Category Archives: 34. July 1946

Thursday July 25, 1946

34. July 1946, Dart's Letters, Dot's Letters

Dart sounds as though he’s in a panic about his exams tomorrow. He’s looked over the lists of topics that might be covered, and he finds there’s so much he simply doesn’t know.

At registration for the second summer session today, the psych class he wanted was already closed. Now he must try again tomorrow to find a course that will fit his plan.

Burke should be home on Sunday or Monday.

How he wishes Dot were here to bring him coffee and cookies while he studied. Why not iced tea? Because it’s 53 degrees today and they’re chilly. If she were here, she could keep him warm while he slept. “IF you were here, and IF it were this time of the year 1947!”

#          #          #

Dot suggest that there be 48 hours in the day instead of 24. Then, maybe she’d get everything done.

After work today, she set Mrs. Miller’s hair as a birthday gift for her, since she doesn’t really have the budget to buy a gift. (Since when must one give a birthday gift to an employer?) As soon as Mrs. Miller left, Ruth asked Dot to help her hang some drapes. That task ended near midnight.  “The bags under my eyes are beginning to look like scaffolds holding up the ‘bridge’ of my nose!”

“If I promise to write a real letter tomorrow, will you forgive this short note tonight? If it helps to know that I’ve been thinking of you even more than usual during exam time, then let me assure you, I have!”

She loves him and is waiting eagerly for the days to pass until she sees him again.

Friday July 26, 1946

34. July 1946, Dart's Letters, Dot's Letters

Dart begins, “Today I’ve been in a mood almost like the one you had the morning we played at tennis. I don’t want anything to eat, I’m too bored to sleep, and I don’t want to do any work or any play, and I can’t do a good job of either.”

Skipping dinner, he went to the basement to work on his train layout. After mucking up everything he touched, he gave up and walked off the job, leaving his workbench a mess and tools abandoned.

His exams are over. He’s sure he botched psychology and may have done as poorly on political science. The latter exam consisted of 60 multiple choice questions and two essays. He may have done okay on one of the essays, and he has Dot to thank. You see, he learned about the subject matter last night when he should have been writing to her.

What he refers to as his “gravy train” schedule of this summer session will be out the window for his upcoming term. He’s taking political science and psychology again, but one is the first period of the day and the other is the last. It’s the ultimate “split shift.” Maybe he’ll be able to get some of his studying and homework done while he’s hanging around campus, freeing up his evenings for longer letters to Dot.

He was hoping for a day off on Monday before the start of his new term, but that’s when the school scheduled him for that vocational testing he wrote about.

The big news is that Fred is engaged! Wow! That was fast! He’s getting married to a woman named Betty Evans, whom Dart seems to know slightly. Maybe she was from their class at Shaw High School. Dart seems to think she’s Fred’s intellectual equal, and he hopes Fred will be able to stop his “promiscuous ways” after marriage.

And now, he asks Dot’s forgiveness. He has been slow in answering her letters, but he’s in such a funk tonight that it just wouldn’t do to make a try tonight. He’ll give it his best try tomorrow. Meanwhile, he hopes she was able to see the Northern Lights that filled the sky over Cleveland tonight. “All colors, with flashes, rays, curtains – all the usual and the rare effects. Eerie as can be, but awesomely beautiful.”

#          #          #

Dot begins by bragging about the children she’s been babysitting. She renewed her acquaintance with young Carter, who as a young gentleman of 5 has the manners of an adult and a vocabulary a mile long. Chucky Pecsok, who will be 5 in October, read her a story! She believes this younger generation will take over the Earth soon.

Now she turns her attention to answering four of Dart’s letters. First, it sounds as though he’s been doing so much work on his train set that the railroad club will have plenty to see when they come in August.

She thinks renting a tandem bike and going on a picnic while he’s here this September sounds like a dreamy idea. So does his thought about having a picnic on his uncle’s abandoned farm next summer. When she thinks about how recent last summer seems to her, she hopes that the time between now and June 1947 will pass just as quickly. “It’s just got to!”

