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From A Maine Woman Goes South, letters transcribed by Jean F. Hankins in 2003. This installment contains 9 letters. Historical dates appear with each letter; the article retains the original collection’s publication date.
Nellie Pottle to Mrs. Nettie Pottle, Lee Academy, Lee, Maine, September 6, 1925
Source: PDF page 7; printed page 1.
Postmark: Watertown, Mass., Sept. 7, 1925 Heading: 56 Parker Street [Boston], Sunday morning [Sept. 6,1925]
Dearest Mother,
My watch says it's a quarter of ten but I hear no signs of life yet. Evelyn and I have been steping lively since I came and I guess that she's resting this morning.
Mrs. Marriner met me in North Station [Boston], From Rumford Junction to Portland I was with Viola Tilley. She works here in Boston and was on her way back from vacation. It's a rather complicated procedure to get from Boston out here so I was glad to see Mrs. Marriner at the station.
That evening Evelyn and Jerry and Johnny (somebody or other) and I went out to Norumbega Park. We didn't leave here until nearly nine so it was about one when we came back. It was too late to go canoeing as they had planned, but we took in most everything else. We went on the merry-go-round and half a dozen other whirligig affairs. After coming through them all safely have no fear of sea sickness.
Evelyn had to work yesterday morning and in the afternoon I went into Boston to meet her. I had to change once and get out in the subway so I was pretty proud of myself to find my way alone. We went through the library and saw the paintings. Then we walked through the Public Gardens and saw the State House and the Customs House. We went into one of the stores and I bought my bed-room slippers. We didn't have time to get a pongee blouse as I planned for we had to get back here for supper. In the evening we went back into Boston to see "No, No, Nanette" a musical comedy at Tremont Theater. I don't know what Evelyn has planned for today.
I suppose that you are in Lee now. Did you have as much company Friday as we had Thursday? and did anyone else come for two quarts of plums? You must have been pretty rushed.
Stelle's and Sade's lunch was very refreshing. They certainly provided for me well.
I'll write again from Groton. I don't know yet what train I'm going out on Tuesday but I'll send a telegram to Carl Monday so that he will be sure to meet me.
How many do you have in the dormitory this year? I hate to think of you cooking for as large a crowd as you did last year and probably you hate more to think of it.
Give my love to all the Lee folks. Much love to you Mother, Sammy
Nellie E. Pottle to Annette K. Pottle, September 13, 1925
Source: PDF page 8; printed page 2.
Address: Lee Academy, Lee, Maine Heading: Sunday afternoon. Somewhere off Virginia I think Postmark; Savannah, Georgia, Sept. 15.1925
Dearest Mother,
This probably won't be mailed until we get to Atlanta but I will write now while I have a lot of time.
It was Wednesday morning that I wrote to you from Groton [Connecticut], I think. We went up the river on a bus that morning to the submerine base and went down into a submerine. One of the sailors told us ail about it and it was very interesting. We came back, got our dinner, and went out canoeing. We stayed out ail the afternoon. Carl belongs to a boat club there which has a nice place down on the water. We were down there a lot and I saw the Skipper a nice old fellow who manages the place.
That evening Carl and his college room-mate and I went out to play bridge at one of the girls houses there. We had a lot of fun. Henry is funny as can be but sort of wild I'm afraid. Frances was quite sporty and very pretty. Carl used to go around with her. I liked her ever so much and we had lot of fun-missed the last car and had to walk home. Thursday afternoon we went for a sail away out into the ocean. The waves were so high that we shipped water some.
In the evening we went over to New London to a show which was very good.
1 had a lovely time in Groton. Mrs. Crandail is very nice and Carl was awfully good to me. They seem to think very highly of his mother and him. I never realized before how much I thought of him. You and Stelle needn't worry though about my marrying him for I will never get the chance.
