The only news this week is that Dave got laid off from work. He had known it was inevitable, so doesn’t seem too upset over it. Ruth hears from her sister-in-law, Janie Parker, so I have added some notes about her (with a photo) in this post.
August 26, 1935
45 Brookline Avenue
Albany, N.Y.
Hello Honey,
How’s the old “sleepy head” who pretends he is asleep when he isn’t. I’ll bet it seemed good to have someone to ride home with last night. I guess you had better bring Lydia and Fran along every time so you will get started for home earlier. Don’t tell them I said that though, however, I still say it was their fault we used to stay out late. They got us in the habit and now we can’t break it.
It is 4 p.m. and this is the first resting spell I have had since 8 a.m. at which time I arose. I am lying in bed writing this so probably you won’t be able to read it. I came upstairs and started eating candy. I decided I had better start doing something else before I ate so much I got sick. It sure is good, wish you were here to help me devour a little.
I had a letter from Janie this morning.1 Remind me to let you see it because she said to tell you sompin’ or other about chickens. She says they plan to come down to see us this fall if all goes well and they have any money. I have yet to see the day when they didn’t have any money.2
Janie Shaw-Parker with her class c. 1918. Ruth Parker, middle row, 2nd from left; Eva Spencer, middle, 3rd from left; Howard Spencer, middle, 5th from left; Lydia Spencer, back row, standing, 2nd from left; Janie, same row, center, Lynn Parker, next to Janie, 6th from left; Kent Spencer, 7th from left.
I’ll have to get busy and answer a few letters or I won’t get any more very soon. I guess I owe about seven. Speaking of writing letters, I’ll bet that new pen of yours will write so well that when you start my letter tonight you won’t stop until you have written at least ten pages. Pardon me while I laugh!
I went on register this morning not that it means anything. I wonder what kind of a place they will send me into next, if any.
I told Mrs. Herlihy the gang didn’t show up yesterday. I made up my mind that if I didn’t tell her, she would find out some time and then I would be embarrassed. Florence and Ben didn’t come over Saturday after all.
By the way, my forehead is all broken out today. Can’t be a certain person shaved yesterday or if he did he probably did it in cold water.
I think I should get a commission on the gas and oil you buy from Fran. Gee, think of all the gas you have used making trips to Albany. You should be more conservative with your time and money. Oh heck, you have to admit it was pretty nice of me to fill your car up for you. I’ll bet you wouldn’t find many girls who would do it.
Did you by chance find Lydia’s camera in the car pocket? If you did, will you take care of it? I would hate to have anything happen to it. It was careless of me to leave it there but you know how absent minded I am.
Well, dear, it is approaching 5 o’clock so I think I will have to draw this to a close for now. If I think of anything else, I will add it later.
Be good, don’t work too hard, don’t make any “Mickey Mouses”, write some nice long letters to me, get lots of sleep and don’t snore.
“Me”
P.S. 10:20 pm. Florence and Ben were over tonight. Florence was sick over the weekend and she said she didn’t know anything about a picnic anyhow. Somebody was all wet.
Mrs. Herlihy and Bob are going to Lake George tomorrow so Billy and I have to keep house.
I’m tired for some reason or other, so good night.
Ruth
August 26, 1935
Middleburg, N.Y.
Dear Ruth,
Monday night again and the worst day of the week is over. I don’t see why they can’t just skip Mondays. I never did like them anyway. Fran drove all the way back and that didn’t make me mad at all. I went to sleep a couple of times even with someone there to talk to. I never would have got home if I had been alone. We stopped at the diner and had coffee at my insistence, that is, Fran and I did. Lydia sat out in the car and waited for us. She said the roller coaster effect of that road Fran picked out made her rather seasick but she was all right going back.
I hope you enjoyed the picnic yesterday. I can’t see how they all managed to stay away unless they weren’t planning on coming at all, and the more I think about it, the more convinced I become that someone got their dates mixed. Anyway, I enjoyed myself and I guess you did so who cares. If Mrs. Herlihy goes away and you aren’t working, we can try it all over again next weekend.
I hope you don’t want to use the camera this week. If you do, it’s just too bad. I discovered it in the pocket of the car this morning. That water gun is in there too. I suppose that is some of your work.
