Vassar College Digital Library
jhhorn
Edited Text
Vassar College, Sept. 14,/69.
Dear Minnie
I will not describe my Journey here, any more than to say, that after a very pleasant ride, we reached Poughkeepsie about eight o'clock in the evening and found the hotels crowded with applicants for Vassar College, and their friends. At a little after eight o'clock, the next morning we drove over to the College, I being in great apprehension of the examination. But it was not nearly so difficult as I expected. In Grammar, they asked what were the principal parts of Grammar, and their meanings, what a sentence was, and its principal parts, and all about the different classes of pronouns. In Geography, the asked the Political divisions of North America, and of Asia, the principal mountains and rivers, and the two largest cities, in the world, what mountains, seas, isthmuses, and straits, separate different countries, the capitals of some of the United and of some of the European States, and a few other similar questions, In History, they asked you to tell about the settlements of the early colonies, by whom, and what their objects were, in so doing, and a few other very easy questions. In Arithmetic, they give you two examples in fractions, involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and the reduction of complex fractions. You have nothing to fear, if you come on here, next term, which I hope you will, as Papa and Mama said they would do all they could to persuade your father to let you come. When Papa and Mama bade me good bye, I cried very hard, and I have been dreadfully homesick, ever since. My room-mate's name is Lizzie Good; she is an old scholar, is from Ohio, and about my age. I hardly know how how to describe my feelings towards her, as sometimes I like her, and other times I do not. There are a great many girls here, but I know but very few of them, as yet; none of them are from Philada., as far as I can ascertain. I have passed all my examinations, now, and I am classed in the 1st preparatory class, of which there are three, and I do not know whether the 1st is the highest or lowest of the three. I will not know my exact class, until all the examination cards have been examined by the Faculty. We are allowed to have only three studies and one art, such as music, singing, drawing, painting, etc. Mine will be Latin, French, Music, and Algebra or Rhetoric. There were nearly forty girls rejected, at the preliminary examination, and among them, the Snyders. I was very sorry, both for them and myself. They said they would not go back to Philada., and their parents took them to Boston to try and enter them in a school there. We had chapel service, last evening, for the first time, when Professor Raymond delivered a very kind welcome address to the new students. We are to have a lecture to-night, and another to-morrow night. The library here is splendid, and, contrary to my expectations, contains a great many novels. When the College really begins, we have to rise at six and retire between nine and ten o'clock. The table is better than I expected, as the bread and butter are elegant, and every thing else is nice except the coffee. We have not much variety, but we have ice-cream twice a week.
I hope you will answer this letter very soon, as you can imagine how anxious I am to hear from home. As I have not yet unpacked my trunk, and as I wish to write a letter to Annie, I must bring this long letter to a close.
Give my love to all at home, and to all inquiring friends. Excuse my writing with a pencil, as I have no ink. Hoping to have a long letter from you, very soon, I remain your
Loving Cousin
Amelia.
[Juliet Amelia Adams, prep.'69-70]