Monday, January 30, 1922

Fair, bright, clear, chilly day. Arose 7:45 A.M. Breakfast. Father & I out on business. Dinner. Candled eggs. Down town. Bowled etc. Supper. To High School to evening class in typewriting 7-9 P.M. Took walk. Home. To bed 10 P.M.

**********

A routine day, it seems.

Stanford never describes the process of egg candling, so we don't know if he used a special device for it. But apparently there were some inventors who were trying to improve on the device for candling eggs.

Below are two drawings of egg candlers from the U.S. Patent Office. One was patented in 1920, the other in late 1922. The latter seems to be capable of candling multiple eggs simultaneously, making the process faster and more efficient, I would think.

Patent Images

Patent Images

Sunday, January 30, 1922

Beautiful bright, cool day. Arose 9 A.M. Made twalay. To Church & Sunday School. Dinner. Fooled around. Took little ride about town. To Epworth League. To Church. Ran lantern. Good seminar on 100% daughter. Up to Mildred Swarts. T.B. 1.

**********
100% daughter is one of the Methodist Church's themes, as discussed in this excerpt from a current United Methodist Church website's FAQs:

Like all Christians, we believe in the Trinity. We believe in one God who is expressed through three distinct characters called: Creator, Redeemer & Sustainer (or Father, Son & Holy Spirit). This is much like our roles here on earth. All at the same time, we are 100% friend, 100% brother or sister, 100% daughter or son, 100% partner, 100% student or worker. In that same way, we believe God is 100% Creator (Father), 100% Christ (Son, Redeemer) and 100% Holy Spirit (Sustainer).

I guess Mildred Swart is still in the picture!

In case some of you were wondering what Stanford meant by "twalay," he is pronouncing the word toilet as if it were French. 

Saturday, January 28, 1922

Fair cool day. Arose 8 A.M. Out on business in forenoon. Dinner. Haircut. Down town. Bath at Y. Home. Cleaned up. To K.S.P. district council supper & meeting at Y. 6-9 P.M. To Strand with Merris. Good picture. Home. To bed 11:30 P.M.

**********
Merris is a family friend first identified in the 1919 diary at this post. He and Stanford enjoyed a variety of entertainment that evening: not only a "good picture"--The Man From Lost River--but a singing performance from Melda Allporte, some pictures from the ice carnival (mentioned by Stanford in an earlier entry), some comedy and a newsreel. And the theater had its own symphony and organ to provide the music. People got a lot for their money at the movies in those days! Incidentally, the cost of the show was 35 cents, 25 cents for the balcony. All these excerpts were taken from the 27 January Schenectady Gazette.

Friday, January 27, 1922

Beautiful, bright, cold day. Arose 7:30 A.M. Read paper etc. Out on business. Dinner. Worked and delivered in P.M. Out to Uncle John's to call. Stayed to supper. Bowled with Church League. Home. To bed 11 P.M.

**********
The paper that Stanford was no doubt reading, the Schenectady Gazette, carried the notice of upcoming bowling matches to be held that evening. Stanford was probably a member of the First Methodist League. They were to play against Trinity Lutheran at the Star Alleys. Stanford doesn't give us the scores or tell who won, so we'll have to wonder. Below is the piece about the bowling leagues. The other leagues are kind of interesting. I wonder who bowled in the Theatrical League--workers at those theaters? And what about the Liberty League? Maybe that was just a city league with people from all over.

Below is an excerpt from the front page that day--what Stanford must have read that morning. The front page articles are interesting in their similarity to the news of today: Democrats vs. Republicans and police brutality. Not much changes, I'm afraid.

Thursday, January 26, 1922

Cold, clear, bright day. 10 below ZERO. Arose 8 A.M. Breakfast. Cut some wood. Played dominos with father. Dinner. Played piano, etc. Cleaned up cellar. Down street. Bowled at Star. Supper. Wrote letters To bed 9:30 P.M.

