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Here's a rarity: a letter from Kathleen to a friend back in England. It looks as though she never finished it or mailed it, so that's why we have it. It's fun to see how she talks about her life to people outside the family, and the letter also tells us a little bit about what Will did in World War I.
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2201, Nelson Ave,
Mt. Auburn,
Cincinnati, Ohio
Nov. 26, 1917
My dear Hope,
I have just read once again your letter of last February and I am indeed sorry that I have not written to you before. Really I have had a busy year. Soon after your letter came there was the excitement of America getting into the war and of course we never knew when Will would be ordered away, and that of course made us feel very unsettled. Then in April I added a small son to the family and of course he has occupied a good deal of time ever since. Then I had long visits from Mother + Ruth + put off writing letters while they were here and finally it has come round to November + your letter is still unanswered. I was so very very pleased to hear from you again + know how you were all faring in this time of stress. I hope that all is still well with you. I should so love to see you and your children. I often wish that they could play with Margaret. I often think of you all + wonder whether you still have your husband in England or whether he has gone abroad.
Will is still here. There were four Engineer Officers in Cincinnati before the war + two were sent to Camps + Will + another were left here, but we never know when he will get orders to go right away. As you say you do, we just live from day to day, it is merely a matter of time. Will came home one day with the news that he had been made Lieut. Colonel + I suppose some day he will come home + say that he has to go away + we shall have to pack up + I shall take the children to Savannah unless of course we are able to go with him, meanwhile one gets accustomed to uncertainty and we are a very happy little family.
I appreciated your remarks about Margaret. You seem to grasp the situation. Margaret is a very sweet child. I loved her before she was mine and now I feel just as if she were mine in every sense of the word, and I am trying my best to bring her up well and I have always found her a great joy. Billy, the baby, (named William Farmer Stokey) is a sturdy little chap, very chubby and bonny + energetic. I don’t call him a pretty baby, but he is so healthy and happy, laughs and smiles so much + seldom cries. Margaret is devoted to him and they have such good times together. They are the only grandchildren in the two families so you may imagine they receive a good deal of attention. It is a trial to me that Savannah is so far away as Mother + Ruth would so love to see more of the children. I hoped to have Father here for a visit, but he has been too busy. You can imagine how difficult it is to manage a business so dependent on shipping as his is.
Last Christmas we went to Savannah for a week. This year we shall stay here as Will cannot get any leave because of the war.
The thoughts of everyone over here nowadays are on conservation of food, Economy in all directions, Liberty Loans, Knitting + any kind of work that helps the soldiers. American people have been very extravagant but they are now learning that it is wrong to waste and really a great deal of good work is being done. Margaret announced the other day “We have to work so very hard now there is a war.” There is a very good kindergarten here + she goes to it and they spend some time cutting scraps to make pillows for the wounded + they collect stamps to be used in some way to help the Belgian children, so the children are all very interested in their war work.
Will is kept busy examining men who want to enlist. First it was for the Officer’s Reserve Corps and now for the tanks. Then the officer in charge of the division of Louisville, Ky. was ordered to a camp + Will was given his work in addition to his own, so that he has to go down there every few weeks + his time is well occupied .
I have not heard from Miss Bennett or Miss Ballinger for ages, but strangely enough, after a long silence I had a letter from Nora Howard a few days after I received yours, needless to say that letter is still unanswered.
I am very happy here in Cincinnati. My greatest complaint against the city is that it is so very dirty in the winter. In the summer the weather was delightful + Ruth was here and we enjoyed being together so much, now it is cold + we have started furnace fires and it seems impossible to keep clean, but while there are such much bigger troubles we cannot afford to fuss about such trifles!
Last week was a very severe one - a great deal of snow and the thermometer many degrees below zero, it was quite a change for me after so many years in the South. This year I believe will be much milder.
If we are allowed to send photographs to England I am going to enclose some snapshots that Will took of the children. I am so glad that I have photos of you + Sara + I should love to have some more recent ones.
