December 23, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

Alma and I had such fun today. We bought a million cookie cans. Then I bought Grandfather a bright red pencil sharpener which I know he will love because now he sharpens his pencils with a little pen knife that he carries in his pants pocket and this sharpener will be right on his desk and it is so easy to use and I can use it too. Then for Grandmother we found an embroidered apron that is pretty enough to wear in the parlor and for Aunt Tillie a beautiful handkerchief with a big “T” on it and the “T” has butterflies all around it. Then I bought Alma a handkerchief too and it has an “A” on it and the “A” is right in the middle of a bunch of roses. I bought it when she was buying some gifts for her friends, one for Lizzie especially and we agreed not to look at each other while we did our special shopping so I know she didn’t peek and she will be surprised when she opens my present. Then we went to the White House Department Store to see Santa Claus. He was up in the Toy department. He looked just like his pictures in my book of “A Night Before Christmas.” He took every child on his lap and asked each what he wanted for Christmas and all the children were whispering in his ear. When it was my turn, I whispered that I would like Sherry to have kittens, as many as possible. Santa Claus said that I should have written a letter to him a long time ago. I wasn’t giving him enough time to arrange it. Wouldn’t I like something else. So I said to him, “Yes please, just as long as it isn’t something that I need.” All the way home I wondered what to believe. I don’t believe in Santa Claus but I wish I could. It was clear to me that his beard was false and the whole story is a make believe story. Maybe I’ll just keep on pretending to myself that I believe it. It is such a pretty thing to believe in.

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Although I was unable to find a photo of Santa at the White House, the photo below, taken between 1911-1915, gives us a sense of the festivities at the time. We see Adolph B. Spreckels at a children’s Christmas party. We can imagine that Hilda is one of the children.

Photo courtesy of SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY. The library citation says the photo shows Adolph B Spreckels Jr. he was born in 1911, so if he is pictured he would be one of the smallest children at the table. The man standing second from the right looking at the photographer is his father Adolph B Spreckels.

December 22, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

As soon as we came home yesterday afternoon Grandfather called me into his room again. This time he told me to sit in the big chair at his desk and then he gave me a big sheet of paper and told me to write my name on the bottom of it. I did. Then he tore the paper up and said “Hilda you didn’t read what was on the page of paper. Never sign your name to anything that you haven’t read very, very carefully.” Then he wrote on another piece of paper and gave it to me. He asked me to tell him what was on it. I told him that it said, “I Hilda Claire Goldberg, am borrowing five dollars from my Grandfather, Jacob Levy on this day, the 22 day of December 1912 and that it is to be paid back by December 22, 1914. Interest payments of one penny a month are to be charged for this business transaction.” I didn’t know what interest meant nor the word transaction so he explained it all to me and so now I do. I will have to pay back twenty four cents for borrowing the five dollars and interest doesn’t mean that it is interesting or like our teachers are always telling us to have an interest in our work. Borrowing money is just like buying it and we must pay to borrow it and he asked me if I did agree to what he wrote on the paper. So I said that I did and signed my name and then he gave me five shiny silver dollars. Now I have enough money for presents for everybody.

This morning Alma and I baked millions of cookies, such pretty ones, all shaped like Christmas trees, and we put green frosting on them so they looked quite real. Tomorrow we are going to go downtown and buy Christmas cans to put them into and every single person who comes to see us on Christmas day will get one. Even people we didn’t invite. Tante Esther will get one too and I shall give Uncle Felix the pen wiper I was going to give Helen Violet and I will buy Helen Violet a bag of graham crackers and I can send Tom and Jerry a big bag of dog biscuits and tie it up with a red ribbon and a green ribbon so each can have a bow on his collar. Uncle Milton said that he wouldn’t be able to take them up to the ranch where they live but after Christmas we will be able to visit them and so he gave their address.

