Monthly Archives: October 2016

September 30, 1946

36. September 1946, Dart's Letters, Dot's Letters

As Dart begins this letter he is already having some anxiety about the part-time job he applied for. He wants an answer right away so he’ll know if he has a shot at a decent job.

He warns her that she may be getting more typed letters from now on. His journalism teacher, Mr. Dildine, requires that all their homework be typed. “Claims that if we get a typewriter, we can train it to write our stories for us. He works for the Plain Dealer and says that their most competent reporter uses only one finger and a thumb, but that he’s trained his machine to turn out excellent work. So – I must rent some sort of a word-mill which will grind out my rubbish.”

As he writes several Spanish phrases to show Dot how much he’s learning, he also tells her that his Spanish teacher is “more scatterbrained than Spring Byngington is in her most flighty movie role.” He hopes the class will be fun.

He’s not going to take photography because he couldn’t reschedule it. That leaves  him with 14 hours and full time status is 12 hours, so his GI stipend will not be reduced.

The family received two letters from Burke today. He loves the University of Chicago! He’s living in a one-man room with another guy, whom Burke describes as a “quiz kid.” Much of Burke’s letters are devoted to the description of his beautiful surroundings: dining halls with two-story stained glass windows and frescoed ceilings; leaded glass windows with small diamond shaped panes, carved and paneled corridors. I wonder if that’s where my uncle gained his first appreciation of stained and leaded glass that later took him to a career as an artist of major stained glass pieces.

Dart stops writing around midnight so that he can go downtown and be among the first to ride the new interurban cars being launched tonight. When he returns, he’s full of enthusiastic praise for the new conveniences. They’re so quiet one can have a conversation inside without having to shout. The ride is smooth, and the starts and stops are easy and graceful. They’re even ventilated and well heated. How he wishes she could have been experiencing their glory right along with him.

He signs off that he “loves her muchly,” and then adds a PS. “I know your name is not Muchly. It’s Dot.”

#          #          #

Dot explains that she couldn’t write to him last night because she felt as though she were “bleeding to death through the eyes.” Now there’s so much to report that she doubts she’ll be able to fit it all on the single sheet of paper she has left.

When she and Janie and Doug went to the county fair, they spent most of their money on rides and cotton candy. She had her palm read by some phony fortune teller who told her that she’ll have a long and healthy life and that her heart belongs to a dark-haired man. Well, she may have been a phony, but she got those things right!

This afternoon, her mother drove her to White Plains for an interview with the telephone company. She had to read, spell, write and do some arithmetic problems. The folks there were very encouraging and invited her back on Wednesday for a physical and a battery of other tests. Those must be done in NYC, so she thinks she’ll make a day of hanging out in the city. She’s getting pretty excited about the job, but is a little disappointed that she’ll have to work some weekends and holidays.

She and Janie started a shorthand class at the high school tonight. She can already tell it’s going to be loads of fun. The class meets every Monday and Wednesday night from 7:30 to 9:30. That’s the same time as typing class, so Dot will just have to buy a typewriter and practice for herself in an effort to increase her speed.

Tomorrow, she and Janie are joining an adult choral group. They put on a beautiful Christmas program every year. She only hopes she doesn’t get a split shift at the phone company because her evenings are filling up.

She’s spending the night at Janie’s house tonight, but that poor girl has fallen asleep waiting for Dot to finish her letter.

“Hope your first day of school was satisfactory and that the following days and weeks will prove even more so. I love you, my Darling Dart, and wish we were going to be together this year.”

October 1, 1946

37. October 1946, Dart's Letters

It’s after 2:00 AM when Dart starts this letter. He and his folks went out to visit Uncle Guy tonight. While there, they got a call from Guy’s son Jim in Newton Falls. His car had died and he wanted Dart to drive Marg’s car all the way to the eastern suburb of Cleveland. Dart complied, with his folks following him in the family car. It was after midnight when Dart arrived at Jim’s house in the old decrepit Ford. He was invited in for coffee while he awaited his parents’ arrival. Rather than leaving when they arrived, everyone sat around chewing the fat for another 45 minutes, finally leaving for home around 1:15. In Dart’s mind, the evening was a success because he was able to sample a hearty selection of delicious snacks at the houses he visited. It’s nice to know that the Peterson’s old jalopy is still a worthy lifeboat for the “rich relations.”

