718 N. Carolina Place, Mason City, Iowa Hawthorn Cottage. Feb. 2, 1938 Dear Bro's & Sisters: It has been cloudy all day so Mr. G. didn't see his shadow around here today. All the winter is going plenty fast enough for me. Just one blizzard so far. Trullie is here and she wanted to see an Iowa blizzard again and she said she enjoyed it. She came to see Clint but he passed away before either she or Jennie got here. [Manies CLINTON Bitterman, brother of Cal, b. Jan 1, 1879, died 17 Jan. 1938] We all thought he was better a few days before the stroke came, but he lived only four days afterward. We all feel it is better so, than to have him linger on, helpless, as Flora is having to do. Cal just said this one today made the 6th funeral he had attended since Thanksgiving. Clint was 59 years old Jan 1st, and another friend was only 51. The others were elderly people. Jennie & Al came back from Texas, and will not go down again this winter. Trullie has gone to visit friends at New Hampton for a few days & will then be going on to Calif. We were all at Arthur's one eve. last week & he had a letter from a lady who used to live here but now lives near Everett, Washington. She said she bought eggs from a Pickford family near them, and wondered if it might be relatives of ours, and we think it must be Uncle Walter's Wm. Henry. Arthur was planning to look him up. Cal, Trullie, Jennie & Al drove up to see Ed Bitterman just before the blizzard. He was not able to come to the funeral. He is some better but cannot get around the house much without help. It seems to be arthritis. Cal and I have been very well this winter so far & all the other relatives are, so far as we know. I started to put a cane seat in one of Mother's chairs at the Handicraft Dept of the Woman's Club yesterday & got it about half finished. Cal is refinishing her old bureau and is finding it a slow job, but it will be much improved when finished. Unless it should accidently be burned, I think it will stand for at least FOUR more generations, all the screws & braces he has put in it! Cal & Wendell keep fit by keeping the homestead fit! but Wendell excels for he has finer tools & more practice in cabinet work. Our pile of logs for the furnace is going down but there is plenty to last till spring, Cal says, and we have been very comfortable all winter. Hope you all keep well. Love to you all. Annie E. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. Mar. 2, 1938 Dear Circle: March came in like a lamb here and the yard looks slightly green where the snow covered it a week ago. One feels the urge to take off the storm windows, they are so VERY grimy but I suppose we'll need them some days yet before spring is really here. Florence & Earl & the boys were here on Sun. and the gentlemen spent the PM practicing with a group at the church on the "Creation" for Palm Sundy. Cal has really missed the meetings of the Mozart Club very much since we left Madison, but we both find we can't sing much any more. The seed catalogs continue to come to tempt one to make out long lists of choice varieties that simmer down to very little by planting time. Ruth says their winter has been very mild in Wash. and the calendulas were not frozen yet in Jan. I think the tulips, etc. will be coming up if it keeps so mild right along. Well, the chair seat I started at the Woman's Club in Feb. is ready for the binding around the edge. It is a very fine cane seat and took considerable time to do but it is strong and will make a good chair for the desk. Cal is working down at the farm now, remodelling Rena's cupboards in the kitchen. It will take some time to finish them but they will be much more roomy & convenient when done. Grace writes that she went to a luncheon at Ethel Watson's on Tues. for Amelia Churchill who is leaving soon for her new home in Indiana where Norma is now located as librarian, I suppose, as she was in Delavan, Wis. There is a cooking school coming next week and I suppose Myrta & I will be taking it in. We have gone to nearly every meeting of every dept of the Woman's Club this winter. Myrta says she doesn't have enough to do but I can always find things to get busy about but don't always get busy at them. Bed time now, so Good night & love from Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. March 31, 1938 Dear Circle: March is running out true to form, as much like a lion as a drop in temp, a strong wind & small showers can accomplish, and if this epistle has an odor of turpentine about it, it is because the house has been reeking with paint smell all week and at the present moment, Cal is varnishing the linoleum on the bathroom and kitchen floors so as to let it have a chance to dry over night. That will finish the paint job here for some time, I hope. We had not refinished the walls here, except the kitchen and bathroom, since we came, so now it is all done and fresh for the summer. We are not so far ahead with our outside work