87 9/19/1946 Helen Carlson to Sadie Erwin

Helen Carlson Box 281, Sparta Pike, Lebanon, Tennessee Thursday, September 19, 1946

Sadie Erwin Box 44, Enumclaw, Washington

Dear Folks, A nice letter came from you yesterday. I think it is swell you are having your store enlarged. Will that boost your rent up now? I hope the stockings will last well, Mom. They are scarce items all right. Elmer has tried to get me nylons a couple of times in Nashville but they wouldn't sell them to men. However I did go into Nashville last week and there seemed to be quite a few silk stockings so I will go in again soon and get some for you. Better yet, I will write tonight and order a couple pair and I'll get them sooner. Yesterday a wire came for Elmer and I hoped it would be from Mr. Heath in Seattle but it was from a company in Wilmington, Delaware offering him a job there as piping engineer in which we weren't interested. Yes, it will seem strange not to see your piano in your living room, but it is nice Bernice can take lessons and I hope she keeps up with them. I've always been sorry I didn't learn to play the piano. Did I tell you we bought the tricycle for Mary and Jimmie. It really is a swell one and is so sturdily built I'm sure they will outgrow it before it ever wears out. Mom, I don't see how you and the girls do so much canning when you are kept so busy with so many other things. The Jackson children are all home again but I don't know why as I haven't talked to Mrs. Jackson in ages. Jimmy plays with Jack a lot though and the three year old little girl is over here now but is all cleaned up and looks so cute and she plays nicely too. Cooks, who lived next door, sold their house and the butcher up at the store bought it and is living there now. He is only eighteen and has been married for over two years. His wife is twenty-four so had to sign the house papers since her husband isn't of age. His mother is that nice woman I met at the bus depot last winter, who told the Red Cross about Mrs. Jackson. She is only six years older than I am and has this eighteen year old son. Later: Mrs. Jackson came over a few minutes ago for Judy but I asked her to let Judy stay for lunch so she did. The grandmother and aunts found the four children too much so brought them back. They hadn't even bothered to send them to school but they are going here now in Lebanon. Well Folks I guess I had better stop for now but will write again soon. With Love, Helen