Jaci Dawn

Dale and Case Keep House

October 28, 2015 by Jaci Dawn

(Dale’s constant omission of the apostrophe in the contraction “dont” nearly pushes me over the edge!)

The envelope for this letter has a pale inscription in pencil written across the front of it: Dale and Case keep House. It is about much more than that and reflects the innocence of America before Doughboys were shipped off to fight in trenches and Mustard gas.

Eugene, Ore. Feb. 12, ’17

Dear Mother and Dad,

Your two letters came today and in one was the draft ofor $100. I am very thankful, and it has not put me to any trouble at all. My only reason for telegraphing was to find out if I could make a raise, and if not I would not waste my money in registering.

My subjects are: Educational Psychology, Technique of Poetry, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Philosophical Foundations of English Literature, Advanced German Literature, ~~and~~ and Dramatics. Besides these I will have a lecture course entirely in German on the German Culture and Civilization. In addition to this I am doing extra work in the English department and having a special conference hour with the head of the department. Today our first poems were due in the Technique class. The professor said that mine was very good and would be very good for publication in the college publications. He asked me to try for a prize that is offered by the Spectator, a paper published in Portland. I may try for it because $15 or $5 for a poem will come handy.

Dont worry about the war. I think we are just as far from it as we were when it began. Even the Germans wanted to break diplomatic relations with the U.S. because of the trouble caused by the continental squabbles. If the U.S. did go in there would be no change excepting, perhaps, a new excuse for raising the price of provisions.

The housekeeping is going fine. One week Case does the cooking and the next week, I do it. Ditto with the dishwashing only reversed. I would rather do the cooking all the time because I can do it better, and then Case is not very neat. If I ever get any one else in here, I will get some-one that I can boss. Case is too smart.

I had no letter from Aunt Jane at all.

I sent that telegram about 8:30 P.M. on Saturday.

That must be disagreeable weather. The pussy willows have been out for over a week here! I guess our winter is over, except probably a late spring storm. I have told it all, I guess I will take this down and mail it now.

Your Son,

Dale.

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New Year’s Eve – Beginning of the End

October 27, 2015 by Jaci Dawn

My Great Grandmother saved more of Dale’s 1917 letters than in previous years – there are 19 letters that follow this one. There’s a war raging in Europe, but the United States will not enter that until April. Dale is struggling to put himself through college (and he will pull it off for one more semester). The Draft will catch up with him in July. Finally, Scarlet Fever will do her work. I know these things, but Dale did not. He wrote his letters, absorbed only with the now of living, and his current woes.

Eugene, Ore. Dec. 31, ’16

Dear Folks,

Well, how are things now? I am still humming along as usual. Everybody else is getting La Grippe, but I cant get it. Too tough, I guess.

See my Xmas present. I got a big box of stationery and some candy too. That will help some.

I heard that Andy is back in the U.S. again, but I haven’t heard from him yet. I suppose Brown is back too. I expect to see them down this way before long. Andy always talked of coming down to see Brown’s place.

I had a letter from Mr. Kopp the other day saying, that while he would be glad to lend money on life insurance, he had lent all he could spare, just two weeks before to his brother in the east who was buying a place. That prevents me from getting money there. I don’t know any one in this town who has any loose money to lend. Maybe I can get it from a bank, but they seldom loan except on real estate for purposes of development of the country.

I dont know what to do but I am going to see the president of the University as soon as he is here and find out about things. I may be able to make it stick, but if I don’t, I will have to give up the idea of school this year.

Kopp said in his letter that if I couldn’t get a loan I had better work a year or two than to go to school hampered by lack of funds. That was my idea anyway.

I would hit Aunt Jane for a loan but if she is going to build a barn next spring, she will have no money to spare.

There is no logging at all now on account of deep snow in the mountains. We have had no snow to speak of but it can be seen on all the hills around here.

Your letter hasn’t come yet. I guess the snow in the Rockies must be holding up the mail. I heard that the trains were 36 hours late.

There is nothing more to write so I will close

Your son

Dale D.

postmarked Jan 1-17 5PM

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Christmas 1916

October 25, 2015 by Jaci Dawn

Eugene, Ore. Dec. 24, ’16

Dear Folks,

Well, it is Christmas Eve again. I must be getting old, because it doesn’t seem any different than the other nights. It is not so long since I used to count the days before it for weeks, either.

My Job in the grill has gone glimmering, I guess. I have not been told of any chance anyway. The proprietor said that he would let me know when he wanted me.

