Epistles from Pap | Page 6

plane to Alaska and back seven
times, and was a guest writer in a published book by Loren McDonald,
"A Very Private Pilot." On another occasion, Frank and a friend took
his young sons on a float trip down Alaska's Porcupine River, using
kayaks they built themselves from kits in an Eskimo village.
At age 82, J. Frank Durham is a worthy scion of his very active lineage.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Acknowledgments and thanks are long overdue to Elaine, my lovely
spouse, who is largely responsible for the success of our marriage; my
sister Aura May Durham, for all the proof-reading and
telephone-answering; my sister Ann (Mrs. Ralph Weinrichter of Menlo
Park, CA), for her research and help; my sister Joan (Mrs. William

McGaughey of Milford, PA), for her editorial assistance and continued
interest in this book; Indiana University Chancellor Herman B. Wells,
who steered me to Nancy Niblack Baxter, president of Guild Press of
Indiana, the book's publisher; my lifelong friend Maurice Smith, former
newspaper, radio and TV pundit at Fairbanks, Alaska, for his practical
and constructive suggestions; my Delt fraternity brother Loren
Sylvester McDonald, who had a similar undertaking in his recently
published book "A Very Private Pilot"; my neighbors Jack and Marian
Cook, for their continued assistance, suggestions and interest; and last
but most noteworthy, the distinguished writer-editor, Douglas N. Hay,
of Mill Rift, PA, for appropriately handling the epistles from Pap.
Without his sure and steady hand, they would probably have been
permanently entombed in trunks and boxes in Pennsylvania, Indiana
and California.
J. Frank Durham

CHAPTER I
: EARLY YEARS--1899-1911
As a boy of 17, Pap was considered somewhat wayward by his strict
Kentucky-bred mother, after being caught hanging around the local
pool parlor. He was also out of favor with his father for daring to
criticize the latter's rather conservative attire. So to help him "straighten
out" and prepare to become a useful citizen, he was sent to Western
Military Academy, Upper Alton, Illinois, in 1899. He graduated from
that institution with high grades, but the endeavor to reform him was
nevertheless only partly successful. Enrolling at "Old Asbury"
(DePauw University, Greencastle), he promptly got in trouble with the
Methodist administration for organizing a dance at "The Delts," his
fraternity house. About to be suspended, he beat the administration to
the punch by transferring to Indiana University, where he went on to
undergraduate and law degrees.
Pap subsequently met and fell in love with Aura May Sawyer (better
known as "Munny" to the family). The couple eventually married and
Grandfather Sawyer gave them a generous start in life by financing a
house in Greencastle, but not before being satisfied with Pap's
credit-worthiness.

FIRST TASTE OF THE OUTSIDE WORLD
(Pap's earliest surviving letters were written at Western Military
Academy, Upper Alton, Illinois, the first to Mitch Taylor, a Civil War
veteran, the other to his mother.)
Upper Alton, Ill. March 9, 1899
Dear Uncle Mitch, I am over here in Illinois going to the Military
Academy. This is the damndest place I ever got into. They are terrible
strict. They make me get up at a certain time in the morning (6:30) and
have the meals at a certain time. They make us go to bed at 9:00 and
have the lights out at a quarter after nine. If we do anything wrong we
have to carry guns and walk. For smoking the penalty is five hours hard
walking. If we wear a dirty collar we have to walk an hour. They make
us have our rooms unlocked so that they can come in at any time. They
require us to make our own beds and if they are not just right they
report us and that means two hours walking. This is a damn sight
harder than ground- hog hunting. How I wish I was back. . .
Don't forget our spree down the creek next summer. While I was
writing just now I heard the whistle of the steamboat on the Mississippi.
We hear several every morning. . . From what I know now I shall be
home about June 7 or 8 and we will get right to work on the boats.
Yours Truly, Andrew E. Durham
Upper Alton, Ill. April 6, 1899
Dear Mother, After going to so much trouble to get a declamation it is
not going to do me any good. Instead of having a preliminary contest in
which we all could speak and then having some good elocutionist
decide those who were the best speakers, the teachers here allowed
each fellow to vote for anyone he pleased and the three boys getting the
highest number of votes were elected to speak. . . And I cannot even get
to try. . . There was nothing fair about the thing at all.