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Today we have another letter from soldier Harry Lowell to sister Eva Lowell in San Francisco.
New Guinea
April 14, 1944Dear Eva,
Thank you for the letters of March 4th, 21st, 25th, and April 1st. My apologies for not having written you sooner; I shall be prompter in answering your letters from now on. The trouble seems to be that whenever I put writing off for another day it takes a few more days until I get in a correspondence mood again; that’s bad.
Judging from your letters I can see that you are entangled in domestic affairs. Get ready to receive a lecture from your brother; here goes. All the years of education, both academic and medical, have failed to teach you fundamental psychology or any sense of diplomacy applicable to peaceful relations with one’s relatives. Or is it patience you lack? Have you ever tried to see both sides of an argument? Learn to control your tongue and get rid of your stubbornness; then you will have reached successfully the first stage of the art of getting along with your relatives. (Editor’s note: Are you interested in learning the next nine stages of it? Then write for Prof. Lowell’s outstanding books; “Towards Harmonious Dealings With One’s Kin”, “Why, and Why the Hell Not?” and “Cheerful Psychology For Everyday Use.” These three volumes can be obtained either from the author himself or from your neighborhood second-hand bookstore.)
Now that I have given you a paternal sermon, I’ll turn to nicer subjects. (I guess you could imagine your brother, father of a little brood, giving lectures before and after dinner; what a holy terror I’d be!)
As to that Standard Oil deal, my suggestion is still the same; stay away from it. If you have a desire to get away from S.F., try to get some good job in a different location. About four hundred miles distance should be enough to give you plenty of independence without any interference. Of course, should you get a good job offered anywhere far from S.F., you’ll have to approach Tillie diplomatically, etc. Just use your head and follow my advice in the three aforementioned books.
No, I haven’t heard of Julius being in the hospital; I hope it’s nothing serious.
How are you getting along otherwise? What’s the name of the turtle at your house? I would like to send to Ursula’s mother a couple of dozen of those beasts that serenade us every night with their “whaaaat, whaaat, whaaat”; they are the New Guinea frogs. (They need tuning.)
I got a hold of a trigonometry book and I’m having a lot of fun with it. How is Ursula getting along with her French lessons or has her tutor given up teaching?
Well, old girl, that’s about all I have to write about. Special Service finished our company with a little library, consisting of a cabinet and about a hundred books; it’s very nice I think.
Right now we’re in the mosquito hunting season and we take preventive measures to keep the anopheles away from us; we keep a net over our cot, here is a poem about it:
FRUSTRATION
G’wan and buzz, you son of a B---,
I’m under a net and you can’t bite me.
You can rant and rave and tear your hair,
But I’m in here and you’re out there.You can call your friends to bring you aid,
You can call the spawn of the eggs you laid.
But not one whit will they help you out,
For the cords of this net are strong and stout.Your buzzing rasps upon my ears,
But this bar of mine quells all my fears.
Even a blind man’s eyes could see,
Your evil proboscis won’t stick in me.I settle me down for a night’s repose,
My physique is bare, devoid of clothes.
But something starts to gnaw on my hide.
One of the bastards has snuck inside!New Guinea --S/Sgt. R.W. WAR…
Well, this is absolutely the last page.
Love,
Harry. Prof of Psycholgy,
Physiology, and PhilosophyP.S. Give my best regards to the folks (2266-22 Ave) and to the Travers!
It’s wonderful to hear “Professor” Harry give his sister Eva advice, following up on the advice he gave her against taking a job with Standard Oil in the letter posted on March 9. Here, he is the ripe old age of 20 and his sister is almost 23. They had very different personalities. Harry was easy-going and charmed everyone, not letting others know what he was thinking. Eva had strict rules for herself and others, and was incapable of telling a lie or of stretching the truth even a bit. With no news of their parents, relatives in San Francisco took on the parental role, much to Harry and Eva’s displeasure. They needed to quickly find a way to make a living and become independent. That was much easier for Harry as a boy. Eva felt constricted by the rules and expectations for girls and it is clear from this letter that she wanted to get as far away from the expectations and judgments of family members.
Ursula was a friend of Eva’s from nursing school. Although Eva apparently complained to Harry about Ursula’s mother, I only heard my mother say good things about her. For many years she was Eva’s landlady. I remember her as a sweet old lady who sometimes took me to the zoo.