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THE DIARY
The year 1902 finds me in the Eighth Grade of the
Belmar Grammar School under Lucy Corson who had been my
teacher continuously since the Fourth Grade. There will
still be a few more letters and these I shall insert in
their proper chronological spots as we come to them.
The first entry in the Diary is brief and to the
point.
Saturday, Jan. 11th, 1902.
Donald was hit by my sled while we were coasting
down by Mount's and had a piece of flesh knocked out
over his eye.
* * *
2nd February 1902
Dear Aunt Lou:
Thank you for those stamps you have been
sending us. I have lots of Canadian stamps. I would
like all the stamps I could get. Any kind of stamp that
is surcharged "official", or has the value crossed out
and a different one put on is really better than nothing.
How is Don Carlos getting on up there and how about
the cook, wasn't that too bad? We had some fine tows
the other day on our sleds behind some wagons. My sled
is a beauty, I tell you. I haven't anything else to say
that I know of so good-bye.
Love and kisses to all.
Jay.
* * *
Saturday, February 8th.
Received this diary. Found uncancelled U.S. 3 (cents) 1861
stamp in an old letter of Grandma's. Finished the book
"At the North Pole" by Jules Verne.
Monday, Feb. 10th.
Received an approval sheet with some fine stamps on
it and sold 17 (cents) worth of them.
64
Tuesday, Feb. 11th.
Spoke piece called "Sheridan's Ride". Also blacked
up with burnt cork and sang two Negro songs at Lincoln's
Birthday exercises. Miss Pyott gave me quite a few
sheets of drawing paper also.
Thursday.
Was assigned "Psalm of Life" by Longfellow to speak
at the next Society meeting. We began "Flatiron for a
Farthing" yesterday.
* * *
16th February, 1902.
Dear Aunt Lou:
I wish you and Don Carlos would come down;
I mean all of you to come down. I have over 390 stamps
now and I am going to buy a nice $1.50 one. There is a
prize offered in the Tribune of $10.00 in gold for any-
body who writes the best story of Washington, not to ex-
ceed 200 words. I would like Uncle George to ask in the
P.O. if they have a stamp anything like this in my let-
ter here (the Providence Post Master issue?!) and if
they have please ask how much it is. There are a 5 (cents) and
a 10 (cents) - both of either would be all right.
I think the Valentines were lovely - just like pho-
tographs - especially Donald's. The five cents I spent
for a set of Grecian stamps.
How is Don Carlos and all of you. We are all right.
Love and kisses to all
Jay.
* * *
Monday, Feb. 17th.
Quite a blizzard today. Expected packet of stamps
but it did not come. Frisky has quite a cough.
Tuesday.
Bought a 1 (cents) South Australian stamp from Clarence
65
1902
Cooper. No packet. Frisky's cough not much better.
Cut a lot of cakes of snow to make fences of.
Friday, Feb. 19th.
It hailed this morning but towards noon it changed
to rain. We had one seccion today and I had nothing to
do but sit around and read.
Saturday.
Finished the book "Cornet of Horse". Began "With
Clive in India". Finished it and began "By Right of
Conquest". It began to snow today at about 3 o'clock
and snowed till about 10 o'clock.
Monday, Feb. 24th.
Charlie and Freddie Reichy were here this afternoon
with their stamps. Saturday I had a very pretty piece
for my violin lesson with Beumont (Glass). Nothing in-
teresting has happened today except that the 14th ex-
ample in our arithmetic is almost impossible to get.
Friday, Feb. 28th.
There was an awful storm while we were having our
Society meeting. I got a set of Russian stamps and also a Swiss
and a Canada Register.
Saturday, March 1st.
Got a 30 centime French stamp. Also finished "By
Right of Conquest" and read "Life on the Mississippi" and
"Treasure Divers".
Tuesday, March 4th.
Brought in coal for Mrs. Pyott. Ed brought down
his album. We had a funeral pyre over Mrs. Caw's grave.
Wednesday.
There has been quite a snow storm mixed with hail
today but it changed to rain, of course. I expected a
letter containing approval sheets today but they didn't
come. Perhaps they will come tomorrow or the next day,
or the day after that!
66
1902
Thursday, March 6th.
Went without my coat today for the first time and
the approval sheets did come. M-M-M-Ah! - such beauties.
Monday, March 10th.
Been burying treasures underground a good deal this
afternoon. Miss Pyott gave me three packages of drawing
paper. Ed, Snadge Cooper, and I had some fun drawing on
the paper.
Thursday.
Played ball this afternoon and got hit on the hand
by the bat. I rec'd 5 (cents) from Mrs. Pyott which will pay
me till Wednesday afternoon. I lost my 5 (cents).
Friday.
Carted manure all the afternoon but haven't finish-
ed it yet. I found my 5 (cents) this morning, or rather Ed
did for me.
Saturday.
Finished the manure carting but it isn't raked off
good enough yet. Ed and I are to get 25 (cents) apiece for do-
ing the work.
Tuesday, March 18th.
Played pussy-in-the-corner this afternoon between
raking manure. Got coal for Mrs. Pyott. Mr. Jackson
was elected D.C. today so I suppose Mr. Love will come
back. Finally finished raking the manure. (This manure
project came about because every Fall Papa had the lawn
covered with it to nourish the grass).
Saturday, March 22nd.
I went over to the Park with Clarence and Ed and
got 5 (cents) worth of peg-tops. I took four and Clarence took
one. I sold one to Donald.
Monday.
Ed and I made an island down near the Inlet and a
pier. The pier was to get far enough out for some clay
67
1902
but the tide came in and drove us away.
Wednesday, March 26th.
Expected my new Album I had ordered from the Toledo
Stamp Company, A Scott International, but it hasn't come
yet. I got a postal this morning saying that it was on
its way by Express.
Thursday.
No Album! Mrs. Pyott gave me my 5 (cents) which will pay
till Saturday. We had some fun out in the yard carrying
the little kids on our backs and banging into each other.
Friday.
My album came and also approval sheets but I have
most of the stamps. I have spent most of the afternoon
putting in my stamps. They gave me a 5 (cents) Liberia free!!
Saturday.
I've been pasting in stamps all day and I have them
almost done. Clarence and Ed have been helping me.
Monday, March 31st.
We got a lot of clay from down in the river near
our fort and pier and made bricks and clay jugs and
plates and ancient pottery.
Thursday, April 3rd.
Mrs. Pyott paid me 10 (cents) today which will pay till
next Thursday. Read "The Man with the Broken Ear".
Friday.
Played ball this afternoon and had a fine time. We
got the two Donalds chasing us with fishing poles.
Saturday.
Clarence, Ed, and I wanted to go to Lewis's Farm
and we drew lots so Clarence and I went. We got some
killies to put in with the turtles.
Tuesday, April 8th.
One seccion. I was down to the beach and then went
to Gass's.
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1902
Thursday, April 10th.
I made a little park in a large box full of earth
and planted moss on top of a hill I made at one end. I
have some large red blotches on my right arm - erysyp-
elas, we think. I also planted a little cherry tree.
Saturday.
We went all over the yard putting little glass hou-
ses over certain ant-hills and also affixing flags along-
side, having them for colonies.
Tuesday, April 8th.
I was to a party at Inex Allen's house this evening
and had a fine time. We played Shoo-li-loo", "Winks",
"Forfeits", and one or two others. I went over around
the river and got 3 May Pinks.
Wednesday.
I got the "Youth's Companion" today. At school I
wrote an abstract from "Tom Sawyer" entitled "How to
Whitewash A Fence." Sunday Ed, Donald and I went to
Lewis's Farm and discovered a little brook.
Friday.
Had some fun down at the new Methodist Church that
is being built at the corner of 7th Ave. & D Street.
Perce, Ed, and I were besieged by Don, Leon Harris, and
Clifford Morris. They threw stones but since they were
smaller, we could not. We had our last Society meeting
today and I read my abstract from "Tom Sawyer".
Saturday.
We went to Lewis's Farm today and put some killies
in the little brook. We found out afterwards that there
were lots of fresh water fish in it. We followed it up
to a pond called Osborne's Pond. On the way back we
killed a large black snake with some spears we had made.
It was 2« feet long.
69
1902
Tuesday, April 22nd.
The corner stone of the new M.E. Church was laid
yesterday. I forgot to bring my library book to school
today but I got another just the same. It has been aw-
fully hot here and the boys are leaving off their coats.
Perce, Jack McCormick, and Bill Morris went in swimming
today and said the water was fine.
Wednesday.
I got my "Youth's Companion" today. It is still very
hot. The skeleton of the new church is up all but the
roof. I got a three centavos Cuban stamp at Pointer's
store.
Thursday.
Papa set the little blue hen this evening. My watch
stopped yesterday morning at 4 A.M. My grass is coming
up all over my park in the big box. I cut it today.
Friday.
This is Arbor Day and I had a piece to speak called
"A Morning Song". I planted two more cherry trees in my
little park and Ed and I got a lot of soldier crabs down
near the Herring Hole Box. Oliver Cromwell stole Don-
ald's 2 (cents) Canada Map stamp.
Saturday
Donald made a camp today over in the field back of
Mount's. Ed Glass and I got a lot more soldier crabs
and put them in with the others. They have already made
themselves at home.
Monday, April 28th.
