Essay written by Celia S Whonsetler
Of all the beauties of nature, I think that spring is when they show to their best advantage. Just imagine yourself, if you can, seated on a small bank in the midst of a small woods in early spring. You see the fluffy clouds peacefully floating by through the tops of the budding green trees and small barking squirrels over your head merrily springing from branch to branch. Then you hear the faint tinkling of a sheep’s bell whose owner peacefully grazes on a distant hillside and you think that surely there is a companion to this merry tinkling nearer you, but, no, it is the small brook at your feet singing and bubbling over the snowy white pebbles carrying with it some dry leaves and twigs of the fall which we strive to forget in our enthusiasm.
——— (missing copy….. waters of the great and mighty —. A red bird merrily sings in a nearby tree top as if thanking the maker of all beautiful things for its existence. The frogs croak and apparently grumble in some distant mud puddle just as good to say “I wish it were time to sleep again”. A small violet awakes and nods a smiling head in the cool breeze joyfully welcoming spring with its rain and sunshine. A redbreast cheerfully hops at your feet gathering dry leaves and grasses of last year , to make for herself a pretty nest. These are not one-half of the beauties of spring If I had more time I could fill a book with beauties but if you would know I spent and hour for yourself in the open air at the beginning of spring.
The above essay was written by Celia for a contest. She had entered in the Junior Division in the 1910s. It is not certain if this referred to her junior year of high school or not. If so, it may have been written during the 1910-1911 school term at Wooster High School.
Celia Susanna Whonsetler was born on 15 July 1892 in Wayne County, Ohio. She was the fifth of seven girls born to Reuben and Sarah (Haas) Whonsetler. All seven girls were raised in Canaan Township in a home built for Michael and Mary (Sommers) Haas for their marriage in 1857. Michael and Mary Haas were the parents of Sarah Haas. Reuben Whonsetler’s family moved there in the 1890’s. Reuben was a farmer. Despite not having any sons, he and the girls ran a successful farm.
Celia was the only one of seven to attend high school. The story is that her maternal grandfather, Michael Haas, decided to pay tuition and room and board for Celia to attend Wooster High School. She graduated in 1912. Celia also received her nursing degree from Sawyer Sanitorium in Marion, Ohio. She had a successful career in nursing. She married Russell Kratz Hunsberger on 6 September 1928 in Akron, Summit County, Ohio. Celia passed away on 30 September 1970 in Summit County.
Blog post submitted by Pam Blaha.
