No. 27 -- 8 Feb 1932

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

My dear Noel,

Your letter dated Jan. 1st reached us last Wednesday. I think you could probably find out when the Australian mails leave if you get Mrs. Glover to ring up the Post Office. They will be able to give you a list of the mails for two or three months ahead, and in that way you could get the information you need.

We note that you had a very busy time during the Christmas vacation. No doubt this all worked to your benefit in that it gave you a chance to earn additional money at a time when probably you needed it.

We shall be interested in hearing a full report of your grades for the Fall quarter. I think you did very well for your first term. There is no doubt it takes some time to get into the run of the regular school work, so as to keep pace with the lectures, demonstrations, etc. as well as with the practical work. We shall be interested to hear your full report of your term's work. I think you were wise in arranging to take two majors for the winter term, although you will have to be careful that you cover the required amount of work so as not to add to your burdens in your last term. You will be wise to make up your arrears of highschool work as quickly as possible, so as to carry your regular schedule and keep pace with the rest of the students.

We are glad to hear that you received the Money Order safely. We were pleased to know that you had sent so many cards to people in America as well as to those here. I think you are wise to keeop in touch with these folk as they should be of definite help to you in your future.

I am grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Cook for their thoughtfulness in sending their present. By this mail I am dropping them a note and also to Dr. Wilson of the Kenwood Church.

We were greatly interested in the College Handbook, as it enabbled us to visualise conditions a little better and also gave us the opportunity of keeping informed regarding the various terms and the usual college fixtures. The new grading system has a great deal to commend it, although it will be a little puzzling at first to follow the difference between it and the old system.

Keith was delighted to get the extra copy which he is using as a diary, and of course it helps him to pass on information to any of your friends he may happen across.

I must thank you also for the reply regarding Satchell’s parcels which went astray. This information I have forwarded to Plain Clothes Constable Kavanagh of the Police Department, who had the case in hand. It is a mystery which we cannot solve. Nobody seems to have any information concerning these parcels.

The Lawson House YMCA is located in
Chicago's Near North at West Chicago Avenue
and North Dearborn Street. Built in 1931
in the art deco style, the Lawson House YMCA
is 25 floors tall. According to the YMCA of Metro Chicago,
"Today it is the largest single-room occupancy (SRO)
supportive housing facility in the Midwest, providing
housing and wrap-around social services for extremely
low-income or formerly homeless men and women."
An article in the Chicago Sun-Times in 2011
said it was possibly for sale.
Photo by Kim Scarborough via Flickr
(used under Creative Commons license)

The folder and other printed matter concerning the Lawson Y.M.C.A. also came to hand. What a magnificent building it must be! I am making up a small paragraph for “Manhood” giving some of the particulars.

You also were good enough to send a large packet of Conference papers. These reached me the other day and I spent several nights perusing them and endeavouring to catch the atmosphere of the conferences. Months ago I ordered a copy of the finished report, but this has not yet come to hand. However, the papers you forwarded have given me a very good idea of some of the principal findings and I am grateful to you for having sent them on.

We were also greatly interested in reading two copies of the “Association Collegian” of November 19th and December 7th.

I passed your letter on to a number of the staff folk who were interested in your doings. I have not much news to give you concerning home matters. They are much the same as when I last wrote.

We are to have the Annual meeting of the Association on February 25th, when the report will be presented for adoption. I will see that a copy is sent to you without delay.

Your friend, Johnny McRae now runs a motorcar I believe. Rex. has been away quite a lot, but is home just now. There is some talk of him going to Sydney for a couple of months, but whether this will eventuate or not I cannot say.

Margaret Park and Millie Harris both had their 21st birthday this month. Ruth is disturbed that she can not go to either function as she is on night duty.

Edith is greatly elated because she was appointed prefect within a week of the opening of school. She thinks this is a great indication of the confidence her school mates have in her. Joy starts at Fintona on Wednesday. She is full of excitement as you can well imagine.

Mother is in tip top form and so am I. We all unite in warmest love.

Yours affectionately,
Dad

Noel's Commentary on George's Letters, Part 1

Noel in 1982

Since we are 26 letters into this project and have passed the one-year anniversary since the project's inception, I thought this would be a good time to share a document written by Noel in the 1980s.

When Noel was putting together a family history, he used the saved letters from his father, George, as a resource. After the long job of condensing the letters down to just the family history, he was able to look at them anew and paint a general picture of what he saw happening.

I'll only share the first part right now, and save the second part for when we get a few more years into the letters.

Here it as as Noel wrote it:

Commentary on Dad's Letters

The following was written by Noel in 1984 after having read Dad's letters of fifty years ago. There is no intention to be mundane or emotional, but to say it as I see it with the perspective that the years give.

