Friday, May 9, 1919

Cloudy and rainy all day.  To College 8:30 to 2:30.  Studied.  Down town.  Bowled at Y.  To Mission Study Class from 7:8 P.M.  Drilled at armory for drill 8:9:30 P.M. Bowled at Star with H.H.   Walked around town with H.H. and E.S. Young.  To bed 12:30.

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The Mission Study Class Stanford refers to was probably similar to the one conducted by other churches of Schenectady.  Here is a news item from the Second Dutch Reformed Church that appeared in the January 11, 1919 Schenectady Gazette:  "The Mission study class, under the direction of the pastor, will hold its first session Tuesday night.  The study will be on Africa." 

Stanford doesn't tell us the topic of his Mission Study Class, but it might have been something as close to home as Schenectady.  One article I ran across described how, starting in 1904, Protestant demoninations of "Electric City" viewed their Italian immigrants as needing rescue from the Roman Catholic faith and set about establishing a mission to convert them, apparently with some success.  Here is the article: Protestant Evangelism.

When Stanford refers to going to the armory for drill, he is no doubt referring to ROTC drill, which was mandatory for the first two years of college for all male students who were physically fit.  This requirement was a result of the National Defense Act of 1916, which set up Reserve Officer Training Corps at colleges around the country.  Here is a picture of the armory where Stanford drilled:

It comes from the book, Schenectady: Images of America, by Susan C. Rosenthal.

 

I haven't had much luck tracking down E.S. Young.  In fact, I can't even find an E. Young living in Schenectady at that time.  I'll have to wait, I guess, until Stanford tells us what the man's (or woman's) first name was.

 

One curious little item: in this entry, Stanford uses a colon in place of a hyphen to indicate to.  For instance, he writes 8:9:30 instead of 8-9:30.  I left it because I thought it was interesting.