It’s a long story, how it happened, I mean, but now I’m starting to show and I’ve got to do something real soon before everyone starts putting two and two together. What I want to do is get way far away from here and make a fresh start. Then when the time comes I’ll put the baby up for adoption and get a job using my typing skills. I just know everything will work out in the end, but the problem is I don’t know how to get things started, if you know what I mean. It’s like there’s this great big wheel I’ve got to start rolling only I don’t seem to have the muscles to get it going. That’s why I was hoping you could maybe help me out for a few months. I mentioned room and board and forty dollars a month when I wrote, but really room and board is all I need. In fact I’d be grateful for that.
With love, Your niece Beverly Ottawa, June 29, 1955
Dear Mrs. Flett, As you can see from the enclosed letters, your Tulip Festival article was a great success. Everyone, including myself, seemed to respond to your plea for bolder arrangements and to your closing-off remark: “Beauty takes courage. Courage itself takes courage.” Well said!
We do hope — I speak for the whole staff — that you’ll do a repeat performance. In fact, could you possibly see your way to doing a monthly, or even a weekly, column for us? I realize this request comes very soon after your late husband’s demise, and that you may not feel up to making a firm commitment at this time. But, speaking from experience (my wife died only three years ago), I believe occupation to be the most effective means of dealing with bereavement.
I am returning the cheque, which you charmingly returned to me. But, of course, we insist on payment for all our writers. I only wish it were more bountiful.
Yours sincerely, Jay Climax, Saskatchewan, July 7, 1955
Dear Auntie, This is written in haste. I can’t wait to see you and the kiddies, and I can’t thank you enough for sending the train ticket.
Loads of love. I’ve got this funny feeling in the pit of my stomach of my life starting all over again. So long till next Wednesday.
Beverly Boston University, July 12, 1955
My dear Mrs. Flett, I do appreciate your writing about the availability of your husband’s fine Cypripedium collection which I have seen and admired, but I am afraid the collection is not complete enough for us to consider for purchase, nor is it at a standard of preservation we can accept for our museum, particularly the older specimens, montanum, for instance, also calceolus.
With best wishes and sincere condolences, Leonard Lemay, Chairman of Botany Ottawa, August 17, 1955
Dear Mrs. Green Thumb, I’ve done like you said in last week’s paper, cultivating around my hybrid teas and hybrid perpetuals, and also I’ve followed your advice with the bonemeal. So far so good. Now I’m wondering how you feel about staking perennial asters this early in the year.
Yours truly, S. J. Provost Ottawa, August 18, 1955
Dear Mrs. F., Many thanks for sending in another wonderful column — and professionally typed too! You do have a way with a phrase: “The succulence and snap of an apple leaf.” Very nice indeed.
Hope you’re surviving our heat wave.
Best, Jay Perth, Ontario, September 12, 1955
Dear Mrs. Green Thumb, Here’s a useful tip for your readers. If you cut back your golden glow you’ll get a second bloom. Actually I try to get around to this in August. Thanks for the instructions about Madonna lilies. I’ve committed mine to the earth, blessed them solemnly with a sprinkle of fertilizer, and am hoping for the best.
Cheers, Mrs. Donald Fourtier Smith College, Northampton, Mass., September 15, 1955
Dear All, Whew, well, I got through registration at last, and now I feel I can get through anything. Got admitted to the Russian Lit program after all. The prof — everyone calls him Zeus — said he couldn’t believe I’d managed to get to this level with just two years of high-school Russian.
Yes, it’s true, everyone here wears Bermuda shorts all the time, classes and everywhere. I could use a couple more pairs if Beverly’s looking around for something to sew. (Hi, Beverly, hope you’re feeling okay.) I was thinking a nice brown tweed (sort of tobacco shade) would go great with that lambswool sweater of mine, and maybe something in a subdued blue and white check, not too large checks though.
I suppose “Mrs. Green Thumb” is getting more famous every day. Which is really neat. Really, I mean it. I honestly didn’t mean what I said about replacing Dad and forgetting his memory and all that. I was just in a lousy mood all summer hanging around the house and the heat and worrying about going away and stuff. I really honestly think this column thing could be sort of fulfilling, if you know what I mean, since you’ve never really done anything before, not counting the usual Betty Crocker stuff. Maybe you’ve truly got some latent ability, in the writing line I mean.
Gotta run before the library closes. I really truly feel I’m reaching the real Chekhov now. In his own language, I mean, cuz all of a sudden he’s got TEXTURE and DEPTH that doesn’t begin to show up in those stupid little translations people put up with.
Love, Alice Ottawa, October 5, 1955
Dear Mrs. Green Thumb, Boy, did I get a kick out of last week’s column on garden pests, including “small neighborhood boys that attack the apple trees.”
Thanks, too, for all the helpful hints of what to do with crabapples. I liked your last suggestion best — just throw ’em away. Great idea.
Betty Singer (A Real Fan)
Bloomington, Indiana, October 6, 1955
Dear Mrs. Flett, We hope it won’t be too much longer before your late father’s affairs are satisfactorily settled, but, as you know, his investment portfolio was more complicated than most. I have tried for several days to reach his widow by telephone, but have received no answer.
Her instructions have been followed regarding the division of the property, with full protection afforded your father’s pyramid as a “permanent memorial” to his life. We are anxious to procure her signature on a number of documents relating to the will. Do you happen to know if she is traveling at the moment, and, if so, when she will return to the Bloomington area?
Yours truly, Calvin K. Kopps (Bregnam & Kopps)
Bloomington, Indiana, November 1, 1955
Dear Daze, A quick note. No luck tracking down Maria. Georgio (my latest) and I drove out to Lake Lemon on Sunday and found the place locked up tight as a drum. The neighbors say they haven’t seen her around for a good month or so. Where do we go from here? Let me know.
I’m all set for Chicago, and I’ve reserved our room, very posh too, why the hell not? — have you got your train tickets yet?
Love, Fraidy Ottawa, November 4, 1955
Dear Mrs. F., Your proposed piece on the Chicago Horticultural Conservatory sounds perfect for January, also the Morton Arboretum. I haven’t visited that renowned city myself, but I understand it is extremely beautiful, despite its reputation for gangsters and graft. I would like you to know that if you should ever find you can’t manage a column (due to illness or other interruption) we can always get Pinky Fulham on the staff here to fill in for you. Although he usually covers civic events, he is a keen gardener and, incidentally, a great admirer of your columns.
Yours, J.
Northampton, Mass., November 8, 1955
Dear Mother, Let me say right off that you’ve completely lost your marbles about this baby business. I thought the whole idea was that Beverly was going to have it adopted and then start a new life. Here’s Warren nearly 16 and Joan 14, the last thing you need is a screaming infant around the house.