Ruth has moved into another apartment; this one seems quieter than the one on Jay Street. She and Loretta Sosville are both working at the hospital on night duty. Dave frequently visits Lydia and Francis at Preston Hollow. They have become attached to a kitten that was originally intended for Ruth.
Return address on envelope:
The National Training School For Certified Nurses
Albany, N.Y.
99 Washington Avenue
June 9, 1935
349-A Madison Avenue
Albany, N.Y.
Dear Dave,
Nearly two hours and a half have slipped by already. I only hope the rest of the night goes by as quickly, but I fear the other end will drag a little. We have only one patient so unless someone comes in, we will have an easy night.
[Note on the back of drawing]: “Now don’t you wish you were on nights? Here I am. – L.S.”
Did you go back by way of Ravena to see your boyfriend? If so, what time did you get back to Preston Hollow to get the kitten?
[Note on the back of drawing]: “What do you think of the girl friend? – L.S.” Front says, “Ruth Park-your-carcus”
The pictures are creations that Doris made to represent Sosville and me. We don’t think they are so bad so Loretta says we should pass them on.
Gee, it is a shame you aren’t here to help us drink our sarsaparilla, it sure is good. All we lack are the hot dogs.
I sure am glad that at last I have found a means of punishment for you when you tickle me. The only thing is I wish I had known about it some seven months ago. If you should by chance be in town some rainy day, you might give me a call at 3-0804!
Whew, it is only 11:30 and my eyes are getting heavy already. I see where I’m going to have fun keeping awake for another eight hours. What a time I’m having trying to smother the yawns. You know how it is with me.
Sosville and I have a dog roast planned for next Sunday. She will bring one of her numerous boyfriends and we will spend a glorious afternoon with nature. We will no doubt have to snatch an occasional nap, but I know you won’t mind. We may change our plans before Sunday, in which case I’ll let you know.
I think we will be drawing our letters to a close as the little Kernel has to go in for his midnight meal. We haven’t partook of our repast yet either.
Pul-ease write me some nice long letters because I’ll stay awake and wait for the mail.
Ruth
Loretta Sosville and Ruth Parker 1935
Monday 6:30 p.m.
I just got up and I feel rested. I slept pretty good today. I only hope I can sleep as well every day. The room is real quiet or at least I guess it is. I didn’t stay awake to find out.
About 2 o’clock this morning Sosville and I decided to doze a little since we had our work all caught up. We were suddenly aroused at 3:00 by the jingle of the telephone. It was one of the doctors and he was sending a patient in right off, so we pulled ourselves together and got ready for the entrance. I says, wouldn’t that be just our luck. The rest of the morning we didn’t sleep. At 3:30 we were hanging a baby wash on the line and I told Sosville we sure got our washing out early Monday morning.
We will have at least three patients tonight so we won’t sleep much.
It is nearly seven so I’ll sign off and collect myself.
Ruth
June 10, 1935
Middleburg, N.Y.
Dear Ruth,
How is the night duty coming? Not too bad I hope. Right about now I suppose you are trying to sneak away in some corner and go to sleep or is it your turn to stand watch? There should be a law against letting nurses get away with any such thing as that. That’s another thing I’ll have to attend to when I’m the president.
It seems hard for me to believe that today is Monday because I haven’t been sleepy all day. After I left you I came back thru Ravena and stopped to see Jimmy. He and his wife were at his Mother’s house. His two sisters and their husbands were also there. It was just like a family reunion which was lucky for me. I could see them all without calling at three or four different houses. I didn’t stay long because I don’t trust that generator on my car and I wanted to get at least part way back before dark.
