October 1942 Violet

My sweetest Warren,

I’m feeling lonesome tonight. I just heard the radio play, “When the lights are on again, all over the world, and our boys come home again, all over the world.” Gee it sounded swell. I couldn’t get you out of my head. Tonight I’m going to sleep with your letter under my pillow for comfort.

I heard Mrs. Rickenbacker on the radio. It’s getting bad in the Pacific. Even with Eddie missing she said, “never, never give up.” She hasn’t given up on finding Eddie. She’s a very determined woman. I can only imagine how worried she must be for her husband.

I was doing laundry and got my fingers caught in the ringer, but it released before I was hurt bad. Luckily I didn’t break anything, just got skinned and bruised. The washing machine smoked too and smelled of rubber burning. I turned it off and oiled it. Guess that’s what it needed, because it’s working okay now.

We had a sticky, heavy snow last night. The weight broke off a lot of tree branches. Mother and I will get our winter coats on and gather them before the next snowfall. We’ll throw the wood in the burn pit out back.

Margaret West’s husband was laid off at Standard Oil because of gasoline rationing. She would like to work at a defense plant, but now with her father gone, is afraid to leave her mother home alone. She has to watch her very closely. Her mother always does something wrong to the stove, furnace, etc. She’s afraid she could start a fire in the house. I told her maybe Jim (her husband) could take the job instead. I’m fortunate that mother is so healthy.

Bad news, Mr. Easton, our renters from the farm, owes us 60 dollars and has only paid 10. I gave him to understand that I knew times were hard, but we also had bills to pay and couldn’t afford to help other poor folks when we’re poor too. He said he’s coming on Saturday with some more money. I hope Mr. Russelman has this month’s rent money for the bakery, because tomorrow I have to pay some essential bills.