- Date: Thursday morning, early December 1937 (probably 9 December)
- Written at: Cincinnati, Ohio
- Stationery: Hotel Gibson, Cincinnati
- From: Joseph “Joe” Sharmer
- To: Ruby
- Condition: Complete — 2 pages
Each page of the original is shown beside its transcription. Click a page to enlarge it.
PAGE 1
Thursday A.M.
745 Here — 445 There
My Lover Dear:—
Had a fair night sleep. So Good Morning Dear — Just called the office and its 5° above this A.M. — Bad eh — Good Larry put a muffler in my bag & do you need them — Wish you were here right now but my poor Baby gets cold in Planada what would you do here Sweets, I would keep you warm, Believe me Dear you would have to say “take it easy”.
Honey I want to tell you How sweet you are but I cant — I am lonesome for you Dear.
Oh Honey I forgot to tell you last night but the broker here gave me an order for 5000 c/s of sliced peaches for next year — 48/1 Talls so thats a fair start so now you see why I am making this trip — I want to get enough business so I can stay in P. about 9 or 10 months of the year —
My God this is a dirty country you just cant keep clean — My Hands are a sight — You remember Harpers gloves well I wear them but Sweetie they make
PAGE 2
my hands colder that without them. I have bot a pair of Spats to keep my feet warm — Next will be long underwear.
Lover I hope you pardon the pencil cause I just cant use the pens they furnish in these places.
Honey I saw evidence of the flood here last year and I guess it was pretty bad — We called on a concern yesterday on Water St and they pointed out to me the water marks on the second story where their office is located. I guess it was pretty serious, more so than we realized just hearing it over the radio — Watch me if it comes now. I’ll run out to Pitts —
Lover — I must get dressed and have breakfast so I can make a few calls today — Honey I love you so much and you are a Dear only wait for me please until I get home — so I can tell you how much. Will write again later and please excuse pencil — Dear
All my love to you Dear
Joe
You are the sweetest girl in the world —
Believe Me.
Notes & context
The morning after. “I forgot to tell you last night” refers to the letter he wrote the evening before, on his first night in Cincinnati (A Dead Ringer for Mama).
“7:45 Here — 4:45 There.” Joe kept both clocks: Cincinnati time and Planada time, three hours behind in California.
“5000 c/s of sliced peaches … 48/1 Talls.” Cannery shorthand: 5,000 cases, each holding 48 No. 1 “tall” cans. This is a canned-fruit sales trip; he says he wants enough orders to spend nine or ten months of the year at home in Planada (“P.”).
The flood. The Ohio River flood of January 1937 put much of riverside Cincinnati, including Water Street, under water. His “here last year” places this letter in the winter of 1937–38, on the same eastern trip as the Pittsburgh letter postmarked 17 December 1937.
Spats were cloth covers worn over the shoe and ankle, here for warmth.
“Good Larry put a muffler in my bag.” Most likely the family’s Aunt Larry, who lived at 3355 Octavia Street in San Francisco. Joe gave her address as his return address on the Hotel Taft envelope of 2 January 1938.