I found two maple trees and planted them in the
park. Ed lent me some magazines yesterday and Mrs. Glass
gave me two bantam eggs which I immediately set under
her (the little blue hen I hope!) That was about 2 o'
clock. I traded Don a Mexican stamp for a 15 (cents) American
also. My little park begins to look like a minature
70
1902
landscape now.
Tuesday, April 29th.
I planted another tree this morning and it has been
raining all day. Nothing much to do but sit around and
read. Ray Crowther and Ed were here looking at my album.
The little blue hen hasn't deserted her nest yet.
Wednesday.
I planted some beans in my park today. We went over
to the church and Perce Cooper and I stood the crowd up
on the floor above the middle window. The boards are up
now, forming a nice breast-work and Perce and I won and
captured them all.
Thursday, May 1st.
Ed and I got 5 (cents) worth of ginger snaps and ate them
all up ourselves like pigs. We had some more fun down
at the church. They have the skeleton of the roof and
the two towers up now.
Friday.
We had a terrible fight in the lower tower of the
church, or the block-house as we call it. We were be-
sieged by Percy and couldn't get down. I sneaked down
once and got some stones up to the floor of the church.
They are going to cover the church with bricks.
Saturday.
It has been raining all day and I dug up some of
the treasure we had buried long ago. I planted some corn
in my park. I also got some white violets and a little
maple tree and explored a little ditch on 8th Ave. near
the lake.
Monday, May 5th.
Yesterday we got some eels and a killy. One eel
and the killy died. I got another little tree and put
it where it is reflected in the little lake at the foot
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1902
of the hill in my park. Pete Cooper won all my marbles.
Grandma will be down from Providence tomorrow.
Tuesday, May 6th.
Grandma came today. I bought fifty 3 spots for 5 (cents).
We had lots of fun and I won 12. None of the eels are
dead yet.
Wednesday.
I got my Youth's Companion today. I have about 32
3-spots left. I had lots of fun playing and didn't lose
hardly any. I forgot where my arithmetic lesson was.
Thursday.
The Pyotts moved away today from the cottage and I
lost a lot of marbles (as well as a paying customer).
The men took my park and were going to put it in the
wagon with the rest of the Pyott's things when Mamma
stopped them. I had to stay after school to do my ar-
ithmetic.
Friday.
We had a review today in arithmetic. Some were easy
and some were hard and I dont know what I got. Ed and I
played marbles for fun and some went into a hole in my
pocket and he said I stole them.
Saturday, May 10th.
We went up to Lewis's Farm after watercress in the
little brook. We didn't get much. Ever since Saturday
May 3rd, Mount Pelee on Martinique has been in eruption
and has totally destroyed the city of St. Pierre, and
40000 lives were lost.
Monday.
Pelee is still in eruption. Mt. Soufrie on St. Vin-
cent has turned a lake in its crater to steam and the
inhabitants are terror stricken. My frogs eggs hatched
today also.
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1902
Tuesday, May 13th.
Perce is laid up with a sore foot. Donald shoved
Frank Pullen and that made him kick Perce. We set out
the tomato plants tonight. People got into St. Pierre
today.
Wednesday.
Several of the eggs under the blue hen are picked
but no chicks are out yet. Nothing much happened today.
We had some fun down at the church.
Thursday.
Nine little chicks came out today. Don Cooper
broke his leg this morning and Perce is still laid up
with his sore ankle. We went down to the church. The
main roof is on and our block-house has a roof - I wish
it had been there a few days ago.
Friday.
Mamma went away today. I got some pond snails in
the 8th Ave. ditch. Donald and I had the little chicks
out and they seemed to think it's great. Mamma came
back this evening. There was an entertainment over at
St. Rose's Hall and it was real good.
Saturday.
I got some more snails today and some large tad-
poles. All my other tadpoles but one died. I read the
"Sign of the Four" today and it's great. When Mamma came
back from Brooklyn and New York she bought me home some
Indian stamps.
Monday.
A little banty was hatched today. Papa set two
other bantam eggs this evening and I hope they will
hatch out. My little banty is from the egg that Mrs.
Glass gave me and is black with white tips to his wings
and is quite lively. He was caught fast in the shell
but we helped him out.
73
1902
Tuesday, May 20th.
We had an examination in arithmetic today and I
proved all the examples. We got some big eels down at
the lake box today. We put back all the little ones.
Corty Heyniger was there and he helped us catch the eels.
The large ones are three or four inches long. Donald
has a new game called "Fox and Hounds".
Wednesday.
We had an examination in Geography and in Grammar.
I got out at 11:00 and at 2:45. There is a new game of
marbles called "Span". My little banty has been out all
day in a little enclosure.
Saturday.
I had my first lesson from Beaumont today. Banty
and.....?
* * *
25th May, 1902.
Dear Aunt Lou:
I think that those souvenir postals were
very nice but where is the County Court House? I have
quite a collection of souvenir postals now. A little
bantam chicken that I call Banty was hatched Monday
morning about six o'clock. He was stuck fast in his
shell and couldn't get out because the skin had dried on
it. Grandma helped him out and he's all right now. If
you leave him he generally begins to peep until you come
back. Please come down as soon as you can. Beaumont
got back last Saturday and gave me a lesson yesterday.
Wasn't that disaster at St. Pierre dreadful?
That was a fine story about that ship. Could you
send the other parts of it and about that Irish nurse's
stories up-to-date do you think?
School lets out the 27th of May so that there are
only two more days of it. We have had all our examina-
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1902
tions except in reading and spelling. I have just fin-
ished the "Count of Monte Cristo" and I think it is
pretty good, only overdrawn.
How is Uncle George and Don Carlos? Our little
Banty is black with white edges to his wings and a white
breast. He has a little white spot back of his eye. I
cant think of anything more to write so
Good bye. Jay.
* * *
Tuesday, May 27th.
School ended today. It was a beastly rainy day and
we had only one session. We let out at 12:00 and didn't
have to go back. We went over to the Deep Hole in Avon
and found some ripe wild strawberries. We all passed our
examinations and so did Perce.
Wednesday.
We went after more berries today. They put in the
chimes at the M.E. Church. We went exploring in the
woods all around Sixteenth Avenue. My little Banty was
accidentally killed by Mrs. Reichy. A cat got his body.
Thursday.
Mamma and I went over to the Park this morning to
see the exhibit at the Asbury Park High School. It was
fine and I may go there next year. I made a sham grave
for Banty and put up a stone near the rose-bush where he
was killed.
Tuesday, June 10th.
I have another little bantam hatched today. I call
it Banty also. It is yellow and white and I think it is
a hen.
Tuesday, June 17th.
Little Banty cut his toe off today but I dont know how
how. We are moving over to the cottage today and by the
time we move back it will be time for school again.
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1902
Wednesday, June 16th.
Ed Glass and I went out in a boat in the lake and
sailed my Columbia sail-boat. We caught Willie Whittles
(Whitfield) and Janney Rudrow stealing Mrs. Rodger's
rudder. We caught two turtles also.
Tuesday, July 1st.
I lost my cannon today and do not know where it is.
Friday, July 4th.
Donald shot off all his firecrackers by accident
this morning before we were up. I heard this terrible
racket below and blue smoke came drifting up past my
window in the front of the cottage. I had a fine time
but used my crackers up early and went down to the beach
in the afternoon. Went in swimming down there and found
a giant cracker. Donald hurt himself with the powder.
Saturday.
Went to Providence today.
* * *
Here ensues a blank, or rather a succession of
blanks that are interrupted only occasionally during the
rest of the year. The next six weeks or so were spent
with Aunt Lou and Uncle George still at 11 Plenty Street.
Here I renewed my friendship with Hermann Wegrin, Connie
Fairweather and, above all, with little Don Carlos whose
correct English and meticulous pronunciation are, even
today, a delightful memory.
It was then that I met Lillian Walters, a niece of
Aunt Lou's friend Mrs. Bassett and when we returned to
Belmar we brought her along as well as Frisky's brother
Sancho. Lillian was a tom-boy - but a very good looking
one, rode a man's bicycle and wore bloomers while doing
so, much to the scandalization of our next-door neighbors.
Later she was a chorus girl in Herbert's "Babes in Toyland"
and came to some mysteriously bad end.
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1902
Thursday, August 14th.
Got home from Providence today and we went to an enter-
tainment at Ocean Grove. Lillian and Sancho came down
with us also.
Friday.
Little Banty died today and we buried her under the
grape arbor.
* * *
4th September, 1902.
Dear Aunt Lou:
I am awfully sorry I didn't say good-bye
to you. I didn't know you were leaving so soon and when
I found Ed gone I hurried off to catch him.
We had a fine time over at Sea Girt and I got a box
and a half of empty shells, 20 in a box, and gave Donald
the half box. We were wandering around over there and
there was a gun machine just like the ordinary rifle only
it has a needle attachment that punches a card just
where you would have hit a real target. This miniature
target was 20 yards away but it was only one tenth the
regular size.
Did you have a pleasant trip? Willie Whitefield in-
formed me that he thought Lillian was a pretty good girl
and he liked her, so tell her that.
What did Don Carlos say when he saw you? and how
is the track I made him? I hope Uncle George is well
and be sure to come down Christmas.
Please say good-bye to Lillian for us.
I can think of nothing more to say so Good-bye.
Your sorrowful Nevvy
Jay
* * *
Friday, September 15th.
