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Sept. 3, 1916
Sept. 10, 1916
Sept. 11, 1916
Sept. 17, 1916
Sept. 24, 1916
Dear Mother,
You will find enclosed with this letter a rough sketch, showing
a general outline of Pleasantville as a town and in its relative
position to Atlantic City and the intervening meadows, swampy
land, and inlets, from such observation as I have been able to
make thus far. Generally speaking, I should call Pleasantville,
or the inhabited part, quite a long and rather narrow rectangular
strip of land running parallel to the inlet and meadow land which
separates it from Atlantic City. The Main Street in Pleasantville
I have indicated by double lines, and is known as North Main,
north of the rail road tracks and South Main the other side;
At certain points it is the easternmost street in the town and
at others houses have been built further out toward the meadow
or inlet, so that there is another north-and-south street east
of Main. There are two railroads running through the town, the
Reading (north) and the Pennsylvania (south); they go thru two
blocks apart from each other (This by the way is where I made
a mistake when I thought I wouldn't pass thru here on my way
to Atlantic City; on the map I looked at over at the factory,
it looked as though only the southern line passed thru). The
town centers on that part of Main St. between the tracks of the
two railroads. You will see from the sketch that the house where
I am boarding is on Collins Ave., a recently opened block street
running out from North Main St. toward the meadow. It was really
quite a lucky find, I am sure, and I don't believe I could have
possibly found a better place to be. The meadows up by the house
are not very swampy for some distance, and the breezes, which
come our way if there are any around, are very fine; I was a
little afraid at first they might have rather an ill swampy odor,
but Mrs. Winch said that they never were that way, and I guess
they aren't. This street is part of a large old farm, known as
the Collins farm, and east of the house down toward the meadow
and along south there is still a large tract owned by the Collins
family and farmed. The Winches' house was built only last April
and is everything to be desired - a modern square shaped house,
enclosed porch in front, attractively furnished, hardwood floors,
a piano (or rather two, as both Mr. and Mrs. Winch have been
married before, and each had one when they pooled their interests),
an Encyclopaedia Britannica, and a historical library which had
belonged to Mrs. Winch's former husband. There are only two things
which aren't quite right about the house, as far as I have already
observed; one is that the doors are not very squarely fitted
and there is a hump in the middle of the bathtub which I am sure
will give me curvature of the spine eventually. My room is on
the south-west corner, is almost as large as Aunt Lucy's and
the study combined, at home, I should think; has two windows,
plenty of air, a fine big closet, a double brass bed stead, three
chairs, and a bureau, with one large and two small drawers, but
the large one holds most all my clothes. Mr. and Mrs. Winch are
very cordial and make me feel very much at home, and say they
want anybody that lives with them to have the freedom of the
house. They have a small garden and a flock of White Wyandotte
and Plymouth Rock Hens, so that they have their own fresh eggs
and also a small poultry business; Mr. Winch gets fifty cents
a dozen for his eggs wholesale in Atlantic City now.
The town seems to cover quite a large area, and one would,
I think, take it for a little larger than it is, (not quite 5000).
It is very plain, on the whole; there is only one street in town
on which the houses are the least bit elaborate, this being the
Boulevard, a two block street running east from South Main, two
blocks south of the tracks, and the street to which you turn
to go to Atlantic City; but the houses on this street do not
average any greater elaborateness, than, say, Mrs. Briggs' or
Mrs. Kirkpatrick's in Cromwell. (My house, by the way, is as
near like the Sellew's as anybody's in Cromwell). There are scattered
houses on other streets which are better than the ordinary, but
the Boulevard is the only street on which they are the rule.
For the most part the homes seem very small, and there are not
a few which appear to have only one full story; but most of them
seem fairly tidy. There isn't a hill in sight, and the town is
practically level thru out. It is almost entirely a residential
town, and probably may be considered a suburb of Atlantic City,
as I think that a large number of people work over there; however
on the outskirts there appears to be quite a little trunk growing,
and down in the extreme southern part of the town I noticed in
a walk the other day there is a large pigeon farm. There is a
small hosiery factory in town and also a large laundry which
does about all of Atlantic City's work; there are, too, a couple
of lumber yards (I don't know where they get the lumber, for
trees here are small and scarce) and it seems as though I saw
a small iron or brass foundry in my travels the other day - just
what it was slipped my mind. In the center there are two hardware
stores, a national bank, a trust company, two real estate firms,
a couple of restaurants, one hotel beside the Pleasant-Villa,
several grocery stores and combined tobacco, confectionery, and
stationary emporiums, one or two drug stores, two shoe repairing
places, two cleaning, pressing, & dyeing establishments,
two clothing stores, a millinary shop, and probably others. The
largest thing here is their cemetery; I don't know where the
patrons all come from, but it certainly is huge; and I noticed
a number of Mausoleums in it, and several quite elaborate gravestones
- they don't go with the appearance of the town, and I'll have
to look into that matter further. The people that I have met
so far have seemed cordial and intelligent; I met a few men the
other night, at the Pleasantville Athletic and Musical Association,
when I stopped there with Mr. Wilson, who is directing some minstral
show they are going to give; but they are the limit of my acquaintance
so far, except for the people whom I went to see about room and
board, and three or four others to whom I happen to have been
introduced. Wednesday afternoon when I was walking around I made
the unfortunate discovery that there is a large negro quarter
down in the southwest part of town, but I'm hoping there won't
be many of them to mix the color in my classes.
