Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.
Issue link: https://wellesleywestonmagazine.epubxp.com/i/256387
her evocative vocabulary that renders sodas "tonics," pills "tablets," the flu "the grippe," cars "roadsters," and stereos "Victrolas." Even MIT was then "Boston Tech." In the days of two-cent postage and twice-a-day mail delivery, Mary Jane's letters were a vital connection between an only child and her widowed mother. Today, their rich period detail is a conduit to under- standing the everyday practices, beliefs, and events that ultimately shape an era. It was a time, for example, when young people were satisfied with simple entertainments: In the evening we…read Sherlock Holmes aloud and talked till 9:30 and then dashed down and had milkshakes. < 12 / 15 / 30 > A weekend date was cause for unbridled excitement, even though the couples usually remained on campus at chaperoned events: Well yesterday afternoon we sat around and worked ourselves into an enjoyable state of excitement and anticipation. Alice and I took our baths at 2:30 and were about the only ones in the house who got hot ones…We put on our glad rags, arranged our coiffures, pow- dered our noses and very promptly at 7:55 the boys arrived. Abe had their Marmon Cabriolet – a coupe with a rumble seat. The freshmen, sophs, and juniors each presented a one-act play…It was about 11 till we started dancing. Goodness! The floor was packed! Everything stopped promptly at 12. It was funny – the "goodbye" scene on Webb [an early dormitory] front porch. It was very well filled with couples. It was 1:45 till we finally got to bed as we had to talk it all over. < 3 / 16 / 31 > Traditions were embraced enthusiastically: We had a nice George Washington dinner where we wore formals – preferably red, white or blue, and now I feel in a very festive mood. < 2 / 24 / 32 > 70 Letters from Wellesley W e l l e s l e y W e s t o n M a g a z i n e | s p r i n g 2 0 1 4 above: Cigarette card of a 1930 Marmon Cabriolet; below: A sampling of Mary Jane's 187 letters home D I A N E S P E A R E T R I A N T 068-076_WWMa14_Letters from Wellesley_v4_WellesleyWeston Magazine 2/1/14 4:04 PM Page 70