December 21, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

Before dancing school today Aunt Tillie and Aunt Belle took me to the Palace Hotel for lunch. Aunt Belle is Grandmother Uri’s daughter and she is one of Aunt Tillie’s best friends. Aunt Belle has a sister and lots of brothers and I call them all Aunt and Uncle and now Belle is married and lives in Mazoola, Montana and she came with her husband Harvey to visit for the Christmas Season. We were all dressed up and I was very excited, I know they were too. The dining room was all dressed up for Christmas and decorated with Christmas trees and the room smelled so wonderful. While we were waiting for lunch, all of a sudden the lights went out and then slowly, one by one, the choir boys came in. They wore white lace gowns and each one carried a candle and they sang “Adeste Fidelis” while they were walking. It was so beautiful, so still, just the way it must have been that night in Bethlehem. Then all of a sudden, out of the wonderment, I wanted to give Tante Esther and Uncle Felix presents. I wanted to give everyone presents. I could hardly wait to tell Grandfather so. He and Grandmother came to dancing school to see me march with the shepherds. They said I did it beautifully.

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Photo courtesy of OpenSFHistory

Photo courtesy of OpenSFHistory

Photo from 1934 of diners at the Palace Hotel during the holiday season courtesy SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY

December 20, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

I don’t know what to do? If I don’t take the money from Grandfather I can’t give away any presents except the pen wipers and the catnip. If I do take it, Alma says she will help me think of ever so many nice presents for everybody. She says that Brownie doesn’t need a rain coat, she will show me how to make him a pretty new blanket out of pink and blue wool that I have right in my sewing basket. Now it is time for bed and I still don’t know what to do about Tante Esther and Uncle Felix but I’ll think about it tomorrow after dancing school. Tomorrow is the Christmas pageant. I am going to be dressed as a shepherd only I won’t have any lambs but I’ll be carrying a crook. I love the story of Christmas. I love to think of the little Christ child born in a nice warm manger and all the darling animals coming to look at him and the Three Wise Men coming so far to see the baby and the North Star shining so brightly. I like to think about snow and singing Christmas carols and Christmas trees. Alma taught me some beautiful carols, “Adeste Fedelis”, “Deck the Hall with Myrrh and Holly”, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” Grandfather taught me “Stille Nacht.” That is a lovely German Christmas carol.

December 19, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

Grandfather called me into his room last night. He said that this time he wanted to talk business with me. He said he had thought everything out very carefully and that he had decided that since I was earning money with my flea and bug business I am a good risk. A risk is someone you can lend money to because you are sure of getting it back. Grandfather explained it to me. He said he was going to lend me five dollars. He said that he wouldn’t give it to me because that wouldn’t be the right thing to do. I must learn about how business operates and I too must learn how to be giving. He said we must give of ourselves when we give presents, it’s more fun that way. I don’t think so. I told Grandfather that five dollars wouldn’t be nearly enough, that just a comb I wanted to give Grandmother would cost all that. He said that little girls that have only two dollars don’t have to give golden combs. He said that I could give her a plain comb to comb her hair with or a package of hairpins, something useful and necessary. I said that necessary things are not presents and I hoped he wasn’t going to give me anything I need. He said that he wasn’t going to give me anything but of course I didn’t believe him. He said that at Christmas time you shouldn’t think of things you wanted for yourself, only things that you wanted to give other people. He said that is the real meaning of Christmas and that is what Christ would want us to do. I asked him if Christ would give presents to Tante Esther and Uncle Felix and he said that Christ loved everybody and wanted all to be well and happy and he certainly would be very unhappy to see how sad Tante Esther and Uncle Felix would be when everyone else received a package and there were no packages for them. He said that he would think it over some more but I was to remember, that no presents for them, no loan.

December 18, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

I thought it over, I still don’t want to give anything to them and besides, I just gave Tante Esther all those roses.

December 17, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

Last night just after dinner I asked Grandfather if I might see him on business. He said that his business hours are in the afternoon but if it was very important he would give me a few minutes. So I went to his room and he sat at his desk and I sat in my little chair. I said that I wanted his help because I had so many presents to buy, just how could I divide the money I made so far into so many little parts. Then I told him how I looked at the stores with Alma and how we checked our list and found how much everything cost. Grandfather wanted to see the list so I brought it to him but I crossed out his name because I want him to be surprised. He read it from top to bottom and from bottom to top again. Then he said, “Hilda I don’t see Tante Esther or Uncle Felix on your list.” I said that I wasn’t giving them any presents, I hate them. He didn’t say a word, just thought to himself for a long while. Then he said that he would like to help me of course but until I put Tante Esther and Uncle Felix’s names on the list he just wouldn’t think about it. He told me to go to bed and think it over and maybe I could solve it by morning. So I did.

