Two Steamboat Postcards from 1909 - Sepia Saturday 844

Two steam boat postcards from 1909, reposted for Sepia Saturday 844 (previously posted on this blog 2021-04-24 and 2021-05-01

Both cards sent by a John Beckman to my great-uncle Gustaf Ekman in 1909, while Gustaf was living in Galeton, Pennsylvania (working at a sawmill there).  

Str City of Buffalo, landing at dock, Celeron, N.Y.

 

Made expressly for S.H. Knox & Co. Printed in Germany

To: Mr Gust Ekman, Galeton, Pa

From: John Beckman (Jamestown N.Y., Jul 18, 1909)

Str City of Buffalo, landing at dock, Celeron, N.Y.

Hello Gust. I will send you a postal now and thanks you very much for the postal you send me. I hear you had good times on 4 of July in Buffalo, did you have any girls whed [with] you all [-?-] Gust. I had lovely times out here in Jamestown to[o]. Alfred and Henning is working here in town now so pretty soon all de Boy [all the boys] from Galeton will be here in Jamestown. I supoese Hilding have a picnic now whed all de girls. Good bye, ans. soon. / John Beckman, 27 Broadhead Ave., Jamestown N.Y.

Hej Gust. Jag skickar ett kort och tackar så mycket för det kortet du skickade mig. Jag hör att du hade trevligt 4 juli i Buffalo, hade ni några flickor med er? Jag hade det härligt här i Jamestown också. Alfred och Henning arbetar här nu, så snart är väl 'alla pojkarna' från Galeton här i Jamestown. Jag antar att Hilding kan välja och vraka bland alla flickorna nu. Hej då, skriv snart. /John Beckman, 27 Broadhead Ave., Jamestown N.Y.

Boat Landing at Celoron, Chautauqua Lake, N.Y.

(Can't interpret the publisher's symbol)

To: Mr Gust Ekman, Galeton Pa, Box 342
From: John Beckman (Jamestown N.Y., Aug 26, 1909)
Boat Landing at Celoron, Chautauqua Lake, N.Y.

Hello Gust
I thought I will send you a postal now and thank you very much for the letter you sent. I se[e] you whont [won't] come over to Jamestown. I was to a picnic 2 weeks a go, and here is the boat. How do you like it all. Tell you Gust I had [a] pretty good time that day. Ans. soon. - Best regards from your friend J. Beckman. Send my best regards to mine girl, you know who that is.

Swedish text:

Hej Gust, jag tänkte jag skickar dig ett kort nu och tackar så mycket för brevet du skickade. Jag ser att du inte tänker komma över till Jamestown. Jag var på en picknick för 2 veckor sedan, och här är båten. Vad tycker du om det hela. Du ska veta att jag hade roligt den dan. Skriv snart. - Bästa hälsningar från din vän J. Beckman. Hälsa så mycket till min flicka, du vet vem jag menar.

My note from 2021: I googled "steamboats celeron new york", and found a web page from Chautauqua County Historical Society: Large Chautauqua Lake Steamboats. (Phew, that is one tricky name to keep spelling...) Evidently there were several steamboats of this kind in traffic on this lake in the late 19th /early 20th century. On a previous card (G.042.03) from John B. we had the steamer City of Buffalo, The one on this card looks similar but not identical. The card does not reveal its name, and I can't find an exact match on that web page either. 

Linking to Sepia Saturday 844

Visiting Versailles in the 1930s - Sepia Saturday 815

The theme for Sepia Saturday 815 shows a museum bedroom - which made me think of  some old postcards from Versailles, Paris, from my great-aunt Gerda's collection. 

This is a photo of Gerda visiting the gardens of Versailles in 1932. I have shown the same photo in an earlier post, from 2022-05-06, linked to Sepia Saturday 620. But that's nearly four years ago now... Some followers with good memories may remember bits and pieces from Gerda's story, but here's a short summary again:

Gerda Ekman, born 1881, was one of my grandmother Sally's older half-sisters. They shared the same father, but had different mothers. Gerda's mother died when she was six years old. In 1898, when she was 17, her father got remarried  to a younger window with one daughter (six years old at the time). 

In 1900, my grandmother Sally was born, and in 1902 also a baby boy. In those years of her father starting a new family, Gerda seems to have been staying with her oldest sister and her family much of the time. The sibling closest to Gerda's own age was her brother Gustaf, only two years older than herself. He was making plans to emigrate to America, and Gerda was no doubt inspired by him (but perhaps by other friends with the same plans as well). 

