Eleanor Randolph Wilson McAdoo to Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre

Title

Eleanor Randolph Wilson McAdoo to Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre

Creator

McAdoo, Eleanor Wilson, 1889-1967

Identifier

WWP17345

Date

1906 October 21

Description

Eleanor Wilson McAdoo writes Jessie Wilson Sayre in Baltimore, with news from St. Mary's School, Raleigh.

Source

Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University

Language

English

Text

Jetty

Why, why don't you or somebody write to me? I haven't heard a single word from any of the family since I left you in Washington. And oh Jessiedarling I miss you so, so much. I have been so homesick and miserable that I just wanted to cry day and night. Now it is much better and I don't mind it half so much, but if I don't hear something from somebody, I don't know what I'll do. Nothing has happened to you, has it? I thought I'd get a letter right away and oh, it seems so long, just years, since I left you. I got down here alright and Aunt Annie and Annie and Mr DuBose met me at the station. And then we drove here, and I was so frightened I didn't know what to do. Aunt Rose was very sweet and so was Margaret and it was so lovely having Aunt Annie here. If they hadn't been here until yesterday, I couldn't possibly have stood it. My room-mate is named Louise Hill. She is a senior and very pretty and attractive. I thought at first I wasn't going to like her because she seemed sort of high and mighty. But she is just as nice as she can be and I like her emensely. I am sure we are going to get along finely. I thought at first that I was never going to get in with any of the girls at all, and I just hated them all the first day, but now they are much nicer and some of them are lovely, but I still think that, coming so late, I can never really get very intimate, because they've all made all their freinds already. But I feel as if I were shut up in this place and could never get out, because, just think, nobody but seniors are allowed to go off the grounds without a teacher! Did you ever hear of anything so aw crazy. If I had known that it was just like a board-school.———! So I haven't been able to do a bit of all that shopping I had to do and I'm just so angry about all these silly rules. Oh, Jessie darling, I can't write you a decent letter, I've got so much to tell you and I can't write it in a letter. The bell has just rung to put your lights out, so I've got to stop, but I'll finish in the morning. I never knew I could be so miserably homesick as I have been these long, long days and still am, with a vengeance! Only a letter from you or from home can cheer me upThis is the next day, and I am so much happier, because, just think, I got a letter from my dearestJessie!! Oh, you don't know how glad I was! I nearly screamed when Miss Sutton handed it to me. And I'm so sorry I didn't telegraph to you, sweetheart, but this will get to you soon, I hope and then you won't worry anymore. This morning we went down town, a whole crowd of us with a teacher, just like a little old boarding school. I am just so mad, I don't know what to do, about these horrible rules. Jessie, they treat us just like little babies and it is just abominable. I thought I was coming to a sort of college, at least, but it's just a school and I don't think I'll ever get used to being so restricted. But the worst thing is that we can't take long walks or anything, and the doctor says I've simply got to take exercise. I am so disappointed about the horseback riding, because I don't think I can possibly manage it. Annie was quite wrong about the other girls doing it. The girls are much nicer to me now, and I like them awfully. There are three Baltimore girls, dears, who have entered Junior too. I have been asked to join both Sigma Lambda and Epsilon Alpha Pi but I don't know which to join. My room-mate is one and Margaret DuBose is the other and I dont know which I would like to be in. Seven of us on this floor have formed a little eating club which I think is going to be lots of fun. It is called the F.C.F.C. which means (don't tell anyone) “Far Country Food Club.” (They call Senior Hall the “Far country” because it's farther away than the other buildings. They have sororities here too but I don't think they like me well enough to ask me into one of those.
It has done nothing but rain here ever since I arrived, so I still have some hope of playing basketball or tennis or something when it clears up and so get some exercise. I think it is wildly exciting about Mr. Campbell sending you the book. He really is quite gone on you, I'm afraid. I don't think you need to acknowlege it for a week, at least, do you? I am so glad and proud about your getting the little gold pin! Oh, Jetty darling, if I could only see you!! I love you so, so much. Don't you see how much more cheerful this part of the letter is, now that I've gotten a letter from you? I've got to close now and study though I have just piles more to tell you. So goodbye little darling. I hope you are not working too hard. And do write to me as often as you can to keep the homesickness away. And don't worry about me now, because I am really much happier, now that I am getting to know the girls. But I'll tell you a secret, if you won't breathe it, and that is that I am going to try to get to Baltimore next year if I possibly can. I wish I had gone there from at the start. Think of being with you all the time. Oh dear me! What bliss!! With all the love in the world and more

Your ever devoted little sister
Nell.

Original Format

Letter

To

Sayre, Jessie Woodrow Wilson, 1887-1933

Files

http://resources.presidentwilson.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/NWtoJWS19061021.pdf

Citation

McAdoo, Eleanor Wilson, 1889-1967, “Eleanor Randolph Wilson McAdoo to Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre,” 1906 October 21, WWP17345, Jessie Wilson Sayre Correspondence, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.