Document Type
Personal Letter
Keywords
Katherine Trickey; WWII
Rights Management
All rights retained by Bryant University
Abstract
[Transcription begins]
ARMY AND NAVY MASONIC SERVICE CENTER LETTERHEAD
29 April 1945
5.00 PM
Dear Folks,
Another busy week has passed. I have worked several evenings and have stayed home the others so that there is little to write about. Marj & I had yesterday afternoon off and had good luck enough to get a room at the Georgian. We didn’t even go [to] the show last night but slept instead. I got up about 2 o’clock & we had dinner at the S & S Cafeteria and have been riding the buses since then. It looks somewhat like a shower so we have dropped
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into the Center here till it blows over. This is a busy place this afternoon. There are two games of ping pong going on and both pool tables are in use. There are about 20 of us using writing desks and more than 20 others sitting reading. Marj & I drop in here often as the folks who run it are friendly & it is on the street floor so there are no stairs to climb and it is not as noisy as some of the other Service Centers.
We found a real pretty ride out to Ingleside that we had never taken before. I think it will become one of our favorites.
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The other ride was different. We took a bus that said Fort Hill and it turned out to be a ride practically entirely through the Negro Section.
Honestly, I don’t understand why there are not horrible epidemics here [in] the South. The conditions as far as sanitation is concerned is appalling in the poor & the Negro sections. The houses we saw today for the most part had no screens at all either in the doors or the windows. The yards are cluttered and many had cows & chickens in out buildings near the house. The toilet facilities are obviously the outhouse variety and this in a city that has
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running water.
And in even the best sections of town there are alleyways of Negro homes that are nothing but shacks.
The poorer class of whites live in homes almost as bad. Many of the presumeably (sic) nice homes are little better than our summer cottages!
The wealthier homes, however, are lovely and those out at Ingleside this afternoon certainly took my eye.
Have just been playing ping pong with one of the girls from camp –
Must close now in order to mail this before we leave for camp –
Love to all
Kay
[Transcription ends]