School began today at the Asbury Park Grammar
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1902
School - 8th Grade - Miss Lamont of Canada - 36 pupils.
Oh Woe is me!
* * *
This calls for a little explanation. Asbury Park
High School considered me too young for High School and
would not accept Belmar's 8th Grade certificate as suf-
ficient preparation for entrance; so I had to repeat the
year's work, thus losing a year. It was just as well -
it's a pity I hadn't consumed another year before I en-
tered Harvard.
* * *
Thursday, October 23rd.
My 13th birthday. Got a Henty book `For the Temple'
from Grandma. Ice cream and a macintosh promised. Gram-
mar School pin promised and another present promised.
Monday, 27th.
Made darts at Clarence's but nothing much do-
ing. We had some fun with the foot-ball but got tired
and quit.
Friday, December 5th.
Quite a snow storm today, the first of the season.
Ed has a new sassafras bow.
Tuesday, 16th.
Last day of school till after New Years. Oh Joy!
Vacation till the 5th of January of the year 1903.
Wednesday.
Fixed a wigwam out of cedar bean poles. It's
just scrumptious. Dont leak and a fire burns swell in
it.
Saturday.
Aunt Lou came down today and visited us in the wig-
wam. She gave Ed and me each a piece of pie and sat in
the wigwam with us while we ate it and gave us all the
latest from Roger Williams Park.
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1903
Saturday, January 3rd.
Today is Donald's birthday. He had a cake and some
ice cream but the salt got in and spoiled it. While
down to the lake after ice for the freezer, Beaumont came
and I was late for my violin lesson. I gave Donald a 5 (cents)
pear full of candies and he got several other presents.
Saturday, 10th.
Today I gave the cellar an extra thorough cleaning
out with the assistance of Aunt Lou and Mamma. Beumont
gave me my lesson - I am in the third book. After my 1
lesson Ed and I had some fun letting the gold fish go
in the sink and they seemed to enjoy it very much.
There was a good skating on the lake but it was too
windy to enjoy it, so that I haven't done any skating
this 1903.
We have been making armor all week and now we have
each got a shield, a helmet (peach basket), shin guards,
swords galore and daggers and poinards ditto.
Tuesday, 13th.
I got up very early today as Aunt Lou is going
home. It has been very windy for several days so that
I haven't yet set skate on ice this winter of 1903. I
have a cold today, started riding against the wind
up Cookman Ave.
I noticed today, while coming home in the trolley,
that the river had frozen over and that when the tide
went out it left flats covered with ice.
Aunt Lou is going to spend today and tomorrow in
the city visiting Marie Perkins and will take the boat
tomorrow night.
Wednesday the 14th.
I went skating today for the first time. There was
no wind and it was fine. Mamma came down and watched me.
Ed and I were together and Frank Tatu took Ed's strap
79
1903
and hid it so that Ed and I couldn't find it again.
We have manual training every Wednesday for two
periods, going down to the school basement where we have
carpenter benches, one for each boy, and make such
things as pot stands, clothes-racks, etc. I am in the
4th year which is the last.
Mamma and Donald are playing Parcheesi in the dining
room and I have done all my home-work except to copy my ex-
amples.
Friday, January 16th.
I rode to school again today on my bicycle and I
feel all right. It has started in to thaw and the road
was very muddy when I rode home.
We all had to come back to school this afternoon
for music at three o'clock - that is, the boys did. I
didn't get home till about 4:30 and didn't get done
practicing my violin till it was too late to go skating.
The liner St. Louis is now 11 days out of Brest and
hasn't been heard of since. The St. Paul and Philadel-
phia, her sister ships, both have wireless telegraphy but
she has not.
Saturday, the 17th.
I swept the cellar this morning and took out my
ashes. I then made a little fort out in the garden that
overlooked the old one. Ed and I bought eight cent's
worth of powder, about half a whiskey bottle full, and
we expect to have quite a bombardment Monday.
Mr. Hulick has some sample bottles of `Honey and
Tar'. I got two bottles but Don didn't get any. How-
ever I gave him most of mine as I didn't like it very
much.
The St. Louis has been sighted from the Nantucket
Light ship and is safe.
I met Papa at the office at 4:05 and we then went
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1903
together to Thompson and Rhome's Dentist Parlors and had
that crooked tooth pulled out of my lower jaw so that
now I have only three incisors there instead of four.
He froze the gum so that it didn't hurt so very much.
Sunday, January 18th.
I went skating this afternoon but my skates were so
sharp that I didn't have much fun. After I got tired of ska-
ting Clarence and I took off our skates and went over to
Ed's. When we got there we found he was down with a
cold. He had been making three-gun batteries all day.
The guns are made by filling a touch-hole at the base of
a 30-30 shell and Beaumont fired off one i the house
and made a considerable noise.
Tomorrow we are going to have our examinations in
arithmetic and grammar and I am rather uncertain as to
the outcome.
We expect to have a fine time tomorrow bombarding
the fort I have made out in the garden. We have three
batteries of three guns each. Ed commands the center,
Clarence the right, and I the left.
Tuesday the 20th.
We had arithmetic and grammar today and I dont
think I got on so well in the former.
We had a lot of fun with the cannon out in the back
yard. We have battered the fort all to smithereens. At
the very first shot, Ed put three balls into the W.C.
door but we got the range better after that.
Wednesday the 22nd.
Yesterday we had history and literature. Today
came civil government and I dont think I got on very
well as I didn't understand all the questions. I got
only an M in my arithmetic exam!
After I had finished my practicing I went out and
found Pete working at the rectory carting shingles for
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1903
for a penny. We got Donald mad so that he chased us a-
round the cottage and in and out of the wigwam. I also
had a slight fire in the wigwam but it didn't amount to
much. Donald is having arithmetic drilled into his head.
Mrs. Morris next door at the dairy has a new baby
named Harriet. She was born last Thursday but I didn't
know till Tuesday.
* * *
The winter drifts by uneventfully apparently with
only occasional references to stamp collecting and such
minor interests. But, with more open weather, we note
signs of stirring life.
* * *
Thursday, March 12th.
Busted Ed Glass out of marbles today and I am trying to
save up for a real (a true agate). I fixed up my wind-
mill. We dug up Mr. Caw and got his bones.
Friday.
Today I made a catamaran. Painted it black.
Monday.
Took my catamaran down to the lake and tried her out;
she sails fine.
Thursday the 19th.
I bought a real today 10 (cents). It was pretty good
but didn't stick very well. I haven't been able to
write much in this diary for there is so much school
work.
Murphy's Casino is growing apace. It is going to
have a slag roof. They have lots of tar-paper on the
roof and about thirty barrels of tar. There are lots
of loose pieces of tar lying around and maybe the men
will let us have some - come in handy on a boat or any-
thing.
We are thinking of going to Lewis's Farm in a couple
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1903
of weeks. Am winners from Ed.
Saturday, March 21st.
Made a park today in the same big box as we used
last year. We planted the little cherry tree on top of
the hill overlooking the lake exactly as before.
Monday, March 23rd.
Planted some violets. Very rainy. Planted the
maple tree and the peach sprout dug from Mr. Caw's
grave.
* * *
And so descends another silence over my little do-
ings that is utter and complete for many months. I know
that during that summer I worked for Frank Morris, the
milkman next door. Then, doubtless as a reward for wor-
king so long and faithfully, I went on a trip to Penn-
sylvania, as the next few entries record.
* * *
Monday, August 24th.
Mamma. Papa, and I started for Pennsylvania today.
We went by way of Elizabethport and from there straight on
to Mauch Chunk. We left our baggage there and went on
to Glen Onoko and Packer's Point. We then returned to
Mauch Chunk and slept at the American Hotel. Our room
was #59 and it was furnished all right. After supper
we went up to Flagstaff and saw the view.
Tuesday the 25th.
We went to Lansford today and visited Shaft # 6 of
the L.V.C. and N. Company. We went all through the breaker
and then into the mine. It was a horizontal shaft and
we rode on a little train sitting on some boxes that
turned out to be full of dynamite. We got back to the
hotel at two o'clock.
This afternoon we went up the Switchback. The view
was magnificent.
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1903
Wednesday, August 26th.
Went up to the Flagstaff again this morning just
before we left for Rockport. At our feet we could see
the town of Mauch Chunk through which the Lehigh runs,
and over across the valley we got glimpses of the big
trestle of the Switchback. To the north-east is the
Lehigh Gap. On the other side you can see the town of
Lehighton and on all sides are nothing but mountains
with which Mauch Chunk seems hammed in, and the check-
erboard of the farm fields on the lower slopes.
When we got back we took the train and arrived at Rock-
port at about ten in the morning. This afternoon we
walked several miles back into the country almost to the
Poor House with Alan Fritz for a guide. (And all that
time my grandfather Paul was right next door but was
never mentioned and I never knew.)
Thursday, August 27th.
Today we left Rockport in the morning and drove
five miles to Weatherly where we took a train to Lumber
Yard; then changed cars and went to Freeland where Her-
bert Fritz lives, arriving about ten. We no sooner
sat down to dinner than we had to hop and run to catch
the trolley to Hazelton. We arrived there about noon
but after we had waited about fifteen minutes, a train
came in headed the opposite direction from Nescopek and
we didn't learn that it was ours till it had backed out
again and gone.
