How do you spend your free time in college? 

This summer, I worked at the Muskie Archives transcribing Ina Parsons’ diary, a Bates student from the class of 1896. Tucked away with her musings about her life at Bates and how she spent her free time inspired much reflection on how I’ve spent my own time at Bates.

During the past few years, I have explored hobbies just as Ina did. I learned that I enjoy painting, doodling, crocheting and reading. Ina Parsons was not only a hard-working student (she became valedictorian her senior year), but also a part-time sewer, whist player, dancer, letter-writer, bird-watcher and prankster. 

Since my first year at Bates, I have tried to maximize every second that I’m here. I constantly think about what types of activities are worth my time. Though Parsons and I may have missed each other by 133 years, we both strive to find a balance between work and fun. 

Ina never explicitly writes about the pressure she faces to be “productive,” but I have certainly caught glimpses through her writings. In her rigorous academic Bates career, she was expected to perform weekly recitations, attend prayer meetings, write letters to loved ones and to participate in the Polymnian literary society. A few of her daily entries even sound awfully similar to the Sunday scaries experienced by Bates students, like on Saturday Nov 4., which was just “a day of work from beginning to end.” 

Since Bates was a Christian school in the late 19th century, time outside the classroom was often spent going to church, prayer meetings or partaking in literary society meetings. Because they aligned with the ethics of rigorous academics and devotion to religion, these types of activities were sanctioned by the college. 

Parsons, however, in the spirit of any good college student, defied institution and dedicated several hours to other activities. So, what exactly did Ina do with her free time?

Card games

In 1887, an article in The Bates Student denounced  card playing because it was considered a “needless waste of time and energy.” The article reasoned that “students need some form of amusement that will relax rather than strain up the tension of the nerves” and that “card-playing should be left to those who earn a living by questionable methods or those whose only occupation is killing time.” 

The detriments of card playing clearly did not hold true for Parsons who became the valedictorian her senior year. Parsons loved playing whist on rainy days, on her free evenings, at parties and at other social gatherings. 

Dancing

Behind closed doors, Ina and her friends also enjoyed dancing. Co-ed dances were prohibited at Bates until the 1920s. According to an article in The Student from 1920, if girls wanted to attend a dance, they needed to be “in good standing in their studies so that they can afford to give time to sociability, they must have obtained permission at least 24 hours previous from their parents or guardians, they must be chaperoned, and the function must be such as commend itself to the college authorities as properly conducted.” 

Long before dancing was allowed and regulated by the college, Ina partook in her fair share of waltzes, marches and dances such as the Virginia Reel, Lady of the Lake, Portland Fancy and the Shaker Dance. A “jolly” evening for Ina and her friends would have involved dancing in the kitchen, playing whist and listening to live music.

Pranks

Contrary to what one might think, not all was “prim” and “proper” in the 1890s. Ina was quite the prankster, but she also got pranked herself. After the sun had set in May of 1892, Ina “screamed as loudly as (she) could” and “fled and downstairs the quickest (she) ever did” when she saw a ghost-like figure in her room. 

She and her friend mustered enough courage to investigate, discovering that it was actually just a pole dressed in white with a hat. One of her friends, a “Mr. French” (Walter French, a non-grad of the class of 1894), not only pranked her with that fake ghost, but also stole all of her clothes. 

In seeking revenge, Ina sewed up his pant-legs, coat sleeves and pockets of three of his suits. She also embroidered his vest and neck-tie, put paper in his boots and took the springs off the bed and put the slats in so they would fall at the slightest touch. Ina certainly found time to meticulously plot her revenge prank.

The pranks and rebellious activities Ina participated in continue to be entertaining to read 130 years later. Though they weren’t “productive” because they didn’t contribute to her studies or religious devotion, she still enjoyed doing them, making her tomfoolery worthwhile. Ina’s tone is flat and her entries are more boring when she spends her day studying, practicing recitations or planning debates. I preferred to read her lengthier entries when her daring personality shines through and she describes activities other than studying or praying. 

This upcoming year is my last one at Bates and I hope to find the enjoyment that Ina describes in doing the silly and the spontaneous things that I typically have avoided doing because they are “unproductive.”