November turned out to be a very busy month for the Costains- Cec had surgery, both children had Commencement, and Cyn had to manage it all. Her October letter to Carol had told about tests Cec was having in hospital the first week of November, and the planning and buying of new clothes for the children, but it is not until a month later that she gives all the details. [Next post: November 18, 1969] But, in keeping with the unspoken rules of writing-letters-to-mothers, she never shares the fears that the adults must have had, however relieved they all were after the diagnosis.
Meanwhile, Cec has been in hospital, Linda has come home for Reading Week, shopped, and been fitted for her new dresses, Cec then had a thyroid operation and spent another couple of weeks recovering- with excitement of the graduation ceremony and dance, combined with the visit of his nephew Bruce to accompany Linda, to entertain him. His friends and colleagues sent cards with messages of concern, as did his daughter (who had seen him the weekend before his operation that Tuesday, and was going home the next weekend for her graduation .)
Dear Daddy, Sat. even. Bruce hasn’t phoned yet, so I don’t know when he’s coming. I got my essay done in time (the very nick of time) and have been resting. But Sat. evening is impossible to sleep on, so I’m enjoying myself watching a group of very happy people just went through the hall singing “Jingle Bells” and pressed me to join them, but I was laughing too hard- and I’m a good little girl. I’m going to sleep in tomorrow, hope you are home & can do the same. Love to all. Linda Card Page: For Daddy Get Well Soon… I Sure Miss You. I’m glad I’m coming back on Friday, I’m going to have fun. I hope you’ll be well enough to enjoy it. Love Linda
This letter is the final one in the two month Linda-goes-to-university diversion, after which the letters go back to Cyn writing to her mother Carol instead of her daughter. (I’m sure she did go on writing to me, and that Grannie did too, but the first two months were the only bunch of letters I preserved, although a few from Cyn over the university years have survived.) At this point, Carol’s visits to relatives in Ottawa and New York are coming to an end, and she is going home to St.Vincent where she lives with her sister (Auntie Muriel). Cyn’s letters will continue the saga of Linda at Trent- most events long since forgotten by me- as well as her daily life and news, although when Carol got them is another matter, the cousin in New York having to send on her post to the West Indies…
Linda (unsuccessfully) tries to send a letter to her grandmother before Carol goes home to St. Vincent.
Traill, Trent Wed. Oct 8.
Dear Grannie, This is the shortest of notes, just to tell you I’m doing fine and loving it here. I have lots of friends, and like all my classes. Tomorrow I’m going home though because it’s Thanksgiving this Monday in Canada, and I’ve managed to get no lectures on Friday this week so I’m leaving after my last lecture at 6 on the 7:15 PM for Ottawa. I haven’t really been home- sick – to cry my eyes out every night I mean – but I’ve missed everybody. And letters mean a lot to me so I’m very glad for yours. Mummy sent Alan and Donna’s picture to me & I think he looks a scream. Donna’s outfit is darling. A lot of the boys & professors here have beards, moustaches & long hair. Charlie is going to look scalped when I get home, after living with these types.
I’m looking forward especially to seeing Daddy, because I haven’t seen him since August. Also, there are lots of kittens living around here – although we’re not allowed 4 footed animals in residence – and we smuggle them into visit us, so I’ve been missing Saki too. You’ll be glad to get home and see your friends – both 2 & 4 legged – again. Say hello to June for me. I have Auntie Muriel’s book trough here with my favourite paper backs in for relaxation- everything from Jane Eyre to Elizabeth Gouge. And your teapot, (that is, my teapot that you gave me) decorates my bookcase – my table & shelves and walls are all cream coloured so I need a bit of colour.
I am taking English – all Shakespeare; History – Canadian only, darn it; Greek & Latin Literature in translation; Ancient History; and Psychology. I have about 12 hours a week in class – lectures or tutorials. We have these gowns – dark green, which doesn’t match anything, and they are an awful nuisance. We can wear whatever we want, so I can put on my slacks on cold days. It is very beautiful here now, with all the leaves turning – a perfect Thanksgiving weekend. A couple of West Indian girls are thrilled, and really looking forward to the snow – though I know they’ll get tired of it.
Well, it’s getting late and I’ll be in a bus for a long time tomorrow evening, so I think I’ll get to bed. Thanks so much for writing, if we don’t get at least one letter a day, we get awfully depressed (because everyone else seems to get mail when we don’t) so please keep it up. My love to everybody & have a good trip home. Bon Voyage. Love Linda
In the August of 1969, on the trip west, Linda and Charlie had stayed with their aunt and uncle in Penticton and met their four small cousins, David, Leslie, Robin, and Philip Costain. They wrote Linda letters in case she was homesick!
Monday 6th Oct.