It must have been about 8:30 when I got back to P.H. and you should have seen and heard what I did when I opened the door. Fran was on the floor holding the cat and scolding Lydia because she had let it lay on the floor without making a bed for it. I can’t begin to tell you all that was said or done for the next hour or more, but believe me the kitten was the main attraction and it looks to me as if you have lost all claims on him. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they didn’t let you touch him when you come down. First one was claiming ownership and then the other. Lydia even warmed some milk for him and hunted all thru the bedroom for a ribbon to tie on his neck so she could tell him from the neighbor’s cat. Fran used his perfectly good saw to cut down an old cardboard box and then went out and filled it with dirt. What’s more the kitten used it as soon as he set it down. How’s that for brains I ask you? I could probably fill a couple of pages telling you all they said and did, but I guess you can gather from what I have already said that I didn’t have a chance in a million of bringing the kitten home and you can be sure he is being well taken care of.
After the kitten was finally tucked in bed, the talk drifted around to Florence and Ben. You can imagine what that discussion was so there is no use wasting paper and ink telling you about it. Anyway, I left shortly after 10:00 and came home to a good night’s sleep.
This morning when I got up it was raining so I decided to utilize the time and bring Mother and LaVere into the city. I didn’t call 30804 because I knew you would be sleeping or trying to at least and I didn’t want to disturb you. How did you make out? Is it quiet enough or is it just as tough as ever trying to sleep days?
Guess I have given you all the news events of the day and night before so I’m lost for words now. There is something I would like to say and I don’t know how to go about it and it might be better anyway to let a sleeping dog lie, as the saying goes. However, I’ll take a chance and try and apologize for my actions Saturday night. I told you then I was sorry but somehow that doesn’t seem like much. That is once you could have slapped me and you wouldn’t have gotten slapped back. I certainly deserved it. If I had had sense enough to go home when you asked me to, it probably never would have happened. I don’t expect you will be able to forget it entirely right away, but please forgive me and I’ll do my best not to betray your trust in me again.
“Me”
P.S. How did you expect me to use that envelope again? Will you move back on Jay Street so the address will be right?
June 12, 1935
349-A Madison Avenue
Albany, N.Y.
Wednesday 4:05 a.m.
Dear Dave,
I’ll bet you never got up as early in the morning as this to write to me. How’s about it? Now, if by chance I should receive a letter from you this week, I’ll have it all answered. If you should ask me, I think you get the best end of this night duty because you get more letters. I should worry ‘cause I have to do something to keep me awake.
Something tells me that Sosville is upstairs snatching a nap for herself. For some reason, I’m not sleepy at all and haven’t been all night. If I can hold out until 5 a.m., I’m o.k. ‘cause then I start the general a.m. care and there isn’t much danger of falling asleep while I’m on the move.
How do you like the ink and paper? I hope you appreciate it ‘cause I’m swiping it from the school. The ink is no darn good. It’s cheap stuff just like everything else around here.
Sosville can’t take it anymore. I went upstairs a little while ago and she was sound asleep. I handed her a line about Miss Van Deusen coming in and finding her asleep. I had her worried for a few minutes.
The kid that had his appendix out turned out to be thirteen and talk about your smart people. Last night we thought he was asleep so Sosville gets confidential and said she thought she would give Ed a ring at the hotel in the morning. Freddy pipes up and says, “If your boyfriend works at the hotel, I bet he is a butler”. I says nope, “he’s a bell hop”. We sure got a good laugh out of it. I’ll bet we will be careful what we say around him from now on. He has a horseshoe hanging on his bed for good luck, and I guess he needs it with the nurses he has. What do you think?
What time do the birds start singing in the morning? You don’t know, do you? Which only goes to prove that you aren’t such an early riser as you think you are. The birds in Albany start singing at approximately 4 a.m. daylight saving time. So far I have slept swell daytimes, some different than it was on Jay Street, or maybe I am more tired. This morning I was so tired I didn’t even have ambition enough to wash my face before I went to bed.
Gee, am I good or am I good? This is the third letter I have written tonight and they haven’t been short ones either. I had a letter from Mom today and she said she was just recovering from the mumps.1 She had been sick in bed for three days. I guess Joyce was staying with her. Seems like they have had one darned thing after another at home this year. I hope she gets along o.k.
