Box 162
Elko, Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley,
Modesto,
California
Again, Allene Dearest, your letter is early. It came on this evenings [sic] train and of course I won't get any tomorrow morning to pay for it,~ but maybe I'll be rewarded again tomorrow evening. Here's hoping.
I guess you've guessed it dear when you guess fate is "agin" us. It's alright with me tho' so long as we are kept busy and out of mischief.
Our "Midas" has all those gold crowns in his upper jaw and electric headlights on a dark clear night are not to be compared with his illumination. Our Midas has the old King Midas backed clear off the board.
Of course, dear, we can, and do do porcelain work. Can't make porcelain inlays on these trips, account of that work requiring an electric furnace, but crowns and teeth we can supply. For crowns and bridge-work gold is stronger and more durable and we always advise our patients to take it for that reason. Of course if they want porcelain we give it to 'em, in fact we give 'em anything they want, ~ if it's within reason, or possible.
That's too bad about your gold crowns showing when you laugh dear. Maybe some of these days I'll be able to show you what I can do in the way of changing them to porcelain. I should say I don't advise gold in the anterior teeth, altho' I, myself, have "a plenty."
You bet that one is a good picture of you and I'm going to keep it right in my pocket where I can take a look at it whenever I want to, and I want to now, so wait a second. You're unchanged dear; you're just as sweet looking as before.
Tell me what the S in your name stands for and don't tell me it's Samanthy or even Sophia.
With love dear I'm
Always yours,
Frank
Fish Day~~~~
February 4th 1916
[Editor's note: The "S" in my grandmother's name stands for "Simmonds."]
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Letters from Grandpa 3 February 1916
Box 162
Elko, Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley,
Modesto,
California
Allene Dearest,
Already I've won my wager of this afternoon, but there's no sport in betting where you have a "cinch." And if ever there was one it was that the Vagabond would prove the stronger magnet that that Russian Musical. The wager was decided by your letter which arrived this evening. I guess this letter was intended for tomorrow and to pay for getting it tonight I'll about have to go without one in the morning. I'm a cheerful winner, dear, and it's alright, fine when they come on time, or a little early, but I get pretty peeved when they're late, so if you want to keep me in good humor you want to get 'em away on the first train.
So my letter was thrilly,~gee, I'd like to know what particular part of it is responsible for that comment? And as for your being in doubt as to my address,~ always send 'em to the same old place till I tell you for sure to send 'em someplace else. Anyhow all mail for Midas is sorted over at this P.O. and even if the letters are addressed to Golconda and we are up there we will get then without any delay.
Yeh, that's alright~very nice~ also fine, and I'm glad Helen Hinkle likes cookies and nuts~~and that she get's 'em in her jail, Huntington Hall. But I know another party, that is I have a speaking acquaintance with him, in fact I talk to him quite often. (You know this kind of weather is enough to make a fellow talk to anybody,~even himself.) Well anyway, he's worse than in jail,~he's snowbound on a big desert~and he likes cookies and nuts too,~~and he doesn't get 'em. That doesn't take away his likes for them tho' nor his love for her who makes them.
Always yours dear,
Frank
Thursday Eve.
February 3rd 1916.
Elko, Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley,
Modesto,
California
Allene Dearest,
Already I've won my wager of this afternoon, but there's no sport in betting where you have a "cinch." And if ever there was one it was that the Vagabond would prove the stronger magnet that that Russian Musical. The wager was decided by your letter which arrived this evening. I guess this letter was intended for tomorrow and to pay for getting it tonight I'll about have to go without one in the morning. I'm a cheerful winner, dear, and it's alright, fine when they come on time, or a little early, but I get pretty peeved when they're late, so if you want to keep me in good humor you want to get 'em away on the first train.
So my letter was thrilly,~gee, I'd like to know what particular part of it is responsible for that comment? And as for your being in doubt as to my address,~ always send 'em to the same old place till I tell you for sure to send 'em someplace else. Anyhow all mail for Midas is sorted over at this P.O. and even if the letters are addressed to Golconda and we are up there we will get then without any delay.
