Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 05: Administration – Board of Trustees
Elizabeth Hench

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ELIZABETH HENCH Joy Stock Company Limited Letters 1932

CONTENTS

January 1932 [hench_0012.jpg]

Joy Stock Co., Ltd ; gifts received ; contentment theme ; Scotch author ; optimists ; pessimists ; Board of Trustees meeting ; Joyce ; Rejoice ; Ayrshires ; Delight ; Joy ; feed ; Elizabeth Hench ; Carlisle, PA ;

October 1932 [hench_0013.jpg]

Carlisle, PA ; autumn cow letter ; weatherwise cows ; bulls ; rain ; quatrain ; the Worry Cow ; Joy Stock Co., Ltd ; Rejoice ; The Tune the Old Cow Died On ; raising money ; Amelia Earhart Putnam’s landing in Ireland ;

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GALLERY

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TRANSCRIPTION

January 1932 [hench_0012.jpg]

January, 1932

Dear Partner in our kine undertakings:

During the year 1931 people became acquainted with a new phrase — new low level. But this was not true of the Joy Stock Company, Limited. We received $200, better by several dollars than our early holdings.

Since we are in the cow business, we must look to cows for our theme. It is quiet contentment. In the past, our ancestors, always cow owners, evolved two proverbs: (1) Contented is the heart that thinks like a cow. (2) It is a bawling cow that misses its calf the least.

In a recent novel by a popular Scotch author there is this significant passage:

“No, I am not a pessimist. But I haven’t been through bad enough times to justify me in being an optimist. . . To declare oneself an optimist, without having been down into the pit and out on the other side, looks rather like bragging.”

So it becomes us to be quiet, even if we cannot be contented.

I saw our cows in October when I went to the Pine Mountain Settlement School for the biennial meeting of the Board of Trustees. You will be sorry to learn that we have heard the last bellow of Joyce. I gave a check to cover her board through December 31, 1931. After that we shall forget her and feed our new cow, REJOICE, whom we bough October 26th for $150, plus hauling $25 = $175. She is a fine big Ayrshire and I am certain you would love her too. It is now up to you and to me to see that she has daily food. As all four of her stomachs are larger than those of Joy, Delight, and Joyce, she will therefore require more food and hay.

Your friend who usually has a cow in tow,
[signed] Elizabeth Hench

Please-notice new address:
106 South West Street
Carlisle, Pennsylvania

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October 1932 [hench_0013.jpg]

24 East Pomfret Street
Carlisle, Pennsylvania

October, 1932

Dear Stock-Holder:

Ordinarily I am as restless as a short-tailed bull in fly-time until I get the autumn cow letter off. But during the summer just past, to those of us in this section of the world, autumn, with its many days or rain, brought no terrors. As we oozed and mopped, we looked in vain to cows for relief. For, do you know, cows are weatherwise? Here are some of the signs:

1 — If a bull goes first to pasture, it will rain.
2 — If cattle lie down at once when they reach pasture, they want a dry bed before rain starts.
3 — If a cow licks a brick wall, rain will fall.
4 — If a cow lies down on her right side, rain will come soon.

But cows went placidly and contentedly on their way. What matter to them if springs went dry and creeks fell? The cow with the iron tail would supply them!

Contentment is so often spoken of as a characteristic of cows, that a quatrain I found does not ring true:

“The Worry Cow would have lived till now
If she had only saved her breath,
But she feared the hay wouldn’t last all day,
So she choked herself to death.”

Nevertheless, if the Joy Stock Company, Limited, and REJOICE, our cow, don’t have checks, we’ll be ready to sing The Tune The Old Cow Died On —

“There was an old man, and he had an old cow,
And he had no fodder to give her,
So he took up his fiddle and played her this tune:
‘Consider, good cow, consider,
This isn’t the time for grass to grow,
Consider, good cow, consider.'”

Those of us who have ridden along the main highways have been enjoined by huge posters to roll our own, but how can REJOICE roll her cud without food?

If there be (notice the conditional tense) any of us whose incomes have not been slashed, and if there are any of us who can squeeze out a little money, let us send our checks soon.

From one who tries to keep the Milky Way
always visible at Pine Mountain,
[Signed] Elizabeth Hench

P.S. Did you realize that Amelia Earhart Putnam’s landing in Ireland was witnessed only by a herd of frightened cows?

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Back to ELIZABETH HENCH  Guide Joy Stock Limited Letters 1927-33 .