- Date: Monday, 6 December 1937
- Written at: On board the San Francisco Overland Limited, east of North Platte, Nebraska
- Stationery: San Francisco Overland Limited (Chicago & North Western Ry., Union Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific)
- From: Joseph “Joe” Sharmer
- To: Ruby
- Condition: Complete — 4 pages; envelope not found
Each page of the original is shown beside its transcription. Click a page to enlarge it.
PAGE 1
Monday —
Ruby Dear —
Kathryn just left the train at North Platte. I wired her from Cheyenne to meet me & both of them were there so I bot Kath a ticket (round trip) to N.P. & we had from 945 R M Time til 118 C S Time so we had a nice visit, she was very much interested in My RUBY because Larry had told her so many nice things about you.
PAGE 2
So Honey Dear — I went to town about you — Kath ate it all up — & how only Honey I couldnt do you justice — You know Honey, loving you as I do I am at a loss to try and put it to words — your very fine qualities and good looks and personality coupled with your kindness cannot be described or put in words because — Honey they dont make them or else they are not within my reach — Honey you are sweet, Dear — Loving, Clever, Beautiful, pretty — and everything else.
PAGE 3
Honey I hope you will and I know you can understand how I feel about you. I love you so much I can’t put it in words — I am lonesome as Hell for you and cant wait until I get back to love you Dear — Look Out when I do —
Honey we have been in snow all day — & it is plenty cold but my Odgay (our talk) how they keep these cars — HOT — I am uncomfortable with my coat on — and there is nothing to see except plains of snow — Hope you got my letter today I mailed in Ogden last night Air Mail It is so much faster and I know you get it quicker
PAGE 4
so you know how I feel about you Dear — again I say I love you — I am to damn lonesome to write any more today but you have
All my Love
Joe
Return on envelope only to fool train crew — Love Joe
Notes & context
The date. Joe wrote only “Monday.” He had mailed a letter at Ogden “last night” (the envelope survives with Every Click of the Wheels; see also Desert and Sage Brush), so this is Monday, 6 December 1937, the third day of the journey east.
Kathryn. Joe’s sister Kathryn lived in Sidney, Nebraska — the town where they were both born — with her husband, the lawyer Earl Kratz. Joe wired her from Cheyenne, and “both of them” met the train at Sidney. He bought her a round-trip ticket to North Platte so they could ride together, from 9:45 Mountain time until 1:18 Central time, when she got off to take the train back home.
“Larry had told her so many nice things about you.” Aunt Larry, the eldest sister, with whom Joe had just stayed in San Francisco, had already told Kathryn about Ruby.
“My Odgay (our talk).” Pig Latin for “God” — evidently a private language between Joe and Ruby.
“Return on envelope only to fool train crew.” Joe evidently put a return address on the envelope only so the train crew handling the mail would not read anything into it.
What came next. The train reached Chicago on Tuesday, 7 December, where Joe met his Aunt Lizzie for the first time, and on Wednesday he wrote from Cincinnati (A Dead Ringer for Mama).