**********
Cold weather doesn't keep Stanford at home--not even ten below!

The temperature did prompt a newspaper report, however. This piece appeared in the next day's (27 January) edition of the Schenectady Gazette:

Wednesday, January 25, 1922

Cold, bright, clear, sunny day. Arose 9 A.M. 6 below ZERO. Around house in A.M. Dinner. In cellar in P.M. sawing & splitting slab wood. Supper. To High School 7-9 P.M. to typewriting class. Home. Talked etc. To bed 10:30 P.M.

**********
I wonder if the wood Stanford was chopping was used to heat their house? I always pictured them as heating with coal.

Tuesday, January 24, 1922

Cold, bright, clear, breezy day. 6 below ZERO. Arose 7 A.M. To Amsterdam to make collections. Out to make deliveries in Dorp. Around house doing odds & end. Russell & Merlin left for Buffalo on 5:40 A.M. train. Dean Ripton class here. To Union-Colgate B.B. game. Score 13-16. To bed 10 P.M.

**********
Dorp is an affectionate name for Schenectady. Following is a bit of history about the name, taken from the Charles B. Knox Gelatine Co. Inc. Edition of The Old Mohawk-Turnpike Book, located on the Fulton County NY GenWeb site.

"Old Dorp"

Schenectady is notable as the place where Holland Dutch influence was dominant longer than in any other city of the Hudson valley (the Mohawk being part of the Hudson watershed). Holland Dutch was preached in the churches of the Dutch Reformed denomination until long after 1800 and it was spoken somewhat generally up to 1850 and even thereafter. Some years ago, two Schenectady men, who spoke the Dutch language of their fathers, paid a visit to Holland. They were surprised to find that the natives found difficulty in understanding their Schenectady Dutch because it was of an ancient form and much mixed with words of Indian origin. During its somewhat sleepy existence in the mid-nineteenth century, Schenectady was affectionately known as "Old Dorp" (Dutch for "old town"), a name frequently applied to it even today by the people of the Mohawk valley. 

The old Colonial Holland Dutch section of the town still largely exists in the streets of the river section, formerly enclosed by the ancient stockade. Here still stand many houses, in the Schenectady Dutch style, built before or shortly after the Revolution. It is a section of Dutch Colonial Schenectady well worth careful preservation.

The Union-Colgate game was previewed in the January 24th newspaper. Below is an excerpt from the report. Too bad they lost!

Monday, January 23, 1922

Cold, bright, cold. 3 below ZERO. Arose 7:30 A.M. Out on business. Dinner. Around town. Supper. To High School to evening class in TYPEWRITING. To church to High School Prize Speaking. Soda at Quinn's with Russell, Merlin, & M.S. TO BED 11 P.M.

**********

M.S., I'm thinking, is Mildred Swart. In case you don't remember her, there is a description of her at this post in the 1921 diary: Mildred.

The High School Prize Speaking Contest was an annual contest held at the First Methodist Church. Left is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the newspaper describing that event.

Quinn's was a drug store at the time, and drug stores frequently had soda fountains. Around this time Walgreen's was promoting its malted milk shake, a drink that included ice cream. Milk bars, as they were sometimes called, were promoted as alternatives to taverns during Prohibition. Right is a Quinn's ad that ran in December 1921 in the Schenectady Gazette. It goes on to extol the store's excellence in film developing.

Drug stores were encouraged to set up soda fountains in their stores, apparently; at least that's how it seems in the this item (left) from a 1922 professional pharmacy journal. 

Sunday, January 22, 1922

Very windy, blustery, cold day. Arose 9:30 A.M. To Church & Sunday School. Dinner. Read. Took nap. Up to call on Jessie Silvernail Robertson. To E.L. and Church. Ran sterioptican [sic] lantern for community singing. Sermon on 100% son. Up to Russell's house. To bed 11:30.

