Ithaca, New York
Saturday noon, May 20, 1939
Dear Aunt Dorothy,
Thank you very much for doing my laundry up so nicely, and also for the excellent cakes. I won't wear the flannels much; I just wanted them for Sundays.
I could make it down to Martha's graduation as I don't have any finals on the 8th or 9th (you said it was on the 8th), but it will probably be just as well for me if I don't, as I have two big finals on the 7th and one on the 10th (which is my last). I haven't thought much about how I am going to get home yet; the man I am bringing home is going to New York City first for a few days to see his folks.
We had a lovely day for our trip yesterday up to Lake Ontario, and everything was very beautiful and impressive. The orchards were all in bloom, and we traveled through miles and miles of cherry, apple, pear, and peach trees with their different colored blossoms stretching right down to the lake shore. We also visited about a half dozen other types of farms on the way up, including a muck farm where only lettuce and celery and potatoes were grown.
We also visited about the largest certified seed farm in the state, the Robson Seed Farm, and saw how they grow and prepare different types of seed. We went up along the shores of Seneca Lake and by the Agriculture Experiment Station at Geneva. There were 30 of us in the bus from about half as many different countries, so we had a lot of fun.
I received my gold fraternity key at this week's meeting and also will get a membership diploma. I am looking forward to seeing Linda Jo and everyone in three weeks.
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 1939. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cornell 1939. Show all posts
Post #39: An Explosion at the Coop
Ithaca, New York
Saturday, March 18, 1939
Dear Folks,
I received Katie's nice letter early in the week and am glad to hear that you have a radio now. I think it adds a lot to a house and is really almost a necessity nowadays rather than a luxury. My heel is coming along very nicely but I still have to go to the doctor occasionally.
I think I am lucky not to be working on the morning shift this term because yesterday morning, they had an explosion in the kitchen when the big baking oven blew up. Someone had covered up the gas escape vent on top and when one of the boys went to light it, the commotion started. All the windows got blown out of the kitchen, and everything was knocked off the shelves. Luckily there was only one person in there at the time, and he didn't get hurt very bad.
My first speech in Public Speaking went off fairly well. I discussed Briarcliff Farms from the angle of its history, accomplishments and future, for a few minutes. We have to make four speeches during the term, with two on agricultural topics at least.
Last night we had a St. Patrick's Day party up at the Coop and had it decorated up quite nicely. We had quite a nice crowd too. I have plenty of work this term to keep me busy. Almost all of my courses have long reports attached to them, and my work at the Coop fills up the two or three hours between my morning and afternoon classes every day. They also want me to run for the Board of Directors of the Coop this year, but I haven't fully decided. I need $20 sometime if you can spare it to catch up on my rent.
Lovingly, Hall
Saturday, March 18, 1939
Dear Folks,
I received Katie's nice letter early in the week and am glad to hear that you have a radio now. I think it adds a lot to a house and is really almost a necessity nowadays rather than a luxury. My heel is coming along very nicely but I still have to go to the doctor occasionally.
I think I am lucky not to be working on the morning shift this term because yesterday morning, they had an explosion in the kitchen when the big baking oven blew up. Someone had covered up the gas escape vent on top and when one of the boys went to light it, the commotion started. All the windows got blown out of the kitchen, and everything was knocked off the shelves. Luckily there was only one person in there at the time, and he didn't get hurt very bad.
My first speech in Public Speaking went off fairly well. I discussed Briarcliff Farms from the angle of its history, accomplishments and future, for a few minutes. We have to make four speeches during the term, with two on agricultural topics at least.
Last night we had a St. Patrick's Day party up at the Coop and had it decorated up quite nicely. We had quite a nice crowd too. I have plenty of work this term to keep me busy. Almost all of my courses have long reports attached to them, and my work at the Coop fills up the two or three hours between my morning and afternoon classes every day. They also want me to run for the Board of Directors of the Coop this year, but I haven't fully decided. I need $20 sometime if you can spare it to catch up on my rent.
Lovingly, Hall
Post #38: Future Farmers of America
Ithaca, New York
Friday night
March 10, 1939
Dear Folks,
I was very glad to receive two letters from home yesterday noon. Thanks very much for the check. I am not certain that Dr. Raeder in Millbrook will remember my dentist appointment. I would like to have it between the 3rd and the 8th of April; probably about the 3rd is best. I will be coming home the 31st of March and have to be back here the 10th. This term has been going very fast and I have lots of work to keep me busy until about 1 o'clock every night, but have good marks so far - over ninety average in Farm Management.