However, Papa took a two o'clock train to Catawissa,
the next train for Nescopek not leaving till 7:45, we
found a carriage which took us direct to John Kirkendal
and the farm where Papa worked as a boy.
The weather which has been pleasant so far, changed
today and it is drizzling.
* * *
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1903
Obviously I must have got home from this trip in
some manner and by some route, but the diary has nought
to say thereon. Nor on any other matters until we come
to the day I start on my career at the Asbury Park High
School.
* * *
Monday, September 14th.
Today school began. The Board (of Education) has
decided to send all of us over free and there are thir-
teen of us in all.
I have taken the Classical Course but I expect to
change to the Latin Scientific next year. My studies are
Latin, Music, Drawing, Ancient History, Algebra and I
expect that in a few days.
I am reading `The Three Musketeers' and `Twenty
Years After' both by Dumas.
Wednesday the 16th.
This morning I took the trolley to the Park instead
of riding my wheel and it was a good thing I did so. I
had hardly got on the car before it began to rain and la-
ter, after I got to school, the wind freshened into a
near hurricane. After school, when I went out,, I found
it had stopped raining but the wind was blowing furiously.
When we got to Main and Cookman, we found the car
gone so we started to walk home. Opposite Lewis's I al-
most ran into a wire that was hanging down and sputter-
ing at one end. We caught the car at Bradley Beach and
got home all right.
The fence between Dudley's house and ours is blown
down and two large poplars crashed in front of Kisner's.
I think this is the same storm that so damaged Tampa.
* * *
Thereafter ensues another blank silence for the bal-
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1904
ance of the year. My entry into High School, one would
think, should have inspired more. Sometime during this
interval my cousin Willard Fritz came down to live with
us. Dad had got him a job at the Lewis Yard in Spring
Lake and there he stayed the rest of his life, becoming
manager a year or two after he started.
* * *
Friday, January 1st.
There was a fairly good skating today. I went down
in the morning but my skates were so dull that I went
over to the Park and took a note to Papa and then went on
to Stewart's and saw some fine gold-fish. Ed spoke of
starting an aquarium.
Saturday.
A great snow storm today and every prospect of a
blizzard, but about noon it changed to hail and then to
rain. In the afternoon we went down to the station and
went towing behind a stage but it was too wet so we final-
ly quit and came home. Beaumont gave me my lesson.
Sunday, Jan. 3rd.
Clear day. Gave Donald a spanking this morning as
it is his birthday. Been putting stamps in Donald's album.
Beaumont came to test my new violin last night and
says it's not so very.
I finished `Houseboat on the Styx' and read some in
`Both Sides of the Border' by Henty.
My watch is keeping very good time.
Monday the 4th.
Miss Cook said to come back this afternoon and re-
hearse `Silas Marner' (a play written, produced, and act-
ed by our Freshman Class), and I waited at the Lumber
Yard till two and then went. On my way I stopped at Stew-
art's and bought two more fish with long, forked tails.
When I reached the school I found, after I had waited ab-
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1904
out an hour, that Miss Cook was at a teacher's conference
and so I made tracks for home, picking up the fish on my
way.
Tuesday the 5th.
This morning we got our algebra papers back and I
got 98 - why not 2 points more and give me 100?
Ed and I went down to the river and found that there
was good coasting on Mount's hill. We fooled around there
for a while and then went up to Ed's. On our way we
found tracks in the snow and, upon further investigation,
they turned out to be rabbit tracks. Then we went on to
Ed's and he showed me his new hockey skates. Afterwards
we went down to the lake. It is covered with snow but it
has a crust strong enough to hold us. On our way home
we had a snow fight..
The temperature this morning was seven below zero
and the ocean and river were so covered with steam that you could
not see across.
Wednesday the 6th.
It was warmer today but none of the snow has melted.
There is lovely sleighing all the way over to the Park.
I expected to go towing but had to go over to the
school to rehearse. The play is getting along finely and
we expect to be able to play it sometime around the first of
February.
Yesterday Miss Cook appointed me censor of the
class. Every time I hear someone else use bad English, I am to
put it down in a notebook and read it on Fridays. Woe,
oh Woe is me!
I got my report card today and it is the best I
have had in quite a while.
I did not get home from the rehearsal till almost
six o'clock and then ate my dinner so that I was cheated
out of my supper.
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1904
I got a nutty little library book called `Strange
Tales from History.'
Thursday, January 7th.
The snow has begun to thaw and it will be well on
its way by tomorrow, I suppose.
At the rehearsal this afternoon we used clay pipes
in the `Rainbow Inn' scene. Milford Farley put a little
tobacco in his and lighted it but the squeals of the girls
and the cloud of smoke that arose at the very first puff
must have scared him for he made haste to put it out.
When I alighted from the cat at Murphy's I saw a
lot of kids over on Mount's hill and so, when I had got
the key from Mrs. Morris and eaten my dinner, I hied me
away to the hill with my sled. After I had got my feet
thoroughly soaked and a lot of snow down my back, I came
home and dried my wet, cold feet by sticking them, stock-
ings and all, in the warm oven.
Mamma, Aunt Lou, and Grandma were away calling at
Eatontown and so Papa and the rest of us had to get our
own supper.
Friday the 8th.
We had no rehearsal today but Miss Nichols gave us
a Latin lesson equal to two rehearsals.
It has been thawing slightly all day and this af-
ternoon it started in to snow, which lasted till about
five o'clock.
Ed and I went towing and all together had about
nine. The first was from the bridge to King's in West
Belmar. Ed made a sled last night and it is a peach.
Perce and Ed and I and lot of others got on Atkinson's
grocery wagon and he took us back and forth across the
trolley tracks on F Street where the snow plow had piled
it high till there was none left but we three. The
coasting on Mount's hill is fine but towing is better.
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1904
Saturday, January 9th.
I hurried and did my cellar, ashes and chicken
house this morning and then went over and had my pictures
taken with Donald.
In the afternoon we went towing again and had a
dandy time. Clarence, Ed, and I went over to the Park
and back behind two fast drivers and then got another
that took us clear up to Heroy's. They made us get off
there and then we walked across the river on the ice and
coasted down Rattlesnake Hill for w while and then came
home.
This evening Papa brought home three violins and I
played on each so much like a bean.
This afternoon when we were fixing our sleds a dog
came up to us and when we spoke to him he was so pleased
that he would `rair' up on his hind legs. We named him
`Bean.'
Monday the 11th.
It is still thawing but later this afternoon it got
very raw and cold.
This afternoon Ed and I went down to the river `Her'n
Hole Box' and caught 7897 killies [...has to be a typo
-Todd] and 21 baby black bass but we put them all back
and they swam away with tears of thankfulness in their eyes.
When I was coming home, I stepped on my nose and fell down
on my elbow and haven't been able to move it since.
[...Excuse me? He must have been very tired when he
wrote this one particular entry. -Todd]
I got a letter from Willie Whitfield today in which
he stated that there had been a big fire in Chicago and
that he was going to put on long pants in the Spring.
Tuesday the 12th.
My arm is much better today but it is still pretty
stiff.
I got up so late this morning that I missed the car
and had to leg it up to the station and catch the 8:10
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1904
train and got there the same time as the Belmar trolley.
The fare was only 7 (cents).
I went up to Ed's again today and he has his rifle
safely hidden in a closet and we took it all apart.
The gas is still frozen up and gives a very dim
light.
I had my composition on Christmas put in the Jour-
nal by Miss Cook. We have a rehearsal tomorrow afternoon
at 2:30 but I am not sure as to my coming back.
The snow is going fast and it looks like rain to-
night and that will surely finish the towing - on F Street
at least. The kids are still marching in the streets, drag-
ging their sleds and towing, but I would rather wait till
next summer when there will be just about as much snow
and the weather will be much pleasanter.
Monday, January 14th.
The snow is about gone and the lake is frozen over
again. It never really did thaw but the snow melted and
covered the ice with water and that is now all frozen
over smooth as glass except near the shore where it is
only about 1/4 inch thick; underneath that is water and
then about six inches of good ice.
It was very windy so I took my sled down and, knee-
ling on it spread out my coat like a sail. That worked
all right but I could not steer it and the sled would
gradually work around sideways so that when I struck a
bump!
Charley Miller came over this evening and played
a few and asked me to join the Ocean Grove Orchestra.
I slipped and fell again and landed on my other
elbow.
Saturday, February 6th.
We had Silas Marner last night and it came off with-
out a hitch. We took in over one hundred twelve dollars.
90
1904
Thursday, February 18th.
Did nothing all day but in the afternoon made a war
game - like checkers with a map of Siberia and Japan on
it. I hope I am not going to let this diary die like all
its predecessors.
Friday the 19th.
I wrote a composition yclept `What befell the Sheriff
of Nottingham' and handed it in this morning.
We had exercises today commemorating Washington's
birth and I had to recite something I wrote on his mil-
itary career. There was no school Monday. Oh Joy!
I tried the war game with Donald but he got mad and
wouldn't play.
It has been snowing steadily all day, just the right
kind of snow because it packs down well.
* * *
Thereafter stark silence. In fact the rest of my
Freshman year draws to its close with no entry worthy of
note until at the very end......
Thursday, June 2nd.
They began to rebuild the board-walk today but only
drove six pilings when the crane broke and the seventh
fell on the back of a negro. He died six o'clock this
evening at West Park.
Friday, June 3rd.
