2/7/38
Dear Marty:
Thanks an awful lot for your kind letter of Saturday.
Yes, you’re right in many respects. It would be quite a strain financially. I would probably be making between $20 and $30 per week, if I could get a job. I am rather certain that I could, but the “if” is yet a question.
As concerns merely being in sympathy with the girl, that is out. I can see why you would suspect that reason for my affection, but I had asked her to marry me months before I ever heard or noticed anything wrong. She is simply such a good sport that she kept still about the home situation.
Well, Marty, I’m merely writing so that you won’t think that I have gotten mad or something, and can only say that we won’t do it just yet. I shall write when we do, or sooner if we put it off for some time. As far as hard times are concerned, if (that word again) I can get the kind of job I am used to I should be able to give her anything which she has now. Her father is a prof and makes about $3300 per year, on which he supports his wife and three kids. As a result, and also considering that he spends probably $700 (no kidding) per year on music (sheet, lessons, clubs, concerts) she is cut out of many things that most girls have. It all breaks down to whether we could be happier together than the way we are. I would plan on staying out for two or three years, saving as much as possible. Then I would return to school. By careful planning I should be able to give her a college education as well.
It’s an ambitious program, Marty, but I think that I can handle it. It might look like a piece of bad judgment now, but all of my previous ones have turned out well.
Honey, you’ve always been ready when I’ve had to holler for help, and you certainly did come through this time with just the type I needed. Thanks loads.
Must scram to town and get a hari-cut. It’s so long that it’s making my head ache. If I don’t get married I may see you out there in the next year (Army Air 
Corps—two years training—highly hypothetical).
88’s* Cy
*radiotelegraph abbreviation for “love and kisses”