February 22, 1945 (Thursday)

EDNA FINISHES A QUILT. HANK GOES TO A SHOW.

---

A nasty day. Thawing

and raining most of

day but colder again

to-night.

Hank and Ed went to

show to-night.

I finished binding

my quilt that Ellen

Stanley pieced for me

five years ago or more.

Quite speedy eh?

Walter spent the day

with Hank and Ed all had

a good time I guess.

---

Typically Edna is pretty to the point in what she records about her day in her "Daily Reminder" journal. Every now and then, however, she will let a bit of her personality slip into what she writes. On rare occasions, she does make her feelings quite clear. More frequently, she will make a remark from which you might infer how she felt.

There were two remarks in this entry that caught my attention .

1. "Quite speedy, eh?"

2. "All had a good time, I guess."

The first remark, "Quite speedy, eh?," was made in reference to the fact that she finished binding a quilt that had been pieced together for her five or more years prior. She was giving herself a bit of hard time for taking so long. The remark seemed a bit sarcastic in tone. In 1945, she is the only woman living on the farm. She knows her days are busy and filled with hard work but perhaps she is also a bit disappointed in herself (maybe just briefly) for not getting to it sooner.

If she were recording this moment of her day in 2024, I feel like it likely would have been a Facebook post that ended in LOL instead of "Quite speedy, eh?"

I fell in love a little bit more with my great grandmother when reading those three words.

In contrast to the humor I sensed in her remark regarding the time it took her to finish the quilt, I didn't find amusement in the "All had a good time, I guess" remark. Rather, I sensed a bit of irritation or sadness.

Hank and friends had spent the day together. They went to the show in the evening. Perhaps she was still awake, writing this entry in her journal, when they returned home. Maybe she asked about their day and she got no good response. Maybe she didn't ask and they didn't offer. Maybe they didn't know she was still awake and just passed her over.

It really doesn't matter how it went down. She just has to assume they had a good time and as a mother she wanted a little more than that.

I guess.

I wanted to sit down next to her and tell her all about my day.

Edna doesn't say what show Hank went to but it was likely a movie showing at The Strand in Lowell.

The Lowell Ledger for February 15, 1945 featured an advertisement for The Strand. Abroad with Two Yanks starring William Bendix was showing on the big screen at The Strand on February 22, 1945.

In the film, Bendix and Dennis O'Keefe star as two Marines arriving in Australia after the Battle of Guadalcanal. While there, they compete for the attention of a girl, played by Helen Walker. Their rivalry leads to their arrest and subsequent escape from confinement ...disguised as women.

The New York Times said Abroad with Two Yanks was done in "the right spirit." (T.M.P. (Oct 26, 1944). "At the Globe". New York Times. p. 19.)