Donald Cooper, Don's playmate, died today. He went
swimming Monday and was taken sick Wednesday with spinal
menengitis.
Saturday the 4th.
Ed, Bud Coster, and I went out rowing on the river
this afternoon and we took off our shoes and stockings
and dug eighteen clams. Pete Cooper and Halice Parker
were wading around in tights, shivering with the cold,
so we splashed water all over them with our oars.
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1904
Friday, June 10th.
The Seniors had a play last night and I went. Aft-
erwards refreshments were served and then dancing. Goldie
Snow, Harry Cooper, Merie King and I came home on the Owl
after waiting about an hour at the station with Lathrop
Ingraham.
The Beacon came out today.
Sunday the 12th.
I went over to the Park yesterday and got measured
for a pair of long pants.
Saturday the 18th.
Long pants came today.
Sunday.
Wore my long pants over to the sermon at the Pres-
byterian Church in Asbury Park.
Tuesday the 21st.
I learned my averages today - Algebra 94, English
97, History 92 and Latin 82. The Grammar School had its
Graduation Exercises this afternoon and I had to fiddle.
Monday the 7th.
Yesterday I went in swimming at the Inlet for the
first time and today I began work for Mr. Morris again.
* * *
This job was the same that I had held the preceding
summer. It wasn't too hard but the hours were long and
I dont imagine it payed more than two or three dollars a
week. From three to seven A.M. I helped Frank make his
milk deliveries which covered the whole town. After
breakfast I spent the balance of the morning washing end-
less bottles at a foot-operated machine with a whirling
brush.
Mrs. Morris was a big woman, handsome in a bold
brassy way, with a terrific temper. Occasionally, when
Frank had to be elsewhere, she would take Frank's place
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1904
on the delivery and it was to this circumstance that I
owe the one outstanding picture of that summer.
On this particular morning it was just getting light
and I was loading my wire basket to make my deliveries
on 15th Ave., a little short street that ran only from F
to the Railroad. Suddenly the horse bolted so unexpect-
edly that I was spun around, bottles and all. When I re-
gained my feet, the horse was careering across F Street
and through the flimsy fence into the vacant fields beyond.
Most of the wagon, the broken milk bottles, and a badly
shaken Mrs. Morris, remained at the fence. She really
wasn't hurt - only a few bruises - and between us we
rounded up the horse who, now that the damage was done,
was perfectly calm and peaceful. I forget how we got
home. Mrs. Morris was trembling with rage.
Later in the morning when I was washing my bottles
in the milk-house I heard her screaming at Frank and I
looked out of the window. Frank had brought the horse
out of the stable and stood there in the yard holding it
while she lashed it with a whip. Again and again the whip
fell as she swished it through the air with all her
strength, screaming epithets at the poor horse with every
stroke. The horse stood quietly, trembling, the black
sweat staining its brown coat, while Frank, white as a
sheet, stared at the ground, flinching at every whist-
ling cut of the whip.
* * *
Monday, July 4th.
I had nine boxes of blanks for my Fourth and shot
them in Papa's revolver (Nero, seven shooter, single ac-
tion) but it kept getting clogged up all the time. I
worked for Mr. Morris all the morning the same as ever.
In the evening we all went down to the club to see
the fireworks but they weren't much good. Afterwards I
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1904
went in with the rest and we all had ice cream and Papa
upset his glass of water all over the green baize cloth.
Tuesday, July 12th.
I went in swimming today in the Ocean and Pool both.
The Ocean was 70 (degrees) and the Pool was 73 (degrees) but they both felt
the same to me.
A horse and wagon were hit by the trolley on Mon-
mouth Ave. A boy who was in the wagon was killed and the
man who was with him is thought to be dying.
Thursday the 14th.
Started `Hypatia' yesterday but didn't go swimming.
Today I went swimming in the ocean and pool both but got
a headache and soon came home.
Finished `Hypatia'. Fine!
Friday the 15th.
I went swimming this afternoon in the ocean but not
in the pool. There was only one other fellow in. Coming
home I met Willie Whitfield.
Saturday the 16th.
I sent for some stamps today and I guess they will
get here Tuesday.
The ocean was 64 and the pool 74 but I only went in
the ocean. It's the coldest water I have ever been in
that I can remember.
I bought a bottle of vanilla extract today and got
some sugar to make milk-shakes over in the milk house.
Mr. Morris didn't pay me today.
Sunday the 17th.
When I came home from Sunday School Papa had gone
down swimming so I put on my bathing suit and went down
too. When I arrived I found the Ocean was 66 (degrees) and Papa
hadn't gone in yet. It was rather cold but after I got
in it didn't seem too bad. I didn't stay in long though
and when I came out I went straight home - no pool.
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1904
Mamma and Papa and Grandma went over to hear Pryor's
Band play `Parsifall'.
I don't work Sundays and today Mr. Morris had Walter
Gifford helping him.
Monday, July 18th.
This afternoon I went swimming at 2:30 and stay-
ed in till five. First I went in the Ocean and swam around
a little and then went into the Pool which was 73 while
the Ocean was 70. Will Morris and Corty Heyniger came in
and we did stunts for about an hour till we got tired and
quit.
I went down to 8th Ave. where I thought I saw Ed in
a canoe and sure enough it was he. He let me go out in
it and it was great fun going over the big swells and ev-
en when they broke under the canoe it would ride right
over them. When you ran ashore on the crest of the wave,
you would go about a mile a minute.
Coming back by Gordon's I saw Bean and managed to
get ahold of him and duck him.
I had two milk shakes this morning and they were
swell.
Tuesday the 18th.
This has been about the hottest day this year. This
afternoon I went down swimming as usual but it wasn't much
fun as the water was too dirty.
My stamps came at noon and Donald brought them home
when he came back from Spring Lake. He and Leonard have
been planning a bicycle trip and this morning they got
lunches fixed and.......
Clarence just came in and brought me some hinges as
I was out of them, and I put in the rest of my stamps.
He and Halice Parker sneaked into the Pool this after-
noon by climbing over the fence. We discovered another
way to get in by way of the engine room.
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1904
I expect to start making a canoe soon although I
suppose it will never be finished.
Mr. Morris paid me today. It has been awfully hot
all morning in the milk house and I never had so much to
do.
* * *
And so passed the summer. Perhaps as a reward for
sticking so faithfully to the job, there came a trip to
Providence in September.
* * *
Friday, September 2nd.
Mamma and Papa and Donald and I went to Coney Is-
land today, and then stayed overnight at Smith and Mc
Nell's.
Saturday, Sept. 3rd.
Aunt Lou came up and met us this morning and we went
to the Aquarium down in the Battery. In the afternoon we
went to Central Park but came back at four when Donald and
Papa went home alone while Aunt Lou, Mamma and I went to
Pier 18 and went to our stateroom on the Plymough. I met
Captain Rowland.
The Plymough pulled away from the slip at 6:00 and
I sat on the deck watching the city slip by till, at nine
o'clock when we were off New Rochelle, Capt. Rowland ask-
ed me to come up into the pilot-house. I didn't stay
there too long and, after he said he would call me at four
the next morning, I went to bed in the Captain's own room
since there was room in their stateroom for only Mamma and
Aunt Lou.
Sunday, Sept. 4th.
This morning at 3:45 Capt. Rowland sent s steward
to waken me and at four I climbed up to the pilot house.
The Captain's room is right back of the pilot house and
the stairs lead right down to it.
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1904
There was no light up there and it was pitch dark outside.
The only sound was the air coming in through the open
windows and the occaasional creaking of the wheels as they
were shifted a point or two. There are three big wheels
whose tops are about four feet above the floor for use in
rough weather although one man can easily handle it in
fine weather as we were having now.
They gave me a cup of coffee and a piece of mince
pie and then I stood looking out of the windows. As it
grew lighter I could see the shore and I soon recognized
Rocky Point. Not long after that we entered the Provi-
dence River and at 5:43 we landed at Fox Point.
* * *
Thereafter further silence till it was time to come
home again. Then we have -
Wednesday, September 14th.
We left for home today, in the Pilgrim. She left
Fox Point at eight with a strong wind blowing up and
by the time we reached Point Judith we began to feel the
Ocean. Captain Rowland had said we were in for a rough
night. I was sitting in the stern when we first sighted
the Point Judith Light and I knew that here was where
the excitement should start. I walked through the sa-
loon toward the bow but before I got there the Pilgrim
was beginning to roll, and when I opened the door leading
out onto the deck the suction of the wind was such that
I could hardly push it open and, once outside, the gale
struck me full force.
I walked up to the fore-peak and was watching the
stem cut through the waves when suddenly, without any
warning, a large wave struck our bow sending the water
up over twenty feet and drenching me, till I could duck
over to the lee of the cabin. The water kept pouring up
across the bows like a cataract but where I was standing
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1905
it was comparatively sheltered. The roaring of the wind
and the water was deafening, while the dull, heavy thuds
as the waves hit the windward side made it often diffi-
cult to keep my feet. About a mile ahead was the Fall
River Line steamer Priscilla. Watching her roll till the
lights on her paddle-boxes seemed almost over each other,
made me realize just how rough it was. I watched her till
nearly midnight; later, when I got home, I learned that
Milford Farley had been on her.
All night it kept up although shortly after eleven,
when we entered the quieter waters of the Sound, the cio-
lent motioneased off noticeably. Captain Rowland said
it was the worst storm in twenty two years.
