Frances J. Pratt Letters on the U.S. Foreign Policy Association, 1950-1951

Happy Hew Year5 Although I cannot explain it there seems to be a. great deal more. . generis! optimism than there wes even a month a gou Friday night we had a change from our fantastically warm and muggy weather during which we had little rain but much cloudi
ness and fosc accompanied by a. pall of smog# A generally depressing condition which causes sinus victims to wail* and who is New York does not have sinus difficulty? Yesterdav and today we have bright blue sky, temperature in the low 20*8 and gusts of wind instead of an average of 65 o/o.
To my great deleight the FPA Board appointed committees at the December meeting and all the officers except the chairman of the Board, so mv epmnagin was not without result, e\en if r e ...ev post is still in abeyance# The little promotion pice I dreamed up on December 11 was well received and I was able to select the paper on which it is printed and then leave the mechanics of seeing it through the printer to Hiss Wells# Copies should be available in another week. On December 15 my secretary telephoned that she had a cold, on the 16th I did not go to the office at all on account of the strategy conference at Brooks Emeny's apartment and she did not appear that day either. I pro bable should nop have conferred because i had a nasty chest cold and a low grade tempera ture but kept at it for three days, parting from my staff collegues at five on Sunday and fell into bed. Honday morning I telephoned the office to report that I was stepping &t che doctor's and would be late and learned from my assistant that a letter of resignati on j. roi i che secretary had arrived. The trip to Gerry revealed that there was nothing the matter with me that a. three week's cruise in the Caribbean would not clear up and failing that 'I should get more rest and favor my liver where the accumulated fatigue had settled. I never knew how much I depended on eggs and oranges until I had to avoid them!
Thursday we had the 01lice Christmas party, for which I had planned fruit punch in stead of eger nog fortunately. I gave Brooks, who adores caviar, a little can of cocktail sausages with a. would-be ooem which he had to read aloud to the effect that since he loved caviar and. Eisenhower was right he had better take to these "weinnies" unless he was a meanie. Aunt Annie arrived in torrents of rain on Friday and. as the office closed at noon we finished wrapping our presents and I salted almonds for the Christmas dinner.. In the evening we went to "Caesar and Cleopatra" with Sir Cedric Hardwaicke and Lilli . Palmer. Je both like Shaw and thought the production good. The settings were very simpleout enective with superlative use of color of vibrant shades in the costumes. Saturday morning we went to Folly and Jim's where we had a wonderful noisy Christmas with the litil boys. There was a $$$$$ fine Christmas dinner at Martha and Cleves, where Tom Means and his family joined us# I persuaded Molly to come to town Monday night and go to "Manon Lescaut" with Aunt Annie so I c^uld devote the evening to doing an office job, which I had stupidly offered to do over the Christmas weekend.
Thursday we had a big tea at the office for members of the American Political Science Association at which we served coffee and punch. The professors had a beautiful time and we all managed to grind a good many axes. Friday Jim brought Jay and Fred to "Howdy, Mr. Ice" after which we met at the Town Hall Club for a drink before dinner. I went out with them so as to "baby-sit" New Year's Eve and continued taking afternoon naps over the weekend! Monday afternoon Aunt Annie came back from her weekend in Jersey and we went to "Tristan and Isolde"--I have the uneasy feeling that Melchoir is slipping -- his voice does not seem as clear and his step has lost its spring. I was amused when I heard him sign "Siegfried" in "Vfelkurie" earlier in the season for the first time I had heard it since the time he fell off the table after ^seizing the sword to discover that they have gotten a new set which does away with the tfcble and avoids that hazard for him.
These holidays are hectic in the office-- with many speakers and program chairmen
drifting about the country and feeling thsti they offer a heaven sent opportunity to cliat
with me and just drop into the office. Onesi even arrived one morning before I got in Another , who had the grace to phone, reported that he only came to thank me for being so
kind ten years ago when he was a somewhat frightened refugee from Austria. I prtested I
had done little for him, to which he replied "You talked to me like a human being and i" shall always be grateful". Zausmer is now assistant to the General Manager of the BOSTON GLOBE. On January 4 Ellen Lusk began as my secretary and life holds some promise again.

fjtid.

A V -{J'Lh~* u, Ai<u <. -- CJL-UStyToi'f*

- |U6.

January 15, 1950

A chit-chat this week had not seemed possible but a change in plans is giving me some sorely needed hours and time to be by myself. The later is especially desireable after Friday and Sautday spent in Philadelphia at a State Department regional conference', sponsored by the Philadelphia FPU. Rising at an indecent hour I made the eight o'clock train Friday morning and for two solid days have listened to speeches and discussion. It was a first rate undertaking with Dean Rusk, Deputy Under Secretary of State and ./illard Thorp, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, as key note speakers but an impressive list of lowere level State Department people and key industrial and business men acting as panel discussants. On the otHer side of the footlights there were equally good lay men and women representing a large number of citizens through the organizations they represented. Uor were the laymen afraid to ask probing and sometimes embarrassing questions o.i tne officials, it was an impressive demonstration of democracy's attitude toward public opinion.

Although I had a reservation and had afcked someone to get me one at another hotel, I

accepted Gertrude Ely's invitation to stay with her at Bryn lawr. her frame was built as

a barn witn three xoot walls in 1T75 and wad used as such through her childhood with the

huge^ family residence , ouilt in 1735, nearjjy. When she was left alone she sold or gave

tne house uo^-ryn . awr college to be used as the French house and converted the barn into

her own dwelling. Hiere the oig doors were is is now a huge window in the living room which

. is perfect ^or a lot of plants to thrive before. The beamed ceiling is the underside of

the roo~, so opposite the big window is the staircase nd a gallery leading to the guest

wing* Hargareo uarter, of the State Department and an old friend of mine, shared the

hospitality with me though we each had our own room. Another notable feature of the house

is tne exterior stone stairs leading from Eiss Ely's bedroom to the solid redwood fence

enclo^eu lava -.or her convenience in sunbathing. It is made of huge stones, each half

the math of tne staircase, so the steps are staggered, and without trying it seemed to

me to be fraught with danger. Driving out I began to fear that my decision had been a

poor one, as it was revealed that E'iss Ely was dining out, -nd that Margaret and I were

going to anotner party fortunately both in Germantown. Plans were laid to start out at

6:45 since Hiss Ely was due at her dinner at 7:15--but they.flvays tell me early because

?4!y/:n0W.X am alwa^rs la^6' 30 we

at seven in a heavy drizzle which made driving

bad for Eictor, tne D.x. chauffeur. Then as her hosts had moved since she was last with

them it developed that we really did not know where we were going and were overjoyed to

eventually xind her party. Ours was quite another matter and she went off charging us all

to remember Bells Mills load as we were headed for a numberless house on Germantown Ave.

at the corner ox Bells Fills Road. Victor smartly consulted natives in the first shop we

came to^nd we proceeded confidently for a couple of miles and then he began to seem

uncertain nd once was inclined to leave us at a totally darkened white bourse just bec-us*

it was on a corner!

found the ,/olf's about 7:50 and it was not until much later thT

I ler rnea . e n* been bid lor 6:30. However, it was a buffet and still in the pre-prMi-

dsal drinxing stage. I had a lovely time and got in good conversation with the Ted'Waller* Fi ancis Russell, Bob Barnett,^Charles Frarier, Ghet Williams and Blair Bolles. Miss ;iv '

had said, that 'ictor would wait for us and then we could pick her up. Victor made it cle

he would come back xor us and we agreed on 10:30. About ten I became filled with the vm oreooding ,nao re woula never find the place again by himself and was enchanted to hear (

+ \

"llar n0.il8f apneared and was demanding "the ladies". Meanwhile, our dinner ho~t

ZZ a*'

S n

^

-4 nc'

1?8 T -^cla

I ! deo

attempt calling

to emplpy disulaced persons and her struggles with the: herself up from lunching with friends, disguising her vrw

^

or affecting^ accent, demanding herself on the phone, insisting oi i n C K lo th

woram0w1 o"u6lad, nreelv,nerrndoefocr' a-n!suwchereinfgfotrhte inphtohnies' direction convinced her that particular " 9 1

I had

several hours in shortening.'

and then he primarily talked of quite different things!

Say

/?&3-

'ebruary 5, 1950

At last fur coat weather and mine has been vorn four times in the n+ w*v

tia more then since I got it at the Gunther-Jaeckel sale in het lust
and clear now, and later there should be a lovely moon. At l^st t'here"

colrt" t

wer^S

ITZ-TT "" h* ^ dPak

^ouch and Go"! le

PrIUluSs "a vveerryv aattttrraaccttiivvee a6nda -hvVie6 m')xan-from:lonSpanl Fdriraencctiaspcos, frBormoorkosu,ndTomabo-muidt mthee cyo>unhtr/yt

sesslons 01 conference all yesterday and today at Brooks' apartment *t+ nil"

CL"*"

TTM - 1

-- mm ti , m V

(the

Fe"rl'tiu? c, B'oouuttffiitt);",w'-eennt ttto"

ddifnn" er

and

Irleadparmeese"n"t'autttievreflvof

the
with

mEae.st-'./Tes+thnAns(rsho+ciation

little about her appearance-- olive skin, delicately colored *'nd "sH nv let bltfh T,,,

and brown eyes-when I met but never came to any conchas^ other tten she

that

her'T" *it\*,d attractive looking. At

able to f with me. OveJdi^rlBturnedTM {"JS.'S TA^LT- TtT
i.is*ss SLTTM;1:S2S"E; ,s**r --wAa:

as I am sure her acting and interpretation would be frr'hetter! ^TtT-e" the Tole>

f ormance as Butterfly goes the Metropolitan TW ,

and

gala in P

+hQ+

-n

WaE

.. 'ubanese

s

'

' ? 1 good

tenth anniversary

rerat

...= 4S3S ,,s

rsyrsrys

-*

go to*bed*and*now+it' is SA'lto* ^^ern^oB" "T' d!Cfded thst 1 had bett9r

T t T r X T l I though I could not talk with her Tenend^Has

not until ^

;;;;oaB,^rbrk- x h a d m d e

^
d,mo-

hke injections -fwT^seitTel forVxTlT"0t eao^' 80 to ^ave to X can remember to take the iron and liver and iron. ** '081ae thypold* 1 n:Ly hope

letter ^rpdrfv tJTi'+f, 1 *?? tdth Llly and Jim and wade leek soup for the

it couldn't be bester."

8nnoUnced "TMis is ihe *>* thing I ever ate,

almost a month and^JTthe^b^in

f flower? h?ve be9n in shP windows for

.

if.:; XiTSuM's;

...P

luncheon last Wedn^daftafveTe-fect!^ ^ist*

whom I had for the Ladies

asas-is s^-ass:SCW/P'1'"

tan- occupation and how they will pay all their debt's. If X buy some Japanese Government bonds and wait for th*TM + ,, ** ~ I

, quickly

(WA chairman of board) Friday the audience contained a great

ma awnvevearv,^ t+Pai T .asut ccS ess, T he was

^ ^ <** excellent and

to be back at the Hotel Astor and 1 nearly collapse^'Sm^rit I

P'S ,lik! old times'

me a special dish of pistachio and chocolate ice oream i'u~t rt C h beadwaPer brou^t

the late thirties. Considering that we have consistentlvBsed the 'Mdorf

in

eight years, it shows that either Fritz or the Astor kes their reewd"

^ f7>

- Aurj,^

-

February 26, 1950

3y the time I had had dinner with Hiss Ogden after Thursdays' FPA

Board of Director's meeting I was too tired to go the the Metropolitan Museum

for the opening of the Austrian Art Treasure/s for which I had a card that I

went up today. Despite the cold it was crowded today, but probably no worse

jjhan at the opening I There are over a hundred paintings, carved ivories, --

so old that thgry look like sandalwood; tapestries, most Belgian and very fine;

arms and armour, about which I know nothing though it seems impractical to me to

have'pearls and large rubies in swords? "ornamental objects" which included a

cubic foot of Cellini gold salt cellar--which is to me ostentatious : nd net as

be utiful as the Cellini Bowl in the permanent Metropolitan exhibition. There

is a fantastic emerald unguent jar carved irom an emeral weghing over two thoussand

carats, an exquisite jade bowl with e fine band of enameled design on gold, crystal

plain, etched and encrusted with all sorts of semiprecious jewels Some of these

objects are lovely and many of therv r~e bapvy,

v -aah'^g.te and to me ugly in

form.

The paintings were of greater interest to ne. Loving Verl'eer, of course, I liked "The artist with model" though I do not think it one of his best, but it was the only one they sent. The Reubens I liked best, though he is not a favorite of mine, was a very interesting self portrait of a sad eyed man--whom I had always
imagined to be red faced and buxom like so many of his interminable ladies. The
eigft Tintorettos were splendid md I very much liked his "Susanna and the Alders" -- in which the latter were peeping at her in the act of bathing in a most un-elder
manner. (I must find out who she was and why she and the elders have been so much painted.) Of the dozen Titian1 s "A Roman in a Fur" . nd "Pone Paul iii" pleased . e most. i could not tell which of the six Velasquez were most aopeaTing--a little boy, a little girl or one of the adults. Of my other favorites--Hlls, Rembrandt and van Dyck the examples were not outstanding, but good to see. While admiring the Michelangelo da Oaravaggio "Madonna of the Rosaries" I was amused to hear an art lover exclaim to his wife "Lookl His feet are dirty"..

Monday I went to "La Boberne" -- a good performance. Carolyn Martin

went with me -nd did not want to see Mimi die, so we left before the end of the

last act. It happened that as I came uptown I saw Maria's studio light on, so I

called her -nd she will go to "Heistersihiver" with ne tomorrow*.

She has been

skiing all day and except for going to the museum, I might as well have. It has

been in the 50's here all day despite my buring most of ray simply of wood. The heat

came on at eight and the thermometer hit the weekend high of 64 0/0. I still have

my head tied up in r scarf and am wearing my camel's hair coat. After I got back

from up town I huddled at the fireplace on the ottoman to get maximum good from

my logs.

h'e have been fascinated by the British election . I sneered at Tom when he announced that he had made a bet with himself that the Labour Party would onJ.v have a majority of 15. I could not see how the Conservatives could possibly do so well, when there are so many "little people" who have benefited by post-war social benefits lor which they thank Labour. For days I have been racking my br?-as to what I said that brought forth from him "If that happens I'll give you two Yc cream sodas/" If I don't remember soon I won't be able to collect, in case I \YP,s
right! ^Heches had another dreadful session with his right eye and a whole new crop 01 specialists declare its an allergy. "e left this afternoon by air for St. Louia on the first leg of a three week hop as far as the car at. In late April he a^d
Brooks and I will go to Buffalo together. I hope we fly as experience for me, in0+ in case I .lave to go by air to Europe this summer*

AW

C1Tt i-i) ;

March 12, 193D

Ruth Feeler-Bennett and her Mother arrived on the 1st and dined with-methat night and then we went to the G.B.Shaw "The Deveil'S Disciple" -- an unlhayian offering with Maurice Evans in the lead of an exciting drama laid in Colonial America. m an enjoyed it very much. Friday night we all dined together again and went to ^ -- the "Queen Mary"--which Mrs. Pdsher and I did not like as well as the "Q.E."- fortun ately very early. Ruth discovered that her electric dishwasher had arrived out not ner trunk of 350 lbs of food nor her wardrobe trunk and she had to whip off to Penn Station to find and transport them. She is flatteringly pleased that I have applications-J.or three ships all which would get me to Garsington Manor a week before the annual summer showing of their gardens for the benefit of the Nursing Association. I am to get the tourist's gasoline ration and after the garden is readied we hope to do some
motoring.
The 4th being the double Jim--Jay birthday I went to Martha and 01eve in tine for lunch and we called to deliver presents just as the hoys Jay had had for lunch and the movies got bock. Sunday afternoon we went back for cocktails and found four iCnohloffs there--without any children. Although Jim is 40 he claims he is still 39 and Martha asked "Are you afraid to live, or don't you know that "Life Begins at Forty"?

The weather has been colder than at anv time in the winter and much of the time we have hadj^ heavy winds to boot. I have not only worn my fur coat v/ith relief --and more than the rest of the winter put together but have enjoyed the anti-neural gia hat 1 mode a couple of years ago, fortunately it is so dashing tnat my admiring public never dreams that I wear it for there peutic reasons. I was sorry that it was . so record makinglv cold for Mrs. Risher--but Ruth declared she had gotten material -or
lovely tales in England with New York's dry Thursdays, and water served only on request in restaurants and clubs, Broadway darkened to what seemed to me dimmer than wartime to save coal during the strike. I am hapvy to say that by dint of some waterfall m the watershed and our valiant efforts the reservoirs have been pulled up to 50/9 from
a mere 33% of capacity

I am not only getting deeply into the May 3 dinner for the Prime Minister of Pakistan here, but involved in his country wide tour The latter essentially to do our local good and to make the Pakistani here indebted to me so they will eat out of my hand if need be latere With the party more than two months hence they called three times in one twenty-four hour period to find out if it would be black tie or
white!

Friday night X went to Maria's for a buffet supper beiore one unveiling at

the Armory of the "Fighting 69th" regiment of her latest portrait. She had gotten

boggled up and was still dressing when I arrived fifteen minutes late because of a-

"wred departure from the office and the fact that at t.ue last minute 3. could not

find the belt of the grey dress I planned to wear and had to take it off and put on

another. Hank served the preprandial drink, which turned out to oe sherry laced

with gin----sounds terrible and was delicious and tnen produceo. cha iq.-igie largai et

McCough, the niece and arranger of the portrait by Maria ox General william Cavan&u^o

was with us. (She lives in Providence and I liked her ever so much) When we rrr.ived

at the Commanding Officer's Room, a large oak panneleo. affair, we got all tiie eayl,/

comers to leave while we checked the lights so that there was no shine and the effect

at the moment of unveiling would be right. "General Bill" seemed a very nice person

and I felt as though I knew him--having seen the portrait in the studio for a^couple of

months----though I am cccustomed to see the portrait in uniform ano. ne was

in^, a.

dinner jacket. " His nortRait was over the mantle with a lectum and a couple of

ci.,irs bonenth it. Lengthwise down the room was long conference table on one-

sied Cavanaugh ad severe! other' former officers in civilian clothes. On the other _

were half a dozen unifroned current officers. The ceremony involved grayer by a priest

(the 69th has traditionally bean e toman Catholic National C-urrd outfit , speeches

w various old friends extolling "Bill" as a soldier and oificer in tori a ,,ar ana

Ks coriander of the hone guard unit in Vforld Vfer II. It vas pretty grim when the

March 12, 1950 --page 2

Regiment went on active duty, taking every bit cf equipment rnth them nd l wink

r r r ' . V \ ' ^ r 0j" g u a r d t h e & m o r y Oavanaugh, having been refused active duty/ si?r en .uiloing Up a regiment of inf-ntry. Th*y tcl* of ane St. Patrick's Day'
^n.rr.ae the* marched in when they only had cotton coveralls to wear. Naturally he no sooner got men in and trained than the draft board snatched them ard new youths or older men had to be found. "ith a crack about the wife of the "hung" Van

POrtrah hh Si3ter s

tc do that in view of

Point"

If0"6 rememberei to turn out 4he warhead lights and "Marie's

+ It n "?tlc vlth everyhe rising and applauding. The portarit was official

g_ven .c >e Regiment, prorerly accented as a distinguished picture of a beloved

Ihl Of tVTS

Chne1' l:ariE TMB Rs::ed tp riee Koneisneur Dineen, a

I,","."

y i;ana'" Spellaan s staff, blessed the picture, called it an excellent

liKeness ana drew attention to the picture of the Father Duffy statue painted into

u.e background as a particularly appropriate symbol. (Duffy wes war time chaplain

ano a roommate of Osvaaaugh's as well as his great friend.)' A tenor sans, "Irish

-yes are smiling" "Ave Taria" and "Trees" (Joyce Kilmer ts a 69th man! xims

a most moving and impressive affair and 1 was thrilled on my oar. r ccoutn as vellUs

't +1 fh.USh en0ugh 8eneral !;oC!o" ( Regular Array cavalry officer) was in

I r

es-den+tiror

J " y "'prld *" 1 and 1 heard a lot about the Regiment mej.fA. His portrait is excellent, by far one of the

when best

he mi there,

* e f^rst time

passion with which he greeted me and so frightened me

TM!+^7 f?.1 ,

M10raaS tfcat he loved the 69th for itself and because it

+"'x'" .7* oownanded troops before going on to other posts where subordinates

ZlnTTn^yTL^

1 ** ^

animated^,

The one sad thing -bout the evening was the feet that the man in ch-r-e of catering the buffet forgot that it was a Friday in Lent and had E terrific arrafof

. " V-'g +9: rare,roaBt heef, a cou-le of kinds of ham, cold turkev and tongue in a c tion .o a great array of salads, cake,coffee and a well equipped bar. I don't

think they used much whiskey in the raanhsttans but they were more than hospitable"in the manner in which they passed them. General "Bill" was talking to Harie and me

r'LTJ 'le aroun' 18 5 irst time and after we had accented ours he said "I

f , laugb or

T *"'eni TSIldt,ossef off 8 Manhattan in one gulp quickly returning the ,f: ,'rrr'* " "'atched him move from group to group, having a few words, a y t on the sec- everywhere. There must have been a hundred officers and

guests i -.ere beside the three or four 'embers of the Clergy" who were always addresser-

first each speech. No doubt many of them stayed until after mid-night so tSy
COUIQ eat the meat I Before I left Colonel huts took me into the Colonel's Room/also

-T? n* ,1RVf r ',se of troohy flags. (This room would easily make t, ree o. ,ddv , cGav s Commanding General's Office at Carlisle Barracks.) And then nothing for it but we all had to see the Chaplain's Room .

, 1 Tie- A P-ll tuat I did not goo to Holly and Jim until thelli03 on or.stfvtpy morning. Billy is growing up so much and so quickly. I worked and -orked over New Year to get him to say "Light, please" after he fished my lighter out of my !,c * ;/'-e cnaaters - .1 the time and uses the right word --none of this babv s.uif ior ,um. .Then . got him UP from his nap today, AS I picked up his sock, he

he LedCksh".

' !e M Sh0e aCd t0ld ne tet "

' "d

1 S<* his tees in

P 'S31 CSLMM f

Tidbit*, JlJLra.