When is Easter Sunday - it's around the 10th of April isn't it? I was sorry to hear about Mrs. Benton; it will sort of disrupt their home, won't it. I'll write Charles over the weekend. The weather is pretty tricky around here; one day it's like spring and the next we have a foot of snow.
A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a Kappa Phi Kappa Fraternity meeting along with several others interested in education. It is an honorary Education Fraternity and the only one they have here at Cornell. It is comprised of prospective teachers, mostly in Agriculture, Arts, Engineering, and Law. They have about twenty-five members, and over half are Seniors and the rest are Juniors. They also have about 30 other national chapters throughout the country and none of them have houses. Here at Cornell, they have meetings at Willard Straight Hall every week, and a member has the opportunity of meeting all the important professors, in education, from here and other colleges and also acquiring valuable information relating to our profession.
Today the president of the fraternity (he is also president of the FFA Organization) told me that I have been selected to join if I cared to. I hadn't really expected to be picked because I didn't think my marks were high enough, but I guess my average last term raised it quite a bit. I have talked with several of the members who have belonged to it for a year, and they tell me it is really very much worthwhile and that they have gotten a lot out of it, so I am thinking rather seriously of joining as the initiation fee is only fifteen dollars and I don't have to pay it now. You might tell me what you think about it in your next letter.
Wednesday night I was invited up to a Ho-Nun-De-Kah smoker. This is an honorary agriculture society comprised of Juniors and Seniors. The name is the Indian word for maize or corn. The organization was originated partly by a group of Seneca Indians who attended the College of Agriculture about fifteen years ago. There was a very good speech at the meeting by Professor Bates on Indian History and Traditions of New York State. Afterwards, there were color movies of the Cornell-Dartmouth game which I had seen once before. When I got home, I had to light into a Farm Management report until about 2 a.m.
Last night, I was one of several given the degree of Future Farmer of America by the FFA Organization here at Cornell to which I belong. It was the second and highest degree which one can receive in a local chapter. After the business meeting, there was an excellent speech by Bristow Adams of the Journalism Department telling about some of his experiences in his two trips around the world. He is a very gifted speaker, I think, and possesses a very good blend of humor and tact in all that he says. He spoke mostly on rice and tobacco production in different areas of the world.
Maybe the warm weather will start the hens laying again. Do they get outside occasionally? I will delay mailing this until I have a chance, tomorrow, to find out about guinea pig production. They don't have any bulletins on it, but I can probably get something in the library about it, and at least I can bring home a bulletin on Rabbit Production when I come.
Frank Hedges, from Pine Plains, has a job already in a town near Amsterdam. He is going to teach Agriculture there. He is in the same department I am in and is taking several courses with me now. I visited a large Central School in Spencer down near the Pennsylvania border in my Practice Teaching lab this week. They have an excellent agriculture department there.
You will probably be tired of trying to read this by now so I will say good night for now.
Lovingly, Hall
Friday night
March 10, 1939
Dear Folks,
I was very glad to receive two letters from home yesterday noon. Thanks very much for the check. I am not certain that Dr. Raeder in Millbrook will remember my dentist appointment. I would like to have it between the 3rd and the 8th of April; probably about the 3rd is best. I will be coming home the 31st of March and have to be back here the 10th. This term has been going very fast and I have lots of work to keep me busy until about 1 o'clock every night, but have good marks so far - over ninety average in Farm Management.
When is Easter Sunday - it's around the 10th of April isn't it? I was sorry to hear about Mrs. Benton; it will sort of disrupt their home, won't it. I'll write Charles over the weekend. The weather is pretty tricky around here; one day it's like spring and the next we have a foot of snow.
A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a Kappa Phi Kappa Fraternity meeting along with several others interested in education. It is an honorary Education Fraternity and the only one they have here at Cornell. It is comprised of prospective teachers, mostly in Agriculture, Arts, Engineering, and Law. They have about twenty-five members, and over half are Seniors and the rest are Juniors. They also have about 30 other national chapters throughout the country and none of them have houses. Here at Cornell, they have meetings at Willard Straight Hall every week, and a member has the opportunity of meeting all the important professors, in education, from here and other colleges and also acquiring valuable information relating to our profession.