She realizes what dangerous temptation they will face in September, but they must resist it. Yes, they’ve broken some promises, but there’s one promise they’ve not broken, and they must not, until they have earned the privilege. “We must remember, Dart, that we will never earn the privilege if we don’t keep that one important vow. I think you’re more afraid of yourself than I am. “We’ve both got it in us to suppress those desires if we don’t allow them to become too strong within us. We must be able to recognize when we’re ‘playing with fire’ and have sense enough to put that fire out before it gets out of control. …It’s something neither of us can do alone, and we must make every effort to help one another.”

She certainly hopes Dart’s textbook is correct about her “ailment” clearing up after 7 or 8 years. “Does it happen to mention what one does to endure 7 or 8 years while waiting for ‘simple maturity?'” You know, I’m a little miffed about that whole discussion in Dart’s psychology book. First, what do menstrual cramps have to do with psychology? Does it fall under the category of what hysterical, irrational creatures women are? Is it used as an example of how they are the fragile, sensitive half of humanity? Second, can one imagine for a moment that large numbers of young men suffered debilitating pain for several days every month? Is it possible that the medical field would simply pat them on the head and say, “Gee, little man, I’m sorry you’re feeling so poorly, but it’ll be fine some day when you grow up.’? No! All the scientific and medical resources would be laser focused on finding real relief for those poor young men who suffered so. After all, they must be kept healthy and active enough to fight wars!

Dot agrees with Dart’s suggestion that they consult both a doctor and a minister, but feels that should wait until just before they’re married. “I even condescend to read a book on the subject on our  honeymoon, if you promise that’s not all we do. I believe this should be a case of ‘practice what you read.'” Why, Dot! You’re quite the little vixen!

Now, dear Reader, I should prepare you for a little shock. In the final paragraph of this letter, Dot proposes that they destroy all of their love letters to each other! The thought just about turns my blood to ice water as I contemplate the treasure that would have been lost had they followed through on that idea. It seems, what with the sizzling topics Dart has been addressing in his recent letters, Dot lives in fear that a curious teenage Doug may go snooping around and find those letters. “It would break my heart to burn any of your wonderful letters, but what else can I do with them? I have over 800 of ’em and they present a problem where storage is concerned. However, I’ll never destroy one of them unless you consent to destroy mine. PLEASE!! The ones I’ve written since you were discharged aren’t worth the three cents I wasted on them anyway. Come. let’s be sensible about this.”

Do you see how close we came to losing these letters? I’m grateful for Dart’s sentimental nature that in all probability saved the greatest gift I’ve ever had – the opportunity to read and share these letters.

No letters on the 27th, but Dot will be back on the 28th

Sunday July 28, 1946

34. July 1946, Dot's Letters

On Saturday, Dot worked for the Millers from 10:30 AM until 1:30 AM. She did sit down to write to Dart around midnight and promptly fell asleep until Mr. and Mrs. Miller came home. Now she’s sitting with the invalid Mrs. Reynolds.

“I hope we have the same kind of beautiful weather we’ve been having on weekends this summer, when you come in six weeks. It’s a gorgeous day for doing anything except sitting indoors with an invalid. However, sometimes it pays to sit indoors. In more ways than one.”

That’s all this poor, hard working girl could manage for today. It seems as though she is working for pay about 20 hours out of every 24! That bank account of hers must be climbing.

Tuesday July 30, 1946

34. July 1946, Dart's Letters

Dart writes that Burke has been discharged from the Navy and will be back home on Thursday evening. He plans to stay in Chicago for a day to scope out the University of Chicago and make sure all is in order for his admission.

Classes started today. Dart has Dr. Heckman again for political science and a new teacher for psychology. He rather likes the latter, and wishes he didn’t. “I hope I’m not wrong in liking him. I prefer to dislike a teacher at first, for my opinions of them usually do a complete reversal about halfway through the course, and I feel it’s better to end up smiling at the teachers than cast black looks under beetled brows.”

He writes a cryptic paragraph about Kathleen leaving tonight and Al packing up his stuff. “Kathleen, after her vacation, will continue to live here. Personally, I think she’s too much of an old maid to be a good wife for anybody. I’m sorry to see them break up, though.” I have no idea who Kathleen or Al may be. Why are they living with the Petersons? Why have we not heard of them before now? Perhaps Mom will be able to recall a little something about the doomed couple.

