Dart’s mind is full and his heart is heavy this evening. He’s worried sick about his father who seems to be in a very bad state. Dart describes a 53-year old man who acts older than 70. He doesn’t eat, can’t sleep, sits in a chair all evening, never opening the magazine that rests in his lap. He is quick to anger, slow to laugh. He walks bent over and is exhausted by a 1-hour trip downtown in the car. He is meek a reclusive, rarely speaking to even his closest family. Dart describes him as a “broken man.” Today, I think we would say he was deeply depressed.

In his anger and worry, Dart lashes out at the unnamed culprit whom he blames for causing this terrible state of affairs.  “I think I know what has made him as he is, but it is 12 years too late to correct it. …When I think of Pop whom I left three years ago as a relatively young man, I see the inside at what has befallen him. …Let us guard against the reaction of subservience. Let us not permit others to have such a verbal hold on us that we have no will of our own for fear of incurring the wrath of an abusive, self-centered bigot …who can be one of the world’s 10 nastiest men. …I’m sensitive, as is Pop. But Heaven help me if I’m ever so sensitive as to be emotionally high-strung for days after two hours of abuse from a profane, overbearing, thoughtless person.”

Dart continues, saying he lays the blame directly at the feet of this person. “I don’t believe he realizes it himself, in his arrogance or his self-indulgent ignorance. A  man with a closed mind and an open mouth is a poor sort with whom to associate. May we be delivered from such things ourselves.”

This anonymous villain was most probably Dart’s Uncle Guy – Dart, Sr.’s younger brother, of whom a good word was rarely spoken.

Changing the subject, Dart tells Dot that he has a psych test tomorrow. Although he studied all evening, he doubts the time he put in did much good.

He has also been feeling a great deal of angst about another matter. He is of the belief that he will have to pay the transportation and lodging for any groomsmen he asks to be in their wedding. He is ashamed that he doesn’t have enough money to do that. He could ask his brother to pay his own way to Greenwich and maybe Hal Martin would drive down from Boston to be in the wedding, but Dart sees no way that he could afford to bring his friends from home. He’s also worried that his folks will not be able to afford the train tickets when the time comes, and he’s berating himself that he’s unable to subsidize their trip. He doesn’t know much about making wedding plans, but he hopes that he and Dot will be able to talk the plans over before anything’s put into place. He says he will dissolve into a pool of perspiration and shame if his lack of resources causes the Chamberlain family to have to reduce their plans for the Big Day. He has his war bonds, but those are the only savings he has for a long-term rainy day fund, and he suspects they’ll be more needed down the road than for the wedding.

He responds to her homesick letter of August 7, saying the only thing he can add is that every word she wrote could have been puled from his own heart. He misses her every moment of the day and night, and nothing lessens his aching for her.

He liked the photo she sent of her playground and he comments on the note she included on the back of it. Apparently she mentioned something about trying to get “just any job” at the telephone company when her playground job is up. Dart really likes that idea because she should be able to transfer to a position in Cleveland next June, and he’s heard they are a very good company to work for.

He sends sympathies for little Frankie’s broken arm, and he assures Dot that having Nancy Bristol as an additional chaperone will give his mother assurances about the state of things while he and Dot are at the lake cottage in September.

#          #          #

Wow! Dot is hot under the collar today! She just received Dart’s letter of August 8, and she has plenty to say about it. In fact, she writes him two letters to cover the topic fully. I’ll begin by quoting the content of the first letter, nearly verbatim.

If I had thought you’d be the least bit worried or jealous, I never would have told you about Mr. Pecsok! NO! He wouldn’t put anything over on me! I’m surprised you’d even think of such a thing. Remember, even statistics claim there are a few decent men in the world, and I’m sure he’s one of them.  If visiting Panama and a few other questionable places has made you doubt or suspect the character of every human being, then it would have been much better if you hadn’t been there. And what opinion must you have of me? Don’t you think I know the difference between right and wrong? Honestly, some of your remarks sound just like something said by an old maid.