^^fit,C\cu,u>, -

''

'

J

7*

I

April 16, f950

Well, it is a long time since the March 12 chit-chat and I am sorry but between the arrival of Patricia Dewar on H&rBh 23 on a train due at St17 a.m. ---the day already been consecrated to the FPA Board meeting and its attendant complications-and an office situation of increasing tempc and a succession of crises covering a wide variety of causes plus my own whacky experience with virus x life has been pretty full.
Pat was with me for four days of orientation to New York, which began with the arrival here when she turned over as her mother had directed her the traveller's checfjues, the return ticket and her $&$#$$$ Canadian funds Parts of Thursday and Friday were covered by friends so I c >uld at least appear to earn my salary. Saturday and Sunday we saw sights and people she wanted to see. Having seen the Statue to Liberty on Saturday morning it ' as a rcriate to go to "Hiss Liberty" an amusing musical comedy about a French girl who was supposed to have been the model for the famous statue--there is a wonderful song in one of the Paris scenes--"It's only for the Tourists". Sunday night Pat's during the week hosts picked her up to stay at Bronxville and she came back to me the next Friday afternoon. That evening we went to the ice extravagance. "Hotfrdy, Ir. Ice of 1950" and Saturday we tried to buy some things she wanted to take home and saw more old friends, in the evening we went to see Grace George and Halter Hampden in the "Velvet Glwve"--beautifully done and interesting pi .at of a lay teacher in a Ionian Catho lic convent accused of being a Communist. Despite the Bishop's opposition the Pother Superior (Grave George) succeds in his vindication. Sunday night I took her up to Bronxville on the train as the weekday hostess did not want to buck traffic. In order that Pat could go to Haster service at the church she had attended as a little girl she stayed in /estehester over theat weekend/! and I could keep my date with Billy. He and I spent that $$$$Saturday together while Holly, Jim and the boys drove to the east end of the island to nail a cottage on Peconic Bay for their summer holiday. Their mission was successful and to ray great amazement I slept the entire time Billy nappedJ Holiday night Pat left on the sleeper with Hazel and Bill Knox, her travelling companions. She gave a dinner party very gracefully at the station for her travelling companions, their two hostesses, her own Bronxville host and hostess, nother woman who had been kindto her -mid me. I am afraid hse was upset by the loss of her identification papers* which she charged me with having lost or destroyed. Never having seen them I was only troubled for her--and poor Hazel Khox who might fijt have difficulty at the border, however I was glad to have a letter from Hazel on Wednesday saying that they had been found in the first piece of luggage they examined together as soon as the train pulled out!
The returns on the announcement of the Pakistan dinner of Hay 8 are very slim and I am sorely troubled. The Town Hall people are maddening in their lassitude and casualness in going off in unilateral expenditures outside the agreed upon budget. If I wBre not so tired, perhaps I would take these defections with greater equanimityI The Pakis tan Consul General for whom I did p good deal of work on the nationwide aspects of the Prime Hinister's tour writes me from Los Angeles asking if he can call me "Frances" but so far he and his office have done nothing to help us get our audience. He is due back tomorrow and I hope for some sort of a pay-off.
Two weeks ago I allowed myself to become entangled in a series of four Wednesday
evening discussion meeting in the FPA Library Lounge for which I have no time but man aged to stave off doing a dinner on April 24 for the President of Chile, which had been suggested to Tom. He called me about it Sunday morning paid I spent the return trip fro: Bronxville working out a time table which showed that doing it would be madness. Ac it I was unable to go to Philadelphia on Friday for two days to sample speakers as I had planned for months on doing. This Thursday we fly to Buffalo for the spring conference of FPA Branches -nd affiliates--(from 5*30 Thursday afternoon until the Saturday night sleeper back to Hew York I shall be at the Hotel Statler, Buffalo). I have put in a great deal of time on the agenda for this conference and hope to get ray personal rev rd.
by wallowing in full to the brim tubs as a welcome respite from the shallow baths I take in water shortage New York.

$$ 6

~~tu <

TJL<it bly

A'oril 23,1950

It is dreadful to be anappredative of' \7ater in abundant supply at Buffalo, and I did wallow in deep tubs as long ans as often as I could manage--but the water had a hardness which materially dulled, my appreciation of it* Instead of sudsing mv best soap only went into a nasty scum* Even the soar they supplied, which I used to wash'
my hose behoved in the same manner* After breakfast in the station this morning I come home and went to bed end slept from ten until four-thirty* Yet actually I had slept better in my little roomette 011 the traip last night than I had during 1113'' two nights in the Statler* As it is bleak end rainy I decided X*d rather have an open fire, and soup end eggs here than to go out. It is all very pleasant and relaxing . The truth
is that I was dead tired before I ever left. Wednesday we had fifty ladies for the
austerity lunch and they dearly lcver~ Lendrum Boiling on the subject of Belgian monarchy* Ac told them that a kin^f in Belgium was highly desire-ble because it was a unifying factor but that Leopold had divided his people first by considering himself commander in chief of the armed forces and personally becoming a prisoner of the Germans at the
time of surrender, not only by marrying a commoner but more especially by giving her the title which the greatly beloved Astrid used when travelling incognito* and lastly by not returning to Belgium immediately after the war* He is a stubborn man and indeciwe ive. His brother Charles is bored with his regency and wants no part of being king, the son would probbablv be acceptable to the people but Leopold has not allowed him to
be built up and the reople are not sure that he has been given the proper training for the job. However the Belgian economic recovery is so good that tbsy can afford the luxury of this political crisis.

There were two other meetings in the office that day with which I was not directly concerned. Early dinner with Clyde Rr.gleton (FPA Board member and international law nroiessor st .:TYU pud flair Holies our Washington man and Tom who was presiding at ^n evening off-tne-record discussion in our Lounge. About eighty assorted members turned up and as a result of skillful handling there was some pretty lively talk. When I got home about eleven I was so tired that the p"eking went very slowly. Thursday morning unable to get p bab in the rain 7 took the bus and found myself sitting next to a worn n wearing * uit of ex- ct.'y the sp le mens-wear salt and pepper sh rkskin as my new one which I was wearing for the first time'. 3 rbara Wells, Tom and I left e little before
two ior the Newark airport and had a good flight to Buffalo, though it was in cloud all the way and we saw nothing else until ten minutes before landing. Yet we were high enough to have them use the pressurizer and bounced about from time to time* The array ok motorcycle police at the airport impressed us--they were there for the recep
tion of Vice President Barclay who was speaking that night at a Democrtic Club dinner at the Statler, w.: ich w s in certain/ confusion when we arrived. A strong west wind h d filled t;ie Buffalo end of the Lake with on ice floe nd the city with cold, d nip air* lies Jells and I went to the FPA suite onthe 14th floor (sitting room with two bed.
rooms nd three batas -nd a double entrance consisting of outer and inner foyer) for :v drink before dinner where we were joined by barren klystron* of Pittsburgh# After dinner Charlie Wheeler of Buffalo cane in and also a job hunter from Toronto. Hiss Wells went witii Ch i.rlie and me to inspect the Iroquois Room on the mezzanine where we were to be conferring the next two days. By 12:20 I had finished an organizational job on the
telephone with Tom and started to whip upfc the little speech I had to make the next dav.

The Friday mid Saturday sessions went very well and everyoie was pleased that : rs. Learned hand had cone up from Hew York to represent the national board. Friday night there was a pleasant dinner at the Park fcane after which several of us went to" the 'honie 01 *'anly Fleishman, the Buffalo chairman for a while#. By dint of perseverance I got' m two star performers back to the Btatler 8 before midnight* At breakfast I conferred viH the Detroit representative and took on flincinnati with lunch. Thesessions themselves ^ %
went well. Saturday afternoon we had cocktails at tie Garret Club, so named be cause"the

ladies f^rst met in some one's attic. In their very lovely clubhouse the dining room is

raftered in the attic's memory. Later nine of us went to the General Brock 011 the Cana dian side for dinner and ts sjtperb view of the illuminated Niagara Falls and then scraia-

KIA*

drt - drs<T?l* rdn f,0 + +t,p 11,35 train for New York*

^

/

j*,_

; -y 13, 1950

Monday Hay 8 was a red letter day. Never before had I taken"two mails 'in the same day with a Prime .inister. Somehow I was included in the mayor's luncheon at the feldorf (Jede Boom) where he entertains the V.I.P.s to whom he just has presented
the neys oi tne City at City Hall. Actually the parade is only from the Battery to City jlall and after the ceremonies there the motorcade whips along pretty rapidly to the V/aldorf The num J was working with in State Department's Security Service told me they were always late for luncheon and I worked until 1:15 (the hour at which I was bio.) and tne party passe: me at 40th and Park Avenue when I was on my way to the
yank to get the tiger claw ear rings from the'T9J A taxi helped me get to the Vddorf in tune to sip a glass oi Dubonnet before going into the dining room where I had a fine center table withLiss Jean Lyons, daughter of the Borough President of the Bronx
who runs these things and Commander Robinson, director of ",/elfare and Recreation for the 3rd "aval District and a memebr of the class after CIeve's at the Academy. The , ayor was not there because of an unexpected house guest --the governor of D.F. of
Mexico, but all the Borough Presidents and Consuls were at the head table with the P0M. r.nd t.ue ranking Amy, Navy and ain orce people. The Begum and the ofher head table wives were in the center front row table (we were i? ediatoly hack of them). Host of the.other guests^tne Pakistani entourage and city employees. The luncheon was Alaskan sTone crab, .inlet of beef with artichoke buttons decorated with peas, souffle potato
an u j.ce ^ ere a...* . n importer, claret va.th which we drank appropriate toasts and liouers .Lt i c ifee, and coso, :e hotel told me,815 per cover of the tax payers monev. The
speaking was brief as the delay in getting going was playing hob with the be utiful but gruelling time table Laurie Shaffi (Pakistan Consul General) Had set up,

I"y blood, sweet and tears of the past weeks paid off that night at our dinner with the Town "all because everything seemed to go very smoothly . The only discordant note I know- of^was the incredible performance of George V. Denny Jr, to whom we gave the iob 'L -emding. Despite .me o-sic memo or: timetable and background for introduction he six i tec to introduce eorge 1. Kenhr.n when it was '/alter Lippmann* s turn to speak,
caught himself, laughed inanely and switched, then instead of the one end a half minutes of network airtime^to introduce the P.M. he used a little better than five with the
reoult mat the irime Minister had to cut his time to come out even, Denny is a complete stinker xor my money and not only because he had one of his staff call me Sunday about o. detail o.*. tue oinner which was my business and i had to go to the office for three hours on Sunday after haying left it at 7:30 Saturday to deliver the charts for the. Ballroom to the hotel. Even then I could not convince him either that the "dreadful
mistake" was ray responsibility not his and that it was not a mist: kl. I was amused that when I^went down the receiving line at our reception Denny kissed my hand and within five minutes two men on his staff with whom I had worked closely for weeks on rather formal terms suddenly started calling me "Frances". They certainly watch him cat to
mouse and take all cues from him. Their inability to stand up to him and make him. adher to decisions agreed upon previously has been a great trial to me in these arrangementsm the course of the day there were the usual emergencies with people giving out %t' the D-is and others threatening to. Tom was a lamb and filled in one of the otherwise empty seats for hiyf me, provided lovely gardenias for ne to wear on the jersey print dinner" dress,; helped vdth the smoothness of the reception and took me to the Yfeflin Bar on the way home although I fear it meant he did not get to Jersey until a hideous hour'. The
Prime . iiij.sxei made an excellent impression---.:ie is Oxiord educated, sincere, friendly and no doubt an able administrator. The Begum is very pretty, poised and given to wear ing sprr s of odd. shades of red or brown -- though she arrived in Hew York in white as I observed from the office window Saturday afternoon when they drove up Madison Avenue. As Moslems they startled me when I broke up the receiving line to ask for a Martini and Scotch and water1 Most of the other Pakistani lapped up the orange juice.

The last of the "Wednesday evening discussion groups was Wednesday night and most successful to my great, delight and relief, l/ithin m hour after its adjournment Tom andj. were here -- he held out for going to the Ritz but I wanted to take off ray shoes for
xor it_was a warm, muggy evening -- hammering out the program for next season. I must be about it immediately as his Mexican holiday is June & my European jaunt still begins 6/29.

CtTj

TJ^r /Uj,

June 18, 1950

After Xfafeagan to think of thingsother than the Pakisitani I realized that

the first week in May I had parted company with the gal I was trying out as

my assistant* Gome to think of it she lasted until after the dinner because

her attitude in regard to it was causing me to steeel myself for a real talk

with her and tell her that unless she had a good reason for her behavious she

was out. Now with everyone's blessing I have promoted my secretary Ellen Lusk

to the assistancy and am looking for a new secretary.

Miss Lusk is only two

years out of colege but has worked in the speakers bureau of the American Association

for the United ations, she is not afraid of work and iws good common sense. There

but we all have them. The let down of pressure and the foul

weather of the past month together ha.vn made ma feeling a good deal less than

human in fact so badly that I actually went to Gerry for a check up and was told

1 would be all right if I would only get some more sleep and generally lessen the

tempo, so for a while I wet back to sleeping pills. Night before last I slept

naturally for thirteen hours,list night I was in bed a equal length of time but

did not sleep so long. We are over the hump of our water shortage and I believe

that last Thursday was the last "thirsty Thursday". The late spring brought the

most beautiful dog wood I have ever seen, both for size and profusion of flower and

a lot of things blooming together that should have been spread out over several weeks.

A while ago I went to an amusing dinner party given by the Turks but skipped a tea of theirs for whch I had accepted because the process of applying for my passport was so tiring. They also asked me to a party on the "Taurus" the new Turkish ship plying between New York and Istanbul, which I also had the wit to skip . It is curious tiiat the Turks are cultivating me so assiduously--can it be that they
plan to have their Prime Minister come on a visit? Already I have news of the
arrival in October of Gruber, Foreign Minister of Austria, but I only plan on the second best red carpet for him. Thursday Brooks and Blair Bolles nnd I went up to the Lowell apartment for a long talky lunch before the Board of Directors meeting,
during wnich I learned that Brooke hopes to go to Europe in the autumn. On the whole the reviews of Vera's new book--Europe and the United States -- are good but t. ey have not stimulated a lot of invitations for her to speak next year. It seems almost certain that she will have a free trip to India in October for w! ich I on
very giro. She has never been in the for fast end I hrve persuaded her to do it up brown - nd go around the world. A couple of weeks TO she gave a cocktail party x Dorotn; Nenyon, w.oom j. had not seen in ages# She was very amusing about her testimony before the Senatorial committee and told of the satisfaction she had in pointing out to to.era that back in 1937 all liberal minded decent people were against -rancc na his Nazi and Fascist friends. I know that she was under great strain at the time of her testimony but felt she did a grand t1ob. I wish I could be sure that McCarthy was not going to go on making a bad matter worse.

At last I have relaxed and completely accepted that I sail for Europe from Grand Central Station. The Countess of Listowel is insisting that I stay with her in London, nd . lutli 7/ehle is urging me to use her flat there since she will be in Keno .a _ . .oUo m aaa laut and as I snail have to be seeing a great many people
professionally in London am keeping ray independence there. Garsington Manor is said' to be P lovely place with beautiful gardens, part of it was built in the 13th century as an abbey Les harraettee is a small French chateau, 17 miles from Paris, -nd the only place Larry Harris could rent a couple of years ago when he was in JCA and having his mother come over to do his necessary entertaining. This is the way dates work* June 29 leave *"ew York for Quebec to s il June 30 on.the "Empress of Scotland" first class (a&naaian Pacific S3 Uo.July 7 land Liverpool and go to American "Yemen* s Club, Upper Brook Street, London, W 1, to stay until July 15. From 15 to 24, c/o
J--T3# John ". "heeler- 'ennett, Garsington Manor, Garsington ne^r Oxford, England.
July 25 to Aug3 c/o Mrs. Nathaniel Harris, Les Charmettes, Torcy, S.etl ., France. Aug. 4--Adelphi Motel-, Liverpool, Engl ..nd Sail *** HMS "Parthia" (Gunard Line) da New York on August 12. I am due in the office on t^e 14th.

,

pLip3,3

5

1

!Z n*

~\f..(v^jc,7

7

^4*v'-.3 ^ " ' v

The flurry of the welcome home pp.rties has subsided and gr; durlly I'm getting my feet
back on earth after a marvelous holiday during which I was completely spoiled* The warmth of welcome by family, friends and collegues, including magnificent orchids from Tom which survived two days beyond the evening of presentation, helped to extend the rosy glow in which J lived while I adjusted to the marked change in US atmosphere since late June raid
prepare me for a tougher than usual winter's work*

The last days of June were hot end humid and filled, with uncertainty for me until 1 could appraise the Korean crisis and decide to leave notwithstanding. By orodigious effort everything was whipped through and I soiled in a roometteon the 1 ontrenl sleeper from Grand Central station. Unsuccessful in my earlier effort to shin the huge parcel of food I was taking to Sngland and cigarettes and stuff for Mrs* Harris through to the ship in bond, I had to leave it in the porter's space in the car. No US official spoke to me at the border (I was not counted in the census, so I suppose the Government does not cure
what I do) and the Canadians were satisfied that my stuff was all plastered with "Empress of Scotland--Canadian Pacific Steamship Co." labels. The Tudors were at the station and had breakfast with me -nd saw me onto the Bo-1/ train for Quebec*which was late in arriving
so the pressiling period was somewhat flurried for those who had not arranged in advance for d.iningroom and deck chair-space# We sailed at five, but at that moment I was inside having tea with Col. Benj Namm and his son* There was a good sunset and a fine mooarise but that's about all we saw of either until the morning we woke in the Firth of Clyde .
The sun on the green moors of Scotland certainly looked good after five days of fog and chill--so cold that the heat was on in the cabins all across. Despite the thick fog our radar permitted us to go at full speed without using the foghorn, which gave me an eerie feeling. I"*y cebin-A-83 boasted two portholes and a bath. I had the bed under one port
with Hose Fstrin, Detroit schoolteacher in the lower and a BryhMawr junior in the upper# Tie rather insipid Riley was travelling with her family and they had first sitting, so she was gone before Cocker, the stewardess, brought me my breakfast# In the dining room I
drew a place t the Staff Captain*s table--Roberts, where we had Grace Golden--curator of the Children's Museum in Indianapolis, Alice Ardis--a sweet child from Texas who goes to Vssse.r next, no this,month; Sir Harry Brit-tain, a 77 year old Conservative who founded the Pilgrim Society and the Umpire Press Association and was returning from its convention in
Canada? and "the little man who wasn't there"--a Scot who spent all his time in the bar and whom v:e saw only once or twice. Sir Harry was something out of a play and everyone on the ship seemed to know about hira and be sympathetically amused that he shifted his seat
to he '-rtween Alice and me and watched, us to see how we cored with him# It was pleasant to swim in the pool and on the 4th of Ju.l}r when it was quite rough great fun to swimn as hard as you could to stay in the center as the water sloshed from side to side. However a lurch unbalanced me after I had dressed and I slipped on the wet marble and fell heavily
putting my sacro iliac out of whack. Fortunately I had the name of a classmate of Gerry's in London and he put it back a week later for three guineas. On account of Dominion Day and Independence Day we had two galas, for the latter the Namra*s had me for dinner e.t their
table and a champagne party. The passengers were equally divided amongst Canadian, British
and American, agreeable but unexciting^as a group I preferred tha Canadians.

The day we coasted the Scottish and TngLish shore was best--sunny paid warm. I tried to

identify Troon where I spent the summer of 1931 with the Dewars . The views at lunch of

Ailsa Craig -nd Isle of Kan at dinner were lovely. The next morning we were in the Mersey

and docked a little before 11# Despite my parcels--the large one was sffLit into two on

the ship--and the box of jewelry for Mrs. Hariris in my handbag--I got through customs in

nothing flat. Fstrin had arranged to sit with me in the train and shared my mirth pt lunch

when I declined sugar ray

coffee and the waiter grinned apprqavEtl and said "That's the

stuff". We saw practically no identifiable bomb damage as we left Liverpool by train and

little on our southeasterly crossing of SngLand to London. But there it was a different

matter. Many structures are obviously rebuilt or resurfaced, others stand in various stages

of ruin, some spyearing whole are boarded up or placarded "Unsafe". Mostly at corners, but

also elsewhere the rubble will be cleared and a garden made in the erstwhile cellar or

the ground leveled and used as "Bombed Site Car Park"# The effect of blast is curious-

two corner houses will be demolished, then two or three in use, then one or two ruined,

TO or thi-M in use and then another gap. London gives the impression of being poor a-id

oilty out uidy -.0 ..unas "to clean "the stone of a house hut t

likely have window boxes of flowers at the street level q

windows sparkle and will

rationed so

It.^1!,.ft Str66t..leIe1' aoaP> SUS^

meat are still

In

'

i Q,6 FA US one

exception all newspapers everyday'TMhigh.'ToSS^^s Sor"S

.cans complained to me of its roughness. KLeenh is hard to come by! Unentfs/r'cf

snZac%xTora'rs8oorr tthheePtteeaanssh?oopopneS-[b, ur t? te+ r8 yp -a br u^ siy nesU8 sedl"unchHo sn oertBr oe f pelve ar ce.e'erv1eednuwsithoftfeear nror at'
variety of fowl, pheasant, fish sort of main dish but seldom S mutton or beef

elli'llltnTLemed

mth 'JTM61" ol^rancea-but even with my favorable rate'of

i~ag
impos,:-.j.L'le . or o.iem to get china and glass unless defective and unworthy of the export tr.de ma under t.-iose circumstances you cculd never get sets. English rents always have

-f ro'^ood b"v

,ir st,nd,rde--but x neanr6r'd 01 atauXn?ivserarsfity graduatweagve/sithfoar iwnidfuesatnrdialchwilodr.ke1r1s0

two, mo would be glaa to get a job teaching at ten pounds a week (a pound cost m 2.30 )

m a 1 ura,l area he cold rent a house for a pound a week#

I was very comfortable at the American iouen's 01ub vk 49 Upper Brook Street between Park Line and Grosvenor Square. . a single room without running water was 17/6
with breakfast, but I paid an extro shilling to have mine brou ht to me as I was working
like mad/ talking to people and checking on speakers who wanted to come to lecture this season. Tli telphone system is quite b-ffliu. but I evon got go that I celled from pay booths round town when I had to check on appointments. I saw a great deal 01 Judith Listowel, who has gained weight on th motion-minus diet, which has not ironroved 3ter n: tural s iarply etched features and petite figureI But she seemed more relaxed and gayer
despite the great pace she goes at to produce her weekly "hast Europe and Soviet Russia" which came out in new and enlarge format while I was there and the responsibility of pro viding for her two nieces as well as her own daughter. The house at 16 Chester Row is wee but has some lovely things and houses three adults and during the school vacations
three children, now that Margit and Torni are there from Hungary. She gave a dinner for me 11a managed a dozen people---at eight and dress please. Through some "connection" she has an "in" v/ith the Queen* s milliner --Tarbouf or some such--- nd for shillings gets hats that would sell for guineas with these and her old dresses let out and these sent by friends from the US she still cuts a snrrt figure. The gown she wore at dinner she had here in' 1941-- out t. en the travelling rayon jersey print I wore was about the same vintage, tool The day I >- bok from Gnrsington end had tea with the children Eddina, the eldest niece wore a gingham Fran discarded and I sent Dierdre three years ago.

Not having been in London in 15 years I was much impressed v/ith the increased number of Jews and Continentals. Then there were many Indians, this time I was impressed with the Africans to be seen. Hyde Park Corner still does its usual free speech business and I was impressed with the largest number of People listening to a spokesman for the Catholic Evi dence League. The absence of fences around most squares, they were used for scrap iron in
the war, bothered me when they had been replaced with light wooden pickets so that the "park" could be closed at night. St, James Square looks as lovely as ever though and no one would guess that there had been a huge air raid shelter and a tank-car--park during the war. The eleven trees are not missed either and its turf is perfect--a seeded job, at that. I spent a profitable day at Chatham House, and was impressed with the enormity of the Royal Auto mobile Club where I had tea with the deHorostovete. I liave no idee where Tracy would have
taken me for dinner had 7 been able to accept his invitation, probfebly somewhere just as
grand. Poor dear he had postponed his departure to Italy $$eto see me having been completely confused as to when I was going to be where and even asked people near C^rsington to ask me to lunch the day they asked him but that was while he was still telephoning me from Brussels before a. ever landed in England. The fact that he thought I was staying at the Reubens
Hotel did not help in his search for met I-Ie came along to the Club and dined with me the night I had Evelyn ITcDonald of Toronto for dinner after she had been to the Royal Garden* party to which ITS citizens were not eligible so ray lovelv pink hat did not see the Queen.

