February 4, 1919
P.M.
Dearest Brother o’ Mine,
The weather
still remains chilly (to say the least).
I went to the woods with Herman this noon (I am trying to make a
practice of doing so for the sake of the exercise as well as his company) and
though I had my sweater and winter coat on and my last winter’s (old the winter
before it) old winter cap on, my head and face noticed the wind particularly
and I assure you that I wasn’t any too warm otherwise, though warm enough. Oh I hope your new union suits are protecting
you from any weather such as this or worse which you may have over there and
don’t forget about the thin summer wool union suits which I told you of, should
you find you are scheduled to be over there during any large part of the
summer.
How I hope
you may be home though before then, and for fear you may miss a letter or two I
am going to tell you again our very special reason, besides our wish of seeing you as soon as possible,
why we hope you will be able to be here by June sometime between the middle of
June and the middle of July probably, and more definitely about the
first to the fourth of July we think, we are looking forward to
the birth of “an heir to the house of Weber.”
As I told you in my birthday letter to you, I have been wanting to tell
you ever since we suspected the possibility (and especially since Mama saw the
doctor and he said he thought we were probably correct in thinking as we
did). But Herman wanted to keep our
secret awhile and since he wished it I could not refuse as it seemed as much
his secret as mine and no good reason for telling except that I always have and
always want to tell you things. It
seemed kind of lonesome somehow not to have you know of this wonderful thing
which was to happen to your little sister.
I always have told you things, and I wanted you to share the wonder and
mystery and beauty of this new experience, so don’t feel “left out” dear heart
because I have not told you sooner for in my heart and thought you surely were
not “left out” in any way, brother o’mine.
But as you yourself pointed out to me it is best to do the will of my
“Big Boy” unless there is some principal involved or reason for not doing so,
and I try to do as he wishes in spite of my own wishes to the contrary in many
things, and knowing how contrary, opinionated, and “want to have my own way,”
I am , perhaps you can appreciate just how hard it is sometimes.
When people
become engaged or are married their relationship to one another and to others
changes thereby so that I believe it is best to make a definite announcement of
such a change for the benefit of society in general as well as those
particularly interested , but this something which can do no harm kept as our own
family secret, just as long as we can possibly keep it (Though I don’t know
just how long that may be, for as I said before I have already had to order a
new dress though I did not expect to have to do so for a few weeks yet). And again as I said in my birthday letter, I
was not very well during the latter part of 1918 and we were not sure at first
whether this was so or not. Then Mama
saw the doctor and he seemed to think it was but gave her some medicine for me
to correct conditions which should not exist under the circumstances. There is of course a possibility that since I
wasn’t very well that we may have set the date of the expected arrival too far
ahead but this is only a bare possibility and not very probable (unless some
abnormal condition should set in between now and then.)
Wed. a.m.
Perhaps you
think I am saying quite a lot, for the censor I suppose will see all this, but
I wanted you to know as much as possible about things, and I don’t suppose the
censor is any one either of us knows or will ever hear about and probably
doesn’t pay any attention to anything that doesn’t refer to the war.
Since the
first of the year I have been feeling fine as far as physical
health goes and as I told you in one letter I am getting plump (and pretty?)
again and weigh about what I used to. My
ability to think quickly and accurately is slowly improving (I believe) too. I don’t know that I ever told you
particularly but my brains (if I have any) have
felt sluggish and tired for more than a year.
I haven’t been able to remember easily, and altogether I have wondered
sometimes if my letters to showed signs of “mental degeneracy” oh, perhaps not
quite that but “mental fatigue” at least. I surely would enjoy a chance to rest my
“mental wheels”, for even planning meals is hard work sometimes. Now don’t worry for as I said I believe
I am better and gaining slowly and probably when my physical strength is such
as it, should be my brains? will improve ? too.
(Stranger things have happened!)
From now on
I shall hope you will have received either this letter or the one I wrote on my
birthday so will probably not go into details of things again, unless I decide
to write a third letter for fear you may miss getting these. Dear, dear heart I am so glad to have you
know of our expectations and probably in a few weeks we can know “absolutely
and for certain" though we are practically certain now.
Now must
say Bye-Bye for now and will write about your letters soon (I did tell you
yesterday how glad and proud of your promotion to Corporal but haven’t had time
to say all I would like to).
Today is
another bright sunny, cold day.
So much
love dear heart and always our prayers.
Mispah* always with so much love from your little sister Susan
*The Lord watch between you and me while we are apart from one another.
