DARWIN D. MARTIN 1927 Correspondence Part 2

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Board of Trustees
Series 05: GOVERNANCE Board of Trustees
Darwin D. Martin 1927 Correspondence 2
Published 2021-07-12 hw & aae

DARWIN D. MARTIN 1927 Correspondence 2, August – December

TAGS: Darwin D. Martin 1927, correspondence 2, Larkin Company, Ford dump-truck, Reservoir, Delco generator, moonlight schools, upright pianos, beechnuts, stoves, fire extinguishers, coal mine, Elizabeth Hench, Fair of the Iron Horse, American Laundry Machinery Company, Luigi Zande, forest fires, Martha Berry Schools

CONTENTS: DARWIN D. MARTIN 1927 Correspondence 2 (Images 052-102)

[Note: Letters from PMSS staff in the PMSS Collections are carbon copies, typewritten, unsigned, and meant for the Office files.The original signed copies were sent to the correspondents. The initials at the bottom left of most PMSS letters indicate the writer (along with initials of the secretary). For example, “EZ” are the initials for Ethel de Long Zande, “KP” refers to Katherine Pettit, and “LZ” to Luigi Zande. Letters from Darwin D. Martin are typewritten on a letterhead with his address at “Marine Trust Building, Buffalo, NY.” The following list of contents is in chronological order and not necessarily in the order of the image numbers.]

DARWIN D. MARTIN 1927 Correspondence 2: August (continued) – September

052 August 9. EZ (Zande) to Martin, enclosing a copy of a telegram to Martin, asking about extra army cots and new mattresses, “much needed articles…[W]e just cannot begin school without them!” Zande also encloses letters between her and Mr. [C.N.] Manning.

053 August 9. Ethel Zande to Martin. Copy of a telegram asking for the canvas cots and six mattresses.

054 August 10. Martin to Mrs. Zande, describing the items to be sent to her: twelve cots from Chicago; 12 Barcalo mattresses from Buffalo, along with additional books for Miss Wood and “two clean-outs” for Mr. [Luigi] Zande.

055 August 11. Martin to Mrs. Zande, assuring her that she made the right decision to write to C.N. Manning, “as is abundantly proven by Mr. Mannings’ cordial receptivity and reply.” Advises on which of Mansell’s recommendations to institute now and later; advises selecting qualified members for the finance committee, suggesting Mr. Samuels; that the treasurer submits lists of investments to the executive committee on a timely basis. Encloses a “receipted bill of W.H. Lowdermilk & Co. for eight books….” Updates Zande on shipment of cots and mattresses. To make amends for the delayed delivery, Martin will pay for both.

057 August 16. EZ (Zande) to Martin, sending a copy of Mr. Mansell’s letter. She responded to Mansell that she “liked the idea of letting the Security Trust Company look after our investments.”

058 August 16. LZ (Luigi Zande) to Martin. Luigi does not think it is a good time to have the Ford truck and gives the reasons why. Tells him that the Delco is sufficient for the School’s needs and there is no need for the “hoop wheel.” Comments on Mrs. Zande’s health.

059 August 17. Martin to Mrs. Zande, suggesting she read about Caney Creek and “reference to a moonlight school that taught Preacher Whipple” in the Literary Digest for August 15.

056 August 25. (Unsigned, likely Zande) to Martin. Appreciates the cots, his paying for them, his suggestions on the treasurership, and the books from Lowdermilk. Tells about Mr. Clifford Pope, “one of the curators of the Herpetology department of the New York Museum of Natural History” who is visiting PMSS to collect a rare salamander.

060 August 25. Martin to Mrs. Zande. He will be sending books for Pole House; suggests Gillette Burgess’ The Understanding Heart; asked for the number of students this year; offers to get foam fire extinguishers from American La France Engine Co. in Elmira, NY.

061 September 1. Martin to Mrs. Zande, enclosing Otto Ulbrich’s bill for 25 books.

062 September 6. Martin to Mrs. Zande, asking her to add a Larkin order (which he will pay for) to the Larco Flyer order for a cheaper freight shipment; mentions her Help (cleaning powder) order, Miss (Evelyn K.) Wells, and Miss (Abby) Christensen.

063 September 7. EZ (Zande) to Martin, responding to various subjects from Martin’s previous letters: books, Literary Digest article, “mountain books for the Pole House,” cots, number of PMSS students (98 plus 11 future arrivals; 42 boys).

064 September 9. Carbon copy of telegram from Ethel Zande to D.D. Martin: “…please ship wagon express Putney at once.”

066 September 10. An acknowledgment “that a bill of lading has been issued” from C & O Louisville & Nashville (Railroad) Company at Chicago, Ill, on 9/10/27 from Martin & Martin to Pine Mountain Settlement School, Inc. Articles include polishes, enamels, bluing, ammonia, and cleaning powder, totaling 100 lbs.
067 Reverse side of bill of lading: “Contract Terms and Conditions”

065 September 19. Martin to Mrs. Zande, explaining reason for delay in shipping “to Berto of the express wagon.” Encloses September 10th receipt for 100-lb shipment; offers to pay the invoice and freight charges.

