1904*

Beck generously shares his class news with all of us:

"January 8, 1940,

"983 Prospect St., Honolulu, T. H. "Dear Beck,

"Yours of the 29th just received, and I am answering as there is a freight steamer taking mail tomorrow. The Clipper from the Coast is now exactly two weeks late.

"One of the more difficult adjustments we have to make is in relation to the mails. Our business mail is pretty badly shot just now as some of it has been on the Clipper for two weeks. As the Pan-Am gets paid on poundage, they won't turn it over to the boats.

"Surprisingly the climate and the scenery has been well up to the pressagent ballyhoo. The foliage is nearly all new to us. The poinsettias began to bloom about three weeks before Christmas. People here seem to use them for hedges. And there are double ones which look all the world like a floor mop painted red. The hibiscus blooms everywhere, and I have been told there are 168 different varieties of palms.

"We live about half-way up on the side of the Punch-bowl, an extinct volcano with a definite crater, which is used by the Hawaiian National Guard for a target range. We are about 200 feet above sea level, and have a pretty nice view of part of the City. Inshore we look toward a range of mountains from two to four thousand feet high. Waikiki, as a beach, is not so hot. It is a very narrow strip of sahd, and not perfect for bathing. Jones Beach on Long Island is worth a hundred of it, still it is pretty nice to go down and swim December 31 in water about 70 degrees.

"Today has been a sample of the rainy season with 24 hours' rain, totalling about two inches. This morning was the coldest in two years, 63.7 degrees. Another eight degrees and an all-time record would have been broken.

"John is a freshman at Hanover. Jean, here with us, is beginning mandolin lessons. Radio reception here is pretty punk, except for canned broadcasts sent here in record form from the Mainland. At dinner tonight we had 'lnformation, Please' and Fadiman and Milton Cross wished everybody a Merry Christmas. We can get mainland stations, but the noise level is so high that they are unpleasant. There are only two local stations, and their programs are not of high caliber. Did you ever hear music in a Chinese theatre? Japanese broadcasts are about as palatable, and Hawaiian music gets tiresome as a steady diet.

"In a business way, we are so busy that we hardly know the day of the week.

"Even local checks are turned down by Uncle Sam. Sent a Honolulu check to the Collector of Internal Revenue at Newark, N. J., and the Federal Reserve Bank sent it back "Not payable in Continental U. S."

"Best regards, and Aloha.

"Sincerely, "Harrie"

Dear Beck

January 7, 1940

I look back with a great deal of pleasure to the June days in Hanover. It brings a kind of fellowship into a man's life that he doesn't get any other way.

From the reunion, I went to New York City. Stayed a week, and my daughter showed me some of the sights.

Then I drove home to Idaho, where I spent the summer. Sold my share of the crop, and left Idaho about November 2. It took me 9 days to drive there, about 3100 miles. Afraid of snow in Wyoming, I went south through Utah to Boulder Dam, and from there east to Fort Worth, Texas, Montgomery, Ala., Talaham, Fla., then south to here.

Louise came down for Xmas, which made a happy time for me. We spent five days driving around the center and eastern shore of Fla. We were at Jacksonville New Year's Eve, and heard the New Year ushered in with firecrackers and tin horns.

Next summer I plan to take Louise west with me to Idaho for her vacation. Along in May I plan to go North and see my brother and sister, and if '04 has a small reunion in June, I hope to take it in.

Yours sincerely, B. B. Brayton, 3300 Fourth Street North,

St. Petersburg, Fla.

Grandpa Jim and Grandma Walker went to Baltimore for the Navy game, October 14, and visited their daughter, Anne, Mrs. Milton Bullard, in Catonsville, Md., enjoying the opportunity to get better acquainted with their two grandchildren. As a grandfather, Jim shows progress, as their third grandchild, Deborah Forbes, was born in Swampscott, November 28th.

Kathleen, daughter of Jack and Mrs. Nolan, was married on February 3d in Christ Church Cathedral, Springfield, Mass., to William Bradford Chase of Portland, Maine. Mr. and Mrs. Chase will reside in Portland. Jack's son, Herbert, is an undergraduate at Dartmouth.

Secretary, Waterville Inn, Waterville Valley, N. H.

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