Dart seems to be in fairly good spirits today. He is most complimentary of the letter Dot had written from Greenwich, saying it had all the elements that make a letter good.

He explains that he didn’t write yesterday because he was too tired. He’d wrangled a pass to visit the small stores across the huge campus. He took a long walk there to exchange some uniforms that were too small for him.

Dart tells an embarrassing story about going through the breakfast line yesterday. He loaded his tray with Rice Krispies cereal and milk, eggs, bacon, fruit, toast and coffee. As he headed to the table, his left foot got in the way of his right one, and he found that he and his breakfast were sprawling flat out on the floor!

He appreciates the way she surprised her folks when she got home. He tells her that he’d love to surprise her the same way, but he knows that if the day ever comes when he is actually on his way to see her, he’d be too excited to keep it a secret. He’d probably send her a telegram, followed by a phone call.

He’s been thinking about her comment on how small her family is getting. (Harriet married and out of the house, Gordon fighting the war, Eleanor away at school or at work…) He says that it’s given him an idea which he will tell her about sometime, if things go as well as he’s hoping. There he goes with that cryptic thing again. I suspect his thoughts run something like her family may someday start getting larger again, when he joins it as Dot’s husband!

Having never been much farther from home than other parts of the Midwest, except for a brief visit to the New York World’s Fair, he cannot comment on the regional personalities of people. He seems to like the Ohio people he knows, and he’s gratified that she does, too. He likes the idea of her living in Ohio after graduation so that if he ever gets a leave, he can spend time with both her and his family.

He ends the letter by saying he’s sorry a meager letter is the only way to bridge the 1100 miles between them. He also asks for her phone number in Connecticut.

Dot begins her letter in a rare low mood. She misses Dart and the kids from school terribly and is finding it hard to adjust to being at home. She thinks about packing up and going back to Ohio, but she’s strapped for cash and is stuck in Greenwich. She assumes things will get easier once she’s working and keeping her mind busy.

Feeling better after getting that off her chest in her little “chat” with Dart, she moves on to responding to his recent letter. She’d like a copy of the photo that was taken of Dart for a Navy publication. She’s glad he didn’t go over the wall when he was feeling so down. As much as she’d like to see him, she’d rather it not be behind bars. There was some brief discussion about whether Chicago and Greenwich are in the same time zone. And she was interested to see the map he’d drawn of the hospital campus. She’d noticed that his ward was very near the recreation center and she asks him if he goes there often.

While his walk with a friend all over the hospital grounds sounds charming, Dot says she prefers bicycling, and hopes to do quite a lot of it this summer. She’s impressed with the domestic skills he has brought out into the light and suggests he’d make a decent housewife for someone.

She tells Dart that she and her mother are going into NYC in the morning to try to find a job for her. She doesn’t hold out a lot of hope, but it’s worth a try.

This is a very brief letter from Dart, and although it is only a few sentences long, he manages to squeeze in a little humor and a lot of love.

Dot’s letter begins with a complaint about her achy feet before she corrects herself and re-starts with a proper salutation. Then she continues her complaints about her feet. She trudged all over NYC today wearing pumps, and is paying a heavy price tonight.

She was offered a job at Lord and Taylor and has an interview tomorrow with someone who knows someone who is related to someone who knows somebody at Conde Nast. It took only a day to convince her that the City is not her cup of tea and she’d rather work in Greenwich. She tells a funny story about seeing a truck whose engine was on fire and the NYFD responded with three trucks, including a hook and ladder!

She recalls for Dart a sweet incident that happened when she was saying good-bye to his folks in Cleveland. His father pulled her aside and gave her some sage words about working in a huge city like New York. She was so touched by his concern. Again she contrasts the kindness of people in Ohio to others she knows and finds that Ohioans win in her book.

