Chapter 2 - Syracuse

Continuing from his letter to Scotland in 1926, I love Dad's description of waking up next day.

"I shall never forget the dawning of that next day. I was in the fruit district of northern New York and the effect of the sun as it slowly arose, partly hidden by the chill, early morning robe of dewy mist that clung to the earth, was mystic and wonderful. It was but a few moments before the mist arose and allowed the sun’s rays to reach the dew-drops clinging to the leaves and flowers alike, and then there was laid before me the panorama of an undulating countryside – its rare beauty enhanced by the shimmering effect of the sun and dew. I kept going all that day, sometimes getting a lift for a few miles, until early in the evening when I chanced to meet a master tramp with whom I travelled to Syracuse.

While in Syracuse, I gained a little notoriety by writing a little article for the daily press, in which I reprimanded a noted New York journalist for a snobbish attack on the profession by which I was then earning my bread and butter ( i.e. continental service waiter). The President of the hotel corporation with which I was employed wrote me a letter of “congratulations on my effort”. With the exception of a trip to Albany, the capital of the Empire State, at the expense of the Standard Oil Co. Of New York, with which firm I was offered a position, nothing else of interest occurred at Syracuse.

A little later, I purchased a Ford Coupe, and one day the thought entered my head that I might take a very pleasant vacation. Within twenty-four hours I had procured a complete camping outfit and left Syracuse for the foothills of Rochester."