When I write and tell you everything that happens, I do it because I think you want to know, not because I want to make you jealous or I want you to doubt me. If you prefer, I’ll write only about the routine of my day, and not bore or trouble you with any variety which may enter it. We’ve agreed to tell each other everything, but if you’re going to make a mountain out of a mole hill, and worry about nothing at all, then I think I better keep some things to myself.

After September there will be eight months when we don’t see each other at all. Do you think you can trust me for that long? I love you with all my heart and in every way possible. To me, that means I completely trust you and your actions without question. I thought you felt the same way. Am I wrong? For pity’s sake, don’t you start treating me like a child, too! I’m a big girl now.

Yours always (?)

Dorothy

I think this is one of the most concise and articulate letters ever written. I’m so proud of that young lady for speaking her mind and putting her “old man” fiance in his place. She follows later that day with this:

“This morning I wrote a rather cold and bitter note. As is usually the case after one of those flare-ups, I wish I hadn’t mailed it. You’d be doing be a great favor if you would disregard it entirely. It was stupid of me to write it in the first place and it would be even more stupid to discuss it further.”

“I love you, Dart, and that’s the important thing. Were it not for my love for you I wouldn’t have been so concerned about your letter. Let’s let bygones be bygones and forget the whole thing.”

Always your very own,

Dot

Dart’s letter today is accompanied by one of his cute little cartoon drawings. It features a dog house, clearly labeled with a rooftop sign that says “Dottie’s Dog House.” From the shadowed recesses of the opening, all one can see is two eyes. The caption reads “Kin I come out now?”  Any guesses what the attached letter might be about?

Dearest Dot,

My face is still stinging from the well-deserved slapping I got today. It’s too bad you weren’t here to do it yourself instead of doing it by letter. You showed remarkably poor judgement in choosing me for a fiance, for I am no more worthy of you than I am able to jump the Moon. If ever I deserved a slapping it was for the reasons you gave to me in your letter today. It would do no good to say I’m sorry, for I’ve said those words so many times that they have no meaning for you.

Your ideas that I didn’t trust you cut me more deeply than anything else. If I didn’t trust you, Dot, there’d be not one thing for me to believe in. You are engaged to one of the world’s most childish people, and now you know it. An old maid? That sounds familiar.

Maybe I should stick to the facts: offer no comments, ideas, or humor. There are no reasons to give for my conduct. I realize that it has been at times the most scurrilous, reprehensible, utterly damnable, of all methods of human action.

My pen has taken me into trouble before. If you dare to take back a single thing you said in that letter, you should be spanked by your father, for to take back any of the things you said, or to talk yourself out of them, would be making amends to me and I deserve no such thing.

I am a cynic, a hypocrite. I condemn others for doing what I have done. In others whom I criticize, I see my own faults. Your statistics of a few decent men in the world sure don’t include me.

You know me now, which is perhaps better than knowing me after our wedding. My head is unbowed, but my fists have been clenched till my knuckles turn white ever since I received your letter this afternoon. I’m not eating humble pie. I don’t intend to, for I’m mad, not humbled. I hope I’m mad enough to do something about my maladjustment, instead of succumbing to it as I have done before.

If you think for one minute that I ever doubted your character, or compared you with some of those pseudo-humans I’ve seen some places, you are far mistaken.

I guess the little twisted lines that form words upon paper can surely convey plenty but the intended meanings. Especially when two ideas are placed end-to-end. To blazes with the twinkling eye, the tongue in cheek. Eternal perdition awaits the author of the thoughtless word. (What did I say about Fred’s humor coming too close to cynicism? Or was it I, who didn’t recognize his humor?) Maybe it was funny, only I wasn’t in the mood to make it so. Maybe it wasn’t. But funny or not, it was a damned poor thing for an allegedly decent young American man to write to the young lady in which he has placed his entire hopes, trust, and faith for the future.

