Lennie Photographs His Dog and the Band Plays On

Lennie's diary entries continue.


Friday, March 4, 1898
Band plaid for senior class.
Went to show.

Saturday, March 5 1898
Got dog house for Sport.
Went to show.
Rained a little bit in the morning.

Sunday, March 6, 1898
Took Sport's picture.
Went to Sunday School with the girls. (Lennie and his friend have gone to Sunday School with their girls.)

Monday, March 7, 1898
Developed Sport's picture.
It was fine.
Went to band practice.


Aha! Here we have proof that Lennie not only took many of his own photographs but developed them as well. Now I'm curious as to what kind of a dark room setup he had. Intriguing.


There are at least five photos of Sport in Lennie's little pocket size photo album. I'm sorry about the quality...it's pretty poor, even with photo enhancement software.


I like that Sport. He looks like a patient sort of dog! Eager to please! You can click here to see him in shirt collar, tie, and top hat.

By the way, President William McKinley has been in office one year. In his inaugural address a year ago March 4, he noted, "Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps."

Three and a half years later, McKinley will be shot by an assassin and will die eight days after.

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Sport, In Top Hat, Collar and Tie, is a Good Sport

Charles Leonard Davis, age 16, continues his diary entries.

Thursday, February 24, 1898
Pound Party at C.C. (Christian Church)
Social at Haskels.
I went to Haskels.
A "pound party" was a welcoming event held for a new preacher. Church members brought a pound of this or a pound of that to stock the preacher's cupboards.

It looks as if Lennie wasn't all that interested in stocking cupboards. Instead he went to the social at the Haskells. There were at least two households by the name of Haskell in Wakefield according to the 1900 census. One of those homes was about three houses from Lennie's house.


Friday, February 25, 1898
Took in $48 at Sea?? (Again Lennie's handwriting is difficult to decipher.)
Ruth Drshell? went home.
I went to the JOGT. (JOGT was part of the Odd Fellows Lodge)

Saturday, February 26, 1898
Took Earle's & Sport's picture.
Fixed my wheel. (bicycle wheel)
Did not go riding.
Sport is Lennie's dog. Click photo for a closer view. You will see that Sport is wearing a top hat, a collar and tie, and also has a pair of wire-rim glasses perched atop his nose. He was, after all, a "good sport". The original photo is smaller than my thumbnail and this is the best enhancement I could get on my photo software.

Sunday, February 27, 1898
Guy took our picture at the elevator.
Gim & I.
I took G. home.

Monday, February 28, 1898
Prof. got hot at me.
Wrote to Lew and Zella W.
Went to band practice.
Went home and studied.
It looks as if the Prof's temper tantrum has caused Lennie to go home and study. It's about time, Lennie!
Lew is Lewis M. Walden who used to live down the street from Lennie but who moved to Phoenix some time recently, leaving his parents and rest of the family still in their Wakefield home. Lew is currently 18 years old and works for the railroad as a telegraph operator. He will die young in 1927 at his home in Cincinnati, Ohio.


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Sam and Lennie Walk the Girls Home While War Looms on the Horizon

Thurs., February 17, 1898
Sam and Gertie began to get like syrup.
That means Sam and Gertie are getting a little sweet on each other.

Friday, February 18, 1898
Went skating after school.
Sam & I distrubed bills around town for Prof.
(Lennie's spelling may not be perfect, but he must be making points with the professor by "distributing" said bills.)

Saturday, February 19, 1898
Sam & I went skating.
Girls went down after dinner.
Had a hot time.
Snowed last night.
(Hmmm, sounds like Lennie and his friends had a great time of fun.)

Sunday, February 20, 1898
Cold in forenoon.
Bummed all day.
Sam took Gertie home.
I took you know.
(Sam and Gertie are still sweet on each other. And Lennie is keeping mum about the name of the gal he took home.)

While Sam and Lennie are walking Gertie and "you know" home in the early evening, the disastrous explosion of the USS Maine continues to make headline news. The front page of the Feb. 19 Omaha Bee has extensive news on the Maine. We read short excerpts as follows:

HAVANA, Feb 18 -- "Captain Sigsbee (who survived the explosion) and the local board of investigation rowed today round and round the sunken, twisted masses, all that is left of the splendid battleship Maine. They could not get on board because of the orders of the authorities, at least the guards said so, and Captain Sigsbee obeyed, although his pennant was still flying from the masthead and the parts of the Maine above water (or below it either) were "just as much United States soil" as ever they were. The officers examined the position of the wreck closely. It was noted primarily that the whole force of the explosion was from port to starboard."

The article goes on to say..."the ship is practically broken in two by the explosion"...

HAVANA, Feb. 18 - "Consul General Lee has received many dispatches from newspapers in the United States with reference to the Maine disaster, to which the consular regulations prevent him from replying."

HAVANA, Feb. 18 - ............"The bodies of the sailors who went down with the Maine are getting into such a condition that they float, and the currents carry them about the harbor. More than fourteen...were found at Casa Blanca, under the walls of Cabanas fortress." The article gives much detailed information regarding the dead.

