Letter from Dr. Alfred E. Stearns to Mrs. Henry H. Hollister (Mabel Dodge)
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Dr. Alfred E. Stearns to Mrs. Henry H. Hollister (Mabel Dodge)
Subject
Letter from Dr. Alfred E. Stearns to Mrs. Henry H. Hollister (Mabel Dodge)
Description
Typed letter from Dr. Alfred E. Stearns to Mabel Dodge Hollister about Helen Tsai's summer camp placement. Explains Helen is currently at a school where all the students are younger than her and it was the correct choice in regards to her English education. Feels that Helen should be placed with girls her own age for her continued development. Prefers to have Helen at Hollister's camp since it's close to her brother's camp, but will place Helen in the best place for her. Asks Hollister about the ages of girls in her camp.
Transcription
Mrs.Henry H.Hollister
195 Heights Road
Ridgewood, N.J.
My dear Mrs. Hollister:
Thank you for your very prompt and helpful reply to my recent letter of inquiry. The circular also has arrived, and I have read that with interest.
Frankly, I don’t quite know what to say about my Chinese ward and her fitness for your camp. At the present time she is in a small home school in Merrimac, Mass. where nearly all the girls are much younger than herself and where I placed her primarily for the home influence and contacts and because of the opportunity there supplied of the personal guidance in her work in English, especially, that she needed as a newcomer to this country. I had felt that the time had come when she ought to be thrown with girls of her own age. and that is the only thing that makes me hesitate about placing her with you.
Helen Tsai, the girl in question, is certainly young in heart. Mrs.Russell tells me that her influence over the younger girls at Wittier school has been about as fine as that ever exerted by a girl in her school. She really is a very unusual girl and utterly different from the other Chinese ward of her sex who is under my charge at present. Indeed I have met few American girls her equal, and Mrs. Russell in her enthusiasm rates her close to, if not at. the top of the many girls who have been under her charge over a period of many years. I am sure you would enjoy her. and I should enjoy having her with you. especially as her brother is planning to be at Mr. Sanborn’s camp across the lake and I should like to have them in the same general vicinity. Such an arrangement would smooth things out for both of them and for me. but I am not willing, of course, to sacrifice Helen’s best interest for any personal convenience that may redound to me.
Can you tell me. I wonder, what the actual ages of the girls who are to be with you this coming summer are? This might help, for, if they are going to average only a year or two younger than my Chinese friend, I am not sure that she would feel out of place. On the other hand, I am anxious, of course, to do what is really best for her and to meet, so far as I can, her actual needs at this period of her American life.
Very sincerely yours.
195 Heights Road
Ridgewood, N.J.
My dear Mrs. Hollister:
Thank you for your very prompt and helpful reply to my recent letter of inquiry. The circular also has arrived, and I have read that with interest.
Frankly, I don’t quite know what to say about my Chinese ward and her fitness for your camp. At the present time she is in a small home school in Merrimac, Mass. where nearly all the girls are much younger than herself and where I placed her primarily for the home influence and contacts and because of the opportunity there supplied of the personal guidance in her work in English, especially, that she needed as a newcomer to this country. I had felt that the time had come when she ought to be thrown with girls of her own age. and that is the only thing that makes me hesitate about placing her with you.
Helen Tsai, the girl in question, is certainly young in heart. Mrs.Russell tells me that her influence over the younger girls at Wittier school has been about as fine as that ever exerted by a girl in her school. She really is a very unusual girl and utterly different from the other Chinese ward of her sex who is under my charge at present. Indeed I have met few American girls her equal, and Mrs. Russell in her enthusiasm rates her close to, if not at. the top of the many girls who have been under her charge over a period of many years. I am sure you would enjoy her. and I should enjoy having her with you. especially as her brother is planning to be at Mr. Sanborn’s camp across the lake and I should like to have them in the same general vicinity. Such an arrangement would smooth things out for both of them and for me. but I am not willing, of course, to sacrifice Helen’s best interest for any personal convenience that may redound to me.
Can you tell me. I wonder, what the actual ages of the girls who are to be with you this coming summer are? This might help, for, if they are going to average only a year or two younger than my Chinese friend, I am not sure that she would feel out of place. On the other hand, I am anxious, of course, to do what is really best for her and to meet, so far as I can, her actual needs at this period of her American life.
Very sincerely yours.
Creator
Dr. Alfred E. Stearns
Publisher
Phillips Academy
Date
May 31, 1927
Rights
All Rights Reserved By Phillips Academy
Language
English
Type
Manuscripts. Correspondence.