How I should like to see you again. I still live in hopes of coming to England someday, but as things stand it seems more likely that Will would see it before I do.
Thank you very much for offering to help us should we come to England. I just wonder how things will shape themselves for us.
Although we may be here for a long time it would be safer for you to send letters to my old address
510, Bolton St. East
Savannah, Ga.
I should like very much to hear soon from you.
This is rather disjointed + uninteresting I am afraid, but I have to write + talk to Will at the same time + consequently letters + conversation both suffer.
Mt. Auburn,
Cincinnati, Ohio
Nov. 26, 1917
My dear Hope,
I have just read once again your letter of last February and I am indeed sorry that I have not written to you before. Really I have had a busy year. Soon after your letter came there was the excitement of America getting into the war and of course we never knew when Will would be ordered away, and that of course made us feel very unsettled. Then in April I added a small son to the family and of course he has occupied a good deal of time ever since. Then I had long visits from Mother + Ruth + put off writing letters while they were here and finally it has come round to November + your letter is still unanswered. I was so very very pleased to hear from you again + know how you were all faring in this time of stress. I hope that all is still well with you. I should so love to see you and your children. I often wish that they could play with Margaret. I often think of you all + wonder whether you still have your husband in England or whether he has gone abroad.
Will is still here. There were four Engineer Officers in Cincinnati before the war + two were sent to Camps + Will + another were left here, but we never know when he will get orders to go right away. As you say you do, we just live from day to day, it is merely a matter of time. Will came home one day with the news that he had been made Lieut. Colonel + I suppose some day he will come home + say that he has to go away + we shall have to pack up + I shall take the children to Savannah unless of course we are able to go with him, meanwhile one gets accustomed to uncertainty and we are a very happy little family.
I appreciated your remarks about Margaret. You seem to grasp the situation. Margaret is a very sweet child. I loved her before she was mine and now I feel just as if she were mine in every sense of the word, and I am trying my best to bring her up well and I have always found her a great joy. Billy, the baby, (named William Farmer Stokey) is a sturdy little chap, very chubby and bonny + energetic. I don’t call him a pretty baby, but he is so healthy and happy, laughs and smiles so much + seldom cries. Margaret is devoted to him and they have such good times together. They are the only grandchildren in the two families so you may imagine they receive a good deal of attention. It is a trial to me that Savannah is so far away as Mother + Ruth would so love to see more of the children. I hoped to have Father here for a visit, but he has been too busy. You can imagine how difficult it is to manage a business so dependent on shipping as his is.
Last Christmas we went to Savannah for a week. This year we shall stay here as Will cannot get any leave because of the war.
The thoughts of everyone over here nowadays are on conservation of food, Economy in all directions, Liberty Loans, Knitting + any kind of work that helps the soldiers. American people have been very extravagant but they are now learning that it is wrong to waste and really a great deal of good work is being done. Margaret announced the other day “We have to work so very hard now there is a war.” There is a very good kindergarten here + she goes to it and they spend some time cutting scraps to make pillows for the wounded + they collect stamps to be used in some way to help the Belgian children, so the children are all very interested in their war work.
Will is kept busy examining men who want to enlist. First it was for the Officer’s Reserve Corps and now for the tanks. Then the officer in charge of the division of Louisville, Ky. was ordered to a camp + Will was given his work in addition to his own, so that he has to go down there every few weeks + his time is well occupied .
I have not heard from Miss Bennett or Miss Ballinger for ages, but strangely enough, after a long silence I had a letter from Nora Howard a few days after I received yours, needless to say that letter is still unanswered.
I am very happy here in Cincinnati. My greatest complaint against the city is that it is so very dirty in the winter. In the summer the weather was delightful + Ruth was here and we enjoyed being together so much, now it is cold + we have started furnace fires and it seems impossible to keep clean, but while there are such much bigger troubles we cannot afford to fuss about such trifles!
Last week was a very severe one - a great deal of snow and the thermometer many degrees below zero, it was quite a change for me after so many years in the South. This year I believe will be much milder.