**********
Interesting that Stanford started to put Jessie Silvernail and then crossed it out and put Robertson. He's losing track of his girlfriends!

Community singing was something people did back then, much more so than now. I found several references in newspapers of the time. Below is a report of such an event. I wouldn't have put singing and steel treating together in my mind, but there you are! People made their own entertainment in Stanford's time.

Taken from the Transactions of the American Society for Steel Treating, Volume 2

Saturday, January 21, 1922

Bright cool day. About 4" of SNOW. Arose 8:30 A.M. Breakfast. Shoveled walk, yard, alley etc. Down street. Shower at Y. Dinner. Up to Central Park with car to ice carnival. Bobby McLean performed. To party at Russell's with Ellen Nielsen, Merlin & Dorothea, Herman and Dot Gallup. Good time. To bed 1:30 A.M.

**********

Taken from E-Bay

Bobby McLean was the U.S. speed skating champion at this time. He was quite well known, appearing at various events around the country. He even visited the White House that year in November. Left is a publicity photo that was taken of him in front of the White House. (It has a watermark because it is for sale on E-Bay.)

Below is an article that appeared in the January 23, 1922 Schenectady Gazette describing McLean's appearance at the carnival.

Friday, January 20, 1922

Mild, fair, open day. Arose 7:45 A.M. Breakfast etc. Father & I out on business. Dinner. Candled eggs in P.M. Supper. Bowled at night with Church League 182-172-168. Epworth League on sleigh ride. Over to church afterwards with them. Fooled around & talked. To bed 12 P.M.

**********
I guess Stillman is done with his court business, or whatever kept him from accompanying Stanford on business trips in the previous days.

And Stanford still bowls well! Good to know he hasn't lost his edge.

Sleigh ride, Farmington, ME ca. 1922
Taken from Maine Memory Network

I picture the young folk having a good time on their sleigh ride and church get-together. Even though the day was mild, there must have been enough snow left to ride on.

Thursday, January 19, 1922

Mild, fair, bright & melting. Arose 8 A.M. Odd jobs & errands in A.M. Dinner. Candled eggs in P.M. Down street. Bowled. Up to see Jessie Robertson. To Church to K.S.P. meeting and then to lecture on "Business Success" by Ridgeway. Furnace session. To bed 11:30 P.M.

**********
Jessie Robertson is probably the young woman who lived in Schenectady with her parents and worked (as did her father) at the electrical company (GE) in 1920 as a tracer. Since I had never heard of that occupation, I had to look it up on the Old Occupations website:

Worked in a draughting office, copying engineering diagrams, using tracing paper. In the days before photocopying, plans and diagrams for mining and manufacturing industries were copied by hand. It required accuracy, patience and a knack for using the pen without producing ink blots

It sounds like a very important job! By 1925, Ms. Robertson was working as a stenographer, a more gender appropriate job at the time, I'm sure, but I wonder if it was as much fun.

I'm not sure who Ridgeway is, but he was probably a local speaker. I'm not sure what a "furnace session" is either, but maybe it was about furnaces?

Wednesday, January 18, 1922

Mild, overcast day. Arose 8 A.M. Breakfast. Out on business. Dinner. Up to Havens to have car greased. Supper. To High School for instruction in typewriting. To Strand with Ruth to see "Three Musketeers." Home. To bed 11:45 P.M.

