Edna Nears Home

Margie: How do you folks like my fire? Cousin T came and got it going for me. I have my elderberry cordial and I'm snug and happy. Well, I'm happy for now anyway. It's always lovely when Edna is off on her winter vacation. I love the quiet and doing what I please. I hope she knows I don't want her to come back but she always comes home just to spite me. That calls for another cordial.


Anyhows, the nitwit gets home next week so the house will be a mess again and Edna will gripe and complain from daylight to dark. I bet she cleans up after herself when she's vacating. Vacationing. Too bad she can't find an old man to marry her then she could move.


Here's a roast- I mean a toast. To Edna, the witnit. Nitwit. Wait until I refill my glass. Okay, I toast thee idjit of the world. May you never come back to Jersey. I mean Jericho. I feel dizzy.


I'd best say goodnight friends. Have a good sleep with somebody handsome. Ta ta!

Mama and Daddy and Atlantic City

Edna: My lands, Margie, come see what I found! I was looking through a box up in the attic and I ran across this letter from Mama and Daddy when they went to Atlantic City. Do you remember that?

Margie: I remember you being scared that they'd come back home and find out you hadn't been an angel. I was always good and they brought me salt water taffy.

Edna: It's been so long, I guess I can't expect you to remember everything perfectly, you lying liar. You know, Mama told us later that they took that trip because they couldn't take a honeymoon when they first got married and Daddy promised her a big trip later. It sure sounds like they had fun.

Here, listen to the letter:

April 12, 1927

Dear Girls,

Hello from Atlantic City! Your Daddy and I are having a marvelous time here, but we surely do miss the two of you. Daddy's told everyone here what angels you are, and I certainly hope you're behaving like angels for your Aunt Biddy. You just remember her nerves and mind your manners for her until we get home.

Daddy and I are having such fun, we drank lemonade on the beach yesterday. We're staying at a grand hotel called the Traymore, and tonight we're going to the Steel Pier. You won't see the likes of this place anywhere near Jericho, Kansas!

We'll be home soon, girls!

Love, Mama and Daddy

Edna: Gosh, I remember Mama giving me the kewpie doll they brought back from the boardwalk. You had one too, but you broke yours. I was just little, but I remember Aunt Biddy yelling at you for running up and down the stairs.

Look, there was a picture with the letter:

Margie: Edna, you sure have a terrible memory. I didn't break my doll, hussy, you threw it on the floor and told Aunt Biddy I did it.

I miss our folks, Edna. I sure hope they're together now in that big hotel in the clouds. I'll see them again one day but I know who won't!

++++++++++++++

Photo courtesy of the Duke University Digital Collections.

To learn more about the Atlantic City Steel Pier, go here.

Go here to learn more about the historic Traymore Hotel.