Dart is working on a book report for psychology. He tells Dot that the subject of his chosen book is predicting the success or failure of a marriage. Based of the studies reported in this book, Dart has created an elaborate table for himself and Dot, and scored it according to the values in the book. This chart must have taken him hours to produce, but he’s happy to announce that they have a very good chance of having a happy and long-lasting married life. I’m sure Dot will be relieved to know that.

When Dot’s Sunday night letter came, reminiscing about the exact same moments of their relationship that Dart was writing about at the exact same time, he had to pick a fight with his psychology professor. “He says the extra-sensory perception (mental telepathy) just ain’t possible, but admits a few cases where it came out so perfectly in experiments that he couldn’t argue against it. Sunday night must surely have been one of those times.”

He’s been having almost uncontrollable daydreams about her for several days. He’s almost ashamed of some of the thoughts he’s had of her, but he suspects she wants the same things he does. As time goes by and he knows the sultry letters he’s written are on their way to Dot, he feels a little sheepish about some of them. But then he understands that the reason he writes such things is that they can’t do such things, and writing about them is the only way to cope with his longing.

“Oh, Darling. I want to marry you now, tonight, tomorrow, or as soon as humanly possible, so that we’ll never again have to resist our desires to express our deep love for each other.”

He expresses the tightness in his chest when he thinks of her and wonders if she ever feels the same way.

“Goodnight, my dear. Thinking about you as ‘wife’ and me as’ husband’ has done something to me. I want you. I’m lonesome. I love you.”

No letters tomorrow, but I’ll return on the 15th.

Dart fell asleep at his desk, resting his weary head on his pile of schoolwork. When he awoke, he roused  himself enough to get a short letter out to Dot. He can’t neglect her two nights in a row!

He’s very impressed with the care shown to Dot in the form of bridal showers, which seem to him like mighty handy things to have. He’s curious about the luncheon set she mentioned; is it dishes or table cloth and napkins?

His folks have decided they want to give the kids some electrical appliance as a wedding gift. What a practical idea for the young couple who will have no stove or oven! The list they are considering is: roaster, toaster, mixer, coffee maker (percolator or glass drip?), steam iron, broiler, and waffle iron. When he told them that the latter wasn’t too important in his mind, they suggested that he give Dot the list so that she could hint accordingly.

He makes a short list of things they must remember to do as soon as she arrives in Cleveland (as his Mrs.) First, she must change her name for social security and second, he must update his insurance policy and name her as beneficiary.

Should he write to Hotel Green before he leaves Cleveland or after he arrives in Greenwich to reserve a room for the wedding night? He’ll need hints from her about a birthday gift, too. Also he wonders about his bachelor dinner. Should he have it at home or wait until Greenwich?

It’s a beautiful “springy” night and he wants to go for a walk with her. Instead, he wishes her good  night and returns to his schoolwork.

Dart tells Dot about his “big thrill” today – that of getting his blood drawn for the marriage blood tests! The hospital staff also took his Connecticut marriage license forms and will send him the completed copies when the blood results come back. It feels real now! Total cost: two bucks.

He and Dr. Singer also had a conversation about contraceptives. What he writes next is so quaint and indicative of the times that I want to quote the letter exactly.

There are rubber devices called condoms available at drug stores in Ohio. I’ll have to buy a honeymoon’s supply of them here before I go there, because they are illegal in Connecticut. The things are thin – almost like a balloon before it’s blown up. Like other contraceptive devices, they are not infallible, as they occasionally break. I don’t think they can be used more than once each, and I don’t know how much they cost. They are said to be the most effective method, however. If you see Dr. Shaw, she’ll probably tell you of other things that can be used; some one or two of them in conjunction with condoms for greater surety.

Dot’s letter with three dollars enclosed arrived today. Like her, he also has a jar full of coins that he hasn’t had time to deposit. He’ll add her $3.00 to the jar and get it all deposited when he has the time.

In response to her disparaging letter about the McDonald’s dirty dishes piled in the sink, he writes, “Golly, what a letdown you’re going to get around here, if you disapprove of McDonald’s dirty dishes. Ours stand in the sink for ages before they get washed.” I must say that in all the years I spent in Dot and Dart’s home growing up, I have no memories of dishes piling up in the sink – even during the decades when there was no automatic dishwasher at home. Of course, Mom was firmly set on making the kids do kitchen clean-up every night to “learn how to do it right, and build character.”