I saw Donald yesterday and he asked me if I was married yet. I says, “What do you think?” He tries to dope out what gives Sosville and I “the morning after the night before look” when we come off duty.
Loretta calls me the “sleep disturber” ‘cause I won’t let her get caught up while she is on duty. Speaking of sleep, me thinks I had better dash upstairs and make her pull herself together. It won’t be long before “Pussy Foot” takes one of her early morning tours and it will be “1:30 at the house and 2:00 at the church” if she catches her asleep.
Sosville still says we are having the dog roast Sunday if the weather is fair. If it rains, you can come and get us at 7:30 and we will do our sleeping in Preston Hollow. She said something about having to go to Mass first, but if she goes anyplace with me, she will have to skip it because I can’t be bothered waiting for her. If you don’t think you can come up, let me know if you can and I won’t bother getting up.
I hope you can dope this jumble out. If you can’t, it will be o.k. as it doesn’t amount to much. However, it has served the purpose of keeping me awake. I have felt more like writing tonight than I have before in ages.
This letter will be so fat that LaVere will have another three cents to pay to get it out of the post office.
Sosville just came down stairs. She happens to be one jump ahead of “Pussy Foot” this morning. She seemed to think things were sort of dull around here, so she drops a cup on the floor to create some excitement. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had succeeded in getting the whole house up.
I’m not sending this letter until I receive one from you to answer. So if you forget to mail my letter, I won’t be the one out of luck.
If I don’t go to Preston Hollow Sunday, will you please stop and get my clothes before the Board of Health sends me notice. I just have to have a clean uniform.
I’m awfully sorry but the day is dawning and I have work to be done so I’ll call it a night and sign off until later in the day when I hope to have a letter to answer. This should make up for the brief letters you received last week.
“Me”
5:35 p.m.
I just got up and found your letter outside the door, but it hadn’t been there long because I looked a little while ago and couldn’t find it. I’ll try and mail this tonight so you will get it in the morning if I can find a sub-station within fifty blocks.
This hasn’t been such a good day to sleep so no doubt I’ll realize it tonight. I don’t know what was the matter with me, but I couldn’t go to sleep and stay that way. Monday I was so quiet that they thought I must have had the day off until I got up to go to work.
I must say you are a fine “Pal”. The idea of being in the city and not even bothering to call me. What if you did disturb my slumber, it wouldn’t be the first time. All I have to say on the subject is, don’t ever let it happen again or it will be just too bad for you.
I’m glad to hear that the cat is so well taken care of. The only reason they didn’t fall for him before was because they thought they would be giving me too much satisfaction. When you see the Spragues again be sure and remind them that the kitten still belongs to me. By the way if you know anyone who has a bunch of pups they don’t know what to do with, let me know and I can find a good home for at least one.
You’ll have to pardon the change in paper but it happens I’m not very near the National Training School so I can’t chisel any more.
Sosville and I haven’t had a chance to take turns sleeping much as they made her stay upstairs and me down. Maybe Freddy will be well enough to leave alone tonight in which case we can both stay down. It is a lot easier when we can be together because we visit and the time goes faster.
“What’s the Reason?” Song sheet
The radio works pretty good only I can’t listen to it much. This morning I got me a new song sheet and it has the words of “What’s the Reason” in it.
When you get to be president if you will put nurses on eight hours shifts, they won’t have to chisel a little sleep. If this isn’t one swell profession. Loretta and I were talking about it the other night and neither one of us could give a good reason for being a nurse. However, we like it and fortunately we don’t get those spells often. There are no calls coming in for nurses and there are two thirds of the students on register and there is another class about to start in. All the girls want to come back in the hospital to put their time in but I think they will have to wait until the bunch that is in finishes. I guess I’m lucky that I waited until last to put my time in at the hospital.
Darn the luck. I get up just in time to hear those kids programs. Gee, does that burn me up!