The new trolley cars had their baptism of “fire and brimstone” today.  “Everybody in the city of Cleveland hurried to see for himself if streetcars really can be modern. All of them went away somewhat flattened, but convinced that the days of the outmoded trolley are numbered and the day of the ‘in-moded trolley’ is merely dawning.”

He reports that huge crowds, operator errors and equipment failure plagued the transit system, but most people are confident those are just temporary troubles. Pop got his first ride today and finally was convinced that the new cars are something to get excited about.

Dart started two new classes today; Survey of Colonial American Literature, and Fundamentals of Business Organization. The first “promises to be a rough, rugged course, with a former Naval Academy instructor as the prof.” All of his classes have started out at full speed, and Dart reports that this promises to be challenging term with lots of homework. He’s not worried, but he knows he’ll have to dig deep, and keep digging until it’s over.

Golly, how he misses Dot! He wishes they were discussing his classes in person, “with each of us wearing another ring.”

Wednesday, October 2, 1946

37. October 1946, Dot's Letters

Dot begins her first of two letters today while on the train into NYC. Janie came with her so they could have some fun in the city after Dot’s tests.

These two cousins went to Choral Club last night and sang themselves hoarse. The December concert will include Brahams’ “Requiem,” so there’s a lot for them to learn. By the time they got home, with so much to do before coming to New York today, there was no time for Dot to write her letter to Dart. She spent the night at Jane’s house again, prompting her Uncle Ralph to threaten that she’ll have to start paying room and board pretty soon.

She was so happy to get Dart’s letter yesterday, although she eagerly awaits the time when there won’t be any need for letters. She had almost no sleep as she lay in bed, imagining all the details of their wedding. She hopes that doesn’t keep up until next June, or she’ll be so exhausted she’ll sleep right through the ceremony!

She’s sorry he had to drop photography, but he’ll have another crack at it later on. She’s made the same kind of scheduling errors several times and knows how frustrating that can be.

Her trunk of belongings arrived from Kent yesterday. There was no one home when the man from the shipping company delivered it. How’s this for a sign of the old times in a small town: The delivery guy found that the house was unlocked, so he deposited the trunk in the front hall. While there, he noticed her father’s photo on the piano and recognized him as the man who runs the “Fix-it Shop,” so he stopped by the shop to collect his fee from Arthur.

With the train about to pull into Grand Central Station, Dot must stop this. She sincerely hopes she does well enough to get a telephone operator job. She doesn’t like being a “lady of leisure.”

Later that night, she wrote again to bring Dart up to date on her day.  What a day it was. Jane waited for Dot during the testing process which ended up going from 9:45 until 2:45. Tests included personality, psychological, vocabulary, math and practical. “I was a nervous wreck when I finished them. Everything was timed and had to be done very rapidly. They graded my tests and when they found I had passed, they sent me upstairs for my medical. That took ages, and I’m still not through with it. I have to return to New York on Friday to get the results of my TB and X-rays. If they’re OK, I must sign payroll papers, etc. So it looks pretty much as though I’ll be a telephone operator soon.”

By the time she was done, there was no time for a movie or anything else because she and Jane had to get back to Greenwich for their shorthand class. They’re both crazy about the class and think it’ll do them a lot of good – if it continues. There are supposed to be at least 10 in the class, but only 6 signed up, so they’re awaiting a decision on whether or not it will continue. Meanwhile, she practiced what she’s learned so far by writing the opening lines of a business letter in this letter to Dart.

She’s awfully glad he decided to join the Congregational Church. She’s especially fond of Mr. Kershner and thinks he’s one of the best ministers she’s ever met. She’s going to try and find time to write to him.

She hopes Dart will get some kind of job soon because she knows how much it will mean to him to be able to contribute something to the household.

While she writes this, she’s listening to the Fred Waring Show, wishing Dart were listening beside her. They’re playing the very beautiful 1st Symphony in C Minor by Brahams.

