Bio: Warner, Sylvanus' Letter (1932)
Contact:  Carol (Purkis) Mitte
Email: mcmitte@tds.net
 

Thorp Courier,

Thorp, WI, 23 June, 1932

Dear Will: The few words I am about to write have been written many times. Maybe in better form than I can put them, but here goes: We left home June 6th, run thru the beautiful farming country of Wisconsin and Illinois to the city of Rockford, where the war boys were drilled, stayed there overnight; crops good. Our next run was thru the beautiful state of Ohio to Alverdton, mixed farming, stock, corn, small grain and fruit. Grapes are the leading crop – grapes and then some more grapes. Grape-juice on sale along the highways for miles and miles. The roads are splendid, the weather is fine and the scenery is grand. Now comes New York State. Now we are in the fruit belt. Here we are at Niagara Falls, where I have a niece who gave us a grand welcome. We stopped here two days. We viewed the falls by electric light at night. What words we can use to describe that wonderful place, brings to mind Morse’s(Moses') first message: "What God hath wrought." I don‘t know which is the grandest, the river just above the falls, the falls or the gorge below. Then on to Middleport, to my cousin’s where we got another royal welcome. The country is getting rougher, farming mixed, plenty of cows here, with small grain and fruit. Here we spent several days visiting and sight-seeing. Roads good and weather fine. Now here, we go to Sackett’s Harbor by way of Watertown. Here we viewed the old battle field of 1812. The military barracks and a nice view of Lake Ontario. Now we take the river drive for Alexandria Bay, passing thru the greatest fruit and nut growing belt in this part of America. Now comes the Thousand Islands, the wonder of the world. We took a pleasant four-hour ride among the Islands making one stop in Canada, where an American tourist can always buy a ten cent article for five dollars – we didn’t buy. Now Mr. Editor, I am home where I was born and lived the most of my young life to the age of twenty-two. It brings back those lines, "How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood." I have had the pleasure of taking my little party in to the very sitting room in the old Stone Hotel in LaFargeville, where we were married, Phebe and I, sixty-six years ago. Then we drove to St. Lawrence, where we spent our honeymoon. Then to the neighborhood where I spent my boyhood days and the welcome we got from the children of our old friends was wonderful. We have spent the last few days driving about, meeting old friends and viewing the country which my friend Walter Brenner says is the grandest he ever visited. Where you look up the chimney at night, to see the cows come home. Well, we are here today and at the home of Mrs. Rusell Cornwell, Philadelphia, N.Y. Now I will close by saying that we have not seen a city with less than 2,000 to 3,000 inhabitants that began to compare with our little city of Thorp.

Respectfully yours,

S. S. Warner