Young Professor Leads the Esperanto Meeting

And how many were
at the meeting?

When the Los Angeles Herald published a letter from Val Stone in July, 1906, they had no way of telling that he was only about thirteen years old. But, when a few months later, they reported on a meeting, you might think that they’d get the idea. Except, of course, there is another possible explanation, one that I think is certainly true.

On October 2, 1906, Val Stone makes his second appearance in the pages of the Los Angeles Herald, and this time gets referred to as “Professor Val Stone.” The article gives no hint that the professor in question isn’t a real professor at all, but instead someone who is probably still in school. Once again, there's an assumption I'm making about how this article got into the Herald.

The main focus is on a set of Esperanto post cards, which actually are somewhat interesting. If they still exist, they’d be a prize for an archive.

---

You can follow my blog on Twitter (@impofthediverse) or on Facebook. If you like this post, share it with your friends. If you have a comment just for me, e-mail me at impofthediverse@gmail.com.

---

This blog runs solely on ego! Follow this blog! Comment on this post! Let me know that you want to read more of it!

An Early Esperantist in California

The first of many letters to the editor

Clearly the letters column of the Los Angeles Herald in the early years of the twentieth century was the Internet comment thread of its day. The Herald’s pages contained many letters by or responding to a Los Angeles resident named Val Stone. Alas, despite his prominence in the pages of the Herald (and not just in the letters column), he seemed difficult to find anywhere else. I did find a Valentine Stone living in Los Angeles in 1910, but he didn’t seem to be the right person, as he was only 16.

A 1906 article in the Herald describes him as “a prominent educator.” But after looking through many of the 133 references to Val Stone in the Herald (including one letter by a “Mrs. Val Stone,”), I have no clear picture of who Mr. Stone was. In his many letters to the Herald, he held forth on a number of subjects: appropriate punishment of criminals, dog registration, women’s rights (he was for them), Teddy Roosevelt (didn’t like him), and in what seems to be his first letter, Esperanto.

---

You can follow my blog on Twitter (@impofthediverse) or on Facebook. If you like this post, share it with your friends. If you have a comment just for me, e-mail me at impofthediverse@gmail.com.

---

This blog runs solely on ego! Follow this blog! Comment on this post! Let me know that you want to read more of it!