Mrs. J. C. Bitterman Mason City, Ia. Jan 21, 1939 Hello folks! Here I am again, much the same above the waist but not so good below but thankful to be alive and at home again. Grace made us so welcome at her home but it crowded them to give us the sunniest room & twin beds, so I was glad to grow stronger more quickly there & be able to be brought home Tues. night. The train crew were courtesy itself and we found a cab waiting for us at this end & Dale & Rena were at the house all warm and lit up. So it was a comfortable trip in mid-winter. And what a winter it is! Tho' Dale says he heard it was to be below zero tomorrow, but -- "What matter how the night behaves! What matter how the north wind raves! Blow high, blow low, not all its snow Can quench our hearth fires ruddy glow" for we're HOME AGAIN! Arthur came to see me this AM as chipper as ever, and Ella was busy giving parties often to her friends in Madison. You can't keep these 80 + people down! Amelia came up to Madison to see me last Sun. looking so chic & comfortable. I felt like a slacker to be lying around for two months. Then Charles sent their good pictures on HIS 80th birthday. I wonder why there is scarcely a write up without inaccuracies in newspapers. We wish him many happy returns of the day -- and Amelia & Edith on the 25th and 26th also. I have a very nice lady to do the work while I am unable to do it and so I should get back to normal rather quickly. Everyone has been so kind & thoughtful, I can't thank you all enough. I had 150 cards & letters to cheer me in the hospital and lovely flowers. I must lie down to rest awhile now. I alternate walking around a little with lying down & walk a little better each day. Much love to you all. Anne Elizabeth. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Ia. March 5, 1939 Dear Circle: This has been a quiet day with a light snow fall all day. We went to church this morning, the second time since we came home. I am feeling much stronger each week and for the past two days I have worn the shoes I wore before we went to Madison. The ones Grace had to get for me to wear home are now altogether too large, I am happy to say. I have not worn the bandages the past two days either and the swelling is no worse than when I wore them, so I think I may get back to normal in time. I have been doing the work for two weeks now with Cal helping with the washing and all the errands up town, and we are getting on very well that way. Arthur called me up yesterday to say that he had been invited to spend a week in Washington, D.C. this week, by Mr & Mrs McArthur, who were driving down there, where they are living in Arlington this winter and he is looking forward to a most interesting time. I hope he keeps well and will tell us all about it in his next letter. That letter of Sally's fairly made my legs ache! I wonder any of them got down to the valley whole! I think Suffle board in Florida is more my stride. Cal has added one more Insurance agent to the family circle. He has been out the past week as the Mason Twp. agent for the Farmers Mutual and wrote $60,000 for them. Grace wrote that all but Noel James were in bed at one time with streptococcus sore throat week before last but were all up again but not very peppy yet. It seems there is a treatment, if taken at once, that knocks out the germ, so they had that. The other children, & families are well. Jean had the misfortune to have some one open her locker at school and take her new winter coat & scarf & there is no clue to who took it. We were pleased to receive the announcement card of David's wedding and hope they may have a happy life together. [David Ritchie Steven m. Feb 25, 1939, Harriet Peterson.] We hope you are all well as we are at present. Love to you all Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Ia. Apr. 11, 1939 Dear Circle: It was 22o this morning and the pool is frozen over, again. Cal cleaned it out and put the fish out last week (123 of them) byt they hide among the roots of the plants, so will be all right. Haven't lost one this winter; but the ones Cal took to the farm & put in the stock tank, haven't been seen since, Dale says. Cal has been busy enlarging the garage lately, to hold two cars. Amelia, he cut it it two at the peak & set one side out four feet south & built up the peak again as he did in Madison. Then he bought a second hand Chev. coupe for his own use, and I am to have the coach to use. I haven't use it yet, it has been to cold but hope to later. Today, we will go the funeral services for Joe Senior, who died Sat. at 84 years of age. We called to see Eliza when we took Ella to the station at Nora Springs. Eliza seems well and was glad to see Ella again. There