My train was a half hour late so I missed the girl in New Haven and had no one to meet me in New York. I felt quite proud of myself going all alone to the hotel and then getting my trunk and myself down to the boat the next day. Of course 1 had to hire taxis for I couldn't find my way alone. But there was a strike among the expressmen so I would have had to have my trunk brought by taxi anyway.
It is lovely here on the boat. I ate in the dinning saloon last night and it was so close in there that I was rather seasick but to-day I've had my meals in the stateroom and have been laying down so I feel all right.
Will write again soon. Much love, Sammy
Nellie Pottle to Annette K Pottle, September 15, 1925
Source: PDF page 9; printed page 3.
Address: Nettie Pottle, Lee Academy, Lee, Maine Heading: Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia
Dearest Mother,
I'm here. I can't walk straight yet. The building seems to be playing ocean wave. The boat got into Savannah about three last night I think we left at about seven and got here by four this afternoon.
It was rather warm on the train. The thermometer was above ninty all the time! Even the Southerners were sweltered. The country is so funny. No one seems to be doing anything. All day long as we went by the houses the whole family seemed to be sitting out on the porch. At every station the whole town old folks and young and babies and negroes all seemed to turn out to see the people off on the train.
The roads are red clay. There are cotton fields and sugar cane fields and other things that I didn't recognize. All the cows and pigs run loose and wander along beside the railroad track.
It is much nicer here than I imagined. The buildings are very good. Our rooms are lovely. The teachers have a separate dining room, and there are no pupils but a dandy bunch of teachers in this building.
My trunk came through is very good condition. Some of the picture frames were pulled apart but none of the glass was broken.
I am going out tomorrow to buy what I need. They say that they have very good stores in Atlanta. I'm going to buy only a few little things now.
The lights go out at ten and I want a bath so I'll write no more now.
An awful lot of love to you, Marmie. Sammy
Nellie Pottle to Betsy Kemp, Oxford, Maine, September 18, 1925
Source: PDF page 9; printed page 3.
Heading: Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia, September 18,1925
Dear Aunt Bet,
I hope that it isn't quite as hot up in Pugleville as it is here. The day that I came from Savannah to Atlanta it was ninty and above on the train. Even the Southerners were begiiming to shrivle up. It's so dry here! There were heavy rains in February, and a shower in April. On the twelfth of July there was another small shower and since then there has been no rain except a shower Wednesday afternoon which lasted about five minutes. The lawns are burnt up completely and the crops are nearly all dead, they say.
I like it here ever so much-really much better than I expected to. The buildings are much better and more up-to-date than the Colby buildings. Twenty of us teachers live on the top floor of Giles Hall. The floors below are recitation rooms. There are no students here in the building except as they come for classes. All of the girls I know are here and I like all the rest.
Our dining room is separate from the students dining hall. So far we have had very good food-no watermelon or chicken though. We haven't had any sweet potatoes yet either.
The only fault that I have to find is with the mosquitoes. You can't imagine what they're like unless you see them. They aren't good sized ones like Northern ones. They are so small that you can't screen them out, and they come in swarms. They don't leave big bunches like ours, but little bright red blotches. The first night they kept me awake so I knew they were around, but when I woke up I thought I had the measles or something. My arms and neck and face were just peppered. Last night I got some mosquitoe dope and rubbed that on and they didn't bother me any. They say that the season for them is almost over now anyway.
I didn't mind the trip down on the boat very much. The first day I was seasick but the last day I felt pretty well. The reason why I was sick the first day I think was because my stomach was out of fix before I got on the boat. That is a much cooler way to travel than by train.
Atlanta is a big city and there are good stores and things here. I think that it will be very pretty after we get some rain.
I suppose that Stelle is back at college and that John and Sade are beginning to plan about moving by now. I had a letter from Mother yesterday. She seems to find her work much easier this year.
I don't begin teaching until next Tuesday. This free week has given me a chance to get well settled.
I hope to hear from you soon.... Much love to you all, Nellie Sam
Nellie Pottle to Estelle Pottle, Colby College, September 19, 1925
Source: PDF page 11; printed page 5.