The first several years can only be characterized as very difficult ones for Dad particularly.

Economic conditions were chaotic making the financing of the "Y" almost impossible. The membership decreased significantly, occupancy of the residence declined to less than fifty percent causing Dad untold strain to keep the Association afloat. Salaries were cut several times resulting in a bare bones existence for Mum, Dad and the family. There was a period when the difficulties were so extreme that it was a question whether Dad would continue as General Secretary. However, times became a little better about 1934. The strain of the days showed up in Dad's health. In reading his letters it was obvious that his health had deteriorated considerably, even though he had minimized his illnesses.

Keith too had a difficult time. He was unemployed for most of five years. Fortunately he was able to secure casual, short time jobs with the Texaco Company, the Dryfus company, the Wheat Commission and others which did give him a very limited but undependable income with long periods of famine up to the time he secured permanent employment with the Myers Emporium.

Ruth also had a difficult time when she began nursing -- the long hours, the demands of the hospital and the exacting nature of her work also showed up in the continuous string of illnesses she incurred.

1934 showed the beginning of better conditions and a less stressful living for the family.

Of course Noel in a foreign country, without any financial backing, struggling to make ends meet, particularly in the years 1931 to 1933, and going to college, also caused some turmoil for Dad.

The bright spots in the family during these years were, as Dad characterized them, the "kiddies". They were full of life, vim, vigor and vitality -- shafts of sunlight in the dismal days -- a source of great enjoyment to both Mum and Dad, Keith and Ruth.

Speaking of the two girls, they were opposites in temperament, but in their pre-teen and teenage years pursued similar interests in church and school activities. Edith was more eloquent and excitable, and to quote Father, "Edith is getting more boisterous than ever, greatly to Joy's annoyance. As you know, Joy is much quieter and less demonstrative than Edith, and is consequently reprimanding Edith for her noisiness. However, the two of them get along very well together". "....... going along quietly, that is, as quietly as Edith can go!"

Also, Chas. F. Crosby was a great friend for on many occasions he made his Summer home in the Dandenongs available for the family to have a holiday in the country.

Part 2 to be published at a future date. 

No. 26 -- 3 Feb 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 expecting a letter to be delivered yesterday but there has been some delay in the mails from America, and we do not anticipate the letters will be distributed until the afternoon mail. This will be too late to catch the outgoing mail which closes at 2.30 p.m.

We are all well at home. Apart from the fact that Keith has had a very bad face, caused by neglect of his teeth. He had two extractions the other day and this has left a very sore jaw, the cavity not having properly healed. He has had pain for very nearly a week and nothing seems to stop it. The rest of us are in good form.

There is no
royal road
to success
in life, excepting the road of
hard work.
What you do in the next few years
will color
your entire future.

Ruth has written you under separate cover. She is a little bit upset because of the heavy work at the hospital. At present she is on night duty which means that she has to sleep during the day. Somehow she doesn't seem to be able to get into this habit, and consequently just now she is desperately tired and nervy. If she can once get over the inability to sleep she will be alright. I do not want her to become ill at this juncture, as it will undoubtedly put her back in her training. Working all night and attempting to sleep all day does not suit Ruth. She has so few hours in which to do anything else. She is not supposed to leave her room until five o'clock in the evening, and she starts work again at 8.30. Nursing is a pretty hard job.

Joyce has also written to you. Both Ruth's and Joy's letters are in the one envelope.

Mother is keeping particularly well. I think the holiday at Manyung did her the world of good. Edith is greatly thrilled about her new school work at Gardiner, specially with the fact that she is now learning French. Joyce starts at Fintona on the 10th February. Just now she is being rigged out and I can tell you it is some job to supply all that is required at a school like Fintona.

Keith has been playing Cricket for the Y.M. While he has not done anything startling, he has still played a useful innings and has done a little with the ball.

Alec. Moodie has been successful in getting a job with Messrs. Thomas Reynolds at East Prahan. This is the firm with which Mr. T.C. Reynolds and Rod. Macdonald of the National Office are connected. Alec. originally was in the bakery business. In fact I think he served his time at that trade. It was his experience in that connection that made the opening for him with Mr. Reynolds. As you know their product is macaroni and Alec. is to hold down a job in the factory which has distinct possibilities. Now that he is in Melbourne, we are hoping that we shall get some portion of his leisure time in connection with our own work.

Reg. Gray has been appointed to a curacy under the Bishop of Bendigo. After spending a year at the Bendigo Diocese in active Church work, he will likely come to Ridley College in Melbourne for additional training. This is quite in line with Reg.'s desires and I think he should do well in the Church of England ministry.

