Ithaca, New York
Friday afternoon, December 1937
Dear Folks,
We have had quite a bit of snow and wind here the last few days and I suppose you have too. I hope the road didn’t fill in too much. I have had two prelims and some quizzes and two income tax blanks to fill out this week, so I have been rather busy. I get up about five every morning but it has been so cold the last few mornings that I have studied in bed.
I have a term problem in Sociology to do over the weekend and may go down to Pennsylvania with a bunch of cooperative students either tomorrow or Sunday to study economic conditions in a leather tanning town about a mile over the border. The Coop is sending down a load of coal and a load of food to help some of those who have been out of work for a long time.
The roads and sidewalks have been a sheet of ice for a few days and there have been a lot of minor accidents. Thursday night we were watching the cars trying to get up Eddy Street without chains. They would get almost up to the top and then would put on their brakes and slide all the way down to the bottom again faster than they came up.
I don’t know when we are coming home yet but will let you know when I find out. Vince Peppe’s brother isn’t going home until the day before Christmas so I won’t go with him but will be able to come back with him. I’ll probably get home by Saturday but am not sure. I found my skates and think we are going skating tonight for a little while over at Beebe as I haven’t been yet.
Cornell had its first basketball game with Toronto last night and won 44-21. The kid who lives across the hall and who is on my shift at the Coop plays on the Varsity team. Every player gets two free tickets and he is giving me one for next Tuesday’s game against Bucknell.
I can’t seem to think of much else so will close for now.
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.
Showing posts with label Cornell 1937 (Fall). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cornell 1937 (Fall). Show all posts
Post #20: Sardined
Ithaca, New York
Saturday afternoon, Late Fall 1937
Dear Folks,
I meant to write sooner this week but have been terribly busy since I cam back, and haven’t even slept much, let alone write letters. We had rather a long trip back on Sunday as we had to wait an hour at the ferry at Tivoli on account of the fog. There were two more of us going back than came so we were pretty well sardined. We tied part of the baggage on the side and part between the fenders and the hood. It simply poured all the way and we didn’t get here until 9:00. I had one prelim this week and have two coming up next week.
Tonight we are having our first anniversary celebration at the Coop. They have several things planned. It has been down around 15 degrees several mornings this week and it feels quite cold. Thanks for sending the keys although I didn’t really need them – but you didn’t know. I won’t miss my coat for a couple of weeks and can bring it back with me next year.
I helped get Vincent Peppe a job at the Coop and have a chance to go home with him at Christmas if I want to. His brother is coming over from Syracuse to get him, but not until about the 21st as they both have some work to catch up on and I could use the time myself. However I am not certain yet whether I’ll come with him or Katherine Robinson on the 18th.
Irving would like to go home with me and then take the train from Amenia as it would be a lot cheaper for him. Would it be alright if he stayed at the house for a day or so? He has invited me down to his house for a couple of days either at Christmas or Easter to show me around New York City and Radio City, which I haven’t seen.
Nothing much happened this week and I have to get something ready for tonight. I will stop, hoping that everyone is alright. I enjoyed the candy and apples that I brought from home very much.
Lovingly, Hall
p.s. Let me know whether it makes any difference with whom I come home.
Saturday afternoon, Late Fall 1937
Dear Folks,
I meant to write sooner this week but have been terribly busy since I cam back, and haven’t even slept much, let alone write letters. We had rather a long trip back on Sunday as we had to wait an hour at the ferry at Tivoli on account of the fog. There were two more of us going back than came so we were pretty well sardined. We tied part of the baggage on the side and part between the fenders and the hood. It simply poured all the way and we didn’t get here until 9:00. I had one prelim this week and have two coming up next week.
Tonight we are having our first anniversary celebration at the Coop. They have several things planned. It has been down around 15 degrees several mornings this week and it feels quite cold. Thanks for sending the keys although I didn’t really need them – but you didn’t know. I won’t miss my coat for a couple of weeks and can bring it back with me next year.
