Letter from Alma to Eva: 12/9/1958
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A letter from Alma, at home in South Hadley, Massachusetts after a weekend trip to New York, to her youngest sister Eva, at home in Atlanta, Georgia
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1958-12-09: tour stops---images---audio---~TRANSCRIPT~---notes---links---site navigation
I don't need the Knee Warmer, and I'll send the other under separate cover when I sew it up - I'll probably do it tonight.
Dec. 9th
Dear Eva,
I was very glad to see a letter from you - and the packet of programs - when I returned from New York last evening. It sounds as if I must have missed a letter from you - I never did know that Elizabeth really made it to Atlanta, and that is why I did not mention it. It sounded just like so many of her attempts and I was not going to take it seriously until I heard that she had really made it, and I inferred from your short letter that she had. When?
I'll enclose the letter which I got from AG just before I went down. It does not bother me as much as it may some of my academic friends that she is not so strong for the academic life. Clara and I have both hoped she would get into something in which her skill in writing would have a chance - Fredda agrees, too. When I was down in N.Y. I found out that it was partly on the advice of Bea Cosmey and Elizabeth Parmelee that she is taking secretarial work - or going to start in on it.
To my surprise I saw Elizabeth Sunday. Betsy and AG asked me if I wanted to go to church, and said there was a Universalist Church near on Central Park West, so we went to that. After the service Elizabeth came up and took us to the Coffee hour - coffee served in a Sunday School room behind the church proper. She said that AG had talked with them, and they thought there were other things better for her than teaching - she is not keen enough on any one subject for advanced work, and not enough interested in the H.S. age for that line - nor does she have real desire for teaching - just a natural desire as some people have. So AG is starting in shorthand in a small school near them, one that Barnard College has on its list of approved places for their graduates. She will finish her work in Government at Columbia this semester and then take courses which will be of more use in writing. As she says, there is no money in writing for years ahead, but secretarial work is the most certain. Elizabeth says that there is much variety in it, and if one job doesn't suit her, it is not difficult to find another, and she may find something she really likes, as well as make a living while she is getting skill in writing.
AG and Clara met me Friday at 3:00. AG could not stay as she had other things, so we sat in the Grand Central and talked until nearly 4 and she took my bag to the apartment, and Clara and I went to the Bedford Hotel to Tea with an Egyptian and his Swiss wife, whom the Atkinsons had met on the Dutch boat and had liked, and commended to Clara. We had a very pleasant time, and had so much for Tea - an American Tea - that we did not need much dinner and then went to the apartment where Clara stayed until 9:30, and shortly after I went to bed. AG and Betsy had gone to dinner with two young men from Afghanistan whom Betsy had met at the International House. They had a dinner which was between an Indian and a Turkish dinner.
The girls were busy most of Saturday, so Clara and I did a few errands, and we all wound up at Jane Davies where I took them to dinner - and a good one it was. I should have taken pecan pie as Clara did instead of Pumpkin, only I was afraid of its filling qualities - there was too much clove in the pumpkin. Then we went back to the apartment. It is very pleasant - and the housekeeping is better than I usually associate with AG. It is a pleasant place with a big living-room, and with the things they have added to the furnishings it looks very pleasant. The livingroom bed is comfortable and there were enough coverings, with the addition of my "mossy bank" which I had taken down. The kittens are very lively and are in action much of the time. I prefer the black one (male) to the striped tortoise mixture (female). They jumped and ran on my bed at night before settling down, but I had a good sleep after that.
Last night I called up Amherst, and heard the good news that Geoffroy's doctor says he is coming along well, better than many - most men - after a similar operation in two months. So we are set to go Dec. 27th. Edie is to bring us back from Wayland on the 26th - perhaps AG will do it, or at least come with us.
Their new car is in Amherst - a stationwagon - but is waiting for its power steering. Lenette sent me a map of the route: Penn turnpike, on to St. Louis, then to Oklahoma, then south to Tucson, and northwest to Los Angeles.
There was also a letter from Mrs. Diddell's daughter who said that her mother was much the same, and I suppose is still in a darkened room with the trouble in her eye. She likes letters.
And now to work. It snowed last night. It was cold and windy in N.Y. and I did not have warm enough clothes to beat the wind. Clara and I went to the film of Laurence Olivier and other distinguished actors in Richard III yesterday. It is very good, well acted and beautifully staged and costumed.
With much love,
Alma.
Dec. 9th
Dear Eva,
I was very glad to see a letter from you - and the packet of programs - when I returned from New York last evening. It sounds as if I must have missed a letter from you - I never did know that Elizabeth really made it to Atlanta, and that is why I did not mention it. It sounded just like so many of her attempts and I was not going to take it seriously until I heard that she had really made it, and I inferred from your short letter that she had. When?