They both ended up emigrating in 1902 (for Gerda, when she turned 21). My impression is that they did not go on the same ship, though, but a few months apart. Anyway, while Gustaf ended up at a sawmill in Pennsylvania, Gerda went to Chicago; where she probably started out as simple kitchen maid, but kept working her way up to more respected positions in bigger households. Both siblings returned to Sweden around 1910/11. (Their father had then been dead for a few years - he died in 1907.) While Gustaf went back to farm work, Gerda continued her "career" as lady's maid and travel companion to wealthy ladies. 

When WWI broke out in 1914, Gerda happened to be in France - and got stuck there for the duration of the war. I've so far not been able to figure out who exactly she worked for during those years (and I probably never will) - but it was obviously for some fairly wealthy woman (or couple), as postcards show that in spite of the war going on, they went on holidays in the eastern parts of France, down to the riviera, and also over lake Geneva to Switzerland. After the war, Gerda returned to Sweden again - but continued to work as lady's maid/travel companion for various upper class women, also travelling abroad now and then.

In the autumn of 1928, she got employed as lady's maid to Estelle Manville-Bernadotte, daughter of a wealthy American, who in December that year married the Swedish count Folke Bernadotte (nephew of King Gustav V of Sweden). (The wedding took place in Pleasantville, N.Y.) The couple/family kept travelling a lot in the 1930s, both between Sweden and America, and within Europe; and Gerda travelled with them. 

Years ago, a relative quoted (in an email to me) a document stating that in 1932, Gerda was employed at Square Lamartine no 3 in Paris, as "domestique au service du comte Bernadotte de Wisborg, neveu du Roi de Suède"  (Cf a post from 2022-05-06: Cairo and Paris, 1932 - Sepia Saturday 620) 

So I know for a fact that Gerda was in Paris in 1932, and visited Versailles that year. Possibly the postcards may have been bought even earlier though. (No dates printed on them, so I can't be sure.)

Anyway - what made me think of these cards for this week's Sepia Saturday was three bedroom photos:

Marie Antoinette's Bedroom

Lous XIV's bedroom

Napoleon's bedroom

I'll include the rest of the Versailles postcards as well, just to have them all gathered in one post:

Linking to: Sepia Saturday 815 (28 February 2026)

Walking About in the Alps - Sepia Saturday 699

Six unwritten postcards from my great-aunt Gerda's collection. I think they are probably from her years in France during WW1, when she sometimes travelled with her employer (still Unknown to me) in the south-east of France and stayed for a while at various mountain resorts there. How far up in the alps she ever walked herself, I'll probably never know! 

The Vanoise massif is a mountain range in the Western Alps and the third-highest massif in France. Nowadays Vanoise is a national park. 

(M.030.01)
1422. - Le Lac Rond et le Col de la Vanoise

(M.030.02)
2366. Sommet du Jovet (2563 m.)
- La Mer de Nuages et les Glaciers de la Vanoise

(M.030.03)
1426. Col et Massif de la Vanoise - Refuge des Lacs

    

(M.031.01)
Massif de la Vanoise - Cascade de la Fraiche (a waterfall)

(M.031.02)
1976. Le Mont Blanc (4820 m.), vu du Bréven

 

Mont Blanc, the "white mountain", located on the French-Italian border, is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe.

(M.031.03)
3063 - Zermatt - Vieux Mazots

Zermatt is in the Swiss Alps. Gerda did cross lake Geneva over to Lausanne in Switzerland during the war years (I think more than once); but how close she ever got to Zermatt or Mont Blanc (either back then or later), I don't know. She might just have bought postcards of those two places. As there are more cards from Vanoise, my guess is that she saw some of that area, though.

Dijon, France, c.1918 - Sepia Saturday 688

The Sepia Saturday theme for September, On the Street, made me go back and look at some unwritten old postcards from my great aunt Gerda's collection. 

Readers who have been following me for a while probably remember Gerda - my grandmother's older half-sister, the travelling lady's maid. When World War I broke out, Gerda "got stuck" in France, where she spent the war years working for someone living in Lyon. I've not been able to establish whom. (In my imagination, a wealthy American woman who "got stuck" in France during the war as well - but I have no real evidence of that.)  What I do know, from Gerda's postcards written to her brother Gustaf during the war years, is that they were also able  to travel a bit now and then, in the eastern parts of France.

 

Dijon is situated north of Lyon, and they/Gerda could have travelled there by train. The last of the postcards below gives me an important clue as to when she actually bought that one, though: It can't have been until July 1918 at the earliest; and may not have been until on her way back home to Sweden in 1919, after the war was over...