What has come to my attention most particularly about the people
here is the different way they speak from us New Englanders -
this is noticeable chiefly in their pronunciation of the sounds
[here he shows the different sounds of "o"]; short
o is pronounced almost invariably aw, and the difference from
us in the pronunciation of the other sounds lies I think in a
greater pursing of the lips and bringing the tongue nearer against
the teeth; perhaps it might be described as kind of half-way
between New England and straight Southern dialect. It sounds
very strange at first, anyway.
We get automobiles here in Pleasantville just as thick and thicker
than in Cromwell, inasmuch as our main street down as far as
the Boulevard is on the way to Atlantic City; and of course they
have been particularly thick during the last two days.
Now a lot of these things I have written about Pleasantville
will probably bear corrections as I become more familiar with
the place, and any flagrant errors in statement I shall try and
remember to correct when I learn of them. Of course you will
realize, too, that the sketch I drew is undoubtedly far out of
proportion; I paid more attention to line and direction than
area.
The high school building is a new one just being completed, and
is about three blocks west of Main St. on Washington Ave. (see
map); up to this year I believe the high school classes were
conducted in the grammar school building at the foot of Collins
Ave., on North Main St. The school board decided this week to
postpone opening until the 18th, but I understand, although I
have not been told officially, that the teachers will be expected
to report on the 7th. When Mr. Wilson first told me the other
night, merely that the opening had been postponed, I was pretty
much put out inside, as the matter must have been in the wind
the week before and it seemed as though he could have let me
know something about it. Of course I said nothing, but decided
that whether we had to report or not it would be better to stay
right here, and in time I may be glad that I am having all the
extra time for preparation; also, it is not unlikely that the
fine room I have would have been snatched up by someone else
if I hadn't come early. Dr. Whitney hasn't appeared yet, but
I imagine he will be here right after Labor Day.
Friday I spent a very pleasant day in Bridgeton with Ernest et-ux-to-
be [ux=wife]. It is a very round about way one has to take to
get there; first the Philadelphia electric train as far as Newfield,
then another electric train to Millville, and then either trolley
or jitney to Bridgeton - with the various directions about like
this:
* Newfield
\ ---\
\ ----\ [try to see a straight
\ ----\ line between P'ville
-----*----------* * and Newfield]
Bridgeton Millville Pleasantville
Sylvester, Miss Ott, "Tot" and Ernest in canoes
I missed the train I intended to take by about two seconds,
so that I didn't get to Bridgeton until eleven o'clock. We just
visited with each other until lunch; then most of the afternoon
we spent canoeing on a mill raceway, and a small lake from which
it comes; the raceway and lake are very pretty, the banks of
the former being shaded all the way, and the sides of the lake
being all wooded; this is really the only naturally pretty place
I have yet seen in New Jersey, and it is Bridgeton's pride. At
the end of the raceway there are several buildings made to house
canoes, and there are over a hundred and fifty lockers for them,
practically all of them full. We had along with us a Miss Ott,
who teaches German in the High School at Bridgeton; she graduated
from Bucknell College two years ago, so I suppose must be about
twenty three years old, but she doesn't look over eighteen; I
am almost afraid to tell you that she is a blond and even shorter
than "Tot", because of the theory that I am very susceptible
to the above combination. At any rate, she was a pleasant girl,
not hard to meet , and a good conversationalist, so that I had
a very agreeable afternoon. We were all four together in a canoe
part of the time, and the rest of the time we had two; the reason
for this being that one of the canoes was way upon the lake.
As both girls could swim, I of course didn't mind going; I don't
suppose it would have made much difference about going if they
hadn't been able to, inasmuch as I was Ern's and Tot's guest
and they had made all the arrangements. About four o'clock we
had to get Miss Ott home as she had some company coming at that
time, and then we took a walk around Bridgeton. It is quite a
decent city, on the whole, there are quite a number of nice homes
there, and plenty of shade trees, which I miss down here, also
once in a while an elevation of more than a yard or so. I saw
something there, too, that I had never seen growing before, a
holly bush. After supper, I stayed until half past nine, just
visiting with Ern & Tot at Tot's rooming place and listening
to her sing. Connections coming back were very poor, as I found
after I started, so that I didn't get home until a quarter to
one; and didn't even wake up until a quarter past nine yesterday.
Yesterday and today I have spent very quietly, at the house most
of the time. Last night I played 500 with Mr. and Mrs. Winch
and a Mr. and Mrs. Bosler who came to see them; and this seems
to be quite a favorite game with them. There is a feature in
the game they have of which I never heard before, and that is,
when you are playing five handed, that you are restricted in
calling for a card to be your partner to aces, and aces not in
the trump suit. I rather imagine tonight Mrs. Winch will ask
me to go to church with them; she is a Presbyterian and he is
a Baptist, but I believe they compromise on the Presbyterian
for the most part. There are thirteen churches in this place,
none of them a Congregationalist.
I'm going to be able to get a New York Times about seven thirty
in the morning, beginning tomorrow; some woman (a Mrs. Matthews)
has a news agency here, and delivers papers earlier than I could
get them by mail. It's strange, though, that not a single newsstand
in town carries a New York newspaper, except the unspeakable
Journal. All the papers here are Atlantic City and Philadelphia
organs; and do you know that Philadelphia is only fifty five
miles from here? I'm going to try and get Sam over to see me
some fine weekend.
The laundry came whole as far as contents were concerned, but
the box had split at the edges, so that the paper could not be
used for sending my laundry home this week. As I understand it,
I am to wrap up my clothes in the bath towel and just put paper
around that. Am I right? Thank you for the pears sent with the
laundry; they tasted very good. Also thank you for the extra
things you found and enclosed, and for the hint from Dr. Bush
as to gargling thymoline or listerine as a precaution against
paralysis. If you think of it, next time you send my laundry,
please send me an extra trousers hanger; if there isn't an extra
one around, please don't rob anybody else, but let me know and
I'll buy one. I also miss my sun glasses, and if you can find
them, they would be very useful whenever I'm in Atlantic City.
