This cartoon was published on the same day that this letter was written. Since my grandmother indirectly mentioned the tire rationing in the last letter, I thought the cartoon was quite fitting.
Letter transcription:
9-15-42
Dear Daddy,
Yesterday was so hot we thought we would melt-but there was a little rain last night and some wind. It cooled off and we are enjoying a lively breeze today. It makes me a lot more comfortable. John had to get gym clothes today. The shirt is much too long but was all he could get here. He is going with the band to the fair tonight. I have been trying to think of someone to take Mark. He wants to go so much-for the carnival-not so much for the fair. I got the pictures made that I took of you when you were home. I think they are the best of any you had taken while you were here. Mother is having some trouble with her right hand. It has been swollen and looks like arthritis. I told her if it doesn’t get better we would have to give her some bee stings. She thought it was rheumatism but with the swelling I didn’t think so. Helen Koon as a baby- just one. You remember Dr. H. told her he thought she would have twins. They let Carl go in the delivery room and after it was over he fainted and they put him in bed and kept him in the hospital overnight. Bob Hufty has been sick and in bed. Clarice said he got up this morning. Dorothy K. has a terrible cold but is still working every day. She is going to take John with Betty Lou to play this evening.
Love Mother
Laughed so much when I saw the cartoon because, from the title, I thought that “mother” had been admitted to hospital until the baby came
… I want it to be a surprise.
… and NO David don’t tell me how many days it is until you are born
Carl fainting reminded me that when I was giving birth to my third babe one of the young nurses fainted. There I am in the final stages of labour and my lovely Doc is saying to the nurse who is spreadeagled on the floor… “keep your head between your knees nurse… keep your head between your knees!!! HA HA HA…
Thanks for another delightful post Deborah.
You are very welcome! I was pretty tickled by the fainting episode myself.
“I told her if it doesn’t get better we would have to give her some bee stings.” Wow, I wonder how this was done…..if we assume that this means what it seems to mean.
“They let Carl go in the delivery room and after it was over he fainted and they put him in bed and kept him in the hospital overnight.” I think that was unheard of in those days….and probably was frowned upon because hospital staff didn’t want to have to deal with fainting fathers.:)
“He wants to go so much-for the carnival-not so much for the fair.” The farm kids, of course, had animals and farm products to enter in the contests for the blue ribbons, but the town kids were far more interested in the carnival.
I thought Carl fainting was pretty funny. I also think “bee stings” refers to little injections, at the very least I didn’t think it was literal statement.
Hi Catherine! Okay, mums the word….:)
And that’s hysterical about the nurse fainting!
Besides neither of you knows exactly how many letters exist between today’s letter and the actual birth.
Love that you’re keeping us in “suspenders” Deborah…
ha ha ha… yeah “good one” eh, David? … What’s even funnier is that when I saw her later that day she denied it even happened. I’m luvin’ the suspense of waiting for your birth… can hardly imagine what it’s like for you!!!
Not a problem! I’m enjoying the journey! The more letters the better
I had those letters for decades before handing them over to Deb. I guess I was a teenager when mother said she was going to throw them away, but I protested–and she gave them to me. I “never got around” to going through them, although I carried that carton of letters from place to place as I moved here and there. Now I’m SO glad they are in the hands of a proper historian/archivist/genealogist.