I'll enclose the letter which I got from AG just before I went down. It does not bother me as much as it may some of my academic friends that she is not so strong for the academic life. Clara and I have both hoped she would get into something in which her skill in writing would have a chance - Fredda agrees, too. When I was down in N.Y. I found out that it was partly on the advice of Bea Cosmey and Elizabeth Parmelee that she is taking secretarial work - or going to start in on it.
To my surprise I saw Elizabeth Sunday. Betsy and AG asked me if I wanted to go to church, and said there was a Universalist Church near on Central Park West, so we went to that. After the service Elizabeth came up and took us to the Coffee hour - coffee served in a Sunday School room behind the church proper. She said that AG had talked with them, and they thought there were other things better for her than teaching - she is not keen enough on any one subject for advanced work, and not enough interested in the H.S. age for that line - nor does she have real desire for teaching - just a natural desire as some people have. So AG is starting in shorthand in a small school near them, one that Barnard College has on its list of approved places for their graduates. She will finish her work in Government at Columbia this semester and then take courses which will be of more use in writing. As she says, there is no money in writing for years ahead, but secretarial work is the most certain. Elizabeth says that there is much variety in it, and if one job doesn't suit her, it is not difficult to find another, and she may find something she really likes, as well as make a living while she is getting skill in writing.
AG and Clara met me Friday at 3:00. AG could not stay as she had other things, so we sat in the Grand Central and talked until nearly 4 and she took my bag to the apartment, and Clara and I went to the Bedford Hotel to Tea with an Egyptian and his Swiss wife, whom the Atkinsons had met on the Dutch boat and had liked, and commended to Clara. We had a very pleasant time, and had so much for Tea - an American Tea - that we did not need much dinner and then went to the apartment where Clara stayed until 9:30, and shortly after I went to bed. AG and Betsy had gone to dinner with two young men from Afghanistan whom Betsy had met at the International House. They had a dinner which was between an Indian and a Turkish dinner.
The girls were busy most of Saturday, so Clara and I did a few errands, and we all wound up at Jane Davies where I took them to dinner - and a good one it was. I should have taken pecan pie as Clara did instead of Pumpkin, only I was afraid of its filling qualities - there was too much clove in the pumpkin. Then we went back to the apartment. It is very pleasant - and the housekeeping is better than I usually associate with AG. It is a pleasant place with a big living-room, and with the things they have added to the furnishings it looks very pleasant. The livingroom bed is comfortable and there were enough coverings, with the addition of my "mossy bank" which I had taken down. The kittens are very lively and are in action much of the time. I prefer the black one (male) to the striped tortoise mixture (female). They jumped and ran on my bed at night before settling down, but I had a good sleep after that.
Last night I called up Amherst, and heard the good news that Geoffroy's doctor says he is coming along well, better than many - most men - after a similar operation in two months. So we are set to go Dec. 27th. Edie is to bring us back from Wayland on the 26th - perhaps AG will do it, or at least come with us.
Their new car is in Amherst - a stationwagon - but is waiting for its power steering. Lenette sent me a map of the route: Penn turnpike, on to St. Louis, then to Oklahoma, then south to Tucson, and northwest to Los Angeles.
There was also a letter from Mrs. Diddell's daughter who said that her mother was much the same, and I suppose is still in a darkened room with the trouble in her eye. She likes letters.
And now to work. It snowed last night. It was cold and windy in N.Y. and I did not have warm enough clothes to beat the wind. Clara and I went to the film of Laurence Olivier and other distinguished actors in Richard III yesterday. It is very good, well acted and beautifully staged and costumed.
With much love,
Alma.
1958-12-09: tour stops---images---audio---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
There are multiple mentions of Elizabeths of one sort or another in this letter. I think there are 3 Elizabeths:
2.
December 9, 1958 was a Tuesday. So
3.
It sounds as if I must have missed a letter from you - I never did know that Elizabeth really made it to Atlanta, and that is why I did not mention it.
It sounds as though Eva was sort of peeved with Alma about this.
4.
I'll enclose the letter which I got from AG just before I went down.
It is conceivable that this letter is: ...which is undated, so that the 12/14 date that I gave it is just a guess, but I don't think so, because Alma's note on that letter has more detailed information about the Christmas schedule than I think Alma had on December 9.
5.
Clara and I have both hoped she would get into something in which her skill in writing would have a chance - Fredda agrees, too.
Fredda has a non-family page on this website.
6.
I should have taken pecan pie as Clara did instead of Pumpkin, only I was afraid of its filling qualities - there was too much clove in the pumpkin.
I haven't noticed Alma ever complaining about food (she prefers to complain about the weather), so the pumpkin pie must have been really dreadful.
7.
Then we went back to the apartment. It is very pleasant - and the housekeeping is better than I usually associate with AG.
This makes me giggle.
8.
