The spirit of Christmas

(1951 December 15)

We are out of spirit gum for Wise Men's beards, none in Richland Center, and I may drop you a card to bring it [from Madison], so stand by. KJ may have ordered it??

Oilcloth

(1951 July 15)

Today I went to town for white oilcloth to line all kitchen drawers. Mr. Pease took measurements and ruled them all out in outline form on wrong side of oilcloth with dimensions pencilled on each square and "waste" marking unused pieces. Such supreme service!

Egg timers

(1951 August 8)

Will you please look in 5 & 10 for egg timers. Would like 2, one for each bathroom. Dentist wants us to brush our teeth 3 minutes. It would greatly help MM (and all of us). The only one in town I have found is a very homely china doll holding one and is 25 cents! They used to be very common at 10 cents.

Big Bertha

(1990s)

[This is a fragment intended for Polly's memoirs, probably written in 1990s.]
It was during the first world war [1917-1918] when our family, father, mother, I and little brother lived in the country near Taycheetah, Wisconsin. My father, a landscape gardener, regretted not being able to take a factory job nearby at Fond du Lac, but he was loyal to my mother, Minnie [dying of TB], and never left her side as long as she lived.
We got along by hiring a hired girl, Bertha, and got her only because she spoke only German that we could understnd, although [she also spoke] another Romanian language none of us had ever heard before.
When we needed groceries, my mother would write a list and send Bertha with it to the nearby Post Office--Grocery, telling her to bring back the small articles and leave the 50-pound sack of flour for one of the men to bring home later. Deliberately misunderstanding.... [the fragment ends here but you can guess the rest].

Beefing

(1994 November 29)

A large girl, Margie, sits across from me, speaks in a loud voice. Waitresses try to calm her down. "I SAID I DON'T WANT ANY MORE MEAT. I CAN'T CUT WHAT I HAVE ON MY PLATE." Eve says in her small voice, "Can I cut it for you?" Margie cannot hear her - I am the only one at that table with all my faculties.
Margie: "What was Emily doing here anyway?"
Waitress: "What are you talking about? There's no Emily here."
Margie: "There was."
Waitress: "Eat your supper, Margie."
Margie: "I'm trying to, but I can't cut my meat. Too tough."
Polly: "Margie is right. It was Emily Pemberton."
Then others remember her and her husband. So the waitress said: "She's not here now." And we go back to cutting our tough beef.

Picnic

(1994 August)

Last week we had a picnic. All two floors of us gathered in the basement and on paper divided plates in cafeteria lines we stood in line for baked beans, potato salad, cabbage salad, sandwiches, with cakes passed in tins they were baked in. I did not think it very successful myself.

(1994 August 19)

As time goes on odd facts appear. Talking to Ellen (maid) yesterday I found the real reason everyone was taken to the basement on this Picnic was to vacate the dining room so it could be painted! I must say I haven't noticed any change. I'll look again and report.

County Fair

(1994 September)


I have been writing for FR who sits at my table and is very kind but always opens each day's conversation with "I lost 2% of my vision today." At least that is the way he answered me when I asked him if he had a good time at the [Richland County] fair.


I enjoyed the Fair but I have had better times at it when I was younger and not carted round in a wheelchair where two kind girls wanted to go. But it was a fair day with only one menacing sprinkle of rain. The Ferris wheel was alligators after each other's tails. [Sketch of 3 gators in a circle, each biting the next one's tail.] You get the idea. We were gone 1-3 and that was OK. Time enough.

Batman

(1994 September)

Quite a to-do one night when a Bat got through the front door, but finally a maintenance man got it. Oh dear.

Copy Cubs

(1951 September 29)

The Cub Scouts in two packs, Lions and Kiwanis, should be judged more on originality than copying an idea faithfully. As it is, the boy who adheres to the pattern of the ashtray the closest gets the prize, while the cub who puts himself into his work gets docked. This ain't right.

Odd jobs

(1994 October)

Have been talking to Jerry who works here when he isn't working for AB. Told about butchering 40 of their chickens. Chopped off heads and hung them on a tree limb, then slit down and stripped off skin, feathers and all. Then wife cans them and did 40 quarts today. In Canada where they lived before here they killed a lot of quail, driving them against a wall and wringing their necks! He wrote down his name ... [in German but he is] Swiss. He is short and pleasant and has had many jobs including showing Mark Twain's house to tourists but says Betsy Thatchers's house is more of a show house and in better condition. He doesn't like to work at AB very well - so noisy with big sheets of metal banged on, etc.