In spite of all, you end your letter with the affirmation that you trust me and my actions without question. What a wonderfully loyal person you are, Dot, to launch a volley like that one, then end it with such a statement. You are not wrong, Dot. I feel the same way.

This should end here.It would have more force if it did. Since I read your letter I have been composing my response, and the material I’d prepared would fill five such letters. Some of it would be repetition. Some would be defense. (There might be some truth in it, too.) There are thousands of ideas that might be pursued in answering your letter. My crusade in the letter is over, but I’m still thinking.

He tells her he still feels like writing more on this topic but decides answering her other letters might be a good tactic at this time. He fears her response to his letter from last night might be as violent as the one he just answered.

His psych test had 79 questions, and he’s not too confident about the outcome.

He, too, is not in favor of threats and bribes as ways of controlling children. From what the psych books say, it all boils down to “Some people got it, some ain’t.” He assures Dot that she’s “got it,” where child rearing is concerned.

“If I can still come with you to Sunapee, I’ll bring my hiking shoes, my no-doze pills, my water wings, a hunting knife (any bears up there?), and a pocket compass. Also a camera. I hope we can do most of what El plans.”

He should arrive in Greenwich around lunch time on Saturday, allowing time to rest up from his train trip before leaving for Sunapee on Sunday.

He hopes she can make the trip back with him. He’d rather not surprise his parents with her arrival, lest they think he was returning home with his bride. Anyway, he’s already told them that she might be coming for a visit.

“Good night, Dot. There’s a great pressure of amorous feelings inside me, but even though I might be in the mood to write them, I think they’d be inappropriate tonight. I love you very much and trust you to the end of the world. Please believe me.”

#          #          #

Eleven months ago, Dart gave Dot her beautiful diamond ring. In spite of today’s rain and gloom, that little diamond has been sparkling to beat the band, keeping Dot’s spirits from getting too damp.

The playground was closed due to the weather, but the never-idle Dot worked at the Miller’s house instead. Now she is hosting her six-year old niece Gale for a sleepover.

Dot made the family dinner tonight, with Gale’s help. Then they played beauty shop and Gale can’t wait until tomorrow to see how beautiful she’ll look after Dot set her hair.

Dot stopped by the Pecsok’s today and had a great visit with the kids. Mr. and Mrs. P are going out of town on Wednesday, so Dot will be spending the night with the kids.

Although Dot got two letters from Dart today, she’ll take a page from his book and not try to answer them now, due to extreme tiredness. She was tempted to go to bed when Gale did because the tyke will be up at dawn, begging for a story. Instead, she’s writing this letter and listening to Fred Waring on the radio.

“They say, and I hope ‘they’re’ right, that it’s going to rain for four days. Saturday is Island Beach Day and I’ll be run ragged. There are all kinds of swimming, diving, and land events. All the kids from the 13 playgrounds in town attend the shindig. I’m to be one of the judges and have already had my life threatened if I don’t judge the way “my gang” wants me to.”

If she goes to bed now it’ll be the first time in months that she got to sleep before 10:30. She likes the sound of that, and so she signs off, with all her love.

Dart updates Dottie on some of what’s happening in his neighborhood. First, Burke has planned what he thinks will be his last date with Edie tomorrow night. She’s been running with a fast crowd and doesn’t seem to have time for her old friends. Burke’s not too broken up about it because he’s had some other dates himself. Dot needn’t worry that he’ll be lonely.

Although Dart missed 19 out of 79 questions on his psychology test, things are not so dire as they might appear. His professor explained that he makes the tests so hard that no one can get 100%. But then, after he grades the tests, he puts the top 10% into the A group, the bottom 10% into the F group, then divides the middle into 20% B, 40% C, and 20% D. Dart’s score was the 9th highest out of 133 students, so he’s in the A group.

