twistin his nose and stikin my finger in his eye, because if you like
him I will leave him alone fer your sake. I had quite a good birthday.
Miss Betty found out when it was, and she gave me a bully party,
but we had a feerce time gettin sugar. You no mister Hoover the new
minister I was telling you about? Well he has got reel exited about
sugar, and he has told the shopkeepers they must give only one pound
to itch family, and miss Betty she wanted more than that to make my
cake, because she sez it is hard enuf to cook with things but it is
the limit to cook without them. And she dident no what to do until she
had a brite idee. She sent Molly to Butler's store and she got some
mapel seerop and mixt it all up with the sugar and a lot of other good
stuff. And I had a bully cake. It was kinder soft to have candels
on it, but miss Betty made it all herself and that is more than your
Teddy did, and it was a bully cake just the same. And she let me ask
Dinky Odell over to have some and we had hot chocolate and a fust rate
time. I am sorry your sister dident like the poitry. Some peeple dont
no a good thing when they see it. Carl Odell has writ to Amanda, and
he sez, "I am writing this in the midst of falling shells and boms
busting in air, but if ever I come out al-rite little girl I'll come
back to you." Carl Odell must have been sent to the front pretty quick
al-rite as he has only been gone too weaks, and he sez he has a lot of
inside inflammation, but he is afraid the censer will cut it out.

And now I come to the bizness part of this leter. Fer one yere now I
have been your godfather and you have been my godchild, and we have
hit it off pretty well I think, and now the yere is drawing to a
close, and next month it may be all will be ended between us. Little
girl, what I have been wishing you wood do fer Christmas is not a
scarf, or slipper or ennything but this. Will you be my godchild fer
a nuther yere? I guess mebbe you mite do better fer yourself and get a