* * *
The rest of the year is completely blank.
* * *
Tuesday, January 3rd.
Gave Donald a fine spanking with his new slippers.
In the evening I invited Ed up and we played Sherlock
Holmes and Pit till about eleven.
Thursday, January 5th.
I went to Miss Nesbit's dancing class this evening.
It was better than the other although I dont like the me-
thod.
Sunday the 8th.
I was elected assistant Secretary of the Sunday
School. Harry Cooper is Secretary so I shouldn't have
too much to do.
Monday the 9th.
I went on the train today but came home on the
trolley. This makes two tickets I must get rid of.
Seven of us have been transferred from the A Divi-
sion in Algebra to some other, taught by a Miss Thompson.
We recited today in the Sixth Grade room and were all
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1905
cramped up by the little seats. Our group is going on
to take Geometry next half but the rest are sticking to
Algebra.
A year ago today Bean put on his appearance. I
think he has adopted Harry Cooper - at least Harry feeds
him and I think he sleeps there now.
Sunday, January 15th.
I went to church this morning with Willard Fritz
and we took a walk around by the beach afterward. The
Ocean was very calm. The lake is frozen very smooth al-
though there is some snow on it but I guess it will be
all right tomorrow for it is bitter cold.
At Sunday School I had to help Harry and when there
was a shortage of 1 (cents) between the class books and the total
collection he made it up out of his own pocket, informing
me that I should do the same in a similar ease!
* * *
I am now Exchange Editor of the Beacon for we next
read...
Friday, April 14th.
The BEacon came out today and I, in addition to be-
ing the Exchange Editor, had to peddle them to the hoi poloi.
I collected $4.40 but shall have to spend some of that
for wrappers to send off my exchanges.
Today we played Rider, Moore and Stewart, a business
college from Trenton. It was the first game of the seas-
on and they beat us 25 to 0 - sounds more like football
than baseball.
Monday the 17th.
Today begins the Easter Vacation. I dont know what
to do with myself. I pottered around down in the cellar
with a new invention. First I took a board and put two
sash pulleys on it in its center so it could run on a
rope or wire, and then two sash weights to balance it.
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1905
Maybe we can have some fun with it some other day when we
dont know what else to do.
This afternoon Ed came up and we cooked some soup
in an old lard pail over a fire.
Tuesday, April 18th.
This morning Aunt Lou and I cleaned and raked out
the chicken yard.
I went down to Ed's this afternoon and found him in
Mrs. Shinn's next door after hunting and whistling for a
long while. He finally appeared and we went over to the
other house the Glasses own across the street and he
showed me some old sabers and we had a duel. He also had
an old, rusty rifle which he said had been at the Alamo -
but I doubt it.
He lent me a book from the Philadelphia Library,
`In The Sargasso Sea'. It is fine and by the same author
who wrote `The Aztec Treasure House.'
It snowed early this afternoon quite hard. The wea-
ther is raw and chilly.
Wednesday the 19th.
Did nothing but play solitaire all morning till
Miss Adams left at 11:30 when I went to the station with
her. Coming back someone called me and when I turned I
saw Horace Byram in a little office which he keeps for
his brother. He used to be in Miss Lamont's room with me
but didn't go on to High School.
This afternoon Ed and I made some more soup in the
fire-place I built in the chicken yard. It was pretty
good but rather weak.
Aunt Lou went home today on the 7:10 A.M. and Mamma
went to the city with her. When she came back she brought
me a book by a Judge Shute entitled `The Real Diary of a
Real Boy' and it really seems to be that judging from the
little I have read so far.
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Thursday, April 20th.
This morning after I had put in my hour's practice,
Mamma read some in the Real Diary till Donald had to go
to school. Then Ed came up and we went down around the
river. We walked down River Ave. till we came to the
`Herr'n Hole' box at B Street and then walked out over
the little plank. Just as we reached the other side, Ed
saw a snake asleep so we carefully retreated and got a
couple of sticks. Then we slatted him up on the sedge
about 50 feet and then kept poking at him to make him
strike. Finally he curled himself around my stick and
from there worked him into an old demijohn we found ly-
ing there. When we got to Ed's we built him a cage. But
this afternoon when I went back to Ed's after dinner, I
found he had escaped and we found his body on 4th Ave.
Friday the 21st.
Still bright and sunny. This morning I went down
to Ed's but when I got there I found that Ralph Shinn had
come down and Ed was off with him somewhere. So I went
down to the beach and carved a monkey's head out of some
blue clay I found there and after that I went on down to
Gordon's. As I was starting home I saw Ed and Ralph and
went on home with them. We saddled Dewey and took turns
riding him around the block.
This afternoon we went down to the river after the
mate of the snake someone killed yesterday. Sure enough
it was there, and asleep, but it saw us as soon as we saw
it and went into the water like a flash where it hid und-
er a big clump of mud and grass. Well, we poked around
for a while and it didn't come out so I used a big plank
that was lying there and pried up the lump. There he
was and we quickly pulled him out and popped him into the
demijohn. It is about 3-1/2 feet long and we have it in the
same cage.
101
1905
After that we had a lot of fun up in the third
story of the 4th Ave. house.
Saturday, April 22nd.
Worked like a bean this morning sifting ashes,
cleaning the chicken house and sweeping out the cellar.
This afternoon I went up to Ed's and found that snake #2
had also made good his escape. For a while we rode Dewey
around the block again but soon tired of that. Then we
fenced a while and had a catch and then played cricket.
We didn't know what to do with ourselves.
I have been mailing off Beacons to my exchanges
just now but I shall have to get some more wrappers.
Sunday, April 23rd.
The weather is brite and fare today and so, after
church, Willard and I took a walk around the beach.
This afternoon, after Ed and I had taken up the
collection, I sat by the open window af the Christian
Endeavor room waiting for Harry to come in with the Class
Books, when I saw Bean come sneaking along toward the
front door; So I whistled to him very softly. He looked
up, saw me, and darted up the steps into the church -
whence he emerged almost at once with some unseen assis-
tance from behind and flitted out of sight around the
corner. In a minute or two another big brown dog I had
never seen before poked his nose from out behind the
church where he must have been paddling in the mortar-
bed they are using at the Manse judging by the mortar
all over his paws. I called him too and he too disap-
peared up the steps - but only for the briefest moment.
He too came dashing out, closely pursued by Mr. Housel,
and went loping up 9th Ave. `That's the second dog I've
chased out so far. I wonder how many more there'll be?'
says he. To which I vouchsafed no reply.
So endeth a busy day.
102
1905
Monday, April 24th.
Yesterday Ed left Sunday School before it was over
so that I couldn't go down to the beach with him and so
I didn't go up to his house today. I didn't have any-
thing to amuse myself with so I practiced an hour and a
half on the violin and cut up a lot of wood. I got a
magnifying glass and tried watching the ants but they
were so scary they wouldn't come out while I was looking.
This afternoon I hitched my kite to the `invention'
I made last Monday but it is too heavy for that and it
wouldn't work. I also sent off some more Beacons but ran
out of wrappers again. Maybe I'd better write to Aunt Lou.
* * *
Belmar, N.J.
Dear Aunt Lou: April 24, 1905.
We have all read `The Real Diary of a Real
Boy' except Grandma, and Willard almost went into fits
over it. Donald went over to Morris's and they let him
get all the back numbers of its `Sequil' but one and he
has pasted them into a blank book.
I dont know what to do with myself and have been
sawing wood all the morning but school begins tomorrow
and I guess I'll know what to do then.
You ought to see the chicken yard. It looks fine
as a bean. You would never dream we had just cleaned it.
Donald left the rake on the pile of rubbish when he lit
the fire and it almost burned in two when the flames
reached it.
Mr. Morris is cleaning up his yard and they have
just torn up that horrible old trough that the waste from
the pump runs through. Tomorrow we are going to have a
board fence seven or eight feet high built to cut us off
from the view of the yard. It will run from the top of
their chicken house to their back porch and will cut off
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1905
everything but the top of the milk house and their kitch-
en window. I dont know what Mamma and Grandma will have
to talk about when it is done.
Please write soon
Your nevvy, Jay.
* * *
Tuesday, April 25th.
Scholl began today and I rode my bicycle for the
weather was fine.
I am going to the Schubart Glee Club Minstrels in
a few minutes and I bet we miss the car; we always do.
I got two U.S. stamps, the eight cent and the ten,
uncancelled, and I am trying to get the whole set.
* * *
School draws an impenetrable curtain over the ensu-
ing weeks till two brief entries on
Sunday, June 11th.
Willard and I went over to the Baccalaureate Sermon
at the Asbury Park Presbyterian Church. There weren't
many there. Afterwards we strolled on the board-walk.
There was an odd cloud formation in the west which Will-
ard suddenly noticed. He grabbed my arm in great excite-
ment - `What fer mountain is that?'
Vacation in six days.
Monday the 12th.
The final examinations began today. We had German
first half, Geometry the second. The German was easy but
the Geometry `nicht so sehr'.
Our renters are coming into the house Wednesday, the
first time we have rented recently, and we are busy moving
over to the cottage.
This afternoon after school Gillespie and I went
down to the Press and got the Beacon. We watched them
binding and trimming them while we waited for the rain,
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1905
which was coming down in torrents, to stop. But it didn't
and I had to take my exchanges and run for it. The new
envelopes are a little too small or else the Beacon is too
big.
