It’s another cheerful, newsy letter from Dot, written at the home of a new baby-sitting client. Tonight her charge is 3-year old Carter, a cute little red head who loves trains.  Dot writes, “Someday, I hope to take care of (or, rather, “sit” with) another boy who loves trains. He’s not so little and only his beard is red, but I shan’t mind in the slightest.”

She asks Dart if he remembers the large red apartment building near Mason St. That’s where she’s sitting tonight. It’s a nice building, but a little too “apartmentish” for Dot’s taste. She can see the advantage during Spring cleaning time, but she’ll take a small house over an apartment any time someone is ready to give her one.

On her lunch hour today, she nearly had a heart attack when she glanced at the mail on the hall table. There was an Air Mail letter from Dart, dated Dec. 14, and one addressed in identical writing mailed from Cleveland on the 15th. For a few seconds she thought Dart was in Cleveland! It turns out it was a Christmas card from Dart’s brother Burke.

She encourages him to go on being a “bluenose.” She loves him for it, and she knows it’s much harder to live by a set of high standards than it is to have no standards at all. She’s glad to have been enough of a “home girl” to have not seen much of the behavior Dart describes, but she knows it goes on. She, too has her standards like Dart, and she intends to keep them.

Next Thursday is the store’s Christmas party and everyone must perform something. Rather than “spoil the evening” by singing, she plans to recite a funny poem called “Home From College.” (I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Mom recite that same piece on several occasions, and it’s still funny.) She’d write it down for Dart, but then he’d miss all the gestures, so she’ll have to perform it the next time they’re together. She’s very nervous about performing live in front of 100 people, but “the show must go on.”

Carter’s mother just came home and has engaged Dot every Thursday and Saturday night. That’s an additional $3.00 per week that she can keep all to herself, without sharing 99 and 44/100% with the government!

She’s going to write to Dart’s mother tonight, so she must close until tomorrow.