Letter from Alma to Eva: 5/19/1918
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A letter from Alma, in South Hadley, Massachusetts, to her youngest sister Eva, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Alma's busy!
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This page is not a currently a stop in any Tour. But it's still worth your attention!
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1918-05-19: tour stops---images---audio---~TRANSCRIPT~---notes---links---site navigation
May 19, 1918.
Dear Eva:
I don't wonder that you felt aggrieved. It was not ingratitude but the war and the fire. Such a life as I have lead! I presume that Mother told you that I was chairman of the committee to select a woman to take charge of the canning this summer. I have been at it for almost three weeks and last evening I finally got a telegram from a Miss Colburn ato Potsdam, (perish the name!) N.Y. saying that she would take the position. I feel ten years younger. It was like running an intelligence bureau - writing letters and interviewing candidates. I would write to all the bureaus and farm extension organizations and then get replies; then I would interview Mrs. Fairbanks and Mr. Kinney and write more letters. After each answer I would talk with Mrs. Fairbanks and Mr. Kinney, perhaps also with Mr. Adams and Miss Woolley and then write more letters. It took from two to four hours a day some days, especially the days that there were candidates. It was hard to get someone. We wanted someone who understood canning, had sufficient executive ability to manage so large an enterprise, and knew how to get along with girls and get the work out of them. We had several candidates who were too young and inexperienced. We think that we have a good one, Miss Colburn of the State Normal School at Potsdam. She is a graduate of Teachers College, 1911. We did not think that she would take it as we did not offer her as much as she would get at a Normal school position which she had for the summer, and I told her the work would undoubtedly be a good deal harder.
The only other letters that I have written were to people who sent gifts to replace losses from the fire; academic correspondence takes precedence over personal. As it is, I have three packages of specimens which came last week which have not been opened nor acknowledged.
This is a poor time of the year to have extras anyway, as my academic work takes more time. We have a good deal of field work and that means that I am away at noon and most of the afternoon. We take our lunches to save time; that uses up my noons. I was out four times last week, and four the week before. We went to Toby Thursday, leaving at 11:45 and returning at 10:15. It was the best trip I have ever had to Toby. We had more time and it was a glorious day; besides that I had a particularly nice set of girls - 15 of them.
The garden does not get the attention it deserves: we planted 18 hills of corn yesterday and will plant potatoes tomorrow. One of the freshmen has offered to help with my work and I am going to set her to planting potatoes. Our peas are six inches high and we have a lot of them.
I thank you very much for the nightie; it is pretty and I need it. I hope that Mother will make me some and then she can make some for you at the same time.
Your voile dress is finished; we shall send it tomorrow or Tuesday. It is very pretty. I wish that I could see you in it.
Margaret Laing is coming back this summer; she likes it and wants to stay but her stepfather is ill and she says that she expects to have to support her mother very soon. Her mother wants her to come back; both the twins have enlisted.
Yesterday was Mayday. It was very simple. I celebrated by working in the garden. They gave a play with some Amherst boys in it "The Importance of being Ernest." One of the boys was good and one of the girls, the rest were mediocre, but on the whole it was entertaining.
We have had so many parties that even Sunday is not simple. This morning we had Kathryn Maxfield and her Mother; they stayed until 11:30. It was very interesting. Last Sunday we had two girls to breakfast to introduce them to fried mush; then we went to church to hear Sir George Adam Smith. He is wonderful, but it was sad to see him. He has lost all his three sons in the war. He is from the University of Aberdeen and is a chaplain in the army; he was in uniform. I wanted to cry every time I looked at him or thought about him ever since. He certainly is cheerful and strong for the war. Then Anne and I were invited out to Cowles Lodge to dinner. I had seven callers in the afternoon and company for supper. Grace and a guest of hers, Edith Matthews, a girl who is just beginning to see after being blind all her life. Marion Sarles and later Miss Hinsdale. Edith Mathews sang and Marion played. It was delightful and they stayed until almost ten. Marion asked for you. She talks about your singing every time I see her. You see why I do not write on Sunday. I have written three letters about canning this afternoon and I am trying to finish this before any callers come.