I helped get Vincent Peppe a job at the Coop and have a chance to go home with him at Christmas if I want to. His brother is coming over from Syracuse to get him, but not until about the 21st as they both have some work to catch up on and I could use the time myself. However I am not certain yet whether I’ll come with him or Katherine Robinson on the 18th.
Irving would like to go home with me and then take the train from Amenia as it would be a lot cheaper for him. Would it be alright if he stayed at the house for a day or so? He has invited me down to his house for a couple of days either at Christmas or Easter to show me around New York City and Radio City, which I haven’t seen.
Nothing much happened this week and I have to get something ready for tonight. I will stop, hoping that everyone is alright. I enjoyed the candy and apples that I brought from home very much.
Lovingly, Hall
p.s. Let me know whether it makes any difference with whom I come home.
Post #19: By the skin of my teeth
Ithaca, New York
November 14, 1937
Dear Folks,
I received Aunt Dorothy’s card yesterday and was glad to hear that the Turkey Supper was such a success. I have had quite a bit of work to do this week even though I didn’t have any prelims. I received two of my three prelim marks back and passed both of them, but only got through Economics by the skin of my teeth. I don’t like the course too well as it deals almost entirely in abstract theory and the terminology is rather difficult. However I am not much below average, if any, in the class so am not worrying too much. I got 92 on my poultry prelim which was quite easy. It was mostly on poultry genetics and diseases.
This morning I had to attend a Coop board meeting as the other alternate member is in the Infirmary. I didn’t have time to get much done as I had to go up and work at 11. I didn’t get up too early this morning as I didn’t get to bed until about 2 a.m. Irving and I went up to a C.I. A. get acquainted party at Barnes Hall and studied some.
Friday morning I got up at a quarter to four to study for two quizzes and read a hundred pages of Sociology. I slept a couple of hours Friday afternoon after I got through work, and that night I had to attend a rather lengthy meeting of the help at the Coop. After I got home I worked on an Ag. Economics report until about 3 a.m. Saturday morning and then Irving came in, after having first arrived by bus from Pennsylvania – about 300 miles distant - where he had been playing football – so it was about 4 a.m. when we finally got to bed and I was up at 7:30 for my class. I got back at 10 and found Irving still sleeping so I went to bed for an hour until we had to go up to work. I got wet right through my rain coat just walking to and from class – that’s how hard it’s been raining lately around here.
Saturday afternoon I listened to part of the Cornell-Dartmouth game which was very exciting and ended in a moral victory for us even if the score was 6 all. I must stop now as I have to get the rest of my work done so that I can go to church tonight. I will write again next weekend and let you know if I change my plans or anything.
Lovingly, Hall
November 14, 1937
Dear Folks,
I received Aunt Dorothy’s card yesterday and was glad to hear that the Turkey Supper was such a success. I have had quite a bit of work to do this week even though I didn’t have any prelims. I received two of my three prelim marks back and passed both of them, but only got through Economics by the skin of my teeth. I don’t like the course too well as it deals almost entirely in abstract theory and the terminology is rather difficult. However I am not much below average, if any, in the class so am not worrying too much. I got 92 on my poultry prelim which was quite easy. It was mostly on poultry genetics and diseases.
This morning I had to attend a Coop board meeting as the other alternate member is in the Infirmary. I didn’t have time to get much done as I had to go up and work at 11. I didn’t get up too early this morning as I didn’t get to bed until about 2 a.m. Irving and I went up to a C.I. A. get acquainted party at Barnes Hall and studied some.
Friday morning I got up at a quarter to four to study for two quizzes and read a hundred pages of Sociology. I slept a couple of hours Friday afternoon after I got through work, and that night I had to attend a rather lengthy meeting of the help at the Coop. After I got home I worked on an Ag. Economics report until about 3 a.m. Saturday morning and then Irving came in, after having first arrived by bus from Pennsylvania – about 300 miles distant - where he had been playing football – so it was about 4 a.m. when we finally got to bed and I was up at 7:30 for my class. I got back at 10 and found Irving still sleeping so I went to bed for an hour until we had to go up to work. I got wet right through my rain coat just walking to and from class – that’s how hard it’s been raining lately around here.
