is socially unacceptable?
Yet despite those details, the premise of this story has held strong over the years and is as true today as it ever was: A girl who feels secure in the fact that she is beautiful creates her own aura of beauty which transcends any physical imperfections she may have.
Dear Mom,
Bobby just swallowed a nickel and Janie is trying to make him cough it up. Aunt Sarah gave it him to make him good.
I don’t much like Aunt Sarah. She looks like a horse when she laughs.
Hurry up and find a place for us to live so we can come there. What is it like in Philadelphia? Are the houses big?
The nickel just came up.
Love,
Tony
Dear Tony,
Your Aunt Sarah is a kind and generous woman, taking you children to live with her while Daddy and I are looking for a home here. Besides she is Daddy’s older sister and you must be very polite, darling.
At the moment Daddy and I are camping out in a one-room apartment. I don’t know how long we will be able to stay here because the landlady thinks her son might be moving back in with her.
How is the school there? How are you and Janie and Bobby? Write and tell me about everything.
Love,
Mom
Darling Mother,
School here is wonderful! There is the cutest boy in my English class! His name’s Torchy, and he is a darling. He’s already invited me to go to the movies with him, but Aunt Sarah won’t let me. You see, Tony was horrid and told her I was in love with Peter Lawford, and now she won’t let me go anywhere for fear Peter Lawford will kidnap me.
I have to share a room with Aunt Sarah and, Mother, she snores! But that isn’t the worst of it. This morning when I got up, sitting right there on the table next to her bed was a glass of water with Aunt Sarah’s teeth in it.
Bobby is being an angel, but Tony is perfectly hateful.
Aunt Sarah says a girl of fourteen is too young to wear lipstick. I’m not too young, am I, Mother? Please write and tell her I’m not. Everybody else here wears lipstick.
Love to Daddy.
Devotedly,
Janie
Dear Mom,
Do I have to eat liver, I mean when it’s breaded and tastes like an old shoe? Aunt Sarah says I have to or I’ll be anemic.
Love,
Tony
Dear Children,
Janie, I don’t believe Aunt Sarah knows who Peter Lawford is, so why don’t you explain that to her and put her mind at rest? And I don’t know what to think about this Torchy. What is he like? You know we don’t object to your going to the movies with boys your age, but we would like to know a little about them first.
Tony, dear, you really should eat everything that is put before you. Please be good and make Daddy and me proud of you. Do you like the school there?
Bobby, do you realize that your birthday is coming soon? What do you want for a present? Are you well, darling? Janie wrote that you were angelic. If you don’t feel good, be sure and tell her.
Love to you all,
Mother/Mom
Dere Mothr,
a fir engine. a gote. a ise crème. a Indian suit. a flaschlite. a building set. grene cars that run on weels. a rist wach like Tonys. money. candy. gum. a bik. a wagne. a teeth that cums out at night like ant Sarahs.
Love,
Bobby, age 6
P.S. ANY THING ELS.
Dear Mother,
Torchy is utterly gorgeous! He is tall with curly brown hair and a heart-stopping smile. I sit across from him in class and it’s just super! I think he likes me too a little bit. He’s on the football team, and all the girls are crazy about him. Except for me, that is. I just take him in my stride sort of.
Please, please, please, write Aunt Sarah and tell her that I can go out on dates and wear lipstick.
I told Tony about Aunt Sarah’s teeth, and he came in to look after she went to sleep last night. They weren’t in the water glass though, and we had to look all around before we found them in a bowl on the window sill.
Your loving daughter,
Janet (not Janie)
P.S. Don’t you think Janet sounds more exotic than Janie? I told Torchy my name was Janet.
Dear Sarah,
I can’t tell you how grateful Robert and I are that you were willing to care for the children while we try to find a place to settle. We have been house-hunting all day. The landlady who owns the place where we’re now staying says we will have to move by the sixth, as her son is moving back in with her.
Sarah dear, don’t you think Janie is old enough to wear lipstick and have dates on Friday and Saturday nights as long as she’s home by eleven? Also, Tony is terribly allergic to liver, especially breaded.
Thank you again.
Your devoted sister-in-law,
Alice
Dear Mom,
School here is okay and I met some cool kids. One has red hair and no teeth in front. I fought him. I won. Why don’t I have six toes on one foot like Geezer? Geezer is cool. He gets detention all the time.
Janie has been acting funny lately. She’s all the time making Bobby and me call her Janet, and she’s always hanging around with a drip called Torchy. I don’t see why. He may have muscles but he’s ugly and needs a haircut.
Bobby broke a vase yesterday and Aunt Sarah was awfully mad.
I don’t have to eat liver any more.
Love,
Tony
Dear Janie,
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