"Sweet:
Did you have a wonderful time at Homecoming? I hope so- and I hope you missed, and kept a place in your heart, for one who could not come home.
I woke late this morning, read a while and went to sleep again. I wanted no dinner. I woke again about four- the L___s were gone- and I could not stand this empty house, so I set out to walk.
I meant to walk around town but as I came to the edge I saw, way off in the distance, a high hill. Something made me want to climb it. Somehow it seemed like the top of the world. The ground was soggy- squashy under my feet- the wind bit thru my sweater- yet I was strangely warm. I followed a creek for a mile looking for a place to jump it- but finally waded thru. I hurried- I wanted to see before it got dark. I climbed innumerable fences, fought thru countless briars- but at last I stood on the top.
What did I see? In the distance another hill still higher- more difficult to reach. Life is like that, somehow, we struggle to reach the peak- where the world lies all at our feet, but always there is a higher hill-
I thought of the hundred twenty first Psalm- "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my life. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.--- The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul."
How long had I stood there? The moon shone through the clouds- then was gone. Below the lights from a farm house were yellow spots in the blackness. It began to rain-
And then I was no longer on the hill. I was back in Chapel writing notes to you in the choir loft- watching the back or your head at Sunday Vespers- dancing to the corner with you- watching you in the choir on commencement morning- running thru' the rain with you- laughing on the porch with you that first night in June- dancing with you at Manhattan- telling you I loved you that first time- watching you measure off fractions of an inch to show me how much you liked me- playing tennis with you in the sun at Ellis Park- phoning you hourly the day you didn't get back from your trip- feeling you lips on mine that first time you let me kiss you- waiting for you in front of Killian's- telling you I was going away- saying good-bys the night I left- crying with you in those last few minutes on the porch- calling you that first time from Colfax- dancing Alpha Xi Sweetheart with you at your dance- laughing at you as you scolded me about my overcoat- dreaming of you- thinking of you- adoring you- loving you- loving you- loving you- forever- always!
At last I started home- cold-wet-stumbling thru' the trees in the dark- but at peace with the world.
And that hilltop- in the wind and the rain and the dark- was not half so lonely as this house I call home.
I love you, Jean
Bob"