While he was at Higbee’s to try to get his trousers from the tailor, he spoke with her old Andrews classmate, Jimmy, and got the lowdown on several other classmates. Janice Babington and Alice White are “expecting,” Eleanor Holbrook has had what will probably be a promotion. She’s in children’s shoes now, and everyone thinks she’s being broken in as assistant buyer.

Tonight’s railroad club meeting was on Cleveland’s west side tonight. He took his little engine along to the Skyline meeting and then he and John Downing went to the club meeting together. It was John’s first night at the club and his first time ever seeing an HO scale layout. I’m happy to report that John’s heart withstood all that excitement.

He tells Dot that if she wants to apply for the marriage license before he gets to Greenwich, she certainly may, but this sentimental guy rather hopes they can do it together.

Burke will not be coming out early. He’ll need to stay in Cleveland for a few days to search for a summer job.

He’s wondering about the bride’s gift proposition. He suspects that folks will be watching to see what he gets her, so he feels it needs to be more than a wedding ring. “However, whatever we spend on each other for wedding gifts will be that much less we’ll have to begin our  housekeeping with. And believe me, Dot, we’ll need every cent.” He seems to forget that they’ll be getting a lot of gifts to help set them up in “housekeeping.”

He bids her good night, with lots of love.

Dart writes that even though he loves Dot, he must get some sleep. Then he comments that it won’t be long until “we can pay the right amount of attention to each other and get our sleep; almost at the same time!”

He wonders why he turned the page over to the blank side, except to tell her again how much he loves her. He keeps thinking about last Sunday’s letter and how much he’d like to write another one like that, but he just can’t let himself do it. Here he is, getting all riled up and he didn’t mean to.

He says he misses her and all the things they’ve said and done. “And, if it’s possible to ‘miss’ something we haven’t done, I miss that, too. I want you so much I’m uncomfortable and dreadfully lonely.”

He’s so tired he’s decided to hang a “do-no-disturb” sign on his door and sleep through church.

It’s definitely “crunch time” for Dart. To prevent the temptation of writing more than he has time for, he’s composing this letter early in the day. If he waits until tonight, he fears he’d go on too long and neglect his school work.

He’s feeling well rested today after sleeping 10 hours and then taking a long bath. He hates to miss church, but sleep is necessary.

All the bounty from her second shower has left them with a wonderful problem; how will they get all that stuff back to Ohio? He sounds nearly overwhelmed by the generosity of her friends and relatives.

He’s decided to leave the rest of the page blank so that maybe he can add a kiss later tonight.

The bottom of the page: “Wake up, Darling. I want a little response when I kiss you tonight. This was a lovely evening for a drive and I took one. It took me through the ‘Let’s go!’ park. Gee, I missed you, and I still do, and I will till we can go to bed together and tell of our love.”

“I’ve just finished an eight-page book report for English tomorrow, and must now begin studying for a test in the same subject. There’s a pot of coffee on down on the stove to which I intend to make lots of trips. If necessary, I may stay up until morning.”

He’s not sure how Dot’s mother had the time, but she wrote his parents a very nice letter. She urged them to take a nice, long visit in Greenwich, which they will be unable to do. As it is, they must both take unpaid time off work to come to the wedding, so their stay must be a short one.

Speaking of vacations, his boss at the PD gave him a week’s vacation and three weeks leave of absence for June. Actually, Dart will be gone more like five weeks, but he expects it will all work out.

He hopes to someday have the time to explain more about that marriage prediction experiment he told her about. But now, he must go downstairs for another cup of joe and then get back to the books.

Begging her not to get discouraged by his short letters, he wishes her a good night.

Dart just can’t let the “one-month” day go by without a letter to his beloved. That wedding day is getting so close!

His most frustrating professor, Mr. Carter, of American literature fame, gave the class a surprise today. “After making us stay up all night studying, and after making us arrive at class fortified with No-Doze pills and the beginnings of anxiety neuroses, he said ‘Would anyone be mad if we didn’t have a test today? Nobody was, and we didn’t.”

He says he just may take up Dot’s suggestion that he buy several postcards instead of thinking he has to fill a page every night. “If we have any left over, we could use ’em to write ‘Having a dandy time all by ourselves!’ from Sunapee.”

