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[[underlined]] To Willie, June 11, 1926 [[underlined]]:
We're doing everything that comes under this department. I've never worked so hard nor enjoyed it so much as I have the last two weeks. The armatures for the New York Central passenger locomotives are going through and we're testing them. They are the type where the motor armature is mounted directly on the locomotive axle. Then we are testing all the armatures for the Paulista Railway in Brazil, Right now, a brand new design is going through and we're making all the tests on that-- heat runs, core loss, speed curves, commutation tests, and so on. We took core loss on the new motor yesterday and on the last curve, we had the machine overloaded so heavily that clouds of smoke began pouring out of it, and we were obliged to open all the doors of the room to get air in. We're getting a variety of experience that's very good. I've much more respect for high voltage now after a little experience two days ago when I accidentally touched my finger against an oil-soaked thread of insulation on one of the cables leading from a 1500 volt generator we were using. I was lying on the floor at the time, putting a bottom cover on a motor, and when I got the shock, it felt as though somebody had suddenly struck me with a huge sledgehammer. It just threw me right off the floor and, of course, the contact lasted only a fraction of a second but believe me, I knew something had hit me. We measured the drop with a voltmeter afterward and it was about 1400 volts. It probably wouldn't have hurt me at all had it not been that my other hand held a crowbar which was resting on the iron floor, which grounded me. My body was on a wooden floor and insulated from that by a heavy piece of paper so I was all right as far as that went. And after talking it over at great length and discussing its various aspects quite fully, Castellino goes up yesterday to saltwater boxes carrying the load of another 1500 volt generator and he swings his salt bucket against the side of one of the tanks, getting such a jolt that he dropped the bucket full of salt right onto his foot, complicating matters even more. Oh, we do have lots of fun. It's awfully dirty work and the shop not the sort of place one would always care to be but sometimes I feel like I like it very much. We do have a good time and there's a companionship among the fellows working at a common task that is oftentimes very fascinating. They are rough and coarse, many of them, but mighty good chaps with it all, and, of course, the college boys are often extremely interesting and lots of fun. I presume I'll look back on these test days sometime just as I do on my college days now, and realize they were great days. I do to a certain extent, appreciate that now. It's too bad we can't appreciate experiences while we're living them instead of always afterward when it's only their memories we have to enjoy. I guess that's one of the most important lessons one has to learn before one can consider himself a B.L. (Bachellor of life). I'd rather possess that degree than all the PhDs in existence.

Transcription Notes:
replaced was a wooden floor with was on a wooden floor; up for u;fll with full;bt with but; added I like; fascinating for fascination; but mighty for bt might.