LONDON, Feb. 19.--"The Daily Chronicle has secured from Mr. Gladstone the following message for America: "I am deeply grieved at the sad loss the American people have suffered.""

MADRID, Feb. 18 -- "Today the Spanish press shows indignation because doubts are expressed in America as to the origin of the catastrophe to the Maine."

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18. -- "A debate, decided in its sensations, was unexpectedly precipitated in the senate today over the consideration of the resolution of Mr. Allen of Nebraska, directing the committee on naval affairs to investigate the disaster to the Maine."

The article goes on to state that the Illinois senator "delivered a speech in which he said that the people demanded the truth concerning the explosion, and declared that they would not be satisfied with the investigation to be conducted by the officers of the navy, who would virtually try their own case, and would cover up any blame that the officers might show attached to them."

And again, later, the article states, "The sinking of the Maine will be made the subject of immediate and exhaustive inquiry and congress will be fully advised of the result of such investigation."
Much debate followed. America will soon be at war with Spain.

Today's photo (found online) was obviously taken before the explosion. It seems strange to view this small moment in their lives while they were posing for a photographer and know that some if not all of these very men perished the night of February 15, 1898 when the Maine exploded in Havana Harbor.

If you want to see the front page of the Omaha Bee click here. In a strange sort of way the news seems so "current" in its intensity and uproar.

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Lennie Spreads Germs Throughout the Town

Charles Leonard (Lennie) Davis, age 16, Wakefield, Nebraska continues daily entries in his pocket diary.

Wednesday, January 26, 1898
Did not feel very well. (Probably coming down with a cold!)
Went to church. (a mid-week meeting)

Thursday, January 27, 1898
Was sick all day but went to church (Spreading germs all around!)

Friday, January 28, 1898
Did not go to school in afternoon. (But he went in the morning? Half the class will be sick tomorrow!)
Did not go to the ??? (Can't decipher Lennie's handwriting... I'm glad he didn't go spread more germs!)
JOGT (Meeting at the Odd fellows)

Saturday, January 29, 1898
Did not feel well. (Get well soon, Lennie! Being sick is no fun! We wish you well!)
Snowed in afternoon.

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Lennie Turns In His Sled for a Pair of Skates

Today I will post Lennie's notes from Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Friday, January 14, 1898
Went to band pratice (I'm trying to type exactly as Lennie spelled.)
Then to lodge.
JOGP (Again, I believe JOGP was a Lodge organization...perhaps for the young people.)

Saturday, January 15, 1898
Williams had a sale today.
Things went ??? (Sorry, can't read what Lennie wrote. Perhaps things went dirt cheap? Or perhaps sky-high? I haven't a clue.)

Sunday, January 16, 1898
Nice day.
Skating is fine. (Aha! Lennie not only sleds, but he skates as well. Skates in those days were likely to be made of wood or of metal. Both were used.)

In news this week, The "Ponca Journal" opined that "Dixon County has no corn to ship to outside markets this year. The great number of cattle being fed in that county this year are sufficient to consume the entire crop."

The "Ponca Journal" also included an ad for Hall's Vegetable Sicilian hair renewer, with claims that "It Has made miles and miles of hair grow on millions and millions of heads. Not a single gray hair. No dandruff." If truth in advertising was in place at that time I imagine there must have been an awful lot of people (millions, I say!) with awfully long hair...miles and miles of hair. Much longer hair than in the recent 2010 movie, "Tangled", wherein the heroine has really, really long hair! Perhaps Disney got his idea from Hall's Vegetable Sicilian hair renewer and after reading about the millions and millions of consumers of that product? You find out weird things when you start googling.

In other news for this week in January 1898 we read ..."The postmaster general has decided to order a postage stamp to commemorate the Trans-Mississippi exposition at Omaha the coming year. They will be of the denomination of 1 , 2, 5 and 10 cents and $1. ...The McCook Tribune, McCook, NE Jan 7, 1898
More about this huge and fantastic exposition will show up in Lennie's journal later this year. Not that his words were plentiful but google will surely fill in the blanks.

P.S. If you have not read Debby's comment, you must. As a fellow cancer patient she suggested that we who lose hair during chemo would surely benefit from this advertised product. Anybody have some sitting in the back of their medicine cabinet? Gave me a laugh, sure did.

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Lennie Plays in the Band. And He's Still Sledding.

It is January 7, 1898. Lennie writes in his diary the following words.

Nice day.
Band practice afterwards.
Slid on hill.

I wonder how big was this hill? And I wonder if Lennie's friends were joining him every day, for he's mentioned sliding on the hill several times this week. In my mind's eye I see several of them, wearing caps and scarves and gloves, sledding until the cold (or the hour) forces them to head for home. I suppose if you had no television or video games, you might be out there sledding, too.

The band Lennie mentions is a town band. In today's photo Lennie is wearing his band uniform. He's not included in the group photo that I will post tomorrow, but perhaps he was not yet a full-fledged member. Be sure to check in again tomorrow to read about the Wakefield Cornet Band and how it became "art".