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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A Bushy Beard And a Marshall's Badge

(Lennie's diary entries are in bold black. My comments are in italic blue.)

Monday, February 7, 1898
Started Bookkeeping.
Went to band practice.
Went to Kimbles. (I'm thinking this should be spelled Kimball...a prominent family in Wakefield at the time.)

Tuesday, February 8, 1898
Yesterday and today very near all the snow went off.

Wednesday, February 9, 1898
Cloudy all day.
Rather cool. Went to band practice.

Here's the promised photo of Lennie's father, Josiah Davis. Family history has it that Josiah was town marshall at Wakefield. If there are Wakefield historians reading this and who have more information about Josiah and his badge, please leave a comment as we would love to hear more.

Josiah Davis (1836-1912) and his wife, Martha Jane Crawford Davis (1838-1917) were born in Ohio. The 1880 census shows the family living in Illinois (where Lennie was born in 1881). Sometime before the 1990 census the family moved to Wakefield, Nebraska.

Charles Leonard (our "Lennie") was the youngest.
In a future entry we will show a photo of Lennie as a young adult with his parents and siblings.
And we will soon begin reading about an important event that has the town abuzz.

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Upon Which We Share Two More Pages of Lennie's Photo Album

More Excerpts from the 1898 diary of Charles Leonard "Lennie" Davis, age sixteen, Wakefield, Nebraska

Thursday, February 3, 1898
Had the gloves on in depot. (Was Lennie enjoying the fine sport of boxing?)


Friday, February 4, 1898
Had examination Rhetoric - 45. (It's difficult to believe that a man who could talk so much could do so poorly in rhetoric. But then, age brings wisdom, and Lennie was only sixteen.)
Went to band practice. (We believe Lennie played the cornet in the Wakefield Cornet Band.)


Saturday, February 5, 1898
Charlie ? and ?? had a trile?? (While Lennie's hen-scratching penmanship makes some of this entry illegible, it appears that a couple fellows went on trial. But Lennie does not mention their crime! A mystery unsolved!)
Slid down hill. (There must still be snow on the ground.)
Fred & Will went to Norfolk. (Norfolk is a good 46 miles. Since they did not have an automobile I'm thinking they took the train. Or rode horseback, but that would have been quite a trip.)


Sunday, February 6, 1898
Plaid horns at elevator. (I didn't know they had "plaid" horns, but Lennie writes that they did. Okay, okay, I'm making fun of Lennie's spelling.)
Took G home. (Lennie is a little leary of someone reading his diary. He knows who "G" is, but he's not letting us in on that secret. Later on, he mentions his female friends by name...most times.)
Read. (Keep reading, Lennie. It will improve your spelling!)



Here are a couple more pages from Lennie's photo album. Lovely young ladies. I'm guessing these were pasted into his little book after he graduated from high school. Perhaps in his early twenties. You can click on the photos for a closer view.




Lennie's photo collection included his male friends as well. I wish he had written in their names.


Perhaps Monday I will show you a photo of Lennie's father, Josiah Davis. Josiah sports a marshall's star badge on his suit lapel and wears a bushy beard.

Lennie Experiments With Chemistry and Thomas Edison Goofs Big Time

Sunday, January 30, 1898
Guy and me took in the town. (Obviously, Lennie has recuperated from his several days of illness.)

Monday, January 31, 1898
Nice Day.
Went to band practice.

Tuesday, February 1, 1898
Slid on hill.
Went to church. (There surely seemed to be a lot of mid-week church meetings for Lennie to attend.)

Wednesday, February 2, 1898
Chemistry had a big time. (It's good to see that Lennie is enjoying chemistry! And I wonder what constitutes a "big time" in chemistry class?)
Church closed.

Meanwhile, in the wider world, according to the Omaha Bee, Feb. 1, 1898:
Thomas Edison is experimenting with an airship with inflated sails. The article in the Bee states:
"Young Thomas A. Edison, jr., is experimenting with an airship, which he believes will be successful. The ship is the invention of Frank Sauther of Milwaukee, Wis., but Edison hit by accident upon a gas which he believes is the only thing required to make the ship a practical thing. Sails were substituted instead of any propelling power. Mr. Edison says: 'It was at this point that I conceived the really new principle. It struck me that it would be a good idea to inflate the sails with gas, thus making them serve as balloons, as well as supplying the sailing power. It would not do to make baggy balloons of the sails, so they were divided into numerous compartments, which, when inflated, resembled thing water bags. The gas tube running into the balloon was tapped in three places to supply gas to the main sail and rubber tubes carried gas to the two jibs. The compartments of the mainsail were connected by narrow openings, the gas thus flowing freely through the entire sail. A rudder completed the airship. After many failures, we were successful. The ship actually flew, and we succeeded in steering it. I believe that the inflated sail idea is the one that is going to solve the aerial navigation problem.'"

Thomas Edison produced an improved light bulb in 1879. We all can be grateful to Mr. Edison for making electric lighting a wonderful thing! But his airship? Ummm, Mr. Edison, the airship was not such a great idea.

P.S. I will be posting some photos from Lennie's version of a high school photo album. Stay tuned.

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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 Battles It Out With Algebra!

Today I'm posting entries for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, January 10, 11, 12. Lennie is dealing with algebra, the dread subject of 95 percent of high school boys. I wonder if his poor grades were due to his dog eating his homework? Lennie had a dog. Yes, he did. But I don't know if he ate homework. He just doesn't look like a homework eating dog to me. What do you think?

Monday, January 10, 1898
Cloudy.
Poor algebra.
Received average for month.
Doing better.

Tuesday, January 11, 1898
Cloudy.
Poor algebra.
Went to ??? meeting. Church Christ.
(Since Lennie mentions the church, I'm thinking this was some kind of youth or revival meeting.)

Wednesday, January 12, 1898
Went to ??? meetings. (How could he twice write this word so poorly that I could not decipher it? It looks like "attractive" but I know that simply cannot be.)
Slid down hill.
Dull times. (Lennie must be getting tired of this sledding business. No fun any more. No fun atall. Or perhaps the rest of the gang decided to go home and play video games, or whatever they did in 1898...pull taffy?)

I'm thinking that Lennie wasn't exactly at the head of his class. Oh, it's not that he wasn't bright. Family stories indicate Lennie was always interested in the latest invention and the latest news. For one thing, Lennie enjoyed photography. Later it was motorcycles. He had a great interest in life itself and thoroughly enjoyed being amongst his friends.

But that algebra. It must have been a trouble spot for Lennie. Things haven't changed much, have they!

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