Vassar College. Nor. 17. 1895.
My dear Mother, —
I have bean blessed with a good supply of letters this week -
for which I wish to thank the writers. I imagine that Ed has learned to
appreciate letters by this time - I don't see how any one can be away
home
from^ery long without learning it.
Today is Carrie's birthday - She is twenty years old, aad feels
as though she were taking a big jump in getting out of her teens* Ray
and I made a little celebration for her by fixing supper for us three in
their room last night. - We had poached eggs on toast, buttered toast
besides, strawberry preserves, which Ray's cousin in Brooklyn gave her
when she went down there two weeks ago, - and some little puffs filled
with whipped cream, which cost tha sum of one cent apiece. Don't you
think that waa an elaborate birthday spread? Carrie appreciated very much
tha little trouble we took for her, for she said this is tha first time In a
number of years that aha has had her birthday celebrated, or has had birth*
day came last year. Ray gave her a little spoon, which is very pretty.
Gertrude Smith gave her a cup aad saucer, and Winifred Kirkland gave
her a little dish for odds and ends, aad I gave her a pair of bed-slippers -
which I had great difficulty to gat done, on account of the lack of extra time.
Carrie has been wanting a pair very much, so of course I was glad to make
them for her - as she has bean busy making a pair for her sister. We had
Nov. 17, 1895 - 2
a very hard time to keep things secret from Carrie; she is worse than
a dozen little boys about asking questions at Christmas-time.
The most fun we have had this week was last night, when some
girls in our class carried out an idea of their own- You see the Sopho-
more Party for the Freshmen was arranged for Inst night, and so all the
members of those classes were to be over in the gym, but there was
nothing to which the Seniors and Juniors had to go.
Now a few girls in our class were considering on Thursday even-
ing about how they would spend Saturday evening, when one of them sug-
gested that they have a take-off of the Marlborough-VanderbUt wedding!
This was readily agreed to, and so they looked up the accounts of it which
have filled the papers lately, and tried to arrange everything as nearly
like the way it really was as circumstances would allow- Of course the
preparations were very hasty - n>Mbt there was no time to spend tUl
Saturday- Any Juniors or Sexfers who wanted to come were invited, but
the whole thing was so extempore that ever so many did not hear about it-
Well, I went a little before half past eight, down to the dining-room In this
building- which the girls very fortunately were allowed to use- The tables
were pushed over to one side and screens placed In front of them, while
the chairs were arranged as in a church, with a center aisle- Seven hand-
white gloves fc buttonhole bouquet,
some ushers 'with Immaculate shirtfronts" and stiff collars met the guests
Nov. 17, 1895 -3
at the door, aad offered them their arms and conducted them to seats In
swell fashion- Most of the seniors had been bright enough to dress up as
swell English or New York personages - and carried off their parts
wdl— the costumes of course being extremely impromptu aad laugh-
Mrs, William K. Vanderbilt
able. The Duchess sf Marlboeeugh was represented by the largest girl
girl in our class, aad was accompanied by her young son, who behaved
In a conscious and top-loftical manner.
As guests of honor their appeared the Prince of Wales aad Queen
Victoria.' Queen Victoria was decidedly successful - a senior who looks
a good deal like the Queen when she pulls down the corners of her mouth,
aad who has somewhat the same height and figure. She had thought of
taking that character only half an hour before It was time to go- But she
scraped up some clothes that would do, made a crown which was quite
imposing* from the blotter on her desk, and for a train took a portiere,
which trailed way behind and was held up by Lord Dunraven. A lorgnette
added much to her dignity aad to the effectiveness of her stare- As the
royal party swept up the aisle, the audience rose aad said "Long live the
Queen," "God save the Queen.'"
