Letter from Alma to Will: End of June 1904
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A letter from Alma, at home in Canton OH, to her older brother Will, in the Philippines.
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1904-06-30: tour stops---images---audio---~TRANSCRIPT~---notes---links---site navigation
Dear Will:
I will write a little letter and put it in with Mama’s. The strenuous life I have been leading has nearly done me up. I am glad Commencement is over. It certainly was a rush time. Eva came up to visit me June 12 and stayed until after Commencement. I hadn’t any time to entertain her so I turned her loose on the town. I tried to send her to all the recitals, and she did get to nine or ten, but I missed one and she has been heaping reproaches on me ever since. She had a very good time. Her susceptible heart had a bad time of it. She fell in love at almost every turn. The most serious cases were Professor Grover and Mr. Tyler. Mr. Tyler was the worst but it is hopeless, for alas! Mr. Tyler is a colored man. He graduated from the Conservatory this June and sings and plays beautifully. He is nice-looking, entertaining, and very popular. Eva never saw a nice colored man before and he was a great surprise to her. She spends all her time wishing he was white. I am relieved that she doesn’t wish she was colored.
Eva and I spent a day in Cleveland with Bess Werntz. Bess has a baby boy 2 months old - Benson. He is a dear sweet-tempered little thing. Bess is just as sweet and charming as ever.
Eunice Miller is here visiting me. She will stay a week and then she will spend a week with Sara before going to her home in Newton Mass.
I finally found a house. Eva and I got blue as indigo while we were hunting. There aren’t any houses built to rent. I finally got one with a bathroom, a very nice bathroom but no furnace. There is a large nice range in the house. The house is on Lorain St very near the college buildings but in the same yard with another house. The house is [illegible] new and pretty nice but is painted an ugly green. Anyway it was the best I could do. It is $15 a month. I couldn’t get a better place even for $20. The queerest thing about it is the bathroom. It opens off of the front hall. It is a foot or two lower than the rest of the first floor. But I was glad to get a bathroom at all. Half the houses I looked at didn’t have any. We can move Aug. 15 but probably won’t before Sept. 1. If our mail is sent here it will be forwarded.
Eva and I are going down to Hanlins to visit in July. I haven’t been there for 5 years. I will write again soon. I almost forgot to tell you that Professor Grover has arranged it so that I won’t have to pay tuition next year. That saves me $75. Isn’t that good?
With love,
Alma
I will write a little letter and put it in with Mama’s. The strenuous life I have been leading has nearly done me up. I am glad Commencement is over. It certainly was a rush time. Eva came up to visit me June 12 and stayed until after Commencement. I hadn’t any time to entertain her so I turned her loose on the town. I tried to send her to all the recitals, and she did get to nine or ten, but I missed one and she has been heaping reproaches on me ever since. She had a very good time. Her susceptible heart had a bad time of it. She fell in love at almost every turn. The most serious cases were Professor Grover and Mr. Tyler. Mr. Tyler was the worst but it is hopeless, for alas! Mr. Tyler is a colored man. He graduated from the Conservatory this June and sings and plays beautifully. He is nice-looking, entertaining, and very popular. Eva never saw a nice colored man before and he was a great surprise to her. She spends all her time wishing he was white. I am relieved that she doesn’t wish she was colored.
Eva and I spent a day in Cleveland with Bess Werntz. Bess has a baby boy 2 months old - Benson. He is a dear sweet-tempered little thing. Bess is just as sweet and charming as ever.
Eunice Miller is here visiting me. She will stay a week and then she will spend a week with Sara before going to her home in Newton Mass.
I finally found a house. Eva and I got blue as indigo while we were hunting. There aren’t any houses built to rent. I finally got one with a bathroom, a very nice bathroom but no furnace. There is a large nice range in the house. The house is on Lorain St very near the college buildings but in the same yard with another house. The house is [illegible] new and pretty nice but is painted an ugly green. Anyway it was the best I could do. It is $15 a month. I couldn’t get a better place even for $20. The queerest thing about it is the bathroom. It opens off of the front hall. It is a foot or two lower than the rest of the first floor. But I was glad to get a bathroom at all. Half the houses I looked at didn’t have any. We can move Aug. 15 but probably won’t before Sept. 1. If our mail is sent here it will be forwarded.
Eva and I are going down to Hanlins to visit in July. I haven’t been there for 5 years. I will write again soon. I almost forgot to tell you that Professor Grover has arranged it so that I won’t have to pay tuition next year. That saves me $75. Isn’t that good?