We are having beautiful weather; it is very warm for this season of the year. The flowers are two to four weeks ahead of last year.
With much love,
Alma.
P.S. Pat will go home soon. He is being widely read up here. You did a whole [???] work when you bought it.
A.G.S.
Dear Eva:
I don't wonder that you felt aggrieved. It was not ingratitude but the war and the fire. Such a life as I have lead! I presume that Mother told you that I was chairman of the committee to select a woman to take charge of the canning this summer. I have been at it for almost three weeks and last evening I finally got a telegram from a Miss Colburn ato Potsdam, (perish the name!) N.Y. saying that she would take the position. I feel ten years younger. It was like running an intelligence bureau - writing letters and interviewing candidates. I would write to all the bureaus and farm extension organizations and then get replies; then I would interview Mrs. Fairbanks and Mr. Kinney and write more letters. After each answer I would talk with Mrs. Fairbanks and Mr. Kinney, perhaps also with Mr. Adams and Miss Woolley and then write more letters. It took from two to four hours a day some days, especially the days that there were candidates. It was hard to get someone. We wanted someone who understood canning, had sufficient executive ability to manage so large an enterprise, and knew how to get along with girls and get the work out of them. We had several candidates who were too young and inexperienced. We think that we have a good one, Miss Colburn of the State Normal School at Potsdam. She is a graduate of Teachers College, 1911. We did not think that she would take it as we did not offer her as much as she would get at a Normal school position which she had for the summer, and I told her the work would undoubtedly be a good deal harder.
The only other letters that I have written were to people who sent gifts to replace losses from the fire; academic correspondence takes precedence over personal. As it is, I have three packages of specimens which came last week which have not been opened nor acknowledged.
This is a poor time of the year to have extras anyway, as my academic work takes more time. We have a good deal of field work and that means that I am away at noon and most of the afternoon. We take our lunches to save time; that uses up my noons. I was out four times last week, and four the week before. We went to Toby Thursday, leaving at 11:45 and returning at 10:15. It was the best trip I have ever had to Toby. We had more time and it was a glorious day; besides that I had a particularly nice set of girls - 15 of them.
The garden does not get the attention it deserves: we planted 18 hills of corn yesterday and will plant potatoes tomorrow. One of the freshmen has offered to help with my work and I am going to set her to planting potatoes. Our peas are six inches high and we have a lot of them.
I thank you very much for the nightie; it is pretty and I need it. I hope that Mother will make me some and then she can make some for you at the same time.
Your voile dress is finished; we shall send it tomorrow or Tuesday. It is very pretty. I wish that I could see you in it.
Margaret Laing is coming back this summer; she likes it and wants to stay but her stepfather is ill and she says that she expects to have to support her mother very soon. Her mother wants her to come back; both the twins have enlisted.
Yesterday was Mayday. It was very simple. I celebrated by working in the garden. They gave a play with some Amherst boys in it "The Importance of being Ernest." One of the boys was good and one of the girls, the rest were mediocre, but on the whole it was entertaining.
We have had so many parties that even Sunday is not simple. This morning we had Kathryn Maxfield and her Mother; they stayed until 11:30. It was very interesting. Last Sunday we had two girls to breakfast to introduce them to fried mush; then we went to church to hear Sir George Adam Smith. He is wonderful, but it was sad to see him. He has lost all his three sons in the war. He is from the University of Aberdeen and is a chaplain in the army; he was in uniform. I wanted to cry every time I looked at him or thought about him ever since. He certainly is cheerful and strong for the war. Then Anne and I were invited out to Cowles Lodge to dinner. I had seven callers in the afternoon and company for supper. Grace and a guest of hers, Edith Matthews, a girl who is just beginning to see after being blind all her life. Marion Sarles and later Miss Hinsdale. Edith Mathews sang and Marion played. It was delightful and they stayed until almost ten. Marion asked for you. She talks about your singing every time I see her. You see why I do not write on Sunday. I have written three letters about canning this afternoon and I am trying to finish this before any callers come.
We are having beautiful weather; it is very warm for this season of the year. The flowers are two to four weeks ahead of last year.
With much love,
Alma.
P.S. Pat will go home soon. He is being widely read up here. You did a whole [???] work when you bought it.
