June 11, 1908

Blogger Note:  Hello readers!  No, I did not fall off the face of the earth or perish in a freak bus accident.  I am alive and well…..just have been a bit run down with keeping up with work, life, the norm.  I’m trying to get my groove back at the moment.  It’ll come.  Thank you for your patience!  For this letter, when I opened it, there is an actual huge ink blot covering up some of the letter (I’ve posted photos below of this letter so you know what I’m talking about).  So some of the letter is not legible.  I’ll try my best.  Happy reading!

Dear Prince Wolly Coo,

You must have been having a terrible time. The weather here is quite warm enough but nothing compared with the last week in May. We have had only one rain storm since I wrote to you last and that lasted only about (ink blot) hours.

(Ink blot) feel (ink blot) living near the (ink blot) noon. Mother and (ink blot) a crate (thirty two boxes) of (ink blot) berries. You know we have only one session this month. We have sixty glasses of preserves and besides that I baked two strawberry short cakes.

The last two weeks have been terrible. I have been rushing from morning until night. Last Tuesday, we had a Strawberry festival and cleared seventy dollars in one night. We now have seven hundred dollars and next week the frescoing begins.

On Thursday evening of last week we had a jolly time, fifty of us left Lancaster on a special car for Accomac, a little summer resort on the other side of the Susquehanna river. We went up for chicken and supper. We left here at five arrived at Accomac at seven and never got back to Lancaster until one o’clock the next morning. Oh, how I wish you might have seen that beautiful sunset on the river. The river was just as deep a pink as possible, very calm and covered with tiny little launches. As it grew dark, the Marietta & Columbia side reminded me of Reverie Beach with its many lights all along the bank. The party was a very congenial one and we were all sorry when it was time to go home. Friday I went to see Ethel Byerly at Millersville. Saturday, I had company afternoon and evening. This Tuesday I was out at College for class day, which was rather interesting but very disgusting. The exercises were held out of doors. Imagine nearly all the graduates smoking! To me it was disgusting and ought not be allowed.

Yesterday afternoon I was out to see the F & M boys play the Indians of Carlyle. The score was 14 to 1 favore the Indians. To the fifth inning the game was very close and good but after that too one sided.

You poor boy I know you were tired when you had finished your days work. It must have been hard work after not being accustomed to it. I am indeed very sorry to hear about the accident but am glad you did not lose you finger. I hope you will be very very careful and I sincerely hope you will not have any more accidents. I am glad your eyes do not trouble you as much as at school but would be happier if I knew they did not trouble you at all.

Yes, my big brother is nearly as tall as you. I think he is always glad to get home and I am always glad to see him. I won’t see him before September because I shall not be home when he comes in July.

I did not receive your letter until this morning, Thursday. By the post mark it was mailed on Monday. At that rate you will not receive this by Sunday. But I shall try. I shall take it to the Post Office. Probably I shall not be as tired after a little walk out of doors.

Prince Wolly Coo was very kind in considering my application. I thank him for his decision in my favor and hope that I shall fill the position satisfactorily. It will be convenient to begin work at any time. If the Prince’s homestead is in Washington it will certainly be far from my home but if I accept the position I must go where I am told to go. When do I begin work?

I almost feel that I do not quite deserve the opinion you have formed of me, but I certainly appreciate it and shall try very hard indeed to deserve the place you have given me in your list of friends.

I certainly did not want to arouse your curiosity.

When I meet any people I always (when possible) observe how they treat their mother and sisters. I have found out that if people are not kind, considerate and sincere to their own, they certainly will not be to strangers. I have never met any person that is more considerate and thoughtful and sincere. I have learned to know you better that first opinion has only been more impressed. To be sincere and trustworthy are two things that have always appealed to me.

I hope your plans about going to the northwest will work out all right and I hope you will be very successful.

I have read “Jane Eyre” this week and enjoyed it very much. I think you would like it. My cousin is going to bring me Coniston tomorrow. I am anxious to read it. He says the same that you do about it.

I received your card that you sent from Lincoln. Thank you. You certainly were fortunate in getting a position so soon.

Yes, I am very happy and enjoy all the pretty things, but it is not the house that makes me happy. The house and beauty without dear ones is nothing. I should be happy anywhere with dear ones around me.

I have lots that I want to say but I must stop it is getting late and I do not want to be disappointed again. Do be careful not to have any thing more happen to yourself.

With best wishes.

Sincerely,

Daisy Holzwarth

P.S. Will you ever pardon such a blot? Some one was talking to me and the ink fell. D. H.

Blogger Note: Prince Wolly Coo?  Inside joke perhaps?  How I wish I had John’s letters to Daisy.  We will never know about the accident she is referencing either. Some mysteries may never be known.

I tried looking up Accomac but couldn’t find anything on it.  Perhaps I am spelling it wrong.  I also love her new expression she repeats a couple time “out of doors” – anyone still say it that way?  I also love her wisdom on home – that the beauty in homes is not the home itself but who fills that home.  I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately…..as someone nearing a certain age and coming home day after day to an empty apartment….

I also loved that she read “Jane Eyre” and “Coniston.”  Janie Eyre is a novel by Charlotte Bronte and was published in 1847.  It is still considered one of the timeless classics today. “Coniston” was a novel by Winston Churchill that was a bestseller in 1906.  I’ll need to add that to her growing library, which I will document in another section of this blog for all you book lovers out there!