Diary Oct/Nov 1910: train tracks and beaus

            Granbury, Tex             We (the dormitory girls) have been a little extra jolly to day. When we started to dress for breakfast we all wore something what wasn’t ours. I borrowed a belt some of the girls borrowed dresses and first one thing and another till we all had on something borrowed. And we nearly all got some mail that day, that helped and so we were having fun all day. I sure does do one good when they are of from home going to school to get lots of mail. Oct 1, 1910

            Granbury, Tex             Prof Russel comes up to the dormitory every evening at seven and holds a prayer meeting in the parlor of the dormitory girls. The boys are not supposed to go in the parlor at all when the girls are in there, but they do every once in a while; and to night we were in the parlor playing the piano and singing and one of the boys was in there (Jeff Cornet) Prof Russel was nearly here before we saw him so Jeff told one of the girls to get out of the window so he could jump out, then he ask how long it would last and we told him 15 minutes. So he said, “Well, I’ll just get in the pantry.” (which was in one corner of the parlor) But he couldn’t pass the window with out the Prof seeing him so he got on his knees and crawled past the window and got in the pantry which was almost air tight.

            So Prof Russel and the girls all came in and we that knew it were so tickled we couldn’t keep quiet. Finally, the Prof and the rest of the girls begin to ask us what we were so tickled about. Some said they didn’t see any thing to laugh at, but finally we got quiet without having to tell. After the prayer meeting was over and the Prof gone, Jeff came out of the pantry amid a room of laughter and declared that was the longest 15 minutes he ever saw pass. (Oct 6, 1910)

            Granbury Texas           A young man, Mr Parrell, who is here leading sing for the protracted meeting was at the college to day and made the school a talk at chapel. He was very handsome and well educated and sure did make a good talk. He said he had the greatest admiration for a boy that could not go to school other wise who would work their way through. He had worked his way through. He took an A.M. degree from the Chicago University and then spent 4 years in a medical school. Now he say’s he is just beginning to see how ignorant he is. He said a man had better spend thirty nine years in preparation for life and then, just live one, than spend one year in preparation and live 39. (Oct 13, 1910)

            A crowd of us young folks had been planning to go to Comanche Peak; Some small mts about 8 miles from here. So the matron asked the president if he would suspend the rules and take us and he said he would as it would be Haloween. So we got up early yesterday morning to cook our dinner to take with us. There was 20 of us in all that went, counting the Matron, the President, and a married man that keeps the dormitory and his wife. The boy’s hired a common size waggon and put some hay in it and we all gor started by 10 oclock. My! How we wee packed, and jammed, and crammed in that waggon for there was 15 rode in it. We sure did have the fun thoe and by the time we got there it was dinner time so we spread our dinner and ate the first thing.

            We had a Kodak along and we took a view of the dinner spread on the table cloth and us sitting around it. After dinner we all went up on one of the peaks and had some Kodaks made.

            A we were coming back, the boy that was with me and myself played “Hull Gull” and “Even or Odd” with cedar balls. Nearly all of us girls were sunburned or blistered by the time we got home. But we sure did have a nice day of it. Yes and last Sat night a crowd of young folks gathered here at the Dormitory and made candy and when we got through with the candy we gathered in the parlor and had some music. We sure had a nice time that night. But such times as these don’t come to us very often while we are in college. (Nov 1, 1910)

            Granbury Texas           Last Sunday was my last Sunday here so I was wishing we could have a nice time, but my roommate and I came up to our room after dinner Sunday, without any hopes for any thing but a long lonesome Sunday evening.

            As we usually have to come up to our rooms and sit around all evening on Sundays that is the time we get homesick and lonesome.

            So we came in and my roommate (Eva Crews) went to wrighting and I fell over across the bed to try to sleep. In a few minutes Mrs Kidd came in and said she wished we could walk over to the reunion grounds. So we decided to ask our matron if she wouldn’t let us go with Mrs Kidd and she said we could. We hadn’t been over there very long till two of the dormitory boys came over there. All the other girls just happened to have company and we saw them leave the dormitory going walking.

            So the boys went with us and we walked about a mile to the railroad trussel across the river. We decided, after the boys insisting, that we would walk the trussel as far as the edge of the water anyway, which was about 50 yards. Us girls were scared of course but as the boys held our arms we walked very well. One of the couples stopped before we got to the edge of the water and started back, but we said we wouldn’t “Pike” so we went on and just as we got to the water’s edge we heard a train whistle in the distance.

            There we were out in the middle of that trussel and it was so far from the ground to jump off would near sure death.

            It sure did scare us as there was no way to get off the track till we got to the end of the trussel and we didn’t know wheather we could walk it or not before the train came along. But we started back walking as fast as we could and every body began to hollow to us to hurry and get of the train was coming. The more they would hollow the worse we got scared till finally when we did step off on the ground I was trembling, I was so frightened. We had just gotten off a few minutes when the train came dashing along.

            The next day at the dinner table they were trying to tease us about it. One of the boys began it by saying; “If I hadn’t been for Claud helping her off the trussel, Miss Wheeler wouldn’t be with us to day.” They kept making up things and telling till we all laughed till we couldn’t. But it wasn’t funny to any of them while we were on the trussel.

            We sure did have a nice time that evening if we did get into danger. As we came on home we had to pass by a negro church as they were having services, two couples of us stopped in there a while and that was a sight to us too. Of course the President scolded us a little for the rules were not suspended, and we were not supposed to have company unless they were. But as our Matron is a young woman she and one of the teachers was with us and every dormitory girl had a beau. (Nov 21, 1910)