I like how all these street photos also have people in them.

34. DIJON - Rue de la Liberté 

40. DIJON - La Caisse d'Epargne

3. DIJON - Place de la République et Monument Carnot

9. DIJON - Fontaine de la Jeunesse ('the fountain of youth')

27. DIJON - Eglise Saint-Pierre - Place du Président Wilson

 Wikipedia : "The square was originally called St. Peter's Square. In 1904, during a campaign of "secularization of the streets" led by the radical municipality, the square was renamed People's Square. During the First World War, on July 5, 1918, the municipality of Dijon gave it the name of Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), 28th President of the United States, to salute the entry of the United States into the war on the side of the France."

All the cards also include the printed names Caloin, Dijon and Cl. Baudinfère. I got no relevant hits when googling, but I assume the latter to be the name of the photographer.

Linking to Sepia Saturday 688 - On the Street

WWI Postcards of Lake Geneva - Sepia Saturday 657

Lake Geneva (French: Lac Léman) is a deep lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. 

My great-aunt Gerda, who spent the years of WWI working as lady's maid for an unknown employer in Lyon, France, also during those years travelled more than once to Lake Geneva. On the French side they stayed at the resort Evian-les Bains; but they also went across the lake to Lausanne in Switzerland. 

Cf. these posts of mine from 1922:
1915 - Sepia Saturday 604 (A Holiday at Lake Geneva 1915 - Jan 2022)
1917 - Sepia Saturday 608 ("I have had no News from Sweden in months" 1917 - Feb 2022)
1913-18 - Sepia Saturday 611 (Hotel Postcards 1913-18 - March 2022) 

Below are some unwritten postcards from Gerda's collection which I assume she bought on these trips as well. (I don't think they've been included in previous posts.) From her written postcards I have drawn the conclusion that she loved lake and sea views, and also quite liked to bathe/swim when she had the opportunity. From her many travels I also assume she did not suffer from sea-sickness, but enjoyed boat trips as well. 

Repeating the text from one of the postcards sent to her brother in 1915: 

"Switzerland, 19 sept 1915 - Dear brother, I'm now out alone on a pleasure trip on the lake. Sending you a view from here. I hope you will recieve it soon. Love, sister Gerda."

Lac Léman. - Château de Chillon.

Chateau de Chillon

Chillon Castle (French: Château de Chillon) is an island castle located at the eastern end of Lake Geneva. Chillon is amongst the most visited medieval castles in Switzerland and Europe.

By JoachimKohlerBremen - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46700055

 

1931. - Ile de Salagnon (Lac Léman)

Only found a French article about Salagnon Island on Wikipedia.

6395 Lac Léman. Etude et Ile de Salagnon

 

Bords du Léman - Coucher de soleil.
(The shores of Lake Geneva - Sunset)

Linking to Sepia Saturday 657

Train Station and Post Office - Sepia Saturday 656

 

For this week's Sepia Saturday I'm reposting a photo I've posted before - as far back as ten years ago, for Sepia Saturday 182. I'm also reusing my text from back then, with a few minor adjustments.

The building is the railway station at Fristad (where my grandparents grew up and also lived the rest of their lives). In the early years (not sure for how long) it also served as post office, from where postmen and postcoaches delivered the post around the village and surrounding countryside. 

My great grandfather Samuel (while also being a farmer) used to drive a postal coach between the railway station and a country store in a smaller village. According to family stories, that's where he, as 60+ year old widower and father of nine (two of whom had died at a young age), in the late 1890's,  met his second wife – my great-grandmother Selma (then a young widow with one young daughter, Hildur). Together, the two of them had two more children: My grandmother Sally, born 1900 (the same year the "new" station house in the photo was built) and her brother Nils, born 1902.

Samuel retired in 1903, and then his oldest son Carl took over the task of driving the post as well as the running of the farm. (I know this from an article that my father's cousin once wrote for the local history society's annual magazine.) I think it may be Carl on the wagon to the right (not in a uniform), but I'm not sure. (He died in 1928.) I also think that if this photo is from the mid 1920s, the photographer may have been my grandfather, for some newspaper article. (Just a guess, though.)

Anyway, the photo shows a time when postal service was taken seriously!

This postcard from the same station may also have been included in some previous post, but I'm including it again, as it also shows a train, and people.  It's a reprint of an old postcard, for a railway jubilée (150 years) in 2013.

