[Rarebooks] FS: Archive of World War I letters

[Bob Petrilla]

Loud, Francis M. ARCHIVE OF LETTERS FROM THE HOMEFRONT TO THIS AMERICAN
SAILOR IN WORLD WAR I: 13 August - 11 November, 1918. Original manuscripts.
This archive contains 20 letters (15 letters in envelopes, 5 letters
enclosed with others), one telegram, and one bill. All written in legible
hands, most in ink and a few in pencil; all are about 6” x 5”, and most are
4 pages long. They are written by relatives and friends to Francis
M. Loud, (C[hief]. M[achinists]. M[ate]. The first four are addressed to
him at the U.S.N.
Steam Engineering School, Pelham Bay, (NY) Training Station; the rest were
sent to him at the Steam Engineering School, Stevens Institute of
Technology, Hoboken, NJ. ~ These letters give an intimate picture of
American homefront life during the last months of World War One. They also
provide a “secondhand” portrait of the young sailor's life in training, as
the writers reply to specific points in letters they received from him.
About half of the letters were sent from Weymouth, MA, mostly written by
“Aunt Mary”; while the other half were written in Colorado Springs CO,
mostly by “Mother.”  Very Good.
On the east coast, Aunt Mary (a.k.a. MFL) writes (Aug. 13) that she has a
“fellow feeling
for you in your ‘working detail’ experience”, since she’s recently taken
over some
tedious household chores. In her next letter (Aug. 23), she notes that a
new Independent
allowed “us to see a double illustrated page all about Pelham Bay. We saw
white clad
laddies doing what was called a Monkey drill….,” and her next missive notes
that “Bob
is trying to get into the service but has varicose veins”. She herself has
had her photo
taken by the press “on acc’t. of my position as sec’y of Weymouth Unit
Women’s
Committee of Council of National Defense.” She describes a “ban on pleasure
auto riding
today and Sundays to follow…[and says the] rule well observed. Streets very
quiet.” She
adds that “Lt. Nath. Blanchard is to go overseas in Nov. in command of
colored troops.”
She writes her Sept. 12 letter “sitting in the Tufts Library” and has “left
Annie downstairs
in the work rooms of the Red Cross &c…I have spent the whole time on a
boy’s flannel
shirt.” Norman (Francis’s brother?) “is quite reconciled about his
discharge from the
army and takes it very philosophically when anyone asks him why he isn’t in
yet.”
Cousin Lizzie, meanwhile, has attended a “patriotic meeting” in Boston, “to
celebrate
Lafayette’s birthday and the anniversary of the battle of the Marne….The
singing of
patriotic songs and hymns was notable.”

Her Sept. 15 letter, written to FML in Hoboken, thanks him for the photo of
himself
and says that his current uniform is “not so dignified —that little middy
blouse is a very
youthful-looking affair compared with the white clothes I saw on a very
handsome young
officer …[in]Boston. I looked it up after I got home and it was the
Ensigns, so I know
you will [soon] look just as nice….” She retells a newspaper story about an
underweight
man turned down for the service 5 times until he “finally contrived to pass
[the physical
exam] after eating 15 bananas and drinking 24 glasses of water….” She also
notes
that “the waves of enthusiasm don’t seem to rise very high around here.
Nobody does
anything….The women keep busy but they are getting tired I think and the
intricacies of
the Red Cross patterns fret them more than they should, in the light of
larger events.” She
concludes reporting the praise Alice received for the “helmet” she knitted
with Francis’s
help in the early phases. Her final letter (Nov. 11—an unnoted Armistice
Day--) says
“the influenza is around again…So far we are ok—Mrs. Humphrey is very low
indeed
and it would seem impossible for her to last much longer….” She adds that
“It is a great
satisfaction that everything has gone so well and that your commission is
in sight…I
really hope you will be able to go over and back in reasonable safety…What
interesting
reading the newspapers are nowadays! Your father says “Isn’t the prospect
of peace
enchanting?”…[and] We expect to go on with Red Cross work at top speed for
a while
anyway….”

On the Colorado front, Father writes (Aug. 13) that although he’s sure
Francis “didn’t
consider this,…an armored vessel on the high seas…[is] the one least likely
to be
successfully attacked….” Mother mostly writes of family members (brother
William’s
work on [Mt.] Baldy”, brother Norman’s work in various hospitals and his
exam for
SATC candidates at Harvard, etc.). She also notes (Oct. 22) “How we did
enjoy your
account of watching the different kind of craft in the Hudson…When you get
this
possibly you’ll be on one of those very boats….I told William…I was so
content…for
now I’d heard from all my [three draft-age] boys….” She begs him “just let
us all know
what you do need, don’t be bashful one bit, for people are so glad to work
for the
soldiers…”, and adds that “when you get through your training, I suppose
you’ll have to
buy all your outfit and it would be nice if we could get some of the things
you need…”
She reports “from all we hear that the influenza is on the wane in the
east. At the college
here it is practically over, but there is much in town yet…” and she asks
“What is the
feeling of the men in training at your school as to the German advances for
peace?
Sincere or not seems to be the great question. Anyway, it is a beginning….”
By Oct. 28,
she is able to write that “our influenza status seems much improved” and
asks “what do
easterners think of Germany and Austria’s acceptance of Wilson’s terms…?”
On Nov 5,
she asks Francis to “tell me what ‘first class’ [his new rank] means”, and
on Nov. 11
(again, an unacknowledged Armistice Day letter) she writes “we eagerly
await the news
each morning, but whatever happens they’ll need navy men for a long
time….Goodnight,
my sailor laddie.” Mother is the most politically-aware of the
correspondents and
mentions the upcoming race for Colorado governor several times, considers
whom she’ll
vote for (one of the candidates is a neighbor), asks how Francis will vote,
and notes that
William isn’t bothering to get his “certificate” this time, so she hopes
“Harriet and
William can register together if here for the presidential election two
years from now.” (Women could vote in Colorado from 1893 on.) ~ Other
correspondents include cousin Alice (Sept. 1, 15), mostly writing about the
helmet she’s knitting; William (Sept. 22), writing about Harriet at the
Myron Stratton Home for the poor and incapacitated, his work with father
“closing up the cabins”, etc.; “Joe”, on Public Service Railway Co, Newark,
letterhead, asking if Francis remembers the location of the “voltmeter” he
used on Aug. 1, and asking him to “call me up and come up” if he’s nearby,
since “all men in uniform are welcome”; from “good friend Ed” in Newark,
NJ, hoping Francis is “not sick with the ‘Flu’” and he hopes “it won’t be
long before I can see you. I suppose you look all dressed up and no place
to go…”; and Mary Reynold, a friend of mother’s in Los Angeles, saying she
mailed Francis “a trench cap or ‘beanie’ as the boys call them….”  ~ The
typed bill, dated Nov. 25, 1918, is for uniform trousers. The telegram is
from Delos G. Haydes, dated Oct. 5, and invites Francis to dinner tomorrow.
$275.00

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