Cedar City
May
9, 1949
Dear Tom,
I should
say "Honorable Representative" but we always did forget formality,
didn't we? I am thoroughly ashamed of
myself that I have been so slow getting the little information together that I
finally have collected. Lyle Olsen's
address is : Mrs. William D. Sullivan,
Hurricane, Utah; and her sister, Mame, is Mrs. Alex Colbath, Leeds (live at
Silver Reef). Their younger sister, Mrs.
Herbert Haight, just told me all she could remember. She said when she went to play with Bess's
younger sister she would very often see Bess sitting in the top of an apple or
apricot tree with a book. She said,
"We all knew how much smarter Bess was than the rest of us and we didn't
think anything of her going bare-foot longer than most girls because she
thought it healthful.
"Whatever
Bess learned about health she put into practice right now; it didn't matter
what the conventions were, she did what she believed to be right and everyone
respected her for living her convictions.
To wear corsets was a sacrilege, though everyone else wore them.
"I
remember she would bring old calendars and wrapping paper to school to do her
algebra problems on because they took so much scratch paper. She went on with lots of advanced work, under
Mr. Reese's supervision that the rest of the eighth grade was not prepared for.
"So
far as I remember, she never went to dances or cared to participate in the
usual social events. She was too
studious and those things were a waste of time.
She was a brilliant, lovely girl with the highest ideals and she lived
up to every one of them. Everyone I knew
loved Bess."
I can say
amen to all of this. I was dumber than
Bess; I was only in the grades when she was at the BNS .
But I remember what a stir she made at school because of her decided
individuality; her freedom from all convention; her determination to accomplish
all that she set out to do; her bewitching personality; and the love and
respect that everyone had for her.
Just
yesterday, Mattie Booth (as we took a trip to Zion) told me of an incident that
happened as their class was about to be graduated from the BNS , which Mattie said was just like
her -- always making the best of everything in a philosophical way. For some reason someone had decreed that no
diplomas were to be given until they finished more work at the U. of U., I
suppose. They would go through the
graduation exercises and be congratulated as graduates of the BNS , but no diplomas. Willard Gardner was so furious about the
situation that he lay on the floor and kicked like a spunky little kid. Bess said, "Now, look here, Willard, go
and buy you an inch-thick steak, cover it with onions and fry it; by the time
you've eaten that you'll feel better."
Though Bess
refused to wear corsets, she always looked just as nice as the girls did who
wore them for she had such a lithe, well-built figure. She always seemed to be fairly bursting with
vigor, sunshine, and good humor. Never
had a minute to waste, yet always had a good hearty laugh for the smallest
humorous trifle. It was a joy to see
her; she was always so radiantly happy.
Father used
to say: "Bess is the cutest darned
little kid I ever saw, her pink ruffled sunbonnet, her brown wavy hair, her
sparkling brown eyes, pink dimpled cheeks, hearty laugh, and mind as sharp as a
whip." She always laughed with her
eyes as well as her mouth.
Ruth
Sterling Porter told me that Bess loved cats and had one she called
"Scooterie-Ann." She organized
plays and took the leading parts in little plays from Shakespeare and the Bible
- just kids' play. She never cared to
ride horses or play ball; liked better to read, study, and write; loved her
father tremendously.
Mrs. Etta
Mariger (Leeds) wrote: "Bess was
probably my best friend; we had a grand
childhood and girlhood together, tending babies, reading books, etc. When Karl and Truman were babies and
Georgianna was a little crippled child, we spent our days tending them. We had a small express wagon; they had a baby
buggy. Every fair day we, with Edward, Jennie, and Charles in tow
paraded to some place in our lot, in their lot, to the old Leatham place, or to
her Grandma Wilkinson's. We had play
dinners, and read stories, and then dramatized them for our child
audiences. As we grew older, we decided
to read the Bible. Every day for
goodness knows how long, we read the Bible for an hour, first her place and
then our place. We lay flat on our
stomachs and read aloud, first one and then the other. We read (all on our own) a little science
reader that Mother picked up somewhere.
Then we used a magnifying glass to examine plants, flowers, bugs and so
on.
"Also
a great summer sport was getting about a quart of gooseberries, or a few
bunches of grapes and taking them to "Devil's Hole" up on the side
hill where we could look all over Leeds.
We would also take our quilt blocks or our books, and there we would sew
and eat, or read and dramatize and eat.
Two books we read at Angell's home were:
"The Picture Bible," a huge but attractive book; and
"With Livingstone in Darkest Africa."
At our house, we read the bound volumes of the Juvenile Instructor,
"Hills Manual," Star Speaker, International Speaker, an Encyclopedia,
and other choice books. We wrote many
letters to Children's Corners, conducted by the Montreal Star, and Mother's
Housekeeping Magazine. We each had
several letters published and got us a whole flock of correspondents from girls
of other states. We participated in
various children's contests in the two publications mentioned above. Bess took no less than four prizes. I took two.
One of her prizes was a grand book, we thought. It was about Queen Amytis and the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon.
"Once
we walked to Harrisburg and spent the day with grandmother and Aunt Mary. We had a grand dinner--hot biscuits, chicken,
cake--a real grandmother dinner. I never
saw Grandmother and Aunt Mary more pleasant, in fact highly amused. Bess was as enthralled as one in a new
world. I was always in my glory
there. We both had a yen for cats, but
Bess was always more able to select artistic names than I was. We also started out very bravely each spring
to make a garden of our own--one for each of us, but they usually fizzled out. I cannot reconcile myself to Bess's death
even yet." Etta
Awfully
sorry I didn't get this little write-up done long ago. Mrs. Haight said that Lyle would be the
sister of hers that could tell you most of Bess because she was the same age,
and ran in the same crowd. Thanks for
your suggestions concerning a write-up of Father's life. He was a unique character, as Bess was, and I
have a good deal of material gathered now, but I should get what other people
thought of him, as you are doing about Bess.
I talked to
Mabel Dalley (Parley's wife) and she said Bess had likely told you of when the
class lower than Bess's put on a "take-off" on Bess's class
representing each member in some sort of silhouette; so they had Bess as the
"Angel looking at the Record" giving the idea that her grades were so
extra fine that she couldn't wait to see them when the cards came out. Mabel said another time (after her marriage)
she was going to Leeds to see her mother, and rode from Cedar to Toqueville
with Mabel and someone else. That night
she slept with Mabel and they told her to wait until after breakfast and they
would take her to Leeds, but long before anyone else was up, she took off afoot
and walked the full distance to Leeds.
Typical of her independence, isn't it?
Well, Tom,
I hope these few bits are of a little help.
When I was in the 8th grade, I heard so many interesting things of Bess
Angell at the BNS that she became the Angel or the Star to which I hitched my wagon. I thought she was the nearest to perfection
that I had ever seen on earth. A number
of people have mentioned how she roomed alone so that her study would not be
interrupted; how she propped her book up on the table and studied while she
ate. I think there never was a person
who could make better use of her time, than Bess.
Mother and
Gilbert join me in sending our best wishes.
Sincerely,
(signed)
Myrtle Janson
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