Today the president of the fraternity (he is also president of the FFA Organization) told me that I have been selected to join if I cared to. I hadn't really expected to be picked because I didn't think my marks were high enough, but I guess my average last term raised it quite a bit. I have talked with several of the members who have belonged to it for a year, and they tell me it is really very much worthwhile and that they have gotten a lot out of it, so I am thinking rather seriously of joining as the initiation fee is only fifteen dollars and I don't have to pay it now. You might tell me what you think about it in your next letter.
Wednesday night I was invited up to a Ho-Nun-De-Kah smoker. This is an honorary agriculture society comprised of Juniors and Seniors. The name is the Indian word for maize or corn. The organization was originated partly by a group of Seneca Indians who attended the College of Agriculture about fifteen years ago. There was a very good speech at the meeting by Professor Bates on Indian History and Traditions of New York State. Afterwards, there were color movies of the Cornell-Dartmouth game which I had seen once before. When I got home, I had to light into a Farm Management report until about 2 a.m.
Last night, I was one of several given the degree of Future Farmer of America by the FFA Organization here at Cornell to which I belong. It was the second and highest degree which one can receive in a local chapter. After the business meeting, there was an excellent speech by Bristow Adams of the Journalism Department telling about some of his experiences in his two trips around the world. He is a very gifted speaker, I think, and possesses a very good blend of humor and tact in all that he says. He spoke mostly on rice and tobacco production in different areas of the world.
Maybe the warm weather will start the hens laying again. Do they get outside occasionally? I will delay mailing this until I have a chance, tomorrow, to find out about guinea pig production. They don't have any bulletins on it, but I can probably get something in the library about it, and at least I can bring home a bulletin on Rabbit Production when I come.
Frank Hedges, from Pine Plains, has a job already in a town near Amsterdam. He is going to teach Agriculture there. He is in the same department I am in and is taking several courses with me now. I visited a large Central School in Spencer down near the Pennsylvania border in my Practice Teaching lab this week. They have an excellent agriculture department there.
You will probably be tired of trying to read this by now so I will say good night for now.
Lovingly, Hall
Post #37: Plucking chickens
Ithaca, New York
Friday night, January 1939
Dear Folks,
I received Andy's card today and was glad to hear from home. I hope the traveling isn't as bad now as he said it was. It is still just like spring here and it rained about all day on and off.
I was through with my classes for the day at 8:30 this morning instead of 10 or 11 as I usually am, as they are having a veterinary conference here. I worked about four hours at the Coop and have been working all afternoon and some tonight on the last half of my Sociology problem.
My glasses arrived Monday all done up so carefully that I had to cut the box open with my jackknife. They are a wonderful help for close work as they magnify the letters considerably, but they aren't any help where I have to see any distance, so I only use them in my room. Wesly Smith was down to my room to copy some notes that he missed, and he informed me that he had to get glasses while he was here also.
In your next letter, would you send Jessie's address which is on her Christmas card? I forgot to copy it down and she asked me to write to her. Thanks for the toothbrushes, even though neither of them are mine, but it is my fault for not telling you what color, and I can use them just the same.
Have the chickens started to lay any more yet, or did I kill the only two that were laying? In poultry recitation yesterday, they showed us how to cold pluck a chicken by slitting the roof of the mouth and sticking the cerebellum of the brain. This loosens up the feather follicles so that if one is very quick he can pluck the feathers out before they set again. Seeing that it is time for me to go to bed, since I get up quite early.
Good night,
Hall
Friday night, January 1939
Dear Folks,
I received Andy's card today and was glad to hear from home. I hope the traveling isn't as bad now as he said it was. It is still just like spring here and it rained about all day on and off.
I was through with my classes for the day at 8:30 this morning instead of 10 or 11 as I usually am, as they are having a veterinary conference here. I worked about four hours at the Coop and have been working all afternoon and some tonight on the last half of my Sociology problem.
My glasses arrived Monday all done up so carefully that I had to cut the box open with my jackknife. They are a wonderful help for close work as they magnify the letters considerably, but they aren't any help where I have to see any distance, so I only use them in my room. Wesly Smith was down to my room to copy some notes that he missed, and he informed me that he had to get glasses while he was here also.