I am working for my room at the same place I was last year, but that is all. The two fellows that were talking about wood cutting are celebrating Xmas and I cannot take the job alone.

I went to the U. the other day and enrolled in some correspondence study to keep me busy and make up some lost work. I can make 3 hours of credit before the second semester begins.

A felloew I knew last year wants me to batch it with him for the second semester. He lives in Portland and will furnish most of the junk besides what goes with the 3 room house we arranged for. The lady here has a cookstove she said we could have and Bob is going to ship a heater from Portland when he comes back after New Year. Beds and tables, ~~are~~ chairs, rug etc are furnished with the house for which we pay $6.00 per month. It would be just right for two. A room to sleep in, to study in, and to cook and eat in.

You didn’t say where John was going to school. He must be getting to be a pretty heavy kid by this time. Tell him to get weighed and send me a letter and tell me about what he is doing.

It must have been lots of fun for Dad to have eight teeth pulled at one sitting. I dont envy him the fun at all though.

Your letter didn’t come last week so I will leave this till tomorrow to see if it wont come.

___

Nothing came, so I will mail this anyways.

Dale Melrose 158 W. 12th Ct

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Working Man Blues

October 24, 2015 by Jaci Dawn

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.

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Canada to Camas

October 21, 2015 by Jaci Dawn

Fall of 1916 could best be described as the term Dale Melrose, 21, took off from college. It wasn’t from lack of trying to find work, as evidenced by his letters. He had a strong work ethic, but the work wasn’t there. If it was there… well, I’ll let him tell his own story, in his own sarcastic voice.

Portland, Ore. Nov. 2, 1916

Dear Folks,

Well I got back again and am feeling a lot better than I did in Canada, except for a cold in my lungs. It is raining a nice drizzle here so I hope to get over my cold soon.

That trip to Canada was not very profitable after paying what I owed and my fare down here, my total assets amount to about $60.00. If I cannot get a good job <lasting> until after Jan 1st, I cant see how I am going to go to school.

I will dig in from now on and try to make enough to carry me by working again. By that you can see that I have made nothing by my trip, in fact I have lost. I could have gone to school at the first of the year and by working, could have made it after a fashion. This way I lose a whole semester.

I have signed up on a job in a rock quarry down the river. The fare from Portland is $.25 by boat. Pay is .30¢ per hour and board is $4.75 per week. I ought to make a little on that job by Xmas. I will keep this letter until I find what address I will have Saturday Night.

I came up to the quarry yesterday and we got there about six oclock. About 1/6 of us were shipped out and we wanted supper. They wouldn’t give us any, and worse still, they put us in a bunk house that was full of “crumbs”. We left within 15 minutes and came to Camas which was only 3 miles away. Three of us got work on the streets here and the rest beat it.

The wages are $2.50 for 8 hours. Board and room will come to about $6.00 per week. I may stay if the weather stays good, but it is time for the rains now so I suppose I cant make much.

Dad maybe you think that the Oswego job we had was a bad one, but this quarry has it skinned so badly that there is no comparison.

This is a great life. I’ll never make a school stake at this rate.

Write to me here. I may be here a couple of weeks.

Your son

Dale D. Melrose

Camas, Wash.

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Blame it on the Headache!

October 20, 2015 by Jaci Dawn

Dale is in a fine mood when he write this letter. He has a soap box, and he’s going to stand on it. He’s maturing and standing up for what he believes in. (I have a hard time thinking of him as “Great Uncle Dale” given that he was barely 21 when he wrote this letter. A kid.)

One other note: Dale uses an ethnic slur here. Such idioms were common in the early 1900’s and reflected on the populace as a whole (we were horridly segregated!). If you are like me, you will cringe when you read the first paragraph. I can’t help it. It’s an awful thing to say and I wish I could erase it from the letter, but – alas! – my job here is to act as a transcriber and preserve the history as it was written.

Dale’s letter reminds me that public education was not always like it has been throughout my life, starting with Kindergarten at age 5 and ending with graduation from a four-year high school around the age of 17 or 18. All that was mandatory in 1916 was an 8th grade certificate, which one earned by the age of 15 or 16. My grandfather – John – was just 16 years old in 1916.

Newberg, Ore. July 29, ’16

Dear Folks,

Your letter came yesterday and I was glad to hear that you were getting along so well. It is to bad that the weather is so hot. I cant write like a white person this afternoon it seems.