Another funny story happened at home this evening when she was making fudge for the kids at Andrews. Her father walked in and scoffed “What’s gong on here? Do you send him a box every time he sends a letter?” When Dot responded that the fudge was not for “him”, her father retorted “Oh, so you’re not faithful to him, eh? Well don’t come cryin’ to me when he’s mad at you for not keeping him nourished!” Dot asks the rhetorical question, “Don’t they know it’s poor psychology to tease a teenage about her love affairs?”

Dart received a letter from Dot and one from her mother today, but neither, as good as they are, can ease the aching in his heart. He claims that he first aches for Dot, but unbelievably, there is something else causing him worry and concern.

The doctors believe they have found something else wrong with him. He won’t say what it is until the tests confirm it, but it will require more weeks of recuperation in the hospital! When does this end for the poor boy?

He says he wants to get out, and get the war won, among other things. Although he considers himself a hopeless case, he asks Dot to keep on hoping as hard as she can.

Trying to answer her recent letter, he said he enjoyed reading her daily “diary” of activities. It sounds a lot like what he’d be doing if he were in a similar circumstance to her.  He comments that Greenwich sounds like a pleasant place, especially the proximity to water. He used to be afraid of water, but now he enjoys it. He describes his swimming skill as “flailing like a frightened chicken,” but he still has fun.

He congratulates her on her report card and encourages her to keep her plans to attend college, even if she delays it by a year.

He is so grateful to have her in his life. She’s so sweet and faithful and good that he almost feels the seven months of knowing her have been a dream.

This was a quick, breezy letter from Dot. Although she received no mail from Dart today, she did get two letters from friends at school. “That is, I think the letters were for me – even though they began ‘Dear Dot, How’s Dart?'” Even her three-year old niece asked her today how that ‘poor, dear, sick sailor’ was doing. She reminds him that it’s more than his family, friends and her who care about his well-being.  I can’t help but think how all those people will feel when they learn he’s hit another bump in the road.

She ends the letter with “This must be short, but I’ll never run short of love for you.”

Such a sad letter from Dart. He’s been moved to a new ward with a confirmed diagnosis of mumps. He feels terrible and looks worse. He sounds so discouraged, but who wouldn’t be, in his situation?

He thanks her for the cookies, which he’ll finish eating when he’s not in so much pain. He also asks her to tell her mother that he’ll answer her letter when he feels better.

Before closing, he reminds Dot how grateful he is to have her in his life. He’s not sure how he would have come through these very trying six months without her.

Dot is still in blissful innocence of Dart’s new status. She’s exuberant about her new job at a small department store in Greenwich called Franklin Simon. She’ll be working in the sportswear department, six days a week. She’s also pleased that her schedule will give her evenings free to babysit and earn extra money. “Why, in about five years, Mrs. Astor’s millions will look practically silly next to mine,” she jokes.

She scolds Dart about wanting to waste his money by calling her at home, and refuses to send him her phone number. That’s the frugal woman I grew up with!

She tells Dart about her evening babysitting job where her young charge was asleep most of the time. That gave her time to clean the house, make dinner and finish up the laundry! Wow, if that’s the service she delivers, it’s no wonder she’s in such high demand as a sitter!

She had to wrap up when her father told her to turn off the light because it was well past midnight.

Dart reports that he still feels miserable, but had enough energy today to get his gear stowed in his new ward. As usual, Dot’s picture is garnering lots of compliments from everyone who passes by. He was even able to eat two more of her homemade cookies.

He thanks her for the gum and promises he’ll chew it when “conditions” improve. In response to her question about his favorite flavor, he comments that he is not “chewsy;” he likes all flavors. (Groan!)

Part of his treatment is intervenous feedings, which were once reserved for the very, very sick. They are now administered more widely and they seem to help him regain some strength.

He tells Dot not to be so hard on herself for feeling homesick for Cleveland. What kind of girl would she be, he asked, if she didn’t miss the friends she’d had for so many years? She can always vent to him, especially after all the venting he has done in her direction.