Dart enjoyed listening to the Fred Waring Show tonight, and was hoping Dot heard it, too. He featured all of Cole Porter’s classic songs that Dart finds so lovely. It’s been a long time since these two lovers have written about the radio shows they heard. While they were so far apart during the war years, radio seemed to be a tie that bound them close.

After school today, Dart was talking to a young lady on the streetcar. She was in his psych class last term, and is his class again this term. While they were talking, they learned that she knew Dot from Andrews. Her name is Nancy Sutter, a year or so younger than Dot. The psychology class is the only one she’s enrolled in and it makes her nervous to be one of the few women in a class of so many older fellows. Dart probably seems to her like a safe guy to become friends with.

Now he turns to one of the four of Dot’s letters that are awaiting an answer. If she was elected 6 to 1 as the one to prepare breakfast for the crowd last week, it was for one of two reasons. Either 1) she is known to be a good cook (he hopes that’s the reason), or 2) as the one in the family with “banker’s hours”, she was the one with time in the morning to do the work.

“Dottie, I’ve been hoping you’d be making the trip back with me after we go to Sunapee. It seemed so good, and so improbable, that I feared mentioning it, in case I got your hopes too high and you might not be able to make it. Good night, My Darling. I love you with all of my heart, forever.”

Wednesday, July 31, 1946

34. July 1946, Dot's Letters

Dot is overwhelmed by Dart’s great news. She shared it with Mr. Pecsok (whom she now calls “Gib”) and he thought it was as wonderful as she does. By the way, he gave his wife Dart’s phone number, so he may be getting a call from a stranger soon. She really wants Dart to meet this wonderful family!

But back to his marvelous news. “I wish I were there to show you just how proud and  happy you make me. Jeepers creepers, but I love you! I’ll try very hard not to be the kind of female that ‘twists your tail.” I’m sure I’m as eager to see you become successful in your field of endeavor as you are to become one. Better we should team up, yes?”

She’d love to write him a nice long letter, but she’s going non-stop now from 6:00 AM until 10:00 PM. She had a one-hour dinner break from the playground tonight, and in that time, she cooked steak, potatoes and carrots; took Gib’s tray up to him; fed the children; and ate her own supper.  She doesn’t know what she’d do without the use of the car this week.

“Yesterday, I took Linda for a ride while I did some shopping. While we drove home, we listened to Fred Waring and it left her speechless. Apparently she’d never heard the car radio before and was thrilled to pieces.”

“Although this letter is short, my love for you goes on endlessly. Guess I’ll start laying carpet on our stairway to the stars.”

Monday July 29, 1946

34. July 1946, Dart's Letters

Dart has some good news and some great news to share. First, the good news; the psychology class he signed up for, previously scheduled for the end of the day, has been rescheduled for the period after his political science class. Now he’ll have the whole day free after 11:20.

But the bulk of the letter is dedicated to the great news. He got the results of those aptitude tests that he took today. To give Dot a glimpse of the news they brought, he described his first conversation with the evaluator after his tests were scored. It went like this: The guy looked at Dart’s score sheet and his mouth twisted a little at the corners. Then he looked back at Dart and gave him a slow appraisal. At last, in a slow, calm manner, he said. “Jesus Christ. Tell me, Pete, how does it feel to have the world at your feet?”

It appears Dart’s aptitudes, interests and abilities are so varied and so exceptional that it’s hard to pigeon-hole him into one or two vocational areas. He scored in the 99th percentile for linguistics, and the 96 percentile in mathematical ability. When the latter score was compared to engineering students, he scored in the 92nd percentile. (When compared to Case and MIT, they fell to the 62nd percentile, indicating how much tougher those schools are than the average technical schools.) The only area where her bombed was clerical aptitude, in which he scored an appalling 6th percentile, meaning that 94% of college students and graduates would make better billing agents and secretaries than he. No wonder the poor boy couldn’t type! It just wasn’t in him.