Well at last I’m on vacation or something. They sprung the sad news right after work tonight. It seems they haven’t as yet got the final o.k. on the other buildings and we can’t start them until they do. Today was awfully hard because there wasn’t anything to do and we just ran around all over trying to keep busy at nothing. That makes the day twice as long for me. I’m supposed to go back Friday morning and see if they are ready to start yet. Meanwhile there is plenty to do around here to keep me busy.
LaVere came home tonight. He rode up from Livingstonville with me. He wanted to know how you liked the candy.
This pen I got from Fran isn’t half bad. It’s as much of a relief to stop using that one of mine as it was to get rid of the Essex.
Looks like I’m getting worse instead of better. I can’t even think of enough to fill the usual one page. I’ll have to get some smaller paper. I suppose you recognize this as the paper you gave me so long ago. I still have quite a bit left.
Well, dear, don’t work too hard at Herlihy’s and tell her I said so if you want to. Also, be careful whose pants you press and give my love to Loretta until Ed gets back. You might also keep just a tiny little bit of it for yourself.
Goodnight.
Dave
August 28, 1935
45 Brookline Avenue
Albany, N.Y.
Dear Dave,
Mrs. Herlihy has gone down street so I am on the front porch at present with Billy. He is busy putting his rings on the standard. He holds it with one hand now and puts the rings on with the other, sort of cute doncha think. I bet even you couldn’t have done that at the age of ten months.
So you got the long expected vacation. I am sorry it had to come so soon after you traded cars. However, I think a vacation would do you good, only it won’t be a vacation as you will work just as hard at home.
I called Loretta a little while ago and gave her your love. She said if she couldn’t have your love all the time, she didn’t want it when Ed was away. She says she can manage it very nicely along with Ed’s. Her patient went to the hospital yesterday for a few days but she stayed on to take care of the baby. I guess Ed comes back next Tuesday.
Zelma called yesterday and said she was going to Syracuse to the fair today and isn’t coming back until Friday night. I wish I had gone with her.
Mrs. McCreedie stopped this afternoon. I didn’t know her at first with her hair cut. She looks a lot different. She said she couldn’t see as I had gotten any shorter.
Florence and Ben think they are going down to Lydia’s Saturday afternoon or night and stay all night. If they do, I will come down with them. If they come, they will be at Preston Hollow by five your time so you can tell if you are supposed to come after me or not. Ben says he will go via Greenville so in case he should be late. As usual I may or may not be working so my plans are indefinite. I don’t know if they intend to come back Sunday or Monday. If they don’t come back until Monday, I may stay down and help Lydia. Monday should be a busy day for them.
Yeah, I left the gum in the car. I intended to take it out but I forgot it.
Do you remember how much Loretta had to say about me reading your letters more than once? She says she reads Ed’s letters about six times, sleeps with them under her pillow and carries them in her pocket. She doesn’t want to say anything about me. She sure fell hard for him and she has only been going with him since last May. However, she promises to live with me a year before she gets married.
By the way, how about telling me who gave you all the information about me pressing pants. “It is fun to be fooled but it even more fun to know.”
They are going after the boys from camp tomorrow. Mrs. H. received a special delivery letter this morning saying that one boy in the camp came down with poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis). She doesn’t know if the boy was in Jack’s cabin or not. It is a disease that no one knows much about.3 They seem to think it was transmitted by a carrier. It doesn’t seem to be very contagious. The boys were coming home tomorrow anyway.
Bob pulled his loose tooth tonight. What an ordeal it turned out to be. When he finally got it out he lost it.
I am listening to the “Lady Esther Serenade” and boy is it swell.
Lydia and I got along quite famously last weekend. Of course she pretended she was peeved about some of the cracks that were made but she wanted to laugh as much as we did.
I am lying on the bed and I am having a bad time convincing myself that I’m not supposed to go to sleep.
Did you hear the “Mosquito Parade”? It is cute.
Don’t bother getting any smaller paper the present paper is small enough. Be sure and let me know when your supply gets low and I will give you more.
Gee, it doesn’t seem possible that it is nearly the first of September again. It certainly doesn’t seem like a year since I started school. It nearly takes my breath away when I think of all the changes I have made in a year.
I think I will get ready for bed and see how soon I can get to sleep.
Good night,
“Me”
P.S. I’ll see you Saturday night unless I am working in which case I will let you know if I find out soon enough.