A.G.S.
1918-05-19: tour stops---images---audio---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
Dear Eva:
I don't wonder that you felt aggrieved.
I get the impression that Eva wrote to Alma and gave her hell for not writing to thank Eva for something or other, and so Alma spends the whole letter placating Eva by telling Eva how busy she's been.
2.
After each answer I would talk with Mrs. Fairbanks and Mr. Kinney, perhaps also with Mr. Adams and Miss Woolley and then write more letters
Mr. Kinney is a teacher of some sort (instructor? full professor? at the moment I don't know) in the Botany department at Mount Holyoke, and Miss Woolley is the president of the college. I guess there's no Human Resources department to deal with hiring the person in charge of canning. It all comes across to me as sort of amateurish, but it's 1918.
3.
The only other letters that I have written were to people who sent gifts to replace losses from the fire; academic correspondence takes precedence over personal.
Williston Hall at Mount Holyoke had burned down the previous December. Lots of good science stuff lost.
4.
We went to Toby Thursday, leaving at 11:45 and returning at 10:15. It was the best trip I have ever had to Toby.
This seems to be Mount Toby. Wikipedia says:
Mount Toby is notable for its high biodiversity, attractive woodlands, waterfalls, and its glacial kettle ponds (most notably Cranberry Pond).
5.
I thank you very much for the nightie; it is pretty and I need it. I hope that Mother will make me some and then she can make some for you at the same time.
Mama Margaret made some nightgowns for Alma in August - see I asked Google why people needed so many nightgowns in the past, and Google AI told me:
Because washing clothes was a labor-intensive, multi-day process—meaning people didn't do laundry every week—they required a rotation of multiple nightgowns to ensure they always had a clean, fresh layer to sleep and lounge in.
I'm still sort of dubious.
6.
Margaret Laing is coming back this summer; she likes it and wants to stay but her stepfather is ill and she says that she expects to have to support her mother very soon. Her mother wants her to come back; both the twins have enlisted.
Margaret Laing was in France, working in a canteen for soldiers. We have several letters that she wrote to Alma, and I'm hoping to get them into this website someday.
7.
Last Sunday we had two girls to breakfast to introduce them to fried mush; then we went to church to hear Sir George Adam Smith. He is wonderful, but it was sad to see him. He has lost all his three sons in the war.
According to Wikipedia, this information is incorrect. One of the three sons survived. Also there were four daughters all of whom long outlived him. Still losing even two of the three sons must have been very sad. About Sir George in general, Wikipedia says:
Sir George Adam Smith FRSE, FBA (19 October 1856 – 3 March 1942) was a Scottish theologian. He was the Principal of the University of Aberdeen between 1909 and 1935 and an important figure in the United Free Church of Scotland. His magnum opus was The Historical Geography of the Holy Land, published in 26 editions between 1894 and 1935.
8.
Then Anne and I were invited out to Cowles Lodge to dinner. I had seven callers in the afternoon and company for supper. Grace and a guest of hers, Edith Matthews, a girl who is just beginning to see after being blind all her life. Marion Sarles and later Miss Hinsdale.
Anne must be Alma's friend Anne Starr, who has a Non-family page on this website.
I figure Grace is Grace Bacon, who later that year went to France. Miss Hinsdale was a friend of Alma and of Grace. Grace and Miss Hinsdale are in the Non-family page for South Hadley folks.
I don't know anything about the other names, although I'm curious about the girl who was blind but became able to see. How did that work in 1918?
9.
P.S. Pat will go home soon. He is being widely read up here. You did a whole [???] work when you bought it.
I googled on "novel named pat 1918 novel" (yes I repeated myself) and Google AI suggested The Dough Boys, a 1918 novel by Patrick McGill about a young Irish soldier named Pat in World War I.
Dear Eva:
I don't wonder that you felt aggrieved.
I get the impression that Eva wrote to Alma and gave her hell for not writing to thank Eva for something or other, and so Alma spends the whole letter placating Eva by telling Eva how busy she's been.
2.
After each answer I would talk with Mrs. Fairbanks and Mr. Kinney, perhaps also with Mr. Adams and Miss Woolley and then write more letters
Mr. Kinney is a teacher of some sort (instructor? full professor? at the moment I don't know) in the Botany department at Mount Holyoke, and Miss Woolley is the president of the college. I guess there's no Human Resources department to deal with hiring the person in charge of canning. It all comes across to me as sort of amateurish, but it's 1918.
3.
The only other letters that I have written were to people who sent gifts to replace losses from the fire; academic correspondence takes precedence over personal.
Williston Hall at Mount Holyoke had burned down the previous December. Lots of good science stuff lost.
4.
We went to Toby Thursday, leaving at 11:45 and returning at 10:15. It was the best trip I have ever had to Toby.
This seems to be Mount Toby. Wikipedia says:
Mount Toby is notable for its high biodiversity, attractive woodlands, waterfalls, and its glacial kettle ponds (most notably Cranberry Pond).
5.
I thank you very much for the nightie; it is pretty and I need it. I hope that Mother will make me some and then she can make some for you at the same time.
Mama Margaret made some nightgowns for Alma in August - see I asked Google why people needed so many nightgowns in the past, and Google AI told me:
Because washing clothes was a labor-intensive, multi-day process—meaning people didn't do laundry every week—they required a rotation of multiple nightgowns to ensure they always had a clean, fresh layer to sleep and lounge in.
I'm still sort of dubious.
6.
Margaret Laing is coming back this summer; she likes it and wants to stay but her stepfather is ill and she says that she expects to have to support her mother very soon. Her mother wants her to come back; both the twins have enlisted.
Margaret Laing was in France, working in a canteen for soldiers. We have several letters that she wrote to Alma, and I'm hoping to get them into this website someday.
7.
Last Sunday we had two girls to breakfast to introduce them to fried mush; then we went to church to hear Sir George Adam Smith. He is wonderful, but it was sad to see him. He has lost all his three sons in the war.
According to Wikipedia, this information is incorrect. One of the three sons survived. Also there were four daughters all of whom long outlived him. Still losing even two of the three sons must have been very sad. About Sir George in general, Wikipedia says:
Sir George Adam Smith FRSE, FBA (19 October 1856 – 3 March 1942) was a Scottish theologian. He was the Principal of the University of Aberdeen between 1909 and 1935 and an important figure in the United Free Church of Scotland. His magnum opus was The Historical Geography of the Holy Land, published in 26 editions between 1894 and 1935.
8.
Then Anne and I were invited out to Cowles Lodge to dinner. I had seven callers in the afternoon and company for supper. Grace and a guest of hers, Edith Matthews, a girl who is just beginning to see after being blind all her life. Marion Sarles and later Miss Hinsdale.
Anne must be Alma's friend Anne Starr, who has a Non-family page on this website.
I figure Grace is Grace Bacon, who later that year went to France. Miss Hinsdale was a friend of Alma and of Grace. Grace and Miss Hinsdale are in the Non-family page for South Hadley folks.
I don't know anything about the other names, although I'm curious about the girl who was blind but became able to see. How did that work in 1918?
9.
P.S. Pat will go home soon. He is being widely read up here. You did a whole [???] work when you bought it.
I googled on "novel named pat 1918 novel" (yes I repeated myself) and Google AI suggested The Dough Boys, a 1918 novel by Patrick McGill about a young Irish soldier named Pat in World War I.
1918-05-19: tour stops---images---audio---transcript---notes---~LINKS~---site navigation
DOCUMENT LISTS FOR PEOPLE:
- ALMA: DOCUMENTS ----- Outgoing
- EVA: DOCUMENTS ----- Incoming
- MAMA MARGARET: DOCUMENTS ----- Related
- NON-FAMILY: ANNE STARR ----- Related
- NON-FAMILY: SOUTH HADLEY FOLKS ----- Grace Bacon and Ellen Hinsdale
OTHER DOCUMENT LISTS:
- DOCUMENTS SORTED BY WHERE THEY WERE WRITTEN ----- Western Massachusetts
- DOCUMENTS SORTED BY SOURCE ----- Barbara
- AUDIO READINGS OF THE DOCUMENTS: 1910-1919
OTHER RELATED DOCUMENTS/PAGES:
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