Diaries
of Girls and Women: A Midwestern American Sampler
by Suzanne L. Bunkers, edt.
[Editors note: This excerpt from Diaries of Girls and Women was penned by a 14-year-old Iowa City City High School girl, Elspeth Close, on November 11, 1918 on hearing of Germany's surrender in the Great War, WWI.]
This morning at 3:00 the whistles all blew and we heard that Germany had agreed to all the terms. Think what that means! Went to school and all we had was a 15 minute assembly in which we sang "Over There", "If he can fight like he can love", "Oh how I hate to get up in the morning", "Mr. Zip" and ... of course "America" and "The Star Spangled Banner." And yell -- oh how we did yell! "If you're up, you're up - If you're down, you're down - and if you're up against the USA you're upside down" ... After the assembly, [we] went downtown - Oh the great times! We each bought a flag and walked, ran and skipped thru the streets until 10:00, when we decided to [go] home. At 1 o'clock, we again met at the school house carrying our flags ... and joined the parade downtown... We went to a movie [at] Englerts but on finding it [cost] forty cents, we gave it up... What are things coming to, anyway? One might think that since the war is over prices might lower! ... We then went to Reichards', which was very crowded and got a sundae each.
Suzanne L. Bunkers is a professor of English and director of the Honors Program at Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN. Her book Dairies of Girls and Women: A Midwestern American Sampler was recently published by The University of Wisconsin Press.