Dear Daddy,
Will you please send me a piece of leather about 2 inches long shaped like this
with 2 holes in it shaped like this and a piece of rubber a half an inch wide and twelve inches long.
Goodby now, John
Category: Chapter 7
Sep 3, 1932-from Ruth to James
Dear Daddy,
How are you I am fine. John is going to make a sling shot for me. And will you please send me a bottle of glue for 10 cents? Yesterday for dinner we had custard pie and it sure was good. last night John and me made a little nest out of dried grass Mamma raked it up and John and me hauled it away. A few days ago John and me made a doll table and my little yellow chair just goes with it.
Well this all so long
From Ruth
Sep 3, 1932-from Martha to James
Dear James,
We received another letter yesterday and the packages have come thru just fine. Am glad you are doing well with the driving. John’s raincoat fits well and is he proud of it. Ruth will need size 12. The shoes are O.K.
I am baking bread today. If you will send things in small paste board boxes I can send you cookies and such when I send the laundry. I’ve been cleaning up the yard and have burned a lot of rubbish. I found the big shears, just a little rusty. I am saving all the grass, it is full of leaves and will be nice for the garden. The hollyhocks are up and the children counted 23 ears of corn. Jenson’s have cut and shocked most of their corn and hauled the rest home. We dug some more potatoes. Mr. Jenson Sr. helped us and we got some fair sized ones. He told John to use the sharp edge of the hoe but John told him his Daddy had showed him the right way to do it.
The children made a harness out of a piece of wood and some clothes line and hauled the grass and leaves away. They took turns being the horse, whose name is Bessie, and the other one gets a nice ride on the hay. They are building a little house out of the dried grass now. It’s beginning to rain and I must gather in more wood. Will write more later. Send some ham and cheese and waxed paper for lunches.
Love, Martha
Sep 1, 1932-from Martha to James
Dear James,
We were so pleased with everything in the package. The percolator is sitting on the stove beside me as I write. The children have gone after the milk this morning and I have these few quiet moments to write.
It was coolish last night but the days are lovely. We had company on Monday. Roy and Reo and George and Emily [James’ sisters and their husbands] dropped in on us for a few minutes. They left home last Thursday, drove up to Grand Marais and Ely, and stopped here on their way home. They stayed in Alexandria that night. They had their own bedding and cooking things and stayed at cottages along the way. It rained most all the time they were out and they were pretty disgusted with the weather.
Our yard looked very untidy so Tuesday I got busy and raked together the piles you started and all the loose papers and such, and had a bonfire. The ground is well soaked and we burned a lot of it without danger of fire. It rained again that evening and put out the rest of the fire. I had a tub of soft water that had got spoiled for anything else so I swept out the old house and mopped the floor, then we piled wood inside next to the east wall. John has sawed and carried in most of the stuff you brought into the yard.
Yesterday Ruth built the fire and made dinner alone. She fried potatoes, bread, and eggs, warmed up the coffee, and had prunes and cake for dessert. They are making paper doll clothes out of the wall paper sample book. This time they drew boy dolls and made overalls and knickers, suits and snow suits etc.
The cat has 4 new kittens. Last night she started to get sick while lying on the couch. The children carried her out to the old house where they had a nice bed fixed for her and everything was all right. Don’t you think we had better dispose of the new ones and keep the old cat and Tommy? I would like to find a home for Tommy. He is a beautiful cat and a good hunter now.
The children are waiting for school to begin. Send John another pair of pants and we need two padlocks, one on the house and one on the Little House. I’m glad you had a chance to visit with Roy and Gladys.
Love from us all,
Martha
PS My balance on hand August 31st $8.15.
Sep 1, 1932-from John to James
Dear Daddy,
I am writing this letter with the pencil you sent me. I sure do like it. and that necktie you sent me sure is swell. boy but I have fun playing with my paper dolls. we liked that candy you sent. the mailman is coming so goodby.
