Dot, Darling, it’s very late, so in order to get my sleeping done I should stop right now and begin the sleeping. I didn’t go to church today, so your letter didn’t get mailed. In fact, I don’t know what happened to the 24 hours which were supposed to compose this day. My homework isn’t even done as thoroughly as I’d like to have it done.
Gee, I miss you, dear. The moon was real lonely, but friendly, as I drove the folks home from the Burke’s tonight. You’re in for some short letters for a while, this being the first one. Even if I don’t write books to you, I love you more than all the words can describe.
That’s all for Dart today.
# # #
Dot describes the happy scene she discovered when she got home from babysitting at the Miller’s last night: El’s friend Nancy Bristol and her entire family were having dinner at the Chamberlain home. When Dot arrived, they were in a lively discussion about everything El had planned for the upcoming Sunapee vacation.
This image reminded me how often the Chamberlains seem to host dinners at their house, and how often they are invited to other people’s homes for dinner. It made me wonder if this was peculiar to the gregarious Chamberlain clan, typical of small town New England, or was the phenomenon attributable to something else? Was it common practice among American families to share meals with friends prior to the advent of television? It makes me a little envious to imagine that was the case. How nice it would be to engage in such robust social interaction with friends and neighbors. I wonder how hard it would be to ignite that custom in today’s culture.
But back to the discussion. Dot warns Dart that he better pack his hiking boots, because there are plans afoot for plenty of hiking. Also, they hope to take the cog railway up the side of Mt. Washington. (Perhaps Dart saw the photo of that railway in a recent “Life” magazine?) To hear El go on, Dot fears they may need a vacation after their vacation, but the whole conversation has Dot so excited she doubts she’ll sleep much tonight.
She encourages him to take a train instead of a bus. The latter would get him to Greenwich late on Sunday, with another 6-hour drive until they’d get to Sunapee. The cost savings of the bus is not worth the time they’d miss at the lake.
Then she suggests that he buy a round-trip train ticket so that she’ll have his company when she takes the train back to Cleveland! “Sh-h-h. Don’t tell anybody yet. Do you think your Mom and Dad would prefer to know that I’m coming, or shall we surprise them? I know the shock would be terrific, though. Do as you think best. At any rate, I’m almost positive I can come. I’ve figured out my budget and I’ll have enough money to make the trip without withdrawing any of my $200 savings account.”
She tells him about a visit to Todd’s Mansion – it’s a huge house on Long Island Sound in Greenwich which had been converted into a number of apartments to ease the post-war housing shortage. It, coincidentally, was also featured in a recent “Life” magazine issue. Anyway, a couple of Dot’s cousins live in the mansion with their husbands. Dot and her parents were invited over to see some color slides of Sunapee which the cousins had taken on a recent vacation there. Color photography was still enough of a novelty in 1946 that the Chamberlains were awed by the beauty depicted on the slides. Arthur was so overcome that he nearly cried as he watched the slide show. It moved him enough that he decided to close his shop for a week and accompany Ruth, Doug, Harriet, and Gale when they go up on Friday for a two-week stay. Dot reports that her father said, “That place is truly heaven on earth. When God finished it He threw away the trowel.”
Says Dot, “I hope we can visit Todd’s Mansion when you’re here. The moon was almost full tonight, and its reflection in the water, which almost completely surrounds the place, was an awesome sight. The bay window in Betty, David, Marian and Thiel’s shared living room is over 84 inches wide.” Betty and Marian are Dot’s cousins, older sisters to Janie. These two sisters both married the boy next door – Ficker brothers David and Thiel.
She writes how glad she’ll be when they can see all these things together.