No. 34 -- 11 May 1932

Mr. N.A. Hughes,
C/o Y.M.C.A. College,
5315 Drexel Avenue,
CHICAGO. Ill. U.S.A.

My dear Noel,

We were very delighted to get your letter of March 27th written on Easter Sunday. Even though you may have to work on Sundays to earn your living, I imagine that cannot be helped under the special circumstances you are facing. We are very delighted to have your assurance that you have completed satisfactory work over the winter quarter. Perhaps when you write you might tell us exactly what your results have been in all subjects each quarter, and in that way we will be able to follow your progress more easily.

I hope to post more on Noel's school work

soon. Also, see my previous article on

Noel's College Journey.

I understand you still have some portion of you high school work to complete. Perhaps you will tell us how far you have advanced with your back work. When will you be accepted in full status as a student?

We are more than pleased to know that you have managed to keep body and soul together and that the work provided for you in the college and elsewhere has been sufficient to meet your actual needs. We will be greatly relieved when we hear that you have been able to cover your needs during the summer vacation. I hope it will be possible for you to maintain your connection with the Fraternity, especially if you get your full status as student this year. While it may cost money to retain your identity with the Fraternity, it has certain social advantages which I know mean a good deal to you. I would hesitate before I decided not to link up as you suggest in your letter.

By this time the weather conditions will have changed for the better and I hope with the coming of the warmer months your clothing may prove to be more suitable than it did over the winter.



Thank you for the enlarged snapshot. It was quite good to receive it and we were delighted to see that you are looking so well.

I had a letter from Larry Bowen in which he mentioned that he had been in touch with you while on a visit to the College. He also mentioned that you were managing to keep your end up both in the way of self support and in your school work.

May Glover was also good enough to comment on your work at the College, and told us that you were making satisfactory progress in all directions. These two letter were much appreciated by us.

Mother and all of us were grated delighted to get your cablegram on the 7th May. The greeting did Mother's heart good and made us all feel grateful for your thoughtfulness.

The Chicago Exhibition mentioned is
the upcoming 1933-34 Chicago World's
Fair,  A Century of Progress
International Exhibition. It appears Noel
had enquired about Australia's
involvement in the fair.

We have had some excellent Mother Day functions at the building. The Vikings had 71 at the Mother and Son dinner and 120 at the social which followed. There were 180 at the older boys function last Saturday night and we are expecting 400 of the younger boys and their mothers next Saturday night. I also spoke at the Residents' meeting at the Association building and the combined meeting with the Y.W. was also a successful gathering. All of these combined to give Mother's Day special significance.

I hear from Mr. J.R. Nichol regarding the Chicago Exhibition. He reports that Mr. C.C. Gale, the Secretary of the Premier's Office, at the present has no information concerning Australia's intentions. The State authority knows nothing about it, but enquiries are being made in Federal circles and as soon as any information comes to hand, I will send it on to you. My own judgement is that there may be very little done from this end. Most of it will probably be handled  by the Australian representative in New York. I am also making enquiries from the Chamber of manufacturers in Melbourne.

The Motordrome was a former speedway

 and Australian rules football ground

 located on the site of Olympic Park.

Rotary Boys' and Girls' Week went off exceedingly well. We had a splendid attendance at the Motordrome where approximately 5000 participated in the display and were in attendance at it. The Churches responded excellently and I had arrangements made for addresses to be given to 52 schools. This kept us pretty busy but it is over now and we are happy that the results proved so excellent.

Ruth is getting on very well and we hope it will not be long before she is back in her usual good health.

Keith has been working with the Texas Company for the last nine or ten days, handling some of their oil shipments. He is at present sitting for his Intermediate Accountancy examination, and is having a shot at five subjects. Two of the subjects have been completed and he seems to think that he has done fairly well with both of them.

Edith sat for her music examination at the Conservatorium last Saturday (her birthday) and we heard the result yesterday. She passed with honours. Naturally she is very delighted and so are we. She has also done well at school, although all the results are not through. She got honours in French and I think 74% in Arithmetic. The other results we will hear a little later.

Joy has not said much so far concerning her examinations but we shall have her report to hand within the next week or so and will then have all the details.

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.:1848 - 1957)

Tuesday 7 June 1932, page 5

This article is jumping a little bit into the future
for this letter.

We are making plans for the observance of our 60th Anniversary. Some of the functions are detailed on the enclosed. It will be rather hectic for us but I imagine we will get through it all right.

I had word from my sister, Edie, in Adelaide, that she had further sickness in the home. Her husband has had a very bad time with a ruptured heart, followed by pneumonia.

The last report is that he is on the mend again, but it will be quite a while before he is fit to work.

We had a letter from John Cook and he expressed the hope that he may yet be able to do something for you but in that matter I think we should leave entirely to the future. He is having a very bad time with illness with consequent heavy doctor's and dentist bills. He mentioned that he may possible undertake some work at the Lake Geneva School but at the time of writing, had not made any definite decision.

I must close now. We are looking forward to the receipt of your next letter which we hope will tell us something of your winter term examinations.

All the folk at home are keeping well.

This letter should reach you just about the closing days of this term. We wish you well in the exams, and hope that you may not be placed in awkward conditions for the summer period.

We all unite in warm love,
Yours affectionately,
Dad