068 September 22. EZ (Zande) to Martin, asking him to return the copy of the telegram, in order to pursue their troubles with the telegraph company. Use only Putney as the shipping point.

069 DUPLICATE OF 068

070 September 20. (Truncated, likely Zande) to Martin with an excerpts from Miss (Elizabeth) Hench’s (trustee) letter about appointing advisory board members; objects to using the word “Resident” in “Executive Committee” in PMSS letterhead.

DARWIN D. MARTIN 1927 Correspondence 2: October

071 October 3. EZ (Zande) to Martin. Appreciates gift of Help powder; orders six Foamite Childs extinguishers; mentions having “a hundred children resident in the school today.”
072 Specification sheet for “Childs” Fire Extinguisher, 5-gallon, non-freezing, hand-pump from Foamite-Childs Corporation, Utica, NY.
073 Specification sheet for “Childs” Fire Extinguisher (continued): Description and Operation.

[077] October 11. EZ (Zande) to Martin, asking if he will continue sponsoring “little Bodie Anderson” this year at $2.50 a month. “She continues to be a very promising little girl, and comes along in school well, as well as being the prop of her grandparents and ailing aunt!” Hattie Howard just paid her whole year’s tuition; is interested in weaving.

074-075 October 12, 1927. Two-page letter from Martin to Mrs. Zande. While attending the Fair of the Iron Horse, B.&O. Centenary in Baltimore, Martin talked with Dr. Burnham at the Johns Hopkins Dispensary about Zande’s health. “He made me happy with his assurances that beyond the wisdom of precautionary visits to Louisville…, he really anticipated no need of your further treatments at the Dispensary.”

Martin is happy to supply PMSS with “Help” and compares the hardness of the water in Buffalo, his new country home on Lake Erie, and in Kentucky. He ponders how useful a Permutit water softener or collection of rainwater would benefit PMSS; suggests that an alternative to Foamite Childs fire extinguisher could be La France Fire Engine Co., Elmira, NY. Dr. Severance frequently asks if Mrs. Parke is at PMSS.

Encloses “two copies of a letter from Joseph S. Duncan and one for Mr. C.N. Manning with a word from you urging the importance of his visiting Mr. Duncan in Chicago.”
076 October 4. Copy of a letter from Joseph S. Duncan, Chicago, IL, to Martin. Explains that he cannot visit PMSS until roads are improved; asks that Mr. Manning visit him in Chicago to talk about PMSS’s future; declines to be added to the Advisory Committee, but may do so after he learns more about the School.

078 October 17. EZ (Zande) to Martin. Responds to his suggestions for softening PMSS water; mentions Mr. [Kendall T.] Bassett; a representative from the American Laundry Machinery Company will be visiting. Mr. Duncan, “a solid friend of the school,” has interviewed with Miss Wells, Mrs. [Celia Cathcart] Holton, Mr. Martin, and Mrs. Zande and now he needs to visit the School.

In answer to Martin’s question from Dr. Severance: Mrs. Parke is “a bright and shining light here…a rare teacher and a lovely woman. You have no idea how she has waked up the children to the world they live in!”

079 October 20. Martin to Mrs. Zande. Martin will ask W. E. Martin why he erroneously sent the Help order to Laden. Fox films have begun to show pictures of the Fair of the Iron Horse. Suggests building a rainwater shed to collect soft water for the laundry.

081 October 29. Martin to Mrs. Zande, enclosing a $200 check toward the house for Mrs. [Martha] Burns and asked what equipment he can send; expects to help finance other installations. Asks how Mr. Zande is increasing “hauling capacity,” such as mules. A guide book had erroneously listed Laden as the shipping destination for PMSS; he will correct that to Putney. He thanks Zande for the “news for Board Members” and hope it will become a long series. Suggests using testimonials of patrons in the School’s “Notes” to advertise the School.

080 October 31. (Truncated, likely Zande) to Martin, explaining the “laundry situation”: The American Laundry Machinery representative visited and will take details back to their engineer at the home office. The engineer will decide whether PMSS should build a small laundry building or use the washing room for the machine.; and whether a gasoline or steam engine should be used. She feels that it’s “much more feasible to soften the laundry water than to catch (and filter) rainwater.” Mentions Luigi Zande’s effort to solve “our light problem”: to set up a second Delco unit “and divide the strain.” The Pole House books arrived; everyone, including students, is fighting forest fires.

DARWIN D. MARTIN 1927 Correspondence 2: November

082 November 2. (Unsigned, likely Zande), thanking him for the $200 gift and tells of other needed items; Luigi Zande, Mr. [William] Browning, Mr. Bassett, and students are fighting forest fires; will send the cost of installing a future Boys House toilet.

083-084 November 5. Martin to Mrs. Zande, sending an excerpt from an article in May issue of The Palimpsest (organ of the State Historical Society of Iowa) by Mrs. Laurence C. Jones, wife of the founder and principal of Piney Woods Country Life School, Piney Woods, MS, about “negroes in Kentucky….” after leaving Mississippi to go north. Offers information about “subscription agency rates” for the fifteen periodicals to which Zande subscribes. Describes his firefighting experiences.

