Sunday Eve

(Postmarked April 1st, 1918)

My dear Brother:-

Well you can come home ANY time now as the “Tinkerrarys” are out again. We had ours out today as far as Hudson Falls and Fort Edward and it went good. Some roads are bad but between here and Adamsville they are not bad at all and autos are running from Hartford and Hudson Falls right along. I tell you it seems good to get out once more and we’ve had such a beautiful weather lately too. I think this has been the pleasantest Easter in quite a while. Did you have to spend it in camp or could you get away some where? I hope you didn’t have to stay there. We didn’t go to church any where as this getting up one hour earlier and having church an hour earlier didn’t give us much time. How do you like the change in time? I wouldn’t be surprised if we all like it pretty well when we get used to it. The only trouble is it’s hard for farmers to quit work before dark any way. We all think we will now but I doubt if we can hold out all summer. It’s nobody�s fault but our own though, I suppose, if we don’t know when to stop working.

Ransom got three new Victor records the other day. One has two lullabies by Elsie Baker that are BEAUTIFUL. Another is “The Old-Fashioned Town” by Baker and Gounod’s “Serenade” by Olive Kline — and that is good. The third is not so pretty but quite catchy. “I’m Going to Follow the Boys” by Elizabeth Spencer and Henry Burr and “the Further it is from Tipperary, the closer it is to Berlin” by Billie Murray.

What do you think of the war news? I’m glad you are not “over there” yet but don’t know but that they need some of Uncle Sam’s boys to help them out. However, I’m hoping that this is to prove the decisive battle of the war and that we win. The Allies certainly are doing better. We’ve got to win, that’s all.

You know I told you Ransom was captain of the W.S.S. campaign in our school district. How much do you suppose he got pledged just in this one district? Over thirteen hundred dollars. Ransom and I each took twenty stamps and one for each of the children. Some of the well-to-do ones had already bought Liberty bonds and were planning to by more when the next issue comes out. And yet the newspapers have been saying that the farmers are “slackers” when it comes to loaning money to Uncle Sam.

Well our wood is sawed our threshing is done, we’ve sold one hill calf (for $85) I’ve about ten quarts of maple syrup made, besides what we’ve eaten, and commencing with tomorrow morning we are going to prepare for a big drive on the Spring Work in all departments. The milking machine is running again — and the washing machine WILL be tomorrow — and I think the next big job is to be the hay bailing. House cleaning will soon be here too.

Bessie just called and I’ve been visiting — on the phone. I think she is feeling a little better again but not as well as I wish she did. She says that Ed has had his man a week — I didn’t know it. Their minister (Mr. Dean) has resigned, on account of ill health and preaches his last sermon next Sunday. They will all hate to see him go.

I was up to call at Mrs. Robertson’s one day last week and her daughter, Mrs. Sanford of Madison N.J. was there. She gave me a printed copy of a letter written to her husband — he is a professor the H.S. there — by one of his former pupils who enlisted one is now in France. It is quite interesting so I’ll enclose it. You might care to read it.

Well I guess Ransom is waiting for some lunch and we’ll have to go to bed earlier as five o’clock will come and hour sooner now.

Lots of love
Minnie

May I hope to see you soon?

(Newspaper article included in the envelope)

Somewhere in Scotland

A Scotchman dined in a Broadway restaurant and was disgusted when the waiter brought him a bill for $3.75.

“Mon, mon,” said Scotchman, “I could get a better dinner nor that in Scotland for a shillin’.”

“Oh, come off!” said the waiter. “What could they give you for a shillin’?”

“Mon,” said the Scot, “they’d give me soup, fish, roast beef, chicken, ice cream, fruit, cheese, coffee and a cigar.”

“My goodness,” said the waiter, “that’s a bargain! Whereabouts in Scotland is it?” “I don�t know, Mon,” said the Scot, “but ain�t it awful cheap?”

Notes: Daylight Savings Time was a concept that began in Europe during World War I. The plan was not formally adopted in the U.S. until 1918. ‘An Act to preserve daylight and provide standard time for the United States’ was enacted on March 19, 1918. It both established standard time zones and set summer DST to begin on March 31, 1918. Daylight Saving Time was observed for seven months in 1918 and 1919. After the War ended, the law proved so unpopular that it was repealed in 1919 with a Congressional override of President Wilson’s veto. Daylight Saving Time became a local option, and was continued in a few states, such as Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and in some cities, such as New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Although I can find no definite information on Elsie Baker, Olive Kline or Billie Murray, their music can be downloaded from the internet.