Last night Pop drilled out the dowels in the legs and body of the broken old buffet and then he, Dart and Helen reassembled the thing with new dowels and glue. The only glue they had on hand was linoleum cement, which they hope will do the trick. Dart claims that product “will hold anything to anything.”  After a good cleaning and polishing today, the grand old piece looks pretty swell, in spite of the checkered varnish in some places.

He plans to weigh himself soon. She won’t recognize him if he keeps gaining weight at the rate he’s been going. If Dot has kept to her plan to lose one pound for every one that  he’s gained, she’ll be positively skinny. He hopes he can hold onto the weight now that he’s found it.

In preparation for hosting the model railroad club tomorrow night, he’s been spending long hours in the basement. He’s quite proud of the results. Aside from one little thing that will require a bit of tinkering tomorrow, his layout is in pretty good shape. As a bonus, he swept the basement, but his tools away and tidied up his work bench. Lo, and behold, the place actually looks pretty nice.

Turning his attention to Dot’s recent letters, he wonders how much “stepping” out they’ll do at Sunapee. Will he need to pack a suit? He asks her to send the address so that his folks will be able to reach him in case of emergency.  Also, so that he can budget his share of gas and meals, can she give him an estimate on what his share might be? If she comes back with him, he must be back on, or before, the morning of September 20.

One of the letters he got from Dot today was the expected refutation of her “top-blowing” letter of the day before.  He tells her that the things he wrote that made her so angry he’d written as an attempt at humor which failed completely. He trusts her completely, at all times. “It was a big misunderstanding, Darling, but now that it’s been made clear, I’m still mad that my nature should have been betrayed, ironically, by a letter in which that nature entered only superficially and in attempted humor. Good night, my own darling. I do love you very much.”

#          #          #

Dot apologizes for “not much of a letter” tonight, but there was no mail from him and not much new around home.

The movie last night was wonderful, but she’d forgotten to take any tissue, so her sleeve was drenched by the time the film came to its happy ending.

She thinks tomorrow is the night of his railroad club meeting, She wishes him well and tells him how much she wishes she could be there to see the progress he’s made on his layout.

Her mother finished making a bedspread for her bedroom which certainly brightens it up. The fabric is a black, brown, tan, red, yellow, orange, blue and green stripe. She knows that sounds gaudy, but it really looks nice. She’ll send him a sample of the fabric if she can find a scrap.

She’s very sleepy, so she must end this here, with all her love.

There are no letters tomorrow, so I’ll continue on the 17th.

It’s 11:30 on Saturday night, and Dart misses Dot. Even her little radio by his bed doesn’t bring much solace. It’s dial is bringing in lots of stations, but they all seem to be playing such inanities as “Never Put Bananas in the Refrigerator.”

Last night’s gathering of his train buddies went over very well. The 10 members talked until about 10:15 and then adjourned to the basement to see Dart’s set up. “The gentlemen were fascinated with the trolley wire operation and with the odd-looking little narrow-gauge engines and cars. Everything worked far better than I had expected, including the fact that the bothersome little narrow-gauge cars stayed on the track most of the time. Of course there were some mishaps but as far as my fears were concerned, the derailments and inoperation were very minor troubles.” The guys were especially impressed when Dart’s little interuban cars navigated around the S-curve in his tracks, shooting sparks from the trolley pole, “just like downtown!”

The group returned upstairs for their “Dagwood” sandwiches, coffee and two kinds of his mother’s delicious cakes. They talked about the possibility of having a display at the Sportsmen Show next March to drive interest in their hobby.

With as clean as he got the basement prior to the meeting, he’s beginning to worry that the place is losing its character. Some of the nice, clean basements he’s seen lately “just look like a big, square, cement-lined hole under the house.”