Yeh, that's alright~very nice~ also fine, and I'm glad Helen Hinkle likes cookies and nuts~~and that she get's 'em in her jail, Huntington Hall. But I know another party, that is I have a speaking acquaintance with him, in fact I talk to him quite often. (You know this kind of weather is enough to make a fellow talk to anybody,~even himself.) Well anyway, he's worse than in jail,~he's snowbound on a big desert~and he likes cookies and nuts too,~~and he doesn't get 'em. That doesn't take away his likes for them tho' nor his love for her who makes them.
Always yours dear,
Frank
Thursday Eve.
February 3rd 1916.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Letters from Grandpa 3 February 1916
Box 162
Elko, Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley
Modesto
California
My Dearest Little Girlie has got me tongue-tied, or has given me "writer's cramp," or else the receipt of this mornings letter with the pictures has acted as an anaesthetic and as far as external appearances go I'm in an absolute comma [sic]. My mind and tho'ts tho' dear, are working overtime. When I read your letter there are about a million things I want to say and then when I look at your pictures I'm speechless. I don't know whether it's fright (like "buck-ague" or "stage fright") or admiration.
Anyhow dear the pictures are great,~especially the one of you in the sweater. I love that characteristic carelessness it portrays. You do look "kind-a" natural in the other one of you standing but I don't like it nearly as well as the first. And the one of you sitting~~well I don't know,~ Might have tho't it fine if I hadn't seen the others. The one of aunt Helene, gee!! It's a funny one alright. She stood too close to the camera and it's distorted~made her too big in the middle.
Most wonderfullest, dear that you should have baked and "maked" and all those other things about cookies and almonds~ and all by yourself, too! I am so surprise-ed!! <--Exclamation points. And I'll take your word for their quality.
Now I suppose I'm to guess which was the stronger attraction, "The Beloved Vagabond" or the "Russian Composers." Oh, I'll take the single tramp.~ The movies are bound to be the winners.
Gee dear, but I like that picture of you in the sweater, and love the original.
Frank
Feby. 3,-1916.
Elko, Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley
Modesto
California
My Dearest Little Girlie has got me tongue-tied, or has given me "writer's cramp," or else the receipt of this mornings letter with the pictures has acted as an anaesthetic and as far as external appearances go I'm in an absolute comma [sic]. My mind and tho'ts tho' dear, are working overtime. When I read your letter there are about a million things I want to say and then when I look at your pictures I'm speechless. I don't know whether it's fright (like "buck-ague" or "stage fright") or admiration.
Anyhow dear the pictures are great,~especially the one of you in the sweater. I love that characteristic carelessness it portrays. You do look "kind-a" natural in the other one of you standing but I don't like it nearly as well as the first. And the one of you sitting~~well I don't know,~ Might have tho't it fine if I hadn't seen the others. The one of aunt Helene, gee!! It's a funny one alright. She stood too close to the camera and it's distorted~made her too big in the middle.
Most wonderfullest, dear that you should have baked and "maked" and all those other things about cookies and almonds~ and all by yourself, too! I am so surprise-ed!! <--Exclamation points. And I'll take your word for their quality.
Now I suppose I'm to guess which was the stronger attraction, "The Beloved Vagabond" or the "Russian Composers." Oh, I'll take the single tramp.~ The movies are bound to be the winners.
Gee dear, but I like that picture of you in the sweater, and love the original.
Frank
Feby. 3,-1916.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Letters from Grandpa 1 February 1916
Box 162
Elko
Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley
Modesto
California
Box 686
Old Pluvius,~or whatever they call him,~Dearest, is bound to hold us here. This is the day I told you we were to start for "Red House" and this is the day we had a continual snow storm.
Anyhow it's an ill wind that blows nobody good. We landed a patient today for a full mouth of gold. Put gold crowns on every tooth in his head. 'Twill take us about three days to finish his work and maybe by that time we will,~~but the next time you hear about it will be a telegram saying we've started. I'm not going to count on our getting started again.
Am glad you liked the "snow" pictures dear but the one at Golconda is not snow. That's frost on the trees. It forms during extremely cold nights and drops off as soon as the sun strikes it~almost.
