Drew Seminary,
Carmel, N.Y.
Oct. 10, 1897.My dear little sweetheart,
I enjoyed your last letter more than any other which I have received from you in a long tie, because it told me more of your thoughts and your inner life. The events of your outward life are very interesting to me, but I assure you that your thoughts and feelings are much more to me. So don't be afraid of "dry dissertations" and don't be afraid to fill your letter with thoughts on any subject which may especially interest you at the time of writing.
Do not fear that the new teachers are going to take my heart by storm. They are very pleasant and thoroughly "likeable" - if I may coin a word, - but I am not especially drawn to any of them. Moreover, a large portion of my heart is "previously engaged," and as the occupant does not seem inclined to give it up, and as I could not drive her out if I tried, I think she will stay forever. I am longing to see you, and hoping that I may in November, but I am rater doubtful about it.
This year we have no one with us who is so eccentric as Miss Royce. Miss Andrews, the new art teacher, has funny little mannerisms which at first always kept me on the verge of laughter when in her company. I think she must have acquired them abroad for they are a little "Frenchy." She is really very pleasant and has a keen sense of humour which makes her an agreeable companion. She is about forty or forty five years of age, has beautiful dark brown hair just beginning to turn gray, and rather handsome eyes. She is tall and stately and has much dignity, but is rather languid in manner.
Miss Griffeth, who takes Miss Clarke's place as teacher of Elocution, is a jolly little person, short and plump with fair complexion and light brown hair. She is extremely pleasant and not very dignified, and amuses everyone by her feats in reading fortunes in the hand. Her knowledge of palmistry is newly acquired, about three weeks old, but she makes the most of it in achieving popularity. Miss Whitney, the new teacher of instrumental music, is in almost everything the opposite of Miss Griffeth. She is plain in her looks, blunt and outspoken in conversation, lacks tact, does not know how to avoid collisions, and though she is thoroughly good and sincere, I imagine she seems to me to be calculated to produce an impression of great eccentricity. Mrs. Yeager cannot understand her, and I am afraid does not like her very much. Miss Whitney is the daughter of Dr. Whitney, former principal of Hackettstown Collegiate Institute in New Jersey, the school where Ed Kear went. She has been teaching in New York for some years, but has never taught in any school but her father's where she was brought up, and therefore is much inclined to say, "We did so and so at Hackettstown," whenever any question is being discussed.
Miss Northrup, the teacher of vocal music, is here only two days, so we see very little of her. She is a Kansas City girl, who has been studying in New York for some years and is just beginning life as a teacher. She sings in a New York or Brooklyn church and has a sweet voice, though I do not like her manner of singing very much. She has some Western characteristics, but is a lady in every since, I think. Miss Yeager, who takes Miss Thompson's place, is a cousin of Dr. Yeager - She is about forty, short, thin, an ideal old maid; I like her much. She is a thorough lady, very thoughtful of others and always kind. Her manners are precise, and she makes you feel as if she had a certain way of doing everything and could not depart from it. Of course I do not know her very well yet, but she seems to me like one I could love if I knew her well enough. I probably shall not know her very well, however, as we are not thrown much together.
Her old teachers are as good as gold. Miss Weed grew much more lovely last year and this year her place in my heart is very firmly established. The first year I was here I did not care much for her, she has many eccentricities and one must know such persons well to thoroughly appreciate that which is beneath the eccentricities. If I were in trouble I should go to her before any one else in school. Miss Dixon and I are as good friends as ever, but somehow there always has been and I think always will be a barrier of reserve between us. We have excellent friends and trust each other fully, but we don't open our hearts very deeply. I rely on her judgment more than on that of anyone else, and she is so thoroughly trustworthy and evidently feels me to be so much so, that we say things to each other which we might not to anyone else for fear they would repeat. Miss Weed means to be just as trustworthy but she is much more impulsive and you know impulsive people are not always accountable for what they say.
I have a new neighbor this year who is a pleasant companion, Miss Fowler, a boarder. She is a woman of forty five or fifty who is left alone in the world. Her home was not far from here and she has many friends in Carmel, so she spends most of her time here. She boarded at Mrs. Townsend's last year, but Mrs. Townsend could not keep her any longer, and as the Seminary was not full, they took her in. Mr. Hoyt also takes his meals here; he rooms in the village. Miss Fowler occupies Miss Thompson's room. There is a communicating door between the two rooms, hers and mine, but we seldom have it open.
Last year it was a task for me to go to the Methodist church here, and yet I felt that I must. Mr. Count almost never gave me anything but empty words. I am sure his religious life was not very deep, so how could he do much for his people? Mr. Hoyt is quite different. You remember that last year when Mr. Hoyt came I did not like him at all. I have changed my opinion entirely, and think him a very good man, a deep, earnest Christian. His sermons are not perfect in style, but they are full of thought and thoroughly practical, so I do enjoy attending church this year. You see my first impressions are sometimes very incorrect. Perhaps I shall change my mind again, but I do not think so.
The school is smaller this year than last, but we have a more desirable class of girls, much more studious and sensible. Last year we had so many who were hard to manage and who came here simply because they had to be sent away to school somewhere. Of course they wanted to get all the fun out of it that they could.
Tomorrow Mrs. Yeager, Miss Mary Ryder and I are going to drive out to Ruth's old home, about eight miles from Carmel, and spend the day with Ruth's mother and aunt. They invited me twice before when I was unable to go, but this time nothing prevails. It will be a painful ordeal. I have not been there since Ruth's funeral.
tonight I am going to take some girls to church. I hope the boys will leave us alone this year.
Yours with love,
Gertrude M.[This was the sixth letter of Gertrude's that I transcribed, and the first one that had a hint toward her full name. Another letter mentioned an aunt Eliza Lane ("Mamma's only sister") and a cousin David Franklin Lane. I researched the family tree, and discovered David Franklin Lane's father was Aaron Haight Lane. Aaron is Gertrude's uncle, and Eliza Lane and Gertrude's mother must be his sisters, but I was not able to find those connections to the family tree. I thought at first Susie's friend might be Gertrude Maynard, a name that appeared among Susie's high school friends, but there was no Mount Holyoke student by that name, and it appeared this Gertrude was a former student of Mount Holyoke. Finally, I did a search of Gertrudes in the classes of the late 1890s, and found Gertrude Mekeel x1895, who was a teacher at Drew Seminary in 1897. Her future daughter had a middle name of Haight, which connects her to the family line that Gertrude mentioned in her letter.]