Today we have an entry from my father. The bucolic photos that follow belie its fiery nature. In previous entries Ruth has often referred to them as having argued. Here the tensions between 15 year old male and 31 year old female are front and center Certainly as I knew her later my Great Aunt could be very stubborn and confident in her own view, but as this entry makes clear there is nothing as annoyingly self-confident as a 15 year-old-male (especially when he's actually right).
Thursday July 30, 1931
Thursday morning we went fishing. Got some takle from the manager of the camp. Ruth got a fishing license in town and lost two rolls of exposed films. She brought back supplies and mourned over the loss of the films. She said she got so mad she could cry when a man in a store was doubtful about her signature on a traveler's cheque. She couldn't see what difference it made since she knew her acount was good. [It's hard to tell here if Matt's cynicism is already apparent or he is as innocent of the workings of traveler's cheques as apparently Ruth was.] We caught a twelve inch Bass and made a good meal, the best we've had yet. Aunt Ruth was rowing and the boat struck a snag. After she had tried different maneuvers with no success I suggested both standing at one end of the boat to lift the other end of the snag. I said this with tact, as much as I had at first. She immediately on my first words began to row straight ahead. Stubbornly she tried to force the boat over the snag. But with no success. I spoke to her again and told of our not making any progress.. We went around in circles then would stop. She rowed with one oar and then another.
Finally quite exhausted both in stuborness and tiredness she came to my end of the boat and we gently drifted off the snag. This kept her quiet for a while. But her stubborness was insatiable. The broke out that was to be expected. She refused to give in to masculine dominion of an idea. I don't know why she came to my end of the boat. We walked up to the othe two lakes after fishing and looked around the camp. At night the moon came up and the question of time arose. We made our guess and drifted to a statement that Ruth had made. Ruth said the Moon is bigger than the Earth. I, Matt, said the Earth is bigger than the Moon. I tried to show by reason why I was positive. Ruth said she learned the facts that I tried to reason it out. I said I learned the facts and the reasons too, that's why she got twisted. We made a bet that I would give her a fresh fish if I were wrong and she would me a chicken dinner if she were wrong. I always wanted to bet someone on something like that. In a way it's cruel to put all this down in words on paper when I know I'm right.
[Running down the left margin]
Signed this statement Matthew Coleman
[And below his chronicle in Ruth's hand]
I still maintain the moon is larger than the earth.
[signed] R. C. Babb.
(Matt insists on the full name)
Love the close-up of the squabble--I expected it to come to a head and don't doubt that just the demands of the journey itself had as much to do with the confrontation as the male/female 30 vs. teen makeup of characters. Quite mild at that (though this is in a time when polite respect was still an admired trait). Nice close-up photos of the characters too!
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