Saturday afternoon I listened to part of the Cornell-Dartmouth game which was very exciting and ended in a moral victory for us even if the score was 6 all. I must stop now as I have to get the rest of my work done so that I can go to church tonight. I will write again next weekend and let you know if I change my plans or anything.
Lovingly, Hall
Post #18: Planes and trains
Ithaca, New York
Sunday afternoon, Fall 1937
Dear Folks,
I received Katie’s and Pop’s letter and was glad to hear that Andy is coming along nicely. This has been a very busy week for me with my Plant Pathology taking up about six hours a day besides my Coop work, farm practice tests, and other subjects. There has been an epidemic of colds and grippe going around the University and almost every other person has a cold.
Irving was sick in bed Thursday. Friday he had to leave for Rochester on a field trip at 7 in the morning and got back last night. He is playing on the 150 pound football team again this year. He and another kid bought a car for nine dollars this summer (you can imagine what it looks like), but it runs ok and that’s the main thing.
Last Sunday we went for a ride out to the farm where we worked this summer. It is about five miles up the west side of the lake on top of a hill, and it commands a magnificent view of the lake and surrounding country. He is a graduate of Cornell and quite an interesting person to talk to.
On the way up we stopped at the Ithaca airport and looked over about a dozen different types of planes and sat in one a while. A fellow wanted to give us some lessons but we decided we better wait. However, flying does appeal to me and I think I would like to learn some time, but I guess there’s no rush right now.
Today I heard a very good sermon by a man who is pastor of one of the large churches in New York City. This afternoon I had a contract to go with a gang of fellows from the Coop out to Cayuga Heights to pick apples, as we got them very cheap out there. After we got back, Irving and his friend and I went out to East Ithaca. We got the Engineer of the train which was resting over there to show us how it is operated, and he also gave us a short ride.
I got 96 on my first Animal Husbandry report in animal nutrition and I only wish I could keep it up - anyway I’ll try. Tomorrow I go on a small trip in my Rural Education lab out to a central High School in Groton to observe how a vocational agriculture class is carried on. I have to do some studying now so remember me to everybody.
Lovingly, Hall
Sunday afternoon, Fall 1937
Dear Folks,
I received Katie’s and Pop’s letter and was glad to hear that Andy is coming along nicely. This has been a very busy week for me with my Plant Pathology taking up about six hours a day besides my Coop work, farm practice tests, and other subjects. There has been an epidemic of colds and grippe going around the University and almost every other person has a cold.
Irving was sick in bed Thursday. Friday he had to leave for Rochester on a field trip at 7 in the morning and got back last night. He is playing on the 150 pound football team again this year. He and another kid bought a car for nine dollars this summer (you can imagine what it looks like), but it runs ok and that’s the main thing.
Last Sunday we went for a ride out to the farm where we worked this summer. It is about five miles up the west side of the lake on top of a hill, and it commands a magnificent view of the lake and surrounding country. He is a graduate of Cornell and quite an interesting person to talk to.
On the way up we stopped at the Ithaca airport and looked over about a dozen different types of planes and sat in one a while. A fellow wanted to give us some lessons but we decided we better wait. However, flying does appeal to me and I think I would like to learn some time, but I guess there’s no rush right now.
Today I heard a very good sermon by a man who is pastor of one of the large churches in New York City. This afternoon I had a contract to go with a gang of fellows from the Coop out to Cayuga Heights to pick apples, as we got them very cheap out there. After we got back, Irving and his friend and I went out to East Ithaca. We got the Engineer of the train which was resting over there to show us how it is operated, and he also gave us a short ride.
