Margaret tells about her mother writing her about the completion of the Pierce Chapel, which did not have a balcony at the time. She remembers the building of the church and its beginnings.
Margaret recalls the coming of J. O. Buswell to the presidency at Wheaton College, replacing interim President Welsh who wanted to keep the position. She tells how Buswell's involvement in College Church split the congregation. Buswell himself was…
Adelle and the girls went for dinner on New Year's day. They stayed for a concert and then went on to call on the McShanes. Mr. McShane revealed to Adelle the plans for Balanchard Hall and other renovation projects.
Margaret tells about Miss Torrey, a brilliant but eccentric Bible teacher at Wheaton College. She had very acute hearing--she once heard the whispering conversation of two boys in the back of her classroom who were discussing the affairs they were…
Miss. Torrey arranged with Margaret's mother to spend the day at her home because she lived too far from the college. This was good for Adelle to enjoy some company, especially after the death of her husband.
Margaret tells about her mother Adelle trying to start a Café (it was very hard to find a place to eat in Wheaton). But the owner of the bakery where she wanted to do it would not spend the money needed, so Adelle gave up the idea.
Margaret reads from her journal about learning that she had been elected as freshman class patron. She tells about her first duty--to chaperon freshman outings.
Margaret reads letters from her mother about building a house and selling it for profit. One letter mentions the people she trusted for the buying of a lot and the building of the house. It turned out that she entrusted her resources and her projects…
Margaret tells again of Rufus Park, who took her father on an evangelistic tour in 1925. The goal was to reach with the Gospel people who were living in out-of-the-way places.
Margaret reads a memo from her father about the sale of their house at 2400 Harrison St., Evanston. It was a comfortable house, well-maintained and clean.
Margaret reads two December 1924 letters from Kenneth about her father's illness and him stopping working again. She describes her father as very melancholic and unable to sleep or work, though he was able to get around.
Margaret's father went back to work after some ten months of interruption for illness. He was the Curtis Publishing Company's credit manager. The company had very high standards and a lot of strain was involved in A.D.'s position there.
The Mortensons' cottage in Stony Lake was built in the summer of 1922. Margaret reads a letter from her father about the building of the cottage and his hope to get back to work after his first stroke.
Margaret's senior year was not a good one: Kenneth was away, dad was ill, so life wasn't fun anymore. Kenneth and Margaret wrote letters quite often. Margaret tried in vain to turn Kenneth on to poetry. Margaret remembers the commencement events and…
Margaret remembers the Wright family who lived next to the Mortensons. The two families were not friends but good neighbors, She remembers the Wrights' house as often dirty. Mr. Wright became a fine professor of chemistry at Wheaton.
The Mortensons moved to Wheaton and bought two lots with the intention to build. The house ended up costing much more than initially planned, and following the death of A.D., Adelle struggled financially with the expenses on the house. She eventually…
When Kenneth and Margaret started dating she once commented about a girl that she thought was pretty, to which Kenneth remarked that the girl's neck was dirty. The next time he saw Margaret her neck was red: she had washed it to the point of…
In the Spring of 1924 Margaret was in a tennis tournament in which she won several games but lost one. She and her friend Ruth also lost the doubles to a pair of girls of whom one was preparing for the Olympics.
Margaret intended to win a scholarship by her good grades. She worked hard in her History class and got 95 on each examination and at the end of the semester the professor gave her 70 because Margaret and her friend had teased him. It cost her the…
Following Grandmother Mortenson's death Adelle sold the family's house in Evanston and moved to Wheaton. Lois came to live with them and Kenneth visited often.
Margaret recalls Russell Graves who was very nice to Evangeline, but the Mortenson family had the feeling that they were country cousins. Margaret eventually found out many years later that Russell had made his home in Washington, D.C., but he had…
Margaret's family made a summer trip to Stony Lake and from there to Minnesota to visit relatives. She remembers how difficult the roads were and all the troubles that this caused. They arrived in Duluth but had to make it back to Racine because of…
Margaret's mother had planned to move to Wheaton long before they actually did. They eventually moved there in September 1923. Wheaton was provincial compared to Evanston, but Margaret was impressed by the quality of people that lived there, which…
Margaret tells about the girls at Wheaton going out early to play football. They would get permission to do so and didn't want people to see them, so they got up very early in the morning and had a "jolly time" together. They got a sense of what the…