So you only weigh a hundred and twenty two~~and a half? How tall are you dear?
And I was just going to ask you to send me another picture of yourself~one that I could carry in my pocket. Hurry 'em along Allene, cause I can't wait,~that is, I'm very impatient.
With love dear, I'm
Just yours
Frank
~~~~~
Tuesday, Feb. 1st,
1916
Elko
Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley
Modesto
California
Box 686
Old Pluvius,~or whatever they call him,~Dearest, is bound to hold us here. This is the day I told you we were to start for "Red House" and this is the day we had a continual snow storm.
Anyhow it's an ill wind that blows nobody good. We landed a patient today for a full mouth of gold. Put gold crowns on every tooth in his head. 'Twill take us about three days to finish his work and maybe by that time we will,~~but the next time you hear about it will be a telegram saying we've started. I'm not going to count on our getting started again.
Am glad you liked the "snow" pictures dear but the one at Golconda is not snow. That's frost on the trees. It forms during extremely cold nights and drops off as soon as the sun strikes it~almost.
So you only weigh a hundred and twenty two~~and a half? How tall are you dear?
And I was just going to ask you to send me another picture of yourself~one that I could carry in my pocket. Hurry 'em along Allene, cause I can't wait,~that is, I'm very impatient.
With love dear, I'm
Just yours
Frank
~~~~~
Tuesday, Feb. 1st,
1916
Letters from Grandpa 30 January 1916
Box 162
Elko, Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley,
Modesto,
California
Dearest Girl o' Mine,
I'm still on the job,~ the teeth didn't cook too much and the patient is "tickled to death" with the work. A pleased patient is our best ad.
But what I'd like to know dear, is who is to blame for my failure to get a letter from you dated the 27th? Yours of the 26th came yesterday, accompanied by one from your aunt, dated the 27th, and the one this morning was written Friday. Now dear, you have forbidden my scolding and to prove my lovely nature I acquiesce in your favor~~this once; but you surely can't object if I tell you I'm disappointed when there's a day missed. I want one for every day even if they are not received for three or four days, if (again) then they come three or four in a bunch. I'm selfish dear, but can't help it, nor do I want to, where you are concerned.
Gosh! Sell that beautiful home! Do you really believe he will,~or wants to? Seems like a shame to even think of it,~but if he gets his price~~! And you haven't any idea where you might go? Well dear, should the deal go thru' and you leave Modesto all you've got to do is to tell me the new address and when the time comes I'll get there.
All the weather prophets around here say this last storm is the last big one we'll have for a while and if that's the case we will be at our destination in a few days. Was talking to the stage driver last night, the fellow who had that terrible experience (he's alright now) and he says "they'll be able to get us thru' in a few days, about Wednesday." They are driving stock etc. over the road now to break it. When we get there, dear, the triweekly mail service and the uncertainty of stage lines out here will put a damper on our daily missives but we can write a few lines daily anyhow. Now that the time is drawing near and we have been away from Elko so long I hate to go up there to that old mining camp, but what can a poor man do?
With love dear, I'm always yours
Frank
Sunday Afternoon,
Jan. 30th, 1916
Elko, Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley,
Modesto,
California
Dearest Girl o' Mine,
I'm still on the job,~ the teeth didn't cook too much and the patient is "tickled to death" with the work. A pleased patient is our best ad.
But what I'd like to know dear, is who is to blame for my failure to get a letter from you dated the 27th? Yours of the 26th came yesterday, accompanied by one from your aunt, dated the 27th, and the one this morning was written Friday. Now dear, you have forbidden my scolding and to prove my lovely nature I acquiesce in your favor~~this once; but you surely can't object if I tell you I'm disappointed when there's a day missed. I want one for every day even if they are not received for three or four days, if (again) then they come three or four in a bunch. I'm selfish dear, but can't help it, nor do I want to, where you are concerned.
Gosh! Sell that beautiful home! Do you really believe he will,~or wants to? Seems like a shame to even think of it,~but if he gets his price~~! And you haven't any idea where you might go? Well dear, should the deal go thru' and you leave Modesto all you've got to do is to tell me the new address and when the time comes I'll get there.