Heading: Spelman, Sept. 19,1925
Dear Brute,
I'm mullato [sic] now. In another week I'll be pure nigger. That is, if I last that long. I'm slowly fading away to a large grease spot-very large. It's as hot here as it was the hottest days at all, all the time and most of the time it's much hotter. We never think of going out without our umbrella to keep the sun off. Then the first two nights the mosquitoes devoured us ravenously. They are measley little critters that you can't screen and they just swam in. We've been doping them the last two nights, but when we woke up the first morning we thought we had the measles-every place they bite makes a big red blotch. The old negro lady here noticed my arms and said, "Ma Laud honey how them 'squiters did bite you. I alway just rub on a whole lot of kerosene and they done no bother me." We didn't use kerosene but we got some good mosquito dope.
Except for heat and mosquitoes it's wonderful here. The buildings are better than those at Colby, I think. There are two big new ones just going up.
We have a dandy bunch over here on this floor of Giles. All the rest of the building is class rooms so we have no kids to manage. We can do anything we want to. Anna [Erickson] and Marjorie [Everingham] and Leota [Schoff] and I and about ten other young teachers are here. There are twenty in all. It's just like living in Foss Hall except that we have no restrictions.
Atlanta is a big place-about seven times as big as Portland. There are wonderful stores and theaters and so on. We can get into the center of the city in about 5 minutes.
Not one bit of watermelon have I had or a single bite of chicken, but they feed us well. We have a separate dining room.
You wouldn't like [it] here-the only horses they have are mules, but they have an awful lot of them. And they never hitch anything. Coming from Savannah we saw cows and pigs and mules all walking leisurely along the railroad track. They usually stepped aside to let us by.
I had the time of my life down at Groton. You would have been surprised. Carl didn't talk hardly any. We'd be together an hour at a time without his saying more than a dozen words. They seem to think a lot of him down there. The night that we got there a couple of his crowd who are going to be married soon took us for a ride in their new Buick. It was a little roadster-just room for two, but we four rode quite comfortably. There are a lot of pretty places around there. We went out about five miles to the house where this fellow and girl are going to live. The next day we rode up to the submerine base and on to a submerine. That was fun. In the afternoon we went canoeing. In the evening Carl and I and Oscar, Carl's college room-mate, he's wild if anybody ever was, went over to play bridge at one of the girls houses. She is awfully pretty and a dandy sport. I liked her. The next day we went sailing and in the evening we went to a show. Mrs. Crandall is awfully nice.
I bet that your green hat is good looking. You'll look pretty swell when you get all dolled up. I'm glad that I didn't get me a winter coat. I feel as if I'd never need a coat again. I guess that it does get cool later though. How do you like your white dress? I haven't got my black one finished yet.
Did you get back to college on time? From what Marjorie said I thought that perhaps college began a week earlier than what you'd planned on.
Is Dicky back? Be sure to write to me all about rushing season, etc.
Give my love to Irma and all the other kids. Love, Nellie Sam.
Nellie Pottle to Annette K. Pottle, Lee Academy, September 20, 1925
Source: PDF page 12; printed page 6.
Heading: Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia, Sunday morning, Sept. 20 [1925]
Dearest Marmie,
Your Sunday letter came Thursday. Some of the mail gets here much sooner for it comes by air. I think that there is an airmail out from here, so you will probably get my letters sooner than you expect.
It isn't quite so hot to-day but even now it is almost up to one hundred, I think. We do not go out at all without umbrellas to keep off the sun. I don't mind the heat as I expected to. Out of the sun it is very comfortable and while we do not want even the sheet over us at night we are able to sleep quite comfortably. That is, we would be able to if it weren't for the mosquitoes. I never saw such critters. They are so little that they can't be screened out and at night they come in swarms. The first two nights they just peppered us. Every place that they bit left a red blotch and we looked as if we had the measles. Since those first two nights we have been using mosquitoe dope and they don't bother us any, but every one of the bites still shows and to-day they are beginning to swell up and itch. I hope that after this process they will disappear. The mosquito season is nearly over, folks say. It is the long diy hot spell which has made them so bad this year. Did I tell you that except for a shower which lasted about five minutes last Wednesday, these people have had no rain except since July and a shower then, with another one in April is all the rain there has been since February. Things are pretty well dried up.