I got 96 on my first Animal Husbandry report in animal nutrition and I only wish I could keep it up - anyway I’ll try. Tomorrow I go on a small trip in my Rural Education lab out to a central High School in Groton to observe how a vocational agriculture class is carried on. I have to do some studying now so remember me to everybody.
Lovingly, Hall
Post #17: Head waiter
Ithaca, New York
Early fall 1937
Dear Folks,
I received Aunt Dorothy’s interesting card yesterday and will look forward to the letter. This has been quite a busy week for me and next week will be too. I have to give farm practice tests temporarily whenever I have free time, which isn’t too much as I am working from 11 to 1:30 as head waiter at the Coop on the noon shift every day and have much more work than last year.
We are serving about 175 people now and will be serving nearly 200 after all the members begin to eat. I dish out all the individual meals alone, or if it is an extra heavy meal I have someone to help me. This takes about an hour of fast work and then I have to help set up first and clean up afterword. It leaves me only 10 minutes to make my lab but I guess I’ll get along somehow. I’ve got all eight o’clock classes, so I get up in good time in the morning, also Saturday classes.
Yesterday I listened to part of the Cornell vs. Colgate game over the radio. They had about 20,000 people here to see it and the traffic was something awful. Everybody including the coach was amazed that we should win by such a lopsided score of 40 to 7. They are looking forward to a good year. I walked down from the campus yesterday afternoon with President Day’s wife; we both happened to come onto the sidewalk at the same time and she started talking to me about the game. She said that President Day and Dean Ladd of the Agriculture College had been to Albany that day and had hurried back to see the game.
In the poultry course I am in, we have the largest number of students that was ever grouped together in one room at Cornell University to study poultry. I think I am going to like my other courses real well too. Remember me to Teddy and the kitten. This house is a hundred percent improvement over the one I was in last year. We have a large lounging room downstairs with a telephone which any of us can use. There’s plenty of noise, but that doesn’t bother me much. I have to go up to the Coop to a meeting now so will mail this.
Lovingly, Hall
Early fall 1937
Dear Folks,
I received Aunt Dorothy’s interesting card yesterday and will look forward to the letter. This has been quite a busy week for me and next week will be too. I have to give farm practice tests temporarily whenever I have free time, which isn’t too much as I am working from 11 to 1:30 as head waiter at the Coop on the noon shift every day and have much more work than last year.
We are serving about 175 people now and will be serving nearly 200 after all the members begin to eat. I dish out all the individual meals alone, or if it is an extra heavy meal I have someone to help me. This takes about an hour of fast work and then I have to help set up first and clean up afterword. It leaves me only 10 minutes to make my lab but I guess I’ll get along somehow. I’ve got all eight o’clock classes, so I get up in good time in the morning, also Saturday classes.
Yesterday I listened to part of the Cornell vs. Colgate game over the radio. They had about 20,000 people here to see it and the traffic was something awful. Everybody including the coach was amazed that we should win by such a lopsided score of 40 to 7. They are looking forward to a good year. I walked down from the campus yesterday afternoon with President Day’s wife; we both happened to come onto the sidewalk at the same time and she started talking to me about the game. She said that President Day and Dean Ladd of the Agriculture College had been to Albany that day and had hurried back to see the game.
In the poultry course I am in, we have the largest number of students that was ever grouped together in one room at Cornell University to study poultry. I think I am going to like my other courses real well too. Remember me to Teddy and the kitten. This house is a hundred percent improvement over the one I was in last year. We have a large lounging room downstairs with a telephone which any of us can use. There’s plenty of noise, but that doesn’t bother me much. I have to go up to the Coop to a meeting now so will mail this.
Lovingly, Hall
Post #16: Football celebrations
Ithaca, New York
Sunday night, early September 1937
Dear Folks,
I was very glad to receive your letter and to hear the news. The reason Andy’s spring broke was because it was a weak one which he had put in temporarily, and it was cracked before we started anyway. No we did not hit any construction and he drove slowly all the way.