All the weather prophets around here say this last storm is the last big one we'll have for a while and if that's the case we will be at our destination in a few days. Was talking to the stage driver last night, the fellow who had that terrible experience (he's alright now) and he says "they'll be able to get us thru' in a few days, about Wednesday." They are driving stock etc. over the road now to break it. When we get there, dear, the triweekly mail service and the uncertainty of stage lines out here will put a damper on our daily missives but we can write a few lines daily anyhow. Now that the time is drawing near and we have been away from Elko so long I hate to go up there to that old mining camp, but what can a poor man do?
With love dear, I'm always yours
Frank
Sunday Afternoon,
Jan. 30th, 1916
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Letters from Grandpa 29 January 1916
Box 162
Elko
Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley,
Modesto,
California
Box 686
This last storm, Dearest, has put things "on the h[illegible]mer" again and the letter I wrote Thursday night or Friday (yesterday) morning is still here in the P.O. My letters are usually mailed on the train but when no trains come along~~well I've just got to get rid of them. I don't know what the outcome will be; whether you'll get them singly or in bunches, but I'll see that I have one ready for either "No. 19" or "No. 9," the west bound mail trains, each day.
Yesterday dear, of course, I didn't get even the scratch of a pen from you~ and today, altho' the east bound trains have gone thru', just the one tardy missive. Yours and Mrs. Maze's came. I don't seem to be missing any,~the dates check up,~but there's no regularity.
It's surely awful out here and no mistake. The mail carrier, who was going to take us to Midas, left here in the stage two weeks ago day after tomorrow. He hasn't been able to get back,~~nor did he get in. They had to go out and meet him. The other day he started out with the intentions, as I understand, of coming back here. Snow was so deep he was unable to get thru. Got caught in a big drift, had to stay there all night. The next morning he left the team and started to walk. During the day a relief party was sent out for him.(by telephoning they found that he'd not reached his destination) and they found him floundering in the snow entirely exhausted. Had they arrived a little later they'd have found a corpse. When the wagon roads are so bad you can't get thru with [a] big team it's pretty bad.
I'll bet you are happy, dear. There's such a big feeling when [you] cross the line,~ from exercises to real music. It's very much the same feeling as when a boy gets his first pair of long pants. I took piano lessons some years ago. I drilled away on the old monotonous finger exercises as faithfully as could be,~~while they were watching me,~and oh, how proud I was when I got that first piece. I seemed to have gained the summit.~~Anyhow I "camped" right there. I quit while I was filled with pride.But you mustn't follow my example dear.
And have I been scolding too terribly much? I 'pologize dear, but if you should quit writing I'll "take it back" and scold worse'n ever. So there!
I've been shaving, dear, almost regularly, but by no means for the cause you mention. I do it selfishly~Do you know how that can be? Well before you have time to answer I'll tell you. I do it for my own personal comfort and no one else is taken into consideration~that is no one out here.
Thru' your experience with the "borrowed" baby you've concluded you and Hazel would make wonderful mothers, huh? Blood's thicker than water," [sic] and you can't judge from another's how you'd be with your own.
I'm glad you feel that way about it, Allene dear, ~"if you went to bed without writing your day would not be complete." My days seem to be your days dear.
Frank
January 29th, 1916.
Elko
Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley,
Modesto,
California
Box 686
This last storm, Dearest, has put things "on the h[illegible]mer" again and the letter I wrote Thursday night or Friday (yesterday) morning is still here in the P.O. My letters are usually mailed on the train but when no trains come along~~well I've just got to get rid of them. I don't know what the outcome will be; whether you'll get them singly or in bunches, but I'll see that I have one ready for either "No. 19" or "No. 9," the west bound mail trains, each day.
Yesterday dear, of course, I didn't get even the scratch of a pen from you~ and today, altho' the east bound trains have gone thru', just the one tardy missive. Yours and Mrs. Maze's came. I don't seem to be missing any,~the dates check up,~but there's no regularity.