Last night I called up Amherst, and heard the good news that Geoffroy's doctor says he is coming along well, better than many - most men - after a similar operation in two months. So we are set to go Dec. 27th. Edie is to bring us back from Wayland on the 26th - perhaps AG will do it, or at least come with us.
Their new car is in Amherst - a stationwagon - but is waiting for its power steering. Lenette sent me a map of the route: Penn turnpike, on to St. Louis, then to Oklahoma, then south to Tucson, and northwest to Los Angeles.
This is what gets this letter included in:
9.
There was also a letter from Mrs. Diddell's daughter who said that her mother was much the same, and I suppose is still in a darkened room with the trouble in her eye. She likes letters.
I don't know who Mrs. Diddell was, but I hope that Eva wrote her a letter.
There are multiple mentions of Elizabeths of one sort or another in this letter. I think there are 3 Elizabeths:
- The Elizabeth who went to Atlanta
- Betsy, who apparently was living with AG. When I asked AG about her, she didn't remember Betsy.
- Elizabeth Parmelee, co-headmistress with Bea Cosmey of the Calhoun School in New York. I've got Bea in the India folks page on this website, but I haven't got Elizabeth anywhere, although she is on Glady's picnic tablecloth. I remember them both in Woods Hole.
2.
December 9, 1958 was a Tuesday. So
- Friday: Alma took a train down to New York, where Clara and AG met her at the station, and talked, until AG left, taking Alma's suitcase back to her and Betsy's apartment. Clara and AG had tea with a Turk and his Swiss wife, and AG and Betsy had dinner with two Afghans. Alma and Clara went to AG's and Betsy's apartment, and then Clara went home to her own quarters. Clara has a page of her own on this website.
- Saturday: Errands, and then dinner - Alma, Clara, AG, and maybe Betsy - at Jane Davies, a restaurant in New York about which I found very little.
- Sunday: church, meeting Elizabeth Parmelee and Bea Cosmey.
- Monday: Alma returns to South Hadley, and calls the Atkinsons for news of the progress of Geoffroy's recovery from his surgery - whatever it was.
3.
It sounds as if I must have missed a letter from you - I never did know that Elizabeth really made it to Atlanta, and that is why I did not mention it.
It sounds as though Eva was sort of peeved with Alma about this.
4.
I'll enclose the letter which I got from AG just before I went down.
It is conceivable that this letter is: ...which is undated, so that the 12/14 date that I gave it is just a guess, but I don't think so, because Alma's note on that letter has more detailed information about the Christmas schedule than I think Alma had on December 9.
5.
Clara and I have both hoped she would get into something in which her skill in writing would have a chance - Fredda agrees, too.
Fredda has a non-family page on this website.
6.
I should have taken pecan pie as Clara did instead of Pumpkin, only I was afraid of its filling qualities - there was too much clove in the pumpkin.
I haven't noticed Alma ever complaining about food (she prefers to complain about the weather), so the pumpkin pie must have been really dreadful.
7.
Then we went back to the apartment. It is very pleasant - and the housekeeping is better than I usually associate with AG.
This makes me giggle.
8.
Last night I called up Amherst, and heard the good news that Geoffroy's doctor says he is coming along well, better than many - most men - after a similar operation in two months. So we are set to go Dec. 27th. Edie is to bring us back from Wayland on the 26th - perhaps AG will do it, or at least come with us.
Their new car is in Amherst - a stationwagon - but is waiting for its power steering. Lenette sent me a map of the route: Penn turnpike, on to St. Louis, then to Oklahoma, then south to Tucson, and northwest to Los Angeles.
This is what gets this letter included in:
9.
There was also a letter from Mrs. Diddell's daughter who said that her mother was much the same, and I suppose is still in a darkened room with the trouble in her eye. She likes letters.
I don't know who Mrs. Diddell was, but I hope that Eva wrote her a letter.
1958-12-09: tour stops---images---audio---transcript---notes---~LINKS~---site navigation
DOCUMENT LISTS FOR PEOPLE:
- ALMA: DOCUMENTS ----- Outgoing
- EVA: DOCUMENTS ----- Incoming
- THE NEXT GENERATION: DOCUMENTS ----- AG
- NON-FAMILY: CLARA JONES ----- Related
- NON-FAMILY: SOUTH HADLEY FOLKS ----- Geoffroy and Lenette Atkinson
- NON-FAMILY: FREDDA REED ----- Related
- NON-FAMILY: INDIA FOLKS ETCETERA ----- Bea Cosmey
OTHER DOCUMENT LISTS:
- DOCUMENTS SORTED BY WHERE THEY WERE WRITTEN ----- Western Massachusetts
- DOCUMENTS SORTED BY SOURCE ----- Barbara
- AUDIO READINGS OF THE DOCUMENTS: 1950-1959
OTHER RELATED DOCUMENTS/PAGES:
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