Saturday
Star Prairie
Dear Dad,
I received your letter just yesterday at the same time I sent the postcard (marked Wednesday). I am sorry I missed your letter in Chicago but I may pick it up on the way back. And I certainly was thrilled to get the letter. It was the first one I had received from the East since I had left Ossining (N.Y., Grandma Peabody’s house). A card from the Burnham’s also arrived with your letter. Your letter brought me a sort of breath from Trumbull and for the first time I felt a longing to be back there. It’s too bad George missed the trip to the Fair, I think he would have enjoyed it.
If Aunt Corinne is still there give her my love and say I was sorry to miss her, and you might tell Elizabeth she is a +-!;” fool (If you ask me) for sticking with Peggy instead of going to Nova Scotia. I think it would be a good idea for her to get away from Peggy for a while.
I’m glad that you did not prevent Arnold’s party as I would’ve been disappointed if you had. I suspect from the scavenger list that Arnold cooked most of them up and some I consider very foolish and impossible, for instance a flea and a bottle of oil from a gas station, but it must have been fun and I would certainly have liked to have been there.
1. Constable’s cap
2. Canary cage
3. Road sign
4. Telegram blank
5. False Teeth
6. Stamper from Library
7. Something with feathers
8. Monogrammed handkerchief
10. Flannel night shirt – man’s
11.Menu from anywhere
12.Lady’s Dance set
13. Men’s garters
14. Bulb from Street lamp – unbroken
15.Board from stand of Carnival
16. Lock of red hair
17.Fish from fishbowl
18.Clock (electric)
19.Birdbath
20.Animal from Beardsley Park
21. Ticket from show – whole
22. Ear of corn
23. Ice cream dish
24. Corn cob pipe
25. a black poodle dog
26. bottle of oil from gas station
27. Screen off of window
28. Something odoriforous
29. Button from Usher in Show
30.Something ending in a
31. piece of green velvet
32. Get a flea
33. Sugar cubes from Diner
34. Sign from 10 cents store
35. Stove pipe
36. Pint of cream
37. Something from Merritt Highway
38. Gayly painted ladder
39. Souvenir from couple in Beardsley Park
40. A train schedule
I don’t believe I will be home before September first as I want to do and see lots of things out here which I may not get another chance to do and see for a long time.
I expect to stop at Draz’s on the way back as they have invited me to the national air races there. I have already invited everyone I saw, to come east and stay, but they all say when they get better cars. I will write both Arnold and Aunt Elsie on their respective undertakings, Arnold, his trip and Aunt Elsie, her birthday.
Here at Star Prairie the drought is finally over (we hope). It has rained twice and been pretty good both times.
The letter ends abruptly but Ced had run out of room and I’m sure he knew Grandpa would know who the letter was from.
"Greatest Generation" Life Lessons 
Your postings are a wonderful reminder of the long ago – before the internet, mobile phones and even the common-place telephone in every home, when families and friends communicated by sitting down with pen and ink to tell all, but leaving reminders that have proved so much more permanent than their modern counterparts. Thank you for sharing your family’s wonderful, heartwarming history.
Thank you, Maureen. It is my honor to share this “Slice of Life” with the world. So many today just can’t comprehend what life was like back in the 1930’s and 1940’s. It was a different time and I want to remind everyone of why they were called “The Greatest Generation”. It had to do with the values they lived their lives by, things like honesty, responsibility, honor, duty, etc. Many of these traits are sadly missing in today’s world.
I’m glad you appreciate my letters and stories.