1927-07-16a: ​​~TOUR STOPS~---images---audio---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
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1927-07-16a​: ​tour stops---~IMAGES~---audio---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
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1927-07-16a: ​tour stops---images---audio---~TRANSCRIPT~---notes---links---site navigation
Ft. McPherson, Ga.,
July 16, 1927.

Dear Kathleen,

We have been having cool weather with showers in the afternoon somewhere in the vicinity nearly every day, in the afternoon or evening.  The grass and weeds are flourishing.  I went to the new Capitol theatre last night.  There had been quite a shower when I came out, and it was still drizzling and continued to do so until after I went to bed.  When I reached home I heard a pathetic "peep-peep"; changed into old clothes and investigated with a flash light.  I found that 6 of the small babies, that had gone back to their old pen, were huddled together in the SW corner in the rain.  They didn't have enough sense to go to their old box.  I opened the wire and pulled them through.  Took 3 to the house and the other 3 went under it.

​I didn't enjoy the Capitol show much.  Partly because I was too high up.  I was in the front of the balcony, but it was very high.  There may have been another under it.

Saw Nell K. and she says she had had a letter or card from Margaret.  I saw Cooney playing with a croquet mallet and ball that I judged were new.

Am going to Pinafore to-night.  I went when I was a very small kid.  I think I must have been about 4 or 5, and don't remember much about it.  I have always wanted to go since I have been grown up.  I have always wanted to go to The Pirates of Penzance but have never had a chance.

Colonel Meyer said yesterday that he thought he would put in an application to be retired.  He has 41 years' service.  He said he would live here in Atlanta.  He is under orders to go to Chattanooga.

Mrs. Plowden called me on the 'phone last evening and asked me to call there if I could.  She said that "those people" were going in and out at 3 o'clock in the morning and making a great deal of noise.  I said that I thought it would not help any but might make them worse to speak to them and Mr. Plowden thought so too.  I have not received the check.  Mr. P. said he mailed it yesterday morning.  I thought they were going to question the amount but they didn't.

Charlie called me up several days ago complaining about them and telling how many times they had been raided.  He gets the police to do the raiding, and the police go around and tell who made the complaint.  Mrs. Upchurch called up several days ago and complained about the raids.  I told her that I could do nothing about it, that that was their right if they wanted to do so.  She said if I would not protect her (Mr. U. was said to be away but the P say not) she would protect herself in her own way.  I think the noisy nights are her protection.  Sorry to bother you about them but thought you would be wondering what was going on.

With lots of love and kisses,

Will
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1927-07-16a​: ​​​tour stops---images---audio---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
​I heard a pathetic "peep-peep"
My father (the youngest child of Will and Kathleen) did not remember the chickens fondly, but it seems clear - and endearing - that Will and Kathleen really liked keeping chickens.

2.
Am going to Pinafore to-night.  I went when I was a very small kid.  I think I must have been about 4 or 5, and don't remember much about it.  I have always wanted to go since I have been grown up.  I have always wanted to go to The Pirates of Penzance but have never had a chance.
It is rare that the Five Stokey Siblings say anything about their childhood, so it pleased me very much to get this little bit.  The Pinafore performance must have been in the early 1880s, and I'm betting it was not an official D'Oyly Carte production.  I love Gilbert & Sullivan, and it seems strange to me that a 39-year-old man might never have had the chance to see a production of The Pirates of Penzance.  I hope that Will got to see one on Cape Cod sometime.

3.
Colonel Meyer said yesterday that he thought he would put in an application to be retired.  He has 41 years' service.  He said he would live here in Atlanta.  He is under orders to go to Chattanooga.
Will retired the following spring, so here he is, thinking.

​4.
Mrs. Plowden called me on the 'phone last evening and asked me to call there if I could.  She said that "those people" were going in and out at 3 o'clock in the morning and making a great deal of noise.
This whole story puzzles me.  I do not understand what Will's responsibility was in this situation.  For a minute or two I wondered if Will and Kathleen had rented out their house while Kathleen and the kids were in Woods Hole, and if Will was living at Fort McPherson, but then I remembered the "peep-peep" chicken story, and knew that Will had to be living in the house.  I don't think Will and Kathleen owned a house or two that they were renting out.  So what was going on?
The "those people" makes it sound as though people are trying not to say the n-word, but that may be anachronistic of me, and in any case, I doubt that whites and blacks would be living near to each other.
So what was going on?  Maybe I'll find out from another of Will's letters.
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