was just a good looking widower & Ella to get on the train at Nora Junct. enroute to Cedar Rapids. They made a good looking pair! Cal has just come back from taking Arthur up toward CLear Lake to interview a turkey raiser who has 2,000 turkeys already this spring. Rufus & Myrta didn't go "out" for their anniversary dinner; they came here instead. They are both looking well preserved and good for many more returns of the day, which we hope they may have. Dale and family spent Easter with us after church. I have read "Song of Years" too. Our neighbor, Mrs. Cassiday, comes from the place where the scene of the story is laid & knows some of the descendants of the families mentioned. I have just finished two interesting books. "Red Star over China" gives the story of the condition of the lower class in China at the present time, which is awful; and another "The World was my Garden" by David Fairchild, which gives the story of his travels all over the world to study & introduce new fruits & trees from foreign countries into America. He has a fine estate at Miami Beach, Fla. where he has many tropical fruits & trees. We hope Ella got home all right and will come out again before long. Dinner time now. Love to all from Annie E. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - May 25, 1939 Dear Circle: Are we getting behind with our letters? I see I wrote Apr. 11 last. Today is most uncomfortable with heat and a strong wind whipping the dust every where. Every thing needs rain. The tulips lasted only a few days and the spirea is already falling. We'll have to depend on the iris & peonies for Memorial Day flowers. Dale brought in some kernels of corn he planted three weeks ago that had not yet sprouted because they chanced to fall in dry soil. Already pastures, lawns, & small grain are injured. I set out 12 tomato plants two weeks ago & found yesterday the cut worms had cut off three of them. What they want to do that for I can't understand for they don't consume them. We are having radishes, rhubarb & asparagus from the garden. Cal has been at the farm each day for a month getting the house, milk house & wood house ready to be painted & doing the painting, remaking the screens, etc. It is white with black sashes, and looks very much better. School will be over in a few days. Betty & Jean went with the band & orchestra to Minneapolis last week end & were winners in various contests. Betty won first in French Horn Solo. Janet has her 8th grade grad. exercises on next Thurs, also Noel & Alice are finishing the 8th grade this year. It is so warm this PM that the small mother wren I can see from my window is sitting with her head out of her house to be comfortable. Not so many wrens around this year. We have only one house occupied this yr. The radio reported 103o at some place in Iowa yesterday. It is 90o here this PM. I am enjoying a car to drive when Cal is away and manage to use it a little most every day. Hope you all keep well. Love to you all. Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. Mon. PM June 17, 1939 Dear Circle: I washed this AM but didn't hang the clothes out until 11 o'clock when it looked a little less like rain, and now the sun is shining. I want to go up town tomorrow to hear & see the many bands from all the surrounding towns. Music is surely stressed in the schools these days, and it is to be hoped that the type of music studied in the schools will counteract the prevailing "popular" music heard every where these "swing" bands hold forth. When we hear one of these "blues" girls on the radio, Cal scornfully remarks "would a man like to sit across a table from a voice like that all his life"? Some men seem to like it. Maybe he's just old fashioned. We both are, for we can't yet enjoy seeing a girl in pants or shorts. Have just been talking with Myrta. She says Grace Holden, Alice's youngest daughter, has been at their house recently & is looking for a place to work. She makes her home at Arthur's (her brother) tho' Celia needs her, as she is not well but Grace thinks she would have to WORK at Celia's and Arthur's wife has a maid & three small daughters! She can REST there! Cal has been making a closed porch at Jennie's house in Nora Springs for a couple of weeks. They have had to go out doors to the cellar way to feed the furnace all these years & finally diecided to have a closed porch to go down in, tho' they go away south or west in the coldest weather. But we had a furnace fire a few days ago for three days. I am enjoying my garden these days & can spend hours just puttering around in it without a qualm. I'm feeling quite normal again now, and can mow the lawn and do most of the things I ever did in recent years but walk uptown. I find the car a great help in getting around. I will enclose a small shot of Alice Jones that we got taken on her birthday. I think she looks like Amelia from her nose up. Dale says he doesn't know where their "Cousin" letter is. Hasn't had it for a year. Dale & Cyril are the committee to find a place for the family picnic in Iowa this yr but have not yet decided where it will be. Hope you all keep well, as we are. Love to you all. Annie Elizabeth. P.S. Where is the picture of the Rug group? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 718 N. Carolina Place. Mason City, Ia. Aug. 1, 1939 Dear Circle: I am glad Arthur has written his sheet again and that he is getting back to normal again. We hope he will be able to go to the family picnic next Sun. We are very sorry to learn of the serious illness of little Jan Marshall and hope she is on the way to recovery before this time. We are planning on going to the re-union if we keep well. Lyle said he thought he would take Arthur on Sat. & return Sun. to make the trip easier. Imo & Theo Marie are still in Calif. & are having a fine time. Cal is busy this week repairing & repainting the school house in Dist. No. 4. where all the Bitterman children went to school, where Arthur & I taught, & where our grand children are no longer attending. The summer I was 18, I taught there, had 17 scholars, walked back & forth each day from Father's farm, about 4 1/2 miles, and milked 16 cows a day, and helped Ellen some with the house work & divided the salary ($21.00 per month) with her. Dellie Murray, who lived with Mrs Haynes that summer, wrote me last winter, that Mrs Haynes used to scold about Father letting me do all that, but he didn't think it too much. Today, Cal says, the old junk man came to get the threshing rig he ran for so many years, and that Dale has run since we left the farm. So many have had the crop combined that only two of the company were left to thresh & they couldn't do it alone; so it was sold for $70.00 after giving 38 years of service & perfectly able to give half as many more; only the combines & tractor driven small separators are used now, instead of steam engines. Charles, Will Wood died in Chicago or Oak Park, this summer, Flora last Jan, Lettie in 1935. So Amelia is the only one left of that family. Most of the threshing is done now, which seems early. We need rain for corn & pastures & gardens. We have sweet corn & lima beans in our garden & one tomato is getting rosy, and the flowers have done well considering the heat and drouth, and the SNAKES are doing very well. Only 5 seen last week in garden but they are the common, garden variety. We will be glad to see the relatives at the picnic, Aug. 6. Love to you all, Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Ia. Sept 24, 1939 Dear Circle: I notice my last sheet is dated Aug. 1st. Well, since that date, several pleasant things have occurred. Our family picnic, Anelia's visit out here and a pleasant day with Chas. & Alice. After the picnic, Grace got a card from Hazel Long in Pa. saying a death prevented them from coming to the Iowa picnic, but failed to say whose death. So I wrote to her asking whose death & have had no ans. so far. We thought it might have been Uncle Will. Cal finished painting the school house in DIst. No. 4. in time for school to open on Sept. 4. and after a breathing spell of a few days, he bagan paining a house here in town and finished that last week on Tues. Then, without any breathing spell, he & Dale began getting more cement laid in Dale's barn yard, & to rest up from that, they got our supply of wood for winter sawed up and they expect to haul it up here tomorrow. It will fill 1/4 of the basement & coal bin. This finishes the dead trees in the grove at the farm and makes the 4th winters fuel for us. We think our next heat change will be to gas. Recently one PM, Central called me & said Long Distance was waiting to talk, and Trullie said "Hello, Annie, This is Trullie speaking from the Fair in San Francisco." I could hear her very well & we talked for 5 min. Isn't it wonderful? Cal had a birthday on the 12th. 73 years young by the way he keeps on "keeping on". We are very thankful to be as well as we are. Eliza Senior was at the services at the Cong'l church today. She used to go to this church when she was 8 years old & they were living in Mason City, and I guess had not attended it since. She is a helpful member of the M.E. church in Nora S. & she is over eighty. I wonder if the catsup recipe Ella sent is uncooked & can be kept with out sealing it up. Merle's letter was interesting, Amelia. I must get us a lunch now. Love to you all Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. Nov. 