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#71 Tuesday 12 Dec. noon My darling It is so good to get a letter from you saying - “Another glorious day - no matter how low I feel, a day like this can't help make me feel better.” It wasn't like that at first, or at least it was much less appreciably so, no? It's irksome virtually to have to lay off writing for three days because of evening work (tonight's the last of the pay line for another month - I got this sheet of paper out hopefully yesterday afternoon in a brief interval between sessions and got as far as addressing the envelope before some of my own office business came up) but a succession of excellent letters from you make me cheerful despite the sometime monotony. I love hearing about Wendy. This morning, in addition to letter #84, I received another tin box - the one containing two Christmas stockings (I thought that was delicious) and also some extraordinarily good cookies. What are they? They survived the two months (mailed Oct. 17) much better than the brownies I received in Hawaii - the latter were dry, hard and crumbly (they were all eaten!) whereas the ones that just came tasted fresh. Could you send some more of them a little later on? By my count that leaves one package to go, not counting the ones I packed in my other seabag to come by surface. It begins to look as though they won’t be here by Christmas - I'm told it takes two months for such things to get here from Hawaii. But no matter; I have the stockings, and some other [pg 2] things; the rest I'll get later. On rereading Albert's letter before discarding it I see he speaks of waiting to get either candy or flowers until his return from N.Y., which should be accomplished by now. Your latest word on Jean is that it doesn't look as though she'll be coming to visit at all - the way I feel, in summary, is just this darling: the burden of anything we can do for her is on you; but to the extent that it doesn't tie you down, I’d like awfully much to have her be with you for awhile. On thinking it over I don't see any real reason other than travel expense (a big enough one, I grant) why even two or three months wouldn't be good for her. If you knew it was going to be that short a period you could temper your confidences and advice accordingly. I'll be eager to hear of any future developments in that connection. Darling (about the books) - I don't know what to say, in the even that they’re packed in with everything else. To say that I can't get along without them would be an exaggeration, but not much of one - all those books are needed here. It's worth the money, from my standpoint, to have everything unpacked by a professional packer, the books transferred to that long metal-lined box we got, and that shipped on to me on the bill of loading that was mailed from the Navy Shipping depot in Hawaii to the Monterrey Express Office (incidentally, you might check to see that [pg 3] they have that. It was written up in Hawaii about Oct. 20th). The rest of the things, if you don't need them, can go back in the same crates for storage. At the same time I’d like you to take our 12 or 13 books and mail them to me in a package at book rates - the package may get here in 6 weeks whereas the box will take up to 3 months. If I'm slated for return to Hawaii meanwhile either one will be held up there. The books I’d like by mail include [Yamaguira?], Sauson, the two blue volumes of Japanese personal and family names, the six volumes of [Naganeema?] plus the [Kaiquin Tokuhon?] (Reader), and the Chiri (Geography) Tokuhon. You can tell the last-named because it is wider than it is high, and is bound with the same material as some of the readers but in such a way that half of it [begins?] at one end and half at the other. Better inquire how much weight you can send per package before wrapping - and what dimensions will be accepted before taking the books out at all. I know what a nuisance it all is, sweetie, but I am anxious to get them if you can manage it. In any case, let me know what you decide to do, and how much it sots; I'll try to reimburse you for it. A professional packer shouldn't charge more than about $5 for the job - it's worth ten to me. [pg 4] Mrs. Who that you met at Marjorie Wurzman's tea…? (the widow of about 35 with the four-year old son). Sorry the camera's giving you so much trouble. It has (or you have) taken some swell pictures of Wendy and that one of the Nov. 16th flowers was swell, too. I know just how you feel when you say that all day long you keep thinking of things you want to tell me, and then when you sit down to write you've forgotten half of them - I do the same thing all the time, darling. There - that's just one letter I've answered (#84 of Dec. 5) and leaves only about ten to go! I'm glad I could snatch time for this much, anyhow. Oh, sweetie - there's one little thing you can send me - a 25¢ ring notebook of the same dimensions as my leather one: 3 rings, preferably metal but plastic will do. My leather one is beginning to overflow with your letters. It's such a handy way to keep them; I keep it on my desk all the time beside your pictures, and can thumb through it without stopped to open envelopes. I keep all the pressed flowers and many of the clippings attached to the letters. Better send two while you’re at it, and if you can get them. I love you very, very much - make it five very's for you and four for Wendy Warren
