or I’d have had a regular individual picture taken for you. Maybe these won’t be printed for quite a long time, too, since he hasn’t got the necessary paper. -But I’ll do my best to get one to you anyway. Although you sure never married me for looks and you must love me a lot to want one. JOE

26.

August I Dearest, g

I just got your letter of the 25th. This is being written on what I gather to be a German Royal so all mistakes are due to it. Anyway our having it is a marvel. It is the first I decent machine we have been able to acquire for ourselves, and our getting it is due to some first-rate wrangling which Bob and I did at the General Staff plus over half an hour of swearing in Spanish and French simultaneously at the store-keeper at the International Brigade warehouse, who first ‘swore he had no machines to fill the order we had, from G.H.Q. and then, after much swearing, threats, etc., tried to palm off on us all kinds of old broken-down specimens. We finally got this new one, but I have far from solved the mysteries of its keyboard as you will very well see.

I do hope that you will continue the splendid practice of sending me snaps each week, only you are not sufliciently religious about keeping it strictly once a week—sometimes two weeks go by without one. I have all the snaps mounted in a little pocket photo album which I carry in my shirt pocket in my union card case all the time. I need less than no excuse at all to demonstrate you to all and sundry if they are good guys.

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