{Waterloo Lutheran Seminary
Waterloo College
Waterloo College School
Waterloo, Ontario}
Feb’y 27, 1927
Dear Mother:
Your interesting letter of the 16th reached me early last week, and as I am home this Sunday, for a change, I will endeavour to answer it this evening. I note what you said about peach trees being in bloom and lettuce and cabbage and what-not growing in the garden. I hope our cold wave didn’t strike you, or it would have smashed your brilliant prospects into smithereens. We had it mild all last week up till Friday night. It was so springlike that the snow melted everywhere leaving the fields bare and turned the roads and streets into running rivulets or rivers of water. Only during the nights would it freeze up a bit. But Friday afternoon it turned cold and wintry again. It began snowing Friday night early and snowed all Friday night and all day Saturday with heavy wind thrown in for good measure. As a result we have now about a foot of snow on the level and three or four feet where it isn’t so. We had a lot of snow to shovel this morning in order to get out of the house and open up the street for others. To-day was a fine day – nice and bright and not overly cold, but sufficiently so to hold the snow. I attended Church at St. John’s this morning, the first time for about a month due to the fact that I have been away every Sunday. Next Sunday I am due again at Bridgeport. On Ash-Wednesday of this week we are having a special service at the Seminary in the Chapel. I am to preach the sermon. This makes up for my missing to-day; though, I am sorry to say, there is no remuneration in it for me. However,
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I have been getting along fairly well, having had a considerable run of preaching lately. I am usually very tired on Monday; but by Tuesday it has all vanished away and I feel as good as ever. So I think that isn’t too bad a record for a man of my age. My work has kept me quite busy since taking over a portion of Dr. Zinck’s work and I keep my typewriter quite active typing out my lectures. However, I have so far been able to keep up with the work and some of the boys tell me that they like my methods better than Dr. Zinck’s. And this is quite a compliment, as whatever else may be said of Dr. Zinck, he was a good teacher. As to the matter of my resignation as Dean, I did not act on impulse in the presentation of it, but held on to it as long as I could consistently with self-respect. I also took into consideration that the Board could and probably would reduce my salary $100; for Dr. Zinck, who sat with Board during their meetings, had them well under his control and could do with them very much as he wished. If he could have imposed his authority as well upon the heads of departments and the other professors he would no doubt have been here still; for I don’t think he really wanted to go. But his policy was rule or ruin, and when he found that he couldn’t have everything his own way or in his own hands he was ready to get out. He gave all the professors a black eye before the Board and after usurping all my prerogatives gave them the impression that I didn’t care about anything or wasn’t interested in anything except teaching my classes. As soon as Dr. Maurer, President of the Board, who is very much of an old woman, became aware of the trouble Dr. Zinck had with the Faculty, he decided then and there that they would never try again taking a man out of the Faculty and making him President; and he had no difficulty in bringing the rest of the Board to the same mind.
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This accounts for why neither I nor others were considered. And in fact I would not consider the job if offered me as long as Dr. Maurer is head of the Board and lives so near. He is always trying to find some fault in order to criticize and has students who attend his church come to his house, where he quizzes them, and often knows things of which the Faculty here knows nothing. He encourages insubordination too. As an instance, last year when some of the students were finding fault with Prof. Henkel he authorized them to draw up and sign a petition against him and present it to the Board. Only the intervention of Dr. Zinck prevented this from being done. In the Zinck trouble he drew up a petition to have Dr. Zinck stay and gave it to one of his ‘lackeys’ to get the students’ signatures, and this was presented to the Board. On the other hand the members of the Faculty were not asked to give their opinion. You are certainly "barking up the wrong tree" if you think my anti-prohibition views had anything to do with their passing over me. We are all practically a unit on that question up here. There is not a single member of the Board that is a prohibitionist and I doubt if you could find more than three clerical members of the entire Synod that are prohibitionists. In fact to be a prohibitionist is regarded here as a taint upon one’s Lutheranism – a veering toward Methodists or United Church of Canada, whom the Lutherans, Anglicans and Catholics downed in the recent Election. In view of the fact that I am now serving the Seminary in my 10th year and of the further fact that I am taking work in the school that I was under no obligation to do, but took it merely to help out, I do not think
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the Board dealt very generously with me, and I have not been slow to tell the members so when I have seen them. And I think now that things are going along peacefully they will rectify that. I also have assurance that the Board will pay us for the extra work we have taken upon ourselves in taking over Dr. Zinck’s work; but nothing can be done before their regular meeting in April. So I am looking forward to better times financially; but I do not intend to make any requests of the Board.
You never said whether the filling station near your place gave you any bother or annoyance or whether it diminished the appearance of the place? You will no doubt have everything looking pretty grand when you get your new porch and all your painting done. We have great trouble to get the Board to give our house much needed paint. I got the consent of the house committee to buy paint and let us put it on; but after one room was done by the boys – Carolus and Herman – Bonnie called a halt on it because they couldn’t grain it. So I don’t know when we will get any more done. Well, I have already written a very long letter and must come to a close. With love to you all and all good wishes, I am
Most Sincerely yours,
[signed] Carroll H. Little.
