Madison Wisconsin Jan 23, 1916 Dear circle We have just come from Henry's and brought this letter with us but his was not yet written. he has promised to get it over here in a day of two. We went to church this AM and just for practice got off the car on Chadbourne Ave where we will have to when we get moved, and went up to the house to look it over. The weather was so severe a week ago that they did not work at it but made door and window frames at the lumber yard instead. It is enclosed now with sheeting and the rafters are up but we hope for mild weather so they can work right along at it. Cal was glad to be able to go out to Iowa last week. They had a very good time on Friday at the Anniversary and he said Grandma wore a dress of her mothers that was fifty years old that day. They had a group picture taken but we have not seen them yet. Hope they will be good. I was janitor there, of course, and used 50 cents of coal a day but were able to be comfortable altho we have no storm windows on these big windows. We use the $5.00 soft coal. None of the pipes froze up. We heard today that Roswell and Kate have bought a house on W. Washington Ave and will move in about a month. Amelia and Edith are celebrating another birthday apiece this week and we wish them many more happy returns. Cal has been rather grippy for a few days but hope it will leave soon. We have begun the frames for our Easter bonnets at evening school already. This pen is awful but it seems to be the only one not in use. It is bedtime so I will close. Love to you all. Lets have a copy of the prize plans, Theo Annie - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Madison Wis Mar 5, 1916 Dear Bros and Sisters, Cal and Grace are at evening services. Ruth is in bed with a cold and while it is quiet I will add my sheet to the Robin. The Unitarian church was full today to hear Mr Crothers of Cambridge Mass. A Community church was organized in this tenth ward last Sun. with 67 members of different denominations. I hope it will be a success. We are really almost two miles from the uptown churches and street car fares add up fast for a family of four or five children to go with their parents to church. There are a great many young children growing up in this part of the city, too. After dinner, we went over to the house as we always do and then made a call and then on to Roswells. They are cosily settled in their new house and it makes a pretty home for them. Our house is ready for the lath this week, and I am getting anxious for it to be done so we can move in. But I suppose we neednt expect to move till in April sometime. We were very glad of our visit with Harold. He came out to dinner and spent the rest of the day with us. We did not see him after the judging was done so do not know how his class of boys stood. Ed bitterman was here for a day also a short time ago. We like to have our relatives drop in when ever they can. For then we still seem to belong to both circles. Dale writes us that Mrs Bishop and Laura are moving to town. That neighborhood is changing a great deal of late. Arthur & Abe are among the oldest inhabitants now. Ellens hens must have begun to lay. Eggs dropped to 26 cents the last of the week. Flour is $1.90 (Pillsburys) Potatoes $1.20 Butter .38. I am hoping for a good garden this summer when we get down to terra firma. Will have to learn how to do intensive gardening to get it all I want on the vacant space left after a house 28 x 30 and a garage 14 x 16 ft is put on a lot 52 1/2 x 120 feet. I went to hear Madame Julia Claussen (contralto) sing thru the kindness of Henry. She was very good. Sang a whole evening and in four languages and I enjoyed it. Cal. got the car out this morning but the water leaked out of the radiator so fast he put the car back again. He read in the Democrat this AM that the demand for autos was much greater than ever this spring. Wonder how people get the money. Our old model will have to do for some years yet, I think. We hope this will find all well. Love from Annie - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Madison Wisconsin Apr 4, 1916 Dear Circle I see by the date that Henry and Ella have been married 38 years today. They dont look as if it was more than 20 years, so gracefully do they grow old. And we wish them many more happy returns of the day. Amelia asks how we like Elizabeth Ann Smith for a name. Personally I dont detect any fluffy ruffles about the name but we know the little lady will have plenty of them in the course of a few years. Meanwhile she has my sympathy. [Elizabeth Ann Smith b. 22 Mar 1916 to Rudolph E. and Edith Amelia Sears Smith.] Flora and Lettie and William came up from Monroe on Sat. and Lettie & W. Went back on Sunday & Flora went back on Sunday & Flora on Monday. We were glad to see them. Our night school has closed and I am trying to get a little sewing done before we have to move. We had hoped to get into our own house in Apr but the finishing goes rather slowly. But we still hope to. The doors are not yet here and the painting is to be done yet & floors laid. The outside is painted brown with yellow top story & white trimming. We think it will be a comfortable cozy home when finished. Tomorrow is Alliance day and there is to be some big gun from Milwaukee that must be entertained. We are planning to join the Unitarian church on Easter Sunday. Four of us and eight others. Cal. is a regular church goer since he can go to the