After the scramble of London, where I was often up until two writing up the notes

for the office on the people I hod interviewed, Garsington honor where I staved with

Ruth and John /heeler-Bennett for ten days was ideal# 1 arrived in rain just before

lunch for the man who was to "open" the village fete tor the beneiit of the crunch, ivnn.cn

was being held on the Manor grounds. The stalls were all arranged under some holm oa..vs

below the la it I rushed into the garden to cut some roses to enter in the j lover arrange

ment competition and would have enjoyed it more if that had not been th moment of a hard

shower# My entry added cash and one more entry but did not

a prize -I'm sure tne

judge thought roses and honeysuckle very odd# 1 smoothed my hair ano went to the drawing

room for sherrv before a quite formal, delicious luncheon which was hurried by fear the

rain would be worse and the whole collection of sale items would have to be moved to the

Village Hall# But no, we opened and carried on with intermittent rain. As fcne wouse was

being "shown" for a shilling Eleanor Gibson, my fellowllouseguest, and I joined the first

group# The mainbuildings of the 12th century abbey were destroyed at xne^ time of tne

Reformation and the present house built in 1530. Catholic sympathizers lived there and built an oversized fireplace in the diningroom with iron rungs at one side up a false

chimney leading to a secret cupboard in my bedroom just a'fove--so tne ring' r : en eraie

while the jhtina.-nt priest was performing. his duties in the house he could be hidden# When

we finished the tour 1. tipped John six pence and thanked him for a most illuminating

trip. I bought things from the tables, getting a most interesting "Gien" pottery inkstand

sa.ns stopper from the Girl Guides# As I was paying for it, one o:. tnem said 'It coula do

with a bit of a wash" and so it could--and did# Later I took it to Charles Parker, the

curator of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford for identification as Ruth's book on china did

not show the mark# He thought it Low Country, possibly Belgian late 18th century. They had bowls on the turf tennis court, rowing on the "lake" which the monks had dug to keep

their fish in, children's sports like sack races on what used to be the dirt tennis court

below the lake and a the yew maze, the ladies of the .'/omens Institute served tea in the

woods to the west of the house and eventually dancing on the lawn# Once when I was just

exhausted I retired to my room, where Eleanor in a similar state found me# ^ While we

chatted we heard another "tour" coming up the stairs and retired down tile four steps to

my bathroom^^ which is part of the monestary remains and over the now butler's pantry.

The next, day was sunny and lovely and before lunch we sat on the terrace enjoying

the weather, and later were horrified to find that our presence there had scared off

the villagers who had started to

clear away the tables and things from the eale#^

Eleanor and I were troubled about it and ?.dsh that John had shooed us inside because he knew they would not presume to pass along the back of the terrace, twenty feet from us# Manorial rights carry duties as well and John spends half his time on the affairs of tne

Village--while he hires an Estate Agent to conduct the business with his tenants # lie is

also the Rector's warden.at the little norraan church on top of the hill surrounded by. its

churchyard cemetery and entered from the road through a litch gate, ,/e however walk through

the woods and across a breok and a field to go to Evensong at 6:30# John reads the lessons,

the little girls and some of the women do not wear hats in church -- with clothing^ rationing

too many women just did not have them The village is not poor. It's l,ooo inhabitants

are about equally divided between those who are farmers and those who work at the Nufiielg

and Press Steel works at Cowley between Garsington and Oxford# Those who do go to tne works

are loyal to the village and its ways# I gegret to report that the aspidistra in the

front parlor window has passed. 1 looked and looked and then asked and learned mat me

fashion has passed and been replaced by plaster statues of dogs which cost at least a

pound# Even at its height the aspidistra was only a shilling a leaf# Modernity is expen

sive.

During the next week 1 climbed into my most comfortable four poster on a stool aoout eleven every night and stayed there until ten the next morning. About nine Mabel brought my breakfast, my mail and a paper. By eleven I got into the garden to do what I could to make it spick and span for the garden showing the next Saturday# The formal garden has twenty four box bordered beds with sentinel yews ranging from 8 x 8 to 20 x 20 wath addi tional border beds and lichen covered brick wells on two sides partly covered with espaliered trees, vines and dripping with strays that have seeded themselves between the oricks# re
side this there are dozens of stone pots of things, lavendar borders around the turg court,
th cutting beds, the sweet pea trellis, the herb garden, to say nothing/ of the berry and vegetable patches. Ruth was always organizing little expeditions to Blenheim Palace,

which the tax-ridden Duke of Marlborough has turned into a business, and other points of interest for us to visit. These delightful junkets cut into my gardening time'mater-., iallyl To me Blenheim is a hideous, huge pile of mustard colored stone set in a lovely big park close to the village of Woodstock. Obviously the familie's private wing is not diown yet there was a sense of lived-in-ness everywhere we went (except the room in which Winston Churchill was born with its Victorian brass bed) flowers in vases, ink end stamps on writing desks and so on. There is magnificent Crinling Gibbons stone sculpture in the ^ entrance hall and among the many family portraits a fascinating contrast of one generation group in a gracious, rounded composition by Reynolds looking across the room at a Sargent done in a stiff perpendicular manner. The taxes should be covered now by the half crown admissions as they were getting 132,000 people a week. Honey is also made by the sale of potted slips from the garden, which must have a terrific snob appeal.
One day e browsed around the Cots ./olds : id visited the ruins of a priory and sub sequent manor --blaster Lovell Manor on the banks of the i/inrush diver, lunched at the Green Bay Tree at Burford, visited (Xi:,stleton louse built 1603 in Jacobean style by halter Jones with notable plaster end fine but poorly cared for oak panelling. The family treasure is Charles the first's Bible which he used on the scaffold, also beloved are the Jacobite glasses with the small decanter to hold water over which the vrine glasses were passed 'n the secret toast to "their King" during his exile on the continent The 250 year old box garden is topiary at its best or worst depending upon the point of view*-me, I'm anti but lurry, the chauffeur had eyes for nothing else. From Horeton- on-the-!arsh we '.vent to Chipping Camden for tea and enjoyed the Parish Church there with its avenue of 12 linden trees for the 12 apostles.
Eleanor and I spent a night at 4-0 St. Giles in Oxford---the home of John*s sister !rs# Trevor " or ton u to \ms on the cent:'it n't" .ithfier " usbini, anatomy ion at Christ " i-nc h 'collloevre1--. in" orieh-ii*g toonedooIpTon?:*our * fe..:6suilvt .o oTinhoe rhod.uc,syedhtri.1 iotus,y!sbteoingt' oon'cothVet nrciain ;dstreet between the Gross and the War Memorial. As we had our coffee in the garden after lunch we especially admired the passion flowers climbing over the wall. We were given high tea at six and went to The Second Mrs. Tenquery at 7115. It was light enough at 9i30 to wander about a bit before returning to the house where we found trays in our rooms with thermos bottles of soup, plates of biscuits and fruit. (The war time early t h e a t r e obtains even in London -here Judith vent with me to see "Venus Observed" with Laurence Olivier-- almost identical stall seats are 17/6 in London against 7/6 in Oxford) The university seemed untouched by the war, but the town infinitely busier.
Another day we had tea in the garden at the Barley Mow overlooking the Thames at Olifton Hampden, a place spoken well of by Jerome H. Jerome, and wait on to Abingdon to see the Almshouses, chartered by Edward VI and built in 1446 by the Guild of the Holy Cross It still houses old men and old women, #io get their keep and 7/ a week plus old age pension. It is ironical that their quarters are separated by the cemetary. They still give to the poor of the town --which is older than Oxford--formerly it was a bread dole but since rationing it has been by cash. The Abingdon Abbey, which has a an extraordinariljr wide nave , formerly had jurisdiction over the Garsington monastery and St. Mary's Church in Garsington. The bridge over the Thames was built by a wool merchant who saw this easement of transport as part of a strategy for the greater commercial importance of the town -- a fact which does not seem to hold today. On the way home we passed the naval airdrome Hornbill at Culham from whence planes continually fly over the Manor and close to the Tittenheun Clumps... which we see from the south windows. I loved driving about the beautiful and unspoiled count rareide but hated to leave the Manor. Once I confided my mixed feelings to John, who replied with characteristic honesty " I wonder too about the rushing about. After all this is considered one of the more' beautiful small houses of England. " Of course, the "small" is relative -- it is probably half the size of the manor in Kent where John was brought up but it must have fifteen rooms exclusive of kitchen, servants hall, pantry, scullery, maids bedrooms, etc. Fortunately it is not furnished in the uncomfortable period in which it was built. The drawing room is Regency and green satin brocade. The oak room where we had tea contains several magnificent marouetary pieces and comfortable deep upholstered chairs and a sofa. My bedroom is Victor ian with a dressing table made from an old spinnet. Eleanor's was painted Italian furni ture. It was hard to leave for a few hours and sad to go for goocll

ft bB -

(h<u%lc/ Uj ,

^ *>1

/

Sfbptlraber 17, 1950

The post Labor Day cold which made a quiet weekend in town lest week desireable Has not been helped by the damp weather nor the pressure in the office, which kept' me

working very late (to between eight and nine except Monday when I left at 6:30 to dine

with Maria and Tuesday when I went to see the Sadler's Jells Ballet at the Metropolitan',

do the complete Swan Lake) indicated putting off going to "JestChester over this weekend. The week has been made worse by our being told that we had a very good chance of doing a big pBrty for Truest -evxn, as our bid stood at the top of his list for consideration*

Before going to the Ballet I worked on draft invitations, promotion and guests for the"

head table and then have sat chewing my finger nails as to when it would be, if at all.

By Thursday I learned that the whole situation had deteriorated but that he was still unable to give an answer, so I concentrated on ether phases of my job.

The twenty four hour transition between Gnrsington Manor and Les Charmettes was consumed by luncheon in London at Harriet Monkhouse's Victorian home where I had the
uneasy confidence that the entire meat ration for the week was put before us. Picking up fcne luggage left at Haddington station X lezt it at the Glub and took a parcel to be parked at 16 Chester Row end went for tea with Judith, her daughter Dierdre and the two Hungarian nieces, Eddina and little Judith who had arrived from their Convent for the summer holiday* We had a delightful time together and I found Dierdre just as clever, attractive and beautifully mannered as anticipated. Then we were joined by Miss Butler, a chaiadng couple (he is on the foreign news desk of BBC) and later Tomi and the children evaporated with le advent oi iresh tea. I stayed for family dinner, which was delicious
Dut meatless, and more good talk. The next morning X had my hair washed by the same gitl on North Audley Street who had done it ten days before and went to the Hortholt Airport via the Kensington High airstation and British European Airservice. The checking of
luggage, (j, had to a pound 10 shillings excess on the parcel was taking to Mrs. Harris) customs, passport controx, etc. was magnificently organized and went like clockwork I It poured after we got anto the plane and the flight was a little bumpy and too cloudy A or me to get my AUII $20 worthof view* Le Jourget was hot, humid and badly organized, j, in.is in an agon o... ear that - rs Harris would think I had not arrived but X managed to xind ner oe~.ore my luggage was cleared by customs and beg her patience. Robert, the outler-chaui.feur, was man of the party as Larry was tied up with the executive vice pres. CA -.frills-Overland who was leaving that day after a brief and unexpected visit to Paris.

^ chateau du Torcy" ior my money is ugly, it is built of a grey, volcanic looking stone ..ith slate roof, quantities of iron decorative spikes on towers and gables in the onlyJ:ad period of French architecture--grande bourgeoisie. A French merchant, by name OA zontaine, mho made his pile in French Indo-China, built the place 75 years ago and spared no expense for solid construction alia glass roof to protect the front door
rici the down stairs tiled terrace and glass overhangs on top of endless ten foot walls in the garden to give added protection and warmth for the grapes and fruit trees eepalieieo. --.gainst the walls, J. never asked what his "line" was, but he certainly loved glass as tnere is a 1. rge all glass summer house, which L< rry allows the village band to use A or practice. Two green houses as big as US freight cars slid the whole north wall oi the grounds approximately 300 feet has a glass roof and protection side to protect early grapes rind fruit. Fontaine also imported many Diodar and other varieties OA OA cental coUA.i ers, wii.-jh are s-'rfl hu''ly planted with occasional copper beech, weeping willows or shiny leafed magnolia-like trees for accent and contrast* The nark is beauti ful and perhaps has done so well because he had a concrete lined waterway twist through it to provide reflectionjeools where the trees could admire themselves. He also brought back twenty servants--t elve for outside and four inside to keeo it U going. Larrv 1 limps along with r couple inside and three outside. Fontaine, much beloved in thetown,
is now dead and the property belongs to r Roumanian ra.se 1 who despite advance payment3 1 of rent did nothing toward the necessary repairs agreed upon before >^'"nibved in'.on the h7At
eve of hi& m+nnr?s arrival two years ago tc r et as his hostess. Duri: g World War XI
the chateau was occupied by the Germans and used as Gestapo headquarters, then the
French Array used it after Liberation, then it was used as en orphan asylum before the Roumanian regained possession and realized that without assistance of some sort he could
make the place really habitable.

September 17, 1950---2

T'-. -ni ce is furnished with a combination of "Fontaine" , Harris purchases and Harris importations from their New York home, largely in the way of linen, glass and silver. I shr11 never understand how all the outside glass, the brocaded and embroi dered wall coverings, large . eissen vases, oriental ceramics and so on survived. So much of it would have made lovely loot cv provided amusing things to smash just for the sake of the sound ma.de. Rene, the head gardener is a survival of Fontaine days and lives in a house by the corner of the grounds. Evidently he acted as caretaker and before the Germans arrived took everything he could out of the house and hid it in his attic. The responsibility of having these things in her home was too much for his wife's mind which is only now returning to normal. It was she who went to the village every morning with a clean linan napkin to bring back the tender, flaky croissant I had for my breakfast* ...Yes, the French still sell bread unwrapped, even the old little handhold of paper around the long ihin loaves has disappeared. I saw one girl with a three foot loaf which she used as a cane resting on the dirt while she stood chatting with two friends

Both "Mrs. Harris and Larry personified hospitality and made me most welcome end

"at home". She will have her 83rd birthday soon and was in the second phase of shingles--

the blisters were healing but the pain and soreness remained so I encouraged expeditions

only on alternate days. Robert, a true Frenchman, drives with his horn at a steady 60

through the lovely rolling countryside for Torcy is in the wheat and sugar beet country--

though its local industry is the manufacture of chocolate and not far from the center of

the Brie cheese area. Of course, he sleekens speed at the entrance of a village, probably

as e matter of comfort rather than caution for the cobblestones rtf a town almost make

conversation impossible--I hate to think what they must do to screws and bolts of the

comfortable red Oldsmobile convertible! The excellent wheat crop was being harvested

and the gleaners were out in every field the farmer had left -- even children so small

they had to be taken in a pram were out picking up the stalks that had been missed.

Every afternoon between six and eight I watched the women and children of Torcy pass

the house with the wheat they had gethp"^--3. Lar^e farm no Tjs moeheni zed equipment,

but the star11 places depend on men and horses, most of the carts looked new xnd as sturdy

as Trench farm equipment always has been -- new because the Germans took off their old

ones. After m absence of twelve years I had forgotten how large a percentage of the

French villagers wre dependent upon the vi.llr.ge pump for their water supply and how

deserted even hamlets look with all the doors closed and the iron shutters at the windows.

(The shutters at the chateau are slatted to admit air and are closed in the evening, just

heavy draperies were drawn at the Manor in bedrooms, 0c> Rear ~nd drawing room when the

l-iorVH-~ --are out on, but the humbler houses of France h~ve solid shutters.) France is

desperately poor > nd very tired. The cost of living is very high and wages low. Unless

that gap can be closed by the government a highly dangerous situation will continue to

exist. Their attitude toward Korea seems to be "Good.

vou are fighting on a

salient of the same battle we have been waging in French Indo China for years. Do you

not realize tlwt there is not a single villa.in alR nf France which has not given at

least one son dead to the war there? Surely you do not seriously expect us to weaken

our position there by sending a force to Korea."

The days went evdfily in a lazy routine of breakfast when I wolce^with Mrs. Harris in her bedroom after which I read her the p-aper and left her to her letters and to rest. I cut seed pods and flowers for the house and wandered in the garden and park or eat on the upper terrace which is bordered with flower boxes - nd gave the sense of being among the pine boughs. One afternoon we went to Heaux to the cathedral nd storied r+ Lgny while Robert did the house1 old shopping. As it was stuffy waiting Mrs. Harris had him lower the top whP e a l*rfe crowd , not only of children #looked on in fascinated admiration. Another day we went to see the lovely Notre >ne de .Ben? is wiich is a rem. There is evidence of great progress of restoration but much remains to be done. One or two windows are still patched with word or cardboard. St. Firmin and Ghautilly areas contain many large and well kept estates. The race course rt Chantilly of course pro vides some income, but the Chateau is charring with a great de-1 of l~ce-15ke stone cutting in the exterior decoration. It is surrounded by a mor t housing many large

earn and legend has it they are the same one put there*^ la ontr.ofenc'' a ~ 1 r sly

Tit the place in the e rly 16th century. the magnificent

extensive gardens were

added during the ownership of the de Gonde family a hundred years later. They no longer.

'"n fhe ^opertv, -1though it is known -.Item-tely ,< e Chateau de Chrntilly and Musee Sonde bee :se of tu.e excellent collection of paintings which it houses. On Sundry Larry organ ized a ricnic rich was followed by an exploration of the Fainis de Fontainebleu. I liked the oldest part built by Francois 1 (1515*47) in the err.lv Renaissance maimer best. It

was a popular! royal residence and greatly added to by his Successors in size, Nmiolemi Bonaparte must have loved it dearly and lavishly added "his mark" wherever .he could --

actually he signed hie abdication there in 1314. There is a lot of interesting furniture

1 r'T5 ^lw-ys intensely disliked covering honest wood with marblized point for the

f':e ~ fooling toe public. John P. "Rockefeller contributed to the restoration about 1936, gardens are magnificently laid out but dreary in aspect--depending for color on rather
mund nfe sm-11 plants used es borders --voclettaa and such which should be mussed to be

effective. Then too I prefer ^tF-e einsely clipped turf of England to the four inch ecvthe c-w J. r-ns 01 i?ronce. The white stucco inn across from the p-rking place has an interesting outdoor no^tive frieze of iron fireplace backs in a great variety of share and design. * On ne way back to . elun we measured the magnificent avenue of 60 foot sycamore trees --a

tt o'

' row 1 aires,

e"C;' s: *'e nf *^ie road wwere ne takes the train

-or for

miles. Paris since

Saturday afternoon Larry and I Torcy is not on the railroad, on

went ah

err-nd na ran into two wedding parties parading from civil to religious ceremonv to the pno tographers. Mule he did his errand I observed that the boucuets were delivered after cue civil ceremony and carried into the church with the wrapping paper pushed aside but

per" to P-^ect gowns iron stain and that one particularly funereal looking basket, probaoiy tie centerpiece for the feast, was picked up from the florist's delivery truck after

r?"u'-' 0^'"'re t.-)e "notographerS After all this excitement we stopped at a table on u,ie sidewalk of the cafe at the cross roads to refresh ourselves with citron oresee

ano. watch lue. I was glad to see that the witer still keeps trrck of each tables drinks' witn hie saucer on w ich each is served and then stacked on the table as a reminder to all*

fydce v' went to Paris and entering through the Bois de Vincennes and via the Place <& la .a,ion. and tae Piece de la Bastille before reaching the rue de Hivol! gave me glimpses

J P(-r quarters of Paris, which. I do not remember ever/ having seen before. Even dour the

t ' CS ^80e> > iere Lpcry,s office is rue

Fahourg St. " onore, Avenue de 1'Opera

There sema . - general untidiness ad dwm at the heel don'tcare atmosphere which tied tc '

tie broken windows in provincial barracks left me feeling very low r bout the vigor of the-

..renc.i.

lynchea with t. e Fr-.ston lious at Interallee Cercle. former residence of the

"/: o ;r 1;'-' t ;i:Von^Faubourg St "onore with magnificently appointed rooms and superlative ser-ico outsold is international in membership . Hiou/ nd Larry are both members nd more

Lien hall o: aoe mer*arship -re diplomats. Te dined at Tour d'Argent on the left bank . nerr Notre >me 'ere all the patrons seemed to be American. It was my partv so I know- .

tnct earner lor three was 9,500 francs--so close to ?*30 that the difference is inconsecuentisl Fie P., ce was estaolished in 1532 mid since 1390 her numbered the ducks it serves-that bein*

specie.1.1

Fine is H 2,906. In the beautiful waiting room with burgundy velvet up-

molstery and unusual parole to mr.uve glass light fixtures ornamented with a grace pattern

;;

p3;?t?ref7 of Princess ^l*2~beth nd Philip as recent patrons. An el eve tor whisks

r?u ^f? "^lL;nr rnm "*& "'0 "top of the tower. Our balastrade table afforded a wonderful

?'Lrn be:TM "nd lle cle Cite with Notre Dame in the foreground and Paris between'the

, e" L'"r ;nc; ;,0re j0Uer 3Pread before us. There was a nice sunset of great red/ness

oe... ore ye dasred off to Theatre : srigny to see the Roland Petit Ballet present a new number

w.^ich attracceo. - very chic audience-many rm in r,h.ite ties mid women in bouffant skirts oi tulle wmich seemed ina-mrepr^te for sitting in the theater'. The dancing was exc*Veirb ,n, lie costumin." good. Tliey did Music* Chair*. Cooking the Chicken and the G^r^n,'"w-ch

oienp .

ras lo"v_T.lv atnhed"NotretD vatn.inblack and bIea"u*tiful againet , briM^ctkSW. ' the

If ,'11,

. ;';

n t.-.e clateau trees and later aten we got back at one.

Hie"tin. T

a ho. e c bi >T/se_ m scon m P ri m oonr-md bv Gaston Riou, editor of Noi.xnes et -"ond'

w^.ttv,- tLfss tttr-zzssr?' Tl ' L ' f5* iJl Fe <a,M,bei' of D-- 'tiof, wi0 insisted on t-Jcing me tbrou h the Ofc msr.

to oe an session on a fednesdoy,

but there ,, a dull discussion of - tec.hnij:! agriculture

I

September 17 -4
so even from the safety of the visitors gallery we saw no inkpots hurled* Thanks to e

member 01 the C; oinet he vrr nblo to show me a statue of Kenri IV (1589^1^.10) backed by

replicas also in stone of the many h ttl* flags hie arm!as had captured, which is a great

favorite of his .and in a p(->jrti%ular!y holF-*f-hosLy room# .liou failed to tell me t.vt

Henri XV had given up Gatholism and was not permitted to enter Paris as King until hie

finally renounced his conversion, or perhaps I should s \y his backsliding. As first of the*.

Bourbons Kenri vr s quite r. lad and knowing his lack of popularity in Parisian Catholic

circles engaged in p, great deal of building, which, gave Paris less of a medieval atmosnnara.

One night we went to a nearby hamlet for dinner at the inn, where ] adame cooks, servea,

tends bar and probably washes the dishes* lorry often walks there on a winters afternoon

while liis mother sleeps and is e great favorite of the liberally gold toothed 1 udeme* She

rushed from the kitchen when she saw the car slacken speed and was on the sidewalk to greet

us before we got out. As there were ten or a dozen people in her three table dining room

we sat at one of the two tables in the bar, which better commanded the .situation anyway*

Although Larry had gone to the kitchen after seating us and reported back what was there

so we could decide on our dinner, 3 "adame soon culled, "M'sieu * Arris" and he again retired *

to the kitchen. Soon she left with e great white tureen for the dining room which gve

me a chance to go and inspect the airy kitchen with g view of the road, the large stove with

its backing of lovely blue and Miite_ tiles and to sniff the kettle of soup and to catch

Lurry stealing homemade pickles from a big crock. I never had better fish, Larry's sweet

breeds looked delectable nd rep .

ir w r well pleased vr tli her steak* Soon the neighbors

started drifting in for a drink and to play the slot machine bearing the label "Try UR Luck".

