Post #366 - May 14, 1944 First Flowers and Now Cablegrams

 

May 14, 1944

Beloved Phil, 

First, and before anything, considered yourself soundly hugged and kissed. How can we tell you just how surprised we all were. I was, tremendously! I simply did not expect it of you - the surprise I mean, and I love it! Mom was equally surprised, saying that you never was that way, meaning so sentimental. You "hit home" in each case and it was a great thrill for each of us. The flowers are lovely, beyond words, and I wish very much that you could see our living room at this very moment. It smells and looks, beautiful, as you have always pictured it. My bouquet, which consists of pink roses (6) and pink carnations (8) and lots of fern is in the frosted glass vase and is standing on the end table near the sofa. The living room set covers are off and the color combination of the blue-green sofa, pale gray wall, dark table and pinkness of the flowers gives an eye-filling effect. Mom’s bouquet is in an orange vase and stands on the table leading up the staircase. I don't know the names of the flowers contained therein, but the colors are white, yellow, purple, rose-colored tulips and purple and orange-like iris. It's gorgeous and I can't stop gazing. Your picture stands beside my bouquet, honey, and you are very close. 

My bouquet arrived at 7:45 this morning. My mom’s arrived simultaneously. Mom's didn't come til about 11.

Gosh, honey, I'm "all full up" and overflowing. My mom is excited as a ten year old and is showing everyone the bouquet she received from her "wonderful son-in-law." (she says "son"). 

I'm wearing a white blouse and my aqua pinafore, which is so tight I must let it out somewhere or discard it. Sarah combed the bottom of my hair into a lovely page-boy and Petey made two snaps of me (alone) in that outfit. (Adele was sleeping at the time). 

I should have posed with the flowers and didn't think of it til Petey left. I'll have him make up several if he can come over tomorrow. 

Mom opened all her gifts late last night (when Harry and Goldie returned from Ethel's with the two dresses they bought her) in the presence of Sylvia and 

Tante Bosh. The two dresses are nice, but don't fit and will have to be exchanged. Both Moms adored the brunch coats I bought and each one fitted to perfection. Mom's has a dark blue background with large rose and white and black flowers sprinkled throughout. It has a small sports collar and is a regular sports style, with a belt that ties in back. My mom's is a deep rose background with green, white and black flowers throughout.

 

(A little later). Well! Well! Well! My dear hubby, I simply cannot get over you. First flowers and now cablegrams. Your words warmed me through to the very core of my heart and even brought tears to my eyes. My first look at the flowers gave me the same feeling. Thanks so much for everything, Sweet. I happened to be sitting in the easy chair at 5, baby, and I was terribly close to you. 

We had a hailstorm last night, but it failed to cool off the heat we've been having. I didn't do anything of any account today, except think of you continually.

Rae is here for dinner - brought Mom a box of candy and Adele five chocolate bars. In closing I echo your sentiments: May we reunited this day next year.

Your Eve

P.S. If this seems short, dear, forgive me - I’m overflowing with love for you and can't seem to think clearly.

2.

I didn't think, at the time I wrote the first part of this letter, that I'd have time to write further. Just shows how mistaken one can be. I'm all by my lonesome and if you don't mind giving up a little sleep, I'd like, very much to make love to you and give you a few more details of this most wonderful day, and last night. 

Tante and Sylvia stayed til after 11. We had tea and cake (Sylvia brought the cake) and talked as is the case around the table. Milt wrote Syl of his feelings for her, so I guess that's "it". 

I was very weary last night, after a rather trying day, and could bearly keep my eyes open. You can understand, then, why I awoke at about 6:45 feeling as if I had forgotten to go to bed. I was in the process of dressing Adele, having dressed myself, when the door bell rang and young fellow yelled “Flowers!" I put Adele into the crib and ran i down to see what it was all about to find your lovely flowers. My mother called immediately, asking if I had received flowers since she had just received "a gorgeous bouquet". After placing the flowers in the vase, I fed Adele, had breakfast myself, cleaned our room, mopped and swept the rugs in living and dining rooms; about this time Mom's bouquet arrived and I busied myself with the arrangement of the flowers.

My dad was going to 11th St. to do some shopping and took Adele off my hands for a short while. In that short while I showered, washed and set my hair and washed some clothes. By then it was time for Adele's lunch, which consisted of lamb chop and peas and carrots, junket and a glass of milk. While she was napping I dressed and fixed and Petey made those two snaps I mentioned earlier. I sat on the bench in the front of the house and told him to be sure to include my "legs", dearest, for your benefit. He had to leave early (to visit his mother) and could not stay long enough to snap Adele. He promised to do so some time this week. 