Oh boy, with tonight I have only 22 more nights, 264 more hours or 15,830 more minutes. How is that for figuring? I wish I knew whether or not I’m going back up to Finklestiens when I am finished or not. I think I’ll take a week of vacation before I go on register again anyway.
I can’t think of anything more to say so I guess I’ll sign off and get collected so I can look for a sub-station.
Ruth
June 12, 1935
Middleburg, N.Y.
Dear Ruth,
Received your letter Tuesday but didn’t get around to answering until now. I hope you don’t stay awake all day Thursday waiting for this. Anyway you shouldn’t stay awake and wait for the mail at all. The postman might disappoint you as he did last week and then you wouldn’t sleep anyway.
I’m glad you find your room quieter than it was on Jay Street. Maybe night duty won’t seem so bad if you can get your required rest during the day.
The pictures you sent were quite a work of art. I always wanted to know what Loretta looked like and now my curiosity is satisfied. I wouldn’t mind being on night duty there myself but it is probably just as good for the patients that I’m not.
So the program for next Sunday is a hot dog roast. O.K. by me only you have got to promise to get some sleep thru the day. It’s quite a while yet before July 4th and I don’t want to see you entirely worn out when you get that diploma. If the hot dog roast goes thru, where and when do you want me to meet you? Do you still want me to come in after you at 7:30 and bring you out here or do you plan to get some sleep in the city before the roast? Anything is O.K. with me. Just let me know what you want.
Next time you write, use both sides of your paper. I know it makes the envelope feel fatter when you only use one side but that blank part doesn’t make good reading. Also, don’t be crooking any more of the school envelopes or going to sleep on the job even if your work is done. There, I guess that is all the fault I have to find for this time.
That’s not a bad idea of yours for me to get another girlfriend after 7:30. The only trouble is I wouldn’t know where to locate one. Can’t you help me out and introduce me to one, that is if you know any who aren’t nurses. They are too hard-boiled for me.
If the rest of this week goes as fast as the first part has gone, I’ll be seeing you again in almost no time. That’s the way I like to have the time go. Usually it drags along and I feel like sticking another Sunday in the middle of the week. It’s a good thing I’m not overstocked with money or you probably would have to kick me off from your doorstep two or three times a week.
Well it’s 10 P.M. and way past my bed time so I think I’ll retire. I know this letter isn’t as long as you would like to have it but my head doesn’t seem to be working tonight and I can’t think of anything to write about, so I’ll be signing off,
The boyfriend.
Return address on the envelope:
The National Training School For Certified Nurses
Albany, N.Y.
99 Washington Avenue
June 13, 1935
349-A Madison Avenue
Albany, N.Y.
Dear Dave,
Here we are starting on another night and only twenty more to go. It wasn’t so long ago that I had put in only twenty days and did I think it was a lot. In fact I remember how when I had put two days in on my first case, you said “There are two days you won’t have to put in.”
The purpose of this letter is to tell you we aren’t having the dog roast until some time when we can make a day of it. By the time we sleep until 1:00 o’clock, the day is about gone. Loretta was going down to Lydia’s with me to sleep but she can’t skip Mass and it would make it too late by the time she got around. So if you wish, you can come and get me from work at 7:30 and we will spend the day in Preston Hollow.
Sosville says she has to see you so she will be sure I am good enough for you to be running around with.
This morning Loretta and I went over to her sister’s to sleep. The best part of it was she lives in West Albany and we walked all the way. We had dinner there tonight and believe me, it seemed good.
This morning about 4:20 we were up in the surgical ward and Loretta was having a little nap and I was looking out of the window. I saw a taxi stop in front and I knew what was up. I woke Loretta and I says, “Hon, I think we have a delivery coming in, no less”, so I dashed down and let the victim in and our peace of mind was ruined for the night. However, we got a break and saved most of the work for the day girls. That makes three times it has happened that way, but it is too good to last.