Unitarian church and I am glad I dont have to go alone. I must go to bed now for we have to arise at a very regular time mornings. All well and love to all from Annie - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1717 Chadbourne Ave, Madison Wisconsin May 14, 1916 Dear Circle Here we are at last and mighty glad to be here. We moved May 5th. Had a moving firm bring all the bulky, heavy things from 8 AM till 12. Then Cal took our auto and moved all the small things and at 5:30 we took our departure from 805 Grant St. tired to death but glad it was over. We are gradually getting things in shape. but Oh My! Chas and Alice, how do you ever find things before you have to move again? Maybe you have your moving systematized. We havent and find it a big job. We moved in just as soon as the floors were dry enough and went to work at the windows which took two whole days to make them presentable with two working at them. I have not got all the curtains made over yet but think I shall be able to fit all the windows with the material I had in use before but it tames time to take out hems & calculate where they will fit best. We like our house very well and find it very convenient and roomy for so small a house. Come and see us all of you when ever you can. We are in a very nice neighborhood of college people mostly who seem very friendly so far. So much for the location. Now for the business. Cal gave up his job at the Yawkey-Crowley lumber yard yesterday and tomorrow morning begins work for the Madison Good Roods Club. Hhe is what is called a patrol man. He is furnished a new Ford truck with top and he drives over the 300 miles of dirt roads of Dane Co. and reports the condition of them. He goes over each day to the Sec. and a weekly report of them to the two daily papers and to each garage. He hasd tools with him and if he finds any repairs needed that one man can fix he does that. He must get in touch with all the Twp. trusties and learn their plans, also notice if the roads are dragged, if not why. It is a new idea at the club, this year being the first trial. The club is composed of 300 of the business and profesional men of the city. They thought he would fill the place and gave him a salary of $100 per mo. He thought he would try it this year for it puts him in touch with the best business men of the city & county and might be an opening to something better. It is raining most of the time today and we are sorry for we think of those wet fields that should be planted. Our lot is still not leveled off so I can not put in any garden but will as soon as there is a spot plowed. Grace graduates in June and I have her dresses to make yet also. So I keep on the move the same as usual. Bedtime now, so Goodnight. Annie - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1717 Chadbourne Ave June 19, 1916 Dear Bros. and Sisters, It is too dark to work out doors any longer so I will write my sheet. Cal has just laid the short cement walk from the sidewalk to the curb and I was tending him, furnishing water from the hose, measuring where the division lines should be, etc and making myself as useful but I am fully aware I was not ornamental with mud on my hands & apron. I guess that about finished the cement work. He built his garage nights and mornings & that looks very well. He has the screens to put on all around yet and a little more finishing in the cellar partitions, etc. The grass is beginning to look a little green on the lawn now but it will be some time before it is covered. Yesterday we rode south on the Fish Hatchery road and Cal. said down a few miles farther was Oak Hall. Well I wanted to see that old tavern we warmed up in 40 years ago on our way to Iowa so we went down, but a man sunning himself in front of the only grocery store said the old tavern was torn down a good many years ago. There are about ten houses scattered along the street. Cal. says he has driven his Ford 1025 miles tonight. He finds there are 173 miles of Macadamized country roads in Dane Co. and 2800 miles of all kinds of roads but most of them are fairly good considering the kind of country some of them run through. There is no compulsory road drag law here so it is often neglected. Grace was graduated from high school in a class of 210 on June 9th and was one of the Honor roll of 27 who stood 90 or above for the four years work. She wants to take Home Ec. next year at the U. Ruth is having a weeks vacation and then begins six weeks summer school work. She was in two German plays the past semester. If she will let me, I will send a snap shot of her as a page in the last one. Well, goodnight for this time. Love to you all from Annie Elizabeth (the elder) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1717 Chadbourne Ave Madison Wis Aug 6 1916 Dear Circle Now I have started. I am sure I shall have no trouble about not sticking to my job with the thermometer registering 89 in the dining room before dinner. Our recent rains have not cooled the air and all but have been beneficial to all vegetation. Cal. found north of Madison but still in Dane Co. that the rains had been torrential and had been accompanied by hail and wind. Some fields of oats & barley are cut & threshed and some fields are not yet cut. He found some places where the grade of the road was washed away & one place where a newly constructed cement road had been washed away in sections. Edith came in a few moments yesterday and said that in