This is undated, but Henry promises pictures in the 8-20-41 letter and sends them in this one. This may be a draft of a letter, since it is unsigned, or it is missing the last page. This is the second written version of Esperanza's childhood. This story would have had to come from Esperanza herself. It sounds fantastic, and the childhood portion turned out to be almost wholly untrue. Probaby more reliable is Esperanza's work history -
"Esperanza worked in the 1st hospital established in the W. Hemisphere (where bones of Cortez are hidden, Hospital de Jesus, estb. 1527 by Hernan Cortez) from the age of 14 to 17. Then 5 more years in English Hospital here. During the last 5 yrs she has worked in the Education Dept. In '34 she spent 6 mo. in N.Y. City studying hospital technique. Besides translating several dozen books she has contributed numerous articles to magazines and reviews and is writing a history of Mexico now."
While several dozen is surely a wild exaggeration, several times Henry referenced Esperanza writing original work, not just translating.
Dear Mom,
I had forgotten - I promised to send you a picture of Esperanza. I got these about a week ago. She had them taken but doesn't like them. It is not a good picture of her. In fact, she has no other photo of herself except one for employment credentials. She has several snapshots, but they are horrible. She swears she can't take a good picture, but we will have several made sometime soon. Unless Marie has already told you, her father was the doctor in the mine in Durango where another fellow, who later became known as Pancho Villa, also worked at that time. When Madero started his revolution in the fall of 1910, Villa started his career too. Her father moved to Monterey but corresponded with Villa. He was making a call, accompanied by two other men going thru the mountains, when the Rurales - Federal police of Diaz - fired on him and killed him and one companion.
The mother, a teacher of French in the secondary schools, was left with
2 sons, a daughter, two nephews, whose parents had both died - and 1 month
later Esperanza was born. The mother moved to Jalapa (in the South) with
a friend. The house, part of a sugar plantation, was burned by Zapatistas
and the owner killed. They lived there with the Indians for 6 years. When
times became more peaceful they moved to Mexico City. One nephew works
in R.R. Company. The daughter got a job as stenographer so they could
make a lawyer of the oldest son. (He is quite wealthy now). One nephew
became a cameraman in a Mexican movie Co. and recently made a picture
here with J. Ford. The other son is a very militant unionist (and Certified
Public Accountant) in telephone Co. Esperanza worked in the 1st hospital
established in the W. Hemisphere (where bones of Cortez are hidden, Hospital
de Jesus, estb. 1527 by Hernan Cortez) from the age of 14 to 17. Then
5 more years in English Hospital here. During the last 5 yrs she has worked
in the Education Dept. In '34 she spent 6 mo. in N.Y. City studying hospital
technique. Besides translating several dozen books she has contributed
numerous articles to magazines and reviews and is writing a history of
Mexico now.