**********
Havens was W.D. Havens & Sons, a Kissel car dealership and therefore a good place for Stanford to take their car for lubrication.  Left is 1925 ad in the Schenectady Gazette, listing cars for sale, including a 1923 Kissel.
~~~~~~~~

According to an ad in the January 10th newspaper, The Three Musketeers would be playing from January 15-21 at the Strand. This particular film earned an extra ad that day, detailing its special qualities.

You can actually see this film on YouTube:

Tuesday, January 17, 1922

Cold, bright, clear day. Arose 6:45 A.M. Breakfast. To Amsterdam on 8 o'clock trolley to collect. Business too poor to make trip pay. Home 12 M. Dinner. Skating in P.M. at Central Park with Russell, Merlin, Cliff & Herman. Home in evening. Wrote letters. To bed 9:30 P.M.

**********
Since Stanford is making a trip to collect, it must be from those who bought eggs rather than sold eggs to the Clossons. Stanford doesn't indicate why he has few customers, but perhaps it's because his prices are too high. Or, perhaps he has the same number of customers but is charging so little he can't make a profit.

Stanford took a regular trolley line that served the suburban areas of Albany, to include Schenectady and Amsterdam. Below is a description of a suburban trolley line, the No. 3 Trolley, going from Schenectady to Amsterdam, along the Mohawk River, as seen on the map. Also below is a picture of the interior of a Schenectady Railway car, which carried riders to Amsterdam and other points along the No. 3 line.

Taken from Internet Archive

Taken from Images of America: Schenectady
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Central Park was a popular place to skate in Stanford's time.  Check out this story and photo here: Central Park Skating.

Monday, January 16, 1922

Beautiful, bright, cool & clear. Arose 7:45 A.M. Breakfast etc. Out on business most of day. Trade very small. Supper. Bowled at Morse. To High School to Evening Course. Home. Talked. Played duets etc. To bed 10:30 P.M.

**********
I wonder what Stanford means by "very small"? Not many eggs to buy? Not many customers buying eggs from him? Can't really tell from his description.

Stanford doesn't say in the diaries what brand or type of piano he played duets on (or with whom), but most likely it was an upright. According to the Antique Piano Shop website,

The 1920s era was considered the "Golden Age" of piano building. By this time makers had streamlined operations and the piano had evolved into a perfect machine. The upright piano had evolved into a very simple basic design, becoming more utilitarian in appearance than ever before. With the exception of period furniture styles like Louis XV and French Provincial, most upright pianos were without ornamentation or frills. Instead, plain square pillars and streamlined moldings resulted in a very "modern" looking upright piano which was considered "uncluttered" and "beautifully simplistic." These simple-looking upright pianos were generally of excellent quality.

Below is a picture of a typical upright piano of the 1920s:

Taken from AntiquePianoShop.com

Sunday, January 15, 1922

Beautiful, bright, mild day. Arose 9:30 A.M. To Church & Sunday School. Rev. Meengs spoke. Dinner. Took nap. To Epworth League. Good meeting but rather small attendance. To Church. Ran stereopticon lantern. Talked. To bed 11 P.M.

**********
Rev. John Gerhardus Meengs was the pastor of the 2nd Dutch Reformed Church in Schenectady. He was born in the Netherlands in 1873 and worked at churches in Troy and Albany before going to Schenectady. His career also included missionary work with white settlers in Colony, Oklahoma in 1900-1901. More information about the Oklahoma mission can be obtained at this Chronicles of Oklahoma website: Missions. Rev. Meengs died in Schenectady in 1937. His son, John G. Meengs II, moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan before 1910 and his descendants still live in Michigan.

More information about Colony, OK can be found at Wikipedia. Below is an excerpt from the article and a photograph of the church the Dutch Reformed folks built at the mission site:

Taken from Chronicles of Oklahoma website

Saturday, January 14, 1922

Beautiful, bright, cool day. Arose 8:30 A.M. Did errands. Down town. Took shower at Y. Dinner. Practised[sic] typewriting. Father, Mother & I to Uncle John's in Kissel Kar. Good track in road. Home in evening. To bed 9 P.M.

**********
I guess the roads have improved from Friday's slow going!

Friday, January 13, 1922

Pleasant, cool, clear day. Arose 8 A.M. Out on business most of day. Hard going for automobiles. Stuck twice. Supper. Watched church league bowl. To Strand with Russell & Merlin. Talked. To bed 11:30 P.M.

**********
Since it snowed all day on Wednesday, and with temperatures "cool" on Thursday and Friday, no doubt there was still quite a bit of snow on the roads. Stanford's comment that travel was "hard going for automobiles" is echoed in the below editorial, published in the January 10, 1922 edition of the Schenectady Gazette.

As the article notes, in previous years, automobiles were put away for the winter because the roads were often impassable. But the increasing use of cars meant that roads had to be cleared. But as is apparent from Stanford's comment, the roads were not kept as open as the writer of this editorial presumes.
~~~~~
Stanford doesn't tell what he and his friends saw at the Strand movie theater, but the Wednesday Schenectady Gazette showed that the silent film Uncharted Seas, starring Rudolph Valentino, was to be playing on Thursday-Saturday. Below is the ad:

