Excerpts From Augusta's Letters

Augusta ................................................................................................................................................................Albert

I'll be posting these letters, a few at a time. The letters were written by my grandmother Augusta to her son (my uncle) Albert who saved them. She wrote from Tampa, Florida. He was in Asheville, North Carolina to begin with.

Sep 1920 - To Albert in Asheville, NC - "Last Sunday night I saw a queer sight. I had just retired when suddenly the sleeping porch was all lit up. Looking out I saw a fiery ball about the size of a child's head with a long fiery snake attached to it moving westward in the sky. Walter saw the light on the porch too, but he thought it was lightning. It may have been a meteor, but I did not see it fall. I saw it move westward. I don't think the whole excitement lasted longer than half a minute."

Sep 1920 - "I have a very easy life here in Florida. This place is so easy to take care of. I never have to exert myself, since washing and ironing is done. And my kitchen isn't hot at all, I can bake and hardly feel there is a fire in the oven. Never did I dream I'd ever have a stove like that. It's certainly a treasure. Do you remember how hot our kitchen in Beardstown used to be when the oven was going? And just think __ our gas bill last month was only one dollar ... and all you have to do when you want hot water is turn on the faucet."

4 Sep 1920 - "It is still very hot here. Suppose Asheville is getting cool already. Our house seems quite empty after the crowd we had last week. Martin went away this morning and Papa left to go to Asheville. But I'll soon have plenty to occupy my mind. In a few weeks we'll have to move again. The rent has been raised to $70 for the next year. I like this place, but it's not worth $70."