Darling Lindy, These letters came for you enclosed in one from Leona, so I am sending them away at once as I know you will love them – what about being a “floter” and going to “gim”– aren’t they sweet! I also got your 2 lovely letters mailed 2nd & 4th – I always seem to get a nice batch on Monday & I enjoy them Hugely! I don’t want to stop to answer them now as I promised Charlie I would mail his today, so I will go & do so now & then come back & wash my hair etc. How wonderful to get a good haircut & only .50¢. I got fed up with mine about 2 weeks ago so dashed into S.C. Beauty Salon & got a trim only & was scalped! It is very short as you will see but I don’t mind – it will grow. I haven’t tried another Beauty Salon but don’t want to go back to Crista. I am enclosing the recipes the girls asked for & mail to the U.S. is .10¢ but Grannie leaves on 15th October, so try & get it off soon. I am also sending the picture of Alan & Donna & you can put it in your letter to Grannie – she wants it back for Auntie Muriel. I think Alan looks nicer than he really is in it – he’s 25 I think. Grannie says Donna is wearing a “peasant outfit” with flowered skirt & shawl to match & ruffly petticoat. She wears glasses with v. thick lenses but took them off for the pictures – got contact lenses for her wedding but finds smog in L.A. makes her eyes water. Grannie says Donna’s family are madly kiss-ey & she giggled at the thought of your & Charlie’s reaction! The picture is thick so may make your letter heavy, so you may need .20¢ stamp. Lovely that you can come on Thursday evening – we will all be waiting at the Bus Station with Big Smiles! I am so glad you are you & not Jean Craven! Or anyone else for that matter! The reason I must wash my hair is that Daddy & I are going to dinner at Phil & Alex’s tonight – Nancy stayed with Fanni’s sister Claire in Switzerland this summer & Claire is now here, hence the dinner party. I began to diet today so it’s sad, but I can begin again tomorrow! Must fly Love Mummy P.S. We’ll talk about jumpsuit & clothes at weekend – OK?
Dear Lynda and Charlie I am getting along fine in school. My teachers name Miss Johnson. I can write words like [printed words change to script] dog jig code add doc odd. I hope you have a Merry Christmas. Is there any snow at your house. Have you had any storms at your house. Is Charlie any bigger this year. love Robin [This may have been a later letter, given the decorative paper.]
Octber 1/69 1496 Balfour St Dear Linda My simming went quite well, but I have to stay another year in beginners. I have had trouble with my tonsils lately so may have to have them out soon. School has been going quite well lately.I spend quite a bit of time riding my bike. I have a friend Named Michele. She is just 3 years old and spends a lot of time here. I decided to stop going to Brownies because I didn’t like it. I am going to figure skating this year. I hope you have sittled in at university by now and are not too homesick. Charlie must find it quiet at home at home without you. Love from us all, Leslie
Dear Linyda I passed my swimming lesson Test. I am now in pre-juniors I learned to write [script] ccccccc My teachers name is Miss Johnson. She is very nice to me. I passed into grade 3 I am in a choir at school. We go to gim everyday on Friday. It is very at school. We have libary everyday on Thursday. My book I got on Thursday Oct. 2 is called PROUD PUMPKIN Love Robin
Dear Linyda [I think his older brother Robin helped him write this, with the words in capitals done by Philip.] I passed my swimming lessons test. I am in floters now. I am in grade 1. I can print words like LOOK up down LUCKY JANET JOHN. Those are some of the words I can spell. WITH LOVE from Philip
My intentions may have been good, but I’m afraid looming essay deadlines prevented a reply from being sent…
Darling Lindy, I just came home from taking Daddy to work and then to the Market – tomatoes, cauliflowers, peaches, limes, pears, green onions and silver dollars (dried things for my Fall floral arrangement!) – and to Ogilvie’s – pattern for a dress for me – and finally to the Liquor Store – rum, rye, white wine and Scotch – and having unloaded found your Cri de Coeur in the mail! No letters for 4 days! By now you will have the one I sent on Tuesday but I thought if I rushed this you might get it before the weekend. We got your nice long letter yesterday which we enjoyed immensely and Charlie got his too and was going to write, but he got involved in Chemistry homework which wouldn’t come right and he and Daddy were puzzling away with little sums on the back of envelopes etc. for hours. [Comment on letter in Linda’s handwriting: how familiar!] Yesterday was Dress Up day at school and Charlie went looking very elegant – he has got a new pair of trousers – dark green, very tight and slim, and he wore his yellow shirt and train tie and his gold sweater. They got their pictures taken so I hope his turns out well for a change. We went on Sat. to try to get him a new jacket, but had no luck. He thinks greenish would be nice and he tried on some which were quite nice but conventional and one which looks very nice but rather way out – double breasted and fitted waist – he didn’t know if his friends would approve! Then he tried on other more conventional double-breasted in which he looked very nice but they didn’t have green so we came home. It is a pity that you aren’t here to give your valuable opinion. Their class has been very enterprising and has tentatively booked a room at the Skyline Hotel for a dinner and dance after the Graduation – cost 10 dollars – all the boys nearly fainted! That is for a couple! Charlie doesn’t know if this is for your graduating Gr. 13 too or only theirs, but anyway he will have to have something high class to wear as the girls are going formal! Which reminds me, you must begin to think about what you want to wear for graduation. Don’t spend all your money because remember it is to buy you clothes as well as odds, bobs and books – have you bought more books that you have spent 80 dollars? Maybe it would be a good idea to keep an account of the big items – not every penny as you were trying to do before, but things costing more than the odd dollar, and then you would have a record of how much you spend on certain things. Daddy will be sending you your Oct. cheque next week probably. Fifteen dollars return for your bus fare doesn’t sound too bad, and it is lovely that you will be able to leave on Fri. afternoon and stay till Tues. morning. I have suggested to Daddy that we ask Dr. and Mrs. Shimizu to Thanksgiving Dinner and also a Swiss couple Dr. and Mrs. Jungen. They are young and if you recall we went to a party last winter to celebrate their wedding when she came over from Switzerland, and I liked her very much – he is madly quiet, but marriage may have made him more talkative. I had a call from Janet last night asking all about contact lenses and she said that she had heard from you and that she and Cathi were just green with envy because you were having such fun, and they were having such a dull time. She said that she was looking forward to seeing you next weekend, and Pat said the same about Joey. I had Pat and Edna Renault to lunch yesterday and I didn’t really get any news much as she only had a short time and Edna is such a chatterbox!