Matter* placed Hbfch us r nd held out her apron to get the jackpot wide grins displaying her

gold teeth* Instead of the traditional blue denim the f inners now wear US Army surplus khaki

one quite young six feet four inch former, wore the largest blrck slirbots I have ever seen.

It was a most amusing simple evening.

The tr?y Meif + London ws rougher but with better visibility and on the way I her 13Lvs-

ed that .1though I had !r. ?. wonderful time in Prance, I ".refer ax 1 ndt Judith v-us ulcho

when I got to her house and we had r fine gossip for an hour# Dierdre came t ,ck from a pi- ce

in the country whene Judith.had snt all

cMMrea aa a

tre..t * They both went

onto the sidewalk to wave me off and the door blew shut and locked, Ty last glimpse of them

was the Countess of Listowel and Lady Deirdre Tare with their he? ds together conspiring as ,j; to the best way to heusebreak entrance into their own home* Tracy Philippe, "who had re

turned from Italy the day before, turned up at Suston station to see me off and we n.d a

minute chat# Addie Petri had arrived at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool from Aber

deen five minutes before I checked 41" r.bovi nine# It had been a hard d-y, but we talked

until midnight. The next day she went about with me while I did little of the shot ing

1 had wot done either in ihigland or France and then we went to the huge modern red sindstono :

Liverpool Cathedral r nd vere lucky enough to hear its beatiful organ, which strangely did

not echo and reverberate as 1 h; d feared it must from the great size of the nave# I also

vent to the Cunsxd office and by paying an extra ten dollars got myself shifted froa an

upper berth to the bed by the porthole again. The following day Addie saw me to the Parthix

but on recount of the foreign excf wage control could not go aboard and our fin 1 porting:

w - over ;wo ' vr with fifteen feet of no-mane la nd between us# It seemed a little flat

after she had come so far to

me off,

The F rthis is cabin class all outside sthteroom little number--perhaps lP,000tons# ;7e Si lied rt three on Saturday afternoon down the Mersey in sunshine but that was all the
sun we h-d until Friday except for r bit on Sunday# It is usually rough off the Irish cor.st and I was beginning to look for calmer weather when we ran into a. fine storm Monday -fternonn At nine that night, unbeknc- net to the passengers, we received the 303 on a Norwe gian 3,000 ton frainiter with p c rgo of potter's clay. Their welded hull H d cr- eked and we sped to its position and how we bounced around t!at nightJ As I was finishing my breakfa st the next morning the stewardess told me we were arriving at the scene --which was our first news# I bullied my really sick cabiamrte, an Tnglish widow of 38 emigrating to an uncie in Texas, into her heaviest clothes and got her on deck# It was really very exciting
for the :'ive hours we wallowed around so as to take off the Norwegian crew if the errck
widened and they foundered as their captain feared# The really large waves washed over her fpredock nd even with the# talked of oil slick our small beats would have had r bad tx is The v'jy i, *' r" er snip C'me and too c over no " returned to our course -nd landed a day 1-te* xx -- a >ocr crossing ,gain--but

. C*7"- TJL,<

Ylyo - CW_ hOU'

otobcr >, 1950

3in.ce just bof ore Labor :>xy otto of :iv 1 |Ok t. xi i% .3 -.-c n ox: * x \ *t c : . *to ?: ; s'a .;;x * V . h_. - t.

t... .1- X" .'V.. D:a L,.:b.of 5 o ;t:li; F:e ?

K ::i i '

0 * of x.

/;:-5

... t> Aixil t ;o b o! Into the 'T v; ...' ; : icr c:- >whM t over. "k

(J

a X" x' < t 3 ' ...

"1 x f

" " ' "'-'"B 'i:- 1

::"~L a ? ' c C" '*

A luncheon dedicated to Town !-!pH 01ub membership nd vr.f squeezed in between

Hillyer appointments* To my gre-t joy we found that the telephone a poor

medium for diagnosis and the old filling came out - nd a temporary one wen t inl

The Oouncil of Branches and Affiliates meetings on Sept, ?rt and 33 went

v; 11 but under what pre-sure! All of the final decisions Tom -nd I had left for

'the Fond-" hef^e,

wer the weekend he went on sulpha and penicillin* around

the clock to kill a very her vy cold supplemented by hr" fer*r. In a paroxsym of

coughing nd sneezing he injured his back, it is now called lumbago, and managed

to drag himself into the office for a few hours on heduesday and then again on

Friday for the meetings* Result I did a revision of the agenda to cover us in

case he only appeared for one critical session, write the memoranda lor the

guidance of the several presiding officers and oked the dozens cf minutia in

connection with such a "do"* I worked late every night, once until ten, and had

time only on the bus to decide what T ""as to say in my own little speech. ^For

tunately there was some last s * red of energy to f 31 bacic on or tie steering

committee reported they wanted more of the masterly presentations made by Miss

Pratt in the next Council meetings* Friday night we gave them dinner at Town

hall where James G. heDon-Id, TT3 Ambassador to Israel -nd former head of the FPA,-

was good enough to accent ray invitation to speak--though he hud turned down dozens

of others, he really e id nothing but did it so ch-mingly:that ever/one loved it

and all the Branch eople rushed me to sign him up for th.em. hy assi a+nnt conked

between dinner and spe king but I did not know until the party was over, so I^took j

her home* Since t! on we "omened" two pi sscs of tn how fork program * series

of luncheons with Town TT-11 Club for which I do the programming and publicity,

; (

while they handle ticket reservations. James P. Warburg spoke -nd was great

success. ' Tien lost Wednesday we had the first of fortnightly Foreign Policy

Seminars from 3 to 10. hot knovdng how many people -would turn up we were pre

pared for a shambles and Tom and I were close to hysterics from uncertainty" over

dinner at the Lowell* It turned out well though nd we organized four Seminars.

I handled the group of 19 who wanted to do the Far Last which included former

assistant secretary of state, a mail wl o had been with the Y in the Orient for 30

years, a colored woman, - violinist, a newspaper woman, several teachers, a grab- fj

uate student, r woman of great wealth, - ' ell Laboratory technician and so on.

Three more phases get under way within the next twe "feks and the fifth on Nov.8

-- so you will understand what I mean when I say that this will be "a season" I

I.Ioik ay night I went to a Turkish dinner p* rty at the Nuri Eren's pent house

and among others had a fascinating conversation with the Lebanese deleg"te to the

UN. In answer to ray question about the chances of Russian aggression in Iran he

pointed out that the USSR always used stooges to do the fighting nd in Iren it"

would have to be' their own troops* He admitted that in Fast Genu- ny they do have

the stooges* It is interesting thet the Lebanese delegation receives over ,30 _

lo++rm a week from their small country on the eastern Mediterrane an telling them- .. !

what to do in the UN. Letters from private people that is, not official coramuni- s

cues. The US Mission is flooded with telephone calls (as well as letters -a/ mresj

many demanding that a rote be passed, at once to Ambassador Austin suggesting he

:,^]rr P specific point in the debate of the moment. my of these stem from the

sessions being on TV. I think the UN's Kbre,an act5 on has given it wide popular

support.

Brooks got off to Europe a week ago and Vera to India two weeks - ?

peeks ago, the rest of us especially Tom who is still somewhat crippled and

double 5 n brass. et still h.ope to tans rio.a,y off < .no. hi v ~s daps 3.n

.*

m& mmWmmmjwutwwt *btftCmw<*mut-ohv*r feryi** rin*g**t. **?* ?tm tf*tyftrhmt**t*y*ounsftft^ %m

t^lnr mr 5r. UuftVft ftfco

Sttft b#rm ttkiftg sferft oi m v*tm I

*mtciOs%tk,mftf&t$fmtrmm-t,M mh afM timMMt*a><it*tWe4fisfk*ea**f4tkhH5*fttUfe!f*c*tSlffflctaftft1"wI*SmQ'Tr^r^ m^XBfhiiiPcn*n*s^ & w**$frtfBu*ifttAfx tifSt- t itn Bt** fts* 5

Bfcttyr ftff*diitMatft f# say pie't Joy m JtaaNt tot tfc* t^oiton wr

nefttai for #gaoftl m& tlm M nili-m

;5U5t =* * trs^omry *n

**

th Seunoil of SriBHfcwi Ml WlUrtw "<** **."?*. ** ,..

*d41 but wwfcw Met pwrwirrt till of * 9-Ml *S#*U4m. * ' jj* 1***.,.i

tt># ^<5^- b*i>**v fert tw imtemA h* *m& on mlpfen 015*1 pm.-^ .-re

the el* it eongbtdg tad

kill * *y MM*lng fee

h*=vy e-d-3 eu*Fle&.- n-d injured d teak It i

tw

**-<--*> f a wiled IiMbMi

*F**r*o**svyiayo*f

i# ftrm* hftarftf ilfttft tli *&* lor * fftv fewir ok ititoftftftay

41 *P* J*

ItoMof'fftr tm &

:fc***Xt 2 did ft rftftifttni* ft* ftgiiBift to ecwr * ii

a** h* w&y ^p^-rml w ms oRUift* isie% *$tft t*

for too

m&tetmm -:d ^0 ftftftNtel

ffiftr fti*t ft&ftd tUft dftt^lfc -J^ptiiaftlA la

tiMmM0rBtliy*sftb*1* Ir8h to"dto-.M^ nlt T

tc ooy in W "mYS -

1 ^

tttisfitolj ftrifityfoftrl ftd tf*tsrayo lmina%l*&ssfhtrfotfdt ofofmftamtmrltyft

pi^.^^r0v1t55*c?0;rintffeey <Jtf*1PM^?l8

Fwti; if nost cotmi^ J^fttir^ft#

aifi^t wa gsw 1fea

-t ;-?*

1^0.3 'Jiorc IftMO C- -kdBnMd* tf3 na^ft-lor to treftl * -'(swor , L J[

H8 of

rood

t acoori nj iorlt.t5^a tft -tro -.fc-thoj: n h: 1

Jo r**XXy frdd

kat did It so e'-^nHn&r tftat t rp/';

>mwuz it

^nd nil th#

eopU *whod aft to sign hto.up for thN %

haim*mi dlmar iiaft &Mm Irrt 1 did not km* until thft Prty m c*fti> ma I ftftftft

hr h<m SlacNi thaw / ao|Kiftftw tw pbft^e &f the r-.r,: pngrm -- of iuawhttono witfc Tomb %11 OXub for otoieli 1 do di ptftgraw^ag rub?ioi-tyt

iftiSlo thav hnadlft tiftkrt auooeoa. 15mi lnt ffftdiiftito

^ fe^d tho

' yr'^-jrg 5polro '-nd w,o firot of forttdfhtly roraign

tPofalriooy^t

ftdmra fi* a to 10. lot kaowiag liftv

tv up ^ wr

mmd iov s ftad

Tot. ami a a ftloftft tt hystcrios 'morti^r ow

diftftor t tftu Trtrrtl? < It turned out mall thcu&i

orgprjirftd f^ar aiiiRru

x feai->ii*d tfti froui of 19 wt#d to to tt i Tar s^tjAi*

ftitiat eftftrftt^nr nf ftftftt sifta aisft ftad boon ltti the I ~n vi.u. ri.rat for do

ymwt%arf IMeolorfotdwwwcamftaof fgiw rietlinwiifrttu*l^a.

ftftftftpaft^ w.

ft

-mbowitory

t ^'vioru, teotasiftifin <

a

graft-

Htyftft icore fiftftfts gH uadar y witfc.ln tbv next v-- ** ^ flftfe' cn --eo you vftli uadtftftfttftiflt iftm* X oertt tsft X say tkftt thi will be "n m*m I

HftDiky n|#i t Hftnt tr. fiitlsli dinner party mt tbe burl * pftftt boas

,,m?,j*d

B^oag utfeftTft
In m.nt^ar to

rolntct put that

bed 1 fftdf>tlng eftiarftrftfttios tth the te^awi del^t# to 'Us

sy -tuftfttiofi oboftt tbft dmne f Kiift^itu grri 00 the 08SS fttwrfft uteft fttfti^ftS to do the fl$ tinr -ad

in ir

4m ftft
Ir& it

WuldifiivtgVfetfttio

br It

Otelr o^t treepw. % in intftrftutlnft t^t

ufteftttoil thrf in Tebantftft ftftleg^lon

Crmnny ther do baVft rMtlTftft wr ^

.; %t >1- fro their -,all

m tbt or -t- m Moftitsrmoo tello-ag

^iftt to to i the !) Utter from r-riftyf -rmrT.u tbo.t ls not of^toial aOu^una-

^uft* Jk* m

ie flftftM with telftffcea* ftll ia ^XX J Ifttterft nft adrftft)

WIT toanftlfti thrt a ate be mm*4 t

to ftkftftkr ****

h

Mk apeoifie point ia th*

of 1te awent. "--y

MioM iKrtnr cn W. I eS4 tfe w -arsoB aeW bo*

1_ ^

^sup.4port. theBprotorVt togf eutoff to "ulrh-'Ftelm **# is*st"il*l !XL2Z<' tiedtl^iftft Sdy *beuMo in bfftftft* fftt I etiH hops to tafeo friftay o f f raft hmmm 4 day iu ' ^e-' ada*

/-)S5 -

Liy (

0ctober 21, 1050

Of course X had no right to leave the office at four on the 11th to go to^Crozet for four"lovely days in the peacefulness of the Blue Ridge Mountains_rath I>isxe end 14TM Cosh h"t I did. The weather was good and their easy coups,monstiip gate ,-K . . e
TTprdv, the eldest son who is getting along now in the U of V .'ledicol ocnool, was the my one at home. Jessie, the hues MaeV - -- off burying a neice but Muxsxe md wonders in the cheerful big kitchen and ajnong other things turned out tea biggest and best -conge c-ke I '-pve ever been party to. Thursday night than ,*ry and Dxck ..iap.de and P,,, Kenia and L- nghorne Gibson case for dinner, Ji produced a spehgetti r,ath an lortel
meat" sauce wiiife we all sat about the kitchen over U*M1 and drooled telle smells corning from the electric stove. Friday Ifaxexe took me back to -narlottesvalle

to call on Ruth Iffiieeler-lennett' s mother and Sunday a couple rf

J,* Gibson" e

riTeB pnd "brats" care for supper. After church we had gore to Ramsa

e

c.,, s

vKceBT- 1-4"before lunch. Although y had "The Diplomat" to reed on xhe train X

svd.
+v

tch
on

e
c

d r

at el

i

Gr^e shed

t

o
Vr

f

u".

leaner of of North

Aouataine",There in Virginia it Carolina and I was getting along

seems well m

t

e

b

co.u

o

Tlch ileanor accompanied her husband, Louis IV of France, whm Faxexe gave e the U. of

Vi-trdni J"--tarl" Beviev of the two "Fleanors" which seem to have jeen nuol: shed -l^os ,,

simultaneously. T- t redo me switch to the Harvard University Pres- version ~x

complct brfud-1d.t

Mo sooner ws err back turned than Tom jind release and was quite miserable etill^on

w,, v;'-wed to drag himself into the office in the afternoon so as to nrosioe i,

t' e opening session of t' e Evenings with the Experts -t

,7e iafi pinner ^etnerg >=

t

.nd cleared a rood many matters nd did more over - drink at the iltraore ... uer-

> Tt VPS after twelve vren he got me heme--s.nd rae with a sleeper trip from lrgxnxa

lndld th.SO

for nv previous nights rest I Hie actual meetin- me quite gooa.

o'ol" T

I'urnby, one of the sneakers, had been military governor of South Oh ell, en-

^N, S^th Koreln provinces gave lot of local col r and -eminded w tint the Koreans

bar historical reasons for fearing the bier lane -nd the Japanese. He_strvsseo. c nu:aoei

"of Kore-ns -ho hod cone under western influence through the missionaries fron the J.S. , _

"Vednesdrv nieivt <w- fo" Seminar groups met ad X to-'- th duty in the in-eie.-ts o Jt w* 10,30 before X left the office. Thursday, we hod the second of-the

jorld Affaire Luncheons at the ToTM H-,11 Olufc and through stupid mioo-uu someone eened^lea

wnor.p Committee mee,t i n r t1h, en w m c*h mP-o.,m.. ad *' r* "I to "f* f*\ p.,ten n"f* "f* tSiVI <'"1n1' f. Aa ^x 1 j- ^Gv

, v. '0 J.11*10 AC -

The s^e-'ver me Vmk 1. Nr.eh, lTS Representative on the UN ffoar-ilssion on ^rv^nwi-l Airmen

-v ^ vonderful vuv even if he turned up fifteen minute late and had me in f

*as*

Lusk.mv assist nt ws there to handle the press, telephoned his New iork oifice w:.ich did M

y-,q+ irop m*tter b- -"ine they had not seen him all mornings .'foils we were eating I , 00 | phone all conf^Hns that he was to trhe the 2t35 plane to 7-sMngton tn see t..e Secret

tan- of State that afternoon. Nash m-de the point that modern ' convent^oml a--mento

nre lust as bad as at.amic bombs in Wiling people raid while disarmed diasticall, . . ..

YT thv to Narch of 1948 the curve started upwards then with erection o:> t:ie irJi Afclan <.'.c 1

ct t'-at Korea woe just the "clincher" but nothing had altered his basic instructions

. ; j "nsatientlv ni'1 -^rsict^ntly for long term universal disarmament* 'e agrees

Adm. "hl-itz's praPhro.se of Oliver Oro:--ell's fa -one admonititJtt which goes "Put your :<-nitb.v

and'hope in the United Nat'one but keep your powder dry." Nash die r

t: . ul job. To-

ri,,TM ; oiit to the office to chaperone Saul Pa lover while he spoie to l,a. a.igh sc.^ocl -wide **

.'t. their monthly Forum. I got involved in writina to trera, J"

for ?hr

Bangkok, College

0

"ong Ko 11 which

ng " he

nr . wan

-n ted

ils, ray

anc comm

ren ents

d

ing a "he

spe nce

ec I

h of left

Blair holies made to the National at 2:30 and figure that rr/ over*

time this weak amounts to two full days.

T m3irirc +0

^ beautiful grey pin<foeck Jullinrd woil dress, to my groat anazenent

_ flVrr u . nrl - -cot basic black wool --not ~e fine material but with better detailing :

4,', Wmakeing--the buttoned in left side insert in the skirt had sir inches cf^pleats at

the"bottom. Tn this - iodl the size 13 s--ed W-ter than the 16. For a long time a 20

h e done me nicely. I am quite impressed. By that time 1 wrs too tiroci to go on an geh

the hot % had more or less pledged myself to buv today. Next week we have * big meeting

f- the Foreign Minister of Austria on ond,y rud the Board * Actors on rnursaa;^ ^

-'i is - lighter week and I hope I can squeeze m n little more pix

n -ep,

~ TJliai ft

~ October 29, 1950

ki>,

Last Sunday afternoon Iaria and X sat for a eouple ofboursintheaunon

1her terrace in the warmth of our renewed Indian Summer. It was very Pleasa^

A

Id a fine backlog for the madness of the office on Monday. After

SM :^a-s X.^riESwr
Correction"-with the new angling. Tor reasons I newer had timeto discover ram !!n,, a hid, state of tension, upchucked hie lunch and filled me <sith eweenr

that he might not be able to preside that evening.

Zln &Ha*L decided

with the Foreign Minister Karl Gruber and toe that they had been given so much "ehirten^ ^crM

K*^ ^beKkxieneUSernotoy

let Mked

them select *heip

^iiy built blond with an easy manner and a quick

mind? She is a tall slim lovely brunette, whose English i^^ter

atb'a riS'in'lert^rarri^ce^r^d^y^inde* finger rub at th^basejf his

"... *JZ 3 ch TOS far mere anti-Russian than I had dared to hope and a m

J

determination to align itself with the Western D nocracies.

i&3=-- EttSxk

s'ss irss-Jis.ss'ss ssc; z**

Sj&f- Massa s r^rssrr^^. , They have been unable to arrange a payment tothe

to the hem of the Eustace Seligman1 e for a reception wfaieh was also a n^ e^e#

rtfficial oarty-^tbe Austrian minister at Washington, the Consul Genera

* +.

fcina. raisin* the hand to six inches from the lips. Someno* IT rwaxaavu

Hungarian s^vants'habit of muttereing stance,as they plagd a

one at a dinner party, which 1 was told translated into 1 the reddish orange nylon and aetetate maaber with tiger a p

earings and,to

,SS22rKr.f2uS5- <* Japanese at the office for two hours in

the afternoon. One tiny one was named Fuji and continually t^dean'of*^" Law

taller the mountain wae than he. Inflation there is such that a dew the La

School whose salary 20 years when he was & bachelor had toe purchasing P

$

nowStfa^maS three .one gets Ten 25.000 worth $65 and must ^ a <uarte r ^

it in taxes. Since 1941 he has had two new pair of shoes and his wife no new kimoma

"""tt"sxs?: w The Japanese habit of nodding the head made it a difficult session as one neve xgssssi<+

Officer of the Federated Malay States and four Americans who were *8te8*8* 18

talking with him. I have not kept up with that area and TM*o^d to learn ^

the Communist guerrillas who are trying to destroy the rubber

f? *h

tin mines are almost exclusively Chinese former workers *0 had fled before the Jap

invading amy. Most of the tin mines they attack are owned by the wealthy Chi as.