Ern. Saunders, who was on the staff of Montreal Y.M.C.A., has arrived at Perth where he will probably take over the physical and boys' work. I understand, privately, that Parsons, the Physical Director, is likely to leave the Perth Association and in view of that, I imagine that Saunders will take on the physical and probably the boys' work.

Mr. Crosby's father was buried on the 25th January. Mr. Crosby has not yet returned and I do not expect him back for some days yet. There is sure to be a good deal of business to wash up in connection with the estate.

The "Mr. Lang" mentioned by George
is Jack Lang, then premiere of New South Wales.
He was a controversial figure who proposed
an alternative recovery plan to get out
of the depression. He ended up being removed
from his premiership by the then Governor of
New South Wales.

We closed the year with a deficit of £2695. This is about £300 better than we anticipated. Mr. Hooke is of the opinion that it is not a bad position when all things are taken into consideration. However, it is serious enough and we do not want to face a similar situation this year. I must say there is a very definite "lift" in the financial tension and a more hopeful outlook seems to be abroad. We are not "out of the wood" in Australia as our position is so closely allied to the world situation, and our recovery is dependent upon an increase in the prices of our primary products. However the changed political situation has materially affected the outlook of the people and if we can keep Mr. Lang of New South Wales in hand I think the situation will slowly but steadily improve.

We had a letter from Mrs. Smith of Sutherland Road, Lyall Bay, in which she advised us that Gilbert was married last November. She sent an account of the wedding which was evidently a pretty big affair. She also reported that Stan. Kirk lost his young lady by death.

We were to have had a picnic at Manyung on Feb. 1st, but there was so few who signed up to go that we had to cancel the conveyances as we would have had rather a serious loss to face. However, a number of private cars went down and according to Ivor Burge, they had quite a good day. We were disappointed at having to postpone the picnic but it could not be helped.

I am on the job with the annual report and hope to have it completed in a week or so. As soon as we have copies available we will send one along to you.

Kath. is getting on quite well with the book-keeping machine and we are pleased that most of the back work has been overtaken and from now on we should be able to have accurate daily returns showing our financial position.

Yesterday I had a visit from Sid. Cox who used  to live next door to us when we lived in High Street, Dunedin. Sid. mentioned that his cousin Bernard Cox is a student at the University of Chicago. I understand that Bernard Cox was employed by the New Zealand Government as an engineer on the Otira tunnel and that some little time ago he went to Chicago to extend his experience in engineering. It might be worth your while to make contact with him. I am sure he would be interested to know that you came from Dunedin and that you knew his cousin, Sid.

Just now we have about 25 fellows staying with us, who comprise the Tasmanian Boxing and Wresting team who were over here for the National games. This has been a good lift to us in our dormitory and cafeteria.

We are also co-operating with the Herald Learn to Swim Campaign and quite a number of fellows are making use of our pool for this purpose.

Matron is keeping well, and so is Miss Ray. Bob Way is still on holiday at Shoreham, but he will probable be back at the end of next week.

We are organising a visit to Camp Manyung - weekend Feb. 20 and 21st, with the object of interesting our Business Men's Groups in the camp. This should be a good means of popularising the camp especially the community camp next year.

The following weekend I expect to go to Somers Camp with a party of Rotarians. Our Rotary Club has given a lot of support to the Somers Camp, and I think this is one of the means adopted by the camp authorities to show their appreciation of Rotary's help. By the way, have you made use of your letter of introduction to the Rotary Headquarters at Chicago?

The Minnie the Mermaid record
mentioned by George
could have been this recording from 1930
by the Bernie Cummins Orchestra.
It was a popular song of the time
and was frequently parodied with bawdy lyrics.
Have a listen at YouTube.

I looked over the list of gramaphone records and found that we have 36 records in the case. "Minnie the Mermaid" is missing from the collection, but all the others named by you were in our possession.

This letter should reach you towards the end of your second term, and I suppose you will have settled into your stride and become more accustomed to the routine of college life. I hope, my boy, that you will be able to surmount the programme you have set for yourself and that you will achieve success in your studies. You know all your friends on this side will be greatly delighted to learn that you have done will in your school work. It will not be long before you will have completed your first year's study. I suppose that would come somewhere about June.

We can only hope that you have given yourself application to the tasks in hand and that you have achieved success. There is no royal road to success in life, excepting the road of hard work. What you do in the next few years will color your entire future. Naturally we all want to be proud of you in the work you do in preparation for your life service.

We want to know more about your activities both inside and outside of the college. The details are always interesting.

All the folk at home unite in warmest love, and the folk at the office send their kindest regards,

Yours affectionately,
Dad.