I was sorry to hear about Sadie Nobel, and hope she gets well
pretty soon.
I didn't think in the middle of last week, that there would be
any way of communicating with you except by telephone or telegraph
this week, but of course the danger of that is now by for the
time being. Probably there are other things I could write if
I should stop and think long, but its after suppertime and twenty
pages must be about enough to digest at once.
Much love to everybody
Sylvester
[notes around margin of letter]
L.F.& C. only sent pay up to 19th.
Please pardon scratches & words written over each other.
When there's less to write, I'll try to write more slowly &
carefully.
[hand drawn map enclosure I can't duplicate]
[The last two letters mention two things that show that Gramp
of 1916 was very much like the Gramp of the 1960's that I remember:
First he mentions wanting to clip an article from the Sunday
paper. I think we all remember the stacks of newspapers out in
the barn and in his office in the house in Ledyard. He meant
to take clippings from all of them and couldn't bear to part
with them. He got real nervous when Nathan or I would go exploring
for Dick Tracy comics among his old newspapers.
The second was him mentioning chickens. Mainly it reminds me
of his chickens and especially one called Napoleon who lived
alone in the dog house between the grape arbor and barn. Also
he used to tell me that when the chickens crowed in the morning
they were saying "Mr. But--lerrr" (said to the tune
of a rooster crowing) -David Butler, grandson]
[David's comment about the roosters' saying "Mr. But-lerr"
reminds me of the roosters which were all over the Philippines,
outside the windows of our conference center in Tagaytay and
even in downtown Manila, and I'm not kidding you, ALL of them
were saying "Mr. But-lerr!" (I don't know if it's the
power of suggestion, or the strong imprint of youthful imagination,
or what, but I simply cannot hear ANYthing in a rooster's call
BUT "Mr. But-lerr!") So of course I shared that with
Hannah, insisting that each rooster was calling me. She giggled,
but I'm not sure it really sounded like "Mr.But-lerr"
to her.
I got a big kick out of Gramp's reference to his newspapers and
clippings, too. I wish I could remember more about Pleasantville
in general, so as to compare it in my mind as he describes it's
look back then. I pretty much just remember Aunt Catherine's
street and the graveyard where Great Grandma Laura was buried,
even though I took Susan and the kids there right after we got
married. I was surprised at how much the Boardwalk back then
apparently resembled the Boardwalk I remember from my childhood,
including the Steel Pier. I'm also occasionally surprised by
some of the terms he uses. For instance, I would have guessed
the word "suburb" was a more recent invention. And,
of course, I WAS surprised by his reference to the "colored
section" and his hopes they wouldn't be in his class. I
always think of him as a perpetual '60s Liberal Democrat, I guess.
The letters are fun, for sure, and certainly speak of a slower-paced
and more reflective time. I fear our emails will NOT tell the
next generation nearly so much. Who has the time to write 20
page letters?! -- Nathan Butler, grandson]
Dear Lucinthia, [this is his younger
sister]
You have probably before now learned definitely of an extension
in your vacation; I saw in the New York Times and also in the
Hartford Courant this week that Wellesley wouldn't open until
Oct.2nd, I believe it was. I have not been told officially, but
I have strong reason to believe that the Pleasantville schools
will not open until that date. Whether they wanted to open or
not, it is very doubtful if the new High School building will
be ready by the 18th of this month, the date to which the first
postponement was made. Not a single desk is in place yet, and
I believe it's going to be the job of us men teachers to screw
down all the desks & chairs, so as to help things along as
fast as possible. We did a little work over there Friday afternoon,
but haven't gotten to the desks yet.
I was in the new High School building for the first time Friday
afternoon. It's a two story brick structure, with a plan about
like this:
First Floor
__________________________________________________________________
|Kindergarten| | Stage | | |
| | |__________________| | Class |
| Room | Assembly Hall | |
| | | | |
| | | Going | Room |
| | | up | |
| | \| / | |
|____________|__________________\/___________________|____________|
| |
|stairs Corridor stairs|
| |
|_________________________________________________________________|
| | | | | |
| Class |Supervisors| | Cloak | Class |
| | | Entrance | | |
| Room | Office | | Room? | Room |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
|____________|___________|__________________|________|____________|
_____________________________________________________________________
Street --------------------------> W
_____________________________________________________________________
Second floor
__________________________________________________________________
|Class | Open | |
| |_______________________________________| Class |
| Room | Upper tier seats | |
| | | |
| | | Room |
| | for Assembly | |
| | Hall | |
|____________|_______________________________________|____________|
| |
|stairs Corridor stairs|
| |
|_________________________________________________________________|
| | | | |
| Class |Commercial | | Class |
| | Rooms | |
| Room | | | Room |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|____________|__________________|____________________|____________|
In the basement is the manual training department and I think
the boys' cloak room. You will notice that the kindergarten is
going to be in the High School building. The assembly hall is
going to be fine, with a stage large enough for any play we should
want to give, and with plenty of space in the rear for dressing
rooms; and a seating capacity large enough to take care of all
that will ever be there to fill them, at plays, concerts, or
graduating exercises. There will be about a hundred and forty
or fifty pupils all told in the school, aside from the kindergartners;
and more than three quarters of the pupils will be in the first
two classes. This is partly because a good many drop out, and
partly because beginning this year a number of pupils will enter
the High School from surrounding towns which have formerly sent
their boys and girls to the Atlantic City High School; those
who have started at Atlantic City from those towns will, however,
stay there the rest of their course.
