A Trip to Hydes and No Room in the Bed

Friday, October 17, 1952

Dear Andrew and John,

We've been having such beautiful weather, it must be due for a change. Each day the paper has predicted rain or cold and it has continued to warm up in the morning and today is another in the seventies. The warmth of the ground and the condensation has caused early fog, though, and wait till you see it. Coming in toward town or rather until you hit the road to Towson there are several mile stretches where you couldn't see one car length in front or behind. But you only find this during the fall or spring or perhaps some warmer winter weather. Did you notice the flowers advertised on the back of the Times movie section of last week; to bloom from November to March.

If this weather and our health holds out, we plan on getting Cousin Anna and Cousin Claire Sunday for the afternoon. I haven't called them and don't intend to until Sunday to see how things turn out. We did get a 'phone call at home from Cousin Claire on Wednesday just to see how things were. I haven't talked with Cousin Anna since week before last.

Annie Clapsaddle called me here at the office to say they were back from Texas. Does not intend to call out home any more since they charged her 75¢ for the last call. They brought Earl's mother back with them and Earl does not know whether he is going back to Bridgeport, Conn. to work or perhaps somewhere in Canada.

It was such a nice day Wednesday, that Ann took the kids for a walk to the Hydes Post Office, which is where the Ma and Pa Railroad crosses Hydes Road on the map. I paced it off with the car and it comes to 7/10 of a mile so it isn't too far but they got a ride back with the postman which didn't hurt any. I believe I have already told you that Peterson's said they open at 7:30 and close around 9:30. I asked the feller at the Post Office-general store for his hours and he called to the back room, "Hey, Ma, what time would you say we close up evenings?" She yelled back, "Oh, about midnight". So there you are. You never have to worry about running out of anything with him that close. Suprisingly enough his things are fresh though they do cost a penny or two more. Ann and I laughed at his window decoration-several boxes of Kotex piled atop five or six shotguns and dozens of packages of shells.

I find I haven't another darn thing to tell you. The little ones are still sleeping beautifully from about 7 or 8 p.m. till 1 a.m. Then we start playing checkers: in comes Mike to our bed. Kathy can climb over her lowered sides and she will appear next or Stevie will use one of his three words and call me. I can't fit any more so I go in the other room to Michael's bed. Or if Stevie and Kathy monopolize our bed I take to the couch. When it gets colder I'm going to protest.

I'll get another out on Monday but just like you to hear from us. Ann says she'll talk your ears off when you get home.

END OF LETTER

Editor's notes:
Ann Clapsaddle is Ann's friend from high school.

Next Posting: October 20, 1952

Copyright 2012 Stephen A Conner

We're Not Presbyterians, We're From Catonsville

Monday September 22

Dear Andrew and John,

Shades of Bloomsbury Avenue: the toilet was stopped up Saturday night and it was my fault partly. Mike has long been housebroken and Kathy is for her water burps but whenever we see her standing cross-legged we know it's a more odorous affair. I relieved her of a baseball sized object and tossed it in the bowl and believe it or not it clogged the works. It was late so I couldn't do anything till Sunday morning. On the way from church I dropped up to Richard's-the maintenance man--but he was away and his plunger was locked up. The fellow at the general store didn't know what I was talking about I asked Ann what she thought he used - his foot. Another, fellow at my last hope store said his wife always took care of those things and he didn't have one to sell or borrow. The solution was right next door where Mrs. Baldwin kept one for just such emergencies. The Barbours who lived there before us, she said, were constantly losing their teeth or the children's plastic toys in the darn thing. But it's working fine again as though nothing had happened. Hope I'm not disillusioning you.