Dart is more impressed with his psychology professor every class. On Friday, they had a long discussion on child-rearing. Dr. Wallen boiled all of the theories down to a simple statement. He believes children should be enjoyed and enjoyable. Dart loves the way the man talks so lovingly about his wife and daughter and their joyful life together. “He’s so sincere, and so effusive in his lectures that even the cynics and skeptics who believe such happiness can’t last in a marriage are becoming shaken. … His attitude makes me long for you, Dot, and it also strengthens my awareness that you and I have promise for the same sort of life.”

He speaks about how Dr. Wallen’s lectures about family life contrast so sharply with what Dart hears from his neighbor’s apartment. The Glanz children cry all day and night, lacking basic attention that their “too-busy” mama is unwilling to give them. Both parents yell, hit and threaten their children constantly. It grieves Dart to hear such chaos and sadness.

Speaking of the neighbors, another resident of their apartment block called the authorities about the Glanz’s failure to throw out their trash into the garbage cans – preferring instead to toss everything down their basement steps! When it started attracting rats, the neighbors had enough. The police came by the other day and gave the family two hours to clean out the filth in the basement or be evicted from the premises. Now Mr. Glanz is threatening to “sue the cops because of public humiliation.”

Dart is terrified about the political science midterm exam on Monday. He likes the lectures very much, but Dr. Heckman gives impossibly hard tests. As usual, Dart is feeling insecure about his ability to do well on the exam.

He’s sorry he forgot to remember the 11 month anniversary of their official engagement, but he’s happy they’ll be spending the 1-year anniversary together. To him, it seems like only a month ago that he gave her that ring.

“Good night, Dot. I wish I could tell you in a new way how very much I love you and miss you. I’ve told you so many ways, and now the biggest thing is to show you, now and forever, how much I love you and need you and trust you. It’s as hard to say good night to you tonight as it was the night you held onto my finger as I started to leave you. I wish we could be saying good night that way right now.”

#          #          #

Dot went to bed very early last night because she felt so poorly. After sleeping only about two hours throughout the night, she awoke suddenly at 6:00 am and lost just about everything she’d eaten over the last two days.

Of course this was the day she was supposed to judge the activities at Island Beach Day. Her boss was none too happy when she had to call off, but with a fever of 101 degrees, her father put his foot down and ordered her to bed for the day. A short time later, she decided to get up anyway. She took three steps and collapsed on the floor.

Mrs. Reynolds, the shut-in Dot has been caring for on Sundays, called today to say she had finally found permanent help and no longer needs Dot’s services. Dot’s relieved because “working seven days a week was beginning to get me down.” (And make her sick?)

She’s getting dizzy from sitting up, so she asks Dart’s forgiveness and puts her pen down.

When she picks it up again, it is the next day.  She’s feeling much better and has done a load of laundry and cleaned her room. Now she’s listening to Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 4 in F Minor.” She notes that it started out quite melancholy but gradually became joyful. Curious, she read the album cover. She learned that the first two movements were written when the composer was preparing to marry, and the exuberant Finale was written as he was “liberated” from his marital bonds.

She writes in very glowing terms about a book she read this afternoon called “Men, Women, and God,” which she says is about “life.”  It was written by a minister, assisted by his physician brother, and it was the first such information that Dot has ever read, having found it by accident in the third floor bookcase. She was surprised to learn that it was written in 1922 because the ideas presented in it are very modern. “It was written for young married couples and couples about to be married. It answered many questions I didn’t know I had and gave me a new perspective on the human race as a whole.”

The book made her miss Dart more than ever. She’s so upset with missing him that she couldn’t even eat dinner. The reason she’s upset is that she has so much feeling locked up inside that she has no way to adequately express. “The feelings are there, but you will probably never know how very much I love you. That’s the best I can do now, but someday…!”

Three weeks from today, they will finally be at Sunapee together!

Dart begins by apologizing to Dot for neglecting her lately. Between studying for his tests, he wrote to Hal Martin regarding a certain wiener roast at the lake. After that, his Aunt Jean and his cousins stopped by the house around 10:00 pm for a short visit. He remembered at the last minute tonight that he had to write a character sketch for psychology class, so that’s how he spent his letter-writing time.

