444 3/11/1942 Jim Erwin to Helen Carlson

Jim Erwin 1903 Alpha, Pullman, Washington Wednesday, March 11, 1942

Helen Carlson Box 582 Newburyport, Massachusetts

Dear Helen, Your nice letter came Monday. We must be like a bunch of girls because of the battles we have. It sure is a lot of fun though. Everyday we decide to start saving as much as we can. Just about the time we are ready to go to bed somebody mentions that a bowl of soup or a jelly sandwich would sure hit the spot. That starts the whole thing. We all pile into the kitchen for a snack. Afterwards it is decided that we won’t eat any between meals. That might last one day or so but usually the same procedure every night. In frat houses you can’t eat at all except at meals so we feel good about it when we do eat. How does fish chowder compare with clam chowder? It must be harder to fix isn’t it? Fish must be plenty cheap there. Bet the apple cider was plenty good. Guess you’ll have to have a girl so she can go with one of the Ducret boys. They probably wish they had at least one girl. The snow is pretty at first but when it lasts a while it gets dirty and sloppy. Hope it went right away. We all help cook. Sometimes one or two of us have late classes and can’t get home very soon. Floyd and I have band until 5:30 three days a week and the other fellows are turning out for track, baseball and spring football. Spring football started Monday. A suit was put into a locker with my name on it and last night the coach wanted to know where I was but I don’t care. It sure seems good not to have to rely on football to get through this semester. Guess Cully didn’t play Tuesday night. He got hurt again didn’t he. It’s too bad you can’t turn your passes in and get the money for them. Somebody must make a lot of money on the game. Everybody gets paid well and there is a big expense so guess they have to charge a lot. The first of the month Floyd is going to take my radio down and see what can be done to it. It is a swell little radio and gets a lot of distant stations. Our concert turned out swell last Sunday and we had a nice audience. Another one is scheduled in three weeks. It would be swell to have the recipes. We haven’t much time but we get tired of the same things all the time. Maybe mother has a lot of them too and then you wouldn’t have to pay so much to send them way out here. I am trying to reduce. Have lost all over except on my stomach. I am going over to the training room and they will tell me just how to do it. When a senior in high school I weighed 185. This year 175 and yesterday 166. Would like to get down to 160. Today and yesterday it rained. It has been just like spring though. My last letter was written on Friday night and I forgot to mail it until Monday. Hope this one has more success. With love, Jim.