Today is a hot day for us, and this morning I got hit on the head with a rock while I was shoveling and Hanson was picking.* This afternoon we were short of men and I worked too hard in the heat and got a headache. I quit for the day and perhaps for good. I don’t like this rock shoveling anyway. When Hanson is in the pit, it is too dangerous. Work is plentiful now, and I will hit something else, I guess.

Andy has poison oak all over himself, but he is out working this afternoon just the same. Andy is a lot easier to get along with than Brown was, and he has lots of grit too.

I don’t think we will go to Eastern Ore. mow. It is too late in the season.

I would like to see John in High School for a year or so, at least. He is not old enough to know what he wants to study yet. It is a fact that High School couldn’t hurt him any. I wouldn’t take $3,000** for the three years I spent in High school. Not only for what I learned in the books, but what I learned about people and their ways, that little time I spent there has been of immense value to me. Even if a fellow has to work at common labor after he gets out, he has lost no time that could have been better invested. Practically all one learns in the grades, is how to “read, write, and cipher”*** a little. In High School one learns to reason and depend upon his own head rather than some one else’s. Incidentally he learns something about mathematics, and the language that he uses, a multitude of other things from the books make him see that he is living in no two-by-four world and that he has some responsibility.

And in college — I don’t know all about that yet, but I think I can say that if one takes the value of one school course and multiplies it by 10 he will have the value of the High School course, and the High School course multiplied 10×10 is the value of college. I mean this, of course, if the student works in school and doesn’t go just for the fun of it.

A letter came to me today from a lawyer in Spokane saying that he was about to begin suit against D me for the Standard Laundry Co. of Walla Walla. the amount for which he is suing is $.75. **** I paid that Laundry all I owed them before I left there over a year ago, and I told that Collection Agency that when they wrote to me last June. The Laundry says I haven’t paid, and I say, I have. They may get a judgement against me, but not six bits.

You say, Dad, that you want me to come back there two years from now. I thought you saw that I couldn’t do that a year ago. Chances may be better back there for some people who can take deep breaths but not for me. My chances back there are all for the next world. I want you folks to come out here as soon as you can. There are other things in this world beside money. When I get out of school I am not going to make money the main driving power. “Greed for Gain” is against my religion.

This is a poor letter and poorly written, but take into account my aching head, and make allowance for that.

Your son

Dale.

*picking – Hanson was using a pick axe to break up the rock in the rock pit. A chunk came off and hit Dale in the head. No hard hats in 1916.

**$3,000. Doesn’t sound like a lot to us in 2015, but it was equivalent to $1,000,000 in Dale’s analogy. Think: “I wouldn’t take a million dollars for…”

***cipher – verb. Archaic form – to do arithmetic.

**** Seriously!!?? Collections for six bits???? But if you figure a man might make $2.50 to $3.00 per day… Dale should have kept the receipt.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged collections agency 1916, Dale Melrose, Greed for Gain, high school 1916, Melrose history, value of public education in 1915 | Leave a Comment »

Finding Work in 1916

October 19, 2015 by Jaci Dawn

Dale’s summer jobs seem to dry up quickly in the summer of 1916, an unfortunate situation as he’s trying to earn enough to stay in school!

Newberg, Ore. July 16, ’16

Dear Folks,

Well, we have moved and are nearly ready to run the rack through, but a rain came up yesterday and stopped us. That kind of business eats up the profit but it cannot be helped, I guess.

I haven’t had a letter from you for a long time, but there must be one in Eugene for me. I hope you are all well in this hot weather that I read about back there.

I am thinking of going to eastern Oregon, because I have only about fifteen dollars to my credit since school is out and I have only a month and a half more to make my ~~pill~~ pile.

Oswald Best is going east in a week or so to a job which will pay $2.50 and $3.00 and board for common labor. He wants Andy and I to go with him but I am afraid that we cannot get any money from Hanson before the first of next month. Of course, it is not what one makes, but what one saves that counts. However when we are laid off a day now and then for breakage, or moving, and still have to eat, it eats up the savings.

If Andy and I were not college studes (sic), we would go up where he was last fall in Canada when he got $3.50 and board for three or four months. I heard through Andy that Buster is going up there this fall. He is still sore at me, by the way.

The rain seems to be over, so I guess we will work to-morrow. There is not much of interest to write so I will close hoping that you folks are as well as the hot weather will allow.