Tomorrow we have English.
* * *
The summer which now passes without comment in the
diary was the one in which I worked at Pennypackers, a
printing establishment which published the Asbury Park
Journal which is now long defunct but which at that time
rivalled the Press. My pay was $3.00 a week, the hours
were long, and my duties many and varied. Years later I
was still making disparaging remarks about Mr. Pennypack-
er to whom we always referred in private as Mr. Pennypin-
cher. As an example - we worked till the wee sma' hours
the night before the Fourth and were served ice-cream as
we stood or sat around the presses; but my next pay enve-
lope showed a deduction of 10 (cents) for same. However, I
stuck it out manfully through July but then resigned to
become assistant desk clerk at the Curlew in Loch Arbor
which I held through the month of August.
With the savings from these two jobs I invested in
a Folding Brownie camera #3A for $9.00 together with a de-
veloping set and printing frames. In addition to the cam-
era I also bought a Savage 22 repeating rifle. Both of
these purchases figure largely in the Saga of the River
which follows this volume. One of the first pictures I
took was a time exposure in the living room of the cot-
tage. I dont think I have ever since taken a better one.
It gives a perfect idea of the summer furniture of the
period and is what was then known as a `speaking likeness'
of the man who figures throughout these pages as `Papa'.
Sometime in September I went to Providence again
for a short visit. While there, Aunt Lou, Mother and I
105
1905
went overland by trolley to Boston and Cambridge. I dont
recall that there was at this time any thought of my go-
ing to Harvard nor do I now recall what my impressions
were if any; in fact I have little memory of any part of
this visit to Providence. There were numerous pictures
taken with the new camera, only one of which I shall here
insert as it gives an idea of how I looked and dressed
at the time.
The diary's silence persists through the opening
of my Junior year in High School and nearly through Octo-
ber when, apropos nothing at all, we get a few more
entries.
* * *
Saturday, October 28th.
Well, I'll start in again as though nothing had hap-
pened - which there hasn't - and see how long I can keep
this diary. Probably, within a week, this book will have
half an inch of dust in it - but maybe not.
I filled in the time this morning by practicing for
an hour on the violin (Beaumont didn't come), bringing
books down from the store-room in the attic and piling
them in a heap in the bay window and, lastly but not
leastly, cleaning up the cellar, sifting the ashes, and
hoing out the chicken house etc.
In the afternoon I went up to Ed's and read. He
has the stamp craze again and eight 25 (cents) packets have just
arrived.
Sunday the 29th.
Nothing doing today except to go to Sunday School.
This evening I was voted into the Christian Endeavor as
an associate member since I have persistently refused to
join the church.
Monday, October 30th.
Miss Briggs wasn't to school today so we had first
106
* * *
period vacant so we shall have four study periods this
week. Dr. Shepard had us all write a letter telling our
age, the courses we are taking, and any suggestions we
might have that would be mutually helpful!!
We were assigned dates for our rhetoricals. My
first must be selected and announced by Dec. 1st and reci-
ted on December 15th.
Miss Cook wants me to write a serial story for the
Beacon and I outlined a bear story, but I dont know whe-
ther that's the kind she means.
Wonder when we get our reports? I'm afraid of Latin.
Friday, November 3rd.
Here we are again up to my old tricks. Tuesday my
pen ran dry and Wednesday and Thursday I haven't been work-
ing up in my room where this book is hidden for we have
had these days off on account of Teacher's Institute. But
today I have had to hurry up on the back home-work or it
would never get done.
This morning Mamma wanted me to go to the Institute
with her and I went. It is in the Neptune High School and
there I met Misses Briggs, Cook, Godfroy, Minturn,
Coffin, Emory, and Dr. Shepard. Saw Miss Nichols in the
dim distance. I bet it will be in the Beacon sure.
Am writing an essay on the Reign of George III.
Saturday the 4th.
Here it is Saturday and what have I done this vaca-
tion? Nothing at all except write that measly essay on
George III.
Went up to Ed's but he had to go up into the coun-
try with his mother to get Ellen Terry's calf, or some-
thing.
Beaumont came this afternoon. He goes to Drexel
now and is taking a Mechanical Drawing course and so can
get down here only every other Saturday. He stayed two
107
1905
hours!!!
Went over to the Park this evening. The car was
full of boozy folks who waxed very loquatious over the
coming election. The whole trolley smelled somthing rank.
School resumes Monday.
Monday, November 6th.
Still another day skipped.
Miss Cook has changed her mind about the theatre
partyOn the 17th of November we are to go to New YOrk
to see the Ben Greet players in Macbeth on the five some-
thing train and come home on the Owl. Now we are leaving
at noon. Harold Hutchinson and I can leave school at 11
to get home in time to take the train at Belmar.
I took a picture of Sancho and Frisky Saturday and
Sancho has been missing ever since. Yesterday he reappe-
ared all bunged up around his head, a great big lump un-
der his chin.
Wrote another outline for a story about the Philli-
pines in addition to the bear story. Dont know which to
take.
Tomorrow we get our reports and the Beacon comes
out. Didn't see the proofs of my column.
Saturday, November 11th.
Here we go again - another blank. However, everyone
is well and nothing serious has happened since last I sat
me down to this pleasant task.
Had lots of fun election night over at the Park.
Drunken party in the car produced a razor and smacked his
lips when the conductor asked for his fare, but he was
promptly suppressed.
One of the seats at Gordon's Pavillion came at me
at a furious pace Tuesday afternoon and ran right into
the front wheel of my bicycle and sent me flying over the
handle bars. I landed on my feet and the bench wasn't
108
1905
hurt at all, but my front wheel was buckled and I had to
take it home on it's hind wheel - repairs 75 (cents).
Got a new overcoat this afternoon at Strickland's.
Wednesday, November 22nd.
No use apologizing for this gap for there's nothing
to say except that I shall try to turn over a new leaf
and write this up more regularly.
Ed didn't come to school Monday so I went up that
afternoon and found that he was in bed with appendicitis;
but he seemed all right and he and Ralph Shinn and I were
looking over some old dime novels. Last night I called
again with his Geometry and found him still in bed but he
didn't seem much worse. Dr. Treat thought he was all
right and hadn't called since Monday.
Today, when I got home around 2:00, I found that
he had been taken to the Long Branch Hospital this morn-
ing and had been operated on at 1:00. Papa saw Dr. Thomp-
son and he said peitonitis was well developedd and that Ed
hasn't one chance in four for life. Virginia and Aunt
Sadie have rushed back from Washington.
Friday the 24th.
I handed in a theme today on James Whitcomb Riley
which I am supposed to speak December 15th. Also I have
worked up that Phillipine thing pretty well and shall
call it `Green's Strategem'.
While waiting for the Phi Delta Psi meeting this
afternoon, Boney, Barnard, Mitchell Ross and I stole some
crullers down at the cooking class and stuffed ourselves
full. After the meeting we went up in the tower and while
we were there the boys locked the door. They finally let
us down.
Ed is no better. Mrs. Glass has for the first time
learned that he has peritonitis. They only answer that the
Hospital will give is - `he is as well as can be expected'
109
1906
which may mean anything. Virginia was allowed to see him
today but for only a few minutes. It scarcely seems pos-
sible that Ed may be dying when he appeared so well Tues-
day night, sitting up in bed and doing his Geometry.
* * *
And so, on this note of worry and doubt, ends this
year's record. Ed did get well. I vaguely remember vis-
iting him at the hospital a little later simultaneously
with Willy Love a former playmate and son of our one-time
principal at Belmar. As soon as Ed could be moved, his
family took him down to Washington at thieir Riggs Place
house where I visited him the following April as per this
letter.
* * *
Sunday, April 15th
1906.
Dear Mamma:
When I met Ed at the Union Station at 6:15
Wednesday, we started right out for 1721 Riggs Place.
We got off the car at Dupont Circle and the house is about
six blocks from there. I didn't have time to mail the
postals before I got there but it made no difference for,
just as I got there, the mail wagon drove up to the box.
The next day, Thursday the 12th, Ed and I started
out early and went forst to the Washington Monument but
there was an awful mob standing in line waiting to go up
in the elevator so we went on first to the Smithsonian
Institute and then to the National Museum. In the former
we found nothing of real interest but the latter is great.
There I saw George Washington's pants. Also I saw the
boiler of the first locomotive in the U.S. and all of the
second; likewise some dinosaurs etc. and hundreds of dif-
ferent guns, big and little, captured from Phillipinos,
Chinese, Spanish and British.
By this time it was noon so we had lunch at a little
110
1906
grub shop and then started for the Capitol. There we vis-
ited first the Senate; they do spit on the floor and rub
their feet in it; and Tillman does roar like a bull at
anyone who says anything he doesn't like.
Then we saw the Supreme Court. The Judges all sat
in a row like a flock of crows on a fence and some nodded
forward and some nodded backward as they all seemed to be
sleeping peacefully while two lawyers took turns trying
to convince them that their respective sides of the case
were correct. One of the lawyers was so nervous the pa-
per from which he was reading fluttered so you could
hear it all over the room and he had to put it down on
the table and lean his whole weight on it to keep it
still.