On the Television matter again, a surprise. Friday I gave Geipe a call, went out to the Edmondson storehouse and loaded your TV in the back of the car and took it home. It's in perfect condition and Ann gave it a coating of Preen wax just for good measure. Then we carried it up to the third floor but thought we'd try it out before putting it in the store room. It works much better than it did in Catonsville. WAAM comes in picture clear no matter how you fool with the inside aerial. But the best thing of all, you don't have to change the antenna and the sound is wonderful, too. Besides the 3 regular channels there's pictures all over the place but I haven't had a chance to try them to find out what they are. I didn't watch it Friday evening but looked forward to Saturday when Jimmy Durante was on with Margaret Truman, at 8 o'clock. So at 6:30 in walks Aunt Alice, Jeannie and Uncle Lawrence, followed by Annie and Earl Clapsaddle, who didn't come in that new Chevy I told you about because Saturday he traded it in for n Mercury. They gabbed through J. Durante but Aunt A and Uncle L left at nine and the C's at 9:30. So we raced each other up the stairs to see the last part of Show of Shows. Saw the Hamilton Trio and Cid and Imogene in solos and for the finale, Marguerite Piazza singing a ten minute role of the Haben-what's-its-name from Carmen. Swell. Sunday I picked up Aunt Til in Towson at 1:30 and we didn't go upstairs till 8 p.m. The papers last Sunday must have been wrong for Martin and Lewis were on and were great. Their guest was Rosemary Cluny in her new short hairdo but she didn't mess around with them at all. Sang "If you Love Me Half as Much" and that "Botcha Me" thing. We're locking the third floor during the day to keep the kids down and keeping the TV for a special treat. Before all this happened, I had gone down to Johnson Brothers on Thursday afternoon and had a nice talk with Mr. Lucas. He sends hello. Speaking of the Capeheart, which the B's said they could get at 40% discount, he said they won't allow one in the door of the shop. They had some big Magnavox's that were beauts but the prices made me do what I did about your set. And even though your picture is a little smaller than the popular sizes now adays you can't find a better picture than the one we get on your set. So, if it's OK with you both, as Andrew said, we'll take good care of it. And Mr. Lucas said Johnson Brothers has their own service man out in our area, paid by and acting only for Johnson Brothers. They also service Annapolis, Westminster and all points within about fifty miles. I forgot, the one other thing we saw last night--Philco Playhouse, was a good dramatic play called "The Thin Air" with Joan Lorring (remember her) and Scott Forbes. The sets keep getting better and they must have used a dozen. After that I took Aunt Til home and the rest went to bed.

We tried the new food store at Jacksonville Saturday and Ann loves it; a regular supermarket, big, too, and a general store, also, but all on more of a citified plan. It's evidently tied in to a chain that specializes in country stores called the Cloverdale Farm Stores. This one in particular is run by a family of Miles. A nice looking woman about 50 was marking prices and smiled at the kids. She introduced herself as the grandmother and I suppose she meant she was the mother of the three giants behind the meat counter. I bring her into the story because she came out with, "Are you folks by any chance Presbyterians?" And not wishing to get started in a religious scramble, I came back with, "No, were from Catonsville." Every time I think back on it I realize how asinine it sounds. It's only about ten minutes drive from home and in miles I should say not five, compared to Towson's ten and Parkville's nine but no traffic and good roads this way.

In one of your envelopes I'm putting a sample of the mimeo pages they give out in church every Sunday. Arlene and I went to 10 yesterday and were out by 11:10 but Ann got the visiting priest at her Mass from Baltimore and he whizzed through in 30 minutes. I'm also enclosing a map I tried unsuccessfully to mimeo with one of the stencils I had left from National Radiator.

END OF LETTER

Next Posting: September 24, 1952

Copyright 2012 Stephen A Conner

Swimming Pools and When To Say "Excuse Me"

Monday, August 4, 1952

Dear Andrew and John,

I don't have such to tell you. No sale for the house as yet and I'm starting to getting a little of the jitters. I 'phoned Cousin Ann today and learned that Cousin Claire has been ordered to stay home for a week or two and was just then leaving for the doctor's. Right after that (noontime) I called Aunt Helen and told her we hoped August 18th was a definite moving date and she said she had heard from you and that Uncle Andy was doing very well, better than they expected.

I picked up the family at Annie Clapsaddle's on Friday. Or rather I stayed to dinner first and when Ann suggested we leave a little after seven I noticed there was no objection from Mrs. C. Stevie, they said, had the time of his life. They had one of those inflatable swimming pools and he would run across the yard and fall full length in the water. Every time he takes a bath now he buries his head in the water and bubbles away. When I walked out in the back yard out there I found Kathy two inches away from a pit black wasp blowing in his face. The wasp didn't hurt her but went right over and bit Mike. I put iodine on it and it is still sore but not painful. By the time we got one block away, they were all asleep and didn't awaken till seven on Saturday morning. Stephen was standing on the back seat of the car looking out the window, too quietly I thought, and when Arlene turned to investigate from where she was reading, she found him sound asleep standing up.

