to, âWell it will all come out OK, I hope so.â
October 6, 1932. It was now seven months since they had seen each other:
âDear Elizabeth, Thanks very much for your letter I received yesterday, I see you were feeling a little blue that evening, yes I wich I could have been with you, I am sjure you would have feelt alright. Yes I will be down there for your Birthday unless something happening, there was a man here today he wonted to hire me, to call on Bakers in Pittsburgh, but it was all on Commission and no salary, so I said noâ¦.
âI got a wery neice letter from the People today where Niels rents his House from, they asked me to paid Nielses rent from August so on til next Spring, but I am not even going to answer that letter, they said in the letter that you Mr. Oluf is the cause of Niels being in this World, and it was up to me to take care of him and his Familie, say I wonder who is to blame for I being here in this World, who ever it is, never helpt me, and who is to blame for you Elizabeth being here,âsay that is what I call Balony, but that it what the Vorld is fuld of.â
During their long separation their letters were creating an intimacy between them far deeper than they had known when they walked out together in Newark. There their relationship had been entirely correct and according to the canons of courtship. The most passionate moment, to which Oluf alluded now and then, occurred during a walk that took them near the neighborhood hospital, when they seem to have kissed.
âWe are having such a neice Day,â he wrote in the autumn of 1932, âjust like Spring, I went out for a warlk this morning, do you remember when you and I went for a warlk, I mean to the Hospitalâ¦.â
Distance and loneliness encouraged hopes of a more passionate relationship when they met again, yet Olufâs most romantic compositions were constantly being interrupted by cries of terror.
In October:
âIf I donât come to your Birthday this year, please donât worrie, because when I do come I will kiss and love you that much more, yes I will keep on till you put your Arms rown me and tell me I am good, can I love you to much? You better say no, tell Pat I will answer her letter when I get to feel a little better, what makes me sick is all this jobs I am to have, but never gets any, I was up to see my Dochtor to day, he tells me I am OK, in very good Health I know I am, if I only could get a job.â
The election of Franklin Roosevelt in November did not raise his spirits.
November 11, 1932:
âPrecident elesktion came out I think OK, it donât matter if it is Republican or Democrate in times like thisâ¦. Butter Prices are down where they were a year ago, and till they go back up rown 30 cents pr lbs, they never will hire me to demonstrate Margarine, now I am down and out again, and I donât like to keep on borrowing Moony from the Banks, because I got to paid it back sometimes sooner or later.â
Desperate to pay his bankers, he went back to the bake ovens that month.
November 19, 1932:
âDear Elizabethâ¦. I wont to come to you wery, wery bad, and I will, and when I do come you will be so glad with me, I know you will, but I borrowed doring the Summer over 1,000 Dollars from the Banks and was down and out again, then Metz came along, and told me about this job, and I went and got it, but oh how I dont like it, it is absolutely no good, to much work, I mean to long hours, we got to go to work tomorrow Sunday all day, and again Monday morning, and every morning at one A.M. til next day rown two or three Afternoon, but I must stand it for a whileâ¦.â
Two days later:
ââ¦this hours, it is day and night, work all the time, Yesterday we work all day till ten last evening then we started again at two this morning, now it is three Afternoon I just got home, now Elizabethdonât worrie, get along the best you can, and always
October 6, 1932. It was now seven months since they had seen each other:
âDear Elizabeth, Thanks very much for your letter I received yesterday, I see you were feeling a little blue that evening, yes I wich I could have been with you, I am sjure you would have feelt alright. Yes I will be down there for your Birthday unless something happening, there was a man here today he wonted to hire me, to call on Bakers in Pittsburgh, but it was all on Commission and no salary, so I said noâ¦.
âI got a wery neice letter from the People today where Niels rents his House from, they asked me to paid Nielses rent from August so on til next Spring, but I am not even going to answer that letter, they said in the letter that you Mr. Oluf is the cause of Niels being in this World, and it was up to me to take care of him and his Familie, say I wonder who is to blame for I being here in this World, who ever it is, never helpt me, and who is to blame for you Elizabeth being here,âsay that is what I call Balony, but that it what the Vorld is fuld of.â
During their long separation their letters were creating an intimacy between them far deeper than they had known when they walked out together in Newark. There their relationship had been entirely correct and according to the canons of courtship. The most passionate moment, to which Oluf alluded now and then, occurred during a walk that took them near the neighborhood hospital, when they seem to have kissed.
âWe are having such a neice Day,â he wrote in the autumn of 1932, âjust like Spring, I went out for a warlk this morning, do you remember when you and I went for a warlk, I mean to the Hospitalâ¦.â
Distance and loneliness encouraged hopes of a more passionate relationship when they met again, yet Olufâs most romantic compositions were constantly being interrupted by cries of terror.
In October:
âIf I donât come to your Birthday this year, please donât worrie, because when I do come I will kiss and love you that much more, yes I will keep on till you put your Arms rown me and tell me I am good, can I love you to much? You better say no, tell Pat I will answer her letter when I get to feel a little better, what makes me sick is all this jobs I am to have, but never gets any, I was up to see my Dochtor to day, he tells me I am OK, in very good Health I know I am, if I only could get a job.â
The election of Franklin Roosevelt in November did not raise his spirits.
November 11, 1932:
âPrecident elesktion came out I think OK, it donât matter if it is Republican or Democrate in times like thisâ¦. Butter Prices are down where they were a year ago, and till they go back up rown 30 cents pr lbs, they never will hire me to demonstrate Margarine, now I am down and out again, and I donât like to keep on borrowing Moony from the Banks, because I got to paid it back sometimes sooner or later.â
Desperate to pay his bankers, he went back to the bake ovens that month.
November 19, 1932:
âDear Elizabethâ¦. I wont to come to you wery, wery bad, and I will, and when I do come you will be so glad with me, I know you will, but I borrowed doring the Summer over 1,000 Dollars from the Banks and was down and out again, then Metz came along, and told me about this job, and I went and got it, but oh how I dont like it, it is absolutely no good, to much work, I mean to long hours, we got to go to work tomorrow Sunday all day, and again Monday morning, and every morning at one A.M. til next day rown two or three Afternoon, but I must stand it for a whileâ¦.â
Two days later:
ââ¦this hours, it is day and night, work all the time, Yesterday we work all day till ten last evening then we started again at two this morning, now it is three Afternoon I just got home, now Elizabethdonât worrie, get along the best you can, and always
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