It appears that Dot had some comments about the big table he included in a recent letter – the one that was supposed to predict their chances for a successful marriage. Dart had filled in a number of the categories on the chart and Dot has taken exception to some of his information. He confesses that he was guessing on a lot of them. Maybe they’ll be able to fill in the table more accurately when they’re together, but the real point of this exercise was to demonstrate that they have what it takes for a happy marriage.

He insists that she could switch to postcards instead of using her regular monogrammed paper. It sounds as though Dart’s not the only one with a hectic schedule. I can only guess that Dot’s days are filled with babysitting and other odd jobs, painting the house, and trying to maintain some contact with her friends.

From a comment Dart makes, we can surmise that the professional painters that Arthur Chamberlain hired to paint the exterior have decided to leave for a Florida vacation, without finishing the job. “Don’t either of you girls fall off the ladder if you decide to wash the house. (Don’t fall off the roof just before the wedding, either.)”

He’s appalled by the news that the church organist will cost him $25! Also, he didn’t realize that Dot needs to pay for her dress because he thought she was going to wear her sister Harriet’s dress. What he didn’t know was that Eleanor will wear Harriet’s gown and Dot is having one made to match. He reminds her that he’d worried about big weddings costing more, but he assures her he wouldn’t feel truly married without a big wedding.

Dot said that she would soon get her blood test and a physical. Does she need the physical, or does she just feel like having one? He hopes she tell him how it goes.

His exams begin on June 1, so he asks her the favor of not writing him any upsetting letters or postcards during that critical time. Really?! I seriously doubt Dot would ever intentionally write him an upsetting letter, anytime.

In his PS, Dart apologizes for referring to her on a recent envelope as “Dorothy L. Chamberlain.” He knows she doesn’t like her middle name, but she needn’t stew about that much longer. In a month, her name will be Dorothy Chamberlain Peterson!

Using a sheet of his best typing paper, Dart writes:

I neglected to buy paper or postcards today. (As if  I needed any excuse to use my best paper for letters to the best girl.)

Say, you’d better tell me mighty fast which of your brothers you’d like to have me ask to usher. I haven’t heard from Hal, and Homer’s just about surely out of the picture.

The Spanish test was a tough one. I didn’t do well on it at all. Left out what I couldn’t even guess at, which was too blamed much.

No letter from you today. Must close up quickly and hit the hay.

I love you, Dot.

Dart reports that Kathleen will be moving out. She was quite nice about it last night when his mom told her she had to move, admitting that there was no solution to Dot and Dart’s living situation with her occupying the space. “So doncha’ worry your pretty head over it any more.”

He advises her to get those wisdom teeth out as fast as she can. She’s lucky if hers are growing straight out of the gum. His are all growing horizontally beneath the gum and will someday have to be cut out of the jaw.

He has tried his best to get his folks to reduce the list of gifts to the young couple, but his Pop is an incurable dreamer. He still wants to give the kids one of everything on the list. “I don’t know whether he prays or not, but even if he does, those kinds of things are the wrong things to pray for.” He succeeded in talking them out of a waffle iron and the broiler, and with the steam iron off the list thanks to El, there really isn’t too much left for them to worry about. He feels that they could surely use a roaster, but he’ll try to talk them out of the rest. (They did indeed receive a roaster as a wedding gift. Seventy years later, it is still providing faithful service to fabulous meals at my sister Nancy’s house.)

He’s keenly eager to see his bride’s wedding gown and trousseau. Does she subscribe to the superstition about a groom not seeing such things before the wedding day? “Won’t be long now, honey!! Butterflies!”

He has a mile-long list of things he must do, and today he had to add another. He picked up his new brown trousers at the tailoring department of Higbees today, but when he put them on at home, they were far too short and two sizes too small. Now he’ll have to set aside time to haggle with the shopkeepers!

“I took a walk tonight after class. I wish you’d been along. It would have been so nice to swing hands as we walked, maybe stopping to kiss as we passed some dark corner. Shall we take a night walk or two at Sunapee, if we find some night when we don’t want to go right to bed? It’s getting so close, Dot, and I’m so happy!”

PS. Here are 3 of the 20 postcards I bought today. Don’t be afraid to use ’em if you don’t feel like writing a whole letter.