December 16, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

Everything costs so much. I want to give Grandmother a golden comb to wear in her hair and that is five dollars. And I want to give Grandfather some bow ties and those are a dollar apiece and the six pretty handkerchiefs for Aunt Tillie are five dollars and a lace collar for Grandmother Uri costs three dollars and a rain coat for Brownie costs three dollars too. Only Sherry’s present is cheap. I can get a huge bag of catnip for twenty cents. No matter how many fleas I catch this week, I’ll never have enough money. Alma says that I should speak to Grandfather about it as he knows all about money.

December 15, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

Yesterday afternoon Alma took a pencil and a piece of paper and made a new Christmas list because mine was a little dirty and mussed up. She said that we must first see how many pretty things we can make because that will save us lots of money. And first, she said, we must think of my father’s because that has to be wrapped and posted to him in New York and that takes at least a week to travel by train to get there. I thought I would send him another pen wiper but Alma said maybe he would like something different this time, maybe the sampler I made, and anyhow I would like to make a new one for myself. Alma told me that I didn’t have the right attitude about presents, especially a Christmas present. She said that what is really important is the love we give. So I said if the present isn’t important and just the love is, why not just send the love. She said, “Hilda, there are times that I would just like to shake you.” But she didn’t. So we wrapped the sampler up carefully in pretty paper and I wrote a nice note. Alma said that if I didn’t buy Christmas cards I could save at least ten cents, so I drew a picture of some holly berries on my own paper and wrote, “To Daddy • Merry Christmas • Love and Kisses • Hilda.” The postage was fifteen cents so now I have only two dollars and seventy-nine cents left. After we posted the sampler we came home and I took all my cat-tails out of the dresser drawer to see how many pen wipers I can make. There are enough for six so that there will be enough for Uncle Milton, Uncle Albert, Louie, Ito, Sing and Helen Violet. Alma said that Helen Violet didn’t need a pen wiper but I said that she will need one some day. The felt material we need to put under the cat-tails cost ten cents. Alma said that we will have to be very careful how we cut it so we don’t waste any. Tomorrow we shall go shopping. We won’t buy anything, we just want to see how much everything costs.

December 14, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

I didn’t write in this book yesterday because we left very early in the morning and after we returned home Alma and I were so busy talking and telling everyone about our wonderful time that before I knew it, it was time for me to go to bed. There are just ten days before Christmas and I must think very seriously about my presents. I have just two dollars and ninety-four cents now. Of course I know I can earn more by then, but Grandfather says that I shouldn’t count fleas before they are caught. Bugs, either.

December 12, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

We are going tomorrow. So I decided to go around the whole farm and say good-bye to everyone and all the animals. I kissed little Elizabeth. It is so hard to say good-bye to people and animals and things you love.

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While travels home tomorrow, Hilda will have no time to write in her diary. She will return on December 14.

December 11, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

Mrs. Martin had a few minutes to spare this afternoon so she came outside and had her lemonade with Alma and me. We talked mostly about birthdays because I wanted to know how old all the animals were. She asked me when my birthday was and I told her that it was on the twelfth of next month and that I would be nine years old. She said that her birthday was on Christmas day and that she would be forty years old. Forty is very old. I thought it was but Mrs. Martin really didn’t seem old. I asked her if she isn’t very sorry that her birthday was on Christmas because she only got one set of presents and she said no, she said that she is pleased that her birthday falls on the same day as Jesus Christ’s. It made her feel proud and happy. Then Alma told us about a little girl in Samoa…

Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived on a big island called Samoa and her birthday was on Christmas. She was very sad about it because all the other children got lots of presents on their birthdays and all over again on Christmas too and she only got presents on Christmas. She didn’t know what to do about it and then Robert Louis Stevenson came to live in Samoa and he met this little girl. They became good friends and one day this little girl told him how unhappy she was about her birthday being the same day as Christmas. And then Robert Louis Stevenson did something so unusual and lovely. He said, “Do you know what we’ll do? I shall make you a present of my birthday. It is a whole month before Christmas and it is my very own to do with as I please and if I choose to give it to a sweet little girl, no one can stop me.” Then Robert Louis Stevenson took a piece of paper and he wrote all kinds of important things on it, like the place they were in and the date and that he was doing this of his own free will and that he hereby gave his birthday to this little girl to have and hold forever. Then he dropped heaps of sealing wax all over the paper and dug his seal ring into them. That meant that he had given his birth date to the little girl and it was very official.

