Love Letters from the Depression
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Lincoln, Neb. - November 19, 1931 I want to bring Mary with me. I love her. and just can't bear to leave her here in all this fighting and misery. think mother, I have seen her cry from abuse. She would come home from a hard days work and her mother would jump her for some little thing that didn't amount to anything. and her father comes around drunk every so often and makes life miserable for her. She is afraid of him and it makes her sick almost every time he shows up. Her mother is willing for her to go with me because they don't get on good but we have to be married first. she gave her consent. Oh! Mother I want her so bad. I just worship her. I love her and I know we can get on some how. don't you think that you could find something for her to do to earn her board and spending money she is good at a typewriter and can take short hand as fast as I can read. she took a business course. Mary is willing to do anything to get away Mary made me promise that there would not be any kids untill we could afford them and I sure agree with her What is the difference if we come married or single except we had planned to come in the spring instead of now We can get there on the same price that it would cost me on the train. I know a fellow who will take us to Chicago that is just halfway so we could make it all right. Please mother can't she find something to do until I can get work in the spring Write very soon and scold me all you want to but please consent Lincoln, Neb. - November 20, 1931 Well I supposed you are disgusted with me by now for the way I talked in my last letter but I meant every word of it. I have just three dollars left on my bill and that will soon be paid and then I won't need only eight dollars a week instead of ten. I may decide to stay here if you don't agree on letting me bring Mary with me I can live at a cheap resturant for about three fifty a week with 50 cents for smokes the folks will let me use the room for nothing. I have been looking for work but there isn't any any where so might as well come home I suppose. I don't know what I do want to do except that I want to bring Mary back with me. My cold is OK now and I feel fine so won't have that to bother me on the way home anyway but I will feel awfull if I have to leave Mary and won't enjoy the trip at all We haven't had much cold weather here yet. There was two or three days that we needed a fire. I bet you have had a fire for a month I will do just as you say mother and know that it is for the best. I was over to Sorensons last night for supper that is where we stayed first and it made me miss pete an awfull lot.
Lincoln, Neb. - November 24,1931 I will leave a little after four friday afternoon by Bus to save a little. I don't know just when I will arrive but it will be soon enough for Christmas. sometime the first of the week by the way of Boston. I will save enough going by Bus so that we all can go to the ten cent store Don't you think that you sure got plenty hard in your letter. it sure hurt Mary and didn't make it any easier to leave her. Mary feels better than she did mon. Don't feel like writing any more
Dear Mother:
You probably have been expecting something like this and I know that it wont just meet with your approval but you were in love once Mother.
lots of love
Gordon
Ps. My cough is better and I feel fine
Dear Mother:
Received your letter one day late this time.
be seeing you soon
lots of love Gordon
Dear Mother:
Received your Special Delivery this morning I am so sorry that you couldn't go to the ten cent store on account of my foolishness but I am that way you know.
lots of love Gordon
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About the Book
In June of 1931, a young man leaves high school in Vermont before graduating and heads West to an advertised mechanics’ school in Nebraska. He is hoping for new experiences and, perhaps, a little adventure. The young man, Gordon, promises his mother that he will write frequently – and he does – approximately three times a week for the next 15 years! These letters describe his life as he meets and marries Mary, and then travels the U.S. with her and their baby daughter, looking for any kind of work. This is The Great Depression and the little family’s travels take them through the South to Georgia and Florida, to Nebraska, and to New England. They are not alone on this pilgrimage, and Gordon describes other families they meet along the way. He relates all aspects of their life including the meager meals that Mary cooks, grocery prices, and the mechanical problems of their aging automobile. This is a true story that tells how the love and support of Gordon’s mother and wife eventually overcomes the hardships of The Great Depression, and leads to a happy ending for this family – and an end to their odyssey. The language is clean, wholesome, and suitable for any age. The unedited and uncorrected text of the letters provides glaring authenticity.
About the Author
The author, although not personally involved in the narrative, is a member of The Depression generation, and has memories of similar experiences. His motivation in compiling these letters is to give present generations a picture of life during The Great Depression, and to demonstrate how love can overcome many obstacles. The author is retired and lives in rural Texas with his wife of 47 years.