I was unfamiliar with this movie, so I looked it up. The following information comes from the website allmovie.com. The synopsis was written by Janiss Garza.

Uncharted Seas (1921) - While he was working as a supporting character in this film, Rudolph Valentino had no idea that stardom was imminent. Alice Lake stars here as Lucretia Eastman, who is married to Tom, a drunken womanizer (Carl Gerard). Lucretia's attempts to reform him are futile, and finally she turns to explorer Frank Underwood (Valentino), who has always loved her. Tom's father, Old Jim Eastman (Charles Mailes), gives him one last chance to straighten up by sending him on a trek to the frozen North to locate a treasure ship. Lucretia accompanies him, but his cowardice disgusts her. They run into Underwood, who is on the same mission. Eastman goes home, while Lucretia continues on with Underwood. Eastman claims that Lucretia has been unfaithful and divorces her. She and Underwood hold back their passion, even though they wind up locked in the ice with the ship for several months. They struggle to make it back home and discover that they are now free to legally unite.

Thursday, January 12, 1922

Bright, cool, clear, still day. Arose 7:45 A.M. Shoveled walk, yard and alley. Fixed up & shipped egg cases. Chored around. Russell, Clifford & I went skating on Pleasant Valley. Light refreshments at his house. To bed 11:30 P.M.

**********
So, Stanford is shipping eggs and probably used a container like the one shown on the left (mentioned in an earlier post).

Clifford is Marion Benedict's brother. He was first mentioned in the 1919 diary, at this post. He was five years younger than Marion, and apparently lived all his life in the Schenectady area. In 1930 he worked as a car salesman, but by 1940 he was listed as a "new worker." At that time he was 33 and still living at home, unmarried. He died in 1977 at the age of 70, about a year after Marion.

By Pleasant Valley, Stanford may have meant Pleasant Valley Park.  Below are two pictures of the park. The top photo is early, showing, as it says, the Brandywine Mill Creek where Stanford and his friends may have been skating. The bottom photo shows the same park years later, when a road cut through the peaceful setting. Later still, that road became the interstate (I-890) pictured in the modern satellite photo.

Taken from Images of America: Schenectady, Ed. Susan Rosenthal

Taken from Google Maps

Wednesday, January 11, 1922

Cold, windy. Snow all day. Arose 8:30 A.M. Breakfast. Out on business. Bro't cases from hospital. Fixed up eggs cases to ship etc. Up to school after Ruth. Shoveled walk. Supper. To High School to evening course in Typewriting. Bowled. To bed 10:30 P.M.

**********
So I guess Stanford is shipping eggs after all--perhaps by Postal Service?  Notice the snow doesn't cancel the Typing class (as it would today, no doubt).

I discovered an interesting follow-up to the "market gone to smash" story of yesterday. The stores buying the eggs at low prices had a different opinion of the downturn; they were thrilled and passed their savings on to their customers, as the below ad from January 10th indicates:

Found through Google News Archive Search

Tuesday, January 10, 1922

Very mild, overcast day. Arose 6:15 A.M. Breakfast. Started for Amsterdam at 8 Bells. Back at 3 P.M. Business very poor. Market gone to smash. Bowled at Morse. Merlin & I out to Reynolds a la Ford. Nice Call. Ran out of gas on way back. Walked about 4 miles. To bed 1:30 A.M.

