The Brown Hotel
Daniel Morrison, Prop.
Eureka, Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley,
Modesto,
California
Dearest, can you realize that I sat up till the night was half gone trying to comply with that unnecessary request of yours for a chummy letter? And this morning the result of my efforts is on it's (sic) pokey way to you. I called it an unnecessary request Allene because every spare moment I have-(yes and lots of others too are devoted to tho'ts of you dear)-seem to be yours. And it's a pleasure to know you appreciate them and ask for even more. Somehow or other as I look back and think of my last night's letter it appears labored and stupid, but as I've already told you, it's on its' way and anyhow it was the best I could do.
The train arrives here this evening and leaves for its return trip in the morning. The conductor for accomodation (sic) will carry letters etc. to Palisade so by giving him this letter dear you'll get it about the same time as the one that went out this morning.
In one of your letters, one of the three I got in yesterday's mail, you speak of having had a headachy (sic) attack followed by "tummy" ache and "kinda" blame the hot weather and here I am blessing the hot days but I'll cross that word out dear and substitute damn if you find they are really the cause of your trouble. I don't want you suffering all the time and so if praying will do any good~say dear I'll get down on my tender shin bones and stay there till I wear out everything on the points of contact.
Who is Erma dear, and where is the ranch and is there a rural delivery there? You know I don't like these compulsory lapses in our correspondence a darn bit and if you get away from civilization too it's going to be simply~~well you say it dear. This old place hasn't even got a telegraph now and messages have to be phoned and that means that almost everybody else gets 'em before the parties to whom they are sent.
Well we will leave here next Saturday, I'm very sure, so after Monday you'd better send the letters to Elko. The last mail we will be able to get will be that which leaves Palisade Wednesday morning. The service here is the worst I ever saw and these old timers who are sitting around here dead but don't know it~~~~~~~~~ (six hours later-a patient interrupted)~~~~~~~~keep hanging on believing there's a better time coming and I guess there is for them but it won't be in Eureka.
The patient who interrupted dear was Mrs. Breen, the district judge's wife. The family are very good friends of mine. I've known them for a number of years. Mrs. Breen is the greatest woman I ever saw. It seems as tho' she can't do too much for us. Every time I come to Eureka and stay any length of time she will send one of the children down every day or so with a fried chicken, a pie, or a cake or something equally palatable and say but you should see us dear. We just sit ourselves down in the handiest place, usually the middle of the floor, and go to it like hogs. And she enjoys it,-and so do we.~~Gee but I like Mrs. Breen.
There's a dance here tonight and I'm going. Going to take Eileen-(I wish it was Allene)-and Thelma. They wanted to go so I told their mother Mrs. Breen I'd take them. Eileen is about sixteen and Thelma is a couple of years younger. If it was anyplace else, I'd feel like grandpa in a nursery but guess it'll be alright here.
With all my love dearest and wishing again it was you I was taking I'll close.
Ever your own,
Frank
St Patrick's-1916
Eureka, Nevada
Showing posts with label holiday activities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday activities. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Letters from Grandpa 20 December 1915
Note: I apologize that this is out of order...I found it unfinished in my drafts just today!
Box 162
Elko, Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley
1020 15th St.
Modesto, California
Allene Dearest:~
Had I known~really known~how happy I was going to be I never could have waited for this morning's mail. You got my telegram so know I received the picture O.K. but you don't know what I did the first thing.~~I went to the jewelry stores~all three of them and bought, what I tho't, was the neatest little sterling frame. And now your picture, dear, is right on my dresser where I can look at it and into those great big beautiful eyes of yours whenever I go into my room. And, oh but it is a perfect picture!~Such a characteristic pose and your own natural expression, excepting perhaps the usual trace of a smile. I am pleased Allene, almost beyond comparison. Even the card that accompanied it has been taken care of.~It's in the frame~behind the picture.
Now for a little exciting news about myself~~~ My Los Angeles proposition is all off. I've gone into partnership with a dentist!! We had [a] lawyer draw up [a] contract yesterday and will sign it today.
You may and may not have known it dear, but I followed this line, in partnership with another fellow for four years in this state and we made plenty of money, so I almost know what I'm doing. We will open up offices here in Elko just as soon as we can get our furniture shipped in~probably about the middle of January. We will, in the meantime,~make a professional trip into one or two of these neighboring little towns (villages or mining camps). We're going to start right after Christmas.
I was pleased, dear, when I read that part of your letter in which you said "the L.A. proposition didn't sound encouraging" to you, pleased to note that you took interest, at least enough to make intelligent comment. Do you know, about half the time, (putting it mildly) a girl has got more business sense in a minute than a man has in a month? Lots of time tho' she won't impart her knowledge till too late.
By this time your homecoming is ancient history~~you've see everybody, in the village, shaken hands etc., been to picnics, parties and pink teas, huh? And weren't "auntie" Helene and uncle Will glad to see their "little" girl!!~~not any more so that I'd be. Tell them I haven't forgotten them,-that I said "hello."
