Transcription
September 5, 1946
Mrs Milton W Harrison
56 Highland Circle
Bronxville, N Y
My Dear Irene:
Your epistle provided lengthy reading and of course I enjoyed it.
Now to take up the business side: I will arrange to have Lewis meet Bob on September 10 at Hudson at ten o’clock, but if anything should slip, Bob can come down on the bus, as you state.
As I have indicated heretofore, I will take care of Bob’s tuition at the Hudson Academy and have already written them to send me the bill covering the first semester. I will do likewise for Sally and Gertrude as soon as you can tell me what the requirements will be, as I have the feeling that in Milton’s state of health he should have no anxiety as to the financial requirements of the schooling of his children.
We will see that Bob is returned to Hudson when he is ready to go.
You speak of the Tuesday Musical concert at our house on the 27th, which I knew nothing about that I can recall, but I am delighted to have Mrs Guinther’s program carried out, and prior to that date Mary will probably return from the Mayo Clinic so that she can assist Mrs Guinther in carrying out her program.
After that will come the ordeal of my birthday, which I dread to think of, as I dislike the fussing over me and my affairs, but I can’t postpone birthdays nor the clamorous desire of my friends to play tribute.
The matter of the house manager can be left for discussion until you arrive. I need a good one that is competent, agreeable and dependable and I don’t want any other kind. While Mary was in the house the machinery ran smoothly, but the kind of help you get nowa-days for domestic service needs proper supervision and in Mary’s absence our help are not getting it.
Libbie, the cook, is a young woman doing good service, but I am inclined to think she is at the stage of being interested in boys, which means that she is not always on the job. Her assistant Lila is one hundred percent good. Her mother Elizabeth is a fine worker, but with her dominating disposition she cannot be trusted to get along with all kinds of help. Edna likewise is an agreeable personality and will do excellent work if she is not seriously interfered with in her task. So the house manager need not only be a competent personality for the work in hand, but also the knack of keeping relations sweet with the help so that there will be no quarrels.
I will not discuss here the medical and physical treatments that I may require, but suffice to say that I have not yet engaged Mr Smith and will not do so at the present time, although as a masseur he is okay. My back injury is simply due to sore muscles that extend from head to foot and I doubt if there is any cure for it at my age, since I am unable to take any exercise.
I am for a program of a good Christmas celebration, but the details of this can be discussed after you arrive here. Again, I do not want the affair so complicated as to shatter the nerves of those of us who must handle it.
I have been under the impression that I forwarded a check to cover the last half year of Sally’s tuition, but, in the absence of Miss Johnson who is still in the hospital, I am unable to check the matter. However, that’s unimportant since last year’s work is ended.
I note that the Robertson contribution that has been going to Milton is now suspended but may be renewed in January. However, if Milton is able to get around he will find a substitute from another source for that income.
Mary is still at the Mayo Clinic and a letter Willard has just received indicates that the date of her departure must be extended, as the physicians are not yet willing to release her. She is apparently in a very hopeful state of mind and it will be a Godsend to all of us if they can find a method of complete relief for her. As I understand her case - not being an expert - her ailment is one that the doctors cannot cure, as I trace it to her nervous emotional nature the control of which is wholly with her and she naturally finds it difficult in lowering the pressure when the natural impulse is to explode; but to my mind she is a wonderful soul and we must all adjust to the facts of the situation without causing her any undue stress.
Little Anne has the dating fever to a high degree and, in the absence of her mother to regulate her programs, she is on the go about three nights a week, but when her school opens up the dating will undoubtedly disappear.
Incidentally, the Old Trail School are taking possession of much of the third floor of our house, to cover an emergency occasioned by delay in finishing their new building, as they have sixty young pupils for whom they must have temporary accommodations for the balance of the year. They will have entree [sic] to the house through the south passage to the third floor and will not encroach upon our living quarters in any way.
Two of my cousins, Alton and Fred Seiberling, were with us overnight last week and we had a most enjoyable visit. Alton had not been here since the second year that we opened the house and naturally was highly pleased, particularly since he went through the factory and familiarized himself with our operations which to him was an eye-opener. He was formerly head of the Haynes-Apperson Automobile Company in Kokomo, having had quite a manufacturing experience, even though the company finally went into liquidation.
So I close my news letter [sic] and await your coming which I understand will be prior to October 3.
With much love --
Dad
F A Seiberling
BTranscriber
Cindi RokeLanguage
English
