The next 6 letters are from my great-grandmother's student, Elizabeth Page. She became a teacher, and her dream was to move from Western Kentucky to California.
January 1, 1914
1735 West 6th Street
Los Angeles, Calif.
My dear “Miss Jeannie”,
For fourteen years I have annoyed you of school-days.
I dare not trust myself to truthfully say, how many years since those school-days began; suffice it to say they are not ended yet, for I find myself this 1914 a senior in the State Normal School in Los Angeles.(1) Never in my experience of attending school, have I had a more delightful time than this year here. The instructors are charming people to know and really our work seems more like studying together. Of course I entered with advanced credits, and my experience in teaching in city schools, my age, and my real love of this work, is a great help to me. Enough school talk.
The fanciful dreams of my childhood seem to be coming true, when I realize my future home is going to be California. There is so much beauty around us, it seems to me, one would naturally think higher thoughts. The Sierras, snow-capped, the blue of the ocean, and right at us, the flowers, palms, and fruit trees.
We are living in a beautiful apartment. All the advantages of a hotel, and the comforts of home too. I never imagined this kind of life would suit me, but after all it is delightful.
This is the busiest, fastest growing, most hustling city - I have ever seen. There are about 39,000 visitors, or tourists here. The streets are one solid mass of humanity. I never saw New York as crowded and packed.
This is my New Years Greeting to you. May the year 1914 bring to you the deepest wish of your life.
Always I shall remember you on Jan 1st. Today I have attended the world famous Pasadena Tournament of the Roses. (2) I dare not attempt to describe it. All the flowers are real. Won’t you write to me some day?
With much love and good wishes,
Elizabeth Page
The California State Normal School was a teaching college system founded on May 2, 1862, eventually evolving into San José State University in San Jose and the University of California, Los Angeles in Los Angeles.
On January 1, 1890, Grand Marshal Francis Rowland and President Charles Holder mounted their horses and led the first Rose Parade through Pasadena.