It's surely awful out here and no mistake. The mail carrier, who was going to take us to Midas, left here in the stage two weeks ago day after tomorrow. He hasn't been able to get back,~~nor did he get in. They had to go out and meet him. The other day he started out with the intentions, as I understand, of coming back here. Snow was so deep he was unable to get thru. Got caught in a big drift, had to stay there all night. The next morning he left the team and started to walk. During the day a relief party was sent out for him.(by telephoning they found that he'd not reached his destination) and they found him floundering in the snow entirely exhausted. Had they arrived a little later they'd have found a corpse. When the wagon roads are so bad you can't get thru with [a] big team it's pretty bad.
I'll bet you are happy, dear. There's such a big feeling when [you] cross the line,~ from exercises to real music. It's very much the same feeling as when a boy gets his first pair of long pants. I took piano lessons some years ago. I drilled away on the old monotonous finger exercises as faithfully as could be,~~while they were watching me,~and oh, how proud I was when I got that first piece. I seemed to have gained the summit.~~Anyhow I "camped" right there. I quit while I was filled with pride.But you mustn't follow my example dear.
And have I been scolding too terribly much? I 'pologize dear, but if you should quit writing I'll "take it back" and scold worse'n ever. So there!
I've been shaving, dear, almost regularly, but by no means for the cause you mention. I do it selfishly~Do you know how that can be? Well before you have time to answer I'll tell you. I do it for my own personal comfort and no one else is taken into consideration~that is no one out here.
Thru' your experience with the "borrowed" baby you've concluded you and Hazel would make wonderful mothers, huh? Blood's thicker than water," [sic] and you can't judge from another's how you'd be with your own.
I'm glad you feel that way about it, Allene dear, ~"if you went to bed without writing your day would not be complete." My days seem to be your days dear.
Frank
January 29th, 1916.
Letters from Grandpa 28 January 1916
Golconda Hot Springs Hotel
Golconda, Nevada
Box 162, Elko
Miss Allene S. Kelley,
Modesto,
California
Box 686
So long as it doesn't make any difference in the date of delivery Dear, does it make any difference to you whether this was written Thursday night or Friday morning?
Well Friday was (is) the day we were to have started for Midas but a continual snowstorm all day Thursday forestalled the trip again. The old weather man doesn't take us into consideration at all. Maybe he's playing "freeze-out" with us. If so I'm still betting on myself.
Wednesday night dear, I tho't I was going to pen you a short letter, but when I got started,~whew! From now on I'll not give you warning; if you find an abrupt ending, please don't complain. You'll know dear, I wasn't in the mood for writing at the time. Strange as it may seem to you, Allene, there are times when I worry. When things don't go right, I worry in my own "peculiar" way and I don't seem to be able to concentrate my mind on anything else. You'll be able to tell it because the preoccupation of my mind takes me, the real self, away and my letters will lack the vim and life that I try to give them. But we haven't come to that bridge yet dear, and I hope we never do.
Say dear, you are sensible, sure enough, because if you had had me pictured with that halo etc. we'd have both been disappointed,~ that is I'd have been disappointed and you mistaken 'cause,~ well I'm not one of those things. And don't think for a minute dear, that I noticed any signs of peevishness nor took your letter so seriously as to lose sleep, or worry, over what you'd said.
Listen, Allene, you mustn't hurry me back to Elko, too quickly. We've got to make a "haul" before we go back there, and may have to take in several other towns first.
Well that's too bad dear that the looks should be spoiled thru' a mere pencil mark on the envelope. I'll be very very careful in the future. Will that be alright, dear?
With an abundance of love
Frank.
~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday P.M. or Friday A.M.?
~~~~~~~~1916~~~~~~~
P.S. If I've been sputtering away and talking in parables ~(I often do)~ "call me" for it dear. I'm always anxious to make myself understood.
Yours.
Box 162, Elko
Miss Allene S. Kelley,
Modesto,
California
Box 686
So long as it doesn't make any difference in the date of delivery Dear, does it make any difference to you whether this was written Thursday night or Friday morning?
Well Friday was (is) the day we were to have started for Midas but a continual snowstorm all day Thursday forestalled the trip again. The old weather man doesn't take us into consideration at all. Maybe he's playing "freeze-out" with us. If so I'm still betting on myself.