As she mentioned before, she’s hoping to find a second-hand typewriter so she can at least get good enough to be a helpful secretary for Dart.

“I’m going to have to quit now before my fingers freeze. It’s colder than Lake Sunapee before breakfast in my room. I’m wearing my flannel pj’s, have my coat on and I’m under the covers, but my fingers are like chunks of ice. ”

She’s enclosing El’s vacation photos so he can pick the ones he wants. Also, she’ll send her roll to him after she picks it up tomorrow from the camera store.

“Good night, my Dearest Dart. I love you for everything you are, for all you’ve made me be, and for keeping me from being a kind of person you’d soon grow to despise.”

Thursday, October 3, 1946

37. October 1946, Dart's Letters, Dot's Letters

Last nigh Dart had such a debilitating headache that he went to bed without doing any homework. He awoke with the same affliction. Tonight is the first time in 6 days that his head has not been pounding. These headaches were with him at Sunapee, they follow him from school to home. Today he nearly keeled over a few times and he can’t recall how he got from one class to another. It may be almost time to go see Dr. Singer.

Tonight he felt well enough to attend his first class in prose workshop. He thinks he’ll like this class, although it may be at cross-purposes with his journalism class. He’s been warned that the instructor, Miss Tallmadge, is screwy and difficult to get along with. She seemed okay to him this evening.

He has finally received the letter Dot wrote as soon as she returned to Greenwich from Cleveland. He’s glad she had such and easy trip, but he’s as sorry as she is that her dream of him accompanying her was not real.

He hasn’t picked up his vacation film yet because funds are short. His GI Bill check was wrong so he had to turn it in and wait for the corrected one. Then he was forced to pay the rent when it came due because his parents have no money. “If Mom, Pop, or I don’t get jobs soon, we’ll be moving into the garage with the Chariot. Our building is about to be sold to the highest bidder, which may force us out, jobs or no jobs. Maybe I can use my ruptured duck as a shield when the eviction notice comes.” Gosh, it seems as though things have become quite dire in the Peterson household.

He tells Dot to tell Janie that he’d be delighted to have her help every night on his Spanish class, on one condition: every time she comes over, she must bring that cute cousin of hers – Arthur Chamberlain’s youngest daughter.

“I’m anxious to learn how you made out on your tests for the phone co. I hope you come out okay and that you like the job. ”

The daily report on Cleveland’s new trolley cars is rosy. The crowds have thinned, the mechanical errors are working themselves out, and the system is able to keep to schedules rather well. The citizens of the city seem to be pretty well in favor of the modern marvels.

“Good night, my Dearest. I hope you have all sorts of good luck in school and job.”

Then he adds a PS: “Mrs. Shaffer asked Mom if we were married. She said we acted it and looked like we should be.”

#          #          #

Dot writes to Dart after attending her eldest sister Harriet’s baby shower. Most of the guests were much older than Dot and most were surprised to learn that she was going to be married in less than a year. Dot was still fuming from all of the comments of “Oh, but you’re so young!” She was especially irked when those comments came from women who’d been married at age 18! “Thanks goodness I’ll be living in Ohio where I’ll have some friends my own age!”

Aside from that, the shower was a huge success and Harriet has all she’ll need to take good care of either Peter Carl or Gretchen Ann.

Eleanor has finally had enough of being pushed around and abused by her employer D. W. Rogers. She resigned yesterday, as her father has been urging her to do for months. She’s been long working hours of unpaid overtime and when her boss asked her yesterday why her monthly reports weren’t done, she replied that it was hard to keep up when she was doing three people’s jobs.

It’s after 1:00 AM and she must go into NYC tomorrow, so she bids Dart good night. Incidentally, she begs him to come for Christmas because she doesn’t think she can bear to go until June without hearing his voice or seeing his smile.

Friday, October 4, 1946

37. October 1946, Dot's Letters

Dot writes to tell Dart that he is now engaged to an employee of the Bell Telephone Company. She starts next Monday and gets her first check on October 14th. Today she received her official employee ID and was reimbursed for the costs she incurred traveling to New York for the interviews. She’ll work just a 3 minute walk from her house, noon to 8:00 PM. She plans to come home for her supper each night to save money. “I’m really quite satisfied with the set up. The company seems to be a good one to work for and I think I’m going to like it. At any rate, I’m going to make sure that it likes me.”