for we have not yet raked our yard but will when balmy days come again. Our tulips are up, too. Last week, March 22, Kate Hartong died very suddenly from a heart attack and burial was at Plymouth on Fri. Had she lived two days longer, they would have celebrated their 52nd anniversary. On our 48th anniversary we had Maud [Clint Bitterman's widow] and her children & grand children (because it is also her 38th anniversary) and Dale's family & Jennie & Al here for a picnic dinner in our basement. Cal had made a table long enough for us all to sit down at once & we had an abundance of food & a good time. Dale has been busy this winter installing electric fixtures & wiring in farm homes near by. He has wired nine homes & out buildings and likes the work. Cal helped him last week. He did a little discing in the field on Mon. but not any sowing yet, tho' some of the farmers have sowed grain. Glad to hear of the safe arrival of Margaret Merle Steven on Feb. 24, 1938. Arthur confessed this morning that he read till one AM in Irvin Cobbs "Old Judge Priest." That is a good test for his one eye! We hear that Maggie Holden Hill has had a second stroke and is lying helpless. Too bad. Do modern women of 77 sit in the corner & knit? No, they give book reviews at Reading Clubs, etc. instead, which is growing old gracefully, if you ask me. Amelia once sent me a birthday card which said, "What does it matter if the sum of your years be many or few? If your heart keeps young, & your hopes are high, & your smile keeps glad as the years go by, Old age can never lay hands on you!" which I think applies very well to HER. Well, Cal has finished his work, so now to bed. Love to you all. Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorne Cottage May 16, 1938 Dear Circle: Cal just asked me if I'd sent the Robin on, and that was the FIRST TIME I'd thought of it since Rufus left it on the 8th. It got covered up and was forgotten. We had four days in Madison the last of April & they were busy, happy days. Three parties in that thime. Then, when Ella decided she couldn't come home with us, we brought Elizabeth Thompson, & she stayed for two weeks & we enjoyed her very much. She is just past 5 yrs old and was not homesick a minute. Grace & Ellen & Mrs Ulve, our neighbor in Madison, drove out on Sat to take her home on Sun. morning. Grace has never driven so far alone before but seemed to get on O.K. It is raining again this eve. Cal was at the farm today discing & dragging & Dale was planting corn. They couldn't plant before, it has rained so much and now will be delayed again, I suppose. I have planted our garden but not all the flowers yet. The tulips are not so numerous as last yr. and the hawthorn trees are almost black. I suppose it is because the cold weather froze them. The oak tree is not hurt much. I wonder how the fruit trees are. Tomorrow, the Outdoor Life dept of the Woman's Club goes to Faribault, Minn. to visit a nursery that specializes in Lilacs & peonies. One of the owners gave a talk here last Oct. I would like to go but Cal is too busy just now to go, so we will try to drive up when the peonies are in bloom, later. It is about 70 miles from here. Sat PM Grace & I & the grand daughters drove out to see Florence Dean & her new son Allen Jay [b. April 24, 1938] and found them doing very well, indeed. Jean was with us a few nights last week when there was orchestra practice evenings that she must attend. They & the H.S. Band go to Minneapolis to the contest on Fri. this week. Ruth writes they plan to visit us sometime this summer. Love to you all from Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. Mon. June 20, 1938 Dear Circle: Amelia handed the Robin to me when she came on Sat as she did not expect to find Rufus at home from their western trip. So I will write my sheet & takt it over to him. They (Rufus & Myrta) arrived in time to see Amelia & the Smiths on Sun a short time. We enjoyed the visit with Amelia & Edith & family but it was very short. Edith had not visited at our Iowa house since before she was married & we were living on the farm. Hope they will do better from now on. I expect to go up town tomorrow to see the band and floats in the Centennial Program. The occasion is the celebration of the admission of Iowa as a Territory and the 85th for City of Mason City. Today has been a real summer day, so bright & warm. It made the sweet corn in our garden stretch to almost knee high. I distributed radishes to four neighbors today. We have so many and they should be used at once. The peas are nearly ready, too. Today we had 15 water lilies in bloom, white shell pink & yellow, and the roses on the trellis are coming out finely since the days are so bright & warm. Cal has been plowing corn all day. He uses a tractor for power & says it is not very hard work as all the guiding of the shovels is done by the hands with a steering wheel like an auto has. Dale has his alfalfa cut & tomorrow they