This one may be out of order. There is another letter dated the 10th.
This one is only dated “Sunday afternoon”, there was another next to it with similar dating style which seemed to be written in December. I’ll leave this one here for now, but will try to figure out placement based on later letters.
Sunday Afternoon
Dear Folks,
Boy is this a nice day! We have had so many cold rainy days this week that it is really hard to find fault with anything on a day like this. This morning it was frosty and cold but the sun was shining so brightly that it really made you feel good. The sun has shined ever since and now the temperature is very pleasant. If I were at home on the farm I know I would want to go for a walk in the woods or out to the old orchard. Or if I were in Orestes I would want to walk down to Lilly Creek or down to the Arch and see if our dam is still there. But here weather like this makes me want to talk to you in a letter.
I went to church this morning and of course this always helps to make me feel better. We had a communion service this morning. I guess several other people must have felt good today too because we had a very nice crowd out.
My life has been spent very much as usual the last few days. Yesterday morning I worked in the mess hall because they needed extra help. The colonel of the regiment was going to make an inspection and everything had to shine. Incidentally the colonel said that our mess hall was the best one that he found and he had the other mess sergeants down looking at it.
Yesterday afternoon I went to the main post with Sgt. Steele (my boss or in other words the supply sergeant) to get the laundry.
We had a better than usual dinner today and I am setting down to an afternoon of reading, writing and sleeping so there is no reason why I shouldn’t feel good. For dinner we had cork chops, dressing, sweet potatoes, ice cream and cake. Of course a meal with pork chops and cake would have been more tasty if mother had made it but nevertheless, it tasted good. Although I am not especially fond of working for the cooks in this company they are a lot better cooks than are generally found in the army.
I hope you are finding it possible to get as much kick out of today as I am getting.
Love,
Donald
Bed Time:
Well I am still in a pretty good mood. I haven’t succeeded in writing many letters but I have done considerable reading. I have read about half of the book on China that you sent me. I didn’t think it would be overly interesting but it is anything but dry. When I get started in it I can hardly stop.
Goodnight.