Letter, Charles and Anna Mantinband to family; undated

              Letter, Charles and Anna Mantinband to family; [n.d.]
Transcript

Dear Family,

Here, in order that we may share with you as completely as possible, all that we did in connection with what the newspaper headlined as the "unique swap" of the Rabbis from Dixie and Yankeeland, is the report. We kept random notes along the way, most of it is recaptured from our recollections, and some of it you already know from our letters en route.

First, of course, the weather. All the predictions came true, only more so. Snow, slush, sub-zero temperatures, icy roads. We saw our first snow in ten years when our train pulled in in the early morning in Washington, and all the cars in the yard had a six-inch layer of the white stuff. Later in Poughkeepsie, we saw the kids belly-whopping on sleds and sliding down hill, every doorway cluttered with dripping galoshes, etc. But all our misgivings about the effect of the weather on arthritis proved groundless, and we found ourselves invigorated and delighting in it. When we met Rabbi and Mrs. Rosenthal (by pre-arrangement) in Washington, on their way down, we drove through heavy snowfall to Richmond with them four hours for 100 miles, and though we made a prompt bus connection for Norfolk, it was eleven o'clock before we got in - nine hours for a total of 200 miles. But the car and the bus were warm, we were comfortable, and it didn't matter too much. Then, after talk until 2 AM and a leisurely morning visit, we flew back to New York the next afternoon.

In Washington, while dad was busy at an NCCJ conference all day, I spent the day with Julia - we saw the film "Anastasia" and dad joined us for dinner. Most of the day we spent indoors. We were very distressed by Julia's health, I've never seen her quite so troubled; but she keeps herself going, and is stoic about it. The house in which she lived all these years has been sold, she has disposed of all her possessions, and is now planning to spend most of the year in St. Petersburg, with interludes away. Maybe she'll come our way again, we hope. Also, in Washington, a Broadway play was opening, "The Chalk Garden", so of course we took that in. Julia left us after dinner, being too tired by the day to take any more.

In Norfolk, the next day, we had a very good visit. Billy Bernstein had skipped his dates to be home when we got there. Aunt Lottie had done all the cooking the day before, to leave her free for our visit. (They could both have followed their normal procedure, since we got in so late!) But we made the most of it, and had a happy reunion, and Harry drove us to the airport when we left.

We got to New York town in time to meet Louis and Anna Rosenbaum, for dinner. They were spending a week in the city before taking off for a world tour, and dinner was served in their room at the Astor. All the news about Florence was good, and it was joyous being with them again. We had tickets for "Separate Tables", just across the street from the hotel, so we came back for drinks and another visit after the show.

The next day, after seeing "The Barretts of Wimpole St." and browsing about the city, we took off for Poughkeepsie. The next ten days were crowded with reunions, with old friends (grown older, like ourselves), with newcomers, with dinners, speeches, activities of all kinds, including another trip back to New York. This on the day dad had been booked for a talk at B'Nai Brith meeting by the Tausings.