Before I forget the Moor’s address is: 62 Lorne Cres. Brantford. I don’t know if you are planning to go down to visit them before your Reading Week, but Uncle Dix did say that they could probably pick you up in Toronto so it shouldn’t cost too much! If you go down you could perhaps mention to Bruce about the Graduation weekend- Charlie says that it is on 22nd Nov. I think which is a Sat. evening, so it is probably the same set up as last year with the dance on the Friday evening. You must think whether you want me to make you a dress (dresses?) or buy because we won’t have all that much chance to choose patterns etc. and try on. I know you said that you didn’t want a long dress, but some of the short ones are very pretty and there are gorgeous materials. I am so glad that you and your friends enjoyed the cookies and fudge – of course your appreciation will spur me onto greater efforts! Re. Jean and the Cravens visit, Mrs. C. called me to thank me (I sent a small box of cookies etc. to Jean because it was nice of them to take yours) and it turns out that Jean had positively intimidated her poor family and told them that she didn’t want to have to trail family all around and didn’t want them in her room all the time etc. She was even out when they arrived and it was then that they took your parcel around to Traill as they didn’t know quite what to do, and when they were delivering it Lorna dashed out and said that Jean was in her room now and she just been talking to her, so they left it and went round. Jean did condescend to give them a glimpse of her room but never mentioned them coming to see you and your invitation, and when they took Linda Dowell’s parcel, she just waved at them out of the window and when they called out that they had a parcel for her she just called down thank you and they hung around the porter’s lodge but she didn’t come down, so I am doubly sorry that you didn’t see them as I’m sure your welcome would have made them feel very happy after their other casual receptions. Jean is a queer one though! Is she coming home at the same time as you? How extraordinary your meeting Rosemary Don! Nice that she thought you were stuck up for a change – it was always rather the other way around at school if I remember! I must fly as I am going to Margie Garrett’s to lunch and I want to write to Grannie, as she leaves on the eighth. I sent the t.p. stand to Granny C. a week or so ago but have heard nothing so far. We are having Fr. Graham and George Chapman to dinner tomorrow night – I know you will wish you could be with us, but I’ll try to remember if they say anything particularly funny! Mr. G.’s friend Michael went back to England on Tuesday so I thought he might be feeling dull – maybe he is glad to get rid of him for all I know!
Lots of love from us all – the groundhog has disappeared lately – just saw him once last week and Daddy hasn’t seen him at all so he didn’t do anything to him. Do hope that you get into the Mikado – it would be great fun I think. Much love Mummy.
I don’t know how extravagant I was, spending $80, but the Trent bookstore was in downtown Peterborough and was a wonderfully tempting place. It had vinyl records as well as all the required books, and prints and necessary stationary. I found a record of medieval music that sent me off on a new path, and over time bought prints of La Dame à la Licorne and Les Tres Riche Heures du Duc de Berry to decorate my room. I also had a big Pacific Northwest First Nations Sea Wolf, foreshadowing my future home!
It was a surprise for me now to read the last comment- by the end of September, I was already hoping to become involved in the Gilbert and Sullivan production of The Mikado! I hadn’t realized it happened so soon, but Cyn was right, it was great fun, and led to new friendships, and other music and choirs. I was so lucky to go to Trent at this time in its development.
This is the letter Cyn promised the day before, when she answered the questions in Linda’s letters, (some of which were the ones I had thought when I read her previous letters) about the Nursery School children’s behaviour!
49 Cedar Road, Ottawa 9, Ont.
25th Aug. [although she meant Sept!] Thurs.
