Royal's letter to Martha 8/20/1936

This is the first letter that I have from Royal after Martha left Colorado in 1936. Others will follow. I will try to put them in order but after a while he stopped dating them so I will have to guess their sequence based upon context. We have some of his letters but none of hers. It would be great if we had both, but we will have to settle for one side of this conversation. This may have been his first year as Superententant of Springfield Schools. You will also note references to the rain and how dry it was. This was in the heart of the dust bowl which included south western Colorado, Oklahoma, parts of Texas. I think the pun on Royal type writters is interesting.

RLR

Springfield, Colorado
August 20, 1936

Dearest Martha,

Your letter written in the presence of the mentioned witnesses came today. This can be free and frank as I am established in my room for the next year, and am enjoying all the privacy of the house at this 11:00 oclock hour.

I went home last night, and did not come back until about ten today. I worked all day at school and went back for about two hours and one half hours tonight. One of the prospective seniors of this year, who is an excellent typist, went along and typed some letters for me. (boy).

Mr. Lewis did not come after me until about ten-thirty Sat. morning. I sat by the state Capital and dreamed about what a wonderful time I had experienced and just wondered what you really thought of me. Several times on the way home I guess I got to musing and looking into the distance as Mr. Lewis teased me about dreaming. I have more confidence in our relationship than I ever thought possible. You had just as well plan for the Ceremony next spring. We both have to live during the summer anyway. Why not be enjoying each other? I am going to save every penny I can and make every effort to make a grand success of this job for your and my future happiness depends on it. I need you very much this winter, but will forge ahead alone if we go hand in hand next year.

It is raining here tonight. It surely is a blessed sound to the ears. You can’t imagine just how dry it is here. A rain now will save much of the crop.

The janitor got our eighteen new Royal’s unpacked today – a little matter I forgot to tell you about; that there would be eighteen new Royal’s awaiting us for this year. Not the result of night work, but only new machines for the typing class.

I have not written Gretchen but will soon. As I left to go to the Capital Sat. morning I met Gretchen and her folks going to the depot for the picnic. I walked back with them and met all of Gretchen’s folks.

I am off to bed now but will write again tomorrow.

Love, Royal

Horse Country

On the left is Cody, a Missouri trotter. On the right is King, a Tennessee walking horse. These are new members of our family. They did belong to the couple who live below us. They got the horses when they retired and have been trail riding for several years. They have now decided to move on to RV travel. The pictures were taken in the current owners barn where they will live until we can get fence up and get a barn built. The fence is about three weeks out. The barn is about two months.

Each day, morning and evening, we slip through the fence between our properties and walk about 600 feet to feed and groom the horses. We have been riding a few times but it is still pretty hot during the day. Once it starts to cool down we will ride almost every day.