**********
The egg market does seem to have taken a bad turn in early January, at least according to the Pacific Dairy Review for January 5, 1922. Below is an article detailing the markets in those commodities for that week.

Notice the article says (in column 3) "The local egg market has continued on the steady down grade that has been in operation for over a month. . . . Eastern markets are also on the decline."  However, it looks like some improvement is on the horizon, at least for the Pacific market, according to the following week's report:

This report states (in column 3) that "The egg market furnished a surprise this week by a rapid recovery from the low prices that were in effect at the close of last week. . . . The low prices greatly stimulated the demand." Hopefully this change eventually translated into improvements for the Clossons as well.

Model T Gas Gauge - taken from LiveAuctioneers.com

Too bad the Ford ran out of gas on the way home! Since the fuel on those cars had to be checked manually with a measuring stick that was similar to an oil dipstick, and since the gas tank was under the seat, one had to stop the car, get out and look under the seat to check the gas level. Needless to say, it was a time-consuming and cumbersome process. Was our young Stanford capable of taking a risk rather than prudently checking the gas gauge? Probably. But since it was a mild day, as he reports, the four-mile walk was probably not too bad.

Monday, January 9, 1922

Very mild, bright, wet day. Arose 7:30 A.M. Breakfast. Out on business all day. Bowled at star 516. Supper. Did up accounts. Up to High School to register for typewriting. Downtown. Home. Talked. To bed 10:30 P.M.

**********
I'm not sure what the 516 means in this context. Was that his total score at bowling? Hard to say. Star is of course the Star Bowling Lanes, first mentioned in the 1919 diary here.

So Stanford is taking typewriting, eh? That will prove useful in the coming years. His course may have been structured like the one offered in Summer 1922 at the University of California, Berkeley. Here is the description, taken from the 1922 Register:

Below is a picture of the kind of typewriter Stanford may have been using. This 1922 machine is listed for sale on E-Bay.

Sunday, January 8, 1922

Mild, clear, bright day. Arose 9:30 A.M. To Church & Sunday School. Dinner. Father, Mother & Ruth to Uncle John's. I out walking with Merlin & Russell. To Epworth League. Mr. Bird led. Up to Jessie Silvernails. Russell, Mildred & 2 others there. To bed 2 A.M.

**********

Mildred is, I think, Mildred Swart. I provide some information about her at this 1921 post: April 1. Merlin is of course Merlin Finch, friends with Stanford since 1919. Russell is Russell Norris, who's identified in this 1919 post: Nov 2. I'm not sure who Mr. Bird is, as I have not encountered his name before.

Saturday, January 7, 1922

Cool, bright, clear day. Arose 8:45 A.M. Nice long letter from Nellie. Out on business. Got haircut at Chism's. Shower at Y. Dinner. Candled eggs. To Scotia Reformed Church to ΚΣΠ banquet a la Ford. To College to B.B. game Union 16-Rochester 25. To bed 11 P.M.

**********
I wonder why Stanford would shower at the Y? Is it more convenient? Did they not have a shower at his house?

The basketball game Stanford attended got a nice long write-up in the Schenectady Gazette on Monday, January 9, 1922.  Below is the article.

Friday, January 6, 1922

Mild, clear day. Arose 8 A.M. Breakfast etc. Father to court. Delivered all day. Aunt Gertie here to dinner.  Tom (Mark Sawyer) left for California on 4:57 train. Supper. Bowled at Morse with church league 2 games. Home. Talked. To bed 11 P.M.

**********

1876 Front piece of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

This is the first time that Stanford has referred to Mark Sawyer as Tom. Though it's an obvious reference to Mark Twain's book, I wonder who started calling him that. Interesting that Stanford feels the need to put Mark's name in parentheses. Makes me wonder again who he thought would be reading his diary.

