Camp Sheridan
Dec. 11, 1917
My Dear Dad: -
Rec. the $30, O.K. and surely appreciate your kindness. At present it looks very doubtful about the furlough, but if it possible to get one, I surely will do my best to secure one for Xmas.
If Mother, Marion, & Leona do not know of my intentions as yet, and I am able to secure my furlough, I would like to walk in & surprise them. If I can come I'll wire you when I leave.
It rained all morning and froze this afternoon. Every time you push on the canvas of the tent the ice cracks - and they call this the Sunny South.
Was up town the other evening with Frank Cullen. Have been very busy of late, but am over the worse of it.
Your Son
Howard
Howard must really have been busy during this time - his last few letters really don't give us much of interest to explore.
So, this line about Howard sending his dad a wire got me wondering what telegraphs were like back at that time. Of course, I knew that a long distance phone call would likely be out of the question. The Goods likely had a phone - in 1910, there were already over 7 million phones in the U.S. However, long-distance service may not have even been available from Alabama to Toledo. Even if it was, the cost of a 3-minute call could have been about the equivalent to a half-week's salary ($4).
Telegraphs were much more available and less expensive:
For a typical telegram you paid a flat rate for the first ten words and were charged a per word rate for each additional word. Address and signature were free. For example to send a telegram from New York to anywhere in Georgia was sixty cents for the first ten words and each additional word was four cents. (In 1910)
So, considering that Howard just got $30 from his dad, I'm guessing he could spring for the telegram but probably didn't want to blow his cash to hear Dear-ol-Dad's voice.
The above photo shows a telegraph office.It's not quite perfect - it's from 1918 in France, but it should give you a sense of what it was like.
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