This is a collection of letters (and telegrams) written by Umberto Nobile in Joliet, Illinois to Hermine Speier in Rome in October, 1939. Nobile continues to express feeling very alone in his new life in America, and he seems to have lost all faith in the postal service’s ability to deliver the mail from Italy that he views as his only solace. In addition to his debilitated mental state, he reports a decline in his physical health. He is invited to attend and make a speech at the annual meeting of a post of the American Legion in early October, in the suburbs of Chicago. Mid-month, he is the main speaker and honored guest at a Columbus Day celebration in Aurora, IL. He also reports having traveled to Chicago for various reasons, two being to see performances of Aida and La traviata. He reports that his high school teaching has proven rather time-consuming, since he is often having to look up astronomy-related vocabulary in order to adequately prepare his lesson plans in English. Navigating the unreliable postal systems continues to be a popular topic of discussion in these letters: Nobile is constantly oscillating between favorable and critical opinions of airmail and mail by steamship, so he alerts Speier as he switches between the two methods in hopes of achieving more efficient correspondence. Explaining to Speier prices of commodities and correspondence, as well as cost of living, is another prominent feature of Nobile’s letters. During this period, the couple simultaneously reads The Betrothed by Manzoni.