When Adele awoke I dressed her in pink from head to toe (the dress she wore in the C. P. proofs), gave her some milk, and walked with her over to 4920 to see my mom's bouquet. We talked about this and that. Ruth gave my mother stockings and cash. I don't know what the others gave her and forgot to ask. A long time ago I asked my Dad to buy me two packages of chocolate chips so that I could bake you some choc-chip cookies and he finally got them for me. I can't use our oven,'cause the door does not shut, so I'll have to use my mother's some day when she's not too busy around it. I’ll let you know when I bake them, and it may not be for a while yet. 

Rae came over about 4 and Adele became friendly instantaneously. Adele climbs up and down the sofa, alone. She called Rae “Ra". She was playing with a small unnecessary paper book, which she tucks under her arms and makes believe she is going to go "bye-bye”. She runs from one room to another, picking up any dirt that chances to catch her eye and getting into most everything. She's a little devil at times! You know, dear, I believe she has a tendency towards being left-handed. She usually reaches for things with her left hand and I try hard to discourage it, by making her take things with her right, or staying on the right side of her, so that it makes it most logical for her to use the hand nearest me.

I did want to write on and on about my ever-growing love for you, dear Phil, but there isn't room and I'm so o o sleepy. Move over for

Your Eve 

P.S. (Jr.) Gloria called from N. Y. She will stop here next week enroute to Washington along with Sam, Anne, Freda and Morris. Her sister Lil had another 

boy last week. (Remember her?)

Post #365 - May 13, 1944 Seymour Treated Me to a Double-Decker Cone of Chocolate Ice-Cream Last Night and When the Reality of You will be the Reason for, and the Joy of My Existence

 

May 13th, 1944

Dearest One,

The mail this morning contained the following: a lovely Mother's Day greeting from Gloria, a v-mail Mother greeting from Jack, both of which were for Mom; two other greetings were for me—one from Jack, also a v-mail greeting and a card from Adele (sent by Goldie).

I skipped up to Broad St. this morning and bought the Moms brunch coats of the same design, but different colors, cost $4 each. Goldie and Harry bought her a slip and stockings and the Wymans and Chases both her two good dresses at my suggestion. She hasn't seen anything yet and won't til tomorrow. This afternoon a two pound box of chocolates came from Mom—from Lil. (More surprises)!

Guess who just walked in—Tant Bosch and Sylvia. They had several v-mails from Milt and he is also on New Guinea. He told a little about his trip: they left from Newport News, Va., went through the Panama Canal, stopped at New Caledonia and then off to New Guinea. I wonder if he'll meet up with Jack. Ben and Jack don't seem to be able to get together, not yet, anyway.

It was HOT today and I'm weary from a hard day's work. I took the covers off the parlor set and gave them an airing. I had a lot of washing and pressing to do. This hot weather is terrific when it comes to washing and pressing. I changed Adele twice daily, dressing her up in the afternoon.

Stuart ran a fever the other day and seems to be suffering with colds. Warm weather causes all sorts of troubles in babies.

Harry has been working seven days a week, having to make one or two special deliveries on Sunday mornings. The boss gave him a break by giving him this Sunday off. I'm surprised he's sticking to the job. It's a really tough job, and he sometimes doesn't get home til three in the afternoon, having started at three in the morning. They bought Stuart a gift and went there this evening.

I thought I would be able to obtain the finished pictures this evening, but have been notified that they won't be ready until May 18. Guess you'll have to wait, honey.

Seymour treated me to a double-decker cone of chocolate ice cream last night, and that's the first time he ever treated me. I was so pleased I gave him a kiss and was he embarrassed!

Guess you wouldn't be embarrassed if I kissed you, so pucker up, baby, ’cause here I come (as Adele would say, “num, num, num”). More, honey, I love you dearly, as if that is something new. I'm happy, though, to be

