The Lord bless and keep reader Polly Faust, who just sent me this email:

Hi Mallory,

A girl dies in the first chapter of the first Bobbsey Twins book, which was in my great aunt’s house and may have belonged to my grandma, who was born in 1911. Note that Nan nearly dies and has to lean on her brother when attempting to merely talk about jump roping.

“Grace, don’t jump so much. You’ll get sick.” Beautiful in its simplicity. Sick of what? Sick how? Jumping too much. Don’t worry about it.

“…for he had heard of more than one little girl dying from too much jumping.”

You girls are crazy to jump rope so much, and it is worse than football.