A little less than 99 years have passed since my great uncle was living in the Willamette Valley and trying to put himself through college. 1916 was a rough year for finding the right temporary job, and so he missed out on a semester. He detailed his struggles in missives to his parents back “home” in Wisconsin.
Wages, board, and “hospital fee, of course”…
Eugene, Ore. Nov. 18, ’16
Dear Folks,
I didn’t write last week because I didn’t know where I would be by the time you would get the letter.
I am going up in the mountains near here to work in a saw-mill. The wages are $2.00 per day and board is $5.00 per week with a dollar hospital fee, of course.
I worked today for Harvey’s and made a dollar putting in wood. I can’t begin before Monday at the mill, so I am not going out until tomorrow afternoon.
I noticed that the old maids have gone out of business. I guess they couldn’t run the place without my help.
I saw Longworthy in Portland and he told me that Jim Hess was married to a widow who had a place near his homestead. He told me last summer that he intended to build up his place. Queer way to do it though.
The University is a lot larger this year than last. Prof. Reddie isn’t there any more. He is with some theatrical company now – I think on Broadway.
How much money could you let me have on a 20 year endowment life insurance policy? I understand that they go at nearly face value. There will have to be some scheme like that if I get through much more school, I guess.
While I was in Portland I looked around for a job. I found some good propositions but they wanted a permanent employee. The Y.M.C.A. offered me a job teaching German and superintending dramatics, but I would have had to have waited a couple of weeks for it, and they wanted me to work there the full year. The ship yards wanted men at 32 cents an hour as soon as their lumber came, but that meant waiting too.
Garfield Johnson is working for a wholesale grocer firm. He gets $75.00 per month for 9 hours work per day with Saturday afternoons off and two weeks vacation per year on full pay. That is pretty good for a kid!
I had a letter started to you while I was in Portland but I wont send it now. I wasn’t feeling good and it sounds too blue.
My address will be the following.
Dale D. Melrose
Mabel,
Ore.
Jaci Dawn 
I found Professor Reddie.. His name was Mr. Fergus Reddie. (copied from my internet search hit):
“OPGingham, Barn Doors, and – JSTOR
a pageant and had arranged with Mr. Fergus Reddie, dramatics professor at the university (1912-25), to direct the celebration. Reddie, noted for an emphasis on … Secretary University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, Dear Mr. Onthank:
[Search domain http://www.jstor.org] jstor.org/pss/20614270
More on Reddie: http://blogs.uoregon.edu/theatre/our-history-2/
In UofO Special Collections, Archives West, photographs, they have a listing of a photo of Reddie.
No listing for Melrose.
Fergus Reddie is my great-grandfather. I have quite a few photos of him. His full name was actually Archibald Ferguson Reddie, born July 11, 1869 in Philadelphia, PA. He died March 18, 1949 in Los Angeles, CA. He was an excellent stage actor by all accounts, and his son MacIvor Reddie was a very talented painter. I guess it runs in our family!
My Great Uncle approved of your great-grandfather, John. I think he missed him when he returned to school. Thank you so much for taking the time not only to read Dale’s letter, but to fill me in on some of the characters in his life. 🙂
My pleasure! It’s nice to see a contemporary account of someone who knew and liked Fergus. That alone makes your great uncle a-ok by me. I wish I could’ve met my great-grandfather, but he was long gone by the time I came along. One cool thing I read was that Edgar Buchanan was one of his students, and Fergus’ class inspired him to pursue acting further.
Speaking of AF Reddie: we have a number of letters by Fergus Reddie in the Henry Dosch family papers at Multnomah County Library (I direct the special collections there) as he knew Henry Dosch, and Dosch’s son Roswell who taught art at the UO from 1916-1918. And John Reddie, if you read this, do you know any thing about the use of his pseudonym of “Les Indres” as he sometimes signed his letters?
Thank you for your comment – When the country opens up again, I will have to visit Multnomah County Library to see the collection of letters by Fergus Reddie. 🙂
Hi Jim,
That is the very first I have ever heard of that pseudonym, and it’s very intriguing. I don’t have any letters from Fergus, unfortunately. Just pictures. Which leads me to ask, are those letters digitized at all? I would absolutely love to see them, but being in Massachusetts it’s a bit of a haul to make the trip to Oregon to see them! But if they’re saved as files, I’d love to be able to add them to my family genealogy project.
Thanks,
John Reddie
Jaci, yes, please come visit the collection when we are all back. And John, the Reddie letters are not digitized yet but if you send me your email, I’ll send you some scanned copies when I can. My address is: jimc@multcolib.org Cheers, Jim