
[Headlines from The New York Times (page 1, above the fold) to place the letters in context of the world around them.]
SLAIN NEGRO PEONS DUG THEIR GRAVES AS KILLER WATCHED
Others, Shackled Together and Weighted Down, Probably Alive When Thrown Into River. BODIES OF TWO MORE FOUND Self-Confessed Negro Murderer Tells How He Waited While Victims Used Spades. JURY FINDS HIM GUILTY Coroner's Verdict Accuses Manning, His Employer, Williams, and Another Negro, Killed at Last.

Monday p.m.
At school
Dear Mother and Family-
I’ll start any how and see how far I can get before the bell rings. We got back last night about 9 o’clock. I sure did have a wonderful time,-never did so much in such a short time in my life. Miss Eulestine is a speed queen anyway when it comes to getting things done. To proceed to the details-Mr. Wolf took my last period class so we got away an hour earlier than we expected. Arrived at her house at about 10 that night. Weds. Her oldest brother+ 2 youngest sisters were there. The rest of the family were out but came in about 10:30 and we all sat up till about 12:30 waiting for Mr. Eulestine to come home from a party as it was his birthday. The darlingest little person was also visiting the family (a friend of her oldest sister particularly.) She’s been married 10 yrs. and is so young and cute and adorable that she’s still being taken for a bride. The next a.m. I arose about 9 o’clock had breakfast and talked for a while and left the house about 10:30 for downtown to buy our suits. How’s this for speed.-We (her sister Hanna, cute Mrs. Moore, Miss Eulestine and I) left their house at 10:30, rain pouring down and at 1:30 we had both bought suits. I had bought a blouse, we’d had luncheon at Schraffts and were in the Capitol Movie Theatre. It’s beautiful and they had a very good program. The large movie places now are including so many nice numbers outside the main picture-beautiful dances, soloist (a very fine singer in choir robes sang the palms with a mixed quartet abligato, dramatic readings, etc.) The marvelous lighting and coloring schemes that have been worked out in the theater in the last few years is simply magnificent. After that we went had tea at a cute place, with cute pieces and Hanna and Mrs. Moore went home and we stayed down for the theatre. A very beautiful play- Doris Keane in “Romance”.
The next a.m. we went down and got off the subway at Brooklyn Bridge and walked across. Saw the Statue of Liberty and the harbor and bridges etc. They have an awful joke on me,-say something about my looking at them in horror and asking if I’d got to climb all those wires when they mentioned going across the bridge. Then we went to see the Woolworth building and up into the tower to look over the city. It’s a regular cathedral inside-it’s so beautiful. We did some very hurried shopping and at 2:30, met Hanna and Mrs. Moore and went up into Greenwich Village and had tea and walked all around the streets of the village. It's up by Washington Square, and I guess you know what it is, don't you? Where all the freak artists and temperamental artists live and go around with bobbed hair, socks and sandals or no shoes, and live to all extremes and according to the most freakish ideas. We went to a place called “Gracie’s” Garret.” Go in an

awful looking old door, up a rickety dirty dark back stairway, to “The Garret.” You eat on old rough black, burnt, cut up tables and benches–the bottoms are out of the chairs the plaster is coming down, there's crazy mottos and drawings on the wall, an old dinner pail punched full of holes over the light, old guitars and mandolins hanging around. You drink out of cracked cups and they don't match the saucers. And you pay $0.50 for your tea and cake ($.49 of that being for atmosphere). We took a 5th Ave. bus back down and met two of her friends and went to dinner at Schrafft’s then met her brother and went to the theater. Saw the musical comedy, “Mary” with Love nest in it and it was very cute. Came home and played the piano awhile and went to bed. Sat. when I got up Miss Eulestine had her mother finishing up a voile dress–we didn’t get downtown ‘till 11:30 and had tickets for the matinees but listen to what we did before that time.. Bought sash stuff-dashed to Penn Station and got some flowers for Miss Eulestine, took 5th Ave. bus up town to Riverside Drive so I could see the city and some of the million $ homes, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, etc. and got out at Grant’s tomb, went in and then walked around to see some of the Columbia buildings, and had lunch at a little tea room across from campus and took the subway back down and met Hanna and Mrs. Moore for the matinee. We saw Madge Kennedy (herself) in “Cornered”. We got home and dressed and had a sort of informal dinner party.
The Moores were invited over and he was so nice. He’s a very successful engineer, puts up oil wells and they had just got back to N.Y. after a year’s work in Texas and south and California and all around. By the way I hadn’t met Mr. Eulestine until this point. We finally didn’t wait for him for dinner the first night. Since we got up for breakfast with the family, had to fix our suit hems so we could wear them and had dinner about 12 o’clock. The same two girls whom we went to dinner with Fri. night and also a third girl were invited to dinner and then we left the house about quarter of four Sun. p.m. and now I’m back here.
I was just thrilled over N.Y.–sticking around in these little towns we get all out of touch with the marvelous things people are doing in places like N.Y., building Brooklyn Bridges, and Woolworth buildings and working out traffic systems and wonderful color schemes, and costumes and subway tunnels and all the rest of it. The mind back of it all was what thrilled me. Well you see I had a spiffy time.
They live in a very nice place, the widest street in the U.S. All have wide lawns and two rows of trees, then a bridal path and more trees and then a very wide place for autos and a place for bicycles and a place for trucks and the other side of the street. Both her mother and father have always lived in this country but they are a German family. It’s a regular European family and they’re so different from any place I’d ever visited before. Never saw so much stuff to drink in my whole life.
Never saw a house before where so much is being done all at the same time and no body paying attention to it. I thot I was enough to have wished on them but I saw Hanna cutting out a dress for Eleanor, and they were entertaining Mrs. Moore besides me and Miss Eulestine sister and niece around the corner were having the black ouplitherin and the oldest brother is getting ready to be married and the one I was visiting was having two dresses finished up and brother Bertie had sprained his knee in track and brother Harry was being packed up to be sent to California for two years to-day to learn some branch of the fur business. All the parties were sort of a farewell for him.
It’s time to go to dinner so must say goodbye. I got your card and that a lot about you all even as busy as I was. Expect June will come soon now. How long does Betty have?
Lots of love,
Marion

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