Fennimore there had been no rain for six weeks, and everything was drying up. We have not yet seen little Betty Ann I have had this letter a week but I had to go over to Henrys for it so kept it from July 24 to July 30. Yesterday was Amelia Churchills 59th birthday. She is spending a week in Madison with Lottie & her husband & two children of Monroe, at Ethels. We had them over for supper last night. She looks in better health than in the winter and she enjoys her four grand children, who are certainly a fine little bunch. They drove up in Lotties husbands Buick and we have had family reunions most every evening. On Wed. at Ethels, Thurs at Henrys, and last eve. here. Uncle Joseph has felt the past hot wave very much and hasnt taken his accustomed walk up town for nearly a week at a time of late. Grace has gone to a camp for girls at Waupaca Wis for a couple of weeks with eight girls from our neighborhood. We have had one card from her saying there were 77 girls then in camp. It is conducted by the Wis. Sunday School Assn. This is her graduating present and her first experience in camp life. I dont see any vacation in sight for the rest of the family. Summer school closed Friday. There was an attendance of over 3000 but the hot weather made it hard to study. Ruth took her table and books down cellar afternoons. The hot weather went to our heads a couple of weeks ago and we all got our bathing suits on and went paddling in Mendota. Only Ruth knows how to swim but the rest of us hope to learn. We have been fishing four times and always come home with some fish, mostly perch, a small fish but good eating. The man we went out with first (Prof. Sammis) showed us how to skin them & it is much quicker than scaling those small fish. We have lima beans, cucumbers, & hope to have sweet corn this week from our garden. The tomatoes are not ripe yet and are making such big vines. I cut them off a foot yesterday. Trullie Schulte & family & Mrs Schulte, Sr. of New Hampton Ia. made us a welcome visit of a few days just after the 4th of July. They had been on an auto trip thru Chicago & Mil. and came back thru Madison. Drove home from here in a day. Their trip was 974 miles. We will be glad to see any of the Iowa people when ever they can come. Iowa doesnt seem so far away when we can drive thru in a day. Love to you all Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Madison Wisconsin Sept 10, 1916 Dear Bros. & Sisters It seems like autumn today being a little too cool for comfort with the doors open. Summer really seems over and with church and school beginning again, one feels that the routine has begun for another year. Our vacation trip was a hurried one but we felt that it had done Dale & Rena good and so had accomplished its purpose. We had another trip without any car trouble and must give the old Overland credit for getting there even tho' lacking many of the latest improvements. It would not do so well if Cal did not go over it thoroughly every where before we start each time. We made an average speed of 21 miles per hr. while on the road coming home. It has rained since and if it has out there, the roads will not be quite so good. Mrs Wilkinson and Florence left on Thurs. but we have not heard how they got home. We enjoyed their visit. I have canned several qts. of tomatoes and will can some more tomorrow from our garden. Our sweet corn is gone now but we had it for about six weeks. We still have string & lima beans, beets & carrots. Next year I hope we shall have a little fruit from our currants, goosberries, raspberries and strawberries. I paid 60 cts for a peck of potatoes that take 45 min. to cook soft but we may not be able to get ANY before winter is over. Eggs are 30 cts. & butter 38. Cal. will be 50 on Tues. and Grace was 18 last Tues. (Just here the girls came home from young peoples meeting with some company and broke off my letter writing.) Ruth had her eight little girls in her S.S. class out this P.M. & they had a good time. We went one afternoon to the tractor demonstration and found it interesting. I had never seen tractors at work before. Some had as many as five plows behind at work. The Allis farm, where it was held, had nice large fields for them to work in and they must have got their plowing mostly done in the four days exhibition. I will mail this at once so that Arthur can have it and maybe another one before "the frost is on the pumpkin" Love to you all from Annie - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Madison Wisconsin Oct 15, 1916 Dear Bros. and Sisters This is another beautiful day after a spell of rain. The flowers still bloom but are getting rather spent so late in the season. Our potato vines froze last week but we thought we'd leave them a while yet to grow up. I dug two hills a few days ago & got two marbles. So when a man came around selling them for $1.75 per bu. I bought some. Then another came with some for $1.25 and I jumped at the chance. They said they had grown in the past few weeks. They have to be scraped like any new potato but are a fair size. Our church has a busy week this week. On Tues. Wed. & Thurs. there is a convention of ministers of liberal faith to be entertained by the members. And on Sat. there is the annual rummage sale. We wont be able to contribute much to that for we wear our clothes till no one else could use them. I have a roomer and boarder as a first experience. She is a young lady from Brodhead a junior in