Your son

Dale

I am curious as to what he meant by “ready to run the rack through”. He is apparently working for Hanson, he of the missed pay-checks and much griping about in 1915. Hanson was a contractor for the State or County, and was dependent on being paid by them first (or so he said). In 1915, paving employed something called a sack bundling rack (I don’t know if the link will work or not; it’s an item in an online 1915 Engineering book I found by googling: “1915 rack road construction”) That’s definitely something for an engineering type to research!

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1916 – Empty Envelopes and on to Summer

October 18, 2015 by Jaci Dawn

The letter of October 19, 1915 was the last missive for that year. I then have three empty envelopes with 2¢ postage. Three are postmarked Eugene, Oregon. Feb 15-16, Feb 29-16 (someone doodled on it), Mar 13-16 (with a side note When Dale was in Grantsburg with Parke & Harry– Except that was during the summer of 1915). The last one is postmarked Vida, Oregon, June 19, 1916. Vida is just west of Eugene. I place the following letter inside this envelope despite the odd date in the upper right corner. I know Dale didn’t write it in 1919 – he didn’t live that long.

Vida, Ore. June 18, ’19

Dear Folks,

I must write this in a hurry and get this away at on o’clock with Brown when he goes to the store.

I saw Grace. She’s changed a lot since I saw her last. Next morning I came out here. Got a ride on the running board of a car as far as the fish-hatchery so I had to walk only about seven miles. I was here in time to eat breakfast about noon.

We have been working hard the past week. It takes about an hour to climb to the slashing and about an hour to come back. We work ten hours slashing between times. The work will be finished about the last of this week.

Dad you know lots about measuring land. How would you measure a slashing that is not in rectangular form? Brown says that we should measure the distance around it in rods, divide that number by 4 times the number of rods in an acre, and square the quotient. I say that we should take the number of rods around it and treat the piece as a circle, find the diameter, and the area in sq. rods. then divide that number by the number of sq. ~~rodds~~ rds. in an acre. We want some scheme so that we can figure 16 acres out of a piece 1100 yds in circumference.

One of Brown’s neighbors wants us to cut seven acres of clover for him. We could get about $1.50 per day and board. We may do it, but it would not be a very long job just to run the scythe over seven acres, would it? How many acres should one man cut in a day?

We went fishing last Sunday afternoon an hour or so and caught a few small ones. There are three men from Portland on the creek to day but they cant catch anything. It is funny to see them try.

I am standing the work fine, better than I expected. The wages are $1.50 per diem but I will not collect over $1.25 if I have anything to say about it.

Did you hear that the cannery at Newberg had been burned and that the company is working on the new building both day and night to get ready for fruit.

We have nothing in sight after the hay job. We may go down to Portland and look around. There is nothing here but section work and the board is high.

I must stop now. Your letter hasn’t been here yet for this week. I will send my grades as soon as I get to Eugene.

Dale

Comments: who wants to take on the math question posed?

Slashing – Clearing up the left over debris after logging (commonly referred to as “slash”)

You may note Dale said they would go “down” to Portland when Portland is clearly to the north of Vida. He is correct: the Willamette River flows north and Portland is downriver from Eugene.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1916 letters, Dale Melrose History, Melrose history, Oregon history | 5 Comments »

Eugene, Ore. Oct. 29, 1915

October 17, 2015 by Jaci Dawn

Dear Folks,

I was glad to get your letter today. You had lots of news in it, and as you all wrote in it, – so much the better.

I am glad to hear that the new stove is working all right. I hope it will make your work easier for you this winter. You don’t want to be so harsh to the Ladie’s Aid ^Ma. Maybe they couldn’t get word to you, or maybe it was through a misunderstanding that they didn’t let you know about the meeting.

John, you must take care of those dogs, and make things as easy for Ma as you can.

That was too bad about those ducks. I know how you felt, but then maybe you will get a chance at them some time with a good gun, and then you will make a killing.

I tell you John, be careful about spelling. You know how to spell all right, but you are careless. Now such words as “on” spelled “one” and “from” spelled “form” make a big difference in the meaning sometimes. If you are going to take the 8th grade exam in the spring you had better get a speller and let Ma drill you in these words, but above all, be carefull.

That is too bad about the Wheeler boys. Bad luck seems to be with them all the time. If you see them you might tell them that I would take it as a personal favor if they would take the trouble to answer my cards.

We have had the finest kind of weather lately. Some days are as clear as bells, and on the rainy days the air is just as soft and mild as spring. The only thing wrong is that the leaves are falling fast, and I have to rake them up at the boarding place.

