Tonight is a rare time for Dart to get a long sleep, unfettered by the worry over homework. He plans to take full advantage of it.

I composed today’s prose workshop offering (sacrifice?) on the typewriter yesterday evening and re-typed it today. Best looking typing job I’ve done, but I can’t say much for the quality of material. I like it, but it must also be acceptable to Miss Talmage if it’s to be worth much in school. She still reads shallowly at times, missing the author’s point entirely, often missing the undertones that give meaning to a story or article. In spite of that, if I continue to get B+’s, I’ll be satisfied with her misreading and I’ll bask in my own egotistical glory that I’m even better than she thinks I am.

He thinks the number of wedding invitations Dot mentioned seems like a lot, but he didn’t mention how many that was. He worries that if they get 100% positive RSVP’s there won’t be room in the church for everyone. He also likes the idea of a family reception because he assumes they’d be able to make a smoother (and earlier) get away.

He was talking to his buddy Elmer today, who, with his bride-to-be is also planning a candlelight wedding in 99 days. Dart believes each bridegroom is as eager as the other to begin their married life.

I wonder a little about the names of some of Dart’s friends. Do you suppose Elmer and Homer were common names in the 1920’s when these young men were born? Do you think they thought Dart had a strange name? Actually, I think Dart sounds surprisingly modern, especially when compared with Elmer and Homer.

Dot told him that she had sent his brother a container of kippers. Dart says that he and his mother also mailed the same thing (smaller size) to Burke on the same day. He assures Dot that Burke won’t mind getting two of the same thing because he would “eat kippers until the can-opener wore out, and never stop to sleep.” Dot’s thoughtful gesture made him so proud to love her and prouder still that she loves him. After three years of witnessing her kindness, he’s still very impressed and grateful for it.

He tells her that tonight would be one of those nights when they’d kiss, say good night, and hold hands until they fell asleep.

Dart begins tonight’s letter with an accounting of their finances. He has opened a checking account, as advised by the bank. They have $300 in their two savings accounts (regular and penny account) and whatever is in the checking on any given day. He opened it with $140 and will presumably use it to pay bills.

Looking back over their letters and all the discussions they had about why they should wait to get married, it seems to me that finances weighed heavily in their decisions. Dart was committed to starting their marriage on a sound financial footing. With his earnings, the growing penny account, and the cost savings they’ll realize by living on the third floor of his parents’ apartment, I think these two will be on pretty stable footing. Dot’s earnings and their little savings account should give them both some comfort.

Today’s mail brought Dart’s grades for his last semester, as well as the credits he has been awarded from his classes at Case and his basic training in the Navy. With the 56 hours of credit, plus the 26 he earned at Cleveland College last semester, he has 82 hours. Senior class status begins somewhere around 85 or 90, so with the classes he’s taking now, he should be on solid footing as a senior on June 8.

He’s a little disappointed that he didn’t receive any academic credit for his favorite class at Case – technical exposition, because it would have counted toward his English major requirements. He has enough credits in math, chemistry and physics to have a minor in all three!

As for his grades at Cleveland College, he earned a B in Prose Workshop, a C in both American Lit and Fundamentals of Business, and an A in both Spanish and Newspaper Writing. He’s very disappointed in the literature grade because with a C, he cannot count it toward his major credits. He’s enrolled in the second half of that class this semester, so let’s hope he finds the key to the cryptic grading scale and pulls that grade up this time around.

A note from Pop yesterday reported that he’s sticking pretty close to his bed these days. His doctors have convinced him that he will never be able to do any strenuous work again.

After his prose class last night, he and a classmate went to Little Ted’s restaurant. The buddy cried in his beer and Dart cried in his coffee about the bum deals they feel they got from Miss Talmage on this week’s assignment. His classmate is an editor of a trade journal and was able to give Dart lots of helpful information about that field.

Little Ted’s was also the site of the post-Skyline staff meeting tonight. There were 13 at the table, but Dart hopes he dodged any bad luck because he was not the 13th one to sit down.

He assures Dot that he loves her, and then signs off.