Last Words From A Chicago Summer
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Hill Country Living
By Coulter Fussell
It’s a Wagner Week, and I picked this letter out of the box simply because it had the telltale stained ring of a coffee mug that had been set upon it, likely 123 years ago. The writer is Charles Gustave Hylander, who was raised on Griffin Street in Water Valley, along with his numerous siblings. His parents were from Sweden. It’s ironic that he compliments Chicago’s weather in this letter and coincidental that he speaks at length about the weather at all because, according to newspaper articles, Charles “collapsed in his office and died a few minutes later” at Wrigley’s in Chicago in 1925 during a “freak heat wave.” At that time, he was Wrigley’s manager of transportation.
Chicago, Illinois
July 10, 1903
Dear friend Eugene,
I was much pleased to receive yours of the 25th. No, you did not reply to my previous letter before leaving Princeton. Your vacation is on now and I suppose you’re having a good time. Enjoy yourself all you can, for when you enter into the strenuous business world the vacations are few and far between, especially when you are placed in charge of others as I am at Wrigley’s.
That was certainly a pleasure trip down the Atlantic Coast which you had on the way home. Only one more of your college life years remains and I suppose you are tired of school by this time. Tom and I were out on Ellis Ave., Monday evening and called on Dr. and Mrs. Hood. We spent a pleasant evening with them. Eugene, they both looked happy and I believe the voyage through the matrimonial sea will be very pleasant.
I suppose there’s not much doing in WV now, for it is usually dull in the small places. The best opportunities for young men appear to be in the cities.
The weather has been very warm here during the past week – a Southern climate – but a refreshing rain fell last night and also the previous night. Chicago has a splendid climate.
On the Fourth I was on the lake, took a trip across Lake Michigan to South Haven, Michigan. In this way I enjoyed the cool breezes and escaped the torrid temperatures in Chicago. The boat broke down, so it could not make good time and I was late in reaching home.
If it can be arranged, I’m going to try and have a vacation again this year. We’ll go for a trip home should I get off. We are very busy at the office during the summer. Wrigley is advertising his chewing gum very extensively in all the large cities of the United States. The posting company began in Chicago Monday. A branch house has just been opened in New York City. We are booming.
In the Itemizer received this evening I note that Mr. Wilson is now a judge. Good for him. I know he will get there, for Ms. Mary is very ambitious and she will encourage him, of course. Of those mentioned in the paper, very few I know, on account of being away so long. I suppose it is the same with you.
How is Zach Jennings?
Remember me to Miss Corinne and express my best wishes to her. Write when you can.
Yours truly,
Charles Hylander