“Today brought the news of your illness. I wonder what it was. Once in a while a circumstance like that defies explanation. It didn’t sound like what I was expecting, but on the basis of something you said, I’ll bet that it happened a short time afterward. (We had a lecture on it in psych today.) There are seven or eight girls in the class of about 40 and some of the stuff that goes on in the class must really embarrass them.” From that quote, I would imagine that Dart is cryptically referring to the fascinating subject of menstrual cycles. I believe his frequent mention of Dot’s monthly troubles is his attempt to develop a deeper intimacy between them by discussing one of the most personal topics they have between them.

In poli sci class today they did a review of the test from last week. Now Dart thinks he did even worse than he’d expected. Since that midterm exam, Dr. Heckman has given the class six unannounced quizzes, including one the day after the big test, and another the day after that! Apparently, he likes to give pop quizzes when there is a high percentage of students who have skipped class that day, because they’re not allowed to make up work they missed by being absent. “His one question today, counting maybe 5% of the final grade: What is the name and number of the course? The guy must have been raised in a coal mine to be as dirty as that!”

He writes that Dot’s long, luxurious bubble bath must have felt great. He has a secret longing to see for himself what one of those things feels like.

His mother’s cold is much better, but she still has it. Consequently, they skipped their plans to go to an outdoor theater tonight, especially since it had rained all day and they didn’t want to sit in all that dampness.

Having a visit from Uncle Guy’s family last night got Dart to thinking about all the damage the mean and miserly Guy has wrought on Dart, Sr. over the years. He writes that he was shielded from his uncle’s nastiness while he was growing up, but now has come to see and recognize it. (He credits the study of psychology, and how it encourages the releasing of pent-up emotions.) He says his mother feels better when she can vent her feelings about Pop having been broken to an old man 20 years too soon. “I think that you, too, feel better after having told me some things about your feelings toward your own mother. An honest confession of doubts, worries, and feelings can be of the greatest value in relieving internal tensions.” Spoken like a true first-year psychology student!

In regard to Betty and Gordon being in $800 debt at the time of their marriage, Dart has a different feeling. Gordon was in the Navy, earning a fairly decent wage. Betty probably also had a job. That’s a different situation than he and Dot will face, with him in school and not earning much money. Still, he feels fairly certain that they’ll be able to manage alright.

He liked the fabric sample she enclosed of her new bedspread. It’ll surely brighten up her room.

How he prays that she’ll never keel over anytime when they are alone together because it would “scare the daylights” out of him.

He’s ready a “lousy biography” about Tchaikovsky for a psych report. “He was indeed a strange man. Lived most of his life in a strange love affair with his brother Modeste.”

“You weren’t very specific about ‘Life’ as you learned it from Men, Women, and God, but I think I know something of the nature of the subject matter. I’ll look for it in the library downtown. Can you tell me some of the questions you didn’t know you had?”

He hopes she feels, as he does, that their discussions of sex in general, and themselves specifically, have helped them both a great deal. ‘I know that I’m more sure of myself and generally more well-adjusted than before. Even though all reference to it, and our marriage in any way makes me almost unbearably lonely for you, I feel better for knowing what is in store for us.”

“Good night, lovely lady. I miss you somepin’ awful.”

#          #          #

El brought Dot another swell letter from Dart tonight. She and Norman were on their way to Stamford to see a movie – their third date in as many nights. “Hope it isn’t serious. Oh, he’s nice enough, but he’s very tall, very skinny, has a very high forehead, and is very quiet. He owns a jewelry store in Greenwich but I still can’t see what she sees in him.”

She’s glad his railroad meeting went so well, but she’s not surprised. Her little fella Chuck Pecsok is also a big train buff, and when she told him about Dart’s train layout, he practically demanded that she take him with her the next time she went to Cleveland.

