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Mansfield, Adelaide (Claflin) | to Edith Claflin, Jun. 2, 1895:

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Date
June 2, 1895
Abstract
VC 1897
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Details
Identifier
vassar:24522,,Box 21,VCL_Letters_Mansfield_Adelaide_1897_056
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1 item
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: VCLLettersMansfieldAdelaide1897056001
Vassar College.
June 2. 1895.

My dear sister,-

I hope you are not having the kind of weather we are- I think it has been about 96° for the last few days. We had had cool weather for so long that we quite forgot what hot days were like- But now they have come and will probably stay with us during our examinations this week. We console ourselves with the hope that the teachers will lay to the hot weather say lack of intelligence on our examination papers- which would

 


: VCLLettersMansfieldAdelaide1897056002
otherwise be too glaring to be excusable- I have Latin tomorrow morning, one course in Greek Tuesday morning, another Tuesday afternoon, English Wednesday morning. Chemistry Thursday morning and Art History Thursday afternoon- Then I am through- We have been doing what reviewing we could in the last two weeks: in the last three
weeks I have had fifteen written lessons- an average of one a day but they have not come that way- they have usually happened so that we have had two or three the same day- For each of these we have had to review from one fourth to one-half the semester's work in a subject. I had a letter from mamma

 


: VCLLettersMansfieldAdelaide1897056003
from Zanesville, which I expect to answer, but did not get at in time for it to reach Zanesville before she would leave- So she will be disappointed- I am so glad she went to Zanesville, though I am afraid she is not staying long enough to get a rest. It is too bad papa was disappointed about going- when he needs the change too. Ray and I have bought our tickets home; we have not thought much about whether we will stop at Niagara Falls, for we have not had a chance to inquire into the particulars- and we have no Idea about the route the Nickel Plate takes, since we have not seen a time-table.

 


: VCLLettersMansfieldAdelaide1897056004
It seems to me that the girls who live nearest here are the craziest to get home at vacation times- Some of them think that it is terrible for me to stay here almost a week after my last exam, when I have not been home since September. But I thought I would like to see what a college Commencement was like, and I will not have many chances. The girls say it is so much fun after the last examination- days of bliss- Kate Dunham says her sister Mary is coming Saturday, and after Commencement they are going to Boston for a week- Kate says she is beginning to wish she was going home this week- Ray has declared right along

 


: VCLLettersMansfieldAdelaide1897056005
that after my last exam. I would suddenly pack up and go home, and not stand it till after Commencements but when I have said I am going to stay, I am going to.

Of course I can not realise that I have had my last recitation for this years much less can I realize that my exams, begin tomorrow. But these next four days must go somehow. As I look back on the year it seems to have gone very quickly after all- My coming away in September is as distinct in my mind as though it happened yesterday - in fact some of the things that have happened

 


: VCLLettersMansfieldAdelaide1897056006
since seem much farther away. The time has gone so much faster the latter half of the year, too- I can't deny that the first semester did drag, for it was such a never ending grind- But it is so delightful that at the end of a year we think mostly of the nice things and let them drown out the hard things-

We gave up the day yesterday to everything but study - The first Saturday this year which I have spent without studying at all. The Seniors had all their things for raising money— In the morning was the Senior Auction, when they offer for

 


: VCLLettersMansfieldAdelaide1897056007
sale their furniture that they cannot carry home with them, mostly chairs, desks and tables. The chairs usually from 75 cents to a dollar, and desks from $4 to $9- Carrie and Ray and I together bought a pair of portieres of very good quality for $3.50. Of course we can use them for the two remaining years and then sell them for about the same price we paid. We also bought four very nice window shades for $1.50. That is all we shall buy, I think.

I forgot to say in my last letter that I received by mail a piece of belt ribbon, which I suppose came from you

 


: VCLLettersMansfieldAdelaide1897056008
as the printing looked like yours. Thank you very much - I have been wearing it this week with my gold buckle. My red gingham will continue to be in service as long as this weather lasts. I am so glad I have it. Poor thing - it certainly is seeing its last days-

In the afternoon yesterday the Seniors gave shows - admission 5¢. This is the only time of the year when there is an admission price to anything- but the Seniors in this way help to pay some of their expenses- which amount to no small sum. I think if some outsiders had seen Katharine Reiley —

 


: VCLLettersMansfieldAdelaide1897056009
the most clever and prominent of the seniors - dressed up as a negro in the minstrel show - singing negro songs and telling conundrums etc; they would scarcely believe she is the same girl who as President of the Students' Association made an address on Founder's Day, and who conducts the meetings of the Students' Association with such dignity and propriety, and who is to be one of the speakers on Commencement Day.

In the evening we had some excitement not furnished by the seniors - the final match game in basket ball between

 


: VCLLettersMansfieldAdelaide1897056010
'97 and '98- They were to have played in the morning, but concluded that the broiling sun might be the best thing in the world for them, shining down on their bare heads -
when they were exercising so violently- The game was the most exciting one we have had. '97 has always beat '98 before this, but last night '97 had to have five substitutes, so that although they worked hard,'98 beat them 13 to 12. Some of the girls in each of the classes were out as spectators - and cheered continually - '95 cheers for '97 and '96 for '98 - The girls made up all sorts of yells and rhymes - and I

 


: VCLLettersMansfieldAdelaide1897056011
imagine we sounded something like the audience at a baseball game - Only we were all students and not an outside audience.

I should like so much to transplant Sunrise Hill to Cleveland for a few days - It is just covered all over with daisies- more daisies than I ever saw before. Everything is so lovely outdoors now that it seems wicked to stay in the house. I was walking around today with Dora Roberts, one of the girls at our table.- whose parents are missionaries in Burmah- She is going to Clifton Springs Sanitarium this summer, to wait on the table - She cares more about getting her summer

 


: VCLLettersMansfieldAdelaide1897056012
board and lodging provided, than in saving money - though she will get ten dollars a month- Three or four of the girls here were there last summer waiting on the table. They only have to work six hours a day. The waitresses are all students. Normal School girls, etc., so that it is not an unpleasant situation. Dora is a little thing, but she has about as much "push and go" in her as I ever saw in a girl. Perhaps I wrote you about her making a wool dress during Easter vacation, which fits her like a glove and looks beautifully- She is an awfully nice girl-

Lovingly your sister Adelaide.
(Claflin)

A week from Thursday morning!