If we are allowed to send photographs to England I am going to enclose some snapshots that Will took of the children. I am so glad that I have photos of you + Sara + I should love to have some more recent ones.
How I should like to see you again. I still live in hopes of coming to England someday, but as things stand it seems more likely that Will would see it before I do.
Thank you very much for offering to help us should we come to England. I just wonder how things will shape themselves for us.
Although we may be here for a long time it would be safer for you to send letters to my old address
510, Bolton St. East
Savannah, Ga.
I should like very much to hear soon from you.
This is rather disjointed + uninteresting I am afraid, but I have to write + talk to Will at the same time + consequently letters + conversation both suffer.
audio---images---comment---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
Last Christmas we went to Savannah for a week. This year we shall stay here as Will cannot get any leave because of the war.
I thought they stayed in Cincinnati because Kathleen was pregnant:
1916-12-02 LETTER FROM MAMA MARGARET TO EVA
The family have decided they will not go to Savannah for Christmas. They expect an increase in the family in April and Kathleen thinks she would show it too much then.
Did they change their minds, or did Kathleen remember incorrectly, or did she not wish to mention that she was pregnant at the time?
Hmm...maybe she remembered the correct story only after she wrote this, and decided that it would be difficult to correct the letter because it would be unladylike to talk about being pregnant, so that she discarded this letter and started a new one.
More hmm...it seems they changed their mind in 1916 and went to Savannah after all. I need to pull it all together.
2.
American people have been very extravagant but they are now learning that it is wrong to waste and really a great deal of good work is being done.
How much of this is what Kathleen really thought and how much of it is shaped by the intended recipient?
Last Christmas we went to Savannah for a week. This year we shall stay here as Will cannot get any leave because of the war.
I thought they stayed in Cincinnati because Kathleen was pregnant:
1916-12-02 LETTER FROM MAMA MARGARET TO EVA
The family have decided they will not go to Savannah for Christmas. They expect an increase in the family in April and Kathleen thinks she would show it too much then.
Did they change their minds, or did Kathleen remember incorrectly, or did she not wish to mention that she was pregnant at the time?
Hmm...maybe she remembered the correct story only after she wrote this, and decided that it would be difficult to correct the letter because it would be unladylike to talk about being pregnant, so that she discarded this letter and started a new one.
More hmm...it seems they changed their mind in 1916 and went to Savannah after all. I need to pull it all together.
2.
American people have been very extravagant but they are now learning that it is wrong to waste and really a great deal of good work is being done.
How much of this is what Kathleen really thought and how much of it is shaped by the intended recipient?
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LINKS TO OTHER RELEVANT PAGES IN THIS WEBSITE
DOCUMENT LISTS FOR PEOPLE:
- WILL: DOCUMENTS ----- Related
- KATHLEEN: DOCUMENTS ----- Outgoing
- THE NEXT GENERATION: DOCUMENTS ----- Maggie and Billy
- FARMERS & GRAYS: DOCUMENTS ----- WJ, Annie, and Ruth
RELATED DOCUMENTS/PAGES:
GENERAL LISTS OF DOCUMENTS:
- DOCUMENTS BY DATE
- DOCUMENTS BY WHERE THEY WERE WRITTEN ----- Ohio
- DOCUMENTS BY SOURCE ----- Barbara
- DOCUMENTS 1910-1919
audio---images---comment---transcript---notes---links---~SITE NAVIGATION~
- THIS PAGE IS: 1917-11-26 LETTER FROM KATHLEEN TO HER FRIEND HOPE
- THE PREVIOUS PAGE IS: 1917-11-16 OBITUARY FOR MABEL
- THE NEXT PAGE IS: THE YEAR 1918: THE DOCUMENTS
- DOCUMENTS FOR THIS YEAR: 1917
- DOCUMENTS FOR THIS DECADE: 1910-1919
- COMPLETE DOCUMENT LIST BY DATE
- THIS CHAPTER IS: CHAPTER 23: DOCUMENTS LIBRARY
- THIS MODULE IS: MODULE IV: DOCUMENTS
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- HOME PAGE