There will be ten teachers in the High School, including the
manual training man, and possibly eleven. They need another teacher
badly for commercial subjects, but if the board cannot be prevailed
upon to get one, I shall probably have to teach some Freshman
algebra (which goes up to quadratics only), and the regular mathematics
teacher take care of book-keeping, which will go to the new commercial
teacher, if we can get her; as I couldn't take the book-keeping,
but I could take care of the algebra if necessary, and nobody
else seemed to be able to. We made this tentative arrangement
between, or rather among us. I shall probably have something
to teach beside history, anyway, as Doctor Whitney thinks a teacher
should have two subjects; and if they have another commercial
teacher, I imagine I shall have an English literature course
to teach. Another man was hired on the understanding that he
would have some of the history, so that I couldn't have it all,
anyway; at present, under the tentative arrangement we teachers
made among ourselves, I shall have the Medieval and Modern European
History, and American History & Civics; the other man (Carey
from Southington, Conn. a Wesleyan man) will have Ancient History
and a course in Industrial History. Besides the manual training
man, there are three men teachers in the High School; Cruse,
a Penn State man, whose home is around southern New Jersey somewhere,
and who will have the Physics, Chemistry, and General Science,
the last a Freshman course; Carey, who will have Biology and
some History; and myself. The school hours will be from 9 to
12, and from 1 to 3:30; the last hour of the day is the time
for manual training classes, music & drawing, but we regular
teachers may have some special work at that hour, from time to
time - individual work with backward students, etc.
This afternoon I took the first good sized walk I've had since
I came. Carey and I walked up north into the next town, Absecon,
then struck over west for a half mile or a mile and down again;
about a two hour walk, six or seven miles. Going up to Absecon
is much like walking to Rocky Hill would be, but when we got
going south again on a road further west it was somewhat more
backwoodsy, and about as dusty as the road going out by Roscoe
Gardner's. The woods around here are not as thick nor the trees
as high as up home; low misshapen pines predominate. And in walks
here you will never come to a spot where an excellent view may
be had of the surrounding country, as we have had so often in
our various Sunday afternoon travels; however it's interesting
to see different kinds of country, but it doesn't take long to
decide whether you would prefer Connecticut or southern New Jersey
scenery.
I am sure I am going to like my boarding place very much. I have
had no reason to change my first favorable impression which I
conveyed in my former letters, and now that I have begun to eat
here, I like it still better, for Mrs. Winch is an exceptional
cook - and it isn't possible to go hungry, no matter if oysters
are the only meat on the table. Carey eats here also, but rooms
at another place. Then there are two young ladies here who teach
at the grammar school, a Miss Hodgson, and a Miss Davis; both
appear to be splendid girls, and full of fun - they both knew
the Winch's well before, although this is the first year they
have actually stayed with them.
Thank you for writing me last Sunday; I was mighty glad of letters
the first week or so especially, and of course always like to
get as many as I can. I hope you won't chafe too much under your
prolonged rest.
Very affectionately
Sylvester
Dear Mother,
I have just come back from a three hour session of the High School
teachers with Dr. Whitney, including a long talk from him on
textbooks and reference books and the kind we should have, &
on a scheme of supervised study periods that he is introducing
into the schools, and an attempt to arrange a schedule of classes
without conflicts; the latter isn't quite completed, but we hope
to do so Wednesday morning, as the pupils are all supposed to
come to the school to-morrow and register their selection of
courses, and when these choices have been put together we can
see what electives are not chosen by the same pupils and will
therefore not conflict; then we shall be in a position to complete
the schedule intelligently. There will probably be four forty
minute periods in the morning, and two in the afternoon, the
last hour of the afternoon, after regular periods, being devoted
to work in manual training, drawing, and music, and on the part
of the regular teachers to individual work with backward students,
etc. I believe you will probably be interested in this supervised
study idea of Dr. Whitney's: under one scheme, either two or
three days of the week will be devoted to supervised study and
the balance to recitation; and under the other, half of each
period would be devoted to supervised study, and the other half
to recitation; this latter scheme is called the "divided
period." In history this will mean that all the textbook
work will be done at the school, both study and recitation; but
there will be outside reading for the pupils to do at home and
report on. In the supervised study period or part of period the
idea is to ask the pupils a question or two that will get them
interested and into the setting of what they are to read, then
put the problem before them of what they are to study. As they
study, the teacher will go from desk to desk and ask pertinent
questions to see if they are grasping what they are reading,
and in general will try to instruct them in the right way to
study. The teacher will in addition for the first couple of months
put an outline of the lesson to be studied on the board, which
they should follow in the reading. After that the pupils will
be asked to make outlines themselves, then study the lesson according
to their outline; with hints or thought-provoking questions from
us or thru their own observation they will [be] asked to correct
the outlines after studying the lesson once, then study it again
with the corrected form in view. The outside reading is required,
but what subjects or phases of subjects shall be followed by
the pupils is expected to be partly voluntary on their part,
though of course under the teacher's guidance and subject to
the teacher's approval. The teacher is expected to make the course
interesting enough so that the pupil will naturally become interested
to know more about certain phases of the subject, and make voluntary
suggestions and inquiries in regard to outside reading; otherwise
the teacher is not considered a success. Dr. Whitney is a peculiar
looking and peculiar speaking man; he is slight of build, and
about my height, I should say, has sandy & curly hair, sallow
complexion, a forehead of average height, but the head, as nearly
as I can describe it, slopes quite gradually down from the top
so that the back extends out further somewhat than the average
man; his voice is not heavy, the most characteristic thing about
it being the prolongation of the last syllable in the clause
or sentence, at times giving an idea of a period of abstraction
in which one thought is being dismissed, and he is reaching for
the next. He appears to be a very learned man, and one with a
very comprehensive knowledge of pedagogy, as applied to all branches
of study; furthermore he has very definite ideas in regard to
proper teaching aims and methods, and ideas which if not original,
are new to me; many of them I have reason to believe are the
product of his original thought, however.