Darling Lindy,
I talked to Pat on the phone last night and she said that Joey had had a nice long letter from you yesterday, but had gone down to S. C. to work so she hadn’t heard any news. She said that J. liked her course but was having trouble with the transport. Apparently Janet has some classes of 300 and they all sit in front of a TV set, so she isn’t very happy about that. However, you probably have heard from one or other of them and know more than I do about it all. I had a letter from Grannie this morning and she is still at Long Beach and will be till the middle of Oct. so if you want to write it is c/o Mrs. W. Jaeger, 22 Curley St., Long Beach, New York, N.Y. U.S.A. She encloses a [wedding/engagment?] picture of Donna and Alan [Linda’s 2nd cousin] for me to see and send back – Donna looks pretty in a ballerina sort of style – you know what I mean – dark-haired parted in the middle etc. but you should see Alan – he is bald now and he has a droopy moustache a la Bruno Gerussi and mutton chop whiskers! His mother and Grannie are horrified, but actually in the photo I think he looks kind of amusing – I don’t know if this is his aim though! I hope that the heat in the residence has calmed down a bit now, I agree that it is horrid, but this time of year they seem to find it difficult to get it warm but not hot in bigger buildings. I hope that the false alarm Fire Alarm hasn’t recurred and that you have managed to catch up on your sleep a bit. It’s a good thing that you don’t have classes at 8 a.m. or some ungodly hour or you really would be worn to a shred. When you get all your classes and tutorials fixed send us a timetable so that we can imagine what you are doing when. I was tickled about all your lecturers having English accents except the one with an Australian accent. They sound as if they might be fun being young and I am glad that the few lectures you’ve had were interesting. Probably you will find the library less awe-inspiring when you get used to it – you might even find some light reading tucked away in a dark corner!
Inside Trent Library- more stairs.
I have been doing very badly at the library lately but Dr. Watkins’ nurse phoned yesterday for Charlie to come in for his check up so I must rush him there and then I can have another go at that fascinating 2nd. hand book shop. I am taking Charlie down to get his 120 day license today – now that Daddy is home I have to drive him in to get the car so I am bustling around and have to go and pick him up of course. Mme Gemuss is here and Saki did her frantic retreat when she realized it this morning! I shopped this morning and bought your teabags and some of that hot chocolate powder that you don’t have to add milk, and also things to make your cookies with actually, read your roast beef diet, I can think of worse things to have every third day – imagine if it was beans or curry or something equally appetizing. I will try to remember the bra but as long as no one can trace it back to you it should be all right! At least it was a nice new one – like the lady who always put on her best underwear when she went out in case she was run over! I’m glad the washing went well – have you done your ironing yet and where do you do it? [Answer: probably never.] Now that I have left the Nursery School, I don’t know any more bits of news about the possessive mothers, but when I left Margie had managed to part with her mother and spend a whole morning without her so that was progress. Mabel said that you could sort of see her thinking ‘Come on it’s time to go now, and then I can put on my act and get it over with!’ The kicking and screaming I gather were getting more and more perfunctory! Re: Lynn McSherry in S.S. when I said no inhibitions, I didn’t mean anything terrible! Just a general take over and everyone get out of my way here I come attitude. She comes to N.S. 3 days a week and has a little friend Janet whom she bosses unmercifully! However, the meek ones usually rebel after a few weeks of N.S. atmosphere! I had a phone call this a.m. from a mother who had her child in Manor Park but on our waiting list, and I can now get her in, so she went down to see our school this morning. She told me that she liked it so much and was very impressed with the happy atmosphere and the fact that they were all busy and creative. She added ‘I don’t like to see them just playing around and fooling’ so I wondered what had been going on at Manor Park. Mrs. Kunce is there now you know. Did I say thank you for the funny picture of Cathy and Terry? Which reminds me that I have to take Daddy’s films this afternoon to the photo shop. On the phone on Monday he told you about how clever he had been to beat the airlines and get back to Ottawa on time even though his flight had been cancelled but Charlie and I thought we were just as clever to walk into the airport just as he got off the plane. We consulted 4 authorities – 2 by phone and 2 at the airport – and were told the flight had been cancelled and that he would arrive at 10:30, 6:30, 9:00 and 4:45 – so we ambled into the big foyer at 5 pm and there he walked through the door. He brought Charlie a boomerang from Australia, and for me a piece of amber on a gold chain and two long dangly amber earrings! The amber is fascinating – it has blobs of darker colour in it and is so light. Also for a souvenir he brought two lovely hand-embroidered pictures of Fujiyama which he saw being embroidered in a silk shop, and a little ‘peasant’ sake set made of grey pottery which he got from a pottery place Dr. Morino took him to.
Opal Ring
He has a little gift for you here which you can get at Thanksgiving but your main one is the one from Australia which is coming by mail to you.
I am enclosing a picture from a magazine of a jump suit. It is a Simplicity pattern and I got it this morning at S.C. I also got some material- pattern enclosed- which I thought would look nice and match your winter coat, but if you don’t like it let me know.