I like it here awfully well. Before I came I really expected to have a miserable time, and I have been enjoying myself immensely ever since I arrived. There is such a dandy bunch of teachers. Of course a lot of them are older people, but a lot of us over here in Giles Hall are young ones. Anna, Marjorie, Leota, and I are all here. Then there is Anne Brookings from Bates, Hazel Converse from Connecticut College, Winifred Dunbrack from Columbia, and Mildred Churchill from Illinois State. They are all peaches. It is just like living in a college dormitory, except of course that we have no restrictions.
Atlanta is a big place-two hundred thousand population. We are about five minutes ride from the center of the city where the stores and theaters are. The stores are wonderful and the prices are very reasonable. Riches is the big department store and that is as good as any in New York which I have seen. I am going to start a charge account there. It is a lot simpler than paying for every little thing that you get, and I shall try to be careful not to spend any more than I would if I used cash. I bought my towels-I made a mistake, we do have to buy them-and my napkins, etc. I'm going to wait for my paycheck before I buy the cretonne for my pillows. It is some time before I could get a charge account started. They have to look up references as to your past credit. The theaters are good, too, they say. All the big pictures and shows come here.
The buildings here are up-to-date and very good. Tapley Hall is a big new science building which went up last year, and they are building a new chapel now which they hope to get finished by the first of June to have the Commencement exercises in. I think I told you that John D. Rockefeller has given most of the money in memory of Mrs. Spelman-John D. Junior's grandmother. The buildings are much better than at Colby. My room I like especially well.
Our dining room is separate from the student's. So far we have had very good food-nicely prepared. We've had a lot of salads and nice cool things like that. The students' dining room is just off ours. They pay only about ten dollars a month for then- board so they probably do not fare as well as we do.
I sent some laundry last week and it was beautifully done and very reasonably too. I think that I will do some of mine each week and send some. There is a wonderful laundry building. The downstairs part has more than a hundred set tubs and the upstairs part has as many ironing boards. It doesn't take more than a hour this weather for the clothes to dry perfectly.
I have my table runners done except that on one I've done only the single hemstitching. I'll make it double when I get time.
A letter from you and one from Stelle are all that have come here for me. I owed so many people letters though that I couldn't expect any more.
We have church services here in the afternoon. Some of the girls are going into town this morning but I guess that I won't to-day. The churches here must be very good for it is such a large place. The minister from the First Baptist Church is coming in this afternoon to speak to us.
Classes do not begin until Tuesday. So far we have been working in our schedules, etc. We have had several faculty meetings. My courses are going to be very good I think. I don't think that I'll have the Household Accounting course. If not, I'll have only the three Sykes and Comstock texts to teach from. I'll have two divisions in first year algebra and two in geometry and one period that I will have charge of a study room. It won't be hard at all.
I thought that democratic as I tried to be, I would have some repulsion for the negroes, but I don't feel that way at all. There are five or six negro girls teaching here this year. One, from Smith, lives over at Giles and I like her ever so much. She is quite pretty, dresses beautifully and is very refined. After a little one forgets that they are black and as far as I can see that is all that makes them different from us. The condition here in the South isn't nearly as bad as Northerns think-from all that I see, of course I haven't been here very long yet. The negroes have to sit in the back of the cars and everything but it is more that the white people ignore them than that they abuse them.
They treat us teachers very nicely in the stores and everywhere. Miss Lawson, the dean, says that it is altogether a wrong impression that we teachers are looked down upon by Southerners.
