In part 3 of Dad's letter to his folks, he describes some of his adventures, including a run-in with a drunk beggar.
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I will never be a city boy although I like it in the city. I like the excitement and above all I get a bang out of watching people and trying to imagine what kind they are. I don't like to have to constantly keep feeling of my pocket to see if my billfold is still there though.
A drunk fellow approached me on the street last Friday night and wanted some money to get coffee. I said "I wouldn't give you any money as long as you can afford to get drunk". He got angry and started threatening me. He didn't know me from Adam and he said, "you better not report for work tomorrow morning" and then walked off.
Later I ran into him again and said "hello pal". He stopped and looked at me and said, "where have I seen you before"? I told him he never had. He wanted a cigarette and I gave it to him. He was so drunk he could hardly stand up. He talked to me awhile and then asked me if I had any money and I said "sure, lots of it". He said "give me some". I wanted to know what for and he said "to buy a drink". I started laughing and said that before I would give him any money for a drink I would buy myself one. He got mad again and walked off. Things like that make a city interesting. Of course no matter what you do or say, you know it doesn't make any difference because you will never see the people around you again anyway.
Fred was just up and we decided to eat and then take a long walk into the old part of Brookline. It will be about a four or five mile walk but I enjoy them.
In your letter Dad you asked if I was coming home if inducted into the army. I cannot see any sense in doing so because of the cost. $40 for a railroad ticket is a lot of money. However if after taking my physical here and if I pass, I get two weeks furlough and might come home then. No better way of spending my money that I know of. No word from the draft board as yet.
Your loving son,
Clayton
P.S. My diploma will arrive in a few days. Guard it! Represents 5 years of my life.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Gratitude Letter, Part 2
Dad had just graduated from Iowa State College, was visiting Boston, and decided to thank his parents for his education. In part one, he enumerated the ways his parents had helped him both financially and emotionally through his five (5!) years of college. He received his Bachelor's of Science degree in Horticulture.
Part two is a snapshot of the place and time he was in - Boston in August of 1942.
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Additional thanks are in order to you Mom for sending me such grand letters the past week. I have appreciated them more than I can ever say. I received the cigarettes and they are very welcome. It means $1.60 more that I can save.
Quite a few things have happened since the last time I wrote even though it was only a few days ago. The stevedores and another group went on strike in the terminal Monday morning tying up the entire food supply for the city of Boston and surrounding territory as far north as New Hampshire. They, the strikers, wanted $42 for a 40-hour week instead of $36 for 48 hours. They wouldn't let any trucks in to unload the produce except government agencies. Thousands of dollars of produce was out of refrigeration and was starting to spoil. The strike was settled yesterday afternoon about two o'clock for thirty days and then if nothing definite is done they will strike again. In case they do the government is likely to step in and take over.
I hope the crops in North Dakota get threshed before anything happens to them this year. I hope Dad that you manage to find storage room for all of the wheat. I would give a lot to be home now to see the waving fields of grain, the flat prairies, and just generally a good country where one can stand in his back yard and see for several miles.
...
Part three covers more of Dad's adventures in Boston, as well as his attitude towards beggars and drunks.
Part two is a snapshot of the place and time he was in - Boston in August of 1942.
...
Additional thanks are in order to you Mom for sending me such grand letters the past week. I have appreciated them more than I can ever say. I received the cigarettes and they are very welcome. It means $1.60 more that I can save.
Quite a few things have happened since the last time I wrote even though it was only a few days ago. The stevedores and another group went on strike in the terminal Monday morning tying up the entire food supply for the city of Boston and surrounding territory as far north as New Hampshire. They, the strikers, wanted $42 for a 40-hour week instead of $36 for 48 hours. They wouldn't let any trucks in to unload the produce except government agencies. Thousands of dollars of produce was out of refrigeration and was starting to spoil. The strike was settled yesterday afternoon about two o'clock for thirty days and then if nothing definite is done they will strike again. In case they do the government is likely to step in and take over.
I hope the crops in North Dakota get threshed before anything happens to them this year. I hope Dad that you manage to find storage room for all of the wheat. I would give a lot to be home now to see the waving fields of grain, the flat prairies, and just generally a good country where one can stand in his back yard and see for several miles.