I asked Alma if that meant that he didn’t have his birthday for himself anymore. She said that of course he still had his own birthday, and that everything that we give of ourselves we still have and can give more and more. I don’t quite understand that and I was thinking of the time I gave Tante Esther those red roses and I didn’t have any left over for myself, but I think she means not real things but thoughts and ideas, but I am not sure.

December 10, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

It is lovely and warm here and Alma and I are out of doors all day. Mrs. Martin never comes out of the farm house except for a few minutes as she must stay in the kitchen and help cook for all the farm hands. All the men who work on the farm eat breakfast, lunch and dinner here. They eat on long tables under the trees like a real picnic, only they don’t seem to know it’s a picnic. They don’t laugh or have any fun, they just eat. Mrs. Martin is very beautiful. She is pink and white. That is, her skin is very white and her cheeks and lips are pink and her hair is golden and she came from Denmark. She is the prettiest thing on the farm. Nothing in the house is pretty. I think the house is ugly although it smells clean, like fresh baked yeast rolls and angel cake. The parlor is full of slippery black chairs and red velvet footstools and the walls are covered with pictures of terribly ugly people. All of them are relations of Mr. and Mrs. Martin. The women all look as if they had been stuffed into their dresses and the men look as if they would like to take their collars off. There are some younger people on the mantle. There are girls in fluffy shirt waists and fluffy pompadours and tiny waists and tennis racquets but they don’t look as if they know how to play tennis. There are some ornaments in the room too, not such pretty ones as Grandmother has but I think Claire would like them. There is a little baby shoe. It was a real one once but Mrs. Martin had it made into a bronze so it would never wear out so she could keep it forever. Claire couldn’t break that even if she dropped it.

December 9, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

San Lorenzo, California

Sometimes nice things happen. I didn’t have to go to Sunday school yesterday. That was the first nice thing. Early in the morning, Grandfather said it was such a clear sunny day he thought he would like to call on Mr. and Mrs. Martin. So he and Grandmother and Alma and I took a ferry boat and then a train and then a surrey with a horse just like the one I rode when I was in Ross and came to Mr. and Mrs. Martin’s house. On the way to it we passed a big fence that had a sign on it “Fresh Cows for Sale” and I asked Grandfather if they were for sale because they kick their buckets of milk over when you try to milk them but he laughed and said no that they were fresh because they just had babies and had plenty of milk. Mr. and Mrs. Martin’s farm house is just about the most wonderful place in the world and Mr. Martin is a wonderful farmer. He took me all over the farm while everyone else stayed on the porch. It is full of all kinds of animals just like Noah’s Ark except there are more than two of each animal, lots more. I think the sweetest ones are the baby pigs. They are pink. Mr. Martin says that they won’t stay that way and I guess they won’t because the grown-up pigs are huge and furry and not very cute but they still seem nice. Mr. Martin brought out pails of the most dreadful things to eat, just all the leftovers and what we call garbage, potato peelings and lemon rinds and meat trimmings. I asked Mr. Martin if the mixture wouldn’t make the poor pigs sick. So Mr. Martin said that maybe I was right and maybe it was time to give them a treat and he said, “Look Hilda, why don’t you run into the house and ask Mrs. Martin for a piece or two of cake for the pigs and you can feed them something special and they will remember you for it.” So I did but we didn’t have quite enough for all the pigs but I could tell they really enjoyed it very much. Then we went to see Bessy the Cow. Bessy just had a baby last night. Cows also drop their babies. The little calf is very pretty and very smart, just like the little horse in Mr. Bauer’s barn. It is funny but both the little horse and the little calf are smarter than my little cousin Helen Violet. The little calf’s name is Bessy and she is named after her mother just as I was. Of course Bessy is only a nickname for Elizabeth. Alma told me that Queen Elizabeth was often called Queen Bess, so I am going to call the calf Elizabeth because it is much prettier than Bessy. After the pigs and the calf, we went back to the house for tea and cookies. Mrs. Martin said that she had a wonderful idea, and she asked Grandmother if I could stay a few days with them and that the invitation would include Alma of course. Alma said that we had no clothes but Mrs. Martin said that it needn’t matter because she had a closet full of clothes and would share with Alma and a lot of play clothes that she keeps for her grandchildren who visit often. So here we are and I am wearing a pair of coveralls.

