A Typical Summer

THE SUMMER OF 1925 AT JUNIPER LODGE

by Anna A. Cutler

The facts of the second season at Juniper Lodge can be briefly stated. The house was open from June 27 until September 7, and during that time between forty-five and fifty people were welcomed for visits usually two to four weeks in length. Many of them had some connection with Smith College, but there were eleven representing Yale upon the recommendation of the dean and secretary of the Graduate School. Among these were a National Research Council Fellow in physical chemistry, two pursuing research in physiological chemistry, one in public health, three in zoology–one of these the International Fellow of the Association of University Women from Norway–and three in English. Of the Smith residents, about fifteen were members of the Faculty, ten or eleven had entered upon the arduous path of graduate study, either at Smith College, or at some one of the learning universities, and the others were students, by nature and choice, but engaged in teaching or some other form of social work, medical, religious or secular.

To meet Mr. Reynolds’ expressed wish that, for the sake of the intellectual and social atmosphere, there should always be there some experienced representative of the Faculty, Miss Cutler, Miss Shields, Miss Lewis, Miss Choate, Miss Caverno and Miss Barbour served in succession as advisory members. Miss Parmelee of the Tyler House as hostess was the strong pivot upon which the domestic and social machinery turned, and inspired the cook to the production of three meals each day unanimously voted “more than excellent”.

The routine of the day was as last year–breakfast at half-past seven, all domestic tasks finished by nine, nine to one quiet for study or rest, and long afternoons for tramping, swimming, canoeing and other out-of-door delights, and the evenings sometimes on the terrace star-gazing or signing, but oftener in the living room reading aloud around the fire. From the two years’ experiment the Committee feels convinced of the vitality of the idea of Juniper Lodge, of the energy it enables the sojourners there to pour into the intellectual life of the College, and their varied kinds of social service elsewhere, and it hopes that the confidence and good will of the alumnae and other friends may give it a long life. It seems in place to let other pens add to this outline some description of what the place “really was like”. There follow excerpts from a sketch written by a Smith graduate last June now holding a fellowship in psychology at Yale, and from a few letters of other members of the 1925 household.

 

“We had been told that Juniper Lodge was ‘perfectly beautiful’ and the conventional words had lodged in our consciousness along with vague postcard impressions of mountain ranges, cool waterside nooks, and corner of carved wood tables, but we had given them the credence usually allotted to such verbal currency. So we were unprepared for what awaited us. At the end of a long hot journey, we stepped into the rickety taxi awaiting us in the little wayside station, and were soon skimming through the hills. They told us we were near our destination as we began mounting a steep green tunnel, and even at this remote portal we were met with a welcome. Across the road there marched with dignity, brushes in the air, a mother skunk and her small family, their striped back proceeding in even rank. We turned for a last look, and as they disappeared from view we entered the circular driveway and the blue walls of the Lodge appeared, banked in green. Then we knew where Juniper Lodge had found its name. Outside the blue of the ripe berry, and inside the softer tints of foliage and berry. We caught, on entering, a glimpse of wide gracious rooms, beamed ceilings, and huge fireplaces, the gleam of polished woods, and the glow of candles on the long refectory table. 

Reception Room [Photograph, n.d., Smith College Archives, Building Records, Box 220.2, Juniper Lodge, Guests (cont’d) – N.]

Later we were to learn the full joys of the place, and realize how inadequate as an expression of the whole this first experience was. There were long quiet morning of rest and study; sunny hours spent drifting in a canoe among water lilies and pond grass, where a sudden glance from a page of French might surprise the flight of a loon across the water, or catch the rapid dart of a school of minnows moving through the cool depths below. There were rough and tumble climbs up Paugus and Chocorua in knickers and knapsack, rewarded with a breath-taking panorama from the summit, range on range, clear in the windy height, and far away a glimpse of the distant sea; and once never-to-be-forgotten, we sat on top of the world and watched a storm sweep up Crawford Notch and march across the mountains toward us, reaching Chocorua just as we scuttled down into the elfin forest below to avoid its fury. There were evenings spent about the fire, reading aloud, story-telling and song, while the corn popper circulated merrily and the logs on the great andirons burned to deep glowing coals. But the strangest magic was the transformation wrought upon common stask. For how could dishwashing—that bane of housewives–be irksome when one handled fairy glassware of shimmering hues, and quaint Brittany bowls and plates, and shining silver? And how could cleaning be anything but a labor of love where floors gleamed softly with so little effort, and every object meant something beautiful to examine? And how could any work be other than pleasant where the spirit of helpfulness and co-operation prevailed so thoroughly that even the newest comer caught the community tone and responded at once? The greatest gains are intangible. We left Juniper Lodge with a feeling of peace and renewed strength, and with the hopeful faces turned toward the work of the coming year..”

“It was so happy and restful, yet inspiring and profitable too. I accomplished an amazing amount of study there. I don’t think I ever before so clearly realized what could be done in four uninterrupted hours each morning spent on the one thing. Also I felt that there was so little effort in studying at Juniper Lodge that it was every bit as much of a rest and vacation as though I had nothing on my mind. I am especially grateful for living in a place where I can do my summer studying as a matter of course rather than as a struggle.” “Most of my mornings I have spent in increasing my meagre knowledge of Italian, and for the short time I feel quite satisfied with the results..” “While here I have revised an important paper beside learning lots about flowers, birds and stars.” “When College closed I was tired, and at times felt that I never wanted to study again. Now I am ready and eager to go on..” “The greatest privilege, however, is to meet and know those who come to Juniper Lodge..” “Every person in the household seemed to have her place as a well-fitted stone in a lovely mosaic..” “Above all has been the joy of new friendships formed…”

“I stored up energy at Chocorua this summer to use in the hard winter months when ordinarily I should be at rather a low ebb. I shall need it all this year, for my school day begins at 7:40 A.M. which means leaving the house before seven.” “No one here needs to ask me if I have had a pleasant vacation-seven pounds, no less!” “Mother could almost tell by looking at me that I had gained five pounds. I truly never before had a real vacation.” “The family are agreed that I am a 100% improvement case…but the physical rest is the least of what I have to look back on..” “I thought last Saturday afternoon after my examination, ‘If I could only stop thinking!’ But the sight of the mountains has made me not stop thinking, but change my thoughts..” “Three weeks ago I dreaded the thought of work, but now I can face with equanimity even the tasks of the opening of College committee..” “After a hectic year the calm and peacefulness of the place just seemed to pervade me. I can not imagine a more perfect spot, and I am sure if Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds could see the way in which their home is being used, they would be more than happy..” “Indeed all the days speak in poets’ words while one is there, I find. I pray the benefit may pass somehow through me for others’.”

[Manuscript, 1925, Smith College Archives, Building Records, Box 220.2, Juniper Lodge, Guests (cont’d) – N.]