HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



Ji Forestry Student's Letters to His Father 



Darmstadt, Germauy, Dee. 23. 



My Dear Father : Well, I sure do miss your 

 letters. What is the matter? I have not 

 heard from you for over ten days now. I 

 think quite a few of our letters do not arrive 

 at all, for I have written you twice a week 

 and you said you do not receive half of them. 



Things' are going fine with me, and last 

 Monday I took my identification exam., on 

 which hinged my degi'ee in forestry. I passed 

 one hundred in it, and stuck Dr. Schenck on 

 one tree, so I' am now assured of my degree, 

 having passed every exam, in the Biltmore 

 Forest School. Will finish my courses about 

 February fifteenth and will stay here until 

 about the twenty-eighth, leaving for Genoa at 

 that time to meet you on the third of March. 

 We will have a great trip together, although I 

 am anxious already to see the good old 

 tr. S. A. 



I have had a great time since we have been 

 over here. The things I have seen and 

 learned cannot be told in a letter, and I 

 am so anxious to talk to you both about it 

 all. Have worked harder in the school than 

 I ever did before. Our entire day is taken 

 up at work, and at night we have to write 

 our diaries and then are too tired for any- 

 thing else. Exercise! we sure do get our fill 

 of it; average ten miles every day in walk- 

 ing, and when it's over mountains and 

 through the woods it seems much longer. I 

 feel fine, too, and am in better health than I 

 ever was. 



The climate here in Darmstadt is awful. 

 The sun has only been out for tvto days since 

 we have been here, and in the morning you 

 cannot see across the street because of the 

 mist. 



I have a great friend in an English for- 

 ester here. He is working under Schlick in 

 Oxford and comes from Cape Town, South 

 Africa, a fine fellow, interested in our prac- 

 tical and financial side of forestry. Have 

 had him at our school and he says Schenck 

 has it all over Schlick. He intends joining 

 the school in three years, after he has com- 

 pleted his course under Schlick. 



English foresters in India get great pay. 

 They draw at the start two thousand per 

 year, advancing as they gain practical expe- 

 rience. At the end of twenty years they are 

 pensioned and retired at a salary of five 

 thousand per year. They are not as well 

 equipped in forestry as we are either, accord- 

 ing to them. Their work, though, is merely 

 government work, and they do not seem to 

 bother with the financial end, which is the 

 most interesting, it seems to me. 



I just purchased a set of Schlick 's books 

 on Forestry, costing twenty-five dollars. They 

 are good ones and will make a great asset to 

 the library at home. Have been reading his 

 sylviculture lately, which helps a lot in the 

 work under Schenck. This trip to Europe has 

 been of much benefit to me in forestry. It 

 makes one who knows and has lived under our 

 lumber conditions realize more than ever what 

 a great thing it is for our country to be 

 blessed with a supply of wood which can be 

 made everlasting without the planting of 

 trees, if we only keep out the fires. Here fires 

 are unknown, and hence the natural regenera- 

 tion amounts to almost as much as the artifi- 

 cial. It also makes one realize the serious 

 waste of timber that is going on at home. 

 That is the most important item in conserva- 

 tion, it seems to me. Why can 't we use 

 veneered furniture just as well as the solid 

 stuff? It costs less and makes a better article, 

 a fact which is proven here. I wish. Dad, 

 you could be here for about a month; it sure 

 would open your eyes. 



Please do not send this letter to the Editor 



THIRD SERIES 



of the Hakdwood Record, as I have already 

 sent him a lot of dope. 



I haven't seen an American girl to talk to 

 since I left the States, and the Dutch girls 

 are awful. 



Will probably run down to Munich with 

 Jerry Sullivan at the end of this month, as 

 my work is about finished here. May take a 

 few short trips to Heidelberg, Weisbaden, 

 etc. Trains run to all those nearby towns 

 every hour, and it costs but fifty cents fare, 

 third class. Will also walk down to the 

 Rhine Valley some Sunday. Last week while 

 working we explored a couple of old castles 

 built in the year 800 A. D. They were in- 

 teresting and were different from those you 

 usually see because they are out of the way 

 of the tourists' route, hence no flim-flam about 

 them. I rambled into the dungeon of one, 

 and it gave me the jimmies. On this trip to 

 the Rhine I intend to look at every one of 

 them. They are always on the top of a moun- 

 tain. 



Next week we go to the Black Forest. Will 

 do some estimating work there, which will be 

 very interesting. 



We all are following the advice written by 

 a Biltmore graduate recently. I tell you, one 

 can 't do better than follow ' ' the man who 

 looks like the Kaiser. ' ' 



Follow, follow, follow the man over the moun- 

 tain trail, 

 Follow him fast and follow him far, 

 Follow his distant hail ; 



Beat through the brush, through briars and sedge, 

 Scale the rocks of the crag^ ledge, 

 Hustle, rush and stick is the rule 

 When you hit the trail with the Forest School. 



Through second growth, through the virgin 



woods, 

 Follow the man with the "forest goods,' 

 Over the ridge and down the slope, 

 Tearing along at a tireless lope. 

 Stumble, grumble, cuss and swear. 

 But stick to the man with scanty hair. 

 From two p. m. till six at night, 

 Scrambling on in rugged flight. 

 Skip and trip on mossy banks. 