The House was next honored by our presence. We had
to stand in line for over half an hour before we could
get in. Cannon wasn't in the chair and Sherman of New
York had it. He paid no attention whatever to the speak-
ers and would be laughing and joking with some one else
while two other members were hurling remarks at each
other so fast you couldn't tell which was speaking. Then
Burke Cockran got up and everyone stopped and listened
to him. He gave everyone a fine blowing up, just what
they needed, and with it led up to the Rate Bill and the
attacks made against us by the `unconstitutional lawyers'.
Obviously he doesn't think very much of `constitutional
lawyers', whatever they are, and I thought it a fine
speech.
Afterwards we visited the Library of Congress, a
beautiful building and it is lovely inside; but they wont
let you take any books home so Ed drew out one for each
of us and we read till seven o'clock, when we went home.
Friday morning Beaumont, Ed, Imogen, Aunt Sadie and
I started for Mount Vernon. When we reached the dock of
111
1906
the Mount Vernon boat at twelve we found that it would not
leave till 1:30 so we chased after a trolley but
missed it and had to wait half an hour for another. At
last it came and, in our ignorance, we thought we were
really on our way. But no. At Alexandria we found that
we must wait three quarters of an hour more for another
trolley. I did see the beautiful old church Washington
attended and we walked through the town a while. That
consumed only half an hour so there was a further wait
which I used to buy the post-cards and mailed them right
there. I forgot the address of your hospital so I could
only approximate it; I hope you got it all right.
After a great while the trolley did arrive and we
eventually reached Mount Vernon at 2:30 and, since the
steamer didn't leave till 4:00, there was still lots of
time and I think we saw everything from the hole in the
door cut for Martha's cats to their tomb. (Martha and
George's, not the cats - although Ed and I did find some
tiny graves under a tree which may have been the cats'.)
I was just about to take a picture of the mantle-piece
presented to Washington by (of all people) a Mr. Bean,
when an aged and bewhiskered attendant stretched out his
hand in a most dignified way and said, `Excuse me, Sir;
Excuse me' in a most urgent manner - so I did excuse him
and closed my camera without the picture. The boat trip
back on the Potomac was fine - too bad we couldn't have
come that way.
Saturday morning Ed and I started for Fort Myer
and Arlington. When we alighted from the car we had to
climb a long flight of steps to the Fort and walked thro
it but I saw nothing of especial interest. Then we strol-
led out into Arlington Cemetery which opens right into the
Fort. We turned off the road and down a little gulley,
where every now and then you come across a bone where it
112
1906
has been washed from some grave but we found no skulls.
A skull would have been a really worth while souvenir.
But we did find an old shell, a 12' ball half buried in
the bed of Rock Creek, but it weighed about 30 pounds so
we had to let it lie.
Further down the brook we found some craw-fish and
caught several. I have my five now on my bureau in a
wash-basin and they are having a great time trying to get
out. After visiting the Lee-Custis mansion, we came
home.
* * *
Here I must pause for a moment to elaborate a bit.
To take the picture opposite, I had to back some distance
down the slope to a point which, from the pictures I have
seen, must have been quite close to what is today the
Kennedy plot.
Behind Lee's mansion we found a well with a wheel,
a `green, mossy bucket' from which we brought up cool,
sweet water that tasted very good after all that tramping
through the Virginia heat in the quiet cemetery. We set
our jars of craw-fish on the stone curbing and, somehow,
Ed's was pushed off and fell down into the cool, deep
darkness whence presently rose the faintest of echoing
splashes. Perhaps Ed's specimens have since become the
progenitors of a race of blind craw-fish which will
cause some future ichthyologist to scratch his head and
wonder. But to resume the letter.
* * *
Sunday Ed and I went to Sunday School and church.
In the afternoon Beaumont, Mrs. Glass and I went to the
Zoo. It's a fine little place but not as good as Roger
Williams Park.
Today, (which, by the way, is Monday the 16th al-
though I started this letter Sunday) Ed and I visited
113
1906
the Capitol and the Congressional Library again and took
five pictures.
* * *
Note that I say nought as to the nature of these
five pictures and for a very good reason. Ed and I had,
by now, learned that the less said about our more unusu-
al and interesting exploits, the better. Such revelati-
ons brought only uneasiness to and censure from our pa-
rents and general unpleasantness. But before being more
specific about these pictures, let me digress a bit furth-
er to show what brought back to me so forcibly the memory
of that far-off day and exploit, which, somehow, never got
into my letter home.
On November 24th 1963 I sat before my T/V and watch-
ed the silent crowds shuffling past President Kennedy's
coffin there in the rotunda beneath the Capitol's dome.
And, as I sat there, long forgotten memories of the last
time I had been in that rotunda fifty seven years earlier
came surging back to life.
Things were so much simpler in 1906 - no guards, no
security precautions - the Capitol belonged to us people
and who would think of harming it? We were two sixteen
year old boys who had casually strolled in, quite unescor-
ted, to visit our nation's Capitol. Both houses were in
session and we had watched them again in action from the
visitors' gallery and on our way out we passed, naturally,
through the rotunda.
Painters had been working there in the ceiling but
had gone to lunch perhaps; at any rate the place was quite
deserted, no one in sight. There was a scaffold under the
ceiling and a ladder reaching up to the base of the dome,
Another minute and we had scaled the ladder and were thro'
a little hatchway into the eerie gloom of the great dome.
Then up a long spiral iron staircase till we stepped thro'
114
1906
another door into the blinding sunlight and found oursel-
ves on a narrow circular walk with a marble ballustrade
surrounding the base of the statue which surmounts the
very peak of the dome. I do not now remember what that
statue was (an Indian girl, I think, not Columbia as I
had expected. [T'was the statue of `Freedom'. -Todd] The view
was magnificent and it was from here that I took the pictures, in
case you have wondered. [Photo 1 - south to Library of Congress Bldg.,
Photo 2 - Looking west up PA Ave.]
We were so exhiliarated by the view and the height that
we mounted the ballustrade and walked all around it - it
was more than a foot wide. Imagine two teen-agers achiev-
ing such a thing undetected today. That is one probable
reason for today's `Juvenile delinquent'; he is so hedged
in with restrictions, so cribbed, cabined and confined,
that he is forced into extra-legal outlets.
On the day we returned to the Washington Monument
and I took the picture opposite which, to the uninstruct-
ed may look like a stone walk going nowhere but was actu-
ally obtained by pointing my camera straight up from the
base. The elevator wasn't working so we walked up. At
about the half-way mark was a bronze tablet stating that
at that particular point construction had been halted, at
what date I do not remember, through lack of funds until
at some later date additional funds became available (from
the pennies of school children - or was that the Bartholdi
statue?) It is all so long ago that these things now es-
cape me. Anyway at dinner that night I thoughtlessly
mentioned this plaque and what it said - whereat there
fell a most dreadful stillness. Apparently the Glasses
knew of this plaque and that it could not possibly be
read from the elevator and that, therefor, we must have
walked up (and down) all those hundreds of steps with
Ed's appendix scar only a few months old.
And now to resume the letter.
* * *
115
1906
After this last visit to the Capitol we met Beaumont
and went to Chase's which is like Keith's and is vaude-
ville.
It has been awfully hot here all week except Sunday
and I wilted my collar completely tramping through Arling-
ton. Flowers are out everywhere and the trees are green.
Beaumont has just left for Philadelphia and I must
go to dinner, so good-bye.
Jay.
* * *
When I left for home I dont remember. I have a dis-
tinct recollection of riding in a trolley with Ed, Aunt
Sadie and Virginia when we saw the headlines telling of
the San Francisco earthquake which was, I think, April
18th. I am almost certain that was the day we visited
the Rock Creek Cemetery. I remember how I sat long look-
ing at the beautiful Adams Memorial by St. Gaudens; it
has such a sad, brooding quality that I have never for-
gotten and I'm glad I took a picture of it - at Virginia's
insistance, if I remember correctly.
And there was the day when Ed and I went out to the
Falls of the Potomac. I can still picture the woods and
the rushing river and the blue Virginia sky with the buz-
zards wheeling, wheeling tirelessly in great lazy circles.
Then, at the last minute, there was a hurried shop-
ping trip to get souvenirs for the folks at home. Aunt
Sadie insisted on this; it would never have occured to
me.
The day I left Washington was beautifully warm and
summarish. Coming up through Maryland the pach trees
were all in bloom. My craw-fish in a pint Mason jar rode
beside me on the window sill of the car for Mrs. Glass
had insisted that I take them with me.
At Philadelphia all was hustle and confusion as I
116
1906
tried to find what trolley I should take to reach the
Philadelphia Women's Hospital where Mother was recover0
ing from an operation. Eventually I got on the wrong
car and had to walk several blocks. The heat was intense
and the long rows of dingy houses in North Philadelphia
wwere depressing. At each step my suitcase and raincoat
grew heavier, my jar of craw-fish an intolerable burden.
As I passed an open window with an empty high chair just
visible inside, I reached up, set the jar on the window
sill, and kept straight on without looking back.
What else happened before the Diary resumes on 6th
June has vanished into the dark shadows of the forgotten.
Somewhere in the interval Willard Fritz married Lillian
and the bride and groom moved into the cottage.
But, starting in the next volume which I have call-
`The River', the diary embarks on a career that contin-
ues with only minor breaks until the signing of the Armis-
tice on November 11th, 1918.
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Todd L. Sherman (afn09444@afn.org)
© Copyright 1995-1999 by Todd L. Sherman. All Rights Reserved.