U. We like her very well and she is as little trouble as any one could be. The girls are busy as can be with school work. Grace likes U. much better than high school. She has Eng. German Chemistry & Astronomy & Tennis for Gym. Ruth has begun work on her thesis. I have about decided to join Choral Union. Have been to two meetings and like it. Ruth takes it for credit but I expect to get all the benefit without being of much use to the Union. They have a fine director, Prof Dykenca. The fire at Main Hall burned the dome & some of the 4th floor but the classes still meet there tho the water soaked every floor more or less. It is not known what caused the fire. will send a picture of it burning. Cal says that some of the farmers here cut & shock their corn, then husk it out & cut the stalks and fill the silos with them. I have kept this letter a week but will see that it starts westward tomorrow. Love to you all Annie - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Madison, Wis. Nov 16, 1916 Dear Circle I have washed the dishes and folded the clothes for ironing tomorrow and will now write my sheet. I waited for the weather to warm up to wash but it wouldnt do it, so I, from necessity, had to give in. It snowed on Sat. last and was quite a blizzard and the temperature dropped so that it touched zero we were told (and we believed it) so the snow that fell is still here and there is splendid sleighing on the streets -and the small boys are out in force with their sleds. There is also talk of a coal famine. Ray was here a few minutes tonight and said he had just bought 4 pairs of shoes for himself, for the dealer told him that shoes were going out of sight along with flour & potatoes and everything else. I think America is in need of a government regulation of prices for necessities of life. It is a downright shame that a few can amass a fortune in a few months by cornering first one & then another of the principal food products. We will have to go to the church for supper tomorrow night, I suppose. Ella is chairman of the supper and says they will have to ask 40 cts a plate owing to the high cost of everything. Cal. was one of the speakers at a banquet the other night, will enclose a program, that cost $1.00 a plate! We can't do much of that just now. He has been fixing the pumping outfit out at College Hills the past few days. This suburb is outside the city limits, so depends on a community well for its water supply and it is pumped by an engine but who ever installed it made such a poor job of it, that it has always bothered them. I think Paul had better come and live with his Aunt Annie. [Perhaps Paul Heisey Pickford, 13 year old son of Charles Benjamin Pickford.] She was never known to fat any one up on her cooking. I think Uncle Joseph is just a real poet. He seems a lttle smaller every time I see him, though. Is so thin and white. Our Choral Union is to give their Christmas concert Dec 12. so we were told Tues. eve. We have only just begun to practice it seems to me. Are certainly not ready for a public performance. But Prof Dykema says we'll have to have special meetings enough to get it ready. The girls are very busy with mid-semester exams and Ruth takes german six hours a week besides. I'm sure I don't see how so many of the students could crowd in many extra practices for Choral Union. Well, it is time I went to bed so I will wish you all goodnight. With love from Annie (This seems to be the "High Cost of Living" number.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Madison, Wis. Dec. 17, 1916 Dear Circle- Yes, Henry walked over to Annie's and brought the letter and I'm just going to tell on that old dude! He rang the bell and I hardly knew the gentleman who stood at the door. New soft brown hat, new overcoat, new gloves, and in the course of the conversation he mentioned that he had just invested in a claw hammer suit! Fancy! And I have personal knowledge that he has bought three other suits in this A.D. 1916. His better half claims she counted over 30 shirts in his bureau drawers one day. He's surely the Beau Brummel of the Circle. And with his wife in full dress, they make, these days, one of the niftiest looking couples we know. Ed Bitterman came Sunday night to spend the night with us. He had been to the International and points in Ill. and was going to Sun Prairie, Wis. to buy some sheep for a man there. He said he had bought $1000. worth of sheep this fall on commission and that he could make more at it than at farming. He certainly is a specialist in his line. We enjoy getting news from home when he comes. Our next neighbor is a travelling man and was out at Mason City very recently and told of a perfect gale that was blowing. I think it was on Friday. It is very cold today with about 3 inches of snow. I see my neighbor across the way has her Xmas holly in her front door already. I think a wreath of holly will be about as much as we will buy for Xmas this year. We are going to Henry's for Christmas day. Cal. has been selling shoes of late. I thought he'd be put among the overshoes perhaps, or mens shoes, but no. They gave him the ladies shoes and he seems to like to fuss with the ladies. This store is closing out and going out of business, so it is only a temporary job. Amelia has just told me of the sudden death of Vesta Noble. I was sorry to hear of it. Well I send you all the best of wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Your sister Anni