will be putting it in the barn. Merle & Theo surely know how to entertain crowds. We expect Ruth & family about July 18. for a week or ten days & they plan to go on to Madison also for a few days. I wish they could have come at the Reunion time. [Reunion must have been held this year at Bunglowen.] Grace says Jim & Ethel Watson & two sons are driving to Tacoma after July 4 to see his sisters that he hasn't seen for 25 years, & may come or go thro' Iowa. Hope they stop to see us. Bedtime, so Good night & love from Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage, July 25, 1938 Dear CIrcle: As Rufus says "Annie is having one of her spells again," and is getting heartily tired of it. Those of you who have ever experienced lumbago know how utterly useless one is with out a back one can depend on. And to make it more aggravating it came just when Ruth (whom we had not seen for 5 YEARS) & family came for a weeks visit from far-away Pullman. She took charge of things & we got along. They went to Madison for the week end and will be back today to stay two more days & then on they way back to Wash. Dale & Rena were here last eve. Dale is puzzled as to how to combine the old way of harvesting & threshing & the new combine way in one neighborhood. Several have combines & not enough left to run a crew in the old way. He has cut half of his crop & has engaged Paul Spotts to combine the rest. He will know then whether he wants to be modern or old fashioned next year. Styles in farming are changing more than anywhere else these past few years. I am going up to have a 7th treatment by chiropractic this morning and hope it will straighten me up. Love to all. Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Ia. Sept. 1l, 1938 Dear Circle: It always seems that summer is over when September comes in and schools begin, & I seem to have some where lost this summer, for it is only this week I have felt like my self since the first week of July, but now I'm "rarin'" to go. Tho' I still couldn't follow Arthur in his fair circuit. Truly a man is only as old as he feels. Cal & I are finding that there are some jobs that we'll just have to leave for others to do from now on. He has been been down to the farm for all this week so far helping Dale & his man lay a cement floor in a section of the cattle yard for two days and is now driving the tractor cutting soy beans, and I think the alfalfa comes next. As for me, I found a lot of tomatoes ripe and grapes & peaches & pickles waiting for action by some one, and I'm happy to take care of them for I've had all the lying around I want. The lawns are getting so brown from lack of rain, and the farmers find it hard to plow it is so dry. I have watered the flowers twice this week to keep them blooming till it rains again. Ruth & family have been in a cottage over on Puget Sound since they were here & have been living on fresh oysters, clams, salmon, etc. They planned to be at home again last Sunday. I have just noticed a man going by with a wagon with rubber-tired car wheels & it was very quiet. Surely the rubber industry isn't depressed. When I think of Uncle Will's daughter Ethel having had 14 children with twelve living, I wonder what the rest of us have found to do to keep busy all these years! Here's hoping you are all well. Love from Annie E. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottag. Oct. 13, 1938 Dear Circle: Well, Oct. 13 doesn't mean it is a fall day in temperature. The days are glorious the past few weeks. Yesterday, we had the first heavy shower we've had for some time with some hail but it soon cleared away and was sunny again. I picked string beans from the garden yesterday and again today. I think it is really the latest date THAT ever happened in all my 48 years of gardening, but there is nothing else but a few flowers left in the garden now. I planted a bed of tulips last week and we set two pyramidal Arborvitae beside the front steps instead of those dogwood bushes and I think it looks much neater. I went with Wendell & Grace to Maggie Holden Hills funeral last week Monday. She had had several strokes and was helpless. Her husband died ten years ago, Thomas, Lizzie & George are still living. All of Alice's children are married but Grace. Celia lives in Otranto, N. E. of Manly, Oliver in Manly (runs a dairy) Arthur on the home farm and May in Waterloo, Ia. Cal was a carpenter for a week or so, helping remodel a barn over toward Rock Falls. Then he had our winter fuel sawed up from the dead trees down on the lower farm & you should see the pile! It fills more then 1/4 of the basement & some in the garage, and if that won't keep this little bird-house warm, we'll go to Texas! He says there's plenty for another winter left and sawing them up does make the farm look much better. Our Woman's Club had a good lecture on Tues. by Miss Marjorie Hillis, author of "Live Alone and Like It." Her subject was "The Art of Gracious Living." The