She’s quite pleased that she’ll be able to continue with her shorthand class, even if she gets there a little late each night. She’s convinced her friend Helen to take the class and is going to her house tonight to tutor her on all she’s learned so far. “That’ll take all of five minutes!”

There was a little birthday celebration at the Chamberlain’s house tonight as Gordon’s wife Betty turned 26. Dot seems to think her sister-in-law is not really mature enough to  be 26. All she wanted for her birthday were nylon stockings, and she got five pairs. That’s not too practical a gift in Dot’s mind.

The other night when Dart was enumerating the snacks he’d had while visiting family, he was extolling the virtues of buttermilk. Dot is shocked to learn that he likes the foul stuff and asks why he would insult his poor stomach that way when there are so many nice things to eat and drink.

It sounds to her as though he’s going to be very busy. She thinks it would perfectly fine if he were to cut his letters back to three a week. After all, she reminds him, his studies are the most important thing he has to think about right now.

“It’s only been a week since I saw you smile at me as the train pulled out of the East Cleveland station, but it seems ever so much longer than that.  Gee, you looked more handsome than usual that night and it was all I could do to keep from getting off the train. I love you, Dart.”

Before signing off, she explains that she had enclosed some cartoons from the New Yorker for him to forward to Burke. She thinks she recalls Dart mentioning that Burke liked cartoons from there.

Saturday, October 5, 1946

37. October 1946, Dart's Letters, Dot's Letters

Dart’s letter today is “the first work of pleasure to come from the platten” of a brand new Remington Rand typewriter. He just paid $25 down and has payments of $4.25 per month until he’s paid off the $61.64. He hopes this little machine will provide them both with many years of service. He’d spent a day on the phone trying to find one to rent. Then he decided that a typewriter would be of immeasurable help in his chosen profession, so he thought this would be a good investment.

He sends his condolences to those losing bums, the Brooklyn Dodgers. “I know how difficult these days must be for you and your family, so if there’s anything I can do to help in these trying days, please don’t hesitate to ask. Believe it or not, the group of men known as the Cleveland Indians once came almost as close to winning the pennant as did your beloved Bums. We of the city held a wake for the team, and since then they have never been heard of.”

As much as he hates to, he must tell her that his savings account dropped to $30, partly because of his government stipend being held up this month, and partly because he paid the family rent. Then he took another $15 out to pay for the typewriter. His parents feel terrible and have promised to pay him back as soon as possible. Dart told them the only timeline he’s interested in is next June when he leaves for Greenwich for the wedding. “If Mom or Pop don’t get a job soon, I’ll have to apply for a subsistence allowance of $90 a month.”

He tells Dot how he and Homer went last night to the  home of a model railroader named Larry to play with trains. Then he finds himself at a temporary loss for words. He finds that typing his letters takes much more time and concentration than handwriting them, but he must continue to practice.

The vacation photos came back and he was pretty disappointed with one roll. He thinks all the ones of her eating are the prize shots, but the photos aren’t as cute as the real girl. His father warns that he plans to give Dot lots of ribbing about those eating pictures. His mother ended up being scandalized by the photos after all the trouble they went to posing in front of separate cabins. As it turns out, there’s a guy in them wearing tan swimming trunks, which in a black and white picture are the same color as his birthday suit, so Helen at first thought he was naked!

Although he threatened to go see Dr. Singer, his headaches have been a bit milder, plus he has no money to pay the good doctor.

It’s looking like he won’t be hearing about that job he applied for. Now it seems that the only option left for him is a weekend job at a drug store or something. He wishes he could find something more to his liking, and perhaps related to his future career.

No matter how picky the telephone company is about their future employees, he’s positive they’ll pick her. He’s proud that she’s taking the steps necessary to get a good job.

If rentable typewriters are as rare in Connecticut as they are in Cleveland, she may get one early in 1948. If she feels she needs one now, maybe she could buy one and then sell it when she moves to Ohio.

