Hill Country Living
By Coulter Fussell
It’s a Wagner Week and here we can see that not much has changed in terms of what’s important to us: phones, photographs and parties. Not sure why Elena insists on referring to David as “David” but I’m glad they ate supper together.
Oxford
Thursday night
Dear George,
You really don’t deserve a line but I’ll write to tell you that the violets came and were lovely. You can thank Dudley and your sister for me — for I know one gathered them and the other fined them up for you. So after all they deserve all the thanks.
Irene and the children left today and we are so lonesome we don’t know what to do. Went for a long drive Tuesday morning with Julia. She inquired about you, also said they were to have a dance/tomorrow night.
Why don’t you come up, you don’t mind dancing all night and working all day. Last night Mr. Bishop and I went calling and had sorts of things to happen to us.
We have had a show in town nearly every night this week but judging from the look of the crowd in it, it couldn’t be much. I saw them so much at the photographers that I felt almost friendly with them. But please don’t infer from that that I have had a photo made, for such is not the case.
Irwin has lost his job, consequently is loafing around town with Stix Baird.
Another wedding invitation this week and two receptions. Doing pretty well, I think, don’t you?
Sincerely,
Elena
Oxford
Sunday night
Dear George,
I had fully intended writing to you before this but since Maura has been sick I’ve been pretty busy.
In the first place I had rather anybody on the planet would get sick than Maura, for she is one of the kind that moans and groans continually and keeps you on the jump. Then it keeps me busy following after the house boy, who is fast in comparison with a dead man only.
We have had such dreadful weather for the last three days — enough to make anybody disagreeable.
“David” has just gone upstairs. He was down nearly all afternoon but as we had no cook tonight, he considerately went upstairs until I could finish supper. And we had a nice one even if we didn’t have Truley.
Am awfully sorry I didn’t know you contemplated coming up for since I was keeping home I should have been charmed to have you take supper with us, especially since “David” sat at the head of the table & me at the foot.
Say, what makes you so hard to find? The telephone exchange called me up there three times and then every time, would say — after I had waited about fifteen minutes — that you couldn’t be found. I had no idea you were so hard to catch.
I can’t deny that you had me slightly “hashed” or rather I didn’t it myself for I really can’t see any reason why I should have been. But really your generosity was overwhelming. I thought of course you didn’t notice it — but I might have known that any man that could tell one black dress from another would notice such an evident thing as that.
How you people manage to find as many kin people is a mystery to me. Do you always have a house full like that? I believe it would run me crazy.
There was a dance in town Friday night, Vic was going with Mr. Fisher. I believe there were shows and street fairs but you know I never know about such things.
Elena
