Name/Title
AU Harris, Joseph Hastings - 1895-08-11 letter to Bertha Elizabeth LambertEntry/Object ID
1990.1.50Context
[Ada, OH, to Miss Bertha Lambert, Iberia, Ohio, “Morrow Co.”]
Ada, O. Aug. 11, 1895.
Miss Lambert,
Iberia, Ohio.
My Loving Bertha: I take this opportunity to express my thoughts to the one I love.
Your letter came yesterday morning and found me enjoying a very busy day. Everything is moving along quite well. You seem to be happy and light-hearted as you always are. This to me has been one of the busy busy weeks on every hand as nurse committee work study etc. You will notice in the “home notes” of the Herald the account of a surgical operation on Mr. Kraft. They placed him in my care and I find it no little task to keep things moving as it takes four persons every night to stay with him. He is nice to wait on and is getting along very nicely. I was with him three nights myself this wk. I have no particular desire to be a surgeon. You remember I spoke of a Y.M.C.A. excursion. Well that is a go now. We will go to Put-in Bay Aug. 24, leaving here at 7 A.M. and returning about 9 in the evening via Dunkirk and Toledo and then by steamer 42 miles. We can stay there 5 hrs.
We shall take a band and quartet also our lunch. It will be a special train and we make no change at Dunkirk. The fare will be $1.65. If you won't tell anyone we, the com., are scheming just a little. They are to give the com. their tickets there being 24 tickets to give the band, quartet and com. We think 12 is large enough for the band, which will then place 8 tickets at the disposal of the 3 com. and myself.
What am I to do with two free (well earned) tickets? Of course you know what I would do if you were here, but what am I to do when you are absent? I see your concert comes Aug. 30, and I suppose it would be an imposition to ask you to leave your work at such time Aug. 24, however you have a standing invitation to come at my expense and take this trip. Please be free to express your thought on this subject.
I shall not think any the less of you however you may decide. You know how much I would appreciate having you with me both on the trip and your stay here as I suppose you would come Friday and return Mon. (although you could leave here 8:18 Sunday morning last but could hardly make connections at Bucyrus or Crestline). I would want you to stay until Monday. Please let me know what you think of the idea at any rate. It will be simply for courtesy if I take any other lady and will not enjoy it much then. The Franks had their schemes pretty nicely laid out and they beat us pretty bad. They had the R.R. lived with workers before presenting that proposition, so they took the trains almost clean Monday. I told the Philos. in our meeting that we were snared and the thing for us to do was to capture them now on this prop. for all future time and I propose for one not to give them any rest until the three societies come together in conjoint agreement neither to solicit on the trains nor at the depot here, but allow the Associations to care for the students. My head may come off for so doing, but let it go I propose to be heard on this subject by faculty, teachers, & students.
I am thoroughly disgusted with the present plan and want to see the associations take their rightful places in the institution.
Please announce in the Churchman and the W— paper that J. H. Harris, Pres. Y.M.C.A., Ada, O., will visit Miss Lambert at Westerville about the middle of Oct provided he can get the change to purchase ticket.
You ought to have heard me talk about the “link” on the stage Friday night. It was not the missing link neither. I hope you will not pay any attention to what I said concerning your music. I realize that there are two sides to this question. I certainly would be pleased to have you keep pace with me in the regular work and so I am satisfied either way.
I am glad to know that you have the disposition to be up and pushing forward, but Bertha will you pardon me for saying that if your school work in any line is more straining on your eyes than other work I trust that you may be very careful in this line.
Those eyes express more to me than any other pair in the world and I would not want you to abuse them simply to learn Greek, music, or in teaching nor any other way. All right for your sake and mine too I will leave the mustache and will not stay up till 12 more than three nights per wk. I don't believe you will be very severe on me.
The associations are making quite a good start. I wish I could be with you today. I want so much to see you sometimes that it tempts me to start out. I will close for this time. You will notice account of Mr. Yoder in the Herald. I wish you might meet Mr. Elliot I think he is a talented and deserving young man. May you be blest in your work is the plea of your devoted lover
J. H. Harris.