Wednesday night dear, I tho't I was going to pen you a short letter, but when I got started,~whew! From now on I'll not give you warning; if you find an abrupt ending, please don't complain. You'll know dear, I wasn't in the mood for writing at the time. Strange as it may seem to you, Allene, there are times when I worry. When things don't go right, I worry in my own "peculiar" way and I don't seem to be able to concentrate my mind on anything else. You'll be able to tell it because the preoccupation of my mind takes me, the real self, away and my letters will lack the vim and life that I try to give them. But we haven't come to that bridge yet dear, and I hope we never do.
Say dear, you are sensible, sure enough, because if you had had me pictured with that halo etc. we'd have both been disappointed,~ that is I'd have been disappointed and you mistaken 'cause,~ well I'm not one of those things. And don't think for a minute dear, that I noticed any signs of peevishness nor took your letter so seriously as to lose sleep, or worry, over what you'd said.
Listen, Allene, you mustn't hurry me back to Elko, too quickly. We've got to make a "haul" before we go back there, and may have to take in several other towns first.
Well that's too bad dear that the looks should be spoiled thru' a mere pencil mark on the envelope. I'll be very very careful in the future. Will that be alright, dear?
With an abundance of love
Frank.
~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday P.M. or Friday A.M.?
~~~~~~~~1916~~~~~~~
P.S. If I've been sputtering away and talking in parables ~(I often do)~ "call me" for it dear. I'm always anxious to make myself understood.
Yours.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Happy Birthday
Today is my father's birthday. He would have been 88 years old. Happy birthday, Dad! I love you and miss you!
Letters from Grandpa 26 January 1916
Box 162,
Elko, Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley,
1020~15th St.,
Modesto
California
Yesterday, Dearest, I didn't write nor did I receive, but the one I wrote Monday P.M. didn't go till yesterday so I'm none behind. Today I got the tardy one and another, and they both "had a tendency" to make the world look brighter in this gloomy old place. Anyhow I noticed a difference, if no one else did and I feel lots better since I consumed their contents, cause it does make me feel a little downhearted and neglected when I go to the postoffice [sic] and they tell me "nothing doing."
You're not going to get much of a letter today dear.~Am "awful" busy and the train will be here before I finish work. Will write what I can while I'm "cooking" some incisors.
I'm very glad to hear you are industrious too, and that you are faithful to your music, even tho' you do "meet up" with a good many obstacles to hinder and to make it disagreeably fascinating;~ such as snow storms, mud theatres, etc. And talking about theatres, I saw Letty in San Francisco~not "Frisco." I should say she is an awkward looking thing on the stage. And where she made that exit on all fours and then peered around the corner at the audience,~~well "could you beat it" dear?
By golly! dearest, those teeth are done to a frazzle and I'll have to leave you or "lose my job." Will answer this last one tonight.
Always with love,
Your,
Frank.
Jan 26~1916
Elko, Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley,
1020~15th St.,
Modesto
California
Yesterday, Dearest, I didn't write nor did I receive, but the one I wrote Monday P.M. didn't go till yesterday so I'm none behind. Today I got the tardy one and another, and they both "had a tendency" to make the world look brighter in this gloomy old place. Anyhow I noticed a difference, if no one else did and I feel lots better since I consumed their contents, cause it does make me feel a little downhearted and neglected when I go to the postoffice [sic] and they tell me "nothing doing."
You're not going to get much of a letter today dear.~Am "awful" busy and the train will be here before I finish work. Will write what I can while I'm "cooking" some incisors.
I'm very glad to hear you are industrious too, and that you are faithful to your music, even tho' you do "meet up" with a good many obstacles to hinder and to make it disagreeably fascinating;~ such as snow storms, mud theatres, etc. And talking about theatres, I saw Letty in San Francisco~not "Frisco." I should say she is an awkward looking thing on the stage. And where she made that exit on all fours and then peered around the corner at the audience,~~well "could you beat it" dear?
By golly! dearest, those teeth are done to a frazzle and I'll have to leave you or "lose my job." Will answer this last one tonight.
Always with love,
Your,
Frank.
Jan 26~1916
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