1924-08: ~AUDIO~---images---comment---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
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1924-08: ​​audio---images---~COMMENT~---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
I wonder if Madeleine Munro's English accent was the same as Kathleen Farmer Stokey's English accent.
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1924-08: ​audio---images---comment---~TRANSCRIPT~---notes---links---site navigation
WOODS HOLE, MASS., U.S.A., Summer, 1924.

Alphabet written on the way to Boston after a happy fortnight never to be forgotten - by M.M.

A is for Alma, our versatile Aunt -
She is botanist, hostess, mechanic, or "jaunt."

B is for Billy, beloved by each one,
For his sturdy good humour and his smile like the sun.

C for the cereal, all ready mixed -
Or being in the U.S.A. should we say fixed?

D for dissections of tender young chickens,
Whose joints were discovered by sundry incisions.

E is for Eva, our still younger Aunt,
I've tried to describe her but really I can't.

F for the four full nottles of milk,
Carried safely by Roger, with hair soft as silk.

G for the gutters, a name that's applied
To what in old England is best left aside.

H for the hat-boxes seen at the station;
No one could count them - their number was legion.

I is for ingenuity, which
Marks all the Stokeys and makes life with them rich.

J for the journey from the far coast of Georgia;
It lasted three days and the train was a black(i)er.

K is for Kathleen - dear Mother of four -
Would that we knew such others a score.

L for the lobsters demolished with relish,
Together with other supurb local "shell-fish."

​L also for L​ábōrātóry in full;
In England it would not scan nearly so well.

M is for Margaret, tall and still shooting,
Happily here there is small need for booting.

N for the nonsense distinctly nocturnal.
Can you explain the local dispersal?

O for the oven from which came forth cookes:
Ginger, molasses, or Aunt Alma's blueb'ries.

P is for Pickle - dear little maid.
Will she grow up more gay or more staid?

Q for the questions propounded by Roger:
Why, Where, When? or sometimes p'r'aps Whither?

R for the rolled hats shipped from old England.
They're splendid for travel because you can pack them.

S for the Spirituals sung by Aunt Eva -
Sweetly, caressingly, in full sincerity.

T for the trunk dispatched by dear Daddy,
Spotted by Pickle down at the Railway.

U for the umteen happy bright days,
Enjoyed to the full by "yours always."

V for the vigour displayed by the young - 
Often in muscle - Does this include tongue?

W for the waves, warm, wondrous to feel,
One's blood remains normal and does not congeal.

X for the 'Xodus down to the shore,
When Daddy's old bathing suit clad two or more!

Y for our youth renewed day by day,
In fresh air, in sunshine, in surf and salt spray.

Z for the zeal with which we pursued
​All expeditions, our "swims" and our food.
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1924-08: ​​​audio---images---comment---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
The ages of the Will's children in the summer of 1924 were:
Maggie (Margaret): 11
Billy: 7
Kay (Kathleen/Pickle): 5
Roger: 3

2.
​F for the four full nottles of milk,
Carried safely by Roger, with hair soft as silk.
It must have been bottles, of course, and I like to imagine my three-and-a-half-year old father carefully carrying them  - for whatever reason.

3.
​M is for Margaret, tall and still shooting,
Happily here there is small need for booting.
Neither of Maggie's parents was much over five feet tall, and I remember my Aunt Maggie (the one time I met her) as being short, but never mind, she was getting taller.

4.
S for the Spirituals sung by Aunt Eva -
Sweetly, caressingly, in full sincerity.
Aunt Eva was a contralto, so I can imagine that she did indeed sing spirituals beautifully.  It surprises me that she chose to sing them, but I wish I could have heard her.

5.
​W for the waves, warm, wondrous to feel,
One's blood remains normal and does not congeal.
So Madeleine was used to colder water at home in England?
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