The people in the stores can't understand us. We have to spell half the time, and it's hard for us to tell what they are talking about. They surely have a peculiar accent. There is no danger of us acquiring it for of course we are around with the Northern teachers most of the time. It is just like a Northern community in the South. There are nine or ten people from Maine, and most of them know people that I do. There is even one girl who has been up home visiting the Lorings. When you find someone in Atlanta who knows somebody in Otisfield, you can realize that the world is small.
Some way I don't feel any farther away from home here than I did in Waterville.
Mr. Bullen seems to be starting the year right in making everybody work. Poor Marion. It is pretty hard on her. I'm glad that you aren't going to try to take a class with all the other work that.you have to do.
I guess that perhaps I will go into town to church after ail-perhaps I find solace for my mosquito bites.
I am very well and very happy mother, so don't ever worry about me. Write often. A whole lot of love, Sammy
Nellie Pottle to Annette K. Pottle, September 22, 1925
Source: PDF page 15; printed page 9.
Heading: Spelman College, Atlanta Georgia, September 22, 1925.
Dearest Mother,
My first day of teaching is over and it is only 1:30. I have a wonderful schedule. They decided not to give me the household accounting so I have only the algebra and geometiy. My advanced algebra, two courses in algebra and one in geometry come in the forenoon and one course of geometry from 12:45 tol:30 in the afternoon. They will probably give [me] a study period in the afternoon later.
I had no trouble at all this morning and afternoon with my classes. They are very attentive and eager to learn. I think, though from the intelligence tests, that mathematics is probably the hardest thing for negroes to understand. They are imaginative and very good in literature and music, but their reasoning power doesn't seem to be so good. They are doing very well in the first part of the work, which is chiefly memory work, though.
We had the first chapel service this morning. Two of the negro pastors in Atlanta spoke. It is quite inspiring to hear the negroes talk. They are surely religious. Somewhere in the course of their talks they are always sure to say that the Lord loves them. They will repeat that over and over. It must take quite a lot of faith for them to believe that after all that they have been through. Both these men who spoke this morning were very sensible. They were quite optimistic about the negro problem but emphasized to the girls the fact that they must remain more or less humble if they hope to advance, and that being too forward will bring them nothing.
We have some very pretty girls here. Three or four of them you would never mistrust to be negroes. They have beautiful white skins and lovely marcelle waves. They seem to be perfectly at home with the other negro girls though. There is one little girl down in the grades who is as cute as any I've ever seen. She has almost white curly hair and a very fair complexion. She is always dressed in white and stands out among the black children. The little ones are awfully cunning. There is a baby over at the orphanage which they bring here sometimes. She must be about a year and a half old and is the cutest thing. I'm not sure but that I like black babies better than white ones. White ones look sort of sickly beside them, some way.
The woman has been in to clean my room. She does it beautifixlly-washes the floor and windows and dusts all the furniture. We clean them each day but she comes in once a week. They are very neat and particular. Our laundry is beautifully done.
Ruth Kemp [Nellie's cousin] sent over word that she's coming over from Atlanta University to see me some day. Their campus isn't far from here. Morehouse, the boys college which corresponds to Spelman, is very near. I get their bells and ours confused.
I see no prospects of needing winter clothes for a long time yet. It is cooler today though. There is a breeze and that helps out a lot. It is quite comfortable each day after the sun goes down. It seem strange to have it dark so early. By six o'clock it is quite dark and by seven it is dark as it is for the night. I suppose that it is partly due to the fact that we are on Central Time here. I haven't got it straight yet, but I think that when it is five here it is six daylight and seven standard at home. Our evenings are very long for we have supper at five-fifteen. Breakfast is at a quarter to seven and lunch at twelve. I like the way my classes last right up to the lunch hour. It doesn't give me a chance to get hungry.
I had a letter from Carl yesterday. He was going back to college Sunday. His letter was sent Friday at five-thirty in the afternoon and got here Monday forenoon. That and yours and Stelle's letters are the only ones which I've had here.