He talks at length about his recent work in the wood shop. He’s helped the Red Cross volunteers sort and organize all the materials, installed a new machine, helped set up small projects in wood and plastic that bed patients could work on, and assembled tool kits for each of 25 wards. Naturally, he’s also been working on two model trains for his set back home. He wishes he’d been able to finish them before he was quarantined. He also made a pair of wooden shower sandals for an officer and offered to make a pair for Dot, too. All she needs to do is send an outline of her feet on paper and he’ll customize them to her size.

He heard from a friend stationed in Colorado that he’d like to visit Dart when his train to Cleveland stops in Chicago. Dart would love to see him, and is disappointed that he’s in the isolation ward. It’s been such a long time since he had any visitors and he’d really like one now.

He leaves her with a wish that she has found employment by now and that she’ll like her job.

Dot sent a postcard and a greeting card today. She’s saddened by the news that he’s had a setback and wishes there were something she could do to make him feel better. She has very little time to write, but promises a longer letter tomorrow.

Today brings an effusive letter from Dart. He is overwhelmed by Dot’s attention, generosity and care for him. He has received another care package of candy and reading material from her, as well as a great letter. He writes, “I  have so little to offer, save some ‘purdy’ words. But Dot, …the thoughts that move those words are prettier than the words.”

He was very impressed by the brochure of Greenwich she had included in the package. A recent newspaper column by Walter Winchell lists some of the many dignitaries who live in this small town. It also mentioned that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor are buying a house there. As Dart looked over the map, he tried to picture Dot riding her bike to Long Island Sound. He imagined her shopping on Greenwich Ave. He hopes to one day find the town as beautiful as he imagines, but how could it fail if she lives there?

Noticing the miles of bridle paths throughout the town, he asks Dot if she rides. The sport has never had much appeal to him.

He tells her a funny incident that took place when he was working on his model trains in the Arts and Skills room. Read it for an amusing example of people hearing what they want to hear, and relating a story with increasing inaccuracies.

He tells her that Tommy Dorsey is broadcasting a live radio concert from the Great Lakes Hospital recreation room and Dart truly wishes he were able to go see him.

As I re-read my entry today, I recognize that I never really do justice to summarizing the letters of these two gifted writers. In order to capture all the wit and charm, I’d end up retyping each and every word. Please know that my ramblings are intended to whet the reader’s appetite and encourage a real reading of the whole letters.

Dot reports that her first day on the job was most satisfactory. (At least it was for her, and she’s not asking anyone else for their opinion.)

She tries to answer Dart’s question about what kind of business her father is in. She explains that her runs “The Fix-it Shop,” a unique maintenence service for the house and its contents. He was mentioned in a book by Walter B. Pitkin called Careers After Forty. The story I always heard growing up was that Arthur Chamberlain had attended Yale and gone to work on Wall Street. He really hated the job, and may have been the happiest guy in NYC when the market crashed in ’29. He decided to follow his heart and set up shop in Greenwich where he could tinker for a living. He died a young, but happy man, doing what he loved and doing it well.

Dot’s letter picks up the next day, just after receiving Dart’s letter naming his latest diagnosis. She is crushed that he must face another trial.

She tells him about a beautiful dream she had last night where he showed up in Greenwich and they had a lovely day. Bike ride, picnic in the park, etc. She cried when she awoke and learned it was only a dream. She lives in fervent hope that it will come true someday soon.

She tells him to give away the cookies he cannot eat and she will send fresh ones as soon as she gets word that he’s on the mend.

Dart writes a sympathetic letter concerning Dot’s achy feet. He wishes for her a job in Greenwich where she can stand for long hours on a soft floor.

He’s glad she likes Ohio and says, not very cryptically, that he has hopes they have a future together in Ohio.

He talks a bit about El’s finace, Don. He hopes Dot’s family will like him as much as they seem to like Don, but it’s hard to top a Dean’s List from medical school. He asks when El and Don plan to marry and then says something about having plans of his own, but needing to wait until they know each other better before he can mention them. Still, he can dream, can’t he?