We had our first meeting of teachers on last Thursday morning
when school was originally to open, had a short talk from Dr.
Whitney, who then left us to make out a schedule. We immediately
found that we were working somewhat in the dark, the first difficulty
being that there was a lack of definiteness as to just what subjects
each was to have. For this reason we had to do some bargaining
with each other, this applying to me particularly as another
one of the men, Carey from Southington, was also told he would
have some of the history. The chief trouble, however, was that
there were enough commercial courses left for another whole teacher;
we made a tentative arrangement which assumed we would have no
other teacher, but hope that the board may be persuaded to hire
one. Under this tentative arrangement, I agreed to take Freshman
Algebra, of which there will be two divisions, from the mathematics
teacher, who will in turn take three book-keeping classes for
which we lack a commercial teacher. My history work will be a
sophomore course in Mediaeval and Modern History and a Senior
course in American History and Civics. Carey will have the Ancient
History and a course called Industrial History. If they provide
another commercial teacher, there will of course be another shuffle,
the mathematics teacher getting back her algebra, and I getting
probably an English course and perhaps the Industrial History;
I should very much like to have the latter. Working this out
occupied Thursday morning, then Friday we worked together on
a class schedule, which apparently didn't suit Dr. Whitney very
much as he started it all over again with us this afternoon.
This morning we also had a short meeting at which Dr. Whitney
asked us to prepare a list of what textbooks were on hand, what
ones we prepared for any course or courses, if we were opposed
to the one formerly in use; and also to prepare a list of reference
books we should like to have, - in history for outside reading.
So we all went down to the High School building whither the High
School books had been carried and emptied in more or less helter-skelter
fashion. Carey and I go together all the history books in a group
of shelves in the library by themselves (the library, by the
way, is a room which on the diagram in the letter I wrote Lucinthia
yesterday I marked cloak room with a question mark); so that
we now know just how well the school is equipped as far as history
books are conceived. A number of desirable reference books are
already there, and I am now going carefully into the matter of
what further ones are needed, with the aid of some bibliographical
material I have; and Carey has also been of no little help to
me; he has a very good memory for authors and titles, and a very
good knowledge of the worth while books in the various history
branches. Carey also teaches some biology, incidentally is only
teaching this one year, so that he isn't very particular about
the courses he has, so long as he can teach them. The Atlantic
City Library will also prove, I am sure, quite valuable to me.
This with what I wrote Lucinthia yesterday about completes what
I know of my school work thus far. There are eight teachers in
the High School besides the manual training man, and drawing
and music teachers; three of the eight are men. One, by the name
of Kruse, comes from Dorchester, New Jersey; he has charge of
all the Physics and Chemistry, also a course in General Science
for Freshmen; he is a short fellow, somewhat of a sport, and
a big bluff, even to his attempt at a mustash. Carey graduated
from Wesleyan last June, and lives in Southington, on a farm,
near Kensington. He is well built but slender fellow, about my
height and weight, and of a somewhat florid complexion; he seems
like a fellow of good principle, he is light, a Phi Beta Kappa
man, and displays a thorough knowledge of anything he has ever
studied. He doesn't seem to be very much at ease in company,
or if at ease, he says things which sound awkward; I have been
able to make this judgment largely from the fact that he eats
at Mrs. Winch's, where there are also two of the young lady teachers
of the grammar school, as I wrote Lucinthia. I haven't seen enough
of the women teachers in the High School to be able to characterize
them very well; they all seem very pleasant and vary in ages
from about twenty four to thirty five, I should say. Miss Tolbert
has Latin and may take commercial arithmetic, that is if we can't
get the new teacher; she is the most striking of any of the teachers,
- is very well educated, has lots of ready knowledge and apparently
is very able; and is a woman of very good address and carriage;
age probably 30. The four other women teachers are Miss McAllister,
mathematics, Miss McClelland, German, Miss Ryder English, and
Miss Bates, Stenography, Typewriting, Commercial Law & Commercial
Geography.
Labor Day I went with Mr. and Mrs. Winch to a field day and picnic
given by the Pleasantville Athletic and Musical Association,
otherwise known as the PA and MA club, at Lake Lenape, near May's
Landing station, about twelve miles west on the Pennsylvania
electric road. Lake Lenape is a little amusement place much like
Lakeview. Most all the people in Pleasantville were over there,
so I knew it would be a good chance to meet people, and I did
meet quite a few men. Aside from this and parts of two or three
evenings at cards, the week was spent largely in study and private
planning of my work, and the teachers' meetings I have told you
about. They play 500 more than anything here at the Winch's;
I taught them what I knew of bridge the other evening, but Mr.
Winch didn't care much for it; however I got a bridge score the
other day in Atlantic City, so that I won't have to guess at
the count, and he may like it better, and the rest seemed to
like it; Mrs. Winch used to play a good many years ago when the
rules were much different. At 500 Mr. Winch is a shark, and I've
got to develop my game somewhat to keep up with him.