How is the Glover affair coming? Was Kenneth able to pay anything on the bill? I suppose that Mrs. Glover wouldn't think it to be anything out of the way to send him up without any money.
I suppose that Winifed and Moult have their rooms all fixed up. No doubt they look more or less different from last year.
Tell Marion that I'm going to write her soon. I hate to write just the same things to you both, but perhaps there will be news enough for both soon..
Love to Winifred and Moult, a lot of love to you, Marmie Dear, your loving daughter, Sammy
Nellie Pottle to Annette K Pottle, Lee Academy, September 24, 1925
Source: PDF page 16; printed page 10.
Heading: Spelman College, September 24, 1925
Dearest Mother,
Your Sunday letter didn't get here until this afternoon. I had one yesterday from Fred [Pottle, Nellie's brother] which he wrote Sunday and one from Auntie today.
Now that I'm most over it I'll tell you about it. I've had something which beats the itch and smallpox combined. The first two nights the mosquitoes were terrible. They bit me so that I was pretty well peppered with small red blotches but the places didn't itch any. After the first two nights we got dope which kept them away and we thought that we'd be all right. But the last part of last week my bites began to swell up. If I hadn't known the difference I'd have thought it was hives. They came up in little water blisters and I suppose that the poison got into my system for the blisters came up badly first on my arms and hands and legs. And then it spread over my body. They say that sometimes the poison from the mosquitoes does get into one's blood and make one sick. I guess that the poison all came out of mine. Gosh all hemlock, how the things itched. I didn't try to do anything for them until day before yesterday. Then I got a box of soda, a bottle of iisterine, and a bottle of witch hazel. I rubbed on the listerine, soaked in soda-water, and when the itching got too bad soused on the witch hazel. It worked wonders. They are drying up now and itch almost gone. I got them before they spread onto my face and neck very much. In a day or two now they will all be gone. Some of the girls have been sick, and I think that probably it is because of the mosquitoes. I've been feeling fine ever since I came.
It is much cooler now. Yesterday it was down to eighty-six and to-day I think it must be even lower. There was a little rain this morning.
I'm awfiilly glad that Fred is going to get up to see you. In his letter he didn't say whether Marion was coming too or not. He and Marion are sending me some presents. I'm crazy to see them. Marion is sending some beads which she bought in Venice near St. Mark's and Fred is sending me a little powder box which came from the British Empire Exhibition at Wembly. Probably they will get here tomorrow.
The dormitory must look fine. Your kitchen is quite an improvement over last year I should imagine. It's well that they did fix it up, for you must have to spend the most of your time in it. It's too bad that the kids won't go home over the week ends and give you a little vacation.
What did I say about Carlos? I didn't mean you to take it seriously anyway. Was that in the letter I wrote on the boat? I was seasick, not lovesick, when I wrote it.
No, I didn't meet the other girls in New York at all until 1 got on the boat. My train was a half hour late into New York and another train a half hour earlier from Boston got into New York at the same time as mine should have, so Winifred thought that she was meeting mine. I got along perfectly all right, though, better than some of the others for I had my trunk taken down to the boat with me in the taxi. There was a strike among the baggage men and Marjorie hasn't yet got her trunk which she left for them to take to the boat with me in the taxi. There was a strike among the baggage men and Marjorie hasn't yet got her trunk which she left for them to take to the boat.
I have taught four days and I really like it. I have such a cinch that I know it can't last long. Only one girl reported for the advanced algebra, so they have decided not to give that this year. That leaves me only four periods a day-two in ninth grade algebra, and two in tenth-grade geometry. My geometry classes especially are very good. Anna had them in algebra last year and she gave them a good start in mathematics.
Tonight is prayer meeting night. Tomorrow night there is a reception to which the Morehouse boys are invited, and Saturday night there is a reception for the teachers over at the cottage where Miss Tapley and Dean Lamson live.
