The Innkeeper\u2019s Diary, The Inn Diaries<\/b>\u00a9 were transcribed from a copy of the original diaries held in Longfellow\u2019s Wayside Inn Archives, [January 1996]. During these years, the staff recorded their observations and the activities at the Inn each day. These pages are of the days when the Fraters met. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n This diary is copyrighted by Longfellow\u2019s Wayside Inn Archives. The material presented here contains the full text of \u201cFraters\u201d material currently found (1-23-1996). Some photo\u2019s and material for 1947 are missing. \u2014 Frater Richard M. Woodman, Archivist [January 1998]<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n <\/a> \u2014\u2014\u2014- 1930 \u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/b><\/span><\/span> <\/span> A lovely day without, and a joyous one within. The Howe Tavern has celebrated two events today\u2026 recording them as they occur.<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n The coming of the Universalist Minister\u2019s 28th Annual Retreat, and the christening of Dorothy Jane Bayer, fifth and youngest child of the man in whose care Mr. Ford has placed this historic spot and all of its varied activities.<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n The curtain rose \u2013 or was it the sun? on a radiant winter morning.<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n The big iron gates at all entrances were closed. Quiet reigned \u2013 Stillness every-where. One day in seven the old Inn rests from its \u201campler hospitality.\u201d Mr. Ford is reproducing the old time Sabbath here.<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n The pilgrimage of the ministers is a yearly one. A few of the veterans or \u201coriginals\u201d arriving today by special permission to welcome the rest of the men tomorrow \u2013 the official date-<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n All of them are good, many of them brilliant \u2013 Preachers, teachers, writers, theologians, deans and college presidents. Even without the halo of the \u201clong ago\u201d the Universalist Ministers\u2019 Retreat is already a tradition.<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n They come with an earnest purpose as churchmen, blended with a frank intent to play together and be boys again. Some are older, some younger \u2013 No matter \u2013 Such meetings and greetings! The fineness of these friendships could never be surpassed.<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n The Christening was the second event. The Longfellow parlor arranged for the simple service \u2013 Six o\u2019clock the hour \u2013<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Monday, January 27, 1930 Snow Flurries \u2013 32<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n Yesterday the Universalist Chergymen\u2019s \u201cRetreat\u201d began, when Doctors Tomlinson, Sykes and Hammett arrived to act as greeters to the later arrivals.Tonight there are sixteen of them here.<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n This is the twenty-eighth time the \u201cMinisters\u201d have come to this old Inn for rest and mutual aid at their annual \u201cretreat;\u201d it is their seventh retreat as guests of Mr. Ford. Some of the older members have been replaced by new men, but all have the same spirit in their visit \u2013 intense enjoyment and comfort in their three-day home.<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n There was little in the way of official business carried on this morning, unless we may so designate the informal talk-fest before the Bar and Kitchen fireplaces. This afternoon, however, when their augmented numbers made it practicable, they held a session and conference in the kitchen. As of old, they preceded the meeting with a hymn.<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n After supper there was another gathering, less formal, and not confined to any one place, toward its close. At first all were together, but as two or three men would get together to talk over individual problems, the conference broke up into many smaller ones, all characterized by enthusiasm and intellectual keenness.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Tuesday January 28, 1930 21 cloudy, cold<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n Last night, before the conferences, Dr. Tomlinson gave an illustrated lecture, in which he told of his experiences in Spain. Easily the most impressive incident was his graphic and quite dramatic description of the Bull-fight. After the lecture nearly everyone insisted on showing how, and just how, the bull collapsed after the \u201ccoup de grace\u201d of the master bullfighter.<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n Tonight, in addition to the conferences during the afternoon, the traditional Spelling Bee was held. The game is played as follows:<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n The man at the head of the line [he gets that position by drawing number one from the hat] starts a word by giving a letter. The next men, in turn add a letter until the word is finished. The object of the game is to add a letter as one\u2019s turn comes, without finishing the word in process of being spelled. Who ever finishes the word goes to the foot of the circle \u2013 or rather, horse shoe. So also does he who fails to add a letter which belongs in a dictionary word, or adds no letter at all (called \u201cpassing\u201d).<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n Now, to one who looks at the above rules the game might seem simple, even dull. Not so; witness last evening\u2019s performance. The game started with the statement of rules, by Dr. Perkins. He laid down the law in no uncertain terms, and with reason; for the game was not two minutes old before Dr. Tomlinson said \u201cI do not wish to appear discourteous, but might I ask whether that letter makes a word which conforms to the rules?\u201d His objection was sustained by the court, in the person of Dr. Perkins. This was the signal for further challenging one at least on almost every word. Gradually objections got less and less formal, the defenses more or less heated \u2013 usually more \u2013 and the game more and more enjoyable \u2013 especially to the onlookers. Woe unto him who sat in the \u201cSiege Perilous,\u201d the head chair; for conspiracies arose continually in the ranks of the less exalted. Naturally the head man resented such tactics and more fuel was added to an already warm conflagration. An argument would start; sides would be taken; voices from every point would attack or defend the argumentative ones; the poor time-keeper at the tail end would lose sight of his second hand, and the thirty second interval would become too elastic for his more keen-eyed brethren. Then there would be two sets of arguments. Dr. Perkins would attempt to quell the insurrections: this would be a third disturbance.<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n Finally all would be quiet, evidence collected and weighed and sentence pronounced. Either he would go to the foot, amidst the jeers of the opposition, or he would triumphantly settle deeper into his own chair, to the audible discomfiture of the challenger and his cohorts.<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n This process was repeated in an endless succession, with one argument overlapping the next one or more, until at ten o\u2019clock after three attempts, the \u201cBee\u201d broke up, with the members forming groups to discuss the merits or faults of decisions handed down in the course of the evening.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Wednesday, January 29, 1930 Clear Warm 32<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n We are almost back to our pre-retreat numbers. [We hope to be pardoned for just the form of that statement, but we feel as if we might well date the events of the past few winters as being Ante-Retreat or Post-Retreat] Most of the clergymen left before noon; a few lingered till afternoon; and now we have only one of that unique and delightful group with us \u2013 Dr. Gray: and one man, however excellent his personality may be, cannot take the place of twenty.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Thursday, January 30, 1930 Cloudy turning to snow in evening; cold. 30<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n The last of the Retreats has left us. Doctor Gray departed by automobile and motor bus for Nashua. With him goes the last tangible part of that group. Our delightful and long awaited interlude is already a memory; but be sure that it will always be fresh and vivid, from the solemnity of the hymns and prayers to the boisterous jollity of the Spelling Bee; from the enthusiastic story-telling of Dr. Hammett to the reserve of Dr. Perkins. Each man offered the Retreat and us the contribution of his personality, and the group as individuals blended into a harmonious entity. We cannot help feeling that the old world is not so unrelievedly, irretrievably bad, as we had feared, after all.<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n
The Wayside Inn, Sudbury, Massachusetts [1930 \u2013 1950]<\/span>(1)<\/a><\/sup><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
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January 26th 1930 Sunday at Wayside Inn<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n