Saturday it was rainy in the morning and hot and humid in the afternoon. We stayed close to home except for store shopping for groceries. Sunday was also quiet and we took a short ride about six coming back the new highway at Montgomery Road where the Varsity has opened a new place called the "Pig'N Whistle". I read an ad in the Argus about an opening special on home made ice cream at 95¢ a half gallon and as I had my rider money I treated the family. For some reason I have been off ice cream for about a year and I bet you're ljst the opposite, especially if you can't get it. Back to Saturday night movie TV, the two non-commercial movies presented by ABC were pretty sad; No. 1: Almost Sixteen with Gale Storm and Robert Henry; No. 2: Criminal Investigator with Robert Lowery and Edith Fellows. The Gunther Playhouse was a little better. You may have seen "Raw Deal" with Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor, and Marsha Hunt. One of those he breaks out of jail and they hunt him down while he's hunting somebody else.

We were still laughing over Aunt Hannah's Monroe Street slogan and John's back slapping. The slogan has also been going around, Edmondson Village by Christmas. I don't know if Ann told you about Mike and his children's bright saying, but I'll repeat it. He was engrossed in a book and Kathy was sitting beside him on the couch. She made a very unladylike noise through her little bottom and Michael, without turning away from his book said, "When you do that, Kathy, you're supposed to put your hand over your mouth and say 'Excuse me'."

More as the week and other things progress, we hope.

END OF LETTER

Editor's Notes:
Charles' family is moving from Catonsville.

Next Posting: August 6, 1952

Copyright 2012 Stephen A Conner

Mike Goes Up The Hill

Friday, August 1, 1952

Dear Andrew and John,

I worked out the Doctor's again yesterday and picked up a little more information on the house. Mrs. B. came into the Doctor's den and we sat and talked for more than half an hour. She spent the day out at the farms on Tuesday and rounded up some things she is contributing. Among other things, she has eight mahogony chairs for us, also a couch which she is having upholstered which means we can put our Hide-A-Bed upstairs for extra sleeping space and she has another bed for us, which Arlene may use, or we may take the big maple one Arlene is using now and finally she has a folding bed plus a desk. She says she had three boys from the farms bringing things down to the house from storage space in the barns and tried them out for position. Ann is perfectly satisfied to accept gifts as what we have at present wouldn't go too far out there and it looks as though there won't be any wherewithal to get any extras if we have to drop the price of the house at 25. Nothing new except Schatz called yesterday and said he had a good prospect who was coming at 8:30 last night. I had school so Ann and Arlene scrubbed the place and even swept the cellar and then nobody showed up. Getting back to the new place, I have put in for a telephone which comes through Bel Air, but is a FORK number. The only thing available is on a four party line but at least it's a 'phone.

Ann overheard a little discussion between Michael and Jane and Edward on Tuesday. Our only problem with Mike is that he goes "up the hill" as we call it, to the houses bordering on the school and Frederick Road, where Tyson Morsberger and Dolores nee Moore's families live. He also makes trips without permission to Shepherd's back yard, next to Pierpoint's, where, believe it or not, Bill Shepherd has two of the nicest kids, one of each, about 4 and 5. Ann doesn't mind him playing with them, in fact prefers it to J & E, but doesn't like him out of sight or sound. Anyway, back to the story, Ann heard Mike beg Jane and Edward to stop teasing him-they gang up on him once in awhile and he busted Edward last week. They kept it up and finally Mike said, "Jane and Edward, I'm not playing with you any more, I'm going down Sissy and Billy's." He started down toward the school-field with a determined stride and Ann was about to give a shout when Edward ran after him and begged, "Don't go, Mike, we won't have anyone to play with." Without breaking his stride, Mike looked over his shoulder and said "Tough", and kept right on going. Ann said she wouldn't have stopped him then if he had been headed for Irvington.