I wrote Auntie Sunday and will answer her today's letter soon.
Write when you find time. I'm not homesick at all but it seems good to get letters.
Give my love to Winifred and Moult. Much love to you, Sammy
Nellie Pottle to Annette K. Pottle, Lee Academy, September 27, 1925
Source: PDF page 18; printed page 12.
Heading: Spelman College, Sept. 27, 1925
Dearest Marmie,
I went to sleep right after supper and slept placidly through prayer meeting, which we are all supposed to attend. We've had a sudden change from hot to cooler weather and it seems to make us all sleepy. Not that it's so very cold now. We do not need coats when we go out in the daytime, but last night I woke up and decided that the spread and sheet weren't quite enough covering so I'm putting a blanket on the bed tonight.
Marjorie and I went into town to church today. We went to hear Ashby Jones again. He is a very good speaker. Marjorie wanted to send a night letter home-her trunks hasn't come yet-so we stopped at the Western Union after church.... Marjorie took me to dinner there. We had a wonderful dinner. They gave each of us a whole half of a fried chicken and there were lots of vegetables and some yams. They claim down here that yams and sweet potatoes aren't the same thing. I don't know what the difference is-and a nice baked apple and cream. Then we walked around the city until it was time to come back for the afternoon service here. There was a colored minister here this afternoon. These negro ministers who speak here seem to be very well educated and are eloquent, but they still keep the negro dialect so it's fun to listen to them. I like the Sunday meetings especially because the girls sing the old negro spirituals. This afternoon there was a bunch of men down from Morehouse and the singing was wonderful.
The Morehouse men are very nice to us teachers. You see we are right in the Negro section here, so the Morehouse men when they see us white girls on the street know who we are and always touch their hats to us. Friday evening Anna and Marjorie and I walked over to the Morehouse campus and out around through the negro section. I don't suppose that a Southern woman would have thought of it, but any one connected with Spelman is perfectly safe and respected among the negroes.
There is a very nice residential section out a little way from here. The houses are large and very good looking. Many of the college professors at Morehouse and Atlanta University live out there. It is too bad that the negro can't be judged by that type instead of by the people that live down this way in the slums. The negro houses down this way are terrible and so are the houses of the poor whites who live in the section we go through going into the city. Those houses are really just shacks. And it is those white people who look down on the negroes. They are so low themselves that they are afraid that the negroes will gain superiority over them.
Friday night the Y.W. gave a reception for the new teachers and students. They gave an entertainment which was very good.
You know the other afternoon a clerk came up to me and said "good evening," and I thought that he was mixed up or something. Then when I went into Miss Tapley's office the other day she said "Good evening" and it was only three o'clock. Anything after dinner is evening to Southerners. I got used to that but we don't have dinner until one o'clock Sunday, and I can't get used to their saying "Good evening" between twelve and one. Until I've had dinner it seems morning to me, and to call it evening is a little too much.
I think that I will have the advanced algebra class as soon as they get the schedule rearranged. I rather hope that I do. Most of the teachers have very heavy schedules and it wouldn't be right for me to have only four subjects.
Fred and Marion sent me some lovely presents. The beads are lovely-all gold with pink and blue and yellow flowers in wax on them. The other teachers have complimented them highly. Fred sent a little powder box which he got in London. It is in a blue Oriental like design. I use it to keep my beads in.
Probably I won't hear from you until Thursday unless you wrote in the middle of the week. I am going to send you a birthday present when my first paycheck comes in. Just now the exchequer is low. I hope that you do have a very, very happy birthday.
I suppose that Fred has been to Lee by now. Did he stop in Waterville on the way to see Stelle?
My mosquito bites are all going away and I feel finely.
Lots of love to you all, Sammy
Source and transcription
Original complete PDF, transcribed by Jean F. Hankins, 2003. Original spelling, bracketed notes, and omissions marked with dots are retained. This web edition was extracted from the scanned transcription; consult the PDF when an exact reading is important.