Hard Work - Sepia Saturday 663

Continuing the correspondence between my grandparents in the year before they got married. 

Introduction: Sally (born 1900) and Gustaf (born 1904) were my grandparents. They got engaged in September 1929. In January 1930, Sally is still living on a farm in the countryside with her mother (Selma) and three grown-up siblings (Gustav, Hildur and Nils). Gustaf (who grew up in the same village) is working as a journalist in the nearest town, some 15 km away. He is renting a room or small flat there, and goes back to the village (by train) perhaps once or twice per week. 

 

Storegården,  16 January 1930 [Thursday]

Darling!

My heartfelt thanks for your letter. Yes, I did expect you last night, and was hoping that you might come. But then I understood of course that you didn't have time – and besides, the weather was so horrible that it would have been difficult for you to travel anyway. (Although I know you well enough to suspect that if you had found the time, you'd have come anyway, never mind the weather.)

Yes, you are very busy, and so am I. This week I've had so much to do that I've hadly had a moment to myself. Mum's back is still not well, so she has difficulties doing what she wants, even if she tries to help us the best she can. So now we are made aware of how much she normally does! - Well, we're glad that at least she is up and about.

Today I'm baking. I'm sitting at the kitchen table writing to you while at the same time baking buns in the oven.

Have you got shirts for Sunday and next week? We've not had time to do any washing  this week either, and I can't say when we will get round to it. We can't organise that kind of work just now when mum is not well enough to do the cooking and other chores. [1]

Tomorrow I think you'll be getting firewood. Gustav was talking today about going into town tomorrow. [2]

I can also tell you that I found your pen today. It was on top of the cupboard in your kitchen. You probably put it there yourself. [3]

On Tuesday night, Hildur, Hedvig and I went to visit Caj. Hildur asks me to tell you that you must come on Saturday night and walk with us to Källeberg. And I really hope you will, too. Please do try to come – I'll be sad otherwise... [4]

Please excuse my untidy writing – I've been writing very fast. Greetings from everyone – and do please come on Saturday! Yours, Sally

[1]  It's so easy for us in modern times to forget that washing clothes and bedlinen was really heavy work  in the past - and very time consuming as well. The procedure often took several days. I haven't got any photos of that, but I remember my dad telling me memories of it from his own childhood + I've read about it. First of all, of course, they did not have running water, but would have had to get that up from a well. Clothes would be soaked in cold water first, then in water with soap or lye, then washed in heated water with help of wash-boards; and for the final rinsing - especially with the bigger items like bedlinen, I think - usually transported  to the nearest lake or stream... And then back home again to be hung outdoors to dry. And at last also ironed, I suppose - with irons heated on the stove. Possibly they may also have had a mangle of some sort, but I'm not sure. (Definitely not electric, anyway!) 

[2] Gustaf's room or flat in town was obviously heated by an iron stove of some kind, for which his future brother-in-law by the same name (Gustav) used to bring him firewood from the farm, when he had other errands into town.

In one of my grandfather's albums I found these two photos (below) of people cutting firewood. Neither is from Storegården, though. The first photo (winter) is from a place where I know they had friends (Gullered) and used to visit. With second photo in the album there's just a family name that does not ring any bell with me (Rosqvist). 

"Vedhuggning i Gullered"

"Vedhuggning hos Rosqvists"

[3] Sally's brief comment in this letter that she found Gustaf's pen "in your kitchen" probably gives me the answer to something I've been wondering about. I know that my grandfather had (rented) his own room at the farm in the mid/late1920s (probably from after he left his apprenticeship with the village shoemaker to pursue a career as a journalist instead). But since the main farmhouse was not really all that big, and they were several grown-ups living there already, I've been wondering about the arrangements. I know there was also at least one additional smaller cottage on the farm; but at the same time I have the impression that even while the oldest brother Carl was alive, the family all lived together in the main farmhouse: Carl, his step-mother Selma, and her three children: Hildur, Sally and Nils. (And periodically also Carl's brother Gustav - who also took over the running of the farm after Carl died in 1928.) That Sally now mentions "your kitchen" when writing to her fiancé Gustaf seems to confirm to me what I've been thinking for a while now - that his room was not in the main house, but in the tiny cottage. That makes much more sense in a lot of ways. 

[4] Källeberg. This was another farm in the area. I remember it from my own childhood in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Those living there then were friends of my grandparents - three unmarried siblings, one brother and two sisters. Very old in my eyes, obviously - i.e. probably the same age as my grandparents... (Who were 55 and 51 when I was born...) I know I have photos of them but can't recall just now which album, so I think I'll save those for another time. Having "read ahead", I know that they will be mentioned in more letters to come.

Linking to Sepia Saturday 663

Storegården d. 16-1-30 

Älskling!

Ett varmt tack skall Du ha för brevet. Det var så kärkommet. Jo, nog väntade jag på Dig i går kväll, tänkte att Du kanske kom. Men sedan förstod jag ju att Du inte hade tid, och så var det ju också så ruskigt väder tidigare på kvällen, så det hade ju varit svårt för Dig att resa även om Du hade haft tid. Fastän känner jag Dig rätt så hade Du nog kommit, om Du haft tillfälle, hurudan väderleken hade varit sedan. 

Ja, Du har bråttom, jag likaså. I denna veckan har jag haft så rysligt mycket att göra så jag har knappast haft någon liten stund ledig. Mamma är inte bra i ryggen ännu, så hon har så svårt att reda sig som hon vill, fastän hon försöker ju så gott hon kan att hjälpa oss. Ja, nu får man sannerligen veta vad hon uträttar när hon är någorlunda kry. Det är ju ändå roligt att hon kan vara uppe. 

[Här har jag hoppat över en linje, som du ser, jag måtte visst se dåligt.]

Idag bakar jag.Sitter vid köksbordet och skriver till Dig samtidigt som jag bakar vetebröd i ugnen. 

Hur har Du det med skjorta nu till söndag och nästa vecka. Vi ha inte hunnit att tvätta i denna veckan heller, och jag törs inte säga när det blir. Det går inte för oss att ställa till med sådant arbete nu när inte mamma är kry så hon kan laga maten eller så.

I morgon tror jag Du får ved. Gustav talade om i dag att han skulle fara in i morgon. Så kan jag tala om för Dig att jag hittat Din penna i dag. Den låg på skåpet inne i Ditt kök. Troligtvis har Du själv lagt den där.

I tisdags kväll voro Hildur, Hedvig och jag hos Caj. Hildur ber särskilt om sin hälsning till Dig och säger att Du skall komma på lördag kväll och gå med till Källeberg. Och jag hoppas så innerligt att Du kommer på lördag. Kära du, försök göra det, jag blir så ledsen annars. 

Hoppas att Du har överseende med de många och stora bristerna i detta usla brev. Men det har gått fort må du tro. Hade jag någon gång lite mera tid på mig kanske det bleve något bättre.

Hälsningar fr alla. Kom säkert på lördag, beder

Din Sally