Your Eve

13 May 1944

Darling Chippie,

No mail for two days now, but when you consider that I have all your letters up to and including 4 May—it isn't anything to complain about. There was a letter today— from Phil. He tells about taking you and Adele for a ride to Reardon’s. He certainly seems to be fond of the kid. He noted and described her reactions to her first ride in a “cah,” her evident relish for “coke,” etc. His references to her are most complimentary, too. He wants me to write and tell him something about England. I'll try to oblige him tomorrow when I expect to have time for it. Tomorrow, too, I'll try to get off that long overdue letter to Mom.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened today, and I'm really at a loss. Last night I went to the early show to see Ann Southern in “Girl in Cover-alls” (one of the “swing-shift” Maisie series), and enjoyed the fresh, unaffected,“American” humor of it. Ann Southern as “Maisie” is cuter’n a bugs ear. James Craig, as the Air Force Lieutenant, is very handsome, and does yeoman's duty in handling his difficult role of appearing to be stuck on two gals. He plays it convincingly, which speaks well for his ability as an actor. I remember praising him in a previous letter. I'm satisfied now that my high opinion of him was justified. However, the star that rates the real bouquets is Jean Rogers. She plays a two-timing, scheming gal, without a scruple, and her role is contemplated to inspire contempt, but she is so beautiful that one finds it hard to reconcile her face with her assumed character. Handicapped as she is in her portrayal, though, she manages to put it over. With her face and figure, she can't miss—she is that lovely. Look to hear about her in the future.

I hit the sack early (the first time in weeks), and, I'm ashamed to say, fell asleep before 11 o'clock. I did keep our date, though, even if I was a half hour early. Tell you a little secret, Baby—don't breathe it to a soul! It seems I just can't picture us cuddled up in that chair—and still remain “respectable.” Somehow, and I blush to confess it, your shirt isn't where, in all decency, it should be. Your legs, even more delectable in retrospect, are invariably bare of shoes and stockings, and are draped most becomingly over the arm of the chair. Delicacy forbids that I go into detail as to what “measures” I adopt after that, but, if you remember how I reacted to your gorgeous gams on previous occasions, you should have a pretty good idea of the turns my fancy takes. Why can't I be a “gentleman” in this respect, Sweet? Is it because the wolf in me outweighs my finer instincts (if any?)? I know it isn't very sporting of me to take advantage of you this way, and I must ask your forgiveness, but, alas, the flesh is weak—.

Today was as all the others this past week, as far as the weather is concerned, the only difference being that I was sufficiently idle to allow thoughts of you and the punkin uninterrupted sway. At times like these, I find the lack of you very hard to take. My dreams and fantasies are so well rehearsed, that they come unbidden to torment me with their elusiveness. When I keep busy, and even when my mind is fully occupied with the business at hand idea, this concentration is apt to be interrupted by flashes of recurring memory that are too disturbingly “real” to be accepted with equanimity. Thus, I have felt your kiss just as surely as if you were close enough to bestow it and thrilled to it as if it were an actuality. In the same way, have your arms around me filled me with the infinitely dear sensation of peace and complete satisfaction—and in the night—those fuller excitements that are peculiar to the night, have left me vainly groping in my unconsciousness for a fuller realization of their tantalizingly desirous delights. My greatest disappointment in this respect has been that, with one or two exceptions, and in spite of my prodigious, though unconscious, strivings, I invariably fall just short of realizing complete satisfaction. Invariably, I awaken with the full consciousness that I have just missed something I would have given much to attain. The feeling of frustration is too painfully real to warrant my looking forward with any degree of anticipation to a recurrence of this particular dream. Even those “flashes” of feeling fully realized (in waking moments) are too tormenting brief to be gratifying. However, in the latter case, I can help myself by consciously remembering and prolonging the sensation of the unbidden, but most welcome, kiss or caress, whichever the case might be. My hunger for you, my darling, is so vast, and my need of you so great, that I find it necessary at times to “force” all the thoughts and recollections of you from my mind, if I am to be of any use whatever to myself and others. God grant that the time be not too long coming when I will have no need of banishing you thus from my consciousness; when the reality of you will be the reason for, and the joy of my existence. May He keep you and our sweet Adele, and all my dear ones in good health and in high spirits all the days of your lives. May He grant me the privilege of the opportunity to discharge my own responsibilities toward that end. Amen!

Lovingly, Your Phil

May 13, 1944

 

Dear Phil: 

Please excuse the paper, but I don't think I can put all I want to say in this letter on V-Mail. 

Pardon the delay in answering, but I wanted to find out what was happening with Snuff. He received notice that his appeal was rejected by a 3-0 vote and is waiting to be called. He will probably leave some time in June. Phil, what happens if he goes over his ninety days? June 17th will be 90 days since he took his physical. If he receives his notice before the 17th to leave after the 17th, is that alright? He would be awfully disappointed if he had to take another physical and didn't get the Navy.