I find I have to revise my statement about the railroads running
thru here, a bit; the Pennsylvania tracks that cross the center
are only for electric passenger trains and all freight trains;
the steam trains for Philadelphia on the Pennsylvania road run
on tracks which do not pass thru Pleasantville, but go from Atlantic
City northwest across the meadows to Absecon; and this is probably
the road shown on the map I looked at over at the factory which
didn't run thru Pleasantville.
The cemetery, one might easily guess is as large as it is, because
it accommodates Atlantic City's corpses as well as those from
Pleasantville. This also explains the mausoleums and fancy monuments.
I found my sun glasses after writing you; this was with other
things in my card file box, which I hadn't undone, and didn't
think of as a place to find them. Thank you for sending the paper
and other things. Are you going to keep track of the postage
spent in sending my laundry back to me or shall I? I hope the
bundle I sent got to you safely by Saturday; you will find enclosed
a list of things which I sent. I think that I am one large bath
towel short; in the laundry I shall send up this week, there
will be two new sundry hand towels. In sending down my laundry
this week, will you please try to find my white suspenders and
include them? Another thing I would like is some of the music
I left behind, intending to put in my suitcase, leaving them
out of the box because I thought I might want to play them after
the box went. What I want most are my songs "Just a Wearying
For You", "Absent", "Main", and "I
Hear You Calling Me"; should also like to have my Beethoven,
Minuet in G, and Dvorak, Humoreske. The reason I should like
the songs is that Miss Hodgson, one of the teachers at the house
here, has a very fine voice, and I should like to have what songs
I do own here so as to have as much variety as possible; I have
showed her a number of my Etude songs, which she seems to like
for the most part quite well. Miss Hodgson is engaged to a fellow
by the name of MacDougall, who teaches agriculture in a school
of vocational instruction at Hammonton; he seems like an intelligent
and good principled fellow, with a very attractive personality;
his voice is of almost exactly the same quality as Mr. Garde's.
[ Hear a short clip of Sylvester playing
piano, early 1950's. ]
You asked about my box of books; these got here before I did.
I have been surprised not to get any acknowledgment of the silver
vase I sent Mrs. Clarence Barton, nee Miss Maude Wedmore; think
I had better write Lux, Bond, & Lux about it. I was interested
to see the Courant account of the wedding you sent me. This morning
I got the invitation to Lawrence McClure's wedding which you
forwarded to me; did all the family get them and are we all going
to give something together? Please let me know in your next letter,
also tell me, if we do go in together, what my share will be;
also what I owe you on Arthur Strickland's. Speaking of weddings,
I saw in the Courant this morning that a certain Orrell Hodge
in New Britain, son of Charles Hodge, was going to marry some
Detroit girl; I wonder if this is the Hodge family who worked
for father years ago; the boy's name in that family was Orrell,
I know, and it doesn't seem as though there would be many of
the name around.
There is a little editorial on "pussy-footing" that
I cut out from the Times the other day, which I thought might
interest Father, so am sending it along with this letter.
How are you getting along with your chore boy duties? Tell Uncle
Bill I think it would be a good job for him to go up and get
the water. Has he been going to bed much with his shoes on?
Last week was very hot and uncomfortable for the most part but
over Saturday night it cooled off, and yesterday and today have
been delightful; these moonlight nights are very beautiful, particularly
out here where we look off over the meadows to Atlantic City
- a distance, by the way, of almost five miles, although it doesn't
look more than two.
Saturday I expect to run over to either Atlantic City or Ocean
City and take my first plunge in the ocean since I've been down
here; Carey is going over with me. Up to now there has been no
one with whom to do it.
I hope this finds everybody O.K. and Aunt Sarah all better.
Lots of love
Sylvester
[Enclosed Article intended for his father, George S. Butler]
A FELIPEDIST TRANSLATION
This is the original, in straight
Colonelese, Lewiston, Aug.31;
There should be in this country a
system of Universal obligatory military
training in time of peace, and in time
of war universal service in whatever
capacity the man or woman shall be
judged most fit to serve the common-
wealth.
This is said to be a translation of the
same into Hughesese, made at Nash-
ville, Sept. 4:
I hope the time will come when
everybody in this country will feel it
an honor to be ready for the service
of the country.
"Mr. Hughes makes a Byzantine
logothete look like Poor Richard," we
seem to hear the Colonel roar, as
he rages up and down his library at
Oyster Bay. "By Godfrey, he is as
"straightforward as the Oracle of
"Delphi and as bold as a sheep. Why,
"he is an amphibological dodge- mean-
"ing, and Iranian felipodist." And the
Colonel shies LIDDELL and SCOTT'S
Greek Lexicon at the Persian cat steal-
ing softly over the hearth rug.
[ For the younger generation. Uncle Bill is the person for
whom the apartment was built on the side of the house
in Cromwell. The closet on the porch was the stairway down
to the lower apartment (at least at one point). When our generation
of Butler's moved into the Cromwell house the stairway was long
gone. In the bathroom in the apartment the toilet was raised
about 6 inches, supposedly because Uncle Bill had some sort of
rheumatism that made it hard for him to use a fixture of lower
height.
Uncle Bill was Great-Gramma Carrie's oldest brother. She was
the youngest of 12 children, see the Ralph
Savage page to see Bill and all of her siblings. - David
Butler, grandson]
Dear Mother,
There has been a good deal of sameness about my activities for
the past week, so that the weekly letter won't be, I believe,
very long. I have been working most of the week on the request
which Dr. Whitney made of us to tell him what our wishes were
in the matter of textbooks, and to make out a list of desirable
reference books for our several courses. Of course when I came
down here I had no idea of being made such a request, and having
plenty of time, I have tried to go into the matter as thoroughly
as possible, so as to make the most intelligent recommendations
that I could, both for the sake of the school and for the sake
of my own standing. In the course of this work, I have discovered
that the Atlantic City library is not nearly as adequate for
my purposes as I might wish it were; but of course is all that
could be expected for a place of Atlantic City's size and character,
probably more. Because I found everything I wanted the first
day I was over there, I became a little optimistic, that's all.
