[Some paragraph marks added for ease of reading.]
Bessie B. Nesbit
Mount Holyoke College
South Hadley, Mass.Sat. Dec. 10, 1939 [typo - Dec 9 is Saturday]
Dear Mama & Papa,
The top of the morning to ye! I have so much to say, I don't know exactly where to begin. Well, I'll start with the beginning of last week. I went to the concert Mon. night. Tues afternoon I went over to the Physics lab. to make up the work I had missed while in the infirm. Miss Allen saw me & said it wasn't necessary to make it up then. Was I grateful - I had so much studying to do for the Religion quiz.
Well I studied Religion all that afternoon & evening until twelve. Wed, I had classes nearly all morning. Then I had Physics Lab in the afternoon. I took two pictures and developed them. They didn't show up very well because the day was so dark, but the developing was fun & my focusing was good. After Lab. I took Grace Chen over to Miss Laird's to tea. The girl I mentioned who is doing graduate study & already has her Ph.D. was there. Miss Laird was very talkative and tried her best to get Grace into conversation.
Everything went over very smoothly till Miss Laird asked Grace if she had heard from her family. Grace said she had heard from everyone but her father & she thought that they had not mentioned him in the letter because he was sick & they didn't want her to worry. I felt so sorry for Grace because she seemed almost in tears. Not only this, but Miss Laird very unwisely kept asking Grace about China. Grace said that the Japanese sometimes made as many as six air raids a day over the town in which she lived. She also said that the quickest time in which she had gotten a letter from home was 3 weeks & that was by clipper & every other means of speeding the mail up. She said it usually takes 6 weeks.
We had comquats [sic], (I don't know whether that is the way you spell it), fancy sandwiches, short cake, salted nuts, mints and tea. It was delicious, and everything was fixed so nicely. There is a lot of talk about Miss Laird's retiring, I don't know whether there is anything to it or not. That night we had a cause (for China relief) dinner of Chop Suey. When we went to the living room for coffee, Grace started to give a little talk about China & broke down. Nobody went up to her, so I took it upon myself to comfort her a little & I think I did. Several people including Miss Townsend & the president of the house thanked me for doing this. I certainly didn't want their thanks and I think if they had tried to find out a little more about Grace, they wouldn't have asked her to speak in the first place. I think that Miss Laird's catechism (?) of her just previously didn't do any good.
After this, I went up & studied Religion till about 12:30 and finished studying in the morning. The test was very much to my likeing. [sic] We had to identify a long list of characters, five quotations & write a short essay question on the split between the northern & southern tribes. I don't know what mark I'll get but I thought it was a lot of fun. I could not place one of the spot passages but I answered everything else. I hadn't been able to finish my Fr, so Mr. Saintonge said to hand it in on Friday. I did this. You should hear Mr. Saintonge rave about Corneille, you'd think he was a minor diety. [sic]
Something funny happened in Fr. class yesterday. Mr. Saintonge asked one of the girls whether she was displeased with something. She replied in the negative & he said if she wasn't displeased, why did she have such a sour expression on her face. He said that it was certainly no pleasure for him to look at her scowelling [sic] conntenance & he wished she would change it. The girl got quite angry & we all laughted. [sic] It was a riot.
Last night we had a lot of fun. A gang of us former Pearsonites got to gether [sic] & told stories & danced and listened to Hommie's Christmas records. I think it would be nice, if I were to lend Hommie some of our operatic records. I know she would love them because she likes that kind of music. By the way, her father has been appointed to some puplic [sic] service portion in Mass by the governor. She's so happy.
Sally had a swell time on her Thanksgiving vacation as did evey [sic] body else. It's so funny how "Did you have a nice vacation?" takes the place of weather in conversation for the first few days after we return.
I sent the card to Mrs. Kernay on Thurs. Oh by the way, I received your swell letters. Thanks for the stamps, I had just run out & had forgotten to ask for more.
By the time you get this letter, I will probably have had my Physics blue book but perhaps mental telepathy (about your well tweaking) will help me out. I certainly am glad I'm not taking any more Physics, I get more disgusted day by day. We have started in on light now. We learned how to make invisible ink in Chem. this week. Mon. night I am going to a celebration of the birth of Racine in the Fr. House. Speaking about my schedule, I am going to have my appointment with Miss Allen next Sat. Stelle is very disappointed because she found at her conference she was doing much worse than she thought she was. I don't know exactly what to expect for myself.
It has been getting very cold here lately. I guess winter is really setting in. Sally had her picture taken in Boston during vacation. They didn't come out very well. We finished up the spice cakes last night. I shall be in a receptive mood, if you feel so moved. How did the Fair go. I was so sorry I couldn't send the story, I was so awfully busy this week.
Oh by the way, I have the ten dollars to help pay on the tuition & I can make it twelve or thirteen if you need it. I tried to balance my buget [sic] for Nov. today, & I seem to be short about two dollars. Can you think of anything I spent $2.00 for?
Have you seen the new Xmas seals? I bought ten which I thought you might use or keep.
My enlarged vein is becoming more prominent & is somewhat tender. Do you suppose I could take the injection Xmas vacation?
Please write & tell me all about the Fair & everything. I am so eager to hear.
Sally is so excited because she is going home for Xmas.
Gee it will be so swell to be home for so long a time. I'll be ready at one on Wed. Dec. 20. Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jingle all the way! etc. I am so happy. My work seems lighter just when I think of Xmas.
Love & kisses,
BessieP.S.
Kiss Andie & Brownie for me. I could use my shoes when you have a minute & can send them.
B. N.