Vassar College. Poughkeepsie. N.Y.
(Mar. 2, 1897,
My- dear Mother,***
I am glad papa is better and can go back to work. He must
have had grippe. Everybody has been having it here. — I mean, a few
people have.
Before I forget it, I must tell for Bess*s benefit that our room
is number 117. Room 68 is in the double alley way on the second south,
whereas our room is the single alleyway on the third south — the Senior
corridor.
This week we had considerable excitement** The Washington's
Birthday Celebration on Monday* We celebrated the day a good deal more
than if we had had a holiday. U it had been a holiday we should have spent
all the time in studying and doing extra work, but since it wasn't we cele-
brated all day long. Before breakfast we got up and marched around the
corridors and past Proxy's house, singing patriotic songs. The girls had
decorated the dining room with red white and blue bunting, and put a little
flag at each place at the tables. The noticeable thing was that the Faculty
table was not decorated at all * because they took the holiday away from
us, you know. During the day the girls sang America in each class, before
the lesson was begun. In addition to this a committee has put up posters
in various classrooms, which were intended to voice the feelings of the
students. They were made out in the form of lessons, like this, for
tMar. 2, 1897, - 2
example:
Algebra for February 22.
Problem:
if a Faculty should take from some students a national Holi-
day, how much Patriotism would be left?
Let F (known quantity) — Faculty.
Let P (unknown quantity) - Patriotism.
" s (aggravated " ) - Students.
Take Patriotism from Faculty.
(impossible since P > F.
Add Patriotism to Students.
(impossible since S contains P).
Answer:
Since S contains P and P is greater than F it is unreasonable
for a Faculty to take a national Holiday from some Students.
The English one was printed, for distribution, and I will enclose it.
Friday night our class had a delightful time in celebrating the
birthday of our president, Mary Chambers. All the Senior tables were
put together into one long table and they were decorated in pink, with
smilax. The girls all wore light evening dresses, and we had icecream
aad cake for dessert. We sang all together a class song, the words of
which Mary Chambers had written at the first of the year, and then we
(Mar. 2, 1897, - 3
sang at?©-song to her composed for the occasion. Besides these we
sang some of our Trig Ceremonies songs and Alma Mater. The rest
of the people in the dining room clapped us after each one and we
marched out two by two singing - and we felt like a bridal procession.
The bell has rung for the first recitation so love to all, from
your lo v jing ,
Adelaide. ^Claflin,
March 2. 1897.