I called Cousin Ann last night before I left school--about 9:20, and she said the doctor has given permission for Cousin Claire to come home today but that she must remain in bed. The doctor has given her a prescription for Aureomycin capsules which she has to take day and night as he says there is still a deep infection there and the cough remains

When I reached home last night, Ann had just talked with Annie Clapsaddle who told our Ann she needed to get away for a day and to bring the family over the her place as her Mom and Pop have gone to Wildwood and I could pick them up this evening. Ann said she would if I could bring them over this morning; so I took them there at 8:15 this a.m. and Annie Clap is going to wish she had kept her big mouth shut by the time I go get them this evening.

END OF LETTER

Editor's Notes:
Charles works for Dr. and Mrs. Burton who have promised him the use of a larger house near their farms northeast of Baltimore. At one time the house was an Inn.
Charles also teaches nights for the Baltimore Institute - a business school.

Next Posting: August 4, 1952

Copyright 2012 Stephen A Conner

Conjunctivitis and The Fourth Of July

Monday, July 7 1952

Dear Andrew and John,

In some respects we had a nice quiet weekend and since last Thursday we received several letters from each of you and the pictures, Andrew. I am still waiting to see what Pavelle does to the black and whites of the kids. I got the word from you, John, that the color prints had been done by a private set-up and I'm sure no commercial or grind-'em-out company would take the pains to see the color rendition was so perfect. I put an ad in the Argus, as I told you, about the Polaroid and didn't get a single nibble; offered it at best price over $50 and included attachments plus "will deliver".

When I got home last Thursday we put the little ones to bed and Arlene baby-sat while we took the Clapsaddles up on their offer. Arrived at the Marling House a few minutes past seven and they came right on our heels. As we were seated on that single table strip by the bar, Aunt Hannah was at the next table with someone she introduced as Mrs. Hayes. She left soon afterward but said she had a
letter from one of you. Next to the night out Ann and I had together, which I think we appreciated more because we made our own decisions, we really had a very good time. It was, my first taste of the M.H., you know, and those rum buns you talked about were delicious. As Earl paid for everything, we each had two drinks and the crab imperial a la carte (cheaper that way) with the salad that came along and yet I saw the bill at $17.90. I haven't been able to figure it out; seems a little high to me. I believe I told you Marling sold out several months ago but his head is still on everything including the ballet pictures on the walls. They have taken the hula gal with the running lights off the bar. From there we walked while deciding on a show, Ann and Annie was discussing Pat and Mike or St. Anne and the Something or Robin Hood or The Batchelor and Somebody; but the picture we saw was "Brave Warrior" with Jon Hall at the Mayfair and you can guess who picked it; I kept quiet. After that - home; Ann was a bit bothered by her eyes and they did look red and swollen. On the way she told me she had stood in front of the sun lamp for 20 minutes but had put paper over her eyes. That, combined with the movie and the fact she hasn't had her glasses available since Kathy snapped them in the middle brought on the consequences. She got to sleep for an hour but was up two o'clock walking the floor; then she walked outdoors and finally when she couldn't stand the pain I took her over to St. Agnes Hospital at 3:15 in the night, or rather morning. The doctor pronounced it acute Conjunctivitis or eye infection and put some drops in to ease the pain. She lay there for about an hour, after which he squeezed a tube of a cod liver oil and something mixture in each eye and gave her a shot in the arm; another rest and we went home but the pain didn't stop and neither of us slept. Toward morning the ice bags helped somewhat and she quieted down. What had Ann (and me, too) worried was that after we left the hospital she couldn't raise her eyelids and when she pried one up with her finger, couldn't see a thing. This was no doubt caused by swelling of the lids or something internally but by the afternoon of the Fourth we were both relieved when she could open them a little more than a slit and could see. The infection broke Saturday and stuff has been draining out ever since. I put the drops in all day Saturday and Sunday and with the aid of dark glasses Ann could go out for short periods at a time before applying cold packs. On the morning of the Fourth, I took Mike and Kathy down to the high school to watch the goings on while Ann tried to rest and Stevie napped for his usual two or three hours. We got there too late for the sucker scramble but Abe awarded each a couple of consolation lollipops and that suited Kathy for the rest of our stay down there. Jane and Edward showed up and while Edward didn't want to enter any of the games, Mike and Jane lined up with 100 others for something for kids under 8. The object was to hold a paper plate in the mouth, balance a marble on the plates, and run the length of the field and back. The gun went off and Mike and Jane streaked down and back with the plate clutched in one hand and the marble in the other. They were disqualified but had a lot of fun. The only other contest they entered was for "over 8 " -- a peanut collection; from which they emerged with a handful of peanuts. Then home we went to lunch and a little rest.