Neither group have ever allowed themselves to be assimilated and are not Mal^ y

n.+.m*iic.tlon. lhe wealthy Chinese do not themselves attempt the defence of their

orertv looking to the 150,000 of the Malayan Army to do the job. The government of

Indi^no longerps rnits mains to go to Malsya

*e ^npow.r for the

reeonetitution

e.nomym vsry*

- -J

tsars U0.". sswft&w M su to "The Happy e"-a most amusing comedy about
with Roger Darn and Leora Dana as 3Sr2

adotraining but has gained some of it

- Ci 7L

, Uy ,

QdtLCm- NoTambep 18, 1950

A touch of winter today but I have stayed at heme as the plate is a shambles For so long there has been no time to do any tidying that the area the char has been able to cqpe with has gradually gotten smaller and smaller* Some slight program has been made in getting drawer space for some of the things which have sat overlong on table s dresser tops and the touch* Tomorrow X hope to put aside some clothes to be given away and be ready for another round of living on the surfaee* Two weekends ago I was with Martha and GXeve and last Friday went to Molly and Jim where Molly it deeply depressed by the news that her brother is worse than when she saw him a few weeks ago* Billy was practically well from his bout with a virus for whieh he had been given oramyeine but plainly showed that it had all been a trial

The sixth prong of the Hew York FPA program has opened and now it is just a ease of keeping up with it all* The last opening was the Off-the-Record luncheon series for women and Hans Simons the eptaker did me proud--they loved him* But fifteen of the ladiee who said they would come did not and even if eight appeared whom we had not counted on there was still quite a waste of food* 1 don't know chat to do about them! Raoul Aglion* the nice French Principal Secretary of the UN Special Committee in the Balkans, spoke at the Town Hall in the Warld Affairs luncehon series on Thurs day# Poor man he was exhausted by the debate about the future of his job the two previous days and seemed uncheered that it was fianally voted 50 to 5 to continue* He has pieked up dysntery and Hoke dreadfully--and sadly enough for me fairly com pletely failed to talk about the things he and I agreed he would cover* Result he wae only moderately interesting and I was very disappointed* Jane Carey gave a cock tail party for Vera Dean that afternoon whieh was also a disappointment* It was quite late when Tom and I got there and we were astonished to see so few people* We had planned to leave quite early9 but felt we had to stay as it was so intime that Vera led a general conversation instead of the usual cocktail twosy talk on the feet* She was in good form and as Tom and I had dined with her the week before at her house and then she and X had dined with him at the Lowell on Tuesday we could throw her the cues* I feel as if I were practically boarding at the Lowell as he and I went there for dinner afterward asit is so much more peaceful than the Chambord* which he had suggested and I was tired* Then we took Ernest Clough there for lunch on Friday to hear about the Milwaukee Branch*

Monday nigit was the first of the regular Metropolitan Opera subscription pez> formancec* lbs "opening" the week before was a non subscription money making evert We got "The Flying Dutchman" with Friti Reiner conducting* He is excellent with Wagnerf and the orchestration is lovley* Astrid V&raay as Senta was badly cast ad I am not keen about her voice anyway* It was an interesting evening but in no ft way thrilling* The number of empty seats took me back to the depression days of the early thirties* I am afraid that Mr* Bing has affronted too many people* For the sake of the Metropolitan X hope he can pull himself out* Something like seven of his singers are stuck on Ellis Island by the McCarran Act and the rumor is that Lubiteh will not be allowed to land at all*

With complete unselfishness 1 suggested to Tom that he take the day after Thanks

giving off and have the kind of four day break I had in October when I went to Virginia*

I agreed to hold the fort in the office and urged that the four days should put the

finishing touches to his recovery* He was so intrigued with tht idea that he pro

ceeded to make it an office wide holiday* so I get the day off too! As a result I've

an enonnous packet of stuff which I brought home with me to do over this weekend !!

Brooks gets back on Tuesday and it would be ironicla if her decided that he had to have

a special administrative policy conference on Friday and Saturday to update him* It

is not impossible* I only hope that he ueee the four days to go to Cleveland to see

his father after the operation for which the old gentleman was flown back from France

for with a special doctor in attendance*

Sorry this is so dull--I never should

have tried to write it when I'm too fuzzy to think* let along be interesting* But

since the time is gone* I feat I shall have to mail if only to show my intentions are

good

H W,y!U t e /( fa
' /'

fx **

V f J --

~ fadMmrn m

f "

/1 '

November 26, 1950

No four day Thanksgiving for me! Late Monday afternoon the British offered me
a speech on December 2 by the Rigit Honorable Hector McNiaL of the British Cabinet--t
would be his only USA speech on a quick trip to Canada. With sevm office-work days to do it, there were reasons for saying "no thanks". But I did not have that much sense and said "Fine". It was four o*clock Tuesday before we got the cable giving "Britain*s Role in the North Atlantic Pact" as his preferrence of the two I proposed. As the result of back break ing work we got out announcements to the 3,000 New York members and 350 promtion letters Wednesday plus a press release ready for mailing.

Tuesday night I telephoned Martha that I would have to work late and would eat in town and take the 7*29 on Wednesday I hoped. Then I called Molly and said I would not be
able to move from Martha to them for the remianing two nights I was actually early for the 7*29 be virtue of going thout dessert and going down the back stairs got thoroughly chilled waiting on the very drafty piatfrom. Five minutes out of Penn Station it was evi dent that something was wrong because we went into a long pause and the heat went off. Eventually we were on strange tracks and the pausses were longer. I remembered the night it took me six hours to get to Freeport and was grateful that this time I not only had my dinner and a seat but candy and the almonds I had salted the night before in case of needl Two hours late we reached Jamaica and heard there had been a wreck, but on the LIRR that can mean anything and I remembered the cause of the six hour trip was a freight car that fouled up the third rail, anyway I very tired and miserably cold and thought little of anything but my own discomfort. However, when J arrived at Freeport it was a different story. Not only had there been a dreadful accident, 77 dead and S00 injured, but for three hours the family had agonised lest I had finished earlier than anticipated and made the 6*13. Both radio and TV were filled with bulletins of patients admitted to six different hospitals, pleas for blood donors, etc. It was grizzly, especially on Thanksgiving shea newspapers were filled wit i pictures, eyewitness accounts and so on. Television and radio continued to devote much time to the disaster. Wednesday night telephone lines were clogged with calls and on Thurs day more distant points were heard from including in our case California and South Sarolina.

uleve and Fran represented the family at the Community Thanksgiving Service and

Dinner was strictly a Pratt affair. It was delicious and socially a success with two

stemmed goblets of cider overturned. I got the 8*18 back to town that evening, but had a very

fnd ^ad nly four hours sleeP

I was wakened at 8*15 (having failed to get up

with Ji alarm) to be told that Mr. McNeil had cancelled his trip* I made the office in less

than an hour. Beside the special girl I had hired to help that day in tte promotion, both my

secretary, my assistant, Barbara Wells and Carolyn Martin were all in for at least half a day.

X

night we had gotten out a post card to everyone in the Wednesday mailings telling

! ,, "ffs

and the Honorable Kenneth Younger, Secretaiyof State for Foreign Affairs

?

^

Kin^dom ^legation to the UN would speak instead on "BrAtains Policy

in fch Far East Younger is not as well known but with the oncoming debate in the House of

Commons on foreign policy and the arrival of the Red Chinese delegation to the UN, we hope we

have a better topic--at least a more timely one. Time will tell how sound was my judgement.

Saturday 1 went to the office to work again with my temporary gal on promotion the Younger meeting with a new group of candidates. It certainly was windy and rainy when I left but innocently I had no realization of the STORM. At the office I found that roof tiles had been blown throu^i two of our windows, and several above the casement ventilators, including the on in my own office had blown in and wet and chaos of papers reigi ed. W did manage to
wwhheern a gustPfforocreed eidts1 way through crwearcks.conWteinkueajltlayllcodnosocrisoucsloosfedthteoirnecdruecaeseddraafitr apnrieswshuerne the steam pipe at the East River Drive and 38th Street cracked from the seeped of high water and added its omnious hiss (to all the other sounds of fury) Mrs. Thompson started coming in to see if I was all rxght every time there was a particularly untoward sound. I sent her horn a! TM g? aWay fflyself at 4,30 and noticed more roped off areas, broken show windows overture
traffic signs and trash baskets than on the way down. After picking up food for the ns xt day* all the milk had been bought up, X relaxed crver a drink and some dinner* Then Hank Harris called me and said he had been given Parterre box #17 for six at the Metronolitan Don Giovanni^ We braved the storm and had an amusing time ti ough the performance was mediocr

X*-r< , L\, fci * X >1 "I. - MkH,

3 '

December 10, 1950

Sorry, last Sunday I was Just too tired to write -- < -p-*+ t

what I did except perhaps to list** -fdiv + +V a>

even remember much of

Kenneth lounger is really cut ofand read the paper. The Honorable

reasoned and very useful speech in

admireably delivered himself of a nicely

ward to cooperating^ Zle4TM,I^b ^Primary statements were the British look for-

and that the future TlZ resSd if^eZ^ T^ Ud9r deVelPed areas of the wohld

went into the Waldorf ^ b/tZ o'clock lZfthe reo*^

"

** -

when I got on the street about 330 u+6r l!Z

TM 1 Was

and it still was

had such good luck with the TTM?*meZ ? *h9 afteraoon Jom called me and said we had

had pushed his one step further and gotten^eats for^Jfmeh6

Porte^ftte'ZeL^IZe^rtfTM^afZ-ZWe^+Sdf

91190 Vera aod

re-

out on my loss onlhe Iorf "noh^n n^ort^.1

?9 prfit ther# -411 b* **

had sold the house by five in the ef+arnnn* -^f y misaeti most of Vera's speech as we

tickets. One expects some pLpU fo fSlZZJl** Tf!f p9ple turned up ^thout

some nice coopdination between ushers and mv ciro. ~ +

? *timate how many? It took

waiting throng. I understand Tom indulirert^* *. + coun*inS empty seats and admitting the

"had great pleasure in pres^tinr^e Sotor

d996rib*" a Freudian "*and

immediately. Of course he might have said that he SmtUd*?

bUt ohanged " Research

or for the dinner I had just had all threeof^Lfo^To^ Hall J "" arna^ the 9*iog

Duhamels^are^most S^ive^o^ZLZ"^ ^Harris for neh at the dub. The

I was there. He is not more than 26

at Torcy for dinner the fir* night

promising young man. X took the opportunity of havin^M^ i0,tl}9 ^nister of Budget--a most

me. They do pay income taxes in France contrary to the ^n^^h-n ? ITM*** tax 8tructure to

up only 5% of the total budget because through

t pular belief here. Such taxes make

gets vast sum, in -hidden taxes- even more lhan thOsTJ^rt does.?" t0baCe' *9 Stat#

general of^P^istM^andlsked Sa^h!%aeilitSeIthi''le<i41,3r/ri9nd LaUri Shaffl the consul

had her met at the airportZd passed

^!^inge in Karachi for her. He not only

got a room in a new hrtefutjSth*UeU?th"e bour process^

the Cabinet. Friday he had ue for luneh in v,f^

arranged for her to interview most of

Mohamad All, the Seoretar^Zn.^T oHL &MnJ TwT 8/"119' at E*e* Hou" *> **

KA1la4ish4im.sir-c.afIe

do au

r nloatit. knaonwd iAU-ruaarbufns?esTvbebraaacJlkrgrsrhoauTMdniedsanddormtuos*^t/f2ifnnd?6vohuatmefdo,r,

he

issIp*eddoeeiffai4lnni4t4re.elipy,,reMse#nWtma>t-iiv-teeo.n

while we had Manhattans (a phone call in the morfii^

being Muslims they drank ttaato jiiae

then we moved to the table for a hSe pLwWOuld ba ^eeible) French fried onion rings, potatoes hasd In pmnm i 1on, delicious steaks with mouthmeltiag

cumber salad, vannia wrt^rrtth chooolate lZra^Z r2l"\?f l9ttU9 W'^ ad work until ei^jt in the office on the strength ,,? f coffee. (It was quite easy for me to

but they all took turns in filling us ia outTM tk a maa1^ Ali did moat of the talking,

Indians in the eettlemert of sK Zy profeaaZtZ 9" ZZ" #t 9TOly tura ^^

there vote to join Tndi> or Pakistan if

J?

Aether the 4,000,000 people

with other job's. T?>ey a<t^efefthfSaW TZtX ll*'TM" *^cLl^^

be made in the event the plebeseite went in f,,,,,, ,,/?

" assume some arrangement could

now live without ^ployment and more or 1^8 iloL^n^n* 1

th9 f0Ur ^1TM-^

saying one thing and doing another that they areZSZs tnT g9ttlnS so,fsd P with Nehru

can float their fruit and lumber down the riTM,

^ heeome part of Pakistan, so they

available to tha.

9 river to th9

that are geographically^

fello^Sertf^liter'wf^rt ^he^elZor "1^1^

Mrs' Joebph Greenwood as

sang four of his Wagner arias and s^ litdl; TM rai3S,

f TMoh in

Metropolitan. He

"Some Enchanted Evening*--Pinw^s South Pmrin* ^ excellent and then as a final encore

weeks ago X had -Don LrM a? the^Mrt.X

!! t0n?r^

Two

long this earlsy Veerrdaii ooppeerraa iiss mmeellaoddiiec Jwiit+howut+ lbeing ovbv*i^oussacnedneBreyttiys DcahyaiannidngX, wehnijloyeedveiriy.

T(

f

*Ti W ( 'StAccu

HmA*u<%; t Tu%+& fltauS* ~
December 20, 1950

Illness washed out

da^ f^ things yet to be bought so to my great delight

Bail and its too late to A op foreaUtie-Maria and Hank are going to be married

there is a moment to write. I am Ply

^ to m9et at Maria's studio at

on Friday. It is all a screw ball schedule.

,eraffl0ny at nine. (The youngest

3,10 for coffee and rush down to City Hall ror tne

Caterer one is at a civil

Harris brother, Bud, and affair--the arrangements

Ifoarr theT-c^hurch^%^ce

^.not a

made

as
is

that will take a Catholic and

more Hoik

time is not.)

than has been available since the decision wa

Maria has the first sitting of

Hank and I have to be at our r e a p e r t i r e o f f i c e e a

ski-ing honsymoon.

a^w portrait at ten-thirty. Saturday ***, for briefing on January 2nd

Hank has gotten his orders to report at * ***.* he ^a an awfully good assignment

and about ten days later will leave for London,

. Army* flhile he is in Lon-

odnonseheeinwgiltlhlaitvethaet NtohrethdAartiladngteicwPitahctJTo hnS^h^er!mLanI cCioooDpeerr *who is also workingmweaitnhwhSUpeofsfhoerd ,

Maria is to spend three or four months withhimin Europe toring t will continue her classes and portraits here and I *all hope^o

. ^ Jt ig

the most delightful and exciting news I ve had in a lo g

This

afternoon

we

th. a.dt1h> e

office

Cphhrriirsttmmaass

Dp artyy

and

it was awfully
for each otheP

ganododr.eadBltahier

Bolles

was Santa Claus and distributed the 850 ^

foibles and others played on the job. Nat-

aceompanying rhymn--some took cracks at P""*1 , on tha brain, water on the knee"and

urally some were better went on to inquiry whst

thhaapnpeonetdhetros.mMy inoeffbiceega^nU.w^M,ill9sJj

^ ran

around ar^

seeing Ambassadors, ^ the four

The present was a plastie watering can wit. g P

bouaht a beer mug for me ami

JS.*! tend in the office. I drew Tom Power, so my "^til & the course

my secretary wrote a *aif of the afternoon I gave it away

by

*ang *a** g

ttafthe

f

his

mug had^een washed* Then there 3uropean trip-largely Florentine

was a second gift for everyone from l^oks-loot *rhi8 leather and jewelry, really lovely things. He is awiuxiy

ggeean9reous-embarr.ssingly

so.

The shops are jammed and the streets thronged wire^bows fbr neck9

lions in front of the public library have wre .. ,

mostly an orangey yellow with

ties. The Radio City tree is breathtaking

1Sbetween

a few of red for contrast. The innovation is a mesh 0 . g

tha time

the four story French and British Buildings into ^^^^littis llrgsr than others,

of Christ's bisth are indicated by tiny

^ the store cluttered with

/

The Lord and Taylor windows are less

^in iridraXr over aisles. Macy has a

wseilrlioewsyoffaisreye-ntsaslei-nprtihneceAsmserfitcga"nrafaar^m"^th^emfe.^Too Suraanncamimomother's^for Cihnr8i9sttmg aisn"--threathfaerr wniaclel

and well done. Sloan has a series 01 is m ^ - ____ ^th children before the fire-

showing vhat the family is thinking about....p P

children climbing into bec^t seeing

place about to open present.seeing

SuilobWa blue oscular

251-- --* - -

m - # -- w . p.TM - j .

Human nndPanl La*"** Barli/dld*iu mualu. It 1# a finiuhud production, good but not

sCproeucstaecwulraortediatn,ciInrgv,indgelBigehrltifnudleieosttnuema.(all exce+MMeremrmaann'ss ccrrea^tioonns ebyjM^ai^ n B^ocher which

I did not like). Of course some of the lines are broad no

ay^ the Duke ^ ^chess

ormndslr.lfcte^ly1^ our feelSnce Sas we had to sit in a box. The Duchess wore a deep

red Velvet theatre suit with a double strand of baroque pearls and an e-nomous square

diamond on her right hand~a white glove covered anything that might have bee^on t^

He wore a dark red carnation in his dinner jactcet. He and held her hand through part of it, and rooked with

loved laughter

at

^g the

line

l(A, fteral

Margaret Rose went out with Danny Kay". They had to bowwow a fountain pen to satin y an

seeker, He is very nervous and she keeps command of the situation every second,

autograph see

we8k Tom ^ bogged down in the train returning from Providence so

P tntroduee Seneral Telf r d Taylor at the Town Hall luncheon--he was wonderful, I

h.vebeenbetter? RW

^Judi^noa too and I had to out off tha queatione.

December 23* 1950

Doer tiro. Harris and Lariy--

I hope that this will ho coherent,* it must ba written la the utmost speed as X am abiat to leave for Christmas aad is addition to the customary holiday dither 9 X am in a state of complete ecstasy $$ over the marriage of Maria and Lionel Howard! Tou are eager for the details I as sure so this is an attempt to fill you in shore X em.

At one on Wednesday Haeard called mo to aek if I would be a witness at the ungodly hour of nino on Friday at City Hall* togather with Nathaniel, Wo all net at the atudio a little after eight for oof too and on the mm$ first day of winter* appropriately with a bite and feallng of impending snow In the air* The groom were a blue suit and Idoked very fit in splto of the series of "shots" he has been having* Tha bride wore a beige auit with a most becoming head hugging brown felt hat. The something new* something old9 etc* was taken cere of by a now handkerchief* the blue WHO la a pretty silk soarf we sketched f rem a ehair back at the last moment 9 and tha "borrowed* woo a lucky six*pence that Howard produced* As he values it very uch9 Maria wore it in her show for safety-- and only at first did it produes a slight limp!

To our great relief we were the flrot at the chapel9 in fast we appeared before the clerk did* When she turned up we were assured that aa soon as the little man who ties the knot got there we could go into the chapel9 and ware meanwhile instructed to sit on the benches provided* Hathaniel and I wore a little miffed at the sign warning us not to deface city property* as wo wanted to carve/f hearts and arrows Maria had a sitter at ten o'clockf whom sho feared would appear fifteen minutes ahead of time and was threatening to leave whoa "the vma* had not shown up by 9t30. Howard nnd I ware rruriously* though surreptiously,looking at cur watches as wo both had planned to be at our respective desks at ten* He was especially anxious to attend to a little business before going back down town for another iimooulation scheduled for eleven* 1/hen the long awaited official appeared about twenty*five minutes before ten we went late the attractive little "chapel" and he set to work at once. He hud a beautiful voice and said his words with greet dignity and emphasis* Maria and Howard made their responses elearly and firmly. The wadding ring* which Hhthaniel produced at tha right moment had been purchased about eight the night before9 la the tra ditional plain gold band* (l am so glad that they did not go In for design* which have had such a vogue and which look to me like guard rings*) X made a point of cheeking the signatures on tha ragiator and can assure you that they both A gped their right names and everything is in order*

Wo were ushered out late the corridor and quickly matched a taxi, Ihan X asked Heatsrd If ho was going to carry Maris over the threehhold he admitted that bis arm was too sore for any such activity--so we ended up by dropping him at Ma office* I left them at 38th Street sad Nathaniel had the honor of seeing Maria heme* Delighted aa I am about the v&ole thing X cannot refrain from calling It "Operation Screwball"* Meanwhile X have picked up the envelopes from the studio

to address for the announcements9 dens such lists as they ware able to give me* and returned same, stamped. Maria had a sitting this morning, but later today they wore going to Manchester with the ski equipment but prepared to walk in the mountains if there was no mow. Th& plan Is to return Tuesday* If possible the Catholic priest will marry them again either this weekend or sent-when they return for a second part of tha honeymoon. Xfcey planned to go out to dinner last night* und as they did not answer tha phono at 8t30 when X got back from mooting my aunt's train sesame they

did*

My love to you both*

P.8. I nearly forgot to tell you that you were both phyeically represented. I wore the lovely silver ear rings so Mrs. Harris would have s pert in the ceremony (1 wear then so often end have so much plsasurs in then that I was particularly glad to use than ysstsrdsy.) Larry was represented by the beautiful rad flowers he brought ae froa Belgium during the war--they were dressed up a little with a sprig of Christmas green and were most effsctive on my best black wool dress. Incidsatly, Laurenee9 I am wearing the a good deal this year as that particular dress needs something and they invariably get the same sort of admiring constant they received when you first gave the to me. I a a little sorry that in the ell the ruah9 Maria was without corsage.

December 25, 1950
Dear I rs. Kammerer--
Knowing as you do of my deep devotion to Maria, I hope you and Las*lo and his wife will understand why I write this letter to you. I am also moved by the knowledge that the cable will have reached you and Maria's letter may bo fragmentary.
The decision to be married was hastily arrived at because of Hank's sudden yet impending departure for London. Of course that is badly expressed as you know they have long been devoted to one another. It was very exciting when they decided to be married at once and moat gratifying to me. In this state certain formalities of blood tests and so on must be complied with, end the civil ceremony was performed last vridny morning at City Hell as soon after they made up their minds as possible. Hank told me on Wednesday that Maria and he wanted me to be the maid of honor while his youngest brother, Hud, was best man.
Friday was a windy day with a hint of snow in the air when I went a little after eight to the studio. Maria wore a heirs tailored suit with a close fitting brown hat and was completely composed. The ceremony was performed by a man with a beautiful voice, #10 said the lines most impressively and with proper feeling. Maria and Hank made their responses clearly end firmly. I am convinced that they sre both very hapry and this marriage is an excell ent thing. It was a workinr day and poor Maria had to get back to the studio for n sittinj^-an attractive young girl whose portrait is almost done. Hank and I had to get to our respective offices. On Saturday they were going to take their ski things and go to Manchester in the hope there would be snow. Otherwise they were prepared to walk in the mountains. Maria is fond of the church there and expects the priest of Manchester to perform the church ceremony. She has been so busy of late that I am glad they will both have this three days in the country. It will do her so much good. Their hope to go back over the New Year weekend again, which is also nice.
Although I met the Harris family

via' Iknr

fEiriy TMn f^ing eprat

It in'*Y- r~&'nc 1laTMs+t stiHPrrol"sr.
opeldrseorn thanW;fliriai, a,,,d,

*iBnHd*sukr%esponsQiUbtleVtnhannedirJraersepsifod*neV snivc*ee*

J fine a *n^A6 r0f hkumka3n~~vc*alues-tnacnerdgaentds asleornioguws,ithburt ^wnilth* a

iw toih. ,S ?;!/? Unfal"n" B t.hrou" ghtfulneas and understanding.

ful

to I aria erfr

"sure

he

lB~*"lnhi*c>h*kbeeheeTM r a

b* h^ elp- *'
fine

ever'seen hHiitmr . ' c"ee^rttahineelynuneoe oJneenconuotldsuharevethheamt *yfor4u**hrotvs&e *.

aanndd morooretbgerentehrioeussluyamhoesrp. itable to we than rare m/m mo+thwer

see <* mu**

w ^ 'ifter FRnk ler,v8 1 ball hope to

eehedule-- i f 88 P8slble ln **- <*' her hue

MvTJT

88 y own* " not as often T

cpoo-ott wwiillll r invT olveba0tghoofrdedee8 alt
responsible one.

tahf etr"avMelltii4nnge.andH' i,is,

n6w r very

".at k.p. .. i i,, ,,

b;^,,'s,,;rr *

Very sincerely yours,

January 6, 1951 I hope your gw year was a good one and you made nor more resolutions than you have a good & ance of keeping to* Me, I made only one -- not to take the office so seriously that I work overtime inordinately and to the exclusion of all else* Although I expected to go to Molly and Jim, I was in town because I was exhausted and felt that I was fiaing to come down with a cold and could not face the possibility of adding to the complications of that household by being sick there* Saturday morning X was wakened with a telegram to Brooks Imeny from the Secretary of State* I went back to bed and did not read it until I got up about noon* By Sunday I got conscience and spent about six hours in the office setting up the necessary shifts for Brooks to acdept the Secretary's invitation on a day I had planned for him to be in Detroit* Aunt Annie came the Friday before Christmas and we went to Freeport on Saturday after noon* Molly was getting over flu, but everyone else was fine and we had a wonderful time* The little boys were thrilled about Christmas and Jay had done very well getting the pine boughs, we had cut the week before, as part of his help to Molly when she was feeling so badly* Ihey all talked to Ted in Washington including Bill, who politely said "And what did you get ?" after telling how pleased he was with his new trucks! One night Aunt Annie and I went to "Ring Around the Moon--a charade with music translated by Christopher Frey* It was playing in London last summer and I was delighted to see Benholm Elliott play the parts of twin brothers* He was juvenile ledd in "Venus Observed" which I saw Laurence Olivier do the lead in there* On Wednesday Tom got off for Panama after a terrific struggle* He knew he ought to have a change and that Brooks wanted him to go* I spent hours of time and endless energy arguing with him* Wednesday night before Christmas X thought he had agreed to go and proudly reported to Brooks in the morning that I had turn ed the trick, then Tom arrived and said he wouldN't go# By Friday it lboked as if he might, but I was prepared ftrhim still being difficult on Tuesday--but no, he stayed sold and left on Wednesday's boat* He seems to be having a fine, and if he does not return a new man X wash my hands of him! It was a struggle. Last Friday night I went to the Waldorf Astoria to hear John Foster Dulles answer Hoover in a pretty good speech, which without having official approval had been much discussed in the State Department. It was interesting that Truman announced Dulles did not speak for the Government and Guy Gabriel son said he did not speak for the Republican Party. Actually it was nothing new to have Mr. Bulles disliking the Russians in public-- but X was fascinated when he talking just like a Democrat pointed out how the New Deal social measures were capitalism's demonstration that not only the Communist States take care of their underpriveleged. This dinner quaintly was called for six, I got there at 6t30 just as the headtable was going in and I was in the lobby making a telephone call at 8s40* A new high in early closing for public dinners* This Thursday I went to a cocktail party at D'arcy Edmundson's for Lord Wilmot--who is on his way back to London from New Zealand. Wilmo/b has been a Cabinet member--Min ister of Supply and about a year ago was made a peer. I made a point of having quite a talk^ with him as he is speaking to "my ladies" on Wednesday* I was especially interested to have him say that New Zealand does not want to have a foreign ministry, biing quite content to let gill their foreign policy be guided through the United Nations* He is a big hearty, genial person with black hair and dramatic looking black spectacles. I hope I get back from Pittsburgh in time to hear him* Monday noon I go to Pittsburgh to set the guidinigng principles of a big two conference on foreign policy that they want in early May* I plan to come back on the sleeper Tuesday night, and as Maisie just phoned from Virginia to see if I could put her up from Wednesday to Saturday I hope I polish up my errand and arrive here first. Meanwhile it is just possible that Judith Listowel will spend Sunday and Monday nights with me. She was flown from London to participate in the Moral Re-Armament conference in Wadi ington and is coming to New York to see the Voice of America and some editors. Tomorrow I go to a tea for Harriet Monkhouse before she returns to England after her unexpected visit, then to Maria and Hank's before he takes off on Tuesday for London and then to Mary & Leonard Pritchett's to see Judith at 9 on her axrival from Washington*..and maybe bring her back to stay here. It sounds a little like Grand Central Station. So don't be surprised if there is no chit-chat next week #

/BB.