The boarding place is all right. They give the best kind of board, and charge 35¢ and 50¢ per meal for it. I am afraid that, after I get about four or five cords more of fir in the shed, ~~that~~ I will losemy job, because after the wood is in I don’t see what there will be to do. I will try to make the job as long as possible, but I am shaky. Of course when she hired me, the agreement was, that I should stay all winter. The old maid that is boss is such a liar though, that I cannot believe a word she says, and I know that she could “can” me and never turn a hair. If I didn’t know a few good ~~SCandinavians~~ Scandinavians I would say that they were all crooked, but I will change that statement this way:- Everybody named Hansen is a crook.

I was supposed to work tonight in the U. theatre but Reddie got sick and the play was postponed a week. I had an invitation to a party at Spiller Hall, (that is where Mildred stays) but I declined on the account of the work and now I am out of both work and party.

Are Inez and Lund still as thick as ever? If Inez were not so unsophisticated she couldn’t help but get tired of that kid. Uncle Harry said that he would break it up by letting them be together all the time. It ought to work. I dare you to suggest it to Uncle Dezil though.

Mildred told me that Grace had a steady. Mildred said that it made her tired to see the same man coming all the time. She said that she liked variety. You should see the specimen that she used to go with. Some man!

“H” means “Honor”. One guy in twenty gets it if he deserves it which is not always so. It means unusual work. If a student gets “M” or medium he is regarded as doing well. “S” is for the 20% below the 5% of “Hs” and above the 50% of “Ms”. The other 25% of the class get “P” (Passing) or “F” (Failed).

Oh! tell John that he had better name the pup himself, but I would suggest “Kaiser Wilhelm, The Second, The Great” if he wants a name that is a good one. He could call the dog “Ky” for short.

Oct. 31. Well, I must finish this, as it has lain around for a day or two. Did I tell you that Jim Hess sent me a card the other day from Walla Walla? I guess I did.

I will call this good for this time. I will write more next Sunday.

Your son

Dale D. Melrose

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Things Have Gotten Messy

October 13, 2015 by Jaci Dawn

I just started sorting through the envelopes of 1916, and I am discovering letters are ALL mixed up. There are letters from 1911 in side of 1916 envelopes. I’ have had to sort though each envelope and attempt to create a better time line for Dale. Therefore, we are going back to the Summer of 1915, prior to Dale’s arrival at the University of Oregon in Eugene. It’s a small step backward, and then I will be back on track with the timeline of his letters (and the assorted other letters stuffed into wrong envelopes!).

Grantsburg, Wis. July 2, 1915

Dear Folks,

I got as far as St. Paul, and found out that I couldn’t get here until the next day, so I stayed all night there and came out here yesterday. I found Park here, but Harry had gone to the cities, and perhaps he has been at our place before you read this.

Park and I have finished painting the building, which is the house and paint factory, and we went fishing this afternoon but didn’t catch anything. There is no work going on up here. Although as soon as the boys get their lighting contrast there will be a dam to build here. But now there is not even farm work to do.

The boys seem to have a pretty good layout here, but it will need a little time to get to working. They have a good paint that comes to about $1.10 per gallon when it is ready to apply. It seems to stay on buildings well. There is a barn in Grantsburg that was painted thirty years ago with it, and the brush marks can be seen in it yet. All the material used by them so fay, beside oil, has been taken out of a hole of about 10 cu. ft. Park and I painted this house with it, and he has a few gallons to deliver in Grantsburg tomorrow. The boys have an automobile, but they dont want Grandma told about it because she might worry about auto accidents.

I have felt all right since I left St. Paul except for a little sneezing now and then.

I hope you folks are getting along all right. I wish I could be there working instead of loafing up here, but I am afraid that I would only be in the way around there.

I am sending you some wintergreen. The woods is ~~are~~ full of it up here. I am I am pressing a pink ladys slipper, and will send it if I can get it in any shape.

Tell John that they have tame red squirrels here. They will climb up anyone’s leg and take a piece of bread out of his hand. <insert above – July 3 – I have a little asthma this morning but not very bad.> There is a chipmunk that Uncle Park is working on, but he hasn’t got entirely into the little fellow’s confidence yet.

Well you folks must writ, and tell me all about everything. I don’t like to stay here doing nothing, but getting my board and I am afraid to go anywhere else. Write as soon as you get this, and if I have any other mail send it along too.

Yours

Dale Melrose