I think the suit is cute, and if you did like it I could also make it up in a gay material for lounging pyjama type of thing. Anyway, I won’t do anything till I hear from you and if you like the pattern but not the material we can perhaps get something for Thanksgiving. Do you realize that it is 2 weeks tomorrow that you would be coming home?
And she made me 2 jumpsuits as promised- without extraneous purple skirt- so clever!
This is Charlie. Will write to you on Saturday.
Monday morning. This letter has been sitting in the typewriter all weekend waiting to be finished, but I had N.S. pay cheques and money to do yesterday and it took me all afternoon and evening. You will notice that Charlie didn’t get written either. His team got beaten by Jim’s yesterday again but he didn’t seem too downhearted – perhaps he is getting used to it now. Then there was a football game on TV and then homework and that’s the way it goes. I drove Daddy into work this morning to get the car and then took pay cheques into the N.S. to be greeted with big hugs by Mary Anne and various others. Even Margie came up and didn’t actually hug me but grinned and chatted and my what a difference – she looked happy and cheerful and apparently her mother just says goodbye and pops off – aren’t Nursery Schools wonderful. The new teacher, Margaret Moffett was there – being very formal and polite with me – the Big Money Bags! They have a little white hamster with a little brown baby now, courtesy of Mrs. Greenwell, and in Noli’s old cage. How the poor little things will survive I don’t know as the children were all around and they were poking into the shavings trying to sleep. I am meeting Phil for lunch today – we are going downtown but haven’t decided where yet. I am to get tickets for Charlie for the Ottawa- Hamilton game next Sat. – he is taking Crystal – apparently Papa doesn’t object now. This is my week for lunches. Pat is back at work so I have invited her and Edna Renault to lunch on Wednesday in her lunch hour and then on Thursday Margaret has invited me to lunch at her house as her mother is staying with her. I forgot to tell you that Margaret Savic came to coffee on Friday and so far Michael is still going to Algonquin, but Peter drives him every morning and takes him home every afternoon! Then in the evening he is rehearsing a play out at Britannia and Peter does the same thing again – picking him up at 11:30 sometimes. How’s that for babysitting! And Margaret says he is very serious about the girl friend and they are even talking of getting married next year! We always thought he was immature, but he’s going to have to grow up with an awful bump if he gets married on the sort of job he will be able to get it after one year at Algonquin – if he lasts the year of course. I must fly and have a shower or I will be late for Phyl. It was lovely hearing from hearing you last night, love, and I’m glad that you finally got the parcel and that everything was OK. Will write again soon – lots of love from us all, Mummy.
The bus from Traill in town out to the Trent Campus.
49 Cedar Road, Ottawa 9, Ont.
24th Sept. Wed.
Darling Lindy,
I thought that I had lots of time to shorten my new bedroom curtains and then write to you, but it has taken me ages to shorten one so I have stopped and will write a short letter to mail this afternoon and then write more and mail tomorrow. I don’t know if letters I mail on Thurs. will get to you before the weekend, so you must let me know.
Minute groundhog in our back garden!
I am enclosing the pictures which came yesterday and you can send on the ones for A. Merle and U. Dix and then send the others back to us. Your little groundhog came out very well and the wedding pictures aren’t bad, but the ones taken at the Whitwell’s are a disappointment. I sent the film to that Mail Photo Place where I got them 2 dollars cheaper or something – anyway Daddy says that I got a cheap printing job too, but Charlie and I think that it was pretty poor light under the trees that day and that is why they are so sad. Anyway, here they are. Daddy brought back one roll developed and 3 more to do, but we haven’t had a picture show yet.
Cec at the airport on the way home.
Already it seems quite proper and natural to have Daddy back. And boy! – lots more dishes to wash! You can imagine how Charlie and I have been doing lately! It seems incredible that you will have been gone 2 weeks tomorrow. It seems years in some ways and hardly any in others. I went to tea with Mrs. Craven yesterday afternoon – she had Marjorie, Betty, Ruth L. and Mrs. Martin, Mrs. James and Mrs. McNally all to meet Mrs. Craven Sr. so we had a really good talky time. Mrs. C. and Betty D. and I all compared notes about our Girls of course and we all seem to think that you were doing all right. Mrs. C says they will be leaving on Sat. a.m. to go down to Peterborough, so I will take her a box of cookies for you on Friday and she says that she would be glad to deliver it. Maybe they would like to see your room too – you said something about Jean’s not being very nice – have you seen it yet? I think that I will pack up Grannie’s tea pot and put it in the parcel as you have so many guests and the little brown one is so tiny, and I won’t forget to put in the teabags – girls at Traill likeTetley’s Tea! Lipton’s is just the same!
