in the Osier Library at McGiIl University, I was pleasantly surprised to come across a letter from John McCrae to Maude Abbott. It was handwritten on a single sheet of blue paper, dated January 9, 1918, and bore the insignia of the Canadian Medical Corps and the No. 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGiIl), Officers Mess (fig. 1). The letter reads as follows: NO. 3 CANADIAN GENERAL HOSPITAL (McGILL) OFFICERS MESSCANADIAN MEDICAL CORPS 9-1-18 My dear Dr. Abbott: You keep up your reputation for not forgetting your friends: and after so long a time, it might seem permissible. Thank you very much for your kind present in all its particulars; every bit of it is useful temporarily or permanently, and the sweets are a great treat. Today I am sorry to say that I lost a 'special' patient. A couple of months ago "Windy," 1st Battn. Lincoln regt., a nice big old dog came off the hospital train with his labels tied on his collar and hissecond wound—a broken leg. He had been through Gallipoli. The leg recovered, but two days ago he took suddenly ill, and in 48 hours, in spite of all we could do, he went the way of a lot of other good soldiers. He will have decent burial and a headboard in our woods. How one hates to lose the faithful beasts! We are suffering a good deal—discomfort at least, from the cold weather, of which I see you're having your share. All good wishes for the Year and again my thanks. I claim a regretful thought for poor old Windy, rest him! Yours very truly, John McCrae Received Jan. 29th, 1918 The author expresses his thanks to the librarians of the Osier Library, McGiIl University . Dr. Philip M. Teigen, Osler Librarian, kindly granted permission to have this letter published. Marilyn Fransiszyn, Manuscripts and Reference Librarian, was most helpful in arranging to have the letter photographed. *Dr. Dubin died while visiting in Toronto, November 2, 1980. O 1981 by The University of Chicago. 0031-5982/81/2404-0223$01.00 Perspectives inBiology andMedicine · Summer 1981 | 667 The letter was characteristic of both of them. Maude Abbott was known for her penchant for sending gifts to her friends. The portion of her present that would be useful "temporarily" must have been "the sweets"; one wonders what the "permanently useful " part ofthe present was—a book perhaps, or a more practical woolen sweater against the bitter cold of that deadly winter of 1918? John McCrae spent halfof his short letter grieving over an army dog, "Windy," who died. McCrae was known for his love ofanimals, especially horses and dogs. (In World War I, the brave canine soldiers were used Fig. 1.—Holograph letter from John McCrae to Maude Abbott, January 9, 1918 668 J I.N.Dubin ¦ Letterto MaudeAbbott for carrying messages. Some were decorated for gallantry and had their medals attached to their collars. Those that died had "decent burial and a headboard in our woods.") John McCrae's letter was written January 1, 1918. It must have been one of the last letters he wrote, for he died of double pneumonia with massive cerebral infection onJanuary 28, 1918, a victim ofthat killer, the pandemic influenza that swept the world. And what grim pathos lies in Maude Abbott's note at the foot of the letter, "ReceivedJan. 29th, 1918." She got his letter the day after he died. I had a special feeling about that letter. On my first day as a medical student, when I walked into the Old Medical Building at McGiIl, I was confronted by a memorial stainedglass window, part of which was devoted to John McCrae. It depicted a microscope (for he was a McGiIl pathologist), a field of red poppies among the crosses of the heroic dead, and the lines from his famous poem, "In Flanders Field": In Flanders field the poppies grow Between the crosses row on row. For several years this sight was imprinted on my mind. Maude Abbott was my teacher at...