My father, a railway enthusiast who even published books on local railways, died in 2011; but in 2013, my brother and I had not yet sold the house in the village (where our grandparents lived, and then our parents in their retirement years), and in honour of our dad, we attended that railway jubilée. So here are some photos from that occasion:

 

Linking to Sepia Saturday 656 - Trains

Much Ado About Nothin' - Sepia Saturday 647

My grandmother and her family at the Farm loved their coffee breaks - and not least when they were able to sit outdoors! 

The photo shows Sally (my grandmother), her sister Hildur and their mother Selma, with guests, sitting at a coffee table in front of the farm house at Storegården. My guess is around 1929, which is the year when both Sally and Hildur got engaged to their future husbands (both also included in the photo). The two other women are unknown to me, but the text below the photo (in one of the albums where it appears) says they're visitors from Gothenburg (Göteborg).

Standing: Gustaf (my grandfather), Unknown, and Sally. Sitting: Unknown, Hildur, Selma and Olle (more about him below). 

Much Ado About Nothing

- a romantic comedy by Shakespeare, c. 1599 

"Through 'noting' (sounding like 'nothing', and meaning gossip, rumour, overhearing), Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into confessing their love for each other..."  [Wikipedia]

Between the previous letter from Sally (SS 646) and the one following below, Gustaf has been home on leave for Easter (10-13 April 1925). 

Comments on the content will follow below the letter.

Storegården, Fristad, [Friday] 17 April 1925 

Dear Gustaf,

This afternoon I'm going to seek consolation in answering the letter that I got from you last week. Nils received his today, and I'm pleased to hear that you're feeling better and back to health again. How did it turn out with your tooth, did that get worse or did it blow over? I hope it got better without turning into an abscess, as that's really painful – I've got some experience of that myself, so I know how that feels!

So, ”Nothin”, it's now been a week since we were out looking at the Easter bonfires. We've since had rather awful weather for a couple of days, but today the sun is shining from a clear sky again. But I guess it was good that we got some rain as well.

I'm feeling sorry for you that you have to be down there now [in Gothenburg], rather than being free, with spring and summer approaching. But somehow one just has to get on with things, doesn't one. Everything passes, and so will the misery that you're enduring against your will at the moment.

Today, Hildur has fetched an Easter card for you, which I enclose with this letter. I'm also sending you ”Glimpses from Easter in Fristad” by ”The Rambler”. Quite lovely ”glimpses”, I think. 

There were a lot of people on the train that you left with on Easter Monday. We had intended to get closer to the train after you got aboard, but as you may remember, a ”couple” got in front of us, which made us stand back. We then had company with Ebba on the way home, and when we got to Länghem, Hildur met us there and joined us. Gustav was also home for a while in the evening.

Vintage photos/postcards from Fristad railway station, reprinted for a railway jubilee in 2013

He with captial H has not been here since then – don't you find that strange? Imagine, two whole weeks on Sunday since he was last here, and yet he's [working] at the carpentry shop down at Mölarp [= not all that far away]. Doesn't that seem disquieting to you? Hildur writes [to him] every evening, sometimes to Borås, and sometimes to the ”Miss Lundbergs”,  but nothing seems to help. - As you're familiar with the situation, I'm writing about it, because I find it amusing myself, and so that you will know that things are the same as always.

Oh, and I can also tell you that I got a letter from [?] in Skedeskamma. She was well, and wanted me to meet her in Borås on Saturday 25 April, which I also think I will, if I can.

Yesterday, we set up the loom, but we are not quite ready to start weaving yet, we haven't ”warped” yet. Next time you come home, I hope you'll get to see some result of our work, if all goes to plan.

Now I'm running out of paper, but I'll use all the corners of the sheet, even if that doesn't look very neat. We saw you grandfather walking by here today, he didn't come in, but it's good to see that he's in good health. Best wishes from all of us here. 

• Tonight the Salvation Army will be in the chapel, but I don't think we'll be going.
• Tomorrow night the 'Blue Band' Temperance Society will be having a parcel auction, I suppose you'll be there for that.
• You'll notice that I've remembered your new name, ”Nothin”. Don't you think it's pretty?
• Hoping to hear from you soon, best wishes from your friend ”Bengtamor”.  

Example of Sally's use of "all the corners of the sheet":

An unwritten Easter card, but it will serve to represent whatever card it was that Sally was sending on to Gustaf with her letter. (I suppose the family at the farm was authorized to fetch his mail for him at the post office, or whereever it was delivered to.) 