I met Marie Tweedle in Shoppers C. on Monday afternoon and had a great long chat with her – couldn’t get away! Heard all about dear David and how he just LOVES Teacher’s College and it was just his cup of tea. They were doing Gr. 1 Arithmetic or something – ‘You are having a party and you have 5 little friends. How many boys and girls are at your party?’ ‘Yes, that’s right –6 children. Now, how many paper cups will we need’ and they put out paper cups and then plates and napkins and sit down and have a party. Marie says ‘Arithmetic is not his strong point, so I told him he’d better watch that the problems don’t get too difficult!’ Anyway, who else do you think is going to Teacher’s College? Nancy Douglas. She had a wonderful time in Europe, and got back and started right in and is apparently in the same ‘shift’. as David –, so I told Phil to ask her if she knew him! I met Sandy Cooper in S.C. also on Sat. and asked how he was doing and he has changed from Algonquin to Carleton, so I don’t know how Joey will be doing for a ride. Dr. Savic drives Michael every morning because Margaret says it takes an hour and a half – dear Michael! Sandy said that he found the course at Algonquin wasn’t what he wanted and something about having to get an 80% average to carry on at Carleton, but I didn’t quite take it in. I have phoned Pat and got no answer and then Edna Renaud told me she has already gone back to work, so I have no news of Joanne to tell you. Have you heard from her or Janet yet? I guess that was a letter from Sandra which I forwarded to you yesterday. Your brother is going to write and tell you all about a glorious Gloucester football game – I shall tell you that 2 girls came in a car last night and asked if Charlie was in, but unfortunately he was still out at the football practice. When I described them to him he decided they must be Maureen and Lois – they were cute anyway so I don’t think he should discourage them! There is a dance this Friday – GAA etc. and Charlie is now on the BAA as the Officials Rep. so he is going to have to help decorate the gym and is actually going – STAG!
I must stop or I won’t get this mailed today, but I’ll continue and answer your letters and tell you what Daddy brought home. We all love your letters – very interesting and amusing. I must say life in Residence has changed since Daddy L.L. days – bring your own booze parties weren’t known then! By the way, thinking of Daddy L.L. and some of the funny illustrations playing basketball in bloomers, do you have to take any athletics? And if so, what? Also, did you ever meet your Amiga and what is she like? Much love from us all, Mummy
[handwritten] P.S. It is raining – very Nobel of me to go out and mail this. Love.
The references to other letters that I was sent were spot on- all my friends were very kind about sending me the news, at least in the month of September- I have no other letters from this school year, but obviously valued the connection and hung on to the first month’s correspondence, although they have no place in this collection. When it comes to Jean Webster’s Daddy Long Legs, I’m sure Cyn did not expect any similarities between an American girl’s college before WW1 and Traill, but if I had been expected to take part in any athletic activity, she certainly would have heard my outrage! The nicest thing about Trent was that they did not insist on any courses- no demand for a science to make me well rounded or anything- and I was allowed, after warnings that the essay load would be heavy, to take the 2 English and 2 History courses I wanted (as well as a basic Psychology course which I thought I might need as a future teacher and which resulted in the only D I ever got) so in the next 3 years I focussed on my double major to the exclusion of every other subject and enjoyed all my courses!
This is to let you know that I have transferred you to a group doing periods I and either II or III in History 10. This group holds its first meeting on Wednesday, October 1 in period 6 (2:00 P.M.) in President Symons’ office at Rubidge Hall. I trust this arrangement will be satisfactory; if not, perhaps you could call me as soon as possible at 748–1567.
Yours sincerely,
Douglas McCalla Department of History
Yes, my first year History 10 seminars were with the President of Trent University, T.H.B. Symons himself, and 14 other students. We sometimes had tea around the conference table as we discussed Canadian History. He was a lovely man.
These letters on the occasion of the first Costain bird leaving the nest were already complicated by the fact that one parent was travelling and the other parent was handling the departure and all the attendant details. These included almost daily letters not always dated properly! This note from Cyn to her daughter should have been the first posted- it was written the day after Cyn and Charlie drove Linda to her university and installed her, Friday September 5. The errands Cyn plans to run that day are reported on in the subsequent letters. My apologies for the mis-filing that messed up the chronology.
49 Cedar Road Ottawa 9 Friday
Darling Lindy, Here I am back from Nursery School and writing a note with the extra cheque for $40 which I promised you. See how things go and if you find you have enough to cover the initial expenses, we’ll wait and send the next $40 in October, but if you are running short, let us know. It was lovely to have your phone call last night and to know all was going well. I hope that you got to sleep all right as you must have been really tired. Charlie and I haven’t been in bed so early for months, but it was quite a long drive back and so we toddled off to bed. We stopped once on the way home & I had tea & a piece of lemon pie while Charlie had a hamburger, and my pie was homemade & delicious so Charlie had apple pie which was just as good. It was only a small place & seem to be run by a family & the lady did the baking. We felt very lucky. We had tea when we got home & I had bacon & eggs & Charlie had bacon & toast. I guess you weren’t able to make a cup of tea last night, but maybe you will find a kettle etc. nearer your room. If you have to get your own kettle, you could either see if you can get one in Peterborough or wait & get one here at Thanksgiving. Which reminds me, I re-addressed the Traill Booklet & mailed it by the 9:15 post this morning so you will get it on Monday when you get this I expect. The phone keeps ringing – Mrs Martin for me to pick her up at the Hospital this afternoon & a Sunday School mother registering her children over the phone! Nursery School was quite quiet this morning except for Lynn McSherry who has no inhibitions & made the place her own! One very clinging mother who appeared each time we got Mark interested in something, & so brought on new tears & prolonged the agony! I am going down town to the Bank now & will take back Library Books. Then at 4 I pick up Charlie for a haircut at St Laurent. We’ll have an ice cream cone & think of you. Saki is sleeping soundly on her chair but would send a little nibble for you. Much love Mummy.