I sent you the “Sun” as I thought the inauguration address might interest you. They had 31 different college presidents here that day and it was a school holiday. I gave farm practice tests all afternoon, and we finished the last of them up. They only give them during school hours and I didn’t have much free time with my Coop work. I can’t get in as one of the term instructors in the course because they only teach it Monday and Tuesday afternoons and I have labs on those days. However next year if I can arrange my labs so that I have those afternoons free I will have a good chance to get in.
I can’t arrange to go to church very often Sunday mornings because Sunday dinner is the most important meal of the week and I have to be there early to see that the counter is set up right. One of the boys whom I eat with at the Coop occasionally is from Oakland California and is doing graduate work in Floriculture. He is part Chinese and part American; another boy is from the West Indies and he helped get the Coop ready to open.
There has been a lot of celebration over the fact that Cornell beat Princeton 20 to 7 Saturday. We play Syracuse here next Saturday and I bet the place will be packed on account of Syracuse being so near. Ken Brown made one of the three touchdowns Saturday for Cornell. He’s from Millerton and only weighs about 160 but is very fast. Bill Moulton is also on the first team. I worked at the Coop with him last year and this term he is in three of my classes. Irving made the 150 pound football team and is going to Princeton this coming weekend to play.
I wrote Martha a letter yesterday to the address you sent me in New York City. Margaret made the first church choir at Oberlin, and is also in the Orchestra, on the Frosh bowling team, on the tennis team, and is taking archery besides. She’s surely going places for only having been there a few weeks.
I hope Pop’s fingers are alright by this time; did he get the fastening on his leather jacket fixed yet? For our lab in Agriculture Economics Tuesday we have to go out to a large farm about two miles north of Ithaca and make a farm inventory. If I don’t find a way to get there I will have to walk, so I am going down to call up a fellow now – will be glad to receive a letter anytime.
Lovingly, Hall
Sunday night, early September 1937
Dear Folks,
I was very glad to receive your letter and to hear the news. The reason Andy’s spring broke was because it was a weak one which he had put in temporarily, and it was cracked before we started anyway. No we did not hit any construction and he drove slowly all the way.
I sent you the “Sun” as I thought the inauguration address might interest you. They had 31 different college presidents here that day and it was a school holiday. I gave farm practice tests all afternoon, and we finished the last of them up. They only give them during school hours and I didn’t have much free time with my Coop work. I can’t get in as one of the term instructors in the course because they only teach it Monday and Tuesday afternoons and I have labs on those days. However next year if I can arrange my labs so that I have those afternoons free I will have a good chance to get in.
I can’t arrange to go to church very often Sunday mornings because Sunday dinner is the most important meal of the week and I have to be there early to see that the counter is set up right. One of the boys whom I eat with at the Coop occasionally is from Oakland California and is doing graduate work in Floriculture. He is part Chinese and part American; another boy is from the West Indies and he helped get the Coop ready to open.
There has been a lot of celebration over the fact that Cornell beat Princeton 20 to 7 Saturday. We play Syracuse here next Saturday and I bet the place will be packed on account of Syracuse being so near. Ken Brown made one of the three touchdowns Saturday for Cornell. He’s from Millerton and only weighs about 160 but is very fast. Bill Moulton is also on the first team. I worked at the Coop with him last year and this term he is in three of my classes. Irving made the 150 pound football team and is going to Princeton this coming weekend to play.
I wrote Martha a letter yesterday to the address you sent me in New York City. Margaret made the first church choir at Oberlin, and is also in the Orchestra, on the Frosh bowling team, on the tennis team, and is taking archery besides. She’s surely going places for only having been there a few weeks.
I hope Pop’s fingers are alright by this time; did he get the fastening on his leather jacket fixed yet? For our lab in Agriculture Economics Tuesday we have to go out to a large farm about two miles north of Ithaca and make a farm inventory. If I don’t find a way to get there I will have to walk, so I am going down to call up a fellow now – will be glad to receive a letter anytime.