With love,
Alma
1904-06-30: tour stops---images---audio---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
This letter is undated. It talks about Alma's graduation from Oberlin College, so it must be in the summer of 1904, and it talks about a visit to Hanlin cousins "in July" so it must be before July. Alma mentions a letter that Mama Margaret is sending to WilI. I think Mama Margaret wrote him once a month because the ship to the Philippines went once a month, but the letter I find for June 1904 is from June 17, and that doesn't make sense because Oberlin graduation was after that. But maybe Mama Margaret delayed sending that letter. I don't know.
Anyway, I have given this letter a date of June 30, 1904. If it's not the 30th, then it must be not long before that.
2.
The strenuous life I have been leading has nearly done me up.
Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech entitled "The Strenuous Life" on April 10, 1899. It may be that Alma was referring to it.
3.
Eva came up to visit me June 12 and stayed until after Commencement. I hadn’t any time to entertain her so I turned her loose on the town. I tried to send her to all the recitals, and she did get to nine or ten, but I missed one and she has been heaping reproaches on me ever since. She had a very good time. Her susceptible heart had a bad time of it. She fell in love at almost every turn. The most serious cases were Professor Grover and Mr. Tyler. Mr. Tyler was the worst but it is hopeless, for alas! Mr. Tyler is a colored man.
Eva's susceptible heart is why I've included this letter in Professor Grover was very helpful to Alma.
I've included Mr. Tyler's picture in:
4.
Eunice Miller is here visiting me. She will stay a week and then she will spend a week with Sara before going to her home in Newton Mass.
Sara must be Sara Grant Laird. Both Eunice and Sara were on the basketball team with Alma, and I've included their pictures in the page for Alma's yearbook, as well as putting them on the Non-family page for Ohio folks. (Yes, Eunice was from Massachusetts, but it was in Ohio that Alma met her.)
5.
Eva and I are going down to Hanlins to visit in July.
The Hanlins were cousins through the Graceys, i.e. through Mama Margaret's mother, Jane Gracey Provines.
This letter is undated. It talks about Alma's graduation from Oberlin College, so it must be in the summer of 1904, and it talks about a visit to Hanlin cousins "in July" so it must be before July. Alma mentions a letter that Mama Margaret is sending to WilI. I think Mama Margaret wrote him once a month because the ship to the Philippines went once a month, but the letter I find for June 1904 is from June 17, and that doesn't make sense because Oberlin graduation was after that. But maybe Mama Margaret delayed sending that letter. I don't know.
Anyway, I have given this letter a date of June 30, 1904. If it's not the 30th, then it must be not long before that.
2.
The strenuous life I have been leading has nearly done me up.
Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech entitled "The Strenuous Life" on April 10, 1899. It may be that Alma was referring to it.
3.
Eva came up to visit me June 12 and stayed until after Commencement. I hadn’t any time to entertain her so I turned her loose on the town. I tried to send her to all the recitals, and she did get to nine or ten, but I missed one and she has been heaping reproaches on me ever since. She had a very good time. Her susceptible heart had a bad time of it. She fell in love at almost every turn. The most serious cases were Professor Grover and Mr. Tyler. Mr. Tyler was the worst but it is hopeless, for alas! Mr. Tyler is a colored man.
Eva's susceptible heart is why I've included this letter in Professor Grover was very helpful to Alma.
I've included Mr. Tyler's picture in:
4.
Eunice Miller is here visiting me. She will stay a week and then she will spend a week with Sara before going to her home in Newton Mass.
Sara must be Sara Grant Laird. Both Eunice and Sara were on the basketball team with Alma, and I've included their pictures in the page for Alma's yearbook, as well as putting them on the Non-family page for Ohio folks. (Yes, Eunice was from Massachusetts, but it was in Ohio that Alma met her.)
5.
Eva and I are going down to Hanlins to visit in July.
The Hanlins were cousins through the Graceys, i.e. through Mama Margaret's mother, Jane Gracey Provines.
1904-06-30: tour stops---images---audio---transcript---notes---~LINKS~---site navigation
DOCUMENT LISTS FOR PEOPLE:
- WILL: DOCUMENTS ----- Incoming
- ALMA: DOCUMENTS ----- Outgoing
- EVA: DOCUMENTS ----- Related
- MAMA MARGARET: DOCUMENTS ----- Related
- PROVINESES & GRACEYS: DOCUMENTS ----- Hanlins
- NON-FAMILY: OHIO FOLKS ----- Eunice Miller, Sara Grant Laird
GENERAL DOCUMENT LISTS:
OTHER RELATED DOCUMENTS/PAGES:
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