Tomorrow morning I have a date with Dr. Whitney, and am going
over with him at the time the list of reference books I have
suggested as a result of my week's investigation, also talk over
with him the matter of textbooks. In American History, the textbook
used last year will I think be perfectly satisfactory. The textbook
in Civics is, I am afraid, very inadequate, and I have another
one to suggest. In Mediaeval and Modern History, there are only
three copies of the textbook in the school, so that the way is
clear for considering a new one, but so far I am up against it,
and can find none to meet all of the requirements of a good textbook,
as set forth by Dr. Whitney in one of his talks to the teachers;
I have written to four publishing houses about it, but so far
only have a reply from one, with sample pages of a new book they
have just gotten out; the morning's mail will, I hope, bring
me some more - but in any event I'll talk the matter over with
Dr. Whitney; he might inadvertently or otherwise indicate some
definite book he would prefer, which would go far toward settling
the matter. I suppose after all this careful preparing of suggestions,
the School Board won't authorize the purchase of half of them.
There is only one day this past week that we did any manual labor
on the new school building. Cruse and I for about an hour on
Tuesday carried seats for the assembly hall balcony, from outdoors
upstairs; the fastening of the seats to the floor will be done
by the regular carpenters, I guess. Dr. Whitney doesn't like
the idea of our going down there to help them out, thinks it
isn't our place, but the School Board, or Mr. Wilson, apparently
are anxious that we shall earn our salt in actual time. Apparently
Dr. Whitney won out, for since Tuesday we have had no more requests
for assistance. The Board also seems much averse to letting the
young lady teachers leave town until school opens, the reason
being, as far as I can ascertain, that the people think because
the teachers are drawing their salary here they should spend
their money here.
I didn't finally go and get my swim yesterday, as Carey had a
cold and thought he didn't want to, and besides, I needed the
time myself for library investigation over there. This afternoon
we took another walk, going mostly west this time, as far as
a town called Farmington.
No, I didn't go over to hear President Wilson at Atlantic City;
I don't know whether many others aside from the ladies at the
convention could hear him or not. Maine went Republican by a
larger margin than I expected it was going to, but even the plurality
they did get is small (less than 1/2) compared with a normal
Republican plurality prior to 1908, and not necessarily to my
mind a precursor of a G.O.P. victory thruout the nation in November.
Wilson's greatest strength with the independent vote will be
in other states than New England. I have never made a prediction
on the coming election to anyone, except that I thought it would
be very close; and I still think so.
I hope you will have an enjoyable trip to Worcester this week,
and find Raymond well.
The package with the music came Friday evening, and thank you
very much. I think possibly "Absent" is still down
at Ern's, but I don't [know] what could have happened to "I
Hear You Calling Me". Don't bother to send any more Etudes
down at present; I might perhaps get a few sometime when I'm
home. The package with the skates came in due time also, and
I hope I get a chance to use them sometime; they usually have
some skating once or twice during the winter.
The matter of desk and book-rack I must have forgotten to speak
of, when there were so many things I had to write you about.
I got a flat top desk and a three story book rack the first week
I was here, at a semiannual sale at Braunstein-Blatt's Department
Store in Atlantic City, although they were not delivered until
the end of the second week. I really couldn't get along without
them, and be able to study properly & comfortably, or keep
things in convenient shape.
The tea stand will I am sure be a very nice present to send Lawrence
McClure. One of my cards is enclosed to send with it, or anything
else you might decide to send.
I saw in the Middletown News in the Courant the other day that
Mr. and Mrs. Harold W. Lidstone, the better half of which was
Miss Charlotte Pederson of Cromwell had returned from their wedding
trip. Is that Lottie Peterson?
I am enclosing a list of laundry I sent home Thursday with this
letter, and shall make a practice of doing this right along,
without further mention.
It seems as though there must be more I ought to tell you, but
I can't think of anything now, maybe because its midnight, and
I'm cold and also drowsy. I am enclosing this with a letter to
Aunt Sarah.
With much love to everybody
Sylvester
Dear Mother,
You must have had to hustle to get my laundry to me so soon last
week, as it came Wednesday morning. I'll send two weeks worth
home this next Thursday, as you suggest, and guess it will work
out allright.
The week has been very uneventful, as far [as] I am concerned.
After all my hustling around to complete my report on textbooks
and reference books, so as to confer with Dr. Whitney Monday
morning, he didn't appear, and as a matter of fact hasn't been
in town all week and probably won't be until the end of this
week. On Tuesday the School Board, thru Mr. Collins, principal
of No.1 Grammar School, advised us that we need not report further
until Friday the 29th, So that a good many teachers have left
town. Everyone is still here at Mrs. Winch's except Miss Davis,
who has gone down to Wildwood to visit friends. In the early
part of the week I got off quite a few letters and postcards
that it was about time I should send, and didn't do much work;
but since Wednesday I have been studying in earnest, and from
Thursday afternoon to Saturday evening read thru the entire textbook
on American History, 600 pages, both for the purpose of refreshing
my memory and to get an idea of what kind of book it was. Tomorrow
I start on Mediaeval and Modern History; I haven't absolutely
decided on what book I shall recommend, but an going to read
one of the three for the purpose of refreshing my memory, and
excerpts from the others by way of comparison.