Stanford's delivering eggs, I would presume, taking care of his father's business. I'm glad to see he's still bowling, though alas!--no report of wins or scores.

Aunt Gertie is Uncle John's wife, visiting alone. I wonder why?

Thursday, January 5, 1922

Very mild, wet, nasty day. Rain in night. Arose 9 A.M. Breakfast. Out on business. Dinner. Put new licenses on cars, greased them, chored around; cleaned walk etc. To church to K.S.P. (ΚΣΠ) meeting. Home. Talked. TO BED 11 P.M.

**********
As some of you may remember from previous diary entries, K.S.P. stands for Knights of St. Paul, a Christian organization for young men. Go to this 1919 post for a fuller explanation of the organization: KSP.

Perhaps the purpose of the meeting was to plan for the Kappa Sigma Pi convention scheduled for the coming weekend. Below is a newspaper report published in the January 5, 1922 Schenectady Gazette detailing the event:

Notice the article mentions that the founder, David Jemison from Cincinnati, will be visiting the district in March. He is discussed in the 1919 blog post (see link, above).

Wednesday, January 4, 1922

10 above ZERO. Arose 6:30 A.M. Breakfast etc. To Amsterdam on business 8 A.M. to 3 P.M. Chored around. Supper. Home in evening. Played piano. Wrote to H.H. Talked. To bed 10 P.M. Father to court.

**********
Why Stillman went to court that day is unknown.

Amsterdam, NY was only about 16 miles from Schenectady. Stanford probably took State Route 5, along the Mohawk River, to get there. This map plots his possible route:

At the time, however, the route was not yet called NY State Rte 5. As this excerpt from Wikipedia notes, this portion of the route was until 1924 part of the Yellowstone Trail, extending from Washington State to Massachusetts, with a spur that led to Yellowstone National Park. (If you click on the link for Yellowstone Trail, you'll get more information about that route.)

The automobile allowed people to quickly travel long distances and a way to mark routes became needed. One early means of marking routes was the establishment of various auto trail associations in the 1910s. These associations selected good quality roads and marked them with symbols or colors on telephone poles. Most of legislative Route 6 eventually became part of the Yellowstone Trail,^[24] a cross-country auto trail established in 1912 that ran from Washington to Massachusetts.^[25] In New York, the trail used modern US 20 from Pennsylvania to Silver Creek, most of modern NY 5 from Silver Creek to Albany, and modern US 20 again from Albany to Massachusetts.^[24]

Below is an old map of the Yellowstone Trail.  Note the spur to Yellowstone NP in southern Wyoming:

"Yellowstone Trail Map" by JRidge at en.wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yellowstone_Trail_Map.jpg#/media/File:Yellowstone_Trail_Map.jpg

Tuesday, January 3, 1922

Cold, breezy day. 3 Below 0. Arose 8 A.M. Breakfast. Out on business most of day. To see Dr. FRICK at 5 P.M. Mark here to SUPPER. Greased Ford and prepared for Amsterdam.  To bed 10 P.M.

**********
Dr. Frick is Stanford's pastor. He arrived at First Methodist Church a little over a year ago. Stanford mentions his first Sunday service in this 1920 diary entry: Pastor Frick.

Mark is of course Mark Sawyer, Ruth Closson's beau.

Apparently Stanford is now fairly active in his father's business. Since he doesn't tell us what he does, we can't know the details of his involvement, but no doubt Stillman, in his late sixties, was happy to have Stanford's help.

Here is a picture of the type of egg crate that was in use in 1920.  It was designed to ship eggs through the postal system directly to customers. There's no evidence of Stillman's having used the mail to deliver his eggs, but perhaps farmers made use of that method to convey eggs to Stillman. There is more information about early 20th century mailing containers at this website.