Spoke to Evelyn a few times this week, but, as usual, we didn't talk of anything that amounts to much. 

As far as refraining from writing in " that devilish vein", now that I have a better understanding of you, it will be quite alright for you to write in any manner that you wish. I want you to feel that I shall appreciate and enjoy letters from you no matter in what “vein" they are written. 

I would like to clarify to you my motives for moving to my Mother's. In the first place, I was going to move to my mother's when Snuff left, so I left a few months earlier in order that we would have a chance to get around and see all our friends and relatives. My main reason for leaving, though, was because my in-laws did not want me to stay. It was just one of those things.

As you said in your letter, you would like to see the war over and all of us in a place of our own. No more than we would, my dear Phil. In the first place we have . . .

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. . .on our honeymoon we have my brother-in-law and his wife with us. After the war is over, it will be just as if Snuff and I had just gotten married. We will take a place of our own and furnish it from top to bottom and really begin to enjoy married life. 

I want you to know that Evelyn let me read the letter you wrote to her on your anniversary. Really, Phil, I have never read any thing so beautiful in my life. It is wonderful to have the faculty of expressing your thoughts in such a beautiful way. I envy you in that respect. It seems so simple to write a letter when you do it, and yet when it comes time for me to write, it is really an effort. I know what I want to say, but I don't know how to say it. May be when you come back, you will give me some lessons in letter-writing. 

As far as thinking of you occasionally, I think of you a great deal and can't help but wish this mess was over and you were back home. I think that we miss you almost as much as Evelyn does, but in a different way of course. 

As yet we have not seen "And the Angels Sing". It will not be here until the summer. 

We went to see the "Purple Heart" last night, and it unbelievable that there are such barbarians on this earth.

As far as the weather is concerned, we are having beautiful summer weather. No spring, for a change, 

I received your request and am ready to mail your package. I am having difficulties, because the package weighs 9-1/2 lbs. and I don't know what to eliminate. If you would send me another request, I will mail half now and half later. 

As far as asking you questions so that you will know what to write about, your letters are always interesting and very much looked forward to. You seem to be doing alright using your own imagination. 

I haven't forgotten my promise to send you some-pictures. In fact, this afternoon we hope to take some, and by the time I receive your next letter, I'll probably send some to you. 

Hal is quite grown up by now. He has 14 teeth and only has two more to go until his two year molars. He weighs 25-1/2 lbs. and still has blonde-hair-and-blue eyes. He picks things up very fast and is quite ahead of himself. I could go on for hours and hours about the things he does that are cute, but I guess you can imagine what they are from the things your daughter does. 

I think I have rambled on quite enough for one letter, so I shall wait until I hear from you again. 

As ever,

Dot

P. S. Don't forget that request. 

Post #364 - May 12, 1944 You are Willing Enough to Learn Everything You Like, but Sometimes You Fail to be Practical and On the Dance Floor Klein is a Marvel of Rhythm

 

May 12, 1944

Dearest Hubby, 

Your letters of May 5 (the one meant for the 5th) and that of the 6th came this afternoon. I really hadn't expected any mail and was pleasantly surprised. Glad, too, that the packages reached you in good time. I figured a package every two weeks would be just right, just as you did. 

Renee is really Parris’ childhood sweetheart in the book. His feelings for Cassie are much different even though he does offer to marry her in the story. You can have any and all of the C. P. pictures. I am sending along one of Adele and one of me when they are ready. That will leave me the other two of Adele which I want to show to everyone before I send them off to you. Sorry I neglected to tell you how I, voted, sweet, but Democratic, of course, I thought you knew. 

There isn't anything in your May 6 letter that requires comment. 

It was hot today and I did plenty of sweating. My mother washed early this morning. It was a huge wash, having accumulated over a week or more. After toting it over and hanging it up, cleaning up the house, giving Adele her lunch and having my own, I proceeded to cut the grass. I had trimmed the hedges earlier this week. My mother has a pair of those shears for just such work. I was sweating away, when up comes the postman with your two most welcome letters. 

On looking over your letter of the 6th there is one comment I would like to make. You mention how handy Red is at various tasks. Yes, I wish very much that you were that way. It shows ambition, not to mention willingness to learn everything. You have the latter, sweet, but there are times I wonder at the former. You are willing enough to learn everything you like, but sometimes you fail to be practical. (No hard feelings, huh?)

I've brought Adele down, on two occasions, for her pre-bedtime glass of milk. She sits in the hichair, to drink it, her feet bare. When this is the case, she rubs the sole of her foot along the upper part of my leg where it is smooth and it tickles. Reminds me " - - -  (darn it!)