Will close dear, thanking you for the dearest Christmas present I ever got.
Yours
Frank
Elko, December 20th,
1915
Box 162
Elko, Nevada
Miss Allene S. Kelley
1020 15th St.
Modesto, California
Allene Dearest:~
Had I known~really known~how happy I was going to be I never could have waited for this morning's mail. You got my telegram so know I received the picture O.K. but you don't know what I did the first thing.~~I went to the jewelry stores~all three of them and bought, what I tho't, was the neatest little sterling frame. And now your picture, dear, is right on my dresser where I can look at it and into those great big beautiful eyes of yours whenever I go into my room. And, oh but it is a perfect picture!~Such a characteristic pose and your own natural expression, excepting perhaps the usual trace of a smile. I am pleased Allene, almost beyond comparison. Even the card that accompanied it has been taken care of.~It's in the frame~behind the picture.
Now for a little exciting news about myself~~~ My Los Angeles proposition is all off. I've gone into partnership with a dentist!! We had [a] lawyer draw up [a] contract yesterday and will sign it today.
You may and may not have known it dear, but I followed this line, in partnership with another fellow for four years in this state and we made plenty of money, so I almost know what I'm doing. We will open up offices here in Elko just as soon as we can get our furniture shipped in~probably about the middle of January. We will, in the meantime,~make a professional trip into one or two of these neighboring little towns (villages or mining camps). We're going to start right after Christmas.
I was pleased, dear, when I read that part of your letter in which you said "the L.A. proposition didn't sound encouraging" to you, pleased to note that you took interest, at least enough to make intelligent comment. Do you know, about half the time, (putting it mildly) a girl has got more business sense in a minute than a man has in a month? Lots of time tho' she won't impart her knowledge till too late.
By this time your homecoming is ancient history~~you've see everybody, in the village, shaken hands etc., been to picnics, parties and pink teas, huh? And weren't "auntie" Helene and uncle Will glad to see their "little" girl!!~~not any more so that I'd be. Tell them I haven't forgotten them,-that I said "hello."
Will close dear, thanking you for the dearest Christmas present I ever got.
Yours
Frank
Elko, December 20th,
1915
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Monday, October 18, 2010
Letter from my Mother, 4 Dec. 2002
Mom passed away a few years ago, after years of health issues. I saved this letter, which has many memories of her life.
Dearest L--,
Once I remember you told me that because my handwriting slanted upward that it denoted optimism. The reason I remembered this is that your grandfather, Frank Huntington Russell's handwriting always did this. Also, until my signature changed, it was exactly like his even to the shape of the letters. Even on his dental laboratory door, somehow, the sign painter was able to write his name exactly like he did & also right under this he (my father) had him write "Master Craftsman." He made dentures with one or two gold crowns which made them look natural.
In Nevada where he lived for, perhaps, many years he learned to be a dentist from Dr. Whitesides, but when he moved to California after Grams [Allene Kelley Russell] said to him after living there for about two years, "I'm going back to California! You can come if you want to, but I'm going back." Of course he loved her so much he came, but he couldn't practice dentistry here, so he became a dental technician.
L--, I remember when you & [your husband] drove down from Idaho for the expressed purpose of getting Grams' cedar chest & while you were showing him the different items in it, you said, "We're a sentimental family." I distinctly remember that she had kept in it a shoe box where she had saved all the letters tied with a blue satin ribbon he had written her while she was staying in a finishing school in Pasadena where Auntie & Unkie [Mr. & Mrs. W. C. Maze] took her. You must have that, of course. Have you ever had enough spare time to read any of them?
You asked me to tell you their love story. It all began when they were on their way to Pasadena on the train. Grampa was going to San Francisco to collect some money he had loaned a man. It just so happened that Grampa & Unkie were in the club car at the same time & must have been sitting at the same table where they introduced themselves &, in the course of the conversation Unkie must have told Grampa about his wife & niece.
When the train stopped at some place, they all got out at a landing, so Unkie introduced Mr. Russell to his wife, Mrs. Maze & his niece, Miss Kelley. She had the most beautiful auburn hair & I like to think that she wore it piled on her head in the same fashion of a Gibson girl whose pictures were so popular in those days. Well, dear, here's what you asked me for, because it was love at first sight.
Even though she more than likely received a letter from him every day, she told me she was so homesick she even had the nuns crying.
She told me a funny thing that happened after they were married. She told him to break his toast, but evidently he didn't remember to do it, so she got angry & grabbed his piece & said, as she broke it in pieces, "If you won't break it, I'll break it for you!"
To show you he also had a temper, there was a woman he had made dentures for who kept coming back complaining they still didn't fit. The last time he said, "Here, give them to me & I'll fix them," so when she did, he took them & threw them on the floor where they broke in pieces. He more than likely told Grams, because after he gave her a string of cultured pearls that didn't hang just right, when she showed this to him, he said, "Give them to me," but she said, "Oh, no you don't!"