COMMENTS

"Nothin" - I have no background for this new nickname. In this letter, where she first uses it, she spells it "Notin"; but later, "Nothin". "Notin" has no meaning at all in Swedish, but the spelling "Nothin" seems to support that it might refer to the English word "nothing". Neither Sally nor Gustaf would have learned any English in school, though (and it seems even more unlikely that they'd be familiar with the Shakespeare play in the original language). But I guess they might have picked up a few English words and phrases, for example from Sally's older brother Gustav, who had lived in America for almost a decade. But in the 1920s, he was back living with the family at the farm, or nearby in the same village. As for what may have triggered the word "nothin" to be used as a nickname for Gustaf, I can only speculate, though. (Perhaps he sometimes had a tendency to doubt himself, and his talent? - or something like that... But in that case, they must also have joked about it, as I'm sure Sally would never have used it other than in jest.)

Easter bonfires - It was common in this part of Sweden to light bonfires on Easter Eve.

Glimpses/The Rambler - As Gustaf used to write articles of this kind for a local newspaper, I think it was probably his glimpses that had been published, using that signature.

He with captial H, and Hildur - "He with capital H" clearly refers to Olle Hellsten (cf. previous post), who ended up marrying Sally's sister Hildur. He was a carpenter by trade. As for Hildur, she was always worrying about things... I remember her like that even from my own childhood. Gustaf, knowing the whole family well, would have had no problem understanding Sally's ironic hints.

"[?] in Skedeskamma" Here I'm struggling to read (and failing to make sense of) another nickname, referring to a person unknown to me. Her real name may have been Thea, because in the next letter Sally mentions meeting a Thea in town. That still doesn't give me any clue to how they knew each other, though. The place name probably refers to a Skedskamma situated on the other side of Borås - which explains why they would meet in town. (They could both travel into town by train; but from different directions, and on different railway lines.)

"we set up the loom..."  - For me this clears up a mystery from the previous letter, which involved some words there unknown to me, but that must refer to a weaving project.

"Blue Band" - A temperance society. As has already been mentioned more than once, Gustaf used to write short reports for the newspaper from various kinds of meetings held by local societies, chapels, churches etc. If he had weekend leave of absence from his military service in Gothenburg (I don't know how often they did?) he could take the train from there back to the village, and still do some such reporting (just as it seems he did at Easter).

"Bengtamor" - Gustaf's nickname for Sally, but not clear to me why. (Possibly referring to her acting "motherly" towards him sometimes. Just my guess, though!) [Cf. SS 645]

Linking to: Sepia Saturday 647

Storegården, Fristad, d. 17 April 1925 [fredag]

Bäste vän Gustaf!

Nu i eftermiddag tänkte jag taga tröst av och besvara brevet, som jag fick från dig förra veckan. Nils har i dag fått ditt brev och det var ju roligt att höra att du bättrat dig, så att du nu är kry igen. Hur blev det med tanden, blev det något ont eller gick det över lindrigt. Det var ju väl om det gick bort utan att bli ”varbildning”, för det är ju något rysligt, det har jag själv haft, så det vet jag hur det känns. 

Jaha du ”Notin”, nu är det snart en vecka sedan vi voro ute och sågo påskeldarna. Vi har nu haft ganska ruskigt väder ett par dagar, men i dag strålar solen klar igen. Ja det var ju gott att vi fick lite regn också.

Det är synd om dig att du skall behöva gå där nere nu, och ej vara fri, när det närmar sig våren och sommaren, men det är ju så att det måste ju gå allting. Allting går ju över, så också det ”eländet” som du nu är tvingad uti. 

Idag har Hildur hämtat ett påskkort till dig, som jag nu skickar med i brevet. Även medsänder jag ”Glimtar från Påsken i Fristad” av ”Vandraren”. Det ”glimtar” ju riktigt vackert, tycker jag. Det var visst väldigt mycket folk med tåget, som du reste med Annandagen. Vi skulle gått lite närmare tåget när du stigit upp, men som du minns så kom det ett ”par” emellan, vilket gjorde att vi höll oss bakom. Vi fick sedan sällskap med Ebba hem, och när vi kommer till Länghem mötte Hildur oss där och följde med oss upp. Gustav var också hemma en stund på kvällen.

Han med stort H har inte varit här sedan, tycker du inte det är märkvärdigt? Tänk dig, 2 hela veckor på söndag sedan han sist var här, och så är han nere i Mölarp på Snickerifabriken. Tycker du inte det ser betänkligt ut? Hildur skriver varje kväll, ibland till Borås och ibland till ”Lundbergsfröknarna”, och inget tycks hjälpa. Eftersom du så väl känner till det, skriver jag om det, för jag tycker det är roligt, och för att du skall få höra att det är sig likt. 

