Mon, Feb 16, 1942: cable cars

"Passes are made out for six hours, which isn't very long for a soldier.  San Francisco still has street and cable cars.  Some of them are pretty old.  The cable cars went into operation about the year of 1888.  There are six of them in operation.

"Haven't got much more to write about so will bring this to a close.  Hows every little thing at school?

“Your soldier cousin

“Dale"

-- Letter from Dale Sooter, age 24, San Francisco, Calif., to my father, Sidney DeVere Brown, 17, Winfield, Kans.,  Monday, February 16, 1942. Dale was my dad's cousin.  Dale was a private in the army; my dad was a college freshman.

Mon, Feb 16, 1942: walk where I pleased

“Went to town on a pass Sunday nite.  The first I've been off duty since I was in Camp Robinson.  It seemed good to walk where I pleased and I did.  Guess I must have walked five or six miles that evening.  No place special to go, so ended up in China Town.  There having New Years in that section of the city.  San Francisco is quite a city.”

-- Letter from Dale Sooter, age 24, San Francisco, Calif., to my father, Sidney DeVere Brown, 17, Winfield, Kans., Monday, February 16, 1942. Dale was my dad's cousin.  He was a private in the army; my dad was a college student.

Sun, Feb 1, 1942: quite a crowd

"There was quite a crowd at Aunt Flo's to-day.  All Flo's brothers & sisters & families (except Harlands) were there, of course you weren't and Elaine has chickenpox so Wilma Jean stayed home with her.  Then Tommy Hall's, Ernest Price's and Wilber Barnes' were there too.

"Had a fine dinner but of course ate too much."

-- Letter from my grandmother, Bloomington, Kans., to my father, Southwestern College, Winfield, Kans., Sun., Feb. 1, 1942.   
     This quote says something about gender roles in 1940s Kansas, where home was seen as women’s domain and work as men’s domain -- a framework that’s less sharply defined these days, but certainly still present.  Both my grandparents were one of eight siblings.  The family had big gatherings almost every Sunday at my grandmother’s place or at one of Dad’s aunt’s houses.  They always referred to those houses by the aunt’s name, not the uncle’s (“Aunt Flo’s,” not “Flo and Everett’s,” “Uncle Everett’s”).  Grandmother’s letters are filled with lists of attendees, such as this one, and just a little about her work as a schoolteacher.  Grandfather’s letters, by contrast, were filled with details about farm work, and just a little about family gatherings.

Sun, Feb 1, 1942: through the pasture

"The roads were blocked [by snow] out here until Sat. evening.  Daddy just got our lane cleared out so we could get through this morning but he went to town yesterday by going out to the road through the pasture and down to Smileyberg then to Augusta."

-- Letter from my grandmother, on the farm in Bloomington, Kans., to my father, a freshman at Southwestern College, Winfield, Kans, Sunday, February 1, 1942.  
     In 1940, the population of Bloomington township was 435. The population of Augusta (13 miles to the northwest) was 3,821.  Smileyberg didn't make it into the U.S. census figures.  Bloomington had a grade school, a Methodist church, and a store.  But my grandparents needed to go to Augusta for many purchases and to Wichita (pop. 114,996) to sell livestock at the stockyards.