She thinks Dr. Wallen sounds like the kind of professor who is very popular, yet very hard to come by.

She asks if Dart ever notices that when one of them is missing the other one more than usual, they both are experiencing that same thing? She knows it could be a coincidence, but she thinks there’s more to it than that.

How sad that his mother has a summer cold. They’re the worst kind. “Speaking of colds, let me emphasize again that you bring warm clothing to Sunapee. Mom writes that it’s plenty cool up there, even now. Ah, but there’s a consolation for you. There’s a whole forest full of trees that need to be chopped up into kindling. That does wonders for warming a person up, I hear. It may be that we’ll have to break a thin layer of ice before taking out morning dip. But we won’t let that stop us, will we, Dear?”

She answers that she’d love to go to dinner at Mrs. Carle’s with him and Homer, if she’s there. There’s still some question about whether she’ll be able to afford the rip without dipping into her savings, which she doesn’t want to do. And she thinks it would be a good idea to put their pennies in a bank account.

It’s only 10:30, but her days at the Pecsok home begin rather early, so she’ll turn in now, sending all her love to Cleveland.

Dart’s letter on this date is a long one, filled with news, chit chat and a heavy dose of passion.

He asks Dot to let him know before he leaves for Greenwich in two weeks whether she’ll be returning to Cleveland with him. If she’s not, then he thinks he’ll take the bus in both directions. It will save him some money and waste a little time, but he notes that his time is of little value, so the loss would be minimal.

His family’s old washing machine seems to have quit on them today. While he was at school, there was quite a discussion about who would fix it. Burke said that he and Dart would handle the job. Pop insists it will be him and Dart. Either way, Dart sees that he’s destined to become a grease monkey for the weekend. He doesn’t mind at all because he likes to tinker. Also, he writes with a gleam in his eye, if he’s unsuccessful, he’ll at least have a bag of spare parts to use at some future date.

When he and Tom Reilly went to a movie tonight, Dart had the idea that he and Dot should double date with Tom and a girl of his choice. He asked Tom if he ever went out on dates and Tom replied, “Not with you – only with handsome men.” After a laugh, Dart explained he was thinking maybe a double date with Dot and another girl for Tom. Tom assured Dart that he could dig up some “frail” somewhere, for the right occasion. Tom is working the midnight to morning shift at a printing office, doing hard manual labor while he awaits his post-graduate work at Case to begin in September.

The movie they saw was “The Kid from Brooklyn,” starring Danny Kaye. Dart claims to have no use for the actor, yet he admits to laughing uproariously at his antics. Parts of the movie seem to have brought out the prude in Dart with his comment about his disdain for a certain class of women “who hire themselves out so they can prove they a 15-inch waist and more weight just south of their shoulders than anywhere else on their bodies,”

At Dot’s urging, he looked for “Men, Women, and God” at the library today and was able to find a copy. He’s read all but the last chapter and seems as enamored with it as Dot was. In reflecting on the book, he writes, “It has at times seemed almost on the verge of blasphemy , but when we’ve been so very close, and when we’ve made our faltering steps, I’ve felt close, not only to you, but to God. I’m seldom moved to prayer, Dot, but when we are so much in love, I feel so humbled at the prospect, and too happy at its consequences, to keep my feelings to myself, or even between us. He who is responsible for us should know of our gratitude. I like the author’s idea of a few minutes of silent communion and thankfulness with Him after the ceremony and before our consummation of the marriage.”

He reminds Dot of “the night we couldn’t say good-bye” and how they sat on his bed and repeated the marriage vows to each other. He feels that they’ve been really married since then, although the marriage is not “wholly holy,” nor is it legal or physically complete.

The next few paragraphs express a sweet and tender love and a powerful passion in such an intimate way, as only Dart can do. I hope my mother will take some time today to read the actual letter Dad wrote on this day.

He pulls himself out of the clouds to respond to some of Dot’s recent letters.