“Good night, Dot Dearest. I miss you so much that if I should try to tell you, I’d fill six more pages with impassioned phrases and would only make us both so much more homesick for each other that we could hardly stand it. There’ll be plenty of time for that kind of writing as the time until our next meeting grows shorter. I miss you and love you so very much!”

#          #          #

This afternoon, Dot and her mother took Toni Gale to swim at Todd’s Beach, marking the first time in Dot’s memory that she has swum outside in the month of October. Last week they were wearing top coats and today was perfect beach weather.

Toni Gale, who henceforth will be known simply as Gale, is spending the night with Dot. It doesn’t take much to please the little girl. Tonight Dot washed her hair and tied it up in a bandana, just like Dot does her own hair. Gale was delighted with he results.

The Meyerinks (Gale’s parents) just bought a new Studebaker. Gale is so happy they finally got id of their old jalopy. When Dot asked Gale what she was going to name the car, Gale said “The Red Mare.” When Dot asked why that name, Gale said, Well, whenever we drove that old Jinx, people would yell at us, ‘Get a horse!’, so we did.” Dot is impressed with the beautiful maroon Studebaker sedan that has a five-foot wide front seat and even comes with bumpers!

She knows Dart may not recall, but when they announced their engagement, her sister-in-law promised to get them a set of towels the next day. Since it was so soon after the war, there were no towels to be had. Yesterday, Betty presented Dot with two sets of lovely, plush yellow towels. Dot says she really must get a hope chest because her dresser is packed to over flowing.

She wishes she could be there in person tomorrow to watch him join the church. She loves him very much, and adds mysteriously that to prove how much she loves him, her hangnails are almost completely gone.

Sunday, October 6, 1946

37. October 1946, Dart's Letters, Dot's Letters

Dart has typed today’s letter also. Let’s just say that’s a good thing, because it looks like he needs lots of practice!

He joined the Congregational Church today and his parents joined him for communion. He feels good about his decision. This afternoon he had another one of those blinding headaches, making it harder to catch up on all of his homework assignments. There has been a fairly light load this week because so many students are having difficulty finding the text books, but he still has to read 60 pages of Colonial Lit and complete a measuring assignment for Journalism. (He must measure the column inches that the Plain Dealer devotes to different categories of stories.) So far in Lit class he’s had to read some writings by John Smith, which the author embellished a great deal to make himself appear to be the Superman of Jamestown.

Perhaps Dot saw an article in This Week about Dr. J. J. Nassau of Case University. He runs the observatory there and holds public lectures on astronomy. Dart’s hoping he and Dot can attend a few of these entertaining and free lectures after they’re married.

This little typewriter has won Dart’s heart. It’s an amazing piece of machinery, which is the quickest way to Dart’s heart, unless you’re a cute Connecticut Yankee named Dot. He likes it more every minute he uses it, but he’d hate to have to design and build something this complex that ends up selling for a mere $61.00.

“My watch tells me it’s almost supper time, so I guess I better stop now. I only wish you were the one fixing the supper. Thank you for not hating me after the way I treated you a few of the nights of our vacation. My actions then will always be a blot on the otherwise perfect three weeks.”

That last paragraph bothered me when I read it, and it must have bothered Dart as well, because He returned to the letter to write a long P. S. The first part of the post script was about a visit from Guy and Ann and the antics of their delightful little girls, Martha and Carolyn. But then he returned to the previous subject. “I still love you, Dot. Please remember that. I feel almost sick when I think of the way I acted. Until I feel worthy of your forgiveness, I won’t ask for it. All I hope is that someday we will understand. Thank you my Dear for all you are. I love you very much. So much that I feel ashamed to tell you after our misunderstanding.”

#          #          #

At church this morning, Dot tried to visualize Dart standing among the new members at the front of the sanctuary. Later, she daydreamed about the next time she sees him and how he’ll be standing by the altar for a different reason. “Yes, it’s now only a few months until the BIG DAY!!!. Eight months isn’t such a long time, really. (It says here.)”

Ever since she’s been home she’s been living with the constant hope that they would be together at Christmastime. “I sometimes get so lonesome for you that I wonder how I’ll ever get through the winter without looking like ‘the last rose of summer blooming alone’.” She hopes it’ll get easier when she starts her job, but that won’t take all the hurt away.