Jo du, så skall jag tala om att jag fått brev från ”tryspan” [?] i Skedeskamma. Hon mådde bra, och ville att jag skulle träffa henne i Borås lördag den 25 april, vilket jag också tror att jag gör, om inget oförutsett hinder möter. 

Igår satte vi upp väven, men vi äro inte riktigt färdiga att börja väva ännu, vi har inte ”varpat” ännu. Nästa gång du kommer hem, hoppas jag du skall få se något resultat av vårt arbete, om allt går som vi beräknat. 

Ja, nu börjar visst pappret att taga slut, men jag får väl skriva fullt i alla hörn på arket, fastän det inte ser så fint ut. Thulin har vi sett gå förbi här idag, men han gick ej in, men det är ju ändå gott att se att han är kry. 

Hj. hälsn. Från alla här

PS1 - Ikväll är Frälsningsarmén i Missionshuset, men jag tror ej vi går dit. 

PS2 - I morgon kväll har blåbandisterna paketauktion, då skall väl du vara med.

PS3 - Du ser att jag kommit ihåg ditt nya namn, ”Notin”. Tycker du inte det är vackert?

I hopp om att få höra från dig är du nu till slut hjärtligt hälsad av vännen ”Bengtamor”. 

KOMMENTARER

"Notin" - I följande brev har stavningen korrigerats till "Nothin", vilket får mig att undra om det syftar på det engelska ordet "nothing" (dvs. "inget"). Varken Sally eller Gustaf lär ha lärt sig engelska under sin korta skolgång, men jag tänker att de kan ha plockat upp vissa ord och uttryck från Sallys äldre halvbror Gustav, som ju bott nästan tio år i Amerika. Men på 1920-talet var han ju tillbaka i Fristad och på Storegården. Jag tänker mig att ordet i den betydelsen möjligen skulle kunna vara relaterat till att Gustaf ibland kände sig missmodig och tvivlade på sin egen talang etc. Men i så fall måste det relatera till något de gemensamt skämtat om - eftersom det annars inte är troligt att Sally skulle referera till det i sina brev.  [Själv kan jag inte låta bli att associera till Shakespeare's pjäs Much Ado About Nothing, där originalet utnyttjar ordlikheten mellan "noting" (notera) och "nothing" (ingenting/obetydligheter). Jag tvivlar dock på att Sally och Gustaf var bekanta ens med titeln...] 

"Glimtar från Påsken i Fristad" av signatur Vandraren - Jag uppfattar det som att denna artikel skrivits av Gustaf själv.

"Han med stort H" syftar otvivelaktigt på Olle Hellsten, som senare gifte sig med Sallys syster Hildur. Han var snickare till yrket; och avståndet mellan Storegården och Mölarp inte alltför långt (med den tidens mått mätt). Vad Hildur beträffar, så oroade hon sig ständigt för saker och ting (och folk) - så minns jag henne även från min egen barndom... Gustaf bör inte ha haft något problem att uppfatta Sallys halvt ironiska syftningar.

[?] i Skedeskamma - Ett smeknamn (?) inom citattecken här är svårtytt. Hennes verkliga namn kan ha varit Thea, för i nästa brev nämner Sally att hon träffat en Thea i stan. Hur och varifrån de var bekanta med varandra framgår inte. Det finns dock ett Skedskamma nära Hillared, på andra sidan Borås; vilket gör det logiskt att träffas i stan (dit de båda kunde ta sig per tåg, från olika håll). 

"Igår satte vi upp väven" - Detta förklarar Sallys prat om "tvinna återgångar" i tidigare brev (även om jag fortfarande inte vet exakt vad det uttrycket innebär). 

"Blåbandisterna" - Blå Bandet var/är en nykterhetsorganisation på kristen grund. Som tidigare nämnts brukade ju Gustaf skriva tidningsnotiser om olika möten i lokala föreningar och kyrkor osv. När han hade helgpermission från Kviberg, så kunde han förstås ta tåget hem och bidra med en del sådana reportage även under sin värnpliktstid.

"Bengtamor" - Gustafs smeknamn för Sally (jmf Sepia Saturday 645). Ursprunget forfarande oklart men jag tänker mig att det ev skulle kunna syfta på att hon ibland kanske uppträtt lite "moderligt" gentemot honom.