Speaking of libraries, this is Trent Library in pre-computer days.
It is hard to look back and remember how money worked in pre-plastic times. I opened a bank account in Peterborough, but I hadn’t really had a summer job that year after high school, so had no earnings of my own to fall back on. I gather from this note that the initial expenses settling me in that Thursday had been a bit more than expected, and Cyn was making sure that I would have enough cash for anything else that might turn up. (Such as a tea kettle. I expect I ventured down town in Peterborough, cashed the $40 cheque and immediately bought an electric kettle. My grandmother had sent me an early morning tea set all the way from St Vincent and fortunately the teapot, milk, and hot water jug, and a plate had survived the journey, and were carefully included in my moving-to-Trent box of essentials. Because tea is essential.)
A decade later when I was teaching high school, there were scams focusing on getting new college students to take out credit cards and go into debt without realizing it, and teachers were asked to enlighten future victims- but in the year 69/70, no one wasted time targeting students like me!
Darling Lindy, I have just finished writing to Grannie as I haven’t written for weeks and got a letter today asking all about you and when you went to College. I gave her your address and told her about us driving you down and what we did that day, but she would love to hear from you if you have time. Her address at the moment is: – c/o Mrs. W. Jaeger, 22 Curley St.. Long Beach, New York, N.Y. U.S.A. but I don’t know how long she will be there as she doesn’t say when she is leaving. I also had 2 (continuous) letters from Daddy today, written from Japan, and he asks about you and says he will write to you so perhaps you have got a letter too, by now. It will be lovely to see him on Monday and I’m only sorry that you won’t be here too, but you must telephone anyway. Today has been a very newsy day, as I also had a phone call from Maureen asking for your address and saying she had written you a long letter – she sounded as if she had a cold, but we didn’t talk long. Then Mrs. Craven called and asked me to tea next week to meet Jean’s Grandmother, so we had a nice gossip about our Girls and Trent etc. Oh, while I am on the subject of your friends and acquaintances, Mrs Haynes phoned on Monday (about the computer course Charlie was interested in) and I asked how Janet was, but apparently being her first real day, she still didn’t know what was really going on. She had gone to one or two discussion groups last week, but found them not very entertaining, I gathered. I was in the Rideau Library yesterday and Mrs. McNeely was there so I asked her how Tom was getting on and he likes Carleton so far and says there are lots of kids he knows. Who else? Oh, yes – I was telling Fanni about your room to yourself, and she was telling me that Janek had to share a room and the Univ. wrote and asked him if he had any preferences about a room-mate, so Janek, thinking of his French said, oh, he would quite like someone from overseas, so what has he got but an Egyptian! A break for tea and blueberry pie! I went to the Market yesterday afternoon and bought all sorts of fruit and vegetables. Last night I made Peach Chutney (had a long chat with Mrs. Pierce on the phone and the chutney caught on the bottom, so it is a bit Strong, but otherwise OK) and tomorrow I will make the Famous Dill Pickles. Today I made Charlie a blueberry pie, so I had to taste a piece to see if it was all right.
My window is hidden by the car.
