Tuesday, March 18 4 p.m.
50° Barometer 31.0 in rising
First taste of spring
Dear Andrew and John,
Your letters are still coming through like clockwork. We received yesterday the letters written one week previous. We have prayed that the trip proved uneventful and that you saved the government a lot of ammunition. I can sympathize with Knox's loss of a Rollei camera because I know what they can do and am enclosing some of Ward's propaganda in one of your envelopes so he can contemplate the down payments.
The crayon sketch came through in good shape, John, and it so happened that I have recently acquired a can of Craft-Tint, an acrylic spary or rather spray. It's one of those Gulf-Spray type bombs, same size and shape. This particular one is intended to fix charcoal and crayon prints. I hope you don't mind that I gave your picture the works and it turned out beautifully. By that I mean you can notice no difference--no gloss or sheen or anything but you can figer, I mean finger (it's getting late and I'm hurrying) it without fear of smear. I had picked it up, the spray that is, to give the wiring on the car-a protective coat for moisture resistance. I couldn't get the exact type I wanted and took this Craft-Tint which has now done double duty.
And your cash came in last week, Andrew, the twelve you have earmarked for us and Arlene. Thanks a lot and here's how we hope to work it. We are going to try to make it to Pierre's and will give Arlene her two but we want to cut the remaining ten in half and over the week end we got the bank books together and will open or try to reopen your account, Andrew, with five and put your money order, John, and insurance check in with the four or so balance you have. Andrew has not yet received his thirty insurance premium or dividend but, from what I read in the paper, there is still hope till the end of March, if you want to wait that long. If you want to write them or want me to do so, the only address is Washington 25, D. C.
The weather was extremely nasty for over a week; colder than has been all winter, with gales of wind that hit 70 miles an hour on three different days; set boats loose in Baltimore harbor and beat the city up in general. There was ice and below freezing temperature this morning but it changed noontime as though someone pulled a switch and this is more like it. We rode out as far as the Clapsaddle's on Sunday and the car was all over the road from the wind but the sun was shining during the afternoon and it was cozy inside. Earl has quit his job in Detroit again and was in Baltimore on Sunday. Our Ann had a call from Ann Clap this morning and Earl wants her to give up everything in Baltimore and go back to Detroit where he is again heading sometime today. By the time we got back home--we didn't take our coats off over there but went for a ride in the country--Stevie had a temperature of 102º. By a process of elimination we found it to be his throat and reached for the bottle of Dr. Gallagher's special sulfa which bounces back and forth between us and the B's. It happened to be over there but there was some left and two doses broke the fever by Monday morning. I didn't see him last night but he was in good spirits this morning. That Kathy is something, too. I think Stephen has a pound of two on her now but she talks a blue streak and gives with the eyes, hands and feet at the same time. She came on the telephone the other day and gave me a breathless account of falling downstairs on her button nose and all covered with blood. I couldn't wait till Ann took the 'phone away from her and informed me that was only what she had predicted if she wasn't careful. Kathy did take a bumpy fall down the back stairs last week and landed in the diaper pail with only a bruised cheek. Yesterday Mike was first on the 'phone and he put out a rapid account of how Kathleen had crawled on the sink which had fallen over on her. Ann had to translate that one, too, and substitute the Christmas present plastic model which Kathy stood on and put her foot through, throwing her to the floor.
Some persistent cuss has taken over the gas station across the street again and good luck to he for he'll need it. They tell me Mickey Folker's or rather Tucker's father is very ill with some kind of heart trouble. He's pretty young, still in his thirties, hut when I'm up with one of the kids two or three in the morning the lights are burning over there. I don't believe he has worked for some time. Has Ann told you the news on Florence. You remember she was going with that slob, Dorsey. Now she has put Kenney (Kenny), the big boy, in a home, and her new boyfriend is none other than Dorsey's father. She is no longer living back in that hole but with the Dorseys.
When I filed your income tax forms I put a little note on each one that you were on active duty and where, and told them you had been informed of the tax due It is my opinion that you won't have to or shouldn't pay the $6.60 because Willis, Mr. Hahn's son-in-law, owed over $150 when he entered the service and he has been out for over five years: they have never asked for it and he hasn't volunteered.
Please let us know the condition of things at you new base; not just the location and such but about the miscellaneous supplies and snack situation. If there is anything we have plentiful of here, it's easy enough to put in the mails. I'm not going to promise but with this still in the typewriter I shall say that I'll try to get something in the way of a picture or pictures in the letter before I mail it tonight when I get home. Yesterday 'was St. Patrick's day and on Sunday, the day before, they announced lenten restrictions were off for the day. I worked last night as usual and when I get home would have an egg and some toast, but last night Ann surprised me with cheeseburgers, which she had made, pepsis and cake; It really went good watching Studio One, last night "The Vintage Years". It was light and pretty smooth with no particular notable in the cast. Worthington Miner, as you may have read, has gone over to NBC and you can notice a difference.
END OF LETTER
Editor's notes:
Mr. Hahn: worked for Charles' employer
Mr. B's: Mr. Bellis the next door neighbor
Ann Clapsaddle: Ann's High school friend
Next posting: March 25, 1952
Copyright 2012 Stephen A Conner
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