519 8/9/1943 Helen Carlson to Sadie Erwin

Helen Carlson 401 Alexander, Monroe, Louisiana Monday, August 09, 1943

Sadie Erwin 1120 Cole St., Enumclaw, Washington

Dear Folks, Mr. & Mrs. Phillips came over tonight and just left so I’ll write to you now. Mr. Phillips was transferred from here down to Lake Charles a couple months ago but he quit there recently and came back to Monroe where he is going to work for some other company. They have four boys and lived in a couple rooms and could hardly get enough to eat. The restaurants close at noon on Sunday and don’t open very early on Monday morning so the men who just lived in rooms had to go to work every Monday without any breakfast. They said the local people there won’t have a thing to do with defense workers because they are transient people and therefore they think they are bad. It burns me up for people to act that way, especially now because it’s on account of the war that people move all over so the people who look down on them aren’t being very patriotic. Everyone wants to rent just to permanent people but there aren’t very many of them nowadays. I had a nice letter from you today and one from Glad. Tomorrow I am going to get a permanent and will be so glad to have it. My hair is getting pretty long now and I don’t want it cut so thought I would wait until winter for a permanent but the beauty operator said she wouldn’t have to cut much off. Glad sent me some pictures of Ruthie and Gene and you folks. Neither one of you has changed a single bit and both of you look so nice. Ruthie and Gene both are darling little girls. Thanks for Jim’s letter. I’ll be glad when he gets out of that camp. I’m going to write to him too because he may be there a little longer than he thought. Elmer feels good now and went to work this morning but after being there a little while got terribly tired. Mr. Tourek, his boss, noticed it because he told Elmer he had to drive into town and told him to come with him and go home and stay until Monday. The doctor had given Elmer some stuff that was supposed to dissolve the stone and I guess it did. He told Elmer that women who had both babies and kidney stones say it is much more painful having kidney stones. I know Elmer was in a lot of pain but it always kind of got under my skin whenever he would say, “don’t you think it is time for my medicine” or “do you think I have fever?” I think everyone feels like they have a fever in this weather. Tonight when the Phillips were here I went out in the kitchen to make lemonade and Mrs. Phillips came out with me. Of course a cockroach was on the drainboard so I got the spray and told her I saw a roach every once in awhile. I should have just killed it instead of spraying because the spray brings them out so several started running around but by the way Mrs. Phillips hurried around to help me get them I could tell she had them in her house too. Gossards must have a nice back yard. Glad said too that it was such a nice evening. Well Folks, it is almost eleven so guess I better stop and fix up the studio couch so we can go to bed. Love, Helen Thanks for sending Jimmie’s letters. I hope Cully doesn’t go back to Chicago or he’ll probably have to go into the army. Down here evening means the time right after twelve o’clock noon. I’m so used of the afternoon being called that, that when you mention doing things in the evening I sometimes have to think for second if you mean at night or afternoon. With Love, Helen