love from John
Aug 30, 1932-from Ruth to James
Dear Daddy,
Thank You for the pencil and the tablet and the candy and thank you aspeshuly for the needle case. today Mother is going to use the new coffee pot. Yesterday Mamma cleaned up the old house and Johnny and me got one half for a play room. all day yesterday we played with our paper dolls and had lots of fun. this morning the mother cat came in and climbed on John’s bed and was trying to get underneth the covers but John wouldent let her so she snuguld un to his side and was contented. I am writing with your pencil. John took the brown and white one, I took the red and Mother got the green one. Well this is all so love from Ruth
Aug 29, 1932-from Ruth to James
Dear Daddy,
Well to begin with do you want a cat? Well a few days ago Mamma heard something meyow and thought it was a catbird and when she looked it was the little kitty and my how he has grown we hardly know him and his black spots are black and gold and his white spots are the whitest you ever saw. Will you send us some brown paper and some cardboard boxes. we need them badly. Mamma made some choke chary jam with apple and it’s real good. Yesterday we had fried chicons and maccarony and biscut. this morning it was so foggy you couldn’t even see the second woods. well this is all the news so love from Ruth
Aug 28, 1932-from James to Ruth
Dear Ruth,
Well how is my little girl getting along? Say, when I looked at the book you sent me I thought it was out of the store you made it so nice.
I suppose you are getting ready for school. I hope you like it. I think you will like to carry your lunch, it will be like having a picnic every day but you must work hard while you are in class. Let me know what you need to work with and I will send it to you. Tell Mama that I forgot to get her shoes fixed but will get them to her this week.
They still have the little black puppie here, they got him a little collar so now he is all dressed up. Well Ruth, don’t forget to write often.
Love and a great big hug from Daddy
Aug 28, 1932-from James to John
My dear John,
I will write you a few lines to let you know how I am. Daddy is getting along fine learning to drive. I finished Franklin and the Cedar Ave. stub on Friday and worked 34th Ave. South -North Bryant on Sat. I was with Mr. Hawkinson and he is the same man I was student conductor with on the Selby Lake line when I first started. I have only the Bloomington and Kenwood lines yet to learn so will get them some time this week.
Say John, I am sending you my mouth organ, you can have it and maybe you can learn to play some tunes on it.
Have you done any more work on the shelter? Ruth told me you took too big a bite of chokecherry sauce the first time you tried it.
Well John, I will expect a letter from you soon so by by with love
From Daddy
Aug 28, 1932-from Martha to James
Dear James,
It’s the end of another Sunday and a rainy one too. It started to rain at 7 this morning and has kept it up off and on all day. We were caught without any wood but while the children went after the milk, I sawed enough wood to last us today and tomorrow morning. The saw works much better now.
We walked over to Mrs. Shaw’s Friday evening and brought home a young rooster. There being no one else to do it I chopped its head off with the new ax, plucked it and cut it up ready for the kettle. We all wished you were here to help eat him. We read half of “The Lone Cowboy” today and dug up a bunch of “funnies” that we hadn’t looked at yet,
The place looks quite cozy now that things are straightened up. I put the odd boxes out in the old house. We need a lamp now. It gets dark much earlier now and the lantern is smelly and doesn’t give a very good light. We’ve all been tired enough to turn in early so far.
We went out to gather cherries Friday afternoon. We had picked a small pail full when I caught my hand on a hidden barbed wire. It jabbed thru the big vein in the back of my hand and the vein started to puff up right away and the hand swelled. We went home and I opened up the cut and put on some Pepsodent, then got some boiling water and put on hot compresses the rest of the afternoon. That stopped the swelling and the pain and today it is just a little sore to the touch.
I put the phonograph on the chest and we’ll use that for papers and magazines and the clock. I use the lower part of the kitchen cabinet as a refrigerator. I wish you could be here too. The children went out to look for hazelnuts but didn’t find any. Jensen’s cut corn all day Friday and Saturday. They haven’t thrashed yet. We haven’t walked around the farm yet. Some day soon I’m going to follow the north line fence to the N.W. corner.
Instead of sending us money this time get each of the youngsters and yourself a raincoat. Get a red one for Ruth and a yellow slicker for John. If you want to send us groceries, send dried fruits, rice, macaroni, brownies, graham crackers and some cheese. We need some writing tablets too. I think we’ll write 3 times a week after this. I’ll mail letters from here on Saturday, Tuesday, and Thursday. It seems so long apart to write only twice. We intended to take pictures today but the weather prevented us. We’ll do that as soon as we can. We must get the milk now and then to bed.
Love from us all,
Martha
P.S. Jenson just brought us a nice load of wood. We are piling it up in the old house now. Some of it is too long to use in the cook stove but we can use it in a heater. John is going to write you a special letter all his own. He says we write all the news.