Tuesday evening I went over to Atlantic City with Carey, expecting
to see a vaudeville show at Keith's; however it wasn't open,
and as we weren't keen for a moving picture show or a regular
play, we did nothing except patrol the Boardwalk and see the
people and sights. Last night and tonight MacDougall, Miss Hodgson's
fiance, has been staying with me. He is an instructor in agricultural
at the vocational school up in Hammonton, half way to Philadelphia,
and comes down here weekends to see his lady. Up until this week
there has been a room at the house for him while here overnight,
but Miss Tolbert of the High School faculty moved in the early
part of last week, taking the room in question, and the last
one in the house. So I asked him to bunk in with me if he wanted
to whenever he came down; I believe, though, that he is going
to stay at another house as soon as the people, who are particular
friends of his, are fixed in it.
This afternoon I took another extended walk, this time going
south down into a town called Northfield; the town is more attractive
in some ways than Pleasantville, the houses being in the main
larger, and there being a greater abundance of trees; but almost
every place has a "For Sale" sign on it. They are all
farms, laid out along a good road, as at home, but smaller.
Early in the week I got in the mail a box of very fine fudge
from cousin Anna, and certainly did appreciate and enjoy it.
Possibly you knew I was going to get it, as my post office box
number was on the address, and she must have had to write to
Cromwell for it.
The usual vivacity of our household has been somewhat marred
this week by a serious heart attack which Mr. Winch was taken
with Wednesday night. He was in excruciating pain across his
chest and in his arms for over an hour; his heart action and
pulse became almost dormant and I imagine he had a pretty close
call; to make it worse he was scared to pieces, because he had
seen his mother die in the same kind of an attack some years
ago. The doctor relieved him finally with three hypodermic injections,
and some other treatment, - I don't know the whole business accurately
- but the attack left Mr. Winch very weak and with a terrible
headache all next day. He finally got downstairs Saturday, but
this morning after he had already been downstairs a while he
was taken with another attack but milder than the first. He dressed
and came downstairs again this afternoon, and even monkeyed around
his chicken coop; but I don't believe he has any business trying
to do so much, believe he ought to rest absolutely for several
days. The doctor told Mrs. Winch he would be liable to similar
attacks again; it's to bad, of course no one likes to see another
in trouble, and I would hate to have Mrs. Winch lose her husband,
because they are ideal companions for one another and do certainly
enjoy one another. I don't know whether his attacks are the regular
angina pectoris or not; the doctor who was here Wednesday night
hinted that it was, but Carey and I looked up in the Encyclopaedia
and found a few differences between the information it contained
about angina pectoris and Mr. Winch's symptoms, chief of which
was the real thing was supposed to be of only a few moments duration
while Mr. Winch's was for a much longer time. I hope he's careful
of himself anyway.
Since Mr. Winch has been ill, I have been at the head of the
table, but haven't had a worse problem than a leg of lamb thus
far.
The letter which you forwarded to me from Lake Placid was an
acknowledgment of the silver vase, and I am relieved to know
that it got to its destination safely.
I think you asked in an earlier letter as to whether we should
have to make up the lost school time, and I neglected to answer.
Fortunately we do not.
Do you mind my sending a check for the money due from me for
the McClure & Strickland presents, also the two fifty I still
owe the house for the last week I was home, and for which I didn't
have change before I left? I am sending it that way; it will
save me the trouble of going to the bank and getting it, and
then sending it by money order, and I hope won't cause extra
trouble at your end.
Would you please look up for me Harold Barrows' Hartford address,
at his uncle Rawney's?
Thank you for the extra washcloth sent me, also the daisies,
which I put in the pressed flower section of my scrapbook. I
haven't seen any late daisies here but lots of dandelions, also
lots of everbearing raspberries.
I am going to have to take a couple of State examinations this
fall and a couple more in the spring to get a permanent certificate.
This fall I'll have to take an examination in Physiology and
Hygiene (isn't it the limit?) and another in School Management
and Methods of Teaching with special reference to Secondary Education.
In the spring I take one in Psychology with special reference
to education and in the History of Education. These mean of course
that I shall have a little studying to do thru the fall and winter.
The thing I dislike most is that the examination in Physiology
and Hygiene comes on the afternoon of the Princeton-Yale football
game. The examination for this county will be at the Atlantic
City High School. Don't worry about my having too much work to
do; of course it is a heavy schedule, but I shall see to it that
I get plenty of sleep and try to get enough exercise, realizing
that to keep going mentally I must keep sound physically. So
far I have been averaging an earlier bedtime than I was at home.
This week Tuesday primary elections are held thruout New Jersey
(they have direct primaries here instead of nominating conventions),
and there is a good deal of interest in this vicinity in getting
a man by the name of Edge, State Senator, from Atlantic City,
nominated as the Republican candidate for governor. He's a very
able man, I gather, but I noticed the other day that the German
organizations were backing him, which however he may not be able
to help. This is a thorough Republican section; no chance at
all for a deserving Democrat in Pleasantville. All the men High
School teachers, Cruse, Carey, and Myer, the manual training
man, however, profess Democratic sympathies, as I have found
out thru information they have volunteered me.
I don't know how people stand on the war down here; nobody seems
to be particularly interested. Carey is half German but he is
at least neutral, if not pro-Ally, as far as I can make out,
in his war sentiments.
I hear MacDougall & Miss Hodgson breaking away downstairs
so think it must be getting fairly late, and shall therefore
say goodnight. Hope you had a fine time in Worcester.
With much love to everybody
Sylvester
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