If El is not serious about Norman, he hopes she will someday feel seriously about someone. Surely the pain and loss she suffered at the hands of her former fiance have left a deep scar, and one that may take years to heal. He hopes she’ll find that healing.

He was going to draw a little map of his train layout, but has decided to postpone that for a letter if she doesn’t return to see it in person. He asks that she tell Chuckie that Dart would love for him to visit his trains the next time he comes to Cleveland.

Yes, he’ll bring warm clothes to Sunapee. Does she think he should bring some “long-handled underwear?” He’s not too handy with an axe, but he’ll try to learn. As long as he doesn’t sprain an ankle jumping through the ice, he’ll be happy to take some pre-breakfast dips with her. He’ll be sure to pack his felt tooth pads so he doesn’t chip his pearly whites when they set to chattering.

That’s all for now.

#          #          #

Dot’s time got away from her last night, so she wasn’t able to write. First, Janie came to visit as soon as she got home from the Pecsoks, and stayed until 11:00. Then El, who’d been home sick all day with “one of the things that proves she’s female” asked Dot to fix her some tea and toast. Then Dot decided to iron a shirt for her father to wear to work today. “I had intended to write to you this morning, but I awoke to discover that I had ‘caught’ what El had yesterday. What a household! Too many women around here for anything to run smoothly.”

She tells that her father knew exactly what was going on with the sisters, but he, and they, would have been too embarrassed to talk about it directly. Before leaving for work this morning, he popped his head int Dot’s room and said, “I suppose you wish your mother were here to comfort you. True, I’m not a woman, and I don’t have a woman’s troubles, but I’ve lived with ’em long enough to know it’s hell. Stay in bed and grit your teeth.”

Two weeks from today, Dart will be on his way to see her! She tells him that he should feel no pressure to write to her that final week of school. All he needs to do is perform well on his exams and then come see her.

She believes they will be able to do better financially than just break even, Her bank account is now at $200 and she has money for the trip, to pay El some of her loan and to travel to Ohio. She assumes they’ll have to leave Greenwich on Thursday morning if he must be back by Friday morning and his parents object to them traveling together overnight.

She got a letter from Kent State today with her housing assignment for September. She was to have been part of an eight-girl house squeezed into a space that had been designed for four. No thanks! She sent her regrets.

In response to his question, she writes  “Yes, Dart. I do feel we both gained a great deal through our personal talks. I no longer have qualms when I think of us ‘getting acquainted’ after we’re married. You’re so understanding, though, I doubt it would have been much of a problem.”

He had asked her how she deals with the great pain of missing him so much. He really struggles, but she has an idea of what helps her cope. She has found that when she is missing Dart so much that it threatens to drive her nuts, she simply engages herself in a project that requires both physical and mental energy. All of a sudden she finds that it feels as though a great burden has been lifted off her shoulders, and life is in balance again.

She cautions him against over confidence in her ability to manage a household budget. She’s never had any experience at such things. She’d hate to disillusion both Dart and his parents, who seem to share his faith in her.

It was nice of Burke to spring for a new battery for the Peterson family car. Meanwhile, the Chamberlains must rely on Pegasus for two weeks because the other car is at the lake. The old car has been behaving himself, though. She reports that he only coughs occasionally and he always remembers to cover his grill when doing so.

Since she slept all day, she’s not very tired now, but she has a big day tomorrow at the Millers. On Sunday, she’ll be working at a nursing home owned by an old friend of Ruth’s. The lady has been asking around town and has heard Dot is the best person for dealing with elderly invalids.

She writes “This afternoon when I read the final sentence to your letter, my eyes filled with tears. It wasn’t so much what you wrote as that I could almost hear you saying it. That made me so lonely for your, Darling. Then I recalled a night last September when you looked at me and then turned away. You said you couldn’t look at me just then, and although I failed to understand then, I think I understand now. You’re a perfect gentleman, Darling, and I love you for it.”