 It's woi-k and sweat with little thanks 

 When you hit the trail with Doctor "Shanks." 



Say — stick it out, you're going, kid ; 

 There is no doubt you never did 

 Hit work like this, believe me, boys, 

 Tbo' all ain't bliss it has its joys, 

 So beat it with 'em o'er the sea. 

 And keep your eye on Germany ; 

 The paths you'll And are rough enough 

 To show the bunch you've got the stuff. 

 Hang to the crowd and don't be shook ; 

 Cold feet won't warm in cozy nooks 

 And foreign fuss and far away 

 Don't change the "Foresters. U. S. A." 

 Remember, boys, no one's a fool 

 Who trails with Schenck and his Forest School. 

 Yip! 



Let me know your trip through Europe, so 

 I can leave instructions where the fellows can 

 send my trunk with books and old clothes 

 when they leave here April sixth. That trunk 

 is so heavy it would cost my passage to lug 

 it around. When I go to England I'U visit 

 my Oxford friend. 



Must close now, with love. Write soon, and 

 send me two hundred dollars. 



St. Mortz, Switzerland, Dec. 26. 

 Dear Father: Received your cablegram 

 last night just as 1 finished my Christmas 

 dinner, and 1 wanted to whoop with joy when 

 it came. Am having the time of my life up 

 here among the Alps. We left Darmstadt 

 day before yesterday, missed our connections 

 at Basel, so consequently spent Christmas eve 

 riding third class, having to go through a 

 tunnel three miles and a half long. Fifteen 

 foresters are with me here. Am going down 

 a toboggan tomorrow of four miles ; we also 

 go for a ten-mile sleigh ride to see a big 

 glazier. They have snow here all year round 

 on the mountains; it is now up to your waist. 

 We went out on skees today; it was great 



sport. This is the finest spot in all Europe, 

 it is claimed. The Grand Hotel, where I am 

 stopping, is as fine as any I have ever seen 

 and is jammed with people from all parts of 

 the world; we had a hard time getting in. 

 What do you think, I met a Theta Delta Chi 

 man from Williams College here last evening; 

 it seemed like a real Christmas present from 

 home. Will attend a dance here this evening 

 and will write you later. 1 missed you so 

 much Christmas; without father and mother 

 it is no Christmas at all. We return to 

 Darmstadt Tuesday evening; then begins an- 

 other siege of work until you come. 



Darmstabt, Germany, Dee. 29. 



My Dear Father: I arrived home here yes- 

 terday, Wednesday, after an all day's ride 

 from St. Moritz. It sure was great to find 

 your letters and mother's wating for me. I 

 had the time of my life at St. Moritz. Twelve 

 of us left Saturday morning for there. I did 

 not decide to go until the last minute, but 

 the thought of being alone here in Darmstadt 

 over Christmas was too much, so I decided to 

 go where we could get some good sport as well 

 as see the greatest scenery in the world. You 

 cannot imagine the grandeur of the Alps. 

 They are certainly great! To see one-half of 

 them covered with green foliage and the other 

 half all snow — it sure is wonderful. 



We arrived at St. Moritz Christmas morn- 

 ing and had a hard time getting into a hotel, 

 as all the rooms were taken in all the hotels. 

 We finally managed to get in the Grand, one 

 of the best, after they put two beds in each 

 single room for us. Fun, I do not believe I 

 ever enjoyed anything more than this! That 

 night we had our Christmas dinner in fuU 

 dress (everybody does at St. Moritz), and 

 just after dinner I received your cablegram, 

 which made me feel fine. 



Next morning we were up early and went 

 skeeing on snow three feet deep. It was fun 

 to watch the fellows fall on their necks. I 

 did not do much because of my game knee, 

 but it was great sport. In the afternoon we 

 went skating on the largest and best ice rink 

 I have ever been on. Each hotel there has its 

 own rink, with elevators to take the guests 

 down to them. Here we met some fine 

 English married ladies (introduced ourselves), 

 who took us up to the hotel and introduced us 

 to the "ultra" of the Grand. The next day 

 we went tobogganing in the morning on a 

 run three miles long, and may be it wasn't 

 great sport. In the afternoon we hired a 

 sleigh and hitched five bobs on behind it, and 

 went out to a large glacier. There is an ice 

 cave in this glacier, so we went inside of it. 

 The trip 'out and back (twenty miles) was 

 sure fun, as every once in a while some fel- 

 low would get dumped off his sled and then 

 the gang would beat up the horses to leave 

 him behind. That night we had a dance, but 

 we did not swing to amount to anything, as 

 they are too dignified here to dance much. 



That's the way it went each day until we 

 left, and when we did go we had English, 

 French, Germans and Spanish, also Russian 

 people, begging us to stay longer. 



We sang for them, beat ragtime on the 

 piano, etc., to the words of "Ripping, don't 

 you know, old boy," from the "Bally Eng- 

 lishmen. ' ' 



Got back here last night and was on the job 

 in school this morning. Dr. Schenck had us 

 out today on a deuce of a long and hard field 

 trip. We walked about five miles, and I am 

 pretty tired tonight after the exertion, so will 

 close now and go to bed. 



Please tell mother not to give my letters to 

 the editor of Hardwood Record. I heard 

 from Dr. Schenck that he is publishing them, 

 and they are not what I want published. 



