Vassar College. February 23. 1896.
My own dear Father,-
This letter shall be a birthday remembrance lor you, and
takes to yon all the best birthday wishes I can think ol, with hopes lor
many happy returns ol the day-
1 suppose you had a little vacation and rest on Washington's
birthday- Coming on Saturday it did not give the school-children a
chance lor it, I suppose. But we would not have it II it came on any
other day, lor you know the Faculty decreed last year that it broke into
our work too much to have a holiday then. OI course we don't have
Uncoln's birthday either.
Friday night we had a treat ia the shape ot a lecture by Dr.
Albert Shaw, the Editor ol the "Review ol Reviews". His subject
was Washington, but he did not tell the usual things about him. He spoke
about what our nation today owes to Washington. The lour great ser-
vices which Washington rendered were: lirst, he decided the relation
ol the colonies to England, namely, that they should be absolutely
independent instead of being like Canada to England, or Cuba to Spain,
second, he guided the lew small colonies through a war with a great
Empire: third, he assimilated aad united into a harmonious whole all
the varied elements in the colonies, and in the lourth place, most important
ol all, he instituted aa American policy, which was sound aad unique: in
financial matters he instituted the doctrine ol sound money: in foreign
Feb. 1038, 1896 - 2
relations he instituted the policy of absolute non-interference in
European affairs, for which he was very much censured.- and in regard
to England he insisted on maintaining as amicable relations as possible,
and advocated settling all disputes with her by means of arbitration. In
these respects he was far ahead of his times, and Dr. Shaw said that a
great deal of the credit for our Americaa foreign policy and insistence
oa arbitration and desire for peaceful relations with England, ought to
be given to Washington — more than is uaually givea to him.
His was one of the best lectures we have had for a long time;
Miss Salmon told us beforehand he would be very good, and so we were
waiting for him in an expectant frame of mind-
He arrived late; and while we were assembled waiting for him a
few girls in front arose and started to sing America. Of course all the
rest of us immediately stood up, and we sang the four verses.
Dr. Shaw has a rather disaggeeable voice, which grated on me
at first, but I soon forgot all about it. He is quite a young man, and was
born in Ohio - in New London- He has a very sweet-looking little wife,
who came along with him.
Dr. Shaw stayed till last night, so that he saw us all dressed for the "bal
poudr£"- You know every Washington's birthday we have a Martha
Washington ball. We come down to dinner in our Martha Washington costumes,
Feb. 23, 1896 -3
about half the girls dressing as men, and then we omit chapel service -
which would seem rather incongruous, and then go over to the gymnasium
building about half past seven for the evening-
Over here in Strong we all marched into the dining room by
couples, singing America.
Just as on Lincoln's birthday we sang national songs, and war-
songs, while we were waiting for dessert,- or eating it. The girls at
some table would start up some song, aad all the rest of us join in
Immediately. So we sang song after song- After we finished "John
Brown's Body", one of the girls started "Hang Jeff Davis on the sour
apple tree"- to the same tune. While we sang it I saw two or three
Southern girls looking mad, and I thought it was rather mean of us to
sing it. Of course we sang "Star-Spangled Banner", "Marching Through
Georgia" and all the rest too.
la the morning before breakfast some of the girls went through
all the corridors singing the national songs — like Christmas carols.
Over at the gym. they had tableaux— Courtship of Miles Standish,
Washington's Inaugural Ball, The Hatchet Episode etc. The girls do seem
to get up such fine costumes in such a short time. Of course we sll have
lots of studying to do every Saturday, so that we can't spend much time on
costumes. There were some old dresses of silk - heirlooms, no doubt, but
Feb, 23, 1896 - 4
very often costumes improvised out of odds and ends of nothing presented
a much better appearance. I wore the green calico of Edie's, with a fichu,
and a white cap; my hair high and powdered* with cornstarch- Carrie was my
escort, with a black coat and gorgeous lace front, and hat three cornered
with a long ostrich plume on it, and a short skirt. When we went over to
the main building, Carrie caught sight of a real man, and was so embar-
rassed that she turned and fled, and did not put in an appearance again
during the evening-
This morning we had a minister from Buffalo, Mr. Gilford- He
had some very good thoughts, but was unfortunate in his use of figures and
illustrations — they were so striking and sensational as to divert atten-
tion from the thought. When he said that some people used the Holy Spirit
as a "Divine dose of opium, or ecclesiastical chloroform", I was disgusted.
He was also unfortunate in his wording, when he was speaking of the hero-
ism of 'fishing for men", he said "you could catch a dozen fish in half an
hour, but you may have to fish for several years before you catch a man."
Such a wording as this. In addressing an audience of young women, proved
too suggestive, and most of the girls, hitherto very well-behaved, could
not restrain a smile.
Mamma was inquiring about Kate Dunham a while ago. Tell her that
she seems to me to be pretty well. She says she is as well as she has been
Feb. 2, 1896 - 1041
for the last two or three years. She went down to Newburgh Friday to
stay over Sunday with Miss Gouldy, who was up here last week- You
know Miss Gouldy visited Miss Sutliff in Cleveland.
I did not get a letter from Mamma this week - I think something
was the matter with the mails yesterday, for very few letters came.
X am waiting impatiently for one of your new photographs. I
hope they are good-
With love to all the family from your loving daughter
Adelaide. jCalflin,