Dr. Van Deusen was in tonight and said he thought he would send a patient in some time tonight, so if this letter is brief, think nothing of it. I may be interrupted.
The baby that was born today is a girl and does it seem good. The last half dozen we have had here have been boys. Girls are much nicer than boys ‘cause they don’t yell as much.
Did you hear the door slam just now? Well, don’t be alarmed, it was only my Pal shutting the nursery door so we can’t hear the kids cry. I just had to bawl one out for sucking his fist. I suppose if Pussy Foot hears the kid cry, she will be down to find out what it is all about.
Sos and I are making a memorandum tonight of all the amusing things that have happened while we have been working here. We have two pages already and haven’t made a start yet.
We are having a tonsillectomy in the morning but we aren’t staying because we are afraid if we do, they will put us to work.
I seem to be groping for words so I’ll be signing off.
Ruth
Friday 6:30 p.m.
Yeah, if you can make it, I’ll be expecting you Sunday morning when my work is done. I won’t promise how much sleeping I’ll do because after all it is sort of doubtful if I get any or not. I haven’t done too badly so far but no matter how well I sleep, it isn’t night rest.
Last night we organized the C.M.S. Club (chisel more sleep) and we have the day girls wondering what it is all about. When morning comes we are so darned silly we laugh about things that aren’t funny at all. I guess we are drunk for sleep if there is such a thing. I guess if we didn’t raise the deuce all the time, we would go crazy.
Loretta has asked me every day since I sent those pictures if I had heard from you yet.
If it is all the same to you, I think I will draw this to a close and get ready for work. I’ll be seeing you not later than 7:30 a.m. Sunday. Looks like you’ll get up early for once in your life.
Miss Parker
P.S. I promise not to hook any more envelopes!
June 13, 1935
Middleburg, N.Y.
Dear Ruth,
Received your lovely letter and it was so long it certainly requires an answer of some kind, especially after the one I wrote last night. After I had finished it I knew I hadn’t said anything and it was hardly worth wasting a three cent stamp on, but I was just so tired I couldn’t think of a thing. I don’t know as I am much better tonight but I want to sit up and listen to the Baer-Braddock fight tonight so I might as well improve my time. I don’t know of any other way to improve it than by writing to a lovely girl like you. After reading your letter I decided to award you the medal for being the champion letter writer. I don’t know how you think of it all but it’s good anyway. I suppose it would be rather mean for me to say that I’m glad you are on night duty, but I’ll have to admit I certainly get the best of the correspondence when you are.
Baer-Braddock fight 1935
Say, how much time did you spend figuring out the days, hours and minutes you have left to work? It sounds like a lot when you get down to the minutes, something similar to the results of a chain letter, but multiply that by 60 and reduce it all to seconds and see what a glorious total you have. After you have done that just try and figure out the number of hours I can spend with you between now and July 4th. Whatever your answer is, I’ll still say the percentage is too darn small.
I haven’t been anyplace yet this week. I may get up ambition enough to go down to P.H. tomorrow night and see how the kitten is progressing. If he is still getting the same care as when I saw him, I guess there is no cause to worry.
If the Essex holds out, I’ll be in Albany 7:30 A.M. Sunday or thereabouts. I just realized what time I’ll have to get up if I do that, 4:30 me time. Wow. That makes up for your writing letters to me that time in the morning.
D_____ this pen. It just refuses to work anymore and I can’t be bothered taking it apart and changing it now so I’ll say so long until Sunday.
“Me”
Footnote
- Mumps was proven to be caused by a transmittable virus (of the Rubella family) in 1934 by Claude D. Johnson and Ernest William Goodpasture, and causes inflammation of the parotid glands. A vaccine wasn’t developed until 1967, and the incidence of mumps has declined ever since. Side effects, especially in adults, can be serious as mumps can develop into meningitis, encephalitis, and permanent neurological damage (very rare). The disease can also cause infertility in men.