Honey, I wish I could describe her wedding dress, but I'll do my best. It was made of a gray net with a pleated bodice, & had silver ribbons from the waist to the hem that were spaced evenly around a slightly full modified hoop skirt. She kept it for years, & when I was old enough she let me dress up in it until the net started to tear, so she put it in the garbage can. But that's how she felt about me. I can remember using some of the sterling silver spoons she let me use to dig in the back yard, so a few of them got lost.
I used to help her polish the silverware before Thanksgiving & Christmas when our relatives came for the holiday dinners. Those were the only times she would use the gold-banded dishes, & she always washed them herself, so, as far as I know, none of them got chipped. [Your sister] has the set & told me that she uses part of them occassionally [sic]. She also has her engagement cups.
At Christmas time she & I cracked walnuts & then I'd sell bags of them for money to buy gifts with. Then I'd go to the Woolworth's where I'd buy a 10 [cent] gift for all of them.
I spent many happy times with her--shelling peas & stringing & breaking into smaller pieces string beans.
L--, I remember that you were a Job's Daughter for a while. Will you please write & tell me what you can remember about it?
I joined when I was 13 & remained one until I reached 18, which was the oldest you could be. Your Aunt Jean was elected Honored Queen, & your Aunt Helene served as Senior Princess. I was the Musician for most of the time, but also was Recorder for one term.
Well, dear, I've used all my writing paper for now. Still waiting to get a letter from you.
Love you, love you, love you--
Mom
Dearest L--,
Once I remember you told me that because my handwriting slanted upward that it denoted optimism. The reason I remembered this is that your grandfather, Frank Huntington Russell's handwriting always did this. Also, until my signature changed, it was exactly like his even to the shape of the letters. Even on his dental laboratory door, somehow, the sign painter was able to write his name exactly like he did & also right under this he (my father) had him write "Master Craftsman." He made dentures with one or two gold crowns which made them look natural.
In Nevada where he lived for, perhaps, many years he learned to be a dentist from Dr. Whitesides, but when he moved to California after Grams [Allene Kelley Russell] said to him after living there for about two years, "I'm going back to California! You can come if you want to, but I'm going back." Of course he loved her so much he came, but he couldn't practice dentistry here, so he became a dental technician.
L--, I remember when you & [your husband] drove down from Idaho for the expressed purpose of getting Grams' cedar chest & while you were showing him the different items in it, you said, "We're a sentimental family." I distinctly remember that she had kept in it a shoe box where she had saved all the letters tied with a blue satin ribbon he had written her while she was staying in a finishing school in Pasadena where Auntie & Unkie [Mr. & Mrs. W. C. Maze] took her. You must have that, of course. Have you ever had enough spare time to read any of them?
You asked me to tell you their love story. It all began when they were on their way to Pasadena on the train. Grampa was going to San Francisco to collect some money he had loaned a man. It just so happened that Grampa & Unkie were in the club car at the same time & must have been sitting at the same table where they introduced themselves &, in the course of the conversation Unkie must have told Grampa about his wife & niece.
When the train stopped at some place, they all got out at a landing, so Unkie introduced Mr. Russell to his wife, Mrs. Maze & his niece, Miss Kelley. She had the most beautiful auburn hair & I like to think that she wore it piled on her head in the same fashion of a Gibson girl whose pictures were so popular in those days. Well, dear, here's what you asked me for, because it was love at first sight.
Even though she more than likely received a letter from him every day, she told me she was so homesick she even had the nuns crying.
She told me a funny thing that happened after they were married. She told him to break his toast, but evidently he didn't remember to do it, so she got angry & grabbed his piece & said, as she broke it in pieces, "If you won't break it, I'll break it for you!"
To show you he also had a temper, there was a woman he had made dentures for who kept coming back complaining they still didn't fit. The last time he said, "Here, give them to me & I'll fix them," so when she did, he took them & threw them on the floor where they broke in pieces. He more than likely told Grams, because after he gave her a string of cultured pearls that didn't hang just right, when she showed this to him, he said, "Give them to me," but she said, "Oh, no you don't!"
 |
| Allene K. Russell 1917 |
I used to help her polish the silverware before Thanksgiving & Christmas when our relatives came for the holiday dinners. Those were the only times she would use the gold-banded dishes, & she always washed them herself, so, as far as I know, none of them got chipped. [Your sister] has the set & told me that she uses part of them occassionally [sic]. She also has her engagement cups.
At Christmas time she & I cracked walnuts & then I'd sell bags of them for money to buy gifts with. Then I'd go to the Woolworth's where I'd buy a 10 [cent] gift for all of them.
I spent many happy times with her--shelling peas & stringing & breaking into smaller pieces string beans.
L--, I remember that you were a Job's Daughter for a while. Will you please write & tell me what you can remember about it?
I joined when I was 13 & remained one until I reached 18, which was the oldest you could be. Your Aunt Jean was elected Honored Queen, & your Aunt Helene served as Senior Princess. I was the Musician for most of the time, but also was Recorder for one term.
Well, dear, I've used all my writing paper for now. Still waiting to get a letter from you.
Love you, love you, love you--
Mom
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