December 7, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

Christmas is just a little more than two weeks away and I must make a list of all the people I want to give presents to: Brownie and Sherry and Grandfather and Grandmother, and Tom and Jerry because I miss them and I know they are homesick and maybe Uncle Milton will take me to the farm they are on so that I can see them again. And Alma and Aunt Tillie and Uncle Milton and Ito and Gladys and Sing. Sing is the nice Chinese laundry man who gave me the pretty egg. And then there are Grandma Uri and Louie and Aunt Josie and Uncle Julius and Uncle Albert and Aunt Hazel and Helen Violet and my father. That is just twenty. I have almost three dollars in my piggy bank because Winter is just the best flea season. The fleas are cold and they like to jump into Brownie’s warm fur.

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Just a reminder — Tom and Jerry were Uncle Milton’s Airedales who had to live elsewhere when he came to live with his parents and Hilda after his wife died.

Note: Hilda did not write an entry on December 8 and will return on December 9.

December 6, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

We went to school this morning and got our promotion certificates. I got just a plain white one because of arithmetic. Grandfather said it didn’t make any difference, he loved me just the same and I told Grandmother that now maybe some man would really marry me because I could tell him I’m not too smart. She said maybe. In the afternoon I went to see Mission Dolores. It’s all right but I guess it would be more fun to see the Indians and see the Padres working or teaching.

December 5, 1912

Note: Today we would find 8-year old Hilda’s characterization of Native Americans problematic. Rather than censor her work, I am choosing to present it in full with the understanding that she is reminding herself of the facts as they were presented to her by her teachers and the adults around her. When she offers an interpretation, she does so based on the experience of a child her age.

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

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Tomorrow is the last day of school and Miss Cashen is taking us to see the Mission Dolores here in San Francisco, so today she read us all about it…

A long time ago California belonged to Spain but besides the Spanish people here, there were a lot of Indians. The Indians lived in tents that they called “Wigwams” and they didn’t keep them very clean but I guess it was pretty hard to because the floors were the ground and they ran in and out all day from hunting and working in the fields. Then Spain sent over the “Spanish Fathers” from the church to help them. They were very good men who came to teach the Indians about God and Jesus Christ and how to make bricks and learn to weave cloth and how to wash themselves. The Indians were very lazy except when they were having a war. They loved war. They were always having a war with a different Indian tribe. Then they would paint their faces with designs and stick feathers in their hair and put animal horns on their heads too, and they had war dances and they fought with bows and arrows and spears. The Indian women worked very hard and their husbands weren’t at all polite to them. None of the Indians had pretty table manners. They cooked everything all mixed up in a pot that hung over a fire and at dinner time all the Indians sat around it and just pulled out the food with their hands.

When I told Grandfather that, he said “Maybe Liebchen, they had finger bowls with pansies floating in them.” I know that he was just teasing me, but anyhow… 

The Indians learned a lot from the Fathers. After they learned to make bricks, the Fathers taught them to make the California Missions. There are twenty-one Missions altogether and each is about a day’s walk on foot from the other, but I think you would have to get up very early in the morning and then maybe you would arrive at the other in time for dinner. The most beautiful Mission is called the “Mission of San Juan Capistrano.” It is in Southern California and it has such a lovely garden that every Winter the swallows from northern California, where it becomes cold and snowy, come to it to make their nests. They know that they will have a beautiful place to stay in the sunshine until it is time to go home again, and by that time their babies are old enough to fly.

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The California elementary school curriculum didn’t change much throughout the 20th century. When I was in 4th grade, we learned about the missions. My mother drove us to visit many of them, and she was eager to see the swallows at San Juan Capistrano. If I recall, she was disappointed because there weren’t a lot of birds the day we visited.

