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[[underlined]] To Willie, August 1, 1925: [[/underlined]] This morning I talked to Mr. Pfeif and it is perfectly satisfactory for me to transfer to test but I must wait until the first of September because they have their hands full with the new men just at present. The first of the month I can start with Control, which includes railway control, something I want to take here. That will take me up to nearly Christmas time. I may take one more three months test here and then go to Erie, or go there at once after finishing Control. That will depend on circumstances, particularly conditions at Erie then. My pay is sort of a compromise between what I wanted to get and what I was rather afraid I might get, as I will go back to the second test rate, that is, the rate the testmen get after six months, which, coupled with a little overtime that usually comes in, amounts to practically the same rate I got last year. I have this matter fairly well figured out and I can't see why it should interfere with our plans about being married a year from this winter. I will go into the engineering department sometime next summer, and at the ordinary rate of increase there, I should be getting between thirty-five and forty by the next winter. We have figured that we could start out at $2000.00 a year, and if $250 is all the stands between us and being married, we certainly don't need to worry about that, for I shall have enough saved by that time to be able to draw on my principle (sic) for that much the first year if I had to. It would probably be only six months before I would be raised to the rate I want to be getting when we start, and in another year, we would be well within the margin of safety as far as income is concerned. Therefore, I don't see why we should alter our plans at all. I know Mother will do everything she can to help us, and I know your father and mother will too. So why should we worry. I am going to save all that I possibly can, and should reach $1500.00 by a year from this winter easily. I had figured $2000.00 but of course this drop in pay alters that. I have almost half of my $1500.00 now, so I feel confident I can make it all right. With that behind us, we shouldn't worry about making out the first six months even if my salary should be a hundred or so dollars under what we planned it should be.

[[underlined]] To Willie, August 10, 1925: [[/underlined]] According to my calculations, I shall have my "first thousand" by Christmas anyhow, and possibly a little sooner. I dropped fifty-four dimes into the bank the other day, and have five on a new collection now.

[[underlined]] To Willie, August 13, 1925: [[/underlined]] This morning Bill Spade and I went over to the Laboratory to enlist the aid of a special welding expert over there in an attempt to patch up a piece of work of ours by melting copper onto our job. This was done in an electric arc burning in a hydrogen flame. The arc was drawn between
two tungsten electrodes which, of course, do not melt appreciably even though the temperature of the arc is about 7200°F. And as we watched the process, I could not but thrill at the thought

Transcription Notes:
changed Eerie to Erie. Added missing line: "department sometime next summer, and at the ordinary rate of in-" I changed "we could star tout" to "we could start out"--thomasc