“Last night I had the most horrible dream about the misunderstanding we had when we got back from Sunapee. Dart, it was the most terrifying and most realistic dream I’ve ever experienced. I will never forgive myself for acting so childish. You know it is my last wish to do anything that makes you doubt your love for me. I want our love to be as deep and sincere and wholesome as any love can be. I wish I could do something which would make me as vital to you as you are to me. I may never achieve my goal, but I hope that with a knowledge of shorthand and typing I will be able to help you a great deal in your school work next year. Mountain climbing is ever so much more fun when two people do it together. Then, when they reach the summit, the can enjoy the view together and look upon their climb as having been well worth the hard work.”

Saying that this was one of those letters she should probably burn, and knowing she should quit now before she makes herself even more upset, she tells Dart, “Forgive me for loving you so much. It was always something I couldn’t help.”

I wonder if Mom will be able to share any information about the incident they both feel so sad and guilty about. Has it been lost in the intervening decades of predominantly good memories, or will she remember it, and choose to keep it private?

Monday, October 7, 1946

37. October 1946, Dot's Letters

Dot is alarmed that Dart’s headaches have become so persistent. She urges him to see Dr. Singer as soon as possible.

She realizes she has no right to keeping bringing up her dreams of a Christmas visit from Dart when the Peterson family finances are so tight. Now that he knows how much it would mean to her, she promises not to mention it again.

Her shorthand teacher, Miss Smith, has assured Dot that it’ll be fine if she gets to class a bit late after she starts her new job. She says she will use the early part of the class for review and won’t introduce anything new until Dot gets there. How thoughtful!

She and Jane went swimming again today, but the water was too dirty to be enjoyable. A girl gets pretty spoiled when she’s used to swimming in the crystal clear waters of Lake Sunapee. She guesses that’s it for swimming this year. Another hurricane is threatening to reach the area late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Dot only hopes most of its power has dissipated before it reaches the Sunapee region.

Too bad Mrs. Shaffer was wrong about the two of them being married, but Dot’s happy they look as though they should be!

Her Dad took her to see the play “Anna and the King of Siam” last night, starring Irene Dunne. The cast did a beautiful job and Dot enjoyed the show immensely.

Oh, how she misses Dart! How she wishes he could go to Choral Club with her tomorrow night. Most importantly, how she hopes he gets a job soon.

Tuesday, October 8, 1946

37. October 1946, Dart's Letters, Dot's Letters

It’s after midnight and Dart still has homework to do, but he’ll use this time as his rest period. He’s been working steadily since 5:00, except for 30 minutes to listen to Fibber and Molly on the radio. He helped his Uncle Tom move a mimeograph machine from Case over to Tom’s house.

He was so happy to get two letters from Dot yesterday, especially since one of them contained a nice portrait of her. He put it on the mantel so his folks could see it, and now they won’t give it back to him. “I like it better than the little one which appeared in the papers, but it’s still not the perfect picture of you. You’re so animated and so much alive that no picture ever does you justice. Your prettiness (your beauty, if you wish) is of a dynamic type. It can’t be represented well by a photograph which freezes some fleeting action. You are so lovely that it would take many pictures to make a good picture of you. That’s why I want so many.”

Responding to her recent letter, he agrees that he also gets mad when tactless people say the “but you’re so young! “I can sympathize with you, but can do nothing to help you when it happens.”

He’s glad El had the courage to leave Rogers. Sometimes those crusty old businessmen forget that their employees are human. But more important than El’s job is Dot’s! He’s so proud of her. The shift is nearly perfect because she gets both her mornings and her nights free. How does she plan to get her exercise in?

Now, there’s no sense her kicking up a fuss about him liking buttermilk because she likes shrimp! Horrors!

It’s back to work for him. He tells her to take good care of the girl he loves.

#          #          #

Dot was thrilled to get two wonderful typewritten letters from Dart yesterday, even though she has no time tonight to answer them. She elaborates a bit by concluding that the letters themselves were wonderful, regardless of the typing skill. Still, even that has improved since the last time she saw a sample of his typing. She’s glad he was able to buy a new typewrite, which seems like a very sound investment, indeed.