...
Part three covers more of Dad's adventures in Boston, as well as his attitude towards beggars and drunks.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Gratitude Letter Part One
Although I am deeply grateful for many things in my life, I thought it might be interesting to read a letter written from my father to his parents upon graduating from college. Written in 1942, he knew there was a chance he'd have to go to war (he didn't pass the physical, so he didn't go), and was experiencing the "big city life" of Boston.
It's a long letter, so I'm going to split it into a few blog posts.
August 5, 1942
Dear Folks,
Today I received my diploma from Iowa State College. It set me to thinking and one of my thoughts was whether or not I have ever thanked the two of you for my education. It is hard to put into words the thanks that both of you deserve for all you have done for me the last five years. You have made it possible for me to get something that no matter what happens, no one can take from me. A man's education is his own and he cannot be deprived of it once he has it.
The things that both of you have gone without and which I have not known about are probably innumerable. My education cost you a tidy sum of money--approximately four thousand dollars more or less. The things that both of you could have had with that money are hard to think of. When I think of the trips, the furniture, the clothes, and all of the other things which you could have had, I can only say thanks a lot. Whereas many of my classmates in school have had to work for their education, I have merely had to write you Dad and a check was forthcoming. You stood the expense of a car for me so that I could have more additional fun. I hope that some day I can repay both of you tenfold but I don't think it possible. When I have written homesick letters, you Mom have always sent a cheerful one in return, cheering me up and realizing the world isn't such an awfully bad place. When I have had a problem that bothered me I knew that I could always turn to you Dad and get the proper solution.
Many many times Dad that you haven't known about, I have been on the verge of quitting school and Mom has talked some sense into me. Knowing how much my getting a college education meant to both of you, I just couldn't let you down. I was just a mediocre student but I felt that an education did not consist in merely knowing the assignments out of a book. I'm proud of both of you and when I was thinking of the past five years after receiving my diploma, I again realized that I have the best two parents any fellow could possibly ask for and my hope is that I have fulfilled your dreams for me. If we were only living in a more settled world I would prove to you that your faith in me has not been in vain. These next few years are going to be tough even if I do not have to go into the army, but your son is going to win out in the end. Thanks for everything, you're both just simply swell.
It's a long letter, so I'm going to split it into a few blog posts.
Dear Folks,
Today I received my diploma from Iowa State College. It set me to thinking and one of my thoughts was whether or not I have ever thanked the two of you for my education. It is hard to put into words the thanks that both of you deserve for all you have done for me the last five years. You have made it possible for me to get something that no matter what happens, no one can take from me. A man's education is his own and he cannot be deprived of it once he has it.
The things that both of you have gone without and which I have not known about are probably innumerable. My education cost you a tidy sum of money--approximately four thousand dollars more or less. The things that both of you could have had with that money are hard to think of. When I think of the trips, the furniture, the clothes, and all of the other things which you could have had, I can only say thanks a lot. Whereas many of my classmates in school have had to work for their education, I have merely had to write you Dad and a check was forthcoming. You stood the expense of a car for me so that I could have more additional fun. I hope that some day I can repay both of you tenfold but I don't think it possible. When I have written homesick letters, you Mom have always sent a cheerful one in return, cheering me up and realizing the world isn't such an awfully bad place. When I have had a problem that bothered me I knew that I could always turn to you Dad and get the proper solution.
Many many times Dad that you haven't known about, I have been on the verge of quitting school and Mom has talked some sense into me. Knowing how much my getting a college education meant to both of you, I just couldn't let you down. I was just a mediocre student but I felt that an education did not consist in merely knowing the assignments out of a book. I'm proud of both of you and when I was thinking of the past five years after receiving my diploma, I again realized that I have the best two parents any fellow could possibly ask for and my hope is that I have fulfilled your dreams for me. If we were only living in a more settled world I would prove to you that your faith in me has not been in vain. These next few years are going to be tough even if I do not have to go into the army, but your son is going to win out in the end. Thanks for everything, you're both just simply swell.
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