In your next letter, would you send Jessie's address which is on her Christmas card? I forgot to copy it down and she asked me to write to her. Thanks for the toothbrushes, even though neither of them are mine, but it is my fault for not telling you what color, and I can use them just the same.
Have the chickens started to lay any more yet, or did I kill the only two that were laying? In poultry recitation yesterday, they showed us how to cold pluck a chicken by slitting the roof of the mouth and sticking the cerebellum of the brain. This loosens up the feather follicles so that if one is very quick he can pluck the feathers out before they set again. Seeing that it is time for me to go to bed, since I get up quite early.
Good night,
Hall
Post #36: A sore rear end
Ithaca, New York
Sunday, January 8, 1939
Dear Folks,
Well I'm pretty well started on the last lap of this term and only have three more weeks until finals. It doesn't seem much like January here; it is so warm and springlike.
This morning I heard an excellent sermon by an Elmira preacher on childhood psychology, which was very good. Last night Cornell won their first league game of the year from Penn in basketball.
You might tell Mrs. James sometime when you see her that I was sorry I didn't have a chance to say goodbye to her before I left. Today I got up in good time and did quite a bit of studying for tomorrow.
Fred Pulling came back with us from Rhinebeck so we were pretty well crowded on our trip. In fact I could hardly sit down for the next couple of days. It's one consolation to know that I haven't got very many more in front of me.
Did the tractor start alright after more gas was put in? There doesn't seem to be much else to say just now so I will close.
Lovingly, Hall
Sunday, January 8, 1939
Dear Folks,
Well I'm pretty well started on the last lap of this term and only have three more weeks until finals. It doesn't seem much like January here; it is so warm and springlike.
This morning I heard an excellent sermon by an Elmira preacher on childhood psychology, which was very good. Last night Cornell won their first league game of the year from Penn in basketball.
You might tell Mrs. James sometime when you see her that I was sorry I didn't have a chance to say goodbye to her before I left. Today I got up in good time and did quite a bit of studying for tomorrow.
Fred Pulling came back with us from Rhinebeck so we were pretty well crowded on our trip. In fact I could hardly sit down for the next couple of days. It's one consolation to know that I haven't got very many more in front of me.
Did the tractor start alright after more gas was put in? There doesn't seem to be much else to say just now so I will close.
Lovingly, Hall
Post #35: A bus trip back to Cornell
Ithaca, New York
Sunday Morning, January 1, 1939
Dear Folks,
Arrived here at 5 p.m. last night to find no snow or ice and the weather just like spring -- really quite a contrast to Albany. However, the roads were just a glare of ice from Syracuse up to within a few miles of Ithaca, so it took us 2-1/2 hours on the bus to go less than 60 miles.
Only had to wait 10 minutes for the bus at Syracuse and was able to take it direct from the railroad station. I slept 14 hours last night as a result of being up 24 hours straight on Friday and only having 3 hours of sleep Saturday morning.
Hope Catherine and Andy got home OK. I went up and got a free breakfast from a kid across the hall who is on the basketball team. They get all their meals free if they stay here to practice during vacation. Have been studying some and have a lot more to do so I had better stop.
I forgot my two toothbrushes and toothpaste. I can't think of anything else that I have forgotten yet except that I nearly left my skates on the train. If you could send the tooth articles I would appreciate it very much.
Lovingly, Hall
Sunday Morning, January 1, 1939
Dear Folks,
Arrived here at 5 p.m. last night to find no snow or ice and the weather just like spring -- really quite a contrast to Albany. However, the roads were just a glare of ice from Syracuse up to within a few miles of Ithaca, so it took us 2-1/2 hours on the bus to go less than 60 miles.
Only had to wait 10 minutes for the bus at Syracuse and was able to take it direct from the railroad station. I slept 14 hours last night as a result of being up 24 hours straight on Friday and only having 3 hours of sleep Saturday morning.
Hope Catherine and Andy got home OK. I went up and got a free breakfast from a kid across the hall who is on the basketball team. They get all their meals free if they stay here to practice during vacation. Have been studying some and have a lot more to do so I had better stop.
I forgot my two toothbrushes and toothpaste. I can't think of anything else that I have forgotten yet except that I nearly left my skates on the train. If you could send the tooth articles I would appreciate it very much.
Lovingly, Hall
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