Lovingly, Hall
Post #15: Painting the Coop
Ithaca, New York
September 1937
Dear Folks,
Catherine sent you a post card so I didn’t write immediately to let you know we arrived ok and have been quite busy since. I am very well satisfied with my rooms – plenty of heat and a nice environment. Irving and I have the rooms all decorated with the banners he and I brought out and some tapestry which he brought from Mexico.
I didn’t have a chance to show Catherine and Andy around as much as I would have liked to but did fairly well for the time we had, as they wanted to get a good start. After they went I unpacked and fixed my room up and then went to work at the Coop. There were a whole bunch of new fellows around looking for jobs and working free gratis so I knew I had better get started right away if I wanted to be sure of a job.
Yesterday I spent eight hours up there painting and today four hours. I did practically the whole kitchen and the bathroom today. They have 125 members signed up already and their full quota is 150 so I guess we will have a waiting list. The membership fee is $5. All of us who work there are members as it is a club which is beginning to look like a large fraternity. Everything is being redecorated and the place is beginning to look very nice.
Today I registered. A bunch of us were supposed to go up at 8:30 a.m. so we went up at 8:00 without eating any breakfast only to find a line about a quarter of a mile long ahead of us with people who had the same idea as we did. I finally got through at 11 a.m. and had a couple of sandwiches and then ate a late dinner.
It seems nice to meet all of my old friends again and feel much less lost than I did a year ago. Monday I saw Wesly Smith and was talking with him quite a bit. He is rooming on College Avenue right across from where Pop used to room, with a friend of his who used to go back and forth with us last year. Only two of the old roomers are back at 210 Dryden as all prices were raised. I haven’t seen anything of Fred Tillerton and don’t think he’s back yet. I’m wondering what happened as I was going to get a second hand Economics book from him.
I have started to keep a diary again. It’s raining here as usual since I arrived and kind of cold, although Saturday it was 87. I heard that the 8,000 people who watched the game nearly smothered but Cornell beat Penn State as you probably know. I will write later when I have more to say so remember me to the others.
Lovingly, Hall
September 1937
Dear Folks,
Catherine sent you a post card so I didn’t write immediately to let you know we arrived ok and have been quite busy since. I am very well satisfied with my rooms – plenty of heat and a nice environment. Irving and I have the rooms all decorated with the banners he and I brought out and some tapestry which he brought from Mexico.
I didn’t have a chance to show Catherine and Andy around as much as I would have liked to but did fairly well for the time we had, as they wanted to get a good start. After they went I unpacked and fixed my room up and then went to work at the Coop. There were a whole bunch of new fellows around looking for jobs and working free gratis so I knew I had better get started right away if I wanted to be sure of a job.
Yesterday I spent eight hours up there painting and today four hours. I did practically the whole kitchen and the bathroom today. They have 125 members signed up already and their full quota is 150 so I guess we will have a waiting list. The membership fee is $5. All of us who work there are members as it is a club which is beginning to look like a large fraternity. Everything is being redecorated and the place is beginning to look very nice.
Today I registered. A bunch of us were supposed to go up at 8:30 a.m. so we went up at 8:00 without eating any breakfast only to find a line about a quarter of a mile long ahead of us with people who had the same idea as we did. I finally got through at 11 a.m. and had a couple of sandwiches and then ate a late dinner.
It seems nice to meet all of my old friends again and feel much less lost than I did a year ago. Monday I saw Wesly Smith and was talking with him quite a bit. He is rooming on College Avenue right across from where Pop used to room, with a friend of his who used to go back and forth with us last year. Only two of the old roomers are back at 210 Dryden as all prices were raised. I haven’t seen anything of Fred Tillerton and don’t think he’s back yet. I’m wondering what happened as I was going to get a second hand Economics book from him.
I have started to keep a diary again. It’s raining here as usual since I arrived and kind of cold, although Saturday it was 87. I heard that the 8,000 people who watched the game nearly smothered but Cornell beat Penn State as you probably know. I will write later when I have more to say so remember me to the others.
Lovingly, Hall
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