“Town Hall” just came on the air.
Gee whiz, if you can dope this out, you are good. It might have been better if I sat up.
August ?, 1935
Middleburg, N.Y.
My dear Girl,
No, the pen didn’t give out but the ink did so here’s one in pencil. It is 11:30 and I should be I bed, but my sense of duty tells me I had better write this letter now because I know I won’t get a chance tomorrow.
I went down to P.H. after supper tonight and was ensnared into a pinochle game so this is the result. I was supposed to bring back some groceries and ink but forgot all about it until after the stores had closed. I’ll have to go down in the morning and maybe I can think to get some ink so I can at least address this letter with it.
Candy seems to be quite the thing this week. Fran and I finished the box you left down here. It’s a wonder you wouldn’t have left them both so we could have had more. You shouldn’t eat candy anyway. Do you want to become like Grace?
So my hunch about someone having dates mixed was right but I still don’t know who was at fault. Anyway here’s a suggestion for this Sunday providing there aren’t other plans already made. If you aren’t working, how’s about my coming up as early as I can Sunday and take a trip somewhere for the day? Just where I haven’t decided, but there are plenty of places to go. If you would care to go and you see Ben and Florence again, you might ask them to go along. Of course, I know we can’t make definite plans, but I’ll come up Sunday as early as I can and we shall see what we shall see. O.k., Toots?
I stopped at the camp tonight to see about work and they said nothing doing before Tuesday. Anyway, quite a vacation, but I can stand it. Maybe I can get caught up a little around here.
Thursday morning.
I left this last night in the hopes I could write some more this morning but I might have known better. I went down to the store this morning after those groceries and fell right into a job so here goes. When youse go to go, youse go to go.
Bye, Bye, dear, see you Sunday.
Dave
August 30, 1935
45 Brookline Avenue
Albany, N.Y.
Hello Davie,
I am in a terrible hurry so you’ll have to pardon all errors. My plans were to come down with Ben and Florence Saturday night but Harriet is having George up for supper tomorrow night and they want to go to a show, so that means if I stay, I can’t get out until later. Our plan is to have you come up for supper at 5:30 your time and then I can go back with you. In as much as you know Harriet and George, I thought it would be rather nice for you and also an accommodation for them. Of course, if you can’t come, I will wait until Sunday morning. Florence and Ben are going to be at Lydia’s for the weekend so we can go someplace from there Sunday.
If you are working Saturday afternoon, maybe you can’t make it by 5:30, in which case come as soon as you can. I will be here (unless I am working). The plan for a trip is o.k. by me.
Just for that remark you made about me getting fat, I hope you get fat. How is that for being mean?
I am glad I wasn’t in Preston Hollow when you forgot what you went after, otherwise I would have been blamed for your absent mindedness.
Just wait until I see that brother of yours (Ward). Holy cats, such a guy! I’ll tell you when I see you.
I gotta quit so I can get this mailed. I only hope the M & S stays on the track so you will get this.
See you tomorrow night if all goes well maybe. If not, then early Sunday morning.
Ruth
Footnotes
- Janie Shaw Parker (1892-1951) had married Ruth’s oldest brother Percy in 1917. She was also a school teacher and had been for many of the Parker-Spencer siblings and cousins (shown in the photo). Sadly, as detailed in later letters, Percy died in 1936. They had no children. Janie later remarried Arthur Dudley (1873-1962), who was also her younger brother’s (Orrie Shaw) father-in-law. She is buried in Union Cemetery in Adams Center, NY.
- Janie continued to run the school after she married, and her husband Percy was a machinist and a farmer. It’s likely that since they both collected salary, they weren’t affected too much by the economic depression that afflicted most of the U.S. at the time.
- Poliomyelitis is an infectious disease that is caused by the polio virus; it killed 2000 people in New York City in 1916. The disease originates in the intestine, and spreads to the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis. In the 1930’s, there were still sporadic epidemics throughout the US, particularly in summer months, but they started escalating in the 1940s. The first successful polio vaccine wasn’t developed until the 1950’s by Jonas Salk. Polio easily spreads through contaminated water or other routes involving unhygienic conditions. According to the WHO, the virus has been eradicated by 99%, but reported cases still exist in three remaining countries (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria), putting any non-immunized community at risk. There is no cure for the disease, only prevention through the vaccine.