085 November 9. EZ (Zande) to Martin, telling him that all her magazine subscriptions are gifts from friends. Mentions the end of the fires, the reservoir, a tri-school meet at Red Bird, tonsillectomies, elections.

086 November 17. Martin to Mrs. Zande, enclosing “a letter from Miss Hench from Mt. Berry, Ga., where she is teaching this term only…at the Martha Berry Schools.” He suggests, when extending PMSS’s electric power, she should consider converting “electric energy into refrigeration” instead of using ice.

090 November 18. LZ (Luigi Zande) to Martin, describing the need for a half-ton truck for hauling coal to the houses.

087-088 November 21. EZ (Zande) to Martin, presenting to him the reasons she feels a cottage for Mrs. Burns would be “unwise,” thinking instead of a small temporary cabin.

091 November 22. LZ (Luigi Zande) to Martin, further describing the type of truck that is needed for the School. “I believe the Ford is more suitable for this country, where the road serves as a creek-bed and the creek-bed is part of the road!”

089 November 25. Martin to Mrs. Zande. Comments on Zande’s letter about Mrs. Burns; mentions L.M.U.; has Mr. Zande’s letter regarding the Ford truck.

092 November 29. (Unsigned, likely Mrs. Zande). Describes truancy as “a real problem for us” and gives reasons it occurs. Prizes are offered at Big and Little Laurel for regular attendance. About Mrs. Burns, both Miss Pettit and Zande “have much affection for her” and Luigi plans “the loveliest little log place’” for her. Describes Thanksgiving at PMSS, including a speech by Willie Lewis from seventh grade.

094 November (missing day). KP (Katherine Pettit), reporting that the beech-nuts he had requested were ruined by an early frost; PMSS is still fighting forest fire.

DARWIN D. MARTIN 1927 Correspondence 2: December

093 December 8. EZ (Zande) to Martin, sending a picture of the type of heating stove for Mrs. Burns’ cabin. The last of Mrs. Martin’s money she sent for milk went to a boy whose needs she then describes. The staff is worried about presents for the children who stay over Christmas, since two donors have dropped out. She encloses an order for things from Larkin Co., which Zande will pay for personally.

096 December 8. Unsigned copy to PMSS of a letter to R. E. Samuels, First State Bank, Pineville, KY, asking the price and delivery schedule for a Ford dump-truck for Pine Mountain Settlement School.

095 December 9. Martin to Mrs. Zande, who is sending PMSS an upright piano in a golden oak case.

098 December 12. Unsigned (apparently Martin) copy to PMSS of a letter to Ford Motor Co., Detroit, MI. As president of the PMSS Board of Trustees, he describes difficulty in finding the type of truck the School needs. “The school is located where there are practically no roads and hauling is difficult. The school has its own coal mine and desires the truck principally for hauling coal….” Martin asks for help in finding a proper truck.

097 December 13. Unsigned (likely Zande) to Martin. Zande is “jubilant over the piano!” Extra copies of all literature will go to Martin; no news from Mr. E.W. Childs; about the Literary Digest subscription. “We are introducing visible angels into the Nativity Play this year and you would be amused at the unangelic traits that have come out in those not chosen!” Zande provides an anecdote as an example.

099 December 16. Martin to Mrs. Zande. “This letter goes by the first mail airplane operated from Buffalo to Cleveland. The envelope with its decorations, Lindbergh air mail stamp, and (if we can get it) Buffalo postmaster’s autograph, is a souvenir worth preserving in your office. I hope it will be saved….”

100 December 16. Martin to Mrs. Zande, sending excerpts from a Ford Motor Company letter of December 15, that a half-ton Ford dump truck can not be found, but suggests the new 1 1/2 ton truck instead. Martin tells of an ad in the December 10th Literary Digest for a Fordson dump-wagon that could be “as a Delco battery-charger by night.” Asks for a copy of her letter to E.W. Childs and that he should be kept on the “Notes” mailing list.

101 December 21. Martin to Mrs. Zande. Martin suggests that the School write to the Children’s Village in Dobbs Ferry, NY, and ask them how they support a “boy citizen” on $175 when it costs around three times as much at PMSS. Asks about John Wesley Hill, Chancellor L.M.U. Gives details about recent shipments of piano and items for Mrs. Burns’ cabin.

102 December 30. EZ (Zande) to Martin. She tells about her children, Berto and Elena, “in bed with croupy colds,” and her office help who broke her ankle. She reports that Luigi Zande feels that “we shouldn’t consider the Fordson-Delco arrangement” because the school will be changing to a different system in the future that will be adequate for the whole School. Therefore, Luigi will not be setting up a second Delco unit, as he was originally considering.

Mrs. Zande wonders whether the truck is a gift from Martin; if not, she believes she can “get it paid for, if we asked the right people.” Mentions the piano’s arrival and encloses a copy of Mr. Childs’ letter.

Next:
DARWIN D. MARTIN 1928 Correspondence

See Also:
DARWIN D. MARTIN Board – Biography

Return To:
DARWIN D. MARTIN Correspondence Guide
DARWIN D. MARTIN 1927 Correspondence 1 – Part 1: January 3 – August 2