Pen problems

(1994 Thanksgiving)

This pen is BIC but may be ready to discard. ... Sherry is nervous because I haven't sent Sally some money. I thought (threw pen in waste basket and hope this is better) (not much) (idea for Xmas). If I can find check book and pen, I'll send a check today in this letter. ... Well, I'll try to finish with this BIC. [11 more lines follow.]

Sleepy Time Gal

(1994 October)

We are going to have a Halloween party after lunch, 1 p.m. I am thinking of wearing bathrobe and slippers and carrying a candlestick if I can find one, and be "Sleepy Time Gal." Something easy.

Country Kitchen

(1994 October)

Jen and I to Country Kitchen for tea this afternoon. She had pie - I think it was huckleberry - and I had pumpkin a la mode. We thought it was too heavy and next time we would have buttered toast with tea.

Bridge party

(1951 October 22)

Goldie is chairman of bridge party Auxiliary is giving in November, and all I am asked to do is: fill one table, bake cake, make tallies & score cards, bring pencils. I am mad at her.

Ghosts of the past

(1951 October 22)

Last night we went to the Halloween Party as "Ghosts of the Past" - LL with grin at being comfortable in your Ripon sweat shirt, and I in Helen Tucker's pleated skirt, sweater decorated with frat pins and rolled stockings. Everybody whooping around and had a great time. Very peppy entertainment committee - never an idle moment. DW [baby]sat, asleep when I got here and wouldn't believe it.

Just as well forgotten

(1952 October 9)

Guess what KE is teaching Maggie in Music! "The poor old slave has gone to rest"! I try to sing it with her but neither of us can remember all the words let alone the iggledy wiggeldys. [A scout camp song that proceeds by variations, e.g. "The pigglty-poor old sliggity slave...." ]

Playhouse

(1951 July 20)



The old Shack [Skip's "clubhouse," built in 1940] faded away as of 10:06 on Tuesday when it opened its door to ten eager youngsters anxious for a Playhouse. Ken carried out the mattresses, JC and MM<6> and her gang gave it a good scrubbing, and towards evening it was dry. So Billy brushed the cot and carried it in before it rained, and all the little girls began keeping house. Now it is nothing to see small misses tripping about in high heels with mammouth purses and funny hats, coming and going to tea parties. Ah, the old days when the Army made its quarters there [for Skip's games]! Tempus fugit.



On the playhouse - one girl, R, couldn't get it through her head it hadn't once been used for husbandry - I should say poultry - "What used to be in there, chickens?" - MM: "Chickens didn't used to be in there - Skippy was."

Dolly

(1994 October)

I called a maid to bring me a drink and fold up a blanket I crocheted, and she said, "Be quick. the boss said I should be out of here by ten." I said, "Hurry up and go. It's that now." So she went. She must be the oldest maid, Dolly. People say when this place opened she was the first one to apply. She says she has a husband lame from a car accident, she works here and does housework for other people not able to do their own. She did what I asked and tickled me under a protruding foot and took off.

City lights

(1951 October 4)

Of course you may [leave the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and] go back to Ripon [College] if that's your dish. If you do, don't you ever dare open your mouth to your father or to me on how it is dull there or here or in any other small town - not ever. We don't want to hear how there isn't anything to do. But change if you like.

Compartmentalized

(1952 September 23, after travelling by rail from Boston to Chicago)


Our compartment was a scream, especially the bathroom. Ask me at Thanksgiving. When your father arose in the morning, he found the vacuum jug had leaked orange juice over everything in his black grip, and from his language one would never guess he had been at a Christian Convention. Every time he'd turn around, he'd knock his head when the train jerked, or a dixie cup would collaspse on him. It was a rare sight, and I lay on the upper berth shushing him and inwardly laughing and shuddering by turns.

Stamp storm

(1951 September 20)

Last night I went in the study after I wrote you to see how things were coming and immediately stamps of 200 countries in alphabetical order leaped into the air and hurled themselves about. Vexed, LL stooped to pick them up. I started for the door but not soon enough - accidently LL hit 2 boxes (in order) he'd worked months on and they fell into the big box, all mixed up. You can imagine the state of your father's feelings! Feeling much like a black cat, I slunk up to bed before anything else happened.