Vassar College. December 1. 1895.
My dear L»ou,-
This week my chief piece of news is that Ed has been up here.
You know Friday was "Phil"* — and I had invited Ed. to come up. He
came in the evening, just before the lecture - when all the rest of the
men came. The lectdre was at half-past seven, by Joseph O'Connor -
who, everybody says, is "a famous journalist," but I have not yet found
anybody who ever heard of him. They tried to get a number of other
lecturers first, but couldn't. X heard that this man was the ninth one
they tried to engage- And unfortunately they wished they had not suc-
ceeded in engaging him, for he was extremely stupid as a lecturer -
As a usual thing the lectures are humorous or light or interesting - in
some way - because on such an occasion the audience needs something
quite entertaining to keep their attention — For instance, the girls had
their brothers or friends whom they had not seen for some time, and as
the lecture was stupid, they could not resist the temptation to whisper-
The subject of the lecture was literary style, and it was dis-
cussed in just about the same way It would be ia a rhetoric - the most
commonplace definitions - etc.
Of course there were a great many pretty dresses to look at - that and
the singing by the Glee Club were redeeming features.
There were ten promenades- I kept only one of Ed's for myself,
because he was to be here Saturday morning- and distributed the rest
Dec. 8, 1895 -2
among my friends- Mary MacColl, Katharine Dunham, Bertha Young,
Maidee Traver, Carrie Abbott, Ray, Gertrude Smith, Carrie, and Jo
Sleight. Each girl had a certain place for meeting her friends- the
seats in the different parlors being all numbered - So at the end of
each promenade Ed returned to our seat, and I went there too, to intro-
duce him to the next girl he was to have. Kate Dunham took him to the
Senior Parlor to show that to him - and he wrote his name In the guest
book there.
Ray's brothers, Charlie and Fritx, were here, also Mr. Capen,
and so this whole crowd of us went in to refreshments together- I think
Ray's brother Charlie came partly to see Mr. Capen, because he had
never seen him before-
X had a promenade with Mr. Capen, and had a very pleasant talk
with him - He stayed over for Saturday, and went out walking with Ray,
as he always does on his visits- The rest of us always lesve the wsy
clear for him and Ray.
I saw Adalbert Bronson here as the guest of Annie Childs - the
girl who visited them last Summer-
Ed came out about nine o'clock Saturday morning, and he and I
went out walking—up to Richmond Hill - from the top of which we can see
all the country round- He took the 11:40 train back to New York- He said
Feb, 23, 1896 - 4
it seemed so funny to be around among girls, that he kept forgetting
to take his hat off when I spoke to one passing* He said he had had to
take off his hat in the street only once since he had been in New York,
and that was when he had happened to meet the Ringhams. Ed said that
when he woke up Friday morning he was undecided whether to come up
here, because he had such a headache- He said he hadn't seen a well
day for six weeks - he has had a stomach ache all the time, aad lately
he has had headaches with it- His head ached all the time he was up
here- For all that, though, he said he had a very good time here, and
One nice thing about it was that it was very good weather- we
have not had any snow at all, except the little bit that we had over a
month ago- It seems strange too, for we hear of snow in all other parts
of the country- We shall be able to go skating in a day or two, I think -
some beys from town were skating on our pond the other night aad some
girls early the next morning, but the danger signal is still up - The lake
is froaea very smooth and it will be fine skating-
The gymnasium opeaed last week for regular gym. work— In
the fall the basket and battleball teams play so much voluntarily and for
others there is so much to attract them outdoors, that we take plenty of
exercise outdoors, and gym. does not have to begin till it is too cold to
attract us, except for accessary exercise, outdoors.
Dec, % 1895-4
I have heard hardly anything about the Women's College this
year- I keep wondering what is going on there. None of the girls there
have written to me, because I owe them letters, and have not had time
to write to them. Do you see much of Carrie Hardy? Remember me
to her the next time you see her, will you? And also to Nina Roberts
and Alice Cage and Emilie—and Sadie Adams - I have not even writtea
to her yet-
Lovingly your sister Adelaide.
jClaflin,