-A.

, #1T,

January 10* 150

This should be headed "by courtesy of tardy railroads". I gpt home at eight to greet Maisie and find now that her train was late and she canH be here for half an hour. Pittsburgh really deserves some mention and at once before I get over laughing at the several contee tanps. Just as I was about to wind up my dictation and leave for the 12t55 train on Monday, Warren called me from Pittsburg to be sure I was coming and to say that because of eight inches of snow the day before and great cold he hoped I would forgive him for mot meeting my train. Also the town was full of pottery and glass conventions and he was unable to tell me inhere I shoufid stay. I was to call him from the station and he would have the word. Switching the precautionary rubbers or galoshes I set forth and worked like a beaver in the quiet of my roomette on stuff I had not had time to read in the office and in mapping the proceedural steps in a two day Institute rfiich I was to teach the Pittsburgh Branch. (The trip was first planned for two days, and vhen cut to one I decided to travel in the afternoon so as to have a good night's rest in Pittsburgh and be bright for my strenuous sessions.) Just before Harrisburg there started to be a lovely snow coating over everything, which gradually grew deeper as we climbed into the mountains and the light failed. Tne train was right on time in Pittsburgh and as is my invariable custom my car me very far out in the open yards, so I slipped and slid over icy platform in the murk to a crowded, overheated, old and messy station. It was in a particular uproar at the moment due to a fracas betwwsn a burly civilian and an in transit draft, settled j station police, MPs and city police. After getting two "Busy" d gnals on ^arren s number I put myself in the hands of a switchboard operator and waited for thirty minutes to get through. By this time I had jtrked my fur coat in the booth asiigned to me. M (Heat in Pittsburg is supplied by natural gas and being very chaap everyone seems to let it rip full blast all the time and love a hot house atmosphere.) When we got throurii he told me to go to the William Penn--tfiere they were full, but would take jar of me and provided me with the names of three men who had been alerted to Do Sometning

It was quite simple to gegister, be assigned Room 1644 and go off with a red coated bell hop. The key, however, was bent and would not open the door and I stood for 20 minutes in the corridor while the boy "had another key sent up"--finally ft little man in a tweed suit appeared with a master key and let me in. A maid was sent for to tidy the room recently evacuated by a weary conventioneer and I waited patiently for the appearance of a new key, which was to be delivered in twenty minutes. By lltlO, my patience was wearing thin so I called the room clerk for a report on how much more tnan an hour I would have to wait. Mr. Dunavon (one of the men alerted for my arrival) was properly Statlerish and would take care of it at onee* By 1140 I called bus again --this time he was obviously in one of the convention prty rooms, he was c/iagrined. tnat the person he had told to take care of me had failed, steps would be taken at once, Sue. Ten minutes later the same little man in the tweed suit knocked and said with nry mission he would lokkme into the rows and have the key slipped under tne door. I was grateful and got to bed quickly, but by that time I was no longer sleepy. In fact I did not sleep until 2s30 I At eight I was called and as I enjoyed a fine hot tub, the door opened and in came the chambermaid. When I called "Good morning" she seemed flus tered, and declared that my door had not been locked. I shall never know whether it was or notJ
After breakfast Warren fetched me and we went out to the University of Pittsburgh where his office is in the Cathedral of Learning. A lovely structure begun in the 20*8, the cathedral like Common Room on the main floor is impressive and the series of nationality rooms--Chinese, French, German, Lithuanian are beautifully done. It must b fun to us them as class rooms. But people did not make good their pledges after the depression set in and many of the upper floors have only building-tile walls. We worked hard and I am content with having accomplished my mission, so we crossed the Mohongahela and scaled Mount Washington, scorning the "tube" which tunnels under it and the inclined railroad oar lift which goes to the summit. His wife, Anne, was beside herself as she wae running a charity bridge the next day and it had suddenly grown to forty tables

3
January 10,If51 **page 2

so I helped her make tallies, while the two boys aged 5 and 8 inspected me. John, a

m?

I617 ^trSC^Ve.eight' TOntd t0 know how muh y watch cost and then told me

/lis had bean his father s and cost $50, but since he had had it they had spent $30 on

repairs because he wound it too tight. The afternoon baby sitter left, the evening one

arrived (Karin aged 2 was in bed) so we bundled the boys into their coats and went

,view of the "Golden Triangle" tfiere the two rivers meet is lovely ro ne residential ridge called Mount Washington. The two boyw were deposited in the movies and we had dinner at Stouffer*s-the best place in town. Then we took Anne

,,a

? +.rl f sam,

which she was probably late and returned to town so Warren

ccoouuildd flof/u5ee

no ItIime r in

gettirngtirtohehokuirdssmbe ackup*to

1 had
their

holvmerddruePba ee dsa.t

ths

hotel

o

he

t 7,15I?+!!!d 3^ secretary had gotten me onto a train due to arrive in New York

itk.

t'lu aS ad lnBtrueted, but decided not to switch as my roomette

L

f

fr fd on the other train 1 miSht have to go over the wheels,

at is where I made ray mistake as we were not more than an hour out of Pittsburgh mm

In?It ft

+?1 l

f a l0t of trains

Past us. Irom expert ee

H

ad ^ +w

e Called

slilab9th and not at a given hour, so when X woke

we were still west of Philadelphia I went back to sleep. I

5fl? " + .i ,32,?nd t"9n besaa to bite my fingernails as I knaw the ladies would start arr. ving at the o.fice at 12 and I had a date with lord Wilmot,the speaker, at 1220. 1

that^hia iTJl t

11,+5' *** *b Pressing things with my oin people, found

,ti+h

fa j Pu * bru|ht out a record crowd. Brooks cams around to discuss something

with me and when he found I had not seen Tom, who had arrived from Panama half an hour

aorthi?tl l

m intodUCing" m9' Miss W#lle Tom's assistant was in his office ,

+r laUdi!"!.for our mbrace was two. Last time it was just Carolyn. If

there are four the next time, X shall go back to insisting on the French "double accolade".

January 14, 1958U

Wilmot was a howling success, he is not a governor of Old Vic and Sadlers' Wells for notning and ths ladies drooled over him and think I am little short of a miracle woman.

"rrrTL0 ?

diJ "P for them for their

session on Ash Wednesday. TClly,

only said that the British Commonwealth of Nations was a global democratic club, which

could not exist in today 8 world without the USA and we could not exist without them Ha

ifreTre

*11 illustrations of their men under armed forces, and drew the analogy that

TMi?+ f ,, d anaed w would have twelve and a half million in uniform today. He bowed

aenryv mmoorrae fafft+eJr^TJ*a^n. 1 anVd?ho4wSt^hewendo*w**fa^ vorabw leere traabdlebalanscaey a"ntdhantkhse *b0u%t wiencdroena'ste noeveedr

prewar figures of industrial production laid a firm foundation for an expanded defense

program. Maisie Cash came Wednesday night and the next evening we dined at Town Hall and

Sherwood finiah ^r!shhd""f *Ujr Philip Bany routed out^efore his deathT ^erf Sherwood ^hd it. ^ive Brook and Margaret Phillips play the leads, he is especially

I think wf

+

^s s0Phistieted, drawing room conversation and not a problem.

I think was trying to say that parents should not try to live their childrens lives but it

was not altogether clear. We are glad we went, but I wish the play had beeTup lo ihs

acting--a very common plaint this season.

p

Thursday morning Clave telpphoned that Martha's uncle, William Lucas, had died in

SaSde8not"ZI'T k0" Tue!day and that she ** Sne t0 har ^ther. It io a meroy

d.k wv k

3 ^ng dlineS3.,,to wear out his two sisters with whom he lived. Martha' was

d e Jack ,bis morning, but so far I have not been able to get her on the telephone to see

how she and her mother and spinster aunt are*

i f+ ^iBi9

at ti10 I0r New Haven yss-tsrday, so I was free to dine with Maria. Hank

left for England on Thursday and she and the cats are very lonely. He thought it would be

hhiimm

iinn

SpL mn0n fiu eldLan' d the

s*a*w*h?e*r*oT ff*on

an

eatrhl9ysttu rd aiion'ba8c0k

sh9
to

New

YorWke.dneHse&yhopneisghtAewith

"thinks he then went to Boston for a fast naval vessel, but actually he flew from an air

port near Springfield* His intentions were sweets

THto,

TJL\ c # r

, January 21 , 1951

This is by courtesy of Molly1s birthday typewriter, as I came here Saturday in time for a picnic lunch at Jones Beach. We k have had two June in January days and had great fun with lunch from the new picnic basket on the sand. There was not much surf but the sun was pleasant and just enough wind to provide the traditional hazard of sand to the picnic. Today Bill greeted me with the news that it was very cold and very windy this morning, but soon the sun came out with a beautiful bright blue sky--the air is very different than the heavy dampness of the past two days when the suh seemed murky and smoke did not rise. Actually today is more like March.
We saw the Freeport stunt yesterday of lining the curb of a business block with dinmes for the "March of Dimes " Drive and participated in it on our way to the picknic. Today we are filled with activity of getting the collection coin boxes about in such strategic places as are open on Sunday. A friend of the family is el Chairman for the drive in Freeport and at the eleventh hour yesterday discovered that several key people had simultaneously folded up on their respective jobs!
The office has been moderately mad and I worked very hadd-- with I regret to say too many seven or eight o!clock departures. Wednesday night I went to the Cosmopolitan Club to hear Vera Dean speak, so as to be able to give her a critique of her approach, handling of material and current delivery. The ballroom was much too hot and at one point I wondered if I would collapse from heat. She was in rare form and I felt that she was behaving as though she were playing a part on the stage--but she did it very effectively-- and it was a good speech. Thursday Tom had to see the chairman of the FPA Finance Committee so I presided at the Town Hall when Georges Henri Martin spoke. He was moderately good and I was better satis fied with the job I did than the last time. During the question period I did the questionable thing of the chairman telling a story but it was too good an underscoring of a point that he had just made to resist. A woman member of the French delegation to the UN stayed a few nights with Mrs. Boardman. The first morning she announced: "Ah Madame, I have a wholly different concenption of American life now that I have slept under your darned sheet. lou see in Europe we thought that as soon as anything became worn or outmoded here it was throuwn away. No?/ I realize that even in the great United States people practice the good quality of thrift."
e Thursday night I went to the Museum of Modrn Art Auditorium to see some British documentary films. They were all interesting but the one which stirred me most was one called "Family Portrait" an arazing kalisescope of history and contenporary shots of people doing things. It was introduced by a man named Barry, who is Director General of the "Festival of Britain". The picture so in terested me that I wrote him a note on my card when he came and sat beside us. Later in the intermissioh D!Arcy Edmundson introduced him to toe--so it is proper as well as spontaneous. DfArcy and I have started e flirtation at a cocktail party he gave a couple of weeks ago which is being further by the exchange of picture post cards which he collects--""-" his collection is of olci ones, so I doubt if I can add much. It is the first time ISve ever had a post card flirta tion. I do not have much confidence in it as a medium, which is all ri srht too.

January 28, 1951
A dull cheerless day of rain, snow and sleet which fortunately is not freezing in town at any rate* Iv'e just come back from seeing Anut Mary Greenwood and it is a sill* time to be startign the week's correspondence -- but it is now or never. She looked very wehl and gave a good report of Aunt Bessie, #10 had gone to her rom beiore I got there. Aunt Mary is a little depressed and feeling like a second class citizen. They have decided to sell all their real estate and dissolve the family corporation built around the holdings of her grandfather who died in 1865. She does not feel right iust to be an apartment dweller without owning land in the city. Spent mos - o~ the afternoon with Maria, partly in the studio and partly here. She is going in circles but looked well and rested.
Yesterday afternoon I went to "Richard II" with Maurice Evans in the lead as the guest of Margaret Coe. Margaret Webster directed the production, which moved with sip and precision (even at that it was three hours long) the sets are good and the costuming wonderful with vivid color and much style. The voices of the excellent cast were most pleasing and the whole thing a delight. I particularly liked Frederic </oiloc as John of Gaunt and Kent Smith who played Bolingbroke. I had forgotten that For God s sake, let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings" came -rom this play.
The office has been in a frenzy with trainees codling in to report and being briefed for the next trip, the Board meeting and its preliminary committee meetings. Brooks lias been away twice and there never was time to sit down and hear the details of what be learned in Washington nor in the four days he toured Michigan. The negotiations on the union contract have come to fever pitch and Tom is beside himself. I devoutly hope that this coming week will see a settlement of the matter, we cannot go on much longer sitting on the edge of the volcano--and get a constructive job done at the same time.
Tuesday night I went to the Cosmopolitan Club as Gerry's guest to hear Lord Wilmot again. It was fascinating as he made essentially the same speech as at the FFA lun cheon two weeks before. Since he does not use notes, it was curious to see how nearly it was the identical speech. Gerry, who is working too hard I expect, was late so I had a nice talk with Mrs. Frederick Keppel, #10 is about to leave for Athens and Tunia to visit two of her sons. Dottie and Carleton Cooke sat just behind us and it was cozy. I wish I could follow Gerry's suggestion and go with her and Laura Cox to the Virgin Islands for late February. I could do with some sun and change of pace and know from experience that those two make good travelling companions.
Monday Maisie lunched with me on her way from New Haven back to Virginia and that evening Georges-Henri Martin spoke for the evening with the Expert series at the office. Despite great cold we had an excellent audience and he was very interesting. Brooks presided and seemed quite impressed with the group. This was his first sampling of them, so I was glad. On Wednesday we had the Cutler's from Milwaukee at the Lowell for lunch a"d I was chagrined to see that the pine mantel arrangement needed replacing. I have found a collection of wonderful "dry" things including wild burrs, sea oats, milk weed pods, okra, honesty, cattails--both large and small-- and quantities of items I do not recognize, at Harry Myers on Lexington Avenue. I plan to go there and get a little this and that and see if I cannot make a dry arrangement, which will hold up better. I'm afraid I let myself in for something when I starting doing the mantle there. The new growth put on this month by the office avocados has puzzled me. It is like a spring push--all the terminals have put out a new crown of good strong leaves.
The military news from Korea completely befuddles me, but the political news from the UN distresses me. I fear that Stalin has done exactly what he wanted to doput a wedge between the British and ourselves on the issue of Communist China. I do not see how we can swing that situation with the British and their followers because it could be touch and go even witfi^them on our side. In any event we are in for a long hard pull in which each person must do his utmost to keep from hasty action or judgements

Uht

ClfT,

February 5, 1951

A great battle rages in opera circles over the new productions of Cavaleria Busticana and Pagliacci and is familiarly called the "Cav-Pag fight". Rudolf Bing, the new manager of the Metropolitan, has presented
this double bill with new settings, fresh costumes, different casts and a lot of different stage directions. On Monday Vera and I warmly approved
the result, which was enhanced by the supberb conducting of Erede". The sets are good, though the "Pag" is a trifle too modern for my taste. The costumes, instead of being muted in color and appearing musty were fresh and vivid, with some handsome use of a lemon yellow,"peacock blue and a lovely soft rose shade. Olin Dowries of the New York Times leads the opposition and claims that the tradition of the operas have been lost through changing the^conventions The hew Yorker critic spearheads the supporting group and claims that the staid Metropolitan has now made a bid for contributing to the living, creative theatre of New York. It is a lovely fight! And, of course, the publicity is just dangy for the Metropolitan box office.

Thursday night at long last I went to"South Pacific" and found it just as satisfying as the thousands who preceeded me have claimed. Knowdng Pinza from years at the Metropolitan, it is easy to imagine how he read the lines and. the sort of sauve character he made out of the French planter. Ray Middleton creates quite a different sort of person and it must have been very hard on Mary Martin to shift her treatment from one to the other type during the months that Pinza was supposed to be doing it and half the time leaving the role to his understudy--Middleton. The whole thing is admirably cast and moves with a verve that is most refreshing. I was disappointed that more opportunity was not given to a wonderful negro dancer. He did only ehough to make me want to see a lot more.

The weather has been appalling. Monday it sleeted, Tuesday was clear and cold, Wednesday it snowed most of the day, Thursday was intermittent rain and snow with the finale about six of torrents which happily washed away most of the snow and ice that had not already been carted off. (For a day or two there were no garbage collections so that the entire Department of c>.nitatfo
could cope with snow removal. ) Friday being ground hog day it was clear and cold, so we prepare for six weeks more of uncertain weather--not that we have had much serious winter weather, but we certainly have had more than our share of sudden change. Over and over again I have needed my bif fur co&fc one day and th4 next been quite comfortable in a short spring topper.

The three little boys and I are having a date today. Molly and Jim are to leave for Garden City for dinner and the eavening at 4:50, and I111 rirU the roost of be ruled. We all slept late this morning, so I suspect that bed will not be too appealing to them this evening. At the moment they are at the movies and one of their companions is the son of a man on the Atomic Energy Commission who has gone to Rochester to see what can be done about the complaint of the Eastman Kodak people. It seems that the radio active snow there from the recent tests at Los Vegas has made complications in theri laboratory and Hanson has gone up to see what1s what. I suspect that we are "testing" so many bombs in such a hurry to show the Russians that we have heaps of them and suggest that the USSR mind its step or else. It is well that we have finally gotten the vote in the UN branding the Red Chinese as aggressors, and a great victory for our diplomacy even if at one moment it looked as if the British people were unwilling to follow along. I can understand their reluctance, because as I observed in the summer they were sptuittlilngsoupdepalfeitende ffrroonmttahnedspterrahianpsofeveornlfaooWlairnIgItthheamtsetlhveeys,dibdutnotthehyavweere any great physical or economic reserves to call on. It will almost take the growing up of a new generation of English to provide what is needed for a great push. Me, I'm all intrigued with the sun spot theory and hope it works!