Soon after this strains of Lohengrlns Wedding March floated
through the air, and pretty soon we saw a lot of choir-boys march in two
by two, singing some ridiculous words to the tune of Lohengrin - Ray was
Nov. 17, 1895 -4
one of the choir-hoys - they wore white skirts around their necks for
surplices - Then while the singing kept on, the bridal party entered -
the bridesmaids with blue trimmings - their hats large straw ones which
the f96 girls had bought for their Hallowe'en party in their Freshmen
year and which they have lent for various and sundry purposes ever
since- The bride was really very pretty - covered by a veil of that
dotted lacy material — I don't know its name — which ordinarily serves
as Helen Peters9 bed-canopy! The groom, you know, wore a blue and
white checked shirt (shirt waist in this case) and a grey and white
checked coat (of Grace JLandfield's.). There were eight officiating
clergymen, with surplices made of black petticoats etc., and a bishop,
who had the purple bands in addition. The bishop performed the cere-
mony - using a service written by two of the girls * beginning "We are
here assembled to Join this title and this filthy lucre in the bonds of
matrimony etc. The phrases were well adapted to the circumstances -
for Instance, there was a noticeable omission after the words "for richer",
and Instead of "until death do us part" were inserted the words "as long
as we can"- When the time for the response came the groom drawled
out "I fahncy yes", while the bride replied "X don't know but I will, don't ye
know."
As the procession marched out the choir boys struck up a dif-
ferent tune, with words, written by one of the girls, making fun of marrying
Nov. 17, 1895 - 5
for wealth and trying to appear swell, and so on.
Almost as much as the ceremony itself I enjoyed watching
Mr* John Fox, the Southern writer, who had lectured to the college on
the previous evening- He had come with Prof. Wentworth (only two
teachers were there because the rest were at the Sophomore Party) and
he did not know what to make of it* He appeared very much embarrassed
at first and continued to appear very much surprised. He was heard
afterwards to say that he was very much astonished, because he had
had the idea that Vassar girls were very aristocratic aad would not
think of such a thing as ridiculing the swell aristocracy. That myth about
Vassar girls being aristocratic and proud seems to be spread abroad
through the country, for I have heard ever so many girls say that their
friends had that idea. I am sure nothing is further from the truth.
Yesterday afternoon we had a treat in the way of a violin and
piano recital, given by Mr. Marsick aad Mr. Brockway — both very
celebrated, they say — Mr. Marsick certainly looks celebrated: he
has almost as much hair as Fadarewski- Mr. Brockway looks like aa
American and appears to be very young- He played two of his owa com-
positions on the piano-
Monday afternoon Mr. Joseph Jefferson, the great actor, spoke,
at the invitation of the Philalethean Society- He is an old man - more
Nov. 17, 1895-6
than eighty, they say- His voice sounded as though he had no teeth-
like Mr. James Huntington's, but as a matter of fact he has a good-
looking set of false teeth- He was a very interesting speaker - most
of what he said being in the line of reminiscence. He played Rip Van
Winkle in Poughkeepsie in the evening, and of course a great many of
the girls went - as it is not more than once or twice a year that they
get a good actor in this town. We felt quite deserted during the evening -
it was so quiet here.
Did I tell you about Mrs. Chant, of London, who spoke to us
last Sunday evening about philanthropic work in London? She was one
of the most charming English speakers I have heard-
This morning Dr. Gordon of the Old South Church in Boston
preached for us. He was very fine- He preached again this afternoon,
at five o'clock, at his own request, X suppose, for I never knew of any one
doing it here before- I think we have better preaching this year than we
did last year.
Our work In Biology Laboratory has been so interesting this
week- Can you guess what we have been doing? Dissecting angle-worms!
A few of the girls hesitated a little about It, but most of us took them right
up In our fingers the first thing- They had been preserved in alcohol. We
could see, when we had cut the worm open, the pharynx, aesophagus, crop,
Nov. 17, 1895 -7
gizzard and everything so nicely- I never dreamed there was all that
inside of a worm. Miss O'Grady told me my dissection was a ' beautiful"
one!
Lots of love to all the family- Adelaide. jClaflinj
I know how Edie enjoyed hearing Miss Strong lecture, for she lectured,
or rather, spoke informally, to our Hellenic society last year, and I was
very much pleased with her-