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.
...
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment