Western Union Telegram
NATCHEZ MISS AUG 21 1932
MRS INA LEWIS DOVE
222 WEST MESQUITE CARE J N LEWIS UVALDE TEX
LEAVING FOR NEW ORLEANS MONDAY MORNING WILL BE READY TO LEAVE THERE TUESDAY MORNING AND WILL MEET YOU SP STATION IF YOU CANNOT MEET ME THAT TIME WIRE ME JUNG HOTEL AND ADVISE WHEN TO MEET YOU PROJECT HERE NOT COMPLETE LOVE
WALTER
813 AUG 22
August 21, 1932
Natchez Friday PM.
We are having broken pump welded this PM. Mr. D & Revah are busy with the curbing. It is going down slowly. Last night it was 6-1/2 from the bottom. They went down about a foot this morning. We are hopeful but it takes a lot of patience. Claud Holley is with me and will help us as much as we need him. Don’t worry about me. We work cautiously.
Walter.
August 19, 1932
Sunday P.M.
My dear Sweetheart,
Nothing exciting to report. The new curb was lowered in place Sat PM and by rocking it, it settled to about six feet of its destination. Claud Holley Pritchard was with us Sat. Mrs. Darden came with her adopted daughter (Annie Grey) and they returned last night. Mr. Darden will be here again tomorrow AM & we hope that it goes in place OK. The water comes in from the bottom some. There is about 1 ft difference in the water levels. It won’t take long to bail out sand when the curb is in place. Revah plans to use a strong jack in forcing the culvert down. There has been more of a delay than I had thought, but there seems to be no way of rushing this thing.
August 14, 1932
I have no news for you, other than that I have a cold. Was caught on the road in a hole & the rain gave me a cold. I went to Natchez for a chain pulley & was on my way there when I got caught in the rain. The cold is not serious. I am using all of my handkerchiefs.
Monday A.M.
Uncle Bernie came and I visited with him last night. My cold is much better, thank you. It will be at least a couple of days and perhaps longer before we will know if you are going to get into the pot.
Hope you are enjoying your visit. Give my love to all the folks. Tell Walter White that Daddy says W W must be a good boy.
Your,
Walter.
Roxie Miss.
Wed. Night
My dear Sweetheart,
I mailed a short note from Natchez last night. It was written on the steering wheel of your car. After the truck wheel was repaired we got the culvert loaded and we reached home at 12 last night. The road was dry and the truck came over OK. Mr. Darden and Revah are running true to form. Test today shows about one foot more sand but we think it came into little curb from the bottom. We like to think that Pharoh [sic] did not move. Mr. Darden and Mother wished that you and W W had come by here. They send regards. If we have good luck we should be able to try the door next Tuesday. It will take about a day to get the door open.
August 10, 1932
I have no news of importance at this time. With the exception of Revah’s elbow bumper the health is 100%.
Tell Walter White that I am expecting him to be a good boy and that I will be glad to see him when he comes back on the train. Also I hope that he and Ina are having a good time.
With lots of love,
Your
Walter.
Walter is at the family farm in Roxie, MS, helping his brother Revah install a new casing in the well. Ina has gone to visit her family in Uvalde, TX while he’s there.
Tuesday PM.
My dear Sweetheart,
Arrived at home Monday PM and had a good trip. Was rested Monday AM and felt fine. Last night we got in touch with a truck man and at last we are at the foundry to load it on truck. It looks OK and seems to be large enough to work in. Revah has a – Was interrupted here and we had to drive out on road where truck had a worn out bearing. The truck will be OK and it will be ready tonight. We expect to get it home in a couple of hours.
August 9, 1932
Mr. Darden, Revah & Mother were at home when I got there last night. We ate dinner with them at Roxie this noon. They will be at Revah’s tonight. We don’t expect to use much labor at Revah’s this time. Mother will cook for us.
With love to all & a better letter next time
Your
Walter.
Hope you found all OK and that you had a good trip
Westmoreland
Wednesday afternoon
Dear both of you,
Your letter came just a little while ago, and I read it while I was down in the Book Store. I’d read a sentence, sell a college Algebra, read another sentence, open a bottle of pop, read another, sell some hot tamales, and finish the paragraph while I was selling candy with one hand and making change with the other. I enjoyed it immensely though – the letter.
Around May 25, 1932 (from Claudelle)
Ina, do you really cook all the good things you say you do? I can’t believe you do – unless, as you say, Walter does over half of it. Your letters don’t sound at all as if you were living on “love and pickles” – at least you haven’t mentioned the pickles yet. I’m so hungry after finishing your letter that I “just can’t wait” for the hash we’re sure to have for dinner.
Yes, exams are over and I passed on everything. I surely thought for a day or two that I wasn’t coming through on Trig. By dint of “cramming” and Arthur’s coaching I got through all right, though.
Did you know I was home last Sunday? The Choral Club left early Sunday morning, gave a program in Hondo at the church hour, had lunch there, and went on home. We got there about four and left at eleven that night. The program lasted from seven to eight, and then the League gave us supper. I wasn’t at home hardly any time, and while I was I had two other girls with me. It was wonderful, though – I would have died of homesickness pretty soon if I hadn’t gotten away from here. Mama and Papa and Thelma and Bob and the children seemed to be fine, except that Papa had a cold. Thelma and the children have been a little sick, but are all right now. I didn’t get to see them until during the program, when I looked down and saw Reitha grinning at me for all she was worth. She pulled Thelma Lee over and then they both grinned. I had a terrible time keeping from laughing. They’re precious.
Bob has shaved his mustache! He made me kiss him under it when I was home Christmas, and you can’t imagine how relieved I was to see it gone this time. Walter, please don’t ever try raising one, will you?
Speaking of mustaches, you should have seen me one night last week. We had a manless wedding over at Smith House and I was best man. I vaselined my hair, wore a neighbor boy’s suit, and got my mustache out of the chimney. Oh, I looked quite heart-smashing! Quite the best-looking boy in the family – excepting the in-laws, of course.
Dinner time. Bye-bye!
Claudelle.
I think Lucile Geary was Anna Laake’s sister.
Dallas, Texas
May 23, 1932
Dear Mrs. Dove,
Your letter came this A.M. and thanks for remembering me & I did not write before now because I knew that you would understand and did not expect it, however I did make several attempts to write to you while at the sanitarium. I wanted so much to thank you for the beautiful flowers, which she really did see during one of her few conscious moments, but it was impossible for me to do anything but just sit there and see her suffer, which was almost more than I could stand. That is the only thing that helps to give her up was the thought that she was through suffering.
May 23, 1932 (from Mrs. Geary)
Ernest was wonderful in every way; he spared nothing for her comfort & had everything in his power done for Anna, besides he never left her only when necessary. He stayed when I thought he would drop, you know he isn’t well. The same trouble seems to be giving him more pain & he lost 10 lbs.
Mrs. Dove, this letter seems to have no connection but I know you will over look it because I’m heartbroken & I know I will miss her more every day.
Ernest said that he had had several sweet letters from you & Mr. Dove & the flowers you sent for the funeral also some that were delivered afterward were all a consolation coming from you who loved her & share our grief & loss. Anna loved you dearly I have heard her say so many times. I wish that I could see the baby. Thanks again & love
Lucile Geary.
Letterhead from the Bevans Hotel, Menard, Texas.
May 20, 1932
Dear Walter and Ina:
I haven’t had a chance to write you and thank you for all the wonderful things you did for Anna and for myself during the time of Anna’s illness and death. You must pardon me for not acknowledging your many favors, but you understand, of course, that I had many things to think about and to do during Anna’s illness and since her death, well, it is almost impossible to get a-going again.
May 20, 1932 (from Mr. Laake)
Walter, I especially want to thank you for your very kind letter which you wrote from New Orleans. It was mighty kind of you to want me to go back to Charleston with you for a while, and for you to offer to come by at Dallas for me. I wish I could have gone with you and Mr. Hall, but it was impossible for me at the time. Furthermore, it was not my innermost desire to want to go so far away when it would be impossible to go out and visit Anna every evening. After visiting her, so it seems at least, it is somewhat less lonely at home, or rather in the place that was a home of happy memory.
Coming over here I came by the way of San Antonio and Uvalde. I stopped at Austin and visited Claudelle and at Uvalde I had a very pleasant visit with Mother Lewis. Claudelle’s return from Texas is now only a matter of a few more days and I am sure that Mother Lewis is going to be right happy when she will have Claudelle home again. She is also anxiously looking forward for the time when you, Walter and Ina and Walter White, will come home for your summer visit. I presume you will drive through when you come down and that you will want to come by Dallas on your trip down or on your return trip. You must do that and remember that I will be awaiting your visit at our home. I know that it will never be the same to any of us, but it will be a pleasure, for me, at least, to have you stop with me whenever you are in Dallas.
Again I wish to thank you for all you have done to lighten my sorrow.
With kindest regards,
I am,
Sincerely,
Ernest
I have no idea what these photos are about or who they depict, but they were tucked in amongst the letters at this point. I’m reading the letters as I post them, so the explanation might be lurking in later correspondence.
May 19, 1932
Wed. PM.
My dear Sweetheart,
Your second letter came today. Am glad that the accident was not serious.
May 11, 1932
Day after tomorrow and the exhibits will be over. I know that both of us will be glad. We feel pretty good over the appearances of the exhibits, but it gets tiresome. Dr. Dyer’s paper was very good. It was a resume of the typhus literature. Dr. Shelmire’s discussion was OK.
I am enclosing a letter from Revah. They will not be ready during the week.
With love to both of you
Walter.