Fay is going back to camp with Morris, and is taking the baby along. They are leaving Monday. He expects to go overseas in about four months and wants them to be with him. Anne has been with Tony since last Sunday, rather Friday, and will return this Sunday. She made the trip alone, her mother and sister caring for Richy." Everyone seems to be seeing their various mates, and it gets me to thinking - 

when will I see you, baby? Soon, I hope! 

Dot doesn't expect Snuff to leave this month as the Navy quota for this month has been filled. Guess it will be sometime in June.

Lil called this afternoon to tell me that she had sent out a package for Mom for Mother’s Day. Hope you didn't forget to remember Mom on Mother's Day. 

I had a nice v-mail, as usual, from Syd. 

Well, dearest sweetheart, I've had my say and am ready for the easy chair. I love you so much! I am 

Your Eve 

12 May 1944 

Evvie, my darling, 

After yesterday's long, but uninformative, and no doubt tedious letter, I think it is only fair that I devote this one to telling you a little about my activities of the past few days - what I have been doing, rather than what I have been thinking. Night before last, as I mentioned in passing in my last, I went to the Base Theater to see "Oklahoma", and then went to the dance at the Aero Club. The picture was the typical "blood-and-thunder Western melodrama, but the lively action and Western locale was a welcome change from the ordinary run-of-the-mill pictures I have been seeing of late. John Wayne is the same big, likeable, cowboy that he has played in a dozen pictures. Martha Scott is pretty (without too much S. A.), in the time-honored tradition of Western heroines. The plot itself is the hackneyed theme of the poor-but-honest cowboy winning out over innumerable obstacles to win the girl and the glory from the clever, unscrupulous "promoter". It's been done hundreds of times before, but it still makes for an exciting evening at the movies. The dance was just getting under way when I got to the Aero Club. The orchestra consisted of five G.I.'s playing the piano, bass, Clarinet and sax, trumpet, and drums. A very small aggregation you will say, but believe me, Sweet, they made up in quality what they lacked in volume. Their arrangements were wonderful, their style smooth, their rhythm and musicianship flawless. In short, they left nothing to be desired. The hit tune over here at present is "Pesame mucho" (I'm only guessing at the spelling), but I'm sure you are familiar with that lovely Mexican melody. I'm very fond of it myself. Anyhow, their rendition of this was "right on the ball". The trumpet solo on the melody was so perfectly in accord with the way I think it ought to be shaded that I couldn't help but wonder at it. My prime object in going to the dance, though, was to watch Klein dance. Ordinarily he is the most awkward gook you ever saw, but on the dance-floor he is a marvel of rhythm. He is an insatiable clown, however, both on and off the dance-floor, and after watching his atrocious conduct towards his partner, one cannot help but wonder why the girls put up with him after some of his more outrageous antics. He "makes faces" every few minutes, (and with his natural equipment he can look hideous enough to turn a strong stomach); he startles his inexperienced partners by breaking into the most intricate and uninhibited "jive" steps; whispers outrageous suggestions in their unbelieving ears; "loves them up" shamelessly" and openly at every opportunity, and generally behaves in so boorish and lascivious a manner, that it is embarrassing just to watch him. Still, I have yet to see a girl walk out on him. Quite the contrary! After seeing him dance, some of the girls actually have the nerve to ask him to dance. I'll never understand that. He is a most accommodating cuss, though, and though it puzzles me as much as it must you - I can't help but like the guy. Knowing that I was there solely to watch him perform, he obliged me by confining his dancing and clowning to the area of the floor just in front of where I was sitting on the side-lines, Moreover, he displayed all his tricks (and a few new ones) for my edification. As soon as the music started, he left me - to show up on the floor with the only really pretty gal in the place. She was a slight, but well-formed blonde, a good little dancer, but not very "hep". This latter failing bothered Klein not one little bit, he merely did his stuff, and left her to more or less shift for herself. That is, as far as the dancing went. Actually, he was all over her like a tent - hugging her, nuzzling her, making her look silly by suddenly taking off on one of his innumerable "breaks" to leave her standing blankly bewildered and motionless until he should deign to again pick her up where he had left her, and seemingly making such an ass of himself and her that I marveled at her willingness to put up with it. On several occasions, I observed the ire mounting in her, but Klein, as I said before, is no dummy, and sensed the "storm-warnings" in time to pull off a new piece of foolery that left her laughing. The poor gal was so puzzled by his antics that she didn't rightly know whether to be insulted or amused. I think that accounts for his success with the gals. He makes it commensurate upon them that they give him the benefit of the doubt. Shortly after the intermission he came across the floor to me, literally dragging a girl, a brunette this time, in his wake. Without any ado whatever, he bowed exaggeratedly in my direction and introduced his acquaintance of but a few moments as follows: "Corporal Strongin - meet my wife". I think I blushed most unbecomingly at that juncture, but managed, somehow, a foolish "how do you do"? Klein didn't even give her a chance to answer, 'cause he immediately got her in a bear hug, and she was much too busy trying to evade his clutches to bother with mere formalities. On the dance-floor, she was a joy to watch. She danced as lightly as any fairy I ever imagined. More surprising - she matched Klein's own brilliant and intricate style of dancing step for step. During the next intermission he stopped over long enough to confide that he was going to "make" this gal or break a leg trying. They disappeared from the dance floor shortly after I noted him whispering very earnestly in her ear. He assured me next day that she was most receptive of his advances (to put it as delicately as I know how). Either he is the world's biggest liar, or a fitting successor to the immortal Casanova. I'm rather inclined to believe him, because although he has unwittingly repeated some of his more lurid adventures, of which there are enough to fill a book, he has yet to change a single detail in the re-telling. 

