Alice S.S.
10 year old girl
writing to her grandparents
circa 1890 Iowa
“I am now practicing for the Woman Suffrage Convention, Friday and Saturday…” Alice S.S. circa 1890
Malvern Iowa—Thanksgiving
Dear Grandma and Grandpa
I received your kind and welcome letter this evening. I have had a very pleasant time today and hope you have had the same. I am sorry I could not come and gather walnuts. We bought some hazel nuts. I guess enough to last us all winter.
I still go to school. Wensday [sic] and Friday were examination days. I don’t like it a bit. I guess it was harder this year, or the teacher marks us so close that I don’t suppose I will stay in my class any longer. Charlie says as soon as he learns to write good, he will write to you. He is in the first Reader. Margil, our dog is so large that ever time he goes under the desk at night we have to hold the lamp to keep her from upsetting it.
Maggie and Susie are both home now and I hope they will write to you soon. Tell Phoebe Matteer that I am tired of waiting for her to write. Hope Web can come out this winter. I want to see him. Did you see Fanny when you were there at Swigarts? Tell her the next time you see her that she don’t need to wait for me to write because I have so much work on hand. I am now practicing for the Woman Suffrage Convention, Friday and Saturday. There are 13 boys and girls in the song I am in. It is so nice to see them wave their flags.
Well I must close with love to all.
From your loving little Alice S. S.
P.S. Write as to your own convenience and tell Dell I said, “I was an awful bad little girl for not writing to her,” just for fun. Please excuse the pencil for we have no ink just now. We are all well.
Submitter: Sherri Cawley Notes:
At the time this letter was written, Carrie Chapman Catt was an active force in Iowa. She had graduated from Iowa State College in 1880, and pursued a brief career as educator, journalist, and lecturer. Carrie Chapman Catt joined the Iowa Woman’s Suffrage Association. By 1889 she was organizing local suffrage movements all over Iowa and was a delegate to the national convention in 1890. After attending the national convention as a delegate from Iowa, Catt quickly rose to the top ranks of the suffrage movement. There is little doubt that 10 year-old Alice met Carrie Chapman Catt as well as other prominent women suffrage leaders.