Photo courtesy of OpenSFHistory

December 4, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

Miss Cashen asked us if we knew what Scotland was famous for. Wesley said that he knew, that they were famous for stingy people. Miss Cashen was angry and said that they were not stingy, they were thrifty and there is a big difference. She said that the soil in Scotland is hard and rocky and the weather is nearly always nasty and they don’t have a lot of tender grass to give the cows and that the cows can’t give quantities of milk and all is in short supply. The people have to work hard for every single thing and therefore they know how important it is not to spend their money for silly things like candy and toys. She asked if there was a single child in the room who ever earned their money. I raised my hand and said that I had and I told them about how I caught the fleas and bugs and told them how I was going to buy my own Christmas presents with the money I earned. Wesley said that he gets twenty-five cents a week for watering the garden and Will says that he gets twenty-five cents a week for keeping everyone’s shoes polished and Antoinette said that she doesn’t get a salary but that she gets five cents every time she runs an errand. Miss Cashen said that she must apologize to us because we were much more industrious than she imagined.

Then she said that she wanted to tell us more about Scotland. Margaret said that she knew a lot about Scotland and she told us that the people wore plaid skirts and other plaid clothes and that they ate scones which were delicious cakes served with thick cream and jam and that Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Scotland. Miss Cashen said that she was so pleased that Margaret remembered about Robert Louis Stevenson, and then she scowled at Wesley and said why didn’t he think of him instead of stingy people. She told us that there was another Robert who wrote beautiful poetry who also came from Scotland and his name is Robert Burns. She said that there is a beautiful poem about a field mouse and she knew that we would all love it very much. Would we like her to read it to us? We all said, “Please, please,” so she did and it was truly a beautiful poem…

Robert Burns tells the mouse he is sorry that he disturbed her nest, he did it accidentally, he didn’t mean to. It sounds as if he is really petting and kissing the poor little mouse. It makes you want to cry.

I guess Ireland is also nice and that is where we went next, but we didn’t stay there very long because school was dismissed early. All we learned about it is that the Irish people believe in fairies. An Irish fairy is called a leprechaun. They also have a wonderful saint and his name is St. Patrick and he is famous because he killed a lot of snakes. The Irish people have a funny way of talking, more like singing the language and they dance to the tune of a Jig. I saw some children dance it when I went to Lizzie’s church party. The Irish people have red hair, not all of them, but a lot of them and the red-haired people have bad tempers. They all love the color green and they wear it often and the four-leaf clover is their good luck charm. They call their country “The Emerald Isle” because it is so fresh and green and beautiful.

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Click on the link to hear the poem “To A Mouse” read by Sir William "Billy" Connolly.

December 3, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

There are no lessons in school this week. We just talk. Today we talked about England. England is famous for all its dead Kings and Queens and for all its dead writers. Miss Cashen asked us if anyone knew the name of England’s greatest writer. I said Beatrix Potter. Miss Cashen said no, although Beatrix Potters’ stories would make children happy for ever and ever. And then she went to the blackboard and wrote the name of England’s greatest writer in great big letters and she made us copy it into our notebooks. The name of England’s greatest writer is WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. She said that we are too young now but when we are older we must read every single word that he wrote. And we all promised that we would. Then she told us about England’s most famous Queen, Queen Elizabeth. She was just as smart as a man. She picked out all kinds of bright people to help her rule all over England and they always knew when to make a war and when not to. In those days Spain was a terrible nuisance on the sea. Her sailors were always sailing around stealing other people’s islands and other things. Her very favorite sailor was Sir Walter Raleigh, and he explored for her and went to America and discovered tobacco and potatoes. All of England’s famous people are buried in a big church in London that’s called Westminster Abbey. The very rich ones have statues of themselves right over their graves, and there are still others under the floor, but their names are on top of the places so you can always know who you are walking on. Queen Victoria was also a very smart Queen. She did many smart things besides pour tea into her saucer. She built the Suez Canal. Tomorrow we are going to talk about Ireland and Scotland. They sit right up on top of England.

December 2, 1912

From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

This is the last week of school before the Christmas holidays. We got our report cards this morning and I had an “E” in everything but arithmetic. In arithmetic I had an “F” and an “F” means fair which isn’t terribly good so this time I guess that I will get just an ordinary white certificate. But I really don’t care. It isn’t as if the certificates are pretty pictures that you could frame. I finished my sampler though and it will be framed. Grandmother already took it to a framer and when I get it I will hang it over my bed. It is very pretty and I only made one mistake with the peacock. His tail is not spread out evenly all around but I love him anyhow. I think I love animals better when there is something wrong with them, like Brownie and his yellow ribbon.