The parade was at 3:00 this year, or actually at 3:30 for a little rain held things up but passed over. We had no company on the porch and Ann watched for a little while but found the light too much. They had a good many bands and floats and I do think it was the largest yet. Earl added a big top of canvas to cover the entire section around the snowball stand and with about nineteen relatives working hard they managed to keep the line from blocking the view. The fireworks weren't up to usual; didn't start till 9:15 and were all over at 10:00. Stevie loved them and had his finger sticking at in the air spouting "See, see" till he was hoarse (one of his few words). Kathy enjoyed them, too, from the porch, and Mike didn't comment one way or the other but after a few big ones, he arose from his chair and announced "Mother, think I should rest for awhile" and went in the house but watched out of the window. Saturday was another pleasant day with temperature in the eighties and low humidity and we did practically nothing. Ann stayed in most of the time and I clipped a hedge and cleaned up the cellar and some weeds besides washing the car. Yesterday Arlene and I went to nine o'clock Mass in the chapel as they are still working on the church. I was in there on Friday and they seem to be rounding the ceiling which had to be repaired. At 9:05 Father Hughes came down into the hall and announced the priest that was due from the Monastery had forgotten about it and they 'phoned someone else was coming. The substitute didn't show up till 9:30 and was in the uniform of a Navy lieutenant chaplain. At the time for announcements he told the people not to think it strange that he appeared in uniform, that he was a chaplain. As if that explanation wasn't bad enough, he added, "For those who do not know what a chaplain is..." and went on in detail to elaborate. Guess he thought he was really out in the sticks. Ann made it to church and back OK but I knew she couldn't see well yet because she walked up the road with the glasses on to get a pack of Camels. She had to use a vending machine and came back with Chesterfield - didn't notice the mistake till she came into the house. Being in for three days like that, I suggested a ride as far as Friendship airport yesterday evening about 6:30. She felt well enough and we were down in less than 25 -minutes; this was our second visit. Nothing much doing on Sundays but I'd like to visit their dining room or cocktail lounge sometime. We bumped into Mr. Hahn and Willis, Betty and their kids seeing Willis off on a trip to Columbus. On the way back we picked up Auntie Florence, Mr. Bellis' sister, and now we know where she lives with the Dorsey's. It's one of the Schatz Bros. place on Valley Road after you turn there at the golf course and head toward town and Wilkens Avenue. I've always known it as the Lippe chocolate people's place.

Saturday evening we turned on TV to see two movies; at 9:00 CBS is putting on weekly shows in place of Ken Murray or as his summer replacement. Anyhow, from 9 to 10 it was Paison - which I haven't spelled correctly but you know what I mean, that Italian film and very good. After that, the Gunther Playhouse was Louis Hayward, Richard Carlson, Joan Fontainne and Tom Brown in "The Duke of West Point" copyright 1937. So Gunther has apparently given up on English films and is obtaining more recent American first releases. I found it entertaining and it must have been one of Joan Fontainne's first appearances though she had a rather large part.

Have to teach four nights this week as Mrs. Brown asked me and she is vacationing again. TV and radio is given over almost entirely to the Republican convention and there are only a couple of parts of it I would like to see. Abe left Saturday morning for two weeks to Toledo, Detroit and Chicago now that his car is pretty well broken in.

Just before I started this, Mrs. Burton 'phoned and asked me to call her back when the others had gone to lunch. She said she heard the present tenant of our future home was preparing to leave, had found a house about 5 miles away and the movers were there to look over things and finally that she might be out in about three weeks so that the possibility is still there we could be it by the first of August.

