- Date: Friday evening, 17 December 1937
- Written at: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Stationery: Fort Pitt Hotel, Pittsburgh
- From: Joseph “Joe” Sharmer
- To: Miss Ruby E. Wilson, 745 Broadway, Planada, Calif.
- Condition: Complete — 3 pages and envelope
Each page of the original is shown beside its transcription. Click a page to enlarge it.
ENVELOPE
Air Mail
Miss Ruby E. Wilson
745 Broadway
Planada, Calif
Merced, County
PAGE 1
Planada Time 4 P.M.
Friday Eve — 7 P.M.
Ruby Dearest!—
My own Lover Dear—
What a Hell of a day — Rain all day long & one Hell of a time with the customers. Have to stay over tomorrow to release shipment and hope J.S.B. is in the office as I just sent him a wire — to release B/L on car in Phila. Hope to be at Dodies Sunday A.M. & then back to Balto with Gretchen Sunday night. But they are having one grand time in Wash and I know it will do Dodie a world of good too.
She is cute as Hell. Honey you would love her she opened the door the other morning and saw me & said “My darling little brother” and My God Dear I am twice as big as she. How she loved me — She only weighs 100# so you can see, is about eight inches shorter and yet I am little.
We will have a nice time at Xmas all I need is my Baby who will be in Planada and here Ill be 3000 miles away. Just aint right eh — but I have one of those miserable colds again
PAGE 2
and who in Hell — (You could Honey because you will never go there) could go without one in this weather — Snow, sleet, ice, rain, smoke, dirt, filth, slush, smog — (fog & smoke) and I know J.S.B. will bust a button cause it has caused me $5.60 for laundry — 2 shirts a day.
My hands are a mess — cant get the dirt out. bot a bottle like my Baby carries (and when I think of it I could cry — I am lonesome Dear) because it doesnt help much this G.D. coal dust & smoke gets under your skin a plenty. Perhaps I can get it out before I get home — I know you wont care and that is all of it — You are wonderful Dear because you understand — My sloppy & dirty clothes & not shaving in Planada and all is OK with you. God Honey you are swell —
Only this Dear — I hope you wont ever tire of me — I love you Dearly and you tell me Dear if I do wrong by you. I dont ever want to do anything that would hurt you and I cant forgive myself for our trip home from Modesto to Turlock — I woke up this A.M. thinking about it and it has
PAGE 3
caused me no end of worry — Just had a wire from J.S.B. & have to call him at home tonight, nine our time here that will be 6 there — Write more later — Love & kisses to the sweetest girl in the world my Baby —
Joe
Notes & context
The envelope. Sent Air Mail with a 6-cent orange airmail stamp, postmarked Pittsburgh, Pa., 9 P.M., 17 December 1937, to “Miss Ruby E. Wilson,” before she became Mrs. Ruby Sharmer. 17 December 1937 was a Friday, so Joe wrote this at 7 that evening and mailed it within two hours. In the lower left he wrote “M. L.”, most likely My Lover, the way he opens his letters.
The first page turned up later. When the site first went up, this letter began mid-sentence at “and who in Hell.” The first page has since been found. It ends “I have one of those miserable colds again”, so the “one” nobody could go without in this weather is a cold.
“Release B/L on car in Phila.” B/L is a bill of lading. A railroad car of fruit was waiting in Philadelphia, and the buyer could not take delivery until the shipper in California released the bill of lading, so Joe had to stay over and wire J.S.B.
J.S.B. runs through these letters: Joe wires him, calls him at home, and expects him to grumble about expenses. The family believes he was a supervisor with the fruit growers’ association in California (see below).
Dodie and Gretchen. Dodie was Joe’s older sister Josephine, and Gretchen her daughter (see below). “Wash” and “Balto” are Washington and Baltimore. “She only weighs 100#” means 100 pounds.
“Smog — (fog & smoke).” Joe stops to explain the word for Ruby. Pittsburgh’s coal smoke in the 1930s was notorious, and the city did not pass its smoke-control ordinance until 1941.
Modesto to Turlock. Neighbouring towns in Stanislaus County, just north of Merced County. Whatever happened on that drive home has stayed between the two of them.
From the family
Recollections shared by Joseph and Ruby’s daughter:
J.S.B. “I don’t know who ‘JSB’ was, but he must have been a supervisor from the Fruit Growers Association in California.”
Dodie was Joseph’s older sister, Josephine, and there was always a special bond between them. Her story is in Dodie and Her Little Brother. Her son is remembered in Jacy, and her daughter, the Gretchen of this letter, in Gretchen and the Mail Boy.
