Ithaca, New York
November 15, 1936
Dear Folks,
I received your very nice letter and also the “Times.” It is raining out this morning and it sleeted almost all of yesterday afternoon. I waited table for two meals every day last week but haven’t anything in prospect for this week yet – except for this noon. Every one of the fraternity houses were trying to get extra help on account of the large weekend crowd. I had five houses call me up yesterday afternoon to work so you see that my star of ascendancy hasn’t declined yet. I guess Miss Lender is afraid that her stairs are going to collapse one of these days with my running up and down them.
It is just a week and a half before I go home. I am looking forward to it very much. I will probably get a chance to go home with Wesly Smith (the boy who lives in Saugerties) at both Christmas and Easter and a couple times in between as he says that he will be going home every 3 or 4 weeks and that I could just as well go with him. He is an outstanding 4-H Club member of Ulster County. He is majoring in Poultry. For these reasons I have cultivated a good friendship with him and given him several chances to work.
I got 90% in my Drill prelim and like it a little better since then. Speaking of military training, I heard Senator Gerald P. Nye speak up at Willard Straight on the subject “American Driven into War.” It was an excellent address and impressed me a lot. The Cornell Unified Religious Forum sponsor these talks and bring some great speaker here every two weeks. It cost $150 to bring Senator Nye here so they had to charge a slight admission but it was certainly well worth it.
Yes I obtained a pair of rubbers, but I don’t wear them any oftener than I have to as the pavements are rather hard on them. The registry of College students hasn’t come out yet but I met the Miller boy from Millerton last week. I discovered that he sat two seats over from me in Botany and that he is in my section of the English class – quite a coincidence. No I haven’t had my watch fixed yet but intend to sometime soon as I miss it. I can’t come home with the Miller boy as he goes home on the train. I think that I am very lucky to get as near home as Saugerties with some one else.
You will have to be content with a 4 page letter this week as I have two more prelims coming up and I want to try and raise my marks. I received a lovely package of cookies from Katie Bockee on Thursday and also a letter and will write her today. I heard the Rev. Allan Knight Chalmers D.D. speak last Sunday at Sage and he was very good. I am sending the order of service in case you want to see it. The chapel is always packed every Sunday.
This term is nearly half over if not more – the days seem to fly very fast. Write real soon.
Lovingly, Hall
Gilbert Hall Flint was born August 14, 1918 and raised on Flint Hill Farm in Amenia, New York. His formal education began in a one-room schoolhouse in Smithfield. He graduated from Amenia High School in 1936 and from the Cornell University College of Agriculture in 1940. He taught high school agriculture from 1940 to 1944, served in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946, taught high school agriculture from 1946 to 1963, and finished his career as a school principal from 1963 to 1975.
Gilbert Hall Flint passed away on December 16, 2009. The letters are published in his memory. To view the letters in chronological order, please click a timeline label from the side bar menu, scroll to the bottom, and read up.
Gilbert Hall Flint passed away on December 16, 2009. The letters are published in his memory. To view the letters in chronological order, please click a timeline label from the side bar menu, scroll to the bottom, and read up.