1919 4 27 Olive Rose to Florence Rose

I will change some spelling and some grammar as I transcribe.  The location is Pine Hill, Ulster County, New York.

My grandmother, 'Olive' Letha Rose Schnack wrote this letter, when she was 10-years old, to her sister 'Florence' Alice Rose Lawler.  'Beatrice' May Rose Camp is their sister and  'Papa' is their father, Elbert Rose.  'Aunt Lin' is Elbert's sister, Malinda Rose Townsend.

I have included a photograph of the school my grandmother attended in Pine Hill and transcribed the words she had written on the reverse side about 1925-1926.  I believe she intended the words for her fiance'/husband, my grandfather, Walter Schnack.  'Dot' was his nickname for her.

Pine Hill, N.Y.
Apr. 27, 1919

Dear Florence,

We got to school all right that morning.  Elsie Smith went with us. We have to get a new English book.  We would have had to get a geography book but John Lasher had one.  We traded our Barnes with him.  We got a spelling book and arithmetic, second hand.

I don't like the school one bit.  Mr. DeSilva is lazy.  He doesn't explain anything.  We are way behind.  We won't pass sixth grade this June.  The exams are 13,14.  There are only fifteen (15) pupils upstairs.  I guess there isn't twenty five (25) in the whole school.  It is dirty.  Last year's calendar is hanging

up.

Friday, I almost froze it was so cold.  Friday afternoon, as we were eating dinner, I got up to get a drink of water and I heard a noise.  I asked Papa what it was and he said it was some kid rolling a cartwheel over the sidewalk.  It kept up till

it was time for us to go to school.

Then Papa put on his coat and came.  He saw a number of people going down toward the lake.  He went down but Beatrice and I were going on to school when we met some girls we knew and we went down, too.  When we got to

the lake, we saw smoke coming from a house.  After we went further, we saw blazes coming from the top of a house.  Do you know where "The Wayside Rest Poultry Farm" is?  Well, that was the house that was afire.  It is in from the road this side of the "New Mountain

Inn".  Papa was down, he helped fight the fire.  Two boys went in to the side where there wasn't any fire and broke out 2 window lights.  The men didn't succeed in putting the fire out until it was almost burned down.  An old lady lived there all alone.

Friday morning it was so cold our water froze up.

Papa & Beatrice walked over to Aunt Lin's today.

Beatrice says she will write next time.

Write Soon
Your Sister
Olive

Written on the reverse side:

This is where I went to school a long time ago.  It is also the place where we often camp & where I hope you & I may go sometime.  Dot.

Below that, most likely at a later date, she wrote Pine Hill.