Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Thomas Sun, New Haven, Conn., September 24, 1930
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Thomas Sun, New Haven, Conn., September 24, 1930
Subject
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Thomas Sun, New Haven, Conn., September 24, 1930
Transcription
Dear Tom:
I am immensely interested in the contents of your letter of recent date.
Of course, after the experience at Middlebury, you are bound to find a new and especially larger institution, as you would surely find a now and larger place, wholly different and in many spots, terribly disappointing. You have a complete readjustment to make, and that takes time and patience if it is to be made right in the end. I know you will find it hard sledding for a while, but I am equally confident that in a big university like Yale where there are scores, indeed hundreds, of good level-headed, red-blooded Americans, you will in time make contacts and find now and delightful friends. So don’t get discouraged, but keep your head up and tackle the main job that is yours just now.
Of course, after the friendly contacts and complete understanding at Middlebury, it must hurt to have ignorant street urchins and thugs make uncomplimentary remarks to yon on the street. That, however, is something that all of us encounter the world over, and will so long as human nature in every race and every land develops its different types of humanity. I can well recall some of the comments, which I of course couldn’t understand exactly, but the significance of which was all too apparent, that were passed to me the first few times I strolled about the city of Peking. As long as human nature is in a measure perverse, as it surely is, and until the time when we come to realize that skin or color or race make the real man no hotter or no worse than he actually is in character and soul, so long must we face these disagreeable factors in life.
Anyway, I am sure you are going to win out. Go to it as you would tackle a job on the football field with the determination that you don’t propose to be licked and that you will prove before the game is over that you are just as good as if not a bit better than the other follow.
Ever sincerely yours,
AES/C
I am immensely interested in the contents of your letter of recent date.
Of course, after the experience at Middlebury, you are bound to find a new and especially larger institution, as you would surely find a now and larger place, wholly different and in many spots, terribly disappointing. You have a complete readjustment to make, and that takes time and patience if it is to be made right in the end. I know you will find it hard sledding for a while, but I am equally confident that in a big university like Yale where there are scores, indeed hundreds, of good level-headed, red-blooded Americans, you will in time make contacts and find now and delightful friends. So don’t get discouraged, but keep your head up and tackle the main job that is yours just now.
Of course, after the friendly contacts and complete understanding at Middlebury, it must hurt to have ignorant street urchins and thugs make uncomplimentary remarks to yon on the street. That, however, is something that all of us encounter the world over, and will so long as human nature in every race and every land develops its different types of humanity. I can well recall some of the comments, which I of course couldn’t understand exactly, but the significance of which was all too apparent, that were passed to me the first few times I strolled about the city of Peking. As long as human nature is in a measure perverse, as it surely is, and until the time when we come to realize that skin or color or race make the real man no hotter or no worse than he actually is in character and soul, so long must we face these disagreeable factors in life.
Anyway, I am sure you are going to win out. Go to it as you would tackle a job on the football field with the determination that you don’t propose to be licked and that you will prove before the game is over that you are just as good as if not a bit better than the other follow.
Ever sincerely yours,
AES/C
Creator
Alfred E. Stearns
Publisher
Phillips Academy
Date
September 24, 1930
Rights
All Rights Reserved by Phillips Academy
Language
English
Type
Correspondence