Dear Daddy – The Farm Letters

Dear James,

We got your letter with the $5.00 yesterday. I’m glad you O.K. our plan. We had another nice rain last night at bed-time. The children have gone after the milk. Mitzi goes with them when they walk. Lately she wants to ride in the car too. She sits quietly on the back seat.

I believe we’ll drive down on Friday. We can go to West Concord on Saturday and we must come home on Monday as the garden is coming along and the fruit is ripening. The juneberries are nice this year and we’ll pick all we can this week. They ripen a few at a time so we have to pick often.

I did our washing yesterday and will iron today and go to town tomorrow. The Sweet William are blooming and also the little pansies. We had a mess of peas for supper last night. The children cultivated the peas, beans, potatoes, corn, onions, cabbage and sweet corn yesterday and I hoed the melons from 6 AM ’till 7:30. I’ll write to you again tomorrow and give you our exact plans.

I didn’t get the car painted. I’m sorry as I should like to have it look nice for our trip, but we don’t let that stand in our way. During the dry spell it was too dusty and there hasn’t been time since the rain.

“We’ll be Seein’ you” so look for our latest plans tomorrow.

Love from us all, Martha

(Thursday morning. June 29th-1933)

We had another shower last night. We found a lot of high bush juneberries loaded with berries on the south side of the field about where the fence ends. They are not quite ripe but we may pick them and leave them in the house to ripen while we are gone. The things you sent haven’t come nor has the second letter with the $5. This stalls me as I can’t use the car until I get the tire pumped. I believe I’d better start early Sat. morning. We should get there early in the afternoon and you can meet us at Camden. The car is running good and we’ll be very careful and with this rain the sand won’t bother. We’ll be back on Monday so everything will be O.K. I’ll write again Friday so you’ll know whether the things have come.

Love, Martha

Dear James,

Well good news at last. We’ve had the most wonderful rain and none too soon. I believe this will give the oats a chance and the garden will be O.K. now. We went to church this morning. Services were at 11 O’clock. It’s a nice clean little church and we enjoyed the services. We just got home when it began to cloud up. We covered the car and gathered in some wood and then came a nice heavy shower. The children put on their bathing suits and had lots of fun. The grass in the yard is looking green again. I drove down after the milk this morning and used Jenson’s pump to put more air in that tire. The car sounds fine.

I forgot to tell you I broke one of the windows trying to open it, the one on the North. Sat. I finished tacking the last of the screen on the windows and tacked screen on the inside of the open places in the Little House and painted the seat. It looks nice.

I felt awfully tired after we had come home from church and lay down for a while. I fell asleep and the children were quiet and didn’t waken me and I slept all afternoon. We had dinner at 6 o’clock, macaroni, bacon and chocolate pudding.

Oscar Jenson’s son is to be married around the 4th of July. They say there is going to be a big neighborhood picnic at Stony Lake on the 4th. I don’t care whether we go or not as long as you are with us. I liked the book you sent me. It was so warm Friday I just sat down and read the book and have read parts of it twice.

The dog kept me awake most of the night barking. I had her in the house and her growling is enough to frighten any one away. Some of the corn is up to John’s waist and the rain will boost the rest along. The lower part of the garden is still pretty weedy and I think I’ll leave that for you to hoe.

Well I’m going to bed now. Let me know right away what to do,

Love, Martha

Dear James,

We got your letter and package yesterday and everything was fine except the news about your mother. I think, under the circumstances, that we should drive down and be there for the Reunion and then you bring us back here for the Fourth. We will need a few clothes. Here are my plans. We will drive down on Friday and you will have to see Esther so that we can stay there Friday nite. Then early Sat. morning we will drive to West Concord, stay over Sun. and start back for here Mon. morning and you can spend the rest of your vacation here if your mother is all right and see her as often as you can when you go back to work. I can make the trip alright and you can meet me at Camden or have Alfred meet me if you are working. Let me know what you think of this. I would like to see your mother and have the children see her. It won’t look so conspicuous to her if we come down for the Reunion and I think it is the best thing. If you O.K. this I’ll write Esther a card and let her know we are coming.

It is cloudy and cool and we may get the rain we need so badly. Send me some money and we’ll get the things we need here.

Your fish story sounded good. We haven’t had any yet.

Well the coffee is ready and we must have breakfast, and I am going ahead with plans to leave here Friday. I think the way by Backus is best and from there on it won’t be hard. You won’t need to send any more food and your washing we can bring back with us.

Lots of love from us all, Martha

Dear James,

I am waiting for the children to come home with the milk so will write to you. We looked for a letter from you but none came. It has been cool the last three days but no more rain after that thunder shower. The oats are pretty dry and don’t seem to grow any. The garden stuff is all right except the peas are beginning to dry up. There are pods 2 inches long on the early ones and a nice rain would save them. I hoed the onions, carrots, cabbage and pop corn yesterday. That is 4 inches high.

The Nevis creamery had their annual picnic Wed. We needed, butter and meat and the children wanted to go so we packed a lunch and went to it. The tires were getting soft and the pump is broken so I stopped at the garage there and had the man there put in a new inner tube in the left rear tire as you know there was something wrong with the valve. He also pumped up the rest of the tires. We drove along the lake shore aways and finally came to the end of the road at a cottage by the lake. We turned around and went back the same way and met a nice herd of Guernseys being driven in by a woman, and an empty hay-rack with a couple of young men in charge. The road was soft and narrow and I didn’t care to turn out and the cows acted scared of the car so I just stopped it and turned off the engine and the Lady and boys drove the cows by on both sides. The cows acted as tho’ they had never seen a car before and tried to climb the bank on both sides of the road. There was room for the hay-rack to pass us without our turning out as the ditch wasn’t deep so we went merrily on our way home. The children wanted to go in bathing and there is a nice pool by the bridge near Bryan Sell’s so we drove over there and left the car in their yard and their two children went out with us and we had a nice time. We stayed there about 30 minutes and went back to Sells and lo and behold we had a flat tire, the one I had just had the new tube put into. Then we remembered that the car had sounded funny just before we got there and when we got the tire off, the tube was completely ruined. I’ve saved it for you to look at, it looks as tho’ it had been pinched when it was put in. There was no sign of a puncture. Well, we got the old tube and changed the valve so we could pump it up and put that in the tire when I came to get the pump it was gone and so were our pliers. Sell’s pump was no good and we could get only a little air in the tire but we got home without any damage being done and I jacked up that wheel and left it that way. We checked over your tools and could find nothing else missing but the pump and pliers. I was in the car all the while it was in the garage and we know we had the pump in the trunk and the pliers too as I put them there myself. Maybe you can read between the lines. Maybe you can pick up a pump down there and bring it with you.

We heard County Agent Olson speak at the picnic. He spoke on feeding cows and explained a plan whereby farmers could get a thorough-bred calf and keep it for three years and have the use of it to improve their herds just for feeding the animal and paying registration costs.

Well I must close now. I hope you are well and we surely are looking forward to July 1st. Lots of love from us all,

Martha and the children