So much for the dance (did I hear you say too much?). 

Yesterday was entirely spent on the pay-roll. In the evening, I took in the early show, which was "The Man From Down Under" with Charles Laughton, Richard Carlson, Donna Reed, and Binnie Barnes. This one was surprisingly good. I enjoyed it because the story was unusual, the acting superb, the action scenes exciting and suspenseful, and the direction so able. Charles, Laughton, of course, does his usual masterful job of acting. Binnie Barnes is likewise dependable in this sense, and she turns in one of her best efforts here, I particularly liked Richard Carlson; he has long been one of my favorites. Donna Reed is winsome and well cast. The plot, though, remains the important factor in the "Man From Down Under". It is the sort of story that makes a good book. The prize-fighting sequence is the realest, most exciting, and most convincing it has been my pleasure to see in a long time. 

After the show, I started on my daily letter to you. This took until bed-time, as you can judge by the length of it. Your V-mail of the 4th arrived with Gloria's of the same date. I assure you, Baby, that you and Adele aren't the only ones in the family that have a fondness for "cahs". If it is at all possible, you can bet we will have one shortly after I get hone. How else will we be able to "hit the road" for a month or two before I’ll want to settle down to work? I haven't forgotten our plans, Chippie. I couldn't, 'cause I think about them constantly. Your explanation of the punkin's tendency to "pigeon-toedness" is new to me, but I'll take your word for it - and I won't worry about it, Incidentally, do you know of the bill in Congress to provide medical attention for the families of the men in Service? I believe it has been passed by both the House and the Senate, and requires only the President's signature to become Law, 

From the tone of Gloria's letter, I would say that there is at least one person who can appreciate my "devilish" form of writing. Glad to hear that we now have two corporals in the family. Hope that he winds up at least a buck-sergeant. 

Today was another busy one for me. Think I'll go to the movies tonight (for a change). 

There was no fresh mail for me today, so, for the first time in a couple of weeks, I'm "caught up" with you, 

Can't think of another single thing to say at this time, Sweet, so I'll say adieu, for the time being. Tell Mom I still have her letter in mind, but somehow can't get around to it. Tell your Mom that she has owed me a letter for too-long, and I only have so much patience, and it has just about run out, and I'll be angry with her if I don't hear from her soon. Ask your Dad if he won't write to tell me about his new job. Why don't you send Anne Furr's address, as I asked you to do some weeks ago. I'm still waiting for Lil's letter. What about the one that Jack N, sent to us? I haven't received that, either. Dottie, I believe, owes me a letter, 

The weather has been beautiful these past few days, and I can't help but think how wonderful it would be to be home at this time. These balmy Spring days inspire many, many thoughts of "home", Evvie, darling, and this particular form of "homesickness" does me a whole lot of no good. The desire to be with you grows and grows until I hardly know how to contain it. Got any good ideas, Baby? 

My best love to the cherub, and you, and all the family. I am, just as always, (only a little more so each passing day) - - 

Your Phil 

P. S. Don't be too impatient for those bonds, Honey, it'll probably be a month or two yet before you begin receiving them. I'm hoping we won't collect too many of them (if'n you know what I mean!).