Viewing page 135 of 180

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

1007 West Oregon
Urbana, Illinois
October 11, 1955

Dear folks,

The beautiful fall weather is with us after a very heavy series of rains last week. We got a little water in but not as much as many basement livers. Penelope was greatly upset by so much of it, and obviously blamed us for all that fell or ran. On roads the cars were stalled in hundreds, bumper-deep, and in the several underpasses (railroad) going was almost impossible. Some three inches feel in one afternoon.

I began working Monday in my position as Copyholder for the University Press, which is housed on Campus at a convenient distance (I bike). The salary starts at $1.25/hr., but when I pass the Proofreader civil service exam it will go up to $1.50. that is good wages for these parts, better than stenographic. I work in a little room with four other women, one of whom is a sort of supervisor named Mrs. Delk. Two are in their fifties or sixties, but Mrs. Delk and another girl are in their thirties. The older ones have children grown, most are widows. They seem to have had English literature backgrounds, and one lady has worked on a few newspapers. I hold copy and read it to Mrs. Delk. The University Press publishes a wide variety of books as well as university monographs and various department notices and papers. Now we are engaged in correcting the student directory, a small-print deal which irks most. The work is not tiresome or, as yet, hard on the eyes.

I believe you wanted to know about some of the people we know. Our closest acquaintances are the Cederstrands, Carl and Joan, who live across the street in the basement and whom we knew last spring. Carl works, has just begun doing so, but is also reviewing for his Ph.D. prelims in Physics. He is a car nut, owning an M.G. and hoping to own more foreign cars. He spends all his spare time working on cars. His wife is a chemist (sans degree) who has been supporting him until recently working at the Geological (state) Survey. We also have various friends of Jack's from classes over once or twice a week for study sessions. such as last night.

Tonight (and every other Tuesday or so) we can go to a series of old movies for which a season ticket is ridiculously cheap. Tonight there is an old Greta Garbo piece called "The Joyless Street". I don't know whether you remember it. The general movies in this town fall into two classes: those we wouldn't see and those we have already seen in the big city.

Love,
Doris