Kenneth dated Zoe Landon and Isabel Mann before he started dating Margaret. Both Kenneth and Margaret recall their first signficant date. Kenneth had invited Margaret to the annual Baltonians' banquet, where he was the program chair.
Margaret and Kenneth talk about the wedding. Margaret reads from a local newspaper's report a detailed account of the wedding. Both give reminiscences of the wedding, its people, the way they dressed, and its impact on other wedding ceremonies.
Kenneth and Margaret talk about about their wedding plans. Margaret had hoped that they could go to her parents' cottage at Stony Lake for their honeymoon. They went to Gull Lake instead, where Kenneth's father had rented a cottage. Margaret wanted…
Kenneth remembers people in the small community of Wheaton praying for him and a girl named Isabel Mann. The two of them were discovered several times walking arm in arm. This was not done at the time in the community.
Kenneth recalls his time at the University of Cincinnati, Mrs. Heintzman at whose house he was living, and the seances she held for people from the university because she was a medium.
Kenneth tells how on January 6 he went downtown to buy a wedding ring for Margaret. He found the one that looked right for Margaret and sent it to her, asking her to try it and see if she liked it or send it back to him if she didn't.
Kenneth told Charles Blanchard he had quit college and Blanchard proposed that he come to Wheaton College. He remembers being mostly unimpressed by Wheaton, but as Margaret walked into the registrar's office where Kenneth and his father were, Kenneth…
Kenneth talks about finishing his book sale in November 1925. His parents visited him and he took his mother for a tour of campus and to dinner while his father went his own way.
Kenneth talks about his summer after graduation from Wheaton and his beginnings at Princeton. He remembers Eddie Love and Ding Darling, two roommates who shared the room next to his.
Despite his incomplete grade in chemistry from the University of Cincinnati, Kenneth had taken so many classes there that, following his transfer to Wheaton, he was told he would graduate in three years rather than four. This was astonishing to him.
When it came to procuring a marriage license in Wheaton, Kenneth learned it could be done the day of the wedding, and that only one of them needed to appear.
Kenneth reads from his journal that on Oct. 16, 1927 his weight is 138 lbs, and he wrote to Margaret about it, joking that she now could marry him and he would look the best that he ever would.
Kenneth recalls having a hard time getting Margaret Mortenson to go on a date with him because she was the darling of all the football players. Eventually, Margaret named a date when she was free and they had their first date. Kenneth describes it as…
Kenneth recalls a class fight in which he got at Wheaton. It was the first time in the history of the college that this was happening. Kenneth and his pals "stacked" the rooms of their adversaries, throwing everything on the floor.
Kenneth's first semester at Princeton he studied Hebrew and Greek and worked hard to be part of the top ten who entered professor Robert Wilson's advanced Hebrew class after Christmas time.
Kenneth tended to have little and get rid of things, but Margaret's habit was to collect and keep. This put the young couple on opposite ends as they entered marriage. Margaret was sometimes hurt by Kenneth throwing away things she would like to…
Kenneth graduated from Wheaton in June 1924. His mother was ill and so couldn't come to graduation, but his father did. Kenneth worked during that summer to earn some money.
Kenneth tells of an important conversation with Margaret's mother, who didn't like him at first. She struck him as a wise and humble woman. The two became good friends.
Kenneth recalls being called by "Dick" to parse a whole chapter of Hebrew in the Old Testament, unprepared. One day Dick invited him to tea at 10 o'clock at his home. He would work until 2:00 a.m. helping Dick in his work, and tea would come only at…
When Kenneth was a student at Wheaton, there were Gospel teams, and Kenneth joined one. The team would go out to testify in big black churches and white churches, and one church they visited was the Christian Science Church right there in Wheaton.…
Kenneth recounts a sermon he once delivered while he was a divinity student at Princeton Theological Seminary. He went on about guardian angels to the point of moving a certain congregation member, Eliza Ridgeway, to wanting to publish the sermon.…
Kenneth recalls professor "Das Machen," a bachelor who would go around singing that nobody loves him. It was a way to invite people to come to his room and enjoy treats and chat.