There were many other scores ranging from the 75th to the 90th percentiles.  A grade in the 75th percentile or higher means a quite accurate prediction of success. “The results and predictions of my tests and interviews were most heartwarming. In the first place, the tests show that I could be successful in almost anything but clerical work. In the second place, my aptitudes and interests seem to lie in the same pattern, said to be a good combination. My linguistic and quantitative percentiles, both being 99, show a near-maximum prediction of success in a field of study and work involving either. Also, my aptitudes and interests point to just exactly what I’ve decided I’d like to train for: the editorship of trade journals and technical publications!”

Dart is over the moon. “Those tests, the accuracy of which has been proven, have made me feel mighty good. They’ve opened my eyes to the stars. What a lift after I’d been afraid I wasn’t much good for anything. The final interviewer told him, ‘Well, boy, from now on if you don’t make good on something, it’s either due to laziness or some ‘skirt’s’ twisting your tail.’ You’re not twisting my tail, are you, Dottie?”

He adds that maybe he shouldn’t have told her because now she may expect miracles. As far as he’s concerned, the miracle happened today. Now he must go out and make something of himself to prove the accuracy of those tests!

In other news, he didn’t write last night because he was beset with a visit from a very boring acquaintance who arrived at 8:00 and wouldn’t leave until after 11:30 PM. Today he was able to spend a little time with Homer and they “took a short drive in his mile-long Packard.”

Her house on Mason Street must really smile after she’s set to it with mops, buckets and paint. It’s no wonder to him why she’s always exhausted when she falls into bed.

So, it is finally and permanently settled that they’re getting married next June. His heart also works overtime when he thinks of it. “Oh, Darling, if you only knew my thoughts when I stand and look down at you. You must know, it’s a terrible struggle for control, Honey.”

“Good night, my Darling. I love you very, very much. Oh Dot, I’m so glad for us!”

#          #          #

Wow! Dot’s life just got a little crazier. She got a call from Mr. Pecsok today. His wife and oldest child are visiting family in Cleveland and Mr. Pecsok took a vacation so he could hang out with his other two children. Unfortunately, he injured his back severely on the badminton court and must lie flat on his back for at least three days. He called last night to see if Dot could help with the kiddos over the next few days.

She was at their house at 7:00 this morning to fix their breakfast, help them dress and clean the kitchen. In that process, she also washed 24 diapers and managed to find a girl who came in while Dot was at work to put the kids down for their nap and prepare the family dinner.  Meanwhile, they just played quietly on, or beside, their daddy’s bed until Dot got back around 8:15 to bathe them and get them to bed. I guess it all starts again tomorrow.

It’s nearly 11:00 PM and it’s the first time Dot has sat down to relax all day. After supper, she cleaned the kitchen again and ironed some clothes for the family. She’s  not complaining because the children are a dream and this family has always been her ideal. Even seeing them when they’re at their worst, her exalted opinion of the Pecsoks has never wavered. Today, Mr. P. told Dot his car was at her disposal. That made shopping and banking errands much easier to accomplish. Before sitting down to write this letter, she had to place some hot towels on Mr. Pecsok’s back and smooth out his bedding so he could be more comfortable. So now she’s a nurse in addition to babysitter, cook, laundress and maid. Phew!

She got two letters from Dart today and wishes she could write the kind of response that would make him laugh off his troubles. The best she can offer is to tell him the his grades on those silly exams are meaningless as far as her feelings for him are concerned. She believes, however, that they won’t be as bad as he fears. “I know you’ve got what it takes and you’ve got what I want, so what else matters? It’s the application, not the memorization of knowledge that counts.” (Won’t she be thrilled to get the letter he wrote today?)

She reminds him that she was never able to stay on the honor roll long enough to feel at home there, but the way folks throw compliments her way, she must be a genius. Why, just today, she got a wonderful letter from Dart’s mother, who said so many kind things about her. The letter came with a towel that Helen had made for Dot. “Please tell your mom (’til I find the time to tell her myself) that I’m afraid she made it far too beautiful for me to use. I love it, and her, and you, and the world, and you, and work, and most of all, you.”