He mentions how kind the nurses from his former ward have been. He received a card from one and a visit from two others. I suspect they’ve all taken an extra smidgen of concern for this handsome young sailor who can’t seem to find a way out of the hospital.

There is a touching paragraph where Dart ponders his eventual reunion with Dot. His thoughts get as far as the tight embrace and luscious kiss, and he wants to hold his imagination right there. He misses her in such a viseral way that he can think of almost nothing else.

His P. S. reveals that he suspects the mumps have spread to his left jaw. He dreads the swelling and discomfort that will follow. (Not to mention the extended stay in the hospital!)

Dot was gleeful that her letter from Dart was eight pages long, while the one he wrote her mother was only four. Her mother suggested they swap letters so that each could see what he’d written to the other. Dot didn’t fall for that line.

She says that his work in the wood shop sounds like it might have been fun, and a good way to take his mind off his troubles. She promises to swallow her pride and send an outline of her less-than-dainty feet so he can make a pair of shower slippers.

She’s sorry his friend will not be able to stop by for a visit, but she has an idea of how he might get visitors, if he’d like. There are three girls he met at Andrews School who are working and sharing an apartment in Chicago. They’ve offered to pay him a call if Dot can get specific instructions about how they’d find him.

She reports that she likes her job better each day, but she’s nervous about going in tomorrow. The manager and only other employee of her department left on a two-month vacation, so Dot will be alone and in charge during her absence. The woman is going to Texas to spend time with her husband before he ships off to war. That little statement served to remind me how nearly everyone is in some way impacted by the war. What sacrifices this whole country made during the long war years!

Because she keeps Dart’s picture in her bedroom, she doesn’t give many people an opportunity to comment on it. She tells him that when she sleeps, he is just two feet away. She’s sure that’s why she has such wonderful dreams.

Dart’s mail delivery has finally caught up with him, bringing Dot’s postcard, greeting card, and letter, plus two letters from his mother and two more from friends. He’s thrilled with her news of landing a great job with good hours.

He asked her to check her records to see if she was at the World’s Fair the same day he was on July 18, 1939. What fun to think their stars might have aligned way back then so they might meet!

Dart echos Dot’s thought that he nearly did not accept that blind date to Andrews. “It scares me when I think of how much I almost didn’t meet you,” he writes. He goes on to say that Lois, his date for that fateful evening, gets his nomination for the person he’d most like to be on the opposite side of the world from. Dot, in contrast gets his nomination for the person he’d most like to spend the rest of his life with. (Whoa there, Dart! You don’t wanna spook the little lady.)

He launches into a mild scolding and compelling argument about getting her phone number in Greenwich.  As seldom as he calls, it won’t cost that much money, he says. After all, she spends money on postage stamps whereas he gets to send mail for free. Also, it gives him great pleasure. Not having her phone number will not stop him if he decides to call, but it sure would make life easier if he had it.  I suspect she’ll cave and send the number in her next letter.

He sends get well wishes to El, and says his mother has strep throat but is responding well to sulfa treatments. Do they still use sulpha to treat strep, I wonder? As an aside, I saw a story on TV last week about the millions of children in Africa who die of heart disease  brought when an untreated strep infection settles in the heart. It made me think once again about the wonders of modern medicine (when and where it’s available) and how antibiotics must have contributed to increased longevity in the developed world.

He’s happy she’ll be earning extra money with child care jobs and remarks that she must be good at it to be in such high demand.

He cautions her not to take his misfortunes too hard. His burden has been made much easier, he says, with Dot and his parents doing some of his grieving for him.

Dart’s friend Fred Dixon wrote of his sister Dorothy’s enlistment in the Waves. Now the Dixon home can place two stars in their front window. How nice that women’s service was acknowledged the same way as men’s.