February 10, 1951
Last Saturday night when I let Sandy out for an airing it was snowing and when we got up the next morning there was a little better than an inch of powder snow all over and the sun was out. Molly and I went out and sat in the sheltered corner and basked in the sun and moaned over the three inches of narcissus and daffodil leaves that poked pitifully out of the snow. The little boys had a wonderful time making a snow man, though at less than three Billy finds it more fun to push it over than to build it up.
I was scarcely out of my coat Sunday evening when Vera telephoned to tell me for an hour of a very disturbing conversation she had had with one of the FPA Board members #10 has^ a strong streak of sadism in his character. She was in a state and left me so troubled that I was awake half the night. We had a long staff conference on Monday and most of my day Tuesday went in hearing the reports of the field men who are jusfc back from Ohio. At one thirty Brooks proposed Ahat Tom, the two field men and I lunch with him at the Lowell, so my desk stood still again until almost four o'clock when we got back. I was glad to go as I had not gotten the "dry" things for his mantle and did have short sprays of pussy willow, forsythia and spirea which ought to last for several weeks. There is a background spray of hemlock, which I asked him to remove wha the other things came into their own. There is a similar arrangement in front of a Mexican tim plate here, so I can keep track of how it developes. I really think I have them (Brooks and Tom) both trained to water the arrangement whenever they are there, so between ue we keep the living room looking a little less like a very nice but none the less hotel suite.
Wednesday Phillips Talbot spoke at the ladies luncheon and was- quite good on India and Pakistan, though he handled it rather differently than he and I had agreed and I obstinately feel less effectively. However, some of the most critical women were pleased so my disappointment does not matter. It started to rain in the afternoon and by six there was a high wind carrying a combination of snow and rain and taxis were non existent. I got chilled through in ten minutes vain effort, so went back into the building and had a drink to warm me and some dinner and then about seven got a break with a cab and got to the Eren's penthouse on the East River for a six to eight cocktail party. I never did meet the guxst of honor. The Erens are very nice Turks but almost totally ineffectual hosts. When I tried to say goodbye they both entered into a heated argument with me and a Mr. and Mrs. Houser about symbolism of Turkey for at least ten minutes, while other people shifted for themselves. Houser is trying to promote the new Hilton hotel in Turkey and knows that beside modern comfort the American tourist wants "romance" and "native glamour". Eren, a Moslem, is very proud of the modern Turkey and the state's separation from the mosque and vetos all pictures of mosques. Houser knows better than suggest a veiled woman and is feeling very frustrated. I felt like a martyr to brave the elements and go at all, but I cut their last party and felt I had to appear
Friday afternoon Vera had a cocktail party for Roger"SaduJ^ the new French Consul General in New York. There were no other people from the office there and I had a fine time. I had a nice talk with Mrs. Henry Goddard Leach, who told me that years ago she promised Swedish friends that she would never go to hear Flagstadt sing because they all feel so keenly eb out her husband's open collaboration with the Nazis. Poor Mrs. Leach never thought she would be put to the test, but now she is having to decline invitations to hear the "Swedish soprano". "Sadu^ who was active in the French resistance, told me that during the occupation the loyal French refused to go to the theatre or the movies because they were admittedly media for Nazi propaganda, so they stayed at home played the paino, reread books that were at hand and thought. This contemplative life knit families more closely together and strengthened the indivuals knowledge of the need for quiet thought. He has been hear for three months and is very worried that the New York tempo will not give him time to himself. Williams, the British vice-consul, who has been here since August confirmed the fear and warned Sadu he would do well to get a day a week and even then his wife would probably accept a dinner invitation for "the" night. Vera asked me to stay after the others left, so I took her to dinner at Longchamps and she told me about her experiences in India. The fact that it has taken us over three months to have this talk illustrates the thing^Sadu"complains of. It was so thrilling that I went back to her apartment again and did not get home until 12*30.

fy-c- A^r, ft

, M^" 8< February 18, 1951

One office problem is solved--on Friday the contract with the Union was sigied and we hope for comparitive peace for a year and a half* I take a certain smug satis faction that this source of jitters has been eliminated becauae the getting down to br^ss tacks and writing up the points of agreement instead of agonizing over the ones still in dispute was a suggestion I made to Barbara Wells during the evening she spent here three weeks ago# She was abashed she had not thought of that herself, but when they began on this tact the pieces fell into place pretty quickly# One of the concessions was a $2#50 increase to everyone, and management insisted that if it goes to Union members it must also go to every other employee--so I get more than enough to cover my social security payment!
then Anne Wolfe was here for tea last Sunday I discovered that their rent has been increased Vz>% and then 13^ on top of that and meanwhile the service and atomosphere of the Osborne--a big old apartment at 57th and 7th deteriorates steadily* She is very concerned, but Henry loves the place and its convenience so she feels they will stay on# Yesterday afternoon when Fran brought Joan Richards and the two West Pointers here I got a dreadful ribbing about the Bridge Club, which is on the parlor floor of this house# I confess that it does not add distinction to the building but I know that their rental carries the rest of us--and insures our having better heat in the evening than we ever had before# Therefore I have never made an issue of the "business" in a non-business zone house* I was touched that upon arrival Herald presented me with a dress-hat insignia which I have put in the place of honor over the Horse brass collection--it looks very handsome. Some day I may get it on a. purse* Another thing which please me was that he asked if he might change his shirt and leave off his blouse--they hate those skin tight zippered affairs# So he and his friend--Mark Reese of Kansas City--retired to my room and made themselves comfortable# Quite a supply of jelly cookies and cinnamon crullers were consumed with cokes and as I suspected glass after glass of milk on the jart of the cadets* When they all rushed off to Freeport for a dance and the night, I went to Maria's for dinner only to find that in the lazy day she had spent in bed, she had forgotten that the pot roast she had planned was not cooking# We went out to a Chinese restaurant!
This afternoon we all go to St# Thomas' Church to hear Herald and Mark with the rest of the West Point choir sing the Evensong service. I have tried to get family several times this morning to see if they will come heee to listen to Bankhead broadcast on which the choir is also singing, without success, so I am a little vague about the rest of the day# I'm afraid they cannot get home between church and six o'clock* Monday night Maria dined here and went to "II Trovatore" witb me# She had gotten in a jam and was late so I burned the peas and we missed the first act as I was determind that the evening was to be a re laxed and pleasant one for her* Erede conducted again and she liked him as much as I do. FeodomBarbieri was a magnificent Azucena after a painfully teeraulo start in the Anvil Chorus* She had no training or aspirations until she was discovered at the age of 13 while serving as clerk in her parent's shop in Trieste, by a customer who heard her singing at her work# Her mezzo-soprano has an almost three octave range and her fine personality has a wonderful effect on her collegues* Both Kurt Baum (Manrino) and Leonard Warren ( Couii di Luna) sang better when they were with her* She is handsome, yet humble, probably about 32, is married and has a son of seven# We were greatly impressed by her#
Wednesday night Marjory Evans dined with me and then took me to "Jotham Valley" the Moral Re Armament musical* We went backstage first where in very cramped quarters the wardrobe mistress was ironing and people milled about* One song intrigued me especially-- when I point my finger at my nei^ibor there are three fingers pointing at me# This time they are chrging admission and have had a dreadful time with the theatrical unions* TRY IT#j Afterwards the cast held a reception on the stage and I had a long talk with Scoville Wishard, who has been in Europe a great deal lately working with former Communists especially in Germany giving them the Moral Re Armament philosphy as a substitute for their own* He brought up a young German,who was completely Nazi trained and aided up in the Hitler Elite Guard and is now also devoting his life to spreading the principles of Moral Re Armament.

T.Tin - \UtuA} 4B3.C*

7JU,

. 1(,/

February 25, 1951

i'liis is "by courtesy ox spending the weekend. for march weather--witla gales oi tlian welcome change x'rom ohe with torrents of rai%nfiin me

uleve1 s t v p ewrit er, where 1 an

several days we hsve hacl typical

wind and "bright bine skies---a more

high fore

humidity dullness oart of the week*

altLearsntatSiaannnagdaay

~ i -vrn f-i t nf the Oadet OOhaagpeell OOlhiooi'irr

the occasion of the, ^nd ttoo St. Thomas Church v/as

a... 1; nwfiiJv

service floartttenhre) laelgsuolasrangpo.

The

Thomas Chnoixr processional

o_f smeun sseoewmeed

^ iinAtUerrmn.aw^-uaaiO>lleo-

hec-luse tthhee 1188o0 4 t thheenn u up p

cadets xin adreass the center, two

by

Uniforms marched down the side ^eg^ted andi"turned as the,cadets

S; m * two. The bSeulek ?,otfhethemanooj*m^o- u , , su^pe^rintendQennnotrionftfttrniedenijiaoa^emayeav..n

KorJS5Ji So/ws

boefenthtehe'rXe_otiwntO"tgjwaveee;kjtrvshui .e )ivv-reejangogooodi sermon.^ Oo^,,0^ -Hail, Gladden-

jlma^atetr To

, all 0oigwwllmioouh were our great- sonurripiryise

atv0nedrty-ehxesc.tiCitere.nrmtiee.nnrtg.1.,.ThnHeoartraraiel

4

se to

cu -

r

e

tdheu

iMdceaxelTetlhusuio-s

,,t the church for us to ao o,

the oadets were also si^i u.Q ^

Iah'hardcheadrradioaaow,dih

before ^llve^uaienoe^^ ,f

issorpopular that wei^haa to W^se who were ^rsonSg--^

leas looking for a s^gg^eaa met all the cadets 1"^ for

the 2:SO rehearsd mis

already amply xorti-i^ - --- ^

we sot the news

0Ts0oalJudgefrom the breath. We^v

the strain j-x

-p-i tti is duo fed&utiful--y . n Wsred to death

interested in f

Fred Ula

Beatrice

dress of velvet--st attractive, composea an.'

hut Portland TMas most attiac^

f

hTeir aheetladf.feJtaackand

r.illi wore a strapleo^

hat on tne dnch o

much as

a, coral-cerise aeep |?thior contributed to

bit of

Carson and ^f^terrait. ' The Dennis hing nankhead wool F j^ad" certainly sola --

tickets. Dankheaa nonsense...me, 1

Wednesday,night hrooks^o^oxi^ ^^^ h.,. to

which will take him as_ .... J..4- much harder '-o MC.O_-

,,or jlig absence. Cleve nas - L -T. into the service and

decided "that he will not nave

all the real estate Up!gi?

sp^t Part of aatur^ oall^-^ one,of them h^gjkhe111"

riecomrovionegootlneethooulsoeo:kiare rreeaaluluyy intetrheesitredcomaindngitbaicsk o iyi cnooe

ness of the man which has aelc^

tQ ^ay, they can have x o

sviedsetewredaljooakueduloaiti

today in Merrxek.

V

JU.-..07,T+MK51
This is the kible birthday and I am just back from a weekend of clebration at Freeport-- Jay was eleven and Jim was 39 for the tird time! On Friday Jay made a birthday cake for his father--chocolate frosting and all and it was delicious * Today we had another of Molly*s making who there was six little boyw for luncheon and the movies* On Wednesday poor little Bill ran into a bush, or the twigs of one slashed his right eye* Three cuts in the eye-ball bleed and Molly rushed him to the oculist, where it was discovered that the suffac of the pupils was also cut# There is every reason to beL ieve that the prompt action has prevented infection and that he is going to heal all right--though for several days more he has to have an aureomycin stive three times a day, n&ich he greatly dislikes# There is never a dull moment in that household and as it snowed yesterday and rained today we several times made a shambles of the house* But they are sweet kids, Fred and Bill helped me make the beds this morning while Molly frosted the cake, just as happily as if we had been playing the most exciting game#
After the office Monday I went to the Allan Williams, he is the British vice consul, for cocktails and took and awfully teasing about being seen there--after the Chicago Tribune said that the FPA was a British front organization* I had a pleasant time, but the tempo of the prrty was to let people talk pleasantly together without rnufh mixing up of the guests# Then I went to "Fledermaus" --which I am quite sure I had never heard before* It took cpite a while for me to accustom^ myself to theenormous amount of recitative in it and I can readily understand why this item has never been given in London as Grand Opera* It was delightful and I can see why the performance was sold out for days--certainly there were a lot of people there who had come because of the novlety* It is still Johann Straus music but the words have been written by Garson Kanin (authro of"Born Yesterday" and "Rat Race"*) using the original "Fledermaus" words and the translation of a French play, called "Reveillonf The broad Viennese humor has been brought up to date in terminalogy and is very funny* Some of the situations are at least suggestive--whan Frosch, the jailer, comes out of the women's detention pen in the jail in the early morning, it is quite plain what he had been up to--even without the program describing the women as tarts# Jack Gilford, the conmedian was cast in this role and falls downstairs at least twice, talks a great deal but never siggs a note. Nana Gollner, the prima danseuse, plays Adele who is supposed to be a dancer and she speaks several lines but never sings# The settings are fresh and lovely, in the first act the wall paper is a clear yellow and the upholstery a soft green# In the ball scene of the second act, the predominate color is a rich crimson and the gowns of the ladies and the uniforms of the men who attend the a rty are beautiful. In the jail seene the prevailing color is blue, which sets off all the grty costumes nicely whei at the end most of the guests turn up in the fail to drink champagne# John Brownlee was Dr# Falke (Fledermaus) and is, I am afraid, pushing his voice too hard. This is a big role with a lot of singing and almost as much spoken and the very next nigfrt he was doing "Magic Flute"# Set Svanholm was a good Eisenstein, but I still find myself fas cinated by his footwork# I think he has a wooden leg Marguerite Piazza was lovely as Rosalinda Eisenstein and her costumes (circa 1874) were magnificent# Patrice Munsel made a pert and pretty maid and I liked her voice better than I have ever before# It really was great fun and I enjoyed it very mucja--hope I can really hear the music next season and not be distracted by. staging, plot and so much speaking# At one point in the ball scene, servants brought out about a dozen big red cushions and couples sank onto the floor for a session cf necking. Since there were another half dozen couples similar ly engaged on settees round about it made for quite a "mass love-making"#
Wednesday Tom and I rediscovered "Champs Elysee" as a good luncheon place and are very pleased with ourselves. It is close to the office yet neither one of us had been there for several years# He loves their chef's salad and I their filet of sole# Sandy Allport left Friday for two weeks leave in Florida and Tom asked him, Barbara Wells and me to go to the Lowell for lunch# It was most interesting as somehow the men got on their war experiences* Allport was a tank commander snd after chasing the Germans through much of Germany was captured end kept in an old tobacco factory on the Czech border long enough to lose 40 pounds* After the Russians liberated them, he found himself commanding 300 French, 150 Poles and several hundred US and British troops on a long trek to the US lines# He had to divide them by linguistic groups and issue his commands first in English, then French, then German# Anyone without one of those languages just had to follow the crowd*

Tub*.- ctr"

'

March 10, 1951

Monday night Gardiner Meade, Maisie's third son who is studying ballet here, dined with me and we went to "II Barbiere di Siviglia". Erede conducted again and Baccaloni sang Bartolo though I did not think he was in especially good voice but Frank Guarrera was a fine Figaro* ID do not remember hearing Roberta Peters before and liked her Rosina very much--she is pretty, which of course Lily Pons is not, and seemed to sing with a great surety and security of pitch. It was especially interesting because it was the first time Gardiner had ever been to the opera*

Tuesday I switched another dinner date in order to go to Maria to meet the brother of her dearest childhood friend who had arrived four days earlier on a D*P* ship. Imre Lazar (?) is a member of the former landed aristocracy of Hungary and has a fine mind with a good training as an economist* Tha family lost most of their hundreds, no thousands of acres, which were in Transdanubia by the Treaty of Trianon after World War I, and although a child Imre personally lost two farms# I gather that he is enough older than Maria and his sister to have adopted a very spperior and intellectually devastating manner to the girls and not to have been greatly beloved by them as a result* (TT is interesting that the father was Catholic and the boys were brought up in that faith while the girls followed their mother's Protestantism, and Maria a Catholic had a Protestant as her best friend.) Imre was here last in the late *30's when he was chef de cabinet to the Mayor of Budapest and came to invite LaGuardia to visit Budapest, later the same year he went to Berlin and attended a state ball* Ihen Hitler entered the room and passed between the guests everyone raised the right arm and "Heil Hitler"ed except Imre and his compatriot# They merely bowed and were conscious that Hitler glared at them and later pointed them out to find out who they were. Years later when the Nazis took over Budapest Imre was immediately sought out and put into the Spenitentiay battalion". At some point he decided that it was useless to remain in the municipal government and became the manager of a couple of textile factories. Like many other Hungarians he decided after the Russians that a patriot's duty lay in remaining and doing all that was possible maintain Hungarian nationalism. In the Russians drive to expand communism in the country great pressure was exerted on the priests and aristocrats and Imre came in for his share. Part of the treatment was bribery--they offered a fine villa, an automobile and consider able money. Fencing on his his part protracted the negotiation but finally he was told that the time had come for him to accept or that it would be dangerous for him. With that tip-off he slipped across the border and was about a year in Vienna and another in Paris all the time sticking to his determination to get to the United States. I think thgfc he is going to make a good addition to our population and shall be curious to see him when he has been here four weeks or four months instead of flour days. One of things which shocked me most was his explanation that when two friends meet on the streets of Budapest as they shake hands instead of the traditional greeting they say "shoes", "food" or something like that Then if they are picked up by the secret police they both tell the same thing as the topic of their conversation in the indivi. dual interrogation. For the arrests to be so frequent that it is necessary to avoid their stories not agreeing sketches a grim situation* I was particularly interested that he feels that while the Russians are expanding territorially and preaching communism, they actually practice fascism themselves and cow foreign populations with their police state methods. For fun I steered him into a discussion of communist theory and got si me very interesting obser vations on the "Russian mind"--one of Asiatic deviousness-in which Imre said he admired Acheson. He feels that our Secretary of State has learned that the Russian objective is not the tiling they speak of but a secondary or tertiary point and drew an analogy to fencing with the feint and the thrust*

?/ednesday Henry Wolfle spoke at the Off the Record ladies luncheon at the office* Poor dear, he had been in bed since Friday with the flu and only came because he would not let me down* As a result of his book "The Imperial Soviets" he has been barred from Russia and the satelite countries, but last summer Yogoslavia let him in. He does not belittle Tito's communism but underscores the letter's determination not to have his country the tool of Russia# Moscow overplayed its hand economically --paying only 40 a pound for a commodity with a world price of 170 and then chrging $28,000 for a tractor*

(Vpfrf.,

March 17, 1951

This is by coufctesy of Fran's typewriter-she is weekending a t Ves t

point and I vas gLd enough to drag syself out here

night after a mos t gha stly day

At 7:10 Ve ra telephoned ne that her son had jus leard<^^1o^at* a s

Winifred Emery and the two youngest children. It is still too

j ^

there is enough in the highly s ensationa 1 news xoens 'v- ^: dful a ccident and not douQe

s till hoping that it will be discovered to ha ve been a ^eadxulj.

^ t befoie

murder and suidide. I firs t me t wiuifrec^and

fV rrost -ene rous, though -

they were engaged a nd have a lwa ys felt lini-.rea o ue one^

^ never s earned to

ful and unselffish people 01 my^a cquaintance. On -- * _ , income mus t be given

get much fun out of life and believed that at leas t *~ known a s the "Madonna

a way In New Hampshire whe re they

to^undertake them, but on

of the Mountains" Sometimes I area m up t.ips and ^Se

13

te d that he wanted to

trhoistoonSet.ILoofufiesr,edtehimOralenan"souatn"d

aTceoxuaos.UniTshanumahe

to^ ld

c_
m

1

ubat

he

wwoouuildd

ttaa<k-ee

FFaa

ith,

the

debutant daughter with him in uhe ca pacity or se^e^ry

^org but at'least I do not

and a rrange her entra nee ui Rolens College. In is o,,-all _ ^the tw0 younger child-

have to reproa.cn mysel-

no Pns ^

yesterday afternoon ha ving had the

refa might still be alive. He g>oUuU DUcaX ^ 01 X

T^r,

a.jt. once from Orrhtrii or>, Pa. Vvfetli"y1

news oromen by his sister-in-la w and nad nxs DiOu-oa., ^nviiv to help him. e were

old friend and his wife from Fhiladelphra ana a^Janrixeu

gfice andour own

told not to send flowers, to ca rry on wioh eveiytmng as planned n

relations to the

weekend plans. Me ha ve no idea wha t this wilx Man as far us Bioon s rexau

FPA. It is going to be very difficult at oesc.

So MKT people enjoy Ed Narrow,a Friday night broa^

interes ted in this story. One of Ids ^^^\^hepaLne^te Ipied'the Aga Kha n

S^SlSL^love^Be gum and

*, on his. portaoie tape recorder for

the American people. One of the loca 1 news photographers saw tnem ^ooka^. ^

^r^aS^'^sSX^an ^tSlgflhH examines his health a t the wedding

party a s the Begum looks on".

of la te the JttpUnger Newsletter, which I scan each weX.haa oeen

giving long range weauher froreea sti s. Tm"hUe^ l1a

f*fYP i/hr^t^!L"bdIrQ8.eVaDdiTnvOgXtisiidIeS also^I have

anticipa ue web, wa rm weatnex fox xi3 -i g

wtor Qf the first Indian Ambassador

been busy with "East of Home" by Santha Rama Ran,^

reoresenta tive to the

to the U.S. and neice of Sir Senegal Karsing Rau, Indian's pedant ^pret^^ ^^

\ ft1Wthe1aulll ori947!Qi^diatel^C|ftSnindia became independent. The book cove rs

eight monthsthere"and then a 'fantastic trip that she made with an American

Sal>

and a zoxmer US occupation officer,

was ve^ interesteci in the oriental tneatre^

the Chinese leg of the journey a young

atena

^ Deseert>

aThyeevart.h,enwawsenatdeoendotoooitchuee. apnaa maones^ xaJ.a'x^o ~o ^ ileresti^ng as the view of one Orip-e;xntnaQl+of

other Asiatics, but I have had a great many

no

mean to be funny. For exmyxe, s^e xe- . 11Qt, fs-irce Truo, pronounced auo is Chinese for common language would inguire if si^^L"^U' i^ven as&means American) and she

^allSofS.6 St^^her_ friends certain^

had a most interesting a..d unusual experience, whicn makes ioA aii si^ xem ...

ionday night Gerry had dinner with me at tlie Club on Monday ana oold aim^ about the fine hol'idG She an^ d W

KlS.a -clc'dkdt "Uelo^kt Icoantmienuteo wtihtehchoenrclcuasrieoenrtahs^a SrecthiSuveac^uo.im nas no if liability huctalmlusitt.be nervous and ha s had very bad ins traction in acting or aepui. -

an,

f'ift^

March 25, 1951
Brooks came into the office for several hours on Tuesday and we had a half hour or more with him -- five of us. He displayed magnificent control and a stoicism, which made me feel very humble--but the reaction on some of my collegues was different. I am utterly exhausted from being an emotional blotter for my more volative fellow staff members. It came to the point where I deliberately tried to keep Vera and Tom apart and told them that under present circumstances there were only
making each other worse. The Russian temperment and the Irish certainly are impossible under these circumstances. Brooks was in again for a short time again on Thursday though I only saw him for a few minutes in tire lobby as I was making e very late entrance and he his departure for Florida. He has taken Faith back to Rollins College to finish the process of entering her there. The job.was interrupted by his hasty and tagic summons back to Greenwich. When I got around to talking to Tom he explained a phrase/ of Brooks to me. Brooks will be back by Friday and wants four of us to fo to Greenwich for the weekend with him. I do not lock forward to the occasion but feel very keenly if we can help him over his first weekend in the house, it is the least I can do. I was to have spent that weekend with Gerry, but she understands.
It has been a cold and :indly faster. Jay has practically lived in church. They had the boys choir for the nine o!clock service and again at 10:45 and then he was hack in his vestments for the church school service at three o'clock. We all went to that, even Bill, who was very good until it was almost over and then he and I wmt out to wait in the car. Afterward we went to Jones Beach for a hit, but it was too windy and chill to do much more than get sand in our shoes. The little boys are all fine and precious individually and together. Martha and Cleve and their children have gone to Charleston for a week.
We are all fascinated with advice given by a Swiss manufactur er to his US counterpart. The Swiss has given up his war preparation production of radar end urged the American to do the same. He has retooled his plant for civilian production because he is sure that the atomic explosion in Russia that Truman announced was caused by either British or American agents and. that not only the entire A-Bomb plant was destroyed but 57,000 workers including all the Russian and German scientists. It certainly has an E. Gppenheim Philip s soundj but when you remember the deeds of "deerihg-do" undertaken by the OSS and commandos in the cloak and. dagger days of the hot -war. it does not sound too impossible. However 1 must confess that I was able to give more consideration to it before all the scientists were thrown inl Anyway I have instituted inquiries in London and Vera Asked to have
Washington checked to see whether the whole thing is a hoax or there id some sembleance of truth in it. I'll report the next chapter when I get.
Monday night I had to preside at the Evenings with the Expert because Tom had meet with the Ad Hoc Committee oh FP& pub lications. My meeting went nrettv well.

(iA\t fr-
April 8, 1951

+mmer+^TM hfS4i1Eltniy 00me t0 New York withbright sunshine yesterday and today and

-.fteLnnn T

b0 s....Mofdthneot a moment too soon for my fagged state. Yesterday

afternoon I satin Ceitral Park soaking up the sun and watching the sea lions. In

h a

r

+to,,i r,d.ry

a

i little.

f up,on the roof a"4 get some more. But first I want my After almost ten years of taking me at short notice and at my

RHant-herr^th+awn

t+r?ain

a

new

has
one to

do

me

up her
#ien it

6ihsopcaonndvebneiceonmt eoar

mseol&lrtimvceiyDasnel'sf

areftceerptailolnist!

