A handwritten letter by Pesa Frydlender written on both sides of a single card, a so-called clean card, with visible perforation at the upper edge. Above the main body, on the first page, is a framed annotation with the text (oriented towards the top edge); annotations are also in the right and left margins of this page and on the second page, in the left margin.
Some words very difficult to read.
Content (spelling and punctuation have been partly updated to make it clearer):
Warsaw, 16 XII 1938
Dear Tadek!
I'm a bit of a pig that I didn't let you know at once what I had arranged at N.P. [i.e. the offices of “Nasz Przegląd”] (the “Our Review”). I was there, and Mr Rosen [Rozen?], or whatever his name is, told me that they had paid 20 zlotys for November due to a misunderstanding. In future, they will pay 25 zlotys and pay you accordingly later [?] for November. If you think they need a reminder at the end of the month, let me know, and I'll intervene accordingly. How's your life going? I gather from your articles that you work a lot. They are more substantive and look [!] like Tadek Perl, the journalist, feathers his nest. Apparently, you have submitted some good stuff to Głos Gospodarczy (the “Economic Voice”). Here, a hard frost has suddenly taken hold, the kind that paints the most wonderful flowers on your windows. I'm sitting in my den right now, wedged between my desk and the masonry stove, feeling as snug as a bug in a rug. Warsaw lives in the shadow of [local government] elections. Apparently, on the outskirts of the city, intimidated sheenies won't vote because the ONR members [i.e. members of the then already illegal far-right National Radical Camp (Polish: Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny, ONR)] might beat them up. On the one hand, there's fear that the voter turnout won't be greater than for the Sejm, and on the other hand, that Ozon [i.e. Camp of National Unity (Polish: Obóz Zjednoczenia Narodowego, OZN or Ozon] which ultimately won the election by a large majority] won't [...]. The Zionist Democrats put on the list of candidates anyone who wanted to run. In my electoral district, the PPS [Polish Socialist Party (Polish: Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS)] allowed the Bund only to put up a list of its own. Ha, I'll have to vote for the Bund's Ehrlich [presumably referring to Henryk Ehrlich (1882–1942)], but I don't really fancy it. And besides, people are still frantic, and we don't seem to be able to care about anything apart from the Jewish issue. For a while, the gossip was all about the submitted [?] bill on Jewish citizenship, which you know from the press. I've been at loggerheads with Nalek lately. He tries to convince me that the general strike in Paris has been a success. It's no big deal that the metro [?] was running, and other industries were operating, but it was all under duress. I showed him your letter. According to him, even your letter shows that the strike was successful. What faith! I envy him a great deal, by the way. We dine together at the Teachers' Union. Every day, he sits at a different table and campaigns for elections. He does this brilliantly, coolly, without irritating anyone. And he promises to hang me, if necessary, for my criticism of a certain world view. And it doesn't even help [?] me that I don't want to run to represent the tenement house owners and against the workers, even though he is taking on these issues because if he doesn't, someone else will along with the money. And to top it all off, he argues that he will hang me [?] with your help. Is that so?
Other than that, I read, relatively work a lot and have started treating teeth for money. I've had a very good month so far. So far, besides the union money, I've already earned some 125 zlotys from the legal practice. Among other things, your dad persuaded the cosmetics representatives to let me edit a memorial. Apparently, I did a good job; your father was delighted. I got 30 zlotys in advance, and I'm about to get something about 100 zlotys more. Gelernter [?] [a surname already mentioned by the author in another of her letters; at that time, there were two male advocates with that name active in Warsaw: Szymon and Józef] is the one I often fill in for; he pays me 5 zlotys to appear in the S. Gr. [magistrates’ courts] and 10 zlotys for the S.O. [regional courts]. Today, I was in the 8th S.O. I defended a fence; there were nine of them and as many defence counsels. The case was "betterer"; every other defendant was barely "literate" and "not guilty". Mine was no better; the verdict will be delivered on Monday. At one point, my voice faltered a little; the room [...], a comfortable bench for defence counsels, gentlemen in togas and Pesa Frydlender from Puławy. But I held my own and took the liberty of pointing out to Mr Prosecutor, who is probably our age, that he's no expert in commercial law.
So, as you can see, my life goes around limited boundaries, court, lawsuits for payment of dues, [...], the union, sometimes theatre and books. I devour the latter in bulk; I read Young Poland literature. In the early days, I was ashamed to be so behind. I've done a lot of homework, but I can't get rid of my childhood habit of reading a book at one sitting. It's quite like drinking a glass of vodka in one gulp; I step away from everyday life, let my imagination run wild, and then look back at myself from the time when I was carefree running around Puławy Park. And I often feel that I've actually wasted away, depleted myself – a sickening emptiness
[end of letter as annotations along various edges of the card:].
and nothing more. I was very happy with your letter and, I don't know why, I was touched by it. I really like you a great deal. And I realise that if it's only your friendship that's keeping me going, and if it weren't for that, who knows if I wouldn't have really gone down in the world.
[elsewhere:] I have a heap of love for you, so I'm giving it to you in bulk. Among our colleagues [?] who are interested in the economic life, T.P [i.e. Tadeusz Perl] is an "authority"[;] they appear to know all his articles.
[elsewhere, annotation enclosed by lines:] Are you still so wild, are there any Spanish ladies coming to trial, or Parisian ladies, or maybe some other type altogether... you're probably spending the carnival in Paris and making the most of it.
[elsewhere:] Your last letter arrived in Warsaw a little unglued. Be careful.
