THE LETTER:

Dear Chet,                                                                        Thursday evening

Having slept most all day I decided to do something more interesting and answer some of my letters.  Mamma expects one from me every day and that is about all I really have to do. I sure am leading a lazy life. I hope some day I will be of more use in the world.  I walked to Kinzua and back Monday all by myself. That took nerve believe me. I saw four snakes on the road but I didn’t stop to see what kind. They all looked about a mile long to me. I went fishing Tuesday night with Mr. Smith. We caught five nice big ones, but I expected to land in the river any minute, the way he bumped that old boat around. 

     That is a fine plan for you to come up with Dr. Fisher. I hope it holds good. I am going home positively on October first. That is a week next Monday. 

   You seem to be having some time with your German teacher.  I sort of liked German but oh, how I hated Latin.

     I just finished a good book this afternoon called “Alice of Old Vincennes.” Have you read it? 

    Ask Reid if he is quite sure he is playing first fiddle to his new little Jane.  I sincerely hope so. 

     Well, I guess I shall end this missive and eat my supper now.

Sincerely,

Frances

COMMENTARY:

Oh Frances,  what a lazy life you lead!  Nothing to do but fish, take walks and write letters.  I love the honesty and the humor he uses to write Chet.  I wonder who Chet is. Is he a brother? A nephew? A cousin?  A friend?  The pure simplicity of this letter is what makes it so fun to read. I have no idea what year this letter was written accept that it was with two other letters, one of which was dated 1932. There were also several pictures, some of which are used in the cover photo of this blog.  So what can we say about Frances? Well, he does not like snakes or Latin and he seems a little board to me, But what a swell guy to take the time to write his mamma and Chet too. I plan to look up the book he read. I wonder if it is still in print… I hope that he made it home by his October first deadline and lived a wonderful life. I hope you enjoyed reading this first Friday’s Letter. Please feel free to comment and tell me what you think of it.

Sincerely,

Liz