Charlie and I really enjoyed hearing all about all your doings in your letters. I hope that you got the handbook I sent back to you but I don’t know if you would find it much use by the time it arrived. I’m glad that even if you miss breakfast you can make out on apples and toast and tea and don’t starve! I do feel very pleased that the brownies were so much appreciated- did you want me to send you more cookies? I don’t know how fresh they would be by the time you got them but we can always try. Let me know. And by the way, about typing your essays – Charlie came up with the idea, that if you got them done in time you could always send them home and I could do that! Actually, if you wanted them typed somewhere in town you would have to get them done in good time and it would be quite expensive I imagine, so it’s a thought. I wouldn’t mind it if you gave me time to get them done! [As it turned out, the idea of me ever getting an essay done before the due date was laughable and my professors had to make do with my handwriting.] Can you believe that tomorrow will be one week since you’ve left home? As you say, it seems months already and this week with me at the Nursery School each morning seems to have gone on for ages. Nothing very exciting has happened there – yesterday it rained and we couldn’t take the children out to play which was rather trying, but everything is going quite well and all the children have now begun. The mother who kept coming back to wave to dear little Mark, brought him the next day and then halfway through the morning phoned to see if he was all right and of course he hadn’t turned a hair and this morning he dressed up in all the dress up clothes and roared through the rooms like a tornado! We now have a mother even worse than that though. She belongs to a little girl called Margie and apparently took her to Betty Hyde’s N. S. last year and sat with her every day for 3 months and then took her out. Well, Tues. she came with her and the 2 of them sat together all morning – Margie dragging her mother from paint to dough to jigsaws and mother tagging along. Then came circle time, and when I gave Mother a chair Margie wanted to stay with Mummy, so Mummy sat on the floor in the circle with Margie on her knee, so you can imagine how delighted I was! Today Mother and Margie arrived late with Margie dressed in old corduroy jeans and an old flannelette pyjama top fastened with 1 button! Nothing underneath – Margie hadn’t wanted to get dressed. GRR-r-r! This time Mother had been invited out to coffee so come circle time she told Margie she was going and you should have heard the screams and heard the tantrums! All the kids stood around and watched as she rolled and kicked on the floor and Mary Anne said to me “Why is the little girl doing that?” She didn’t go into circle, but in the end took a cookie and eventually went out to play and was perfectly all right. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow! The Saga of Margie. I hope that you have got your gown by now – you really seemed to have trouble finding out about it and finding the place open. How does it feel wearing it? I am so glad that everyone is kind and helpful and that you have got to know so many of the girls and are feeling more at home. The picnic sounded fun, even if the dance was a bit of a bore, but after all the first one everyone must have been feeling strange, and they will be more fun as you get to know more people. Saki and I are very sorry that Gary has put you off Puss in Boots Cat Food, because it is the only one she will eat. In fact they have just brought out a new KIDNEY cat food which is deeelicious! I can’t imagine anything less appetizing than a cat food factory – how can he bear to eat anything now? How nice of Cathy to promise to lend you her hairdryer – you’ll have to see what Santa can do about it I guess. From that Traill booklet I gather that record players are quite acceptable, so have you had yours on much? Also don’t forget that pink card to be signed for your 20 dollar Youth Allowance – it would go nicely towards a hairdryer! I am enclosing your Library Card which came today – I thought you might as well keep it in your wallet as it might get mislaid if it just lay around at home. I had a good little chuckle over the dry sherry and Andrew Aitkins bottle of sauterne. Did Andrew know you or say hello or anything or are you too low and meek for him to notice? I’ll be interested to hear if you see anyone else you know when the other students return. This afternoon I had a Mrs. Johnson to tea– the person who is taking over my job in Scientist’s Wives, poor dear! She’s very nice and I like her – apparently she worked at NRC for 18 years and has only been married for 4– knows people like Kim and Beulah. I must ask people about her and find out what her romance was like! The first Scientist Wives notice came today and the Sept. meeting is up at Kingsmere and the Oct. meeting is a lunch out at the Seignory Club at Montebello – I’m not very interested in either and it is lovely to think that I needn’t go if I don’t want to. I must stop now as I have to draft a letter to the N. S. parents from the committee – gently reminding them to pay their fees among other words of wisdom! Saki sends lots of purrs and bites and scratches! She really misses you because she is demanding lots of attention from Charlie and me and at the weekend she was wandering around looking for something or someone to play with. Hug from Charlie and lots of love from Mummy
I was interested in the tone of this letter – Cyn has written the same news on the same day [Carol’s letter already posted] to her mother and her daughter, but this letter is more intimate somehow, with small details included that add to the sense of home. The comments from the parents of other people going to Trent are amusing- I can’t remember ever interacting with Linda Dowell or Andrew Aitkin who lived in our Ottawa neighbourhood but were a bit older, and although Jean Craven had been in the same classes as I for 13 years, I really never saw her until our 4th year when we rented rooms in the same house. The college system and the different disciplines really separated students so the friends I made at Trent were the ones with whom I lived.
Now I have to go back a bit chronologically, and interrupt the flow of Cyn’s letters to her mother, because I discovered that, like my grandmother Carol, I am a packrat. I may not have kept ALL of the letters Cyn wrote me, but I discovered, while looking for pictures of my university buildings, a stash of letters from that first month of Trent, when I had begged for lots of letters from home. Both Cec, while travelling, and Cyn had responded and so I have nine loving communications sent to 18-year-old Linda to add before Carol gets an overview of the Costains’ life in October ’69.
Cec mailed these in August from Hawaii on the 18th, and then from Australia and marked them HOLD so they waited for Linda in her mail slot at Traill for her to arrive on September 11th.
When Linda was 6!
Dear Linda., This reminds me of your picture in St Vincent. I didn’t see much but flowers here, at four in the morning 1/2 hr stop. Love Daddy
Dear Linda, They are just as cute as the picture. It’s too bad they can’t live on Puss n’ Boots [cat food], I’d bring one home. Hope these find you in college. Lots of luck, Love Daddy
And a month or so later there arrived a large box in the Porter’s Lodge from Australia containing a surprise present sent by Cec who had arrived home weeks before. It was a lovely soft huggable stuffie of a koala bear just like the postcard! An instant hit in residence.
A Family History in Letters 