Dec. 19, 1935
Dear Vance,
Your letter came today and I was going to write today. Isn't it lucky I can answer a letter while it is still warm!
Well, my dear son, you are too generous as usual. A whole $5 bill. Where do the rest come in on this? It cost $9.99, no not quite that [to fix the radio], and you see this is half of the whole, and The Readers' Digest, too! That will be lovely. I've always wanted that magazine. Oh, thank you Vance, but that doesn't at all express it. You know what I mean tho. I strongly suspect you of 'ulterior motives.' 'The fiver will come handy just now,' says you. Well, dearest, don't worry over us. We'll make it all right. I don't intend to do without food and decent clothes and plenty of light such as it is. We have lately sold two little 2 ½ gallon cans of cream and each brought us $3.60, more than a 5 gallon used to do. We have a fresh cow so cream will be coming on faster and we pay as we go. The hens are beginning to lay now, too, and eggs are 40 cents. I wonder how all this sounds to you now. It must sound queer! I know it does. You have been away from it all so long. Dad beefed the steer to day with help from June and Ralph. It is nice and fat and we'll sell half of it if we can, and can a lot. I just used my last jar of canned beef yesterday.
Weather is bright and cold, the ground frozen hard. It is making water scarce and we need lots more moisture but we do enjoy the bright days, for we had so much fog and frost and gloom for a while.
The radio is up and going, but we must look after the connections as we're getting poor results. I feel quite proud that I could set it up without trouble and we got different batteries too and different tubes.
I think the Reader's Digest will be fine for both [sisters]. I know Myrtle is crazy about it, and Pearl hasn't much time for reading so the condensed form will be good and Al will like it too.
Well, I'm so bedeviled and bemused with everything around here that this evening I trimmed the Aladdin lamp on the library table, then finding no matches on the mantel went to the kitchen, took one, lit it, and carried it carefully to this room. When I came to, I was so tickled over my own foolishness that I nearly blew out the lamp. I was laughing and I get silly every time I think of it. I mean all this Xmas packing, sorting, carding, lettering, mailing, etc., etc. I'm like the woman "Uncle Josh" told about. "She opened the valise, took out the purse, shut the valise," etc. etc. – remember it?
I've got Myrtle's package still to pack. Yours was got ready today and I hope you may like it. The rest are gone. No, I didn't spend any money to speak of – couldn't – but looked around and found a couple of books, new, though we'd read them, so sent one to Ernest and Ethel and one to Al and Pearl; sent Stan Dickens' A Christmas Carol and Shirley Jean The Five Little Peppers. Dad put in some Xmas popcorn, for it seems what they get there doesn't pop. Shirley put in a booklet for each [Stan & Shirley Jean] having the Bible story of the nativity to read Christmas Eve. I had a supply of stationery from the Rexall sale and sent Earle & Bernice a nice big box such as they like. Myrtle, I got a shoulder scarf to wear at her work. Shirley a pretty white slip. She wears white uniforms and needs lots of slips. For Dad I got a pair of nice wool dress socks tho he rarely wears them as such but likes to wear them inside his heavy ones and his supply was getting rather low. I got a nut cracker and pix [picks] for June & Aunt, tho he has no teeth at all and she only the lowers, but they'll eat nuts, you'll see. I got Ruth a cute figurine holding fish and egg timer in its mouth. Doris gets a booklet, Xmas reading, and tree decorations. She is the tree girl as well as reader up there. Ralph gets something – don't know just what yet – and I'll have treats on the tree for all, mostly sugared popcorn as they all voted it best for before dinner consumption. Of course, there will be candy and nuts after dinner. We'll ask Mr. Boehm down, poor lonely soul.
Now I must close . . . With much love and all good wishes, Mother
[The photo of the barnyard was taken by Ina in 1936. She calls our attention to the newspaper at the top of the photo that Jack, her husband, was holding to shade the camera.] KW
2 comments:
I just love reading these letters from your grandmother. Thank you so much for sharing them. Sure put things into perspective, don't they? Hope you're enjoying a relaxing day today.
I appreciate your saying that you enjoy the letters, Chris. I never tire of reading them, but sometimes I think they might not be as interesting to someone else. Ina's story is of special interest to me because of relationship and this farm, but what she relates of life is also important in the broader sense -- in the details of how life was lived. I'm supposed to be writing a book based on this correspondence. I was distracted in 2009. Maybe 2010 will see better progress.
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