Jane found a job today at the Fairfield Oil Company, whose office is directly across the street from Dot’s house. She and Jane both begin their new jobs on Monday. Tomorrow and Thursday, they are both pitting in a little time at the dreaded D. W. Rogers, assisting them some way as they install a new kind of billing system. Then on Saturday, she’ll be at the Pecsok house, watching the kids while Mrs. P. goes into NYC to meet Mr. P’s train from Cleveland. As usual, Dot is managing to keep her schedule full.

She started her Christmas shopping today. She’s determined to limit her spending to $1.00 per person. Her mother was saying the other day how much she needs aprons, so Dot spent $1.13 on some fabric today and plans to make two monogrammed aprons for Ruth. Since she claims that her time isn’t worth anything, she’ll come in almost exactly on budget with her first gift.

She must get up earlier tomorrow than usual, so she needs to wrap this up, sending Dart all her love.

Wednesday, October 9, 1946

37. October 1946, Dot's Letters

Dot received no letters from Dart today, but since she got two yesterday, she says she won’t file a complaint. “Speaking of filing, that’s what Jane and I did most of the day. Honestly, Gale could write sales checks that made more sense than some of the ones we were filing today. We’re both suffering from severe headaches. Guess too much vacation has made us soft. Hope we finish the job tomorrow, ‘tho I could use the $.65 they’re paying me per hour.”

Her mother managed to get her hands on two pounds of chopped beef today, so they had hamburgs for dinner, which satisfied something inside her that hadn’t been satisfied for a long, long time. The fact that Dot emphasized the word “hamburg” makes me believe that it’s something she and Dart rib each other about. I know I’ve seen Dart write about having a “hamburger” at a restaurant. That got me wondering about regional names for foods. I used to see it more as a kid when we traveled around the country. Hero sandwiches in the East went by the name of submarine sandwiches in the Midwest.  Soft drinks had many names; from soda, to cokes, to pop. In New England milkshakes were known as frappes. There seems to have been a smoothing out of food vocabulary that has happened slowly over many decades. I suspect that our whole American pop culture is getting more homogeneous, with nationally syndicated TV shows and national restaurant franchises, everyone is hearing the same names for things and being exposed to more universal experiences. Think of the last time you saw a new dining establishment at any exit off an interstate highway. Almost anywhere you travel now in the USA, you can get a sense of never having left home. The other thing about Dots hamburg story that strikes me is that there is still a serious meat shortage so many months post-war. I wonder when they were finally back to pre-war production levels.

She reports that shorthand is becoming increasingly difficult. It takes what she calls a very good imagination to understand the little squiggles. She and Jane are both still having fun, but it is a challenge!

“We all appreciated your message of sympathy about the Dodgers. They gave a good fight, anyway. Now it’s up to the  Boston Red Sox to put the Cardinals in their place. And they will!”

She’s a little stunned at Dart’s bank balance. She sends best wishes for his father’s job search.

She’s still thinking of buying a second hand typewriter. She’s seen a few ads in the paper for used ones that are listed as “practically new” or “nearly perfect.” Since their price is just $25, she has some doubts about the veracity of the advertising. She’ll need to see how well she can stretch her $28 weekly paycheck.

Yes, she saw the article about the astronomer from Cleveland. She thinks going to those free lectures would be fun, but mostly because of her escort.

She agrees that Carolyn and Martha are cute kids and she thoroughly enjoyed Dart’s story about them in his recent letter.

And now we get to the meat of the matter. “Please Darling, Don’t be my ‘repentant fiance’ any longer. I don’t want you to stop being my fiance until next June, but don’t be a repentant one. If you said or did anything wrong, which I doubt, you have been forgiven. I’ll probably benefit more from that misunderstanding than from all the nice things you say to me. In fact, I think we’ll both be a great deal more tolerant of one another. I wish we could forget it, but since we can’t, let’s pretend we have and not mention it anymore. I love you with all my heart, and if you love me even half that much, I’m luckier than I deserve to be.”

“I wonder what it is that  makes you so wonderful. Never mind – I’ll take you as you are, no questions asked.”