Feb. 4, 1917
Same place,
My Dear Mother: -
Just finished breakfast, consisting of rolled oats, bacon, bread, butter, coffee, and an orange.
Your letter of Jan. 30 rec. So Dad sold at last. Sorry I won't be there to help move. I think it would be a good plan to get a large box for my junk. I'm packing my electrical instruments I think Dad should be consulted as to how they should be packed to prevent breaking. Under the top drawer of my book case are some trinkets which I have saved from childhood. Many of the things I have stored away are really worthless, though are of value to me. I think my stuff when moved can just be left packed until I return.
I think I will be home in a couple months unless they hold us on account of Germany. None of the present orders for return of troops have been cancelled since the new trouble arose.
My cold is all over with. I guess I got it from kicking the covers off my bed one night, when it was pretty cold.
It was so cold yesterday that I wore two shirts & two pair of socks and didn't feel any too comfortable. Today is going to be a fine day.
Billy Jacobs from down to the Fire Sta. left for Toledo the evening of the 31st. I suppose he's in Toledo by this time. I told him to to call up you folks if he has time. If he don't you can get a hold of him through Uncle Bill. He can tell you how I am.
I was down at the Fire Sta last night, took a nice hot shower & washed my head. Then I made a cup of hot cocoa and read the newspaper. After which I came back to camp and went to bed.
Am enclosing some films of my four pet mules, a couple of myself and a couple of the tall wireless towers here at Ft. Bliss.
Well I'll close and write Leona a letter.
Am feeling fine.
Love to All
Howard
Oh, Howard...if only you were going to be home in a few months.
The above photo (again, from my best friend, the El Paso Library Archives, is labeled as "El Paso - City Hall and Fire Department"). It's not likely to be Billy Jacobs' fire house and the photo dates to 20 years before Howard was in El Paso, but it's as good as I could get. I'm sure Howard was extremely lucky to have a place to get a hot shower and a good meal - most of his friends in his unit likely wouldn't have been able to have done the same.
I tried to find the Goods' old family home on Google maps and was sadly disappointed. Instead of a nicely restored bungalow at 721 Walbridge Avenue, the house was completely gone. In its place were five dumpsters behind a shopping center which included a Family Dollar, auto parts store, Chinese take-out, and laundromat. Time marches on, I guess...
At first, I glanced over Howard's mention of the photos of "tall wireless towers" without thinking much about it. Then, I started to think about what communications in his day would have been like and what the towers would have been used for. I assume the towers in his pictures were for military use - wireless communications were being used heavily in Europe and continued to be used throughout World War I. The first long-distance telephone call had happened in 1915, but telegrams were still much cheaper for years to come. At this time in 1917, the first commercial radio broadcast was yet to happen for another three years.
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