END OF LETTER

Editor's Notes:
Charles works for Dr. and Mrs. Burton who have promised him the use of a larger house near their farms. Charles also teaches night for a business school - The Baltimore Institute.
The Bellis' live next door at 23 Bloomsbury. Jane and Edward are bout the same age as Charles' children.
The Fourth of July parade always passed their house on Bloomsbury.
Ann Clapsaddle is a high school friend of Ann.
Abe Scop is a lifelong friend of Charles.

Next Posting: July 14, 1952

Copyright 2012 Stephen A Conner

A Quiet Week

Monday, June 30 1952

Dear Andrew and John,

I hear on the newscast that after several days of continuous rain you're all but floating. We had about two inches yesterday ending the unusual hot spell but the humidity is just as bad with today's 90°.

Got the prints back on the roll of black and white I took mostly at Arlene's graduation and then finished at home with one shot each of Stevie, Kathy and Mike outside. I had that old photo-attachment in the drawer for a couple of years and stuck in on to see what it would do judging the approximate distance. The printing was pretty bad in the Ritz pack but the negatives looked good so I sent to Pavelle for several, in fact three of each of the kids so we can send one along if they are presentable.

Friday night I minded the kids while Ann took a tour of Catonsville and spent an hour or two at her beloved Penny Wise Shop; no purchases, just talk. After she got home, we turned TV on about ten and, good news for John, it was Jackie Gleason's last show for good. I do believe, though, that he's coming back in the fall on another network (CBS) and Frankie boy, who was eased out and off CBS in March, is due on Dumont. As it was too warm to sleep we also saw Picture Playhouse; nothing worth telling about, but billed as a slapstick comedy called "Yes, Madam" with Bobby Bowes and Diana Churchill, if you've ever heard of her. She's a blonde with a close resemblance to Marion Davies in her prime. The announcer kept referring to them as Bobby Howe and Savannah Churchill. We sweated through Saturday around the house but did take a short drive after supper, and turned on your set in time for the Hit Parade. You would have enjoyed this one. It was also their last show of the season and, as they had announced the week before, it was televised from the new liner "United States". They must have had over a dozen cameras set up; started the show on the dock, followed the dancers up the gangplank, down corridors, into staterooms and Snooky, Dorothy and Eileen sang from the bridge, sun deck and ballroom respectively. As the cameras scanned the ballroom you could see they had it filled with an audience sitting at tables. We then turned over to the Gunther Playhouse and Kit Carson with Dana Andrews, Jon Hall and Lyn Barri. I don't know how old it is but it must have been an A and I had never seen it. Last night, in place of Red Skelton, they had a live play called "My Sister Emily", about the Bronte sisters and how they got started and starred Sarah Churchill. This hasn't been on in Baltimore all season yet they announced it was their final play for the year and Sarah made a curtain speech hoping they'd he back in the fall.

To cool off yesterday afternoon, I took Ann and the kids across country past McDonogh and over the Green Spring Valley Road, around and about and finally came out right opposite the Emerson Farm at Brooklandville which is also the home of the Hilltop Theatre. It will be only a short piece away when we're all out in the country as it is only 4 miles from Towson. I didn't see what they were offering yesterday but it must have been intermission and there was quite a crowd. Mrs. Burton called me noontime, by the way, and said she had told the people they had to be out in July. She also said the woman carried on and the husband also telephoned her but they finally agreed and said they had looked at a place in Bel Air and another on the Harford Road and would probably take one of them. As I said to Ann, in the beginning it was our understanding that the people wanted to get away and now you're almost afraid of putting in an appearance in the house. Ann also says it's not right to get something at the expense of someone. So, we're praying harder than ever for the solution.

We'll try to save some magazines for you when we get situated. I had the idea to Air Mail an entire Life but after wrapping in ordinary paper the fee was $1.80 and judging from parcel post, it would be a two month trip and a two pound item. I will, however, get a few of the smaller books in the mail in the next day or two until I think of something else.

