Feb. 19, 1958

Dear Thom,

Well Stranger, I think I'd better write you now before Easter comes any closer.  I couldn't figure out why you wrote your last letter in red ink until your last line when you objected to my inferring that you were conservative.  At least you must admit I have never written any letters entirely in red ink.

I suppose I had better tackle the subject of P immediately, although I usually save the girls until last.  I also have one of her letters which I will send you along with the others.  You can draw your own comparisons from them.

They are both written on the same paper, however, you rated the ink while I had to be content with pencil.  She wrote my letter on three single-sided sheets mainly I think because I wrote her on single-sided sheets.

Her writing has changed some between the two letters.  It seems to have become more "worldly". Notice her slanted  T's in your letter as compared to the straight "wholesome" T's in my letter?  I think she was trying to impress you especially since her T's tend to straighten out as her letter went on.

As to her mental capacity, I do feel that we have underrated her, or rather I feel that my first impression of her was correct.  Naturally I was inclined to be bitter about the whole thing, when I was traded in for a dog tag.  However, that is neither here nor there.  I am sue P will make a pretty, clever, and charming addition to our Summer Card Club, but other than that I cannot revive a vestige of my former interest in her.

You, however, I am sure will do much better than I did.  This is more or less a truism.  If you do anything, you will do better than I did. 

I agree with you that this coming summer should indeed be an interesting one.  Do you think we should move into the college section of the beach?  We've been camping on that one bit of sand for so long now that we're sort of an old established firm.  Our "customers" will be at a loss as to where to find us.  Of course we could pull up stakes altogether and go to Saugatuck for the summer;  howsomever, since I failed to win not only one car but two, I think that Saugatuck is out of the question as a regular thing unless we can get hold of a regular feller who can get hold of a car regularly.  H is going to work on a construction job next summer on weekdays and at Shay's on Sundays and holidays.

This may well cause him to forfeit MM (may well, implying a distinct possibility).

As to H's refusing to leave his books to take MM out, you're probably more right than wrong.  He just doesn't care that much how the other side of the Freud theory lives, if indeed it lives at all in his estimation.

I see where you're concerned about flunking, and I also see that P does not share your concern.  What the hell does a 3.8 on a 5pt. system mean?  Can't you say 85 or 75 or something like that?  I myself received a 22.3 rating on the omega curve grading norm.  That is approximately 85.14 of 100%  This could also possible be construed a being a B average, but I wouldn't if I were you.

H and some friends (maybe) are coming down here on Feb. 28 to witness a N.D. basketball game.  I wrote him about a week ago to give me a definite answer as to what his plans were.  As he did not answer promptly enough, I sen him a Scholastic and a poem the same night I mailed your last Scholastic.

The poem went as follows:

Send me a letter concerning the game.
Let me in on your nebulous plans.
And don't tell me that  - -  on this night of all nights,
You have to work at one of Willie Shay's stands.
Come by bus or by plane,
But to come don't refrain.
If you must, take the old C.T.A.
Come alone or with a crowd,
Any number's allowed,
If with the latter, please bring M.M.K.

I've not heard from him as yet, but that should get a rise out of him anyway.

Now I must bring up yet another subject.  My Easter vacation begins on Wed., April 2 (that will be my first full day home) and ends on Sunday, April 13.  The 7th, the 11th and the 12th are the only days during which we will be able to take out any girls due to the frequent meetings of the J.C. fan club ( oh sacrilegious sacrilege).  Maybe I',m old-fashioned , but I think inter-sex activities are frowned upon during holy week at least by parents if not by offspring.

On Friday I hope to take MM to the Chi. Club dance.  That leaves Monday and Saturday.  Now here is what I suggest.  I have gotten a hold of a car in the name of G.  With this car we can take the girls bowling on Monday;  however G having become deeply enamored by my tales of B wants to forsake N for a night and take her out.

Of this I heartily approve.  In other words I don't give a damn as long as we've got a car.  I'm funny that way.

Contingent problems:

How shall we go about arranging this?  How soon before the date shall we notify G's intended?  Will she go?  all of this of course depends, as far as I;m concerned, on that tiny but determining variable, namely MM.  Perhaps she is no longer responsive to my passionate advances.  I'm now laboring under the delusion that she once was.

At any rate, send me a schedule of you "at home" games (Easter vacation) and include the date of the Dartmouth concert.  By the time you get this we will still have five weeks until Easter, but I believe in settling things ahead of time.

Better stop "snowing" S, her interest may "drift".

Speaking of snow, it has been doing it every day since Feb. 3.  Today is the first clear, snowless day since then.

Watch out for a freshman uprising in the form of another "Dirtmouth".

I enjoyed your articles, especially M. Morningstar, but the weather report on the other side of the page was even better.  The poems were very good.

Send my P letter back as soon as you can, because the shrine looks bare without it.

Bob