1, 1939 Dear Circle: I have just had the pelasure of reading the "Cousin's Robin" while dale has it. If that and the family picnics can be kept up, the younger members of the family will not grow up as strangers. I got out my winter coat today and it was needed. On Oct. 30 we had a light snow, which soon melted, but served to remind us that "Old Man Winter" is not far away. Last Sat, Oct 28, Grace sent me a parcel post box of garden flowers (chrysanthemums) from their garden & they are still nice. Ours were frozen on Sept. 30th. We have not taken the fish from the pool yet but will do so as soon as Cal gets home. They smother if the ice covers the pool very long. Cal & Dale are busy husking each day. Dale does the husking in the field & cal runs the elevator at the crib. He said they got 16 loads today. The field is next to the house so it goes fast. They think they will finish this week if they can find a place to put the corn. They've filled every thing. I foolishly(?) bought some goods & have been busy the past week making a "gown" for myself. Cal has invited me to go with him to Des Moines about the middle of Nov. to the annual Ins. meeting, which takes three days, and, of course, I had "nothing to wear." So, for the extravagant sum of $3.33 I'm all set to go! Grace and Noel came out the 7th of Oct. for four days & left the children at home with a friend in charge. Grace so seldom has a real vacation from family cares. They brought a movie camera with them and took some shots of us. Grace says we can come to Madison & see ourselves as others see us. Cal has been having some trouble with what seems to be sciatica in his hip the past week. It pains him most when he first gets up in the morning. But he continues to be in almost perpetual motion each day, never-the-less. I think the only way to stop him, is to go south, away from any thing we own where he will really be lazy. Arthur, I think your last letter is much more like your self than the one before and hope you can continue to improve. This poem was in the Globe Gazette this week and I feel that way about the west. I will enclose it. I don't believe I've baked as many loaves of bread as Ella does in a week, in the last 20 years. Don't forget to tell us the big secret in your next letter, Ella. Must go to bed now. Good night. Annie E. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. Dec. 10, 1939 Dear Circle: Well this is another in the chain of lovely days we've had for weeks. Just a little more snap in the air today. We went to church and then down to dinner at Jennie's in Nora Springs and such a dinner ! and on Wed. we were at Dale's for my birthday dinner and another such a dinner!! and at Imo's on Thanksgiving day, a third dinner!!! Between dates, we eat very simply on my cooking. Ella, I think that new machine you have is wonderful. I'd never heard of it before. An agent from the blind school came selling goods made by the blind & left a card with their Braille alphabet on it and I thought how hard it would be to have to read only that way. Now YOU can do two things at once. We had a nice three day vacation at Des M. Called at Charles for a nice chat with them on the way down & visited Ethel at her shop three times as she was only a block from the hotel where we roomed & where the meetings of the convention were held. Had a banquet & program one eve, a tea for the wives at Younkers tea room the next day, & a movie in the eve. Imo had 40 at her Thanksgiving dinner. Times have changed when a family can come up from Cedar Rapids in time for dinner & go home in the late PM some 150 miles each way! It used to be a days work to get the chores done & get as far as Mr Wilkinsons & back for chores again at night. The weather has been so balmy that Cal got out his paint kit and gave the garden fence a fresh coat of white last week, and Wendell & Cal & a neighbor pitched horseshoes Sat. PM. It hardly seems possible it is only two weeks till Christmas. Cal put the last of the storm windows on some two or three weeks ago and they are dirty enough to wash again now. A letter from Grace last week said that Lottie & Ethel Churchill had gone to Indiana, called there by the illness of their mother, Amelia Churchill, who had rallied some and might now recover. With Ella taking on another roomer and more bread & pie making, it just goes to show a woman is only as old as she FEELS. I think it is a labor saving plan to mix enough pie crust for several pies at one time only I never put the water with the flour till making the pie. We expect to spend Xmas at home with Dale's as our guests, and here's wishing you all a Merry Christmas and health and happiness in the New Year. Love to all. Annie E.