You'd get a kick out of Mr. Bellis and his complex on shorts and bare skin. I believe I told you Ann can't send Mike out without his shirt as Jane and Edward won't allow him in the yard even when their father isn't around, and how he embarrassed one of Mary's girl friends and Arlene. Friday was his birthday and they got him two watermelons, among other things. Arlene and Sharon were playing in our backyard along with assorted Bellis' and neighbors and I was watching the kids. When it came time to cut the melons he told Arlene and Sharon, "well, I guess you can have a piece, even if you are wearing shorts". They got huffy and wouldn't accept. Ann was joking about it to Kay and Annie Clap when they were out and Kay, with that serious look she gets on her face as she doesn't laugh much says, "how did he get his 8 children?"

Ann and I walked up to Easton's yesterday morning to pay our respects to Monroe Tucker. Edith or rather Edythe was there and she weighs about 100 lbs. He looked so darn young and I guess he was only about 35. They told us he had been having trouble for about a year but what really gave him his first attack was that Mickey had been playing with a band saw in the back yard several months back when the saw jumped off and ran down his leg, cutting it severely including a tendon or two. When he dragged himself into the house and his father saw him, he suffered an attack. Mickey is all right now.

Earl's snowball stand opened with all the heat and is doing a roaring business mostly from passing traffic

END OF LETTER

Editor's Notes:
Charles works for Dr. and Mrs. Burton who have promised him the use of a larger house near their farms.
The Bellis' live next door at 23 Bloomsbury.

Next Posting: July 7, 1952

Copyright 2012 Stephen A Conner

A Heat Wave And A Stroke

Friday, June 27

Dear Andrew and John,

I'm glad your weather has been holding off and hope it continues to do so as you receive this but as I write this we're blistering in a heat wave that has killed four here in Baltimore in two days and in the same two days prostrated 232. All you hear morning till evening is the wail of sirens going after another pick up. Ann exaggerates a little when she says the entire city got off at noontime yesterday but all I know is that we did not. Also had to go to school last night and stood it till a quarter to nine when I told them to go home. It was an official 100° at 4:30 yesterday afternoon but the thermometer here at the office said 103°. That you can stand, but when it doesn't go below 86° during the night, you can't even breathe with our famed humidity much less sleep. Like today, right now at noontime, the gal says it's 95° and a relative humidity of 62%, which is terrible. They say out Denver way it's enjoyable with a 90° temperature and a humidity of about 15% or 20%. Just got a call from B. Herbert asking me to fill in for Mrs. B. tonight but I declined.

A little more on those pictures I sent, if you want to call them that. After I had mailed them I took the negatives out of the bag and found a white slip which said "roll received in damaged condition". So maybe it wasn't the two years but light leaks or something which spoiled them. I do know it looked all right to me when I left it down there.

Ann, of course, had to wash and iron in yesterday's heat and almost got a touch of it. She was hanging up clothes and started to get dizzy with cramps but made it in to lie on Michael's bed and took it a little easier for the rest of the day. She also had visitors from supper time till when I got home consisting of Kay and Ken with Dianne and Annie Clapsaddle and Vickie, who are staying at Harundale for the week.

On the house situation, nothing has changed toward prospects of Doctor's place being available anytime soon but Schatz's daughter called Ann to say she thought they were going to have definite word on a settlement within the next week. Last night one of the agent's dropped by to ask Ann if he could bring someone to look at the place on Monday. We also think that Cimlnos want both Bellis' and our place since after looking at Bellis' he brought Schatz down and no doubt questioned him about home. We learned, too that Ciminos own the land where Cladding's - the old blacksmith shop - is.

I stopped right here to call Ann as I do every noontime and she had some news to report--that Mickey's father, Monroe Tucker, had died at 11:30. I believe I mentioned a month or so ago that he was right bad off with heart trouble; it's all over now--a blood clot. Ann and Mrs. Bellis went over to see if they could do anything. I'm sure the heat helped things along.

I should have mentioned, just to make sure to receive them, that one Monday I finally got some flash bulbs off, one carton with 5 and another with just 2. Hope they arrive OK.


END OF LETTER

Editor's Notes:
Charles teaches business courses at night at the Baltimore Institute. B. Herbert Brown is the owner.
Charles works for Dr. Burton who has promised him the use of a larger house near his farms.
The Bellis' live next door at 23 Bloomsbury.
The family is selling the house in Catonsville.

Next Posting: June 30, 1952

Copyright 2012 Stephen A Conner