new pastor at the Cong'l church has just arrived & will fill the pulpit for the first sermon on Sun. He comes from New Jersy but has lived in Iowa years ago. I'm glad to hear of our friends in Madison thro' Ella's letter. Wonder if Rossie is finishing his Univ. course this year. Cal is helping Dale get cribs ready for husking next week. We have the City Progressive Club here tomorrow eve. Love to you all from Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. Nov. 12, 1938 Dear Circle: I always think of Henry when I use this paper. He always furnished such a generous supply each year that I still have quite a lot of it yet. [Personalized, three line with 1717 address.] That was only one of the MANY thoughtful things he did. Cal and Dale finished the corn husking today. The ground is wet from the recent rain so the last two days of husking they used both tractors to pull the picker & the loaded wagon. Some OUTFIT! compared with Ellen, Rufus and I husking at one wagon & laying the stalks of the hill we had just husked down to walk on to the next hill! But we took time to compose a MEDLY of the songs we knew while getting our load. I wonder if Rufus remembers it. I can still sing it. I listened to some of the husking contests on the radio but think I'd not like to husk corn stripped to the waist as one husker was. I'm glad Dale has a picker & a tractor, and an elevator to unload the corn. He has a lot of fine corn. We expect Arthur went to help Rufus celebrate his 69th birthday on Thurs. eve. He looks fine and is up and at it as regularly as day come. We hope he may so continue for years. Charles may remeber Sine Hill. He is Mrs Verne Yaggy's father. He passed away yesterday at 79 years of age. He ran the Farmer's Elevator at Portland for many years up till a few weeks ago. I have just finished caning another of Mother's chairs, learned thro' the Hanidcraft Dept't of the Woman's Club. I think I shall do one more later in the winter, but now, when they are beginning that old refrain "only (?) days till Christmas" I feel I can't spare the time just now. I shouldn't wonder if Ella COULD accommodate the other two boys & wives if necessary. One couple in the basement & one in the attic, without feeling crowded. Cal is planning to go to Des Moines to an Ins. convention the 15-16-17 of Nov. He is a director for Mason Twp. in The Farmer's Mutual Ins. We have moved 119 fish from the pool into winter quarters this week, only 24 have turned gold colored yet. This is open season for pheasants for few days, but I'm thankful MY men don't care to go hunting; there are so many accidents, and anyway we find a young chicken, all dressed, deliverd to our ice box every little while from the farm, which makes a fine Sunday dinner. We may try to drive to Madison for Thanksgiving if the weather holds good. Love to you all from Annie E. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Madison General Hospital [stationery] Madison, Wisconsin [In Cal's writing] Dec. 12, 1938 Dear Circle: I cannot recall just how many years this circular letter has been making the rounds but this is the first time that my dear Annie has not been able to contribute her part. The letter came today at 4:00 PM and it is now 6 PM and I am at the hospital where I stay, both day and night, so will try to tell what most of you know through your contact with Dale. To begin with neither one of us ever suspected that Annie had any gall bladder trouble. She did not feel very well on Thanksgiving, so did not eat much dinner. The doctor whom we always had while we lived here, prescribed for her on Fri. and we took her to the hospital early Sat. morning. There was never any doubt as to what the trouble was but they thought they could get her in shape so she could go home and have the operation in Mason City. But she failed to respond to treatment and it was decided (with her approval) to have the work done here, which I think was a wise decision. The operation took place Thurs. Dec. 1 between 9 and 10 AM and everything went very well for 8 days, when a blood clot (known as an embolism) appeared in the left leg. Not long afterward phlebitis appeared on the back of the right side. Phlebitis seems to be another name for milkleg. Now as to the outlook I think the future is not very promising. She has been irrational much of the time when awake today, but that may be because they have let up some on the drugs. I remain at the hospital all night every night although I am not permitted to see her very often. No one has been admitted to see her since here, but Grace and I and one evening Grace's two little girls. This seems hard but its all for the best. We have two doctors who have grown grey in the service and two special nurses with 20 years experience. This is about all for now, as no one knows what an hour will bring forth. I notice by Annie's last letter it was dated just a month ago, Nov. 12. What changes in so short a time. Hopefully, Cal.