November 15, 1923, Cleveland to Northhampton, Massachusetts

Cleveland, Oh. Nov. 14, 1923

Dear Helen :

Only in my last letter I promised to answer your letters as soon as they arrived and then the next letter I received from you remains unanswered for many days. I am terribly ashamed of myself for not answering sooner, but somehow or other the time was never there to write a good in answer to such a nice one as you wrote me, which I appreciate greatly, even though you did leave an empty, which is explainable however in view of the fact that you wrote it after you were supposed to be sleeping soundly (?)

Your repeated mentioning of your dumbness as you choose to call it sounds suspicious to me, I will bet your making fine grades. Anybody is liable to make a mistake as to where and in what animals a smooth muscle is found, but when it comes to getting a grade of 54 in a week's test in Calculus like I did last week then the matter becomes serious and I am beginning to doubt whether I can even class myself as a dumbbell.

The Freshman dance you mention must have been quite an affair as a dance in a school like Smith would naturally be. By the way, speaking of dances and such like, how many young college students' hearts did you break that evening? Towards the end of your letter you say that you are greatly het up and could dance for two weeks straight, I would like nothing better than to be your partner.

Yale and Princeton play Saturday. I suppose are hoping Princeton beats, seeing as you were disappointed in the Army-Yale game, but I'll bet you anything Yale wins. (I can do this because by the time I receive an answer from you the game will be over and then we will not be able to make the bet, so it is all right.) The Case team to date has lost six games and played six, so you can easily figure what our average is. Both the coaches and I got tired of my playing football, so I no longer play and am able to resume smoking, which I did as soon as I was thru. I will probably try for track next spring and see how I make out in that.

You will no doubt be extremely happy when Thanksgiving comes around and you can take a nice long sleep, because you very likely do not get much now if you are living in a dormitory as that would be against the rules. How much sleep do you get on an average, four or five hours?

Have you had any snow-storms or flurries in that part of the country so far? We have had none here so far, but will doubtless get them in due time. I will be glad when the ponds freeze over so that there will skating + coasting and all the other winter sports which I enjoy very much. I miss my guess if you are not anxious for the dead cold weather.

This short description has become somewhat lengthy and you are no doubt lulled to sleep by the effects of it by this time, so I will spare you further trouble and end.

Please write real soon, as I like to get letters from you.

Your friend, as ever

Fred.