Dot begins her letter with an acknowledgement that indeed, the Duke and Duchess will be coming to Greenwich. “We’re considering allowing them to stay as guests at our estate this summer. Of course, it will put us out a liitle, but then, they’ve often done favors for us.” She continues in the same vein to tell him that Alec Templeton, Dot’s favorite pianist, lives in town and is a very good customer of Dot’s father.

In response to his question about riding, Dot says she loves horses, but it’s been ages since she’s enjoyed the sport. It costs $2.00 per hour in this place where most people have millions, but she doesn’t. Because she has discovered the need to eat, she’s been forced to choose between riding and dining. She adds that in New Hampshire where her family has a bungalow, she used to ride bare back every day, for free.

She comments that she seems to spend most of her time answering his letter, which was an answer to her letter in the first place. She finds it hard to come up with any news because her life is so simple and settled. That begs the question of how he can consistently come up with such interesting letters when he’s stuck in a hospital for weeks on end. She adds that she’s not even very good at writing all the ‘purdy’ thoughts like he does. She admits she feels those things but is not adept at writing them. She promises, however, that someday she will write a letter that will knock his eyes out. All it’ll take is a full moon, millions of stars, and soft, dreamy music. These ingredients are like TNT o her!

But for now, she adds, back to her dull life. A life with “no gloss but always a finish.” With that, she finishes the letter.

Dart was in a rare mood today. He began with high praise for Dot’s recent letter and some teasing words about her constant apologies for the quality of her stationery.  He also teased a bit about the luxurious setting of her cushy job – complete with carpet and upholstered chairs! I suspect he doesn’t see much of either in his current setting. More on that later.

He suggests that the hoping and dreaming each of them has done in recent months seems to be working to some extent, so they should both keep it up with renewed fervor and they will surely see even more success.

Commenting about the dream Dot described where Dart showed up in Greenwich and they enjoyed a long bike ride and a picnic, he confirmed that he has had similar dreams. He launched into a detailed imagery about the day. He began by asking what he was wearing in her dream. Was he in uniform or will they have to wait until the war is over to fulfill the dream? He imagined what the picnic menu might be, and he envisioned sitting on the shore and watching the moon rise. There was enough breeze to ruffle her hair and put a little sand in the “sand” wiches.

Coming back to the present, he told her how much he enjoyed the oatmeal cookies she sent. The gum was quite welcome and he even put it to therapeutic use when he felt the first twinge of mumps on the left jaw. By “jawing” the gum all day, the swelling and stiffness on the left is not as bad as the right side got.

He included another of his fantastic yarns in the spirit of his “devilish satire” of a few weeks ago. This was a meticulous description of the “prehistoric” ward where he now resides, compete with stalactites, a lost race of men and blind fish. He writes satire and sarcasm with a lively comical bent. Well worth the read, in my opinion.

Here’s a brief note from Dot, dashed off as she was about to crawl into bed for the night.

She told Dart how much she enjoyed reading about his bygone days. “But then, you make everything enjoyable. Golly, how I wish you were around when I do dishes!” (Let’s not get too serious or mushy, Dot.)

She loves her job but is happy that Sunday is coming so she can give her feet a rest. Because Greenwich is looking her best, all dressed in springtime finery, she suggests he make his reservations now to come for a visit sometime next week. Wouldn’t that be lovely!

She’s true her opening words that this would be a short letter.

Dart’s letter has flair, even though most of it is simply in response to Dot’s latest. He thanks her for the outline of her feet and promises to try to finish a pair of slippers for her. He’d send her an outline of his foot for comparison, but his will not fit on a page of paper.

He supports her choice not to share his letters with her mother. Although they’ve not written anything to be ashamed of, it’s a “matter of general principles.” Oh, how I remember that favorite phrase of his. As children, whenever my siblings or I would ask a question he either didn’t know how to answer or was unwilling to answer, he would respond, “Well, that’s a matter of general principles.” For example: Daddy, why does Nancy get to stay up later than me?” Or, “Why are you mad at your boss?” Another favorite response in similar circumstances went like this: Daddy, why is the sky blue? To which he would answer, “To make little girls ask questions.” As part of my introduction to a vocabulary beyond my years, I learned at an early age what “general principles” meant.