I'mm SttrryZiinngr+too dd!o, T it myself# aTpimpoe invtamilenttes lalPrewrhsmoeotnhrteedrimitpowrotarknst# that office emergencies,

Last Friday afternoon ( aweek ago) Barbara Wells, Tom and I set off for Greenwich

p. J

\tC0U gal6- Brooks

"s nt Greenwioh station^ ha^ng

during the night# As soon as we had been shown our rooms there

rLrrLnL ' 5at /rin " for th9e ***. before the opTM fire in the Ubrarv

Wteellllss

tthatt

ssuheew^ass

iinn

llii+ttJl?e'

TJohslecphh.fins e^'s

usual
room.

asBsriogonkms ehnatdanodrgsaanwisendo

tphoiinngt sinbetaeulltiifnugllv

i apt ,,. sx; LTi" ;.rr,,;r T Ster coffee" rrf^omere^

night dinner "as special-lobster and champagne.

tosleep?S ^rtefsand^Alf ^s habit of waking very early and not being able to go back

wI isllloewets.beTttheerA+llwpor*t4s ^l+eft

a^ t

n

ten t

and

we

ssett+tlleJd

ado*wTMn

+to*

Cn anasta

a*goairnsyatnhdiat,hannok bfuodrdtiunnge

the niriit that S b.d f

!"eported flve hurs, though I was conscious during

curious LpPpi ing&s iX ^wU all tthhaatt 5X6hhaddTheaSrddaste"vheeranl,thtiemeusp tchomeinn&ighhet*bemfoardee theTshamffel+-w

and thNehn^lteheAyunat llAncnaimeewhaesrewiftohrmde inMnoelrl"y andwJnim# broutghj t 1the lliittttllee "bhomyras i-?nv> +to the zoo

VU hasn't any shirt on!" whiS Pleased lunt Anni^J
make him some clothes. Fred looked out tS tLdaft

^ T "

she

has

ofteBn^dthhraeaatnedne"dHeto

I know what New York looks like at night." He thought mlflf a

" ""d Said "Now>

he could come again and spend the night with me. "

SaW

a3ked if

night^ LesnIL|0n|d^^ea(h1Pisaadesoe^L^of^XlXvo\9uti^ M

She has gotten her orders from the Navy Department tXiS AX* "!!? 5! h9r sch9d'-<la .

NATO contract for London makes his Naw civili^^erson^l +f ? * t

, because Hank's

has three commissions, the May 9 exhibit of tno -i

I Jozn ^im. Meanwhile she

^...*,. ,. as-1-^Tinsr.s ZT.' " * portraits, all the shJts fcTLnocSation Ld^he

T"t

Sme f her TO reoet

We unravelled some of the red tape and chartMe* % shopping and arrangements to do.

l{r*Q-e
^ <

April 15, 1951

This week's weather reminds me of the elevator man who told me years ago of the German saying which he translated as "April, she does as she pleasesl" There have been gales of wind, torrents of rain, high humidity and chill temperature* But enough sun to bring out the St. Patrick's Cathedral magnolia japonica and the Long Island forsythia. Monday I left the office early enough to catch a pre-committer-rush train for Freeport Teddy and Maye both looked far better than I had anticipated and it was difficult to believe that exactly two weeks before he was in Walter Reed under an oxygen tent and critically ill. His spirit is wonderful and he seems to have reconciled himself to the medical discharge from the Army given him on April 5th and the knowledge that he must live a restricted life in a normal atmosphere. Tuesday they drove back to Washington so that he could be on exhibit to another group of doctord on Thursday--evidently much has been learned about diagnosis and treatment of certain types of heart conditions from his^case. They planned to leave yesterday for Alabama, a liesurely motor trip and talked of retumihg north in a few months for a longer visit and his taking a few courses at the University of Alabama in the autumn. I went out feeling that it was probaoly the last time I should see him. This incwedible up and down business has been going on for eleven months.
Furore MacArthur seems to me to be a national scandal. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have ueen overpatient with MacArthur and should have relieved him of command months ago. Truman can be criticized for not having forced the issue some time ago. Most people seem to nave forgotten that the President flew all the way to Wake Island in October to talk to MacArthur, that since then the Joint Chiefs of Staff went to Japan for conversations with him and that iinally Secretary of the Army Pace went out and tried to curb him. I suspect that MacArthur was given every opportunity to ask for a relief but preferred to be dramatic for political resons and because he is afflicted with what the Germans call grossewahn [vliterally the insanity of greatness--and more aggravated than our phrase "delusions 02 grandeur"). During the war General M^cpoy, who knew him since they both served in the Philippines in 1903-4, if not since West Point days, told me that there was no one whom he would rather have in his command or in command of him in time of
r*8*8 "^an MacArthur, whom he felt to be a military genius. But he added that this attitude was built on his understanding that MacArthur regarded himself as a lone wolf on a plane above all over men. He then cited several instances of how this "sperior being psychosis worked. When General McCoy leftthe F.P.A. to be chairman of the Far Eastern Commission he knew that a very important and difficult part of his job would be to keep MacArthur in line. I cannot help wondering if McCoy's health had not necessitated his resignation about a year ago whether today's crisis might have been at least less acute. Every MacArthur pronouncement in the political field drove a wider wedge between the^USA and the other nations of the free world and migjht easily have lead to the sort of disintegration which would let the USSR pick us off one by one even as Hitler dfid in the period of Nazi successes# Certainly getting MacArthur out of his impressive posts is depriving tine Kremlin of a valuable asset. If the Republicans should run and elect him as President, I think I will move to Canada. On Friday we had eight influential Japanese in the office. They were selected for their leadership by US Military Govern ment and sent to this country to let them observe us and out ways. Saswki, a newspaper editor, told me that the Japanese people revered MacArthur giving him loyalty and faith not as a personality but as the symbol of the US government and American people. He added that the same loyalty and faith would be accorded his successor. The oti er seven agreed with him. They deplored the shift coming two weeks before their national election and were troubled about the failure to settle the Korean war and the British proposal tuat Red unina be a signatory to the Japanese Peace Treaty.
Yesterday Aunt Mary went with me to "Bell, Book and Candle" the John Van Druten commedy about witchcraft in contemporary New York. Rex Harrison is excellent as the bewitched publisher and his wife, Lilli Palmer, is good as the pretty, young witch^ who loses her power when she loves the publisher even after another witch breaks the spell she had cast. Of course, the unhexed Rex discovers just before the final curtain tnat he loves her too. In the evening I went to the studio to work on the catelogue for the exhibition but found that reaction to shots had kept Maria from doing her pre- ,, liminary. So we congratulated ourselves that the passport application is in & shots oegtu #

JjL'.,

C*1J Li} t

' ^

April Z9' 1951

Last weekend I was with Martha and CIeve. On Saturday we had a delayed family

"birthday dinner for Cleve to which the "little" family came. Upon their arrival they all clustered by the front door and sang "Happy birthday to you." Even Bill chimed in. I did not go out until Saturday morning as the week hadbeen a hectic one

in the office, with several of us who are specialists in other fields suddenly turning

a portion of our time to fund-raising. On top of everything else we want $35,000 in six weeks. I have seen three board members and am alerted to see such others as may be

desireable.

"MacArthur Day" last Friday hit New York on a perfect day of clear, crispn sun shinew with all the sound and fury that seven and a half million people can produce. The scraps of paper, confetti, colored streamers, and rolls of everything from ticker tape to toilet paper made a beautiful effect against a cobalt sky. From about lit30 when MacArthur left the Waldorf until 2t30 when he got back there the air was filled with the kalidescopic patterns carried by enough westerly wind to keep the bits suspended in the air for maximum time. Ultimately it came to rest on roof tops, draped itself across the facades of buildings, clung to trees or ignominiously landed in gutters for the "White Wings" to wet down (preventing fire hazards as well as eas ing the problem of carting off) Many places were closed entirely and everyone had extra time for the demonstration The city was in a gay holiday mood with little mind for work. After lunch I went over to Fifth Avenue and foufad people five deep along the curb with quite enough room to walk near the shops--not exactly the"solid mass of humanity, too dense to drop an apple" as the crowd was enthusiastically described by radio and press. The North Korea spring offensive is confirming my suspicion that^^ MacArthur knew what was coming and deliberately maneouvered himself out of a situation. Late that afternoon I went to a cocktail party Nathalie Hopper gave--she is now living with Mrs. Bayard James at 1001 Park Avenue and will goon go to her farm in Vermont before passing the late spring at Westbrook. They brought in Duffy from Westbrook to handle the cocktails and he supervised the three maids who passed canapes with over hospitable regularity.

After the party I stopped at the studio with proof of the invitation and catalog of the painting in Maria's May 9 exhibition for her to OK. She was already getting reaction from her second round of shots and only pretended to look at it. So on Wednesday after the job was delivered to her, she discovered that I had misread her writing and an "Edmund" appeared as "Idwgrd". Having given her both a carbon of my typed copy to the printer as well as his proof, I was sunk. We set to work and correct ed a good many and then luckily the next day I discovered that the printer had not broken type and we had the correction made an a new set run. .uast night 1 mailed the last of her invitations, the pupils have batches and more are ready for them to^ pick up to mail to their friends. While I was sealing and stamping hers, Ketcham the frame maker came with three frames and got orders for four more. He does a very nice simple frame with a little carving and rubbed paint. It is fascinating to see how frames of different character flatter or detract from a given picture#

Monday night S.N. Fatemi, former governor af a province in Iran and later member

of parliament who is currently teaching Persian and MiddlefFast ^history at Princeton

to Army, Navy and Foreign Service personnel who will be

assigned to that

part of the world, spoke about his native land at our Evenings with the Experts He

is a most interesting person and the audience enjoyed him. Since his country in on the

Iranian Plateau, it is called Iran internally, but since everyone in the world knows

about Persian oil, rugs and cats he prefers to call it Persia outside the country.

He assured us that the people of Persia have feared and hated the Russians ^ or so long

that they will never knuckle under. He reminded us that hie

goverMenlR''1

Hutonaddteh'rJweSeoonwtilnoeccrocsmu, ppaaantnidoientshbenyoAt mreenriecganotAiartaebdiancoonitlraccotsntwwrraietonht"neontebhe?eansoongeteeennneeurrsoouumssorteofaSvaaourdaible

Arabia, the Persians would probably not havethe'^pfe of the Social-

ploited them and decided t,o nationalize^ i

in sieht. Wednesday afternoon

&TZ3&ner^

^ ^

*86-t~V % Tic,

s,

Tomorrow the West Point Choir sings at St. John the Divine, so the boys came down this afternoon# About three Fran turned up here with Herald and Mark and three pieces of luggage. The cadets asked if they could change and after much delving in their bags and a suitable period, they reappeared in civilian clothes. This is the first time that such garments have been allowed for ten months and they were so1 tickled to be back in them. If New York neighbors were watchful, I suppose I might be open
to official explanation of how two cadets came into the house and never reappeared.'
At or/e point Mark grinned at me ingratiatingly "Please don't think me vain, but might I go back to your bedroom and look at myself in civilian clothes? It has been so long since I have worn them." The re-examination lead to his combing his hair.

The office is building up to something -- it could be an explosion or a collapse. Brooks has gone fishing in Canada for three weeks, having left on Thursday. Situations which have been boiling will continue despite his departure. Tom is so tense that when
I did not answer by the fourth ring the other nigfct he hung up, too impatient to get the fifth buzz--and I answered just before that came. Vera woke me up at mid-night the same night and talked for an hour, apologizing when she realized she had wakened me but adding "I just had to talk with someone." A week earlier she had called me at eleven just after I had gotten to sleep with a sedative and I palin refused to talk with her, lest by forcing myself the drug would then turn out to be a stimulant and I was ex hausted. Gerry suspects that the pain in my left leg is connected with my almost two year ago fall. Instead of being in the knee, the trouble now seems centered in the little joint where the two leg bones join. She is treating me and I am using heat. Walking more than one block sets up toothache like pain all down the back of the calf and ultimately into the lower/I part of the thigh. If this does not clear up I &all have to move -- if I can find a place to move to.

Fran says this is well known, but on MacArthur Day Jim McLeod, the chaplain at
Northwestern University was in town and we had a cup of coffee together. He said that the day the news of the President's action broke, the CHICAGO TRIBUNE ran a huge head line "Truman Fires MacArthur". The paper was on a table by his open office door, a sophmore paused, read the news, said "Hum-ra-m, wonder how he heard Margaret" and ambled on up the stairs to his class. I was amused to see in the current NSW YORKER that a down town soda fountain is charging 450 for a Truman-MacArthur Split. Do you suppose it is made with banannas?

Yesterday I lunched at Town Hall with George Denny, Lefty Davies and several /others to discuss how to entertain a group of eight Egyptians, who arrive in early June. They are going to the coast on a peoples-to-peoples trip--the result of the stay in Cairo of Americas Town Meeting of the air round the world trip of two years ago. It was most
interesting as the suggestions of what they should do and see would easily take ten days and they will only be here four, counting the day I suggested they might like to shake down after flying from Cairo. So we only put one reception and a briefing session into that Sunday. It will be a rat race as they are to be expected to make speeches and listen to welcomes and see sights.

Maria and Ann-Marie (a young Hungarian girl) are supposed to be varnishing and hanging the pictures for the exhibition today. A job which I have no skill in, so they are coming here for dinner at eight, I hope. Somehow I shall feel lucky if I get the
soup in front of them by nine. Tomorrow I plan to get the terrace in order, getting the plants into the boxes at the edge of the walls and the pots which hang on the building. If I start early and work fast maybe I can take time to go to the Vesper Service and hear Herald and Mark. Part of the luggage contained an album of records made by the Choir, the Glee Club and the Band at West Point.

ft 5S.

, l/j M.tTj 7"VC, Jcu*c.

May 13, 1951

Maria*s exhibition was a great success, artistically and socially. I did not get to hear the West Point Choir last Sunday because the hanging of the works of art did not take place on Saturday, through various outside pressures. So Sunday ih e studio was equipped with two very tall ladders and Maria and Ann-Marie worked there while I did the terrace and then joined them in the hanging. Of Course, I had sworn I would not mix in the hanging but poor Maria was so exhausted after a dreadful session with the frame-maker, #10 is a sweet old man not above getting middled and did, that it was evident that her judgement was slipping. So having learned what the right frame can do for a picture, I began to see how important the placing of the pictures on the wall can be. In the first place there was a terrific variety of subjects, still-life, landscape, flowers, studies of heads and a few nudes, to say aotning of the copies of Constable, Renoir, Cezanne, etc. which were the work of the beginners. Then the size of the walls and the number of pictures and their various shapes to be worked out like a jigsaw puzzle--though a wall twenty feet high is harder to work on than pushing a piece about on a table-topl Then came the painful and delicate matter 01 preventing one picture from killing another, or all those in its immediate area. Maria had another delicate point to consider-- keeping the one canvass of a particuairly loyal pupil from being hung in the worst possible locationl ,/e did manage to complete one wall and about half of the second big one by ten o'clock wnen I araggea Maria here for a change of scene and such food as I could throw to gether. She had not eaten since an early breakfast, though I did manage to pour a couple^of cups of hot tea down her throat about five. Fortunately I had some food left/C from IT/ two entertainings of the day before. Ann--Marie was whipped and went home directly from the studio. Monday and Tuesday Maria somehow finished the hanging herself and both evenings I watered the petunias, geraniums and ivy I had planted on the terrace, as well as all her potted things moved from the dining room and the tubbed privets whicii are permanently on the terrace. Vie stored scores of her canvasses on the balcony off the bedroom, got blankets wrapped with moth balls and recaraphored some stored woollens and generally tidied up. Meanwhile most of the studio furniture, except her desk, piano and a settee had gone to the basement with all the pupils' easles, stools, the posing platform and so one.

By inviting people irom four to eight we spread the crowd and even at the worst point it was always possible to wiggle from the studio, through the dining room and onto the terrace where people actually sat down in three or four little groups or stood about admiring the pretty little fountain, which fortunately no one fell into. When I arrived at 4i30 there was a contretemps as the ice had not been delivered, but enough was scrounged from the drugstore and building tenants to last until the second caterer's maid went to Knickerbocker and brought back a container of lOOcubes. The light was good, and the place looked lovely with great bunches of lilac in the studio and yellow tulips against the della robbia blue of the dining room. The last four people arrived at 3:10. On Thursday Maria had to do a few errands and her jacking, but pupils dropped in to chat so much that the packing did not get done. I had a staff meetiiig at the Lowell from 4:30 until 11:30, which clarified our collective mind on a lot oi points. When I got home 1 called Maria and found that she was still writing notes and drawing checks but that she had gotten to the pier and been "processed". We agreed tnat I would see her to the $/$ ship where she had to be at 9:30. Ao I phoned Friday morning at 7:30 to be sure she was up, and found she had never gone to bed, but had just fallen asleep at her writing table at some point and wakend very cold at 7. It was pouring rain when we finally left the studio and the building man had no luck getting a taxi, so I went to Park Avenue and found a most loquacious one--whose chatter did not help our desire to relax and exchange last minute thoughts.

^ ,.^ier 26 is "0^and our horror had an Israeli naval unit in the south berth and the General Johnson" in the north. After a very bad five minutes, when Maria was sure she had missed the "General Rose" we discovered that it was at the Army Base in Brooklyn and passengers were to be transported there by Navy bus. Her luggage was taken off by truck and we collapsed in the waiting room with scads of kids from babes in arms to not more than eight, ana an assortment of harrassed mothers with comparitivelv few males I waited until f could get herinto the bus with carryall, purse wd eolt^

l ay 27, 1951

After the office this afternoon I went to the party for Margaet Cuthbert to honor her on her retirement from National Broadcasting Go. where she has been since 4?$ 1925c As she was the person who fixed up national broadcasts of meetings for me arid was a memte r of the American Woman's Association for several years while i was q member I thought I should go. There were not nearly as many^<f my friends there as
I hod hoped but maybe that me my fault as I wnt on the late side* ^ It r/as^ one of these --send 6 to pay for thepprty and a present for Margaret affairs. I found ^tnat we gave her a motion picture earner^, a projector and screen and some film. It is just as well
that we changed her media and did not present her with a tape recorderl

Hie weekend was jkt ./est Lean^ amd began Friday with one of the Lit uLe League Base

Ball Gqmes with the dfiniotfy Olub team (which Jim coaches) pitted against the .-.Echange

Glub teem. Happily Jim's team won by a wide margin# Jay is tne caterer of the B'nai

Birth team and will plav Thursday b this week when I go out again. Fred Te ing not

miite eight is on a farm team and plays only on leduesday This is quite tne^tihing and

on the whole very good for the intergrawlcn of the community and I or IOstoring the

interest in baseball with the eight to

twelve years olds*

only hope

X shall not have to go to a game when the Team for wfiich Jay catches plays against tne

team his father playei There are all kinds of series--the four teams in tne torn play

for the town championship, and then there is a county champions-ip and so on to a

national, I suppose#

A week ago yesterday Lorraine.

Ilealy began trying out as my secretary^

His Hettwer, who took the job in November, allowed her family to talk ner into their

riving her a trip to Europe, this certainly would not not be diificlut ior anyone to

jralk me into, Mealy has tried a god many things --she was in the EAVES for three

vears, went to college for a year and had a yearts work as training for a nurse. I ^

wonder how long I'Ll keep her. She had not been with me a week when she started asking_

the office manager how she could ^et an hour and a half off" each week to go to tne clinic

Last Friday I had two more teeth extracted and hope that is the end. oi the extractions,

beinr still pretty sore (no, it was Thursday not Friday). My trip to Merry on Friday 1or

my birthday check-up end the report on the annual tests seem to reveal that I Si ould take^

a little more thyroid, some liver and iron and drink a great deal more mater. ^ J. go again

to the dentist on Thursday before I go to Freeport in the hope of some sun and svanning

which we did not get get last weekend.

As an adjunct to my weekends I bought yhat

seems to me to be a most satisfactory and inexpensive nylon negligee jegtgrday--whiqi rail

be less weight and bulk in my luggage--it is white and snow white and touches of aright

r-reen and navy blue. It made in coachman style with a great full ?kirt and perfectly-

appropriate to wear down to breakfast, if one were given to that sort of tnings As it

was less than ten dollars I consider it a most satisfactory purchase.

Brooks is back from his Canadian fishing trip and I say him today for the first time since May 1st--the day I broke down and admitted I had a virus after my voice started to leaves me. Hie leaves are not out yet and he had a great deal of rain and cold and not very good fishing but he seems to have enjoyed it. He said they had a lot of sleep
and when asked--a lot of good canasta-

June 1.
Well, Thursday I had the novacaine and an hour's scaling by Dr. Many without any extractions and then an hours drilling and temporary filling by Dr* Jacusom ^By that time the drooling sensation and the sense of lack of control of my tongue decided me to go straight to Frreport. After early dinner we went to the Elks Club to see Jay s team --the BSnai Brith team play* Jay isthe catcher and goes at it very professionally and. plays a good game. We were amused when he disagreed with the umpires decision he snatched off his big catcher's mask, threw it on the ground and jumped up and down scre&ning something at the man. The next time Jay was at bat, he was hit by a pitched ball but the umpire called it a ball Molly gets very indignant, but Jim says He calls em as be sees 'em." It threatened and did actually rain on Memorial Daywhai ':im-anQ^c^ve

May Zi, 1951

After the office this afternoon X went to the party for Margaftt Outhbert to

honor her on her retirement from Tlationol Broadcast?ng Go# #iere s e has been since -M 1925, Ae she was the person who fixed up national broadcast meetings A or me arid was a ante r of the American loaan1 s Association for several years while I was

q member 1 thought 1 should go. There wers not nearly as many tf W friends there a

1 had hoped bub maybe that was my fault as I writ on the late side, ^

e

. see

--send .;6 to pay for thepprty and a present for Margaret affairs. I found that we gave

her a motion picture camera, a projector and screen and some film, It is just as wel

that we changed her media and did not present her with a tape recorder;

The weekend was at West Lear/ send began Friday with one of the Little League Baas

w Ball Gomes with the-fcetaiT Glub team (which Jim coac *&) pitted against tne .xchangw (XLub team. Happily Jimfs team won by a wide margin. Jay is the catcher of the B nai

Birth team and will play Thursday <f this week when I go out again, ersd tolagnot

wuite eight is on & farm team and plays only on Wednesday, his is qui, the tilling and

on the whole very good for the intergrad on of th community and xor fostering

interest in baseball with the eight to

years olds. I only hope

I A all not have to go to a gam when the Team for nfcich Jay catches plays against tae

ta^iTJtrVJl BiSr. are all kinds of series-the four teams in the tw n play

for the town championship, and then there is a county championsoip and so on to a

national t 1 suppose#.

A week ago yesterday Lorraine

Heoly began trying out as my secretary,

his Kettwer* who took the job in liovaaber, allowed her family to tail

into tnsir

giving her a trip to Europe, this certainly would not hot be difficlut for anyone to

talk me into, ilealy has tried a gccdmany things --she was in the v.AViiS for inree

years, went to college for a year end had a yearns work as treminp for a nurse. _

wonder how long I'Ll keep her. She had not been with me a week when she parted asking

f the office manager how she could tost an hour and a half c.. f each week to ge

#

Last Friday x had two mora teeth extracted end hope that is the end oi ihe extractions,

being still pretty sore (no, it ms Thursday not Friday,. J'y trip to -err? on

,

my birthday chesk-up end the report cn the annual tests seem to reveal the - ... 8; cm.u a

a little more thyroid, some liver and iren and drink a groat deel mo-e mater, X go agMn

to the dentist on Thursday before X go to Freeport in the hope ol some sun onesvxu,..II g

which we did not get got last weekend.

As an adjunct to my weekends 1 bought vhat

seