466 3/6/1943 Helen Carlson to Sadie Erwin

Helen Carlson 401 Alexander, Monroe, Louisiana Saturday, March 06, 1943

Sadie Erwin 1120 Cole St., Enumclaw, Washington

Dear Folks, I know you are thinking of Jim tonight just like I am. This is his second night in an army camp and I wonder how he is getting along. I’ve been picturing him undressing and getting into his cot and trying to go through the whole day with him. It was just yesterday morning I talked to you and it seemed to bring you a lot closer to be able to hear your voices. I’m sorry I couldn’t talk to you too Pop but tried to get you the night before and finally had it cancelled because they said it would still be several hours before I could get you and I didn’t want to get you out of bed. It would have been nice if I could have talked to you then while you were all there. The call went right through Friday morning and I was so excited I didn’t know if I should cry or what while I was waiting for you to answer. I think the connection could have been better but I could hear you pretty good but I think I missed a little of what was said and I don’t think everything I said was heard either. I was glad to be able to talk to you though and to say hello to Jim before he left. Was he pretty excited about it or what? I certainly hope you will get to see him tomorrow (Sunday). I have a feeling he will be sent down around here some place and I hope he is so much and I’ll go and see him all the time and he might be able to get up here at times too. Jimmie has been kind of a sick boy all week but I have Mrs. Herring working for him now so he will soon be well. He has had diarrhea just terrible and can’t keep a thing on his stomach. For three days now I haven’t given him a thing except milk but he can’t keep that either. Five minutes after he gets anything on his stomach it runs right out of him. The lady across the hall said to give him just oatmeal water. I cook the oatmeal in lots of water and then strain it and give him just the water. It is kind of thick but is nourishing. That is all I gave him yesterday and when he woke up this morning he was so starved he could hardly stand it so I gave him some more and he drank half a quart of it right down. Then he didn’t have any trouble all morning so at noon I gave him some soup and some jello and milk and it ran right out of him so the rest of the day I haven’t given him anything but oatmeal water and he has been alright so far. No, I did give him a little jello late this afternoon and that ran out of him too. He looks so weak and doesn’t feel like playing so I just hold him all day and lie on the bed with him and he sleeps quite a bit as long as I am with him. I just called Mrs. Herring this afternoon and I think he feels better already. I gave him some more oatmeal water before putting him to bed and I hope he will be alright tomorrow. He seems to like the oatmeal water pretty good but if he sees food he cries and reaches out for it. I guess it is just a cold in his bowels but if you have any advice to give me I would be glad to hear it. He has two new teeth so that makes six now. Four on top and two on the bottom. I bet your kitchen floor looks nice since you waxed it, Mom. That gave me the idea so I waxed mine too and it makes it look so clean and nice. I waxed the living room floor too, just around the rug and I want to go over all the floors one of these days. I was glad I got to say hello to Glad too when I called. I was so excited I couldn’t think of half the things I wanted to say. I’ll be anxious to hear when her baby comes and I’m glad she feels good. March 21st will be here in a hurry. Does she mind going through with it without Cully? I certainly won’t let you pay me for the tea. That is such a small thing to do for you and I was so glad to know that you couldn’t get tea so I could do something for you. All I’ve ever done for you is think about you but it seems I never do anything for you but it isn’t that I don’t want to. I bought four more boxes and intended to send them today but since Jimmie wasn’t feeling so good I didn’t go downtown but will mail them when I do. We can’t get meat here in town anymore at all but there is a little place out at work where Elmer can get what we want. I’m losing my taste for meat anyway so I suppose nature is taking care of the food shortage just like everything else. If you boil those peanuts first in salt water and then bake them you will like them better. It takes a lot of salt though to go through the shell. I hope baby foods won’t be rationed because Jimmie uses so much of it. Did Sandy get her new teeth. I hope she is feeling better. It certainly is hard when babies are sick. What does Ruthie think of Sandy and do Ruthie and Bernice get along nicely. I had a nice letter from Aunt Ruth the other day enclosing this picture of Wilbur and she asked me to send it on to you. It is a very nice picture of him I think. He is a Lieutenant and Aunt Ruth is so proud of him. She told me about Uncle Carl too being out in Portland. She said Aunt Hilda is all alone now. I wonder if they separated or if she will be joining him. It would be nice if Pop and Uncle Carl could see each other. I always liked Uncle Carl and his eyes look so much like Pop’s. One day this week I had a colored girl in to help around here. She washed the diapers and did some work around the house and then didn’t show up the next morning so I told Elmer if he ever heard me say again that I was going to get another girl to beat me up or something because everyone is like that. Everyone has the same trouble. Maybe they just want to make enough money to go someplace or for some reason or other but they are all the same. This one didn’t even get paid though so I don’t know why she didn’t come back. It was raining awfully hard the next morning though so maybe she didn’t want to go out in the rain and then probably was afraid to come back the next day. It has been kind of cold here this week and pipes have been freezing again but they don’t freeze in this building and I am glad. Jimmie just woke up with wet pants and a wet bed but the pants were just wet and not dirty so that makes me feel good. He acts like he feels so much better. Elmer is putting him back to bed and we’re spoiling him like everything by rocking him and patting him until he goes to sleep. Before he was so good about waking up and letting me know he wanted to go to the toilet and I very seldom found his bed wet but now I guess he has forgotten about that. I don’t care though, just so he feels good again pretty soon. Jimmie’s pictures haven’t come yet but as soon as they do I will get some frames and send them to you. This place is a traveling firm but is supposed to be one of the best in town but it takes longer to get the pictures. Well Folks, it is getting kind of late and I want to take a bath so had better stop for this time. I’ll be anxious to hear all about Jim and don’t worry about him too much. With Love, Helen