Good Questions

I guess I was wrong, because a letter I already transcribed and blogged fits in here - his wonderful date with Karolyn. So, something happened that she was around and he could visit with her.

I have not yet read my transcriptions in order. I still need to sort them, and that seems such a large task that I guess I am putting it off until I have transcribed them all. My story might hang together better, though, if I did reread and sort out.

I wish I knew this man. He sounds like such a good man. I am really wishing that I had the letter Nellie Jane wrote him – especially if she answers his questions. I would love to know how Nellie Jane and Oliver met – and how much Oliver earned when they got married.

I continue to wonder about Karolyn and what might have happened to her. Herbert clearly thought to marry her. I hope we find out, but nothing I have yet read has given me any clue. Why can't he give us her last name...?

I have no idea who Tom or Frank Blackhall are; I have never come across their names before.

I wonder what the salts were…

Wednesday, July 25, 1917
Dear Mother,

I’m afraid that in my hurry I forgot to tell you before that I received the five dollars all right. I imagine you must have known it anyway because I signed a return receipt.

Last night we slept out under the trees in our shelter tents inside the camps grounds. I didn’t mind the fact that the ground was hard but I didn’t like the mosquitos at all. They kept us awake until about twelve o’clock. The idea of it is to get us accustomed to sleeping out a bit before taking us out on our hike. Just when we will go one can’t tell because we are still waiting on such equipment as canteens, haversacks and mess kits.

It has been frightfully hot here the last two or three days. I have sweat like a horse. It seems as if I must have lost several pounds but I feel fine. Fortunately it’s a dry heat, so it isn’t as bad as it might be.

There is very little to tell any more. Things have settled down to a regular routine and one day is pretty much like the rest. Today I’ve got to wash. I don’t like the idea of it, there being none but cold water, but I sweat so much that my clothes demand it frequently.
___________
In the mean time I have just had my third typhoid inoculation, my first paratyphoid (both together) and a large dose of salts. The inoculations weren’t bad except that one gets nervous waiting around for them but the salts were nasty.

When you write be sure to tell me what Harry has done about enlisting or have him write me. I am more concerned about that now than about anything else.

When I was in New York I saw Frank Blackhall (Tom’s cousin). He is in the Cavalry (National Guard, some Brooklyn Troop) and has been called out to be mustered into the Federal Service.

5:00 pm

Your letter just came. Please Mother, don’t worry about me, at least until there’s something to worry about. Above all don’t worry about Karolyn. Until the war is over I have no prospects of course. After that, well if you don’t think I have, ask Charlie. I’ve talked it over with him and he thinks it all right. I have no intention of marrying until I have at least fifteen hundred a year. That will be two years at the earliest. And Mother, how old were you when you married and how much did Dad earn? As I see it, it will help me in business. It gives me that stability and responsibility, so necessary in my life. Of course Tom wouldn’t do it. It was never his idea to work for himself – much less for two. If it worries you so much I almost wish I had not told you. I told you in an endeavor to quiet your fears by showing you that assurance that I’d take no rash chances and would be absolutely straight morally. I thought it might relieve your mind about me. I wish I could talk to you about it.

Love,
Herbert