He reports that he’s feeling better than he did when the mumps started. He’s still being nourished and hydrated with 1000 c.c of fluid in his arm, which he explains does nothing to stave hunger pangs or thirst.

In response to Dot’s concern that he would neglect his model-building in order to make her slippers, he assured her that there was nothing that can deter his interest in trains, so she needn’t fear. Let’s say his interest in railroads never waned throughout his life, and leave it at that for now.

He wrote a bit about his buddy John Angel – a close friend from Shaw high school. “Angel” had just presented his sweetheart Sally with an engagement ring before being shipped out from Fresno to parts unknown. “Another of my buddies to impress on us all the fact that we are ‘growing up,’ believe it or not.”

He tells Dot he would be happy to see her friends if they decide to come for a visit. He gave her detailed directions about which train to take from Chicago, what the visiting hours were, and how to find his ward. Naturally, he’d  like her to save those directions for her own use whenever the opportunity arises. Wishful thinking, undoubtedly.

He ends the letter by telling her a vivid dream he had of Dot. For the present, dreams are the best chance they have of “visiting.”

In Dot’s letter, she comments on Dart’s having forgotten to write on the back of one page of stationery. She told of a similar mental lapse she had the other day when she was filling a pot with water at the kitchen sink. She got to daydreaming and realized the pot in her hand wasn’t getting any heavier. She looked down and saw she was holding it under the cold water tap, but had actually turned on the hot water. “Could it be we’re both absent-minded for the same reason, I hope?”

She told about her father teasing El last night about Don’s last name. It is Badamo, but Arthur Chamberlain has great fun calling him anything but that. El just smiles and lets him have his fun – a good lesson for Dot when she’s the target of her dad’s humor. She says El and Don’s wedding date is a mystery, even to the couple themselves. It all depends on where the war sends him, and when.

Last night, Dot mentioned to her mother that if she had not gone to Andrews School, she would probably never have met Dart. “At that, Mother breathed a sigh and said, ‘If my mother had not missed her train, I might never have met your father.'” Dot asked how old Ruth  had been when she met Arthur, and Ruth whispered romantically, “I was 5 and he was 8.” Dot wasn’t sure if her mother was joking, but she laughed out loud. “You should have seen the pained expression on her face. As if it were the most sacred thing in her life. Perhaps it was – she seems happy enough now.” Suggesting that Ruth Chamberlain was happy in her marriage seems like a major understatement. By all reports, she and Arthur were deeply in love their whole lives. I’ve always believed the greatest family legacy that I’ve received is a long line of strong, happy marriages on both sides.

Dot wrote a paragraph about how “versatile” her family is becoming. Harriet married a Dutchman, Gordon married an Irish Catholic and Eleanor is engaged to an Italian Catholic who is very tolerant of El’s Protestant religion. It seems a little quaint that Dutchmen and Catholics were considered the height of diversity in those days.

In another mother-daughter conversation, Ruth told Dot that she and Arthur had really gotten to know each other primarily through letters. That prompted Dot to go back and re-read some of the letters Dart had sent her, and she concedes that they probably know each other better than she thought. She was also reminded what a good writer he is.

She’s not surprised Dart got a note from a former nurse of his. To Dot’s thinking, perfect patients like him are probably a rare occurrence in the lives of nurses. Once they find one, they spend the rest of their careers hoping to come across another.

Dot becomes uncharacteristically serious in her final paragraph. She’s dismayed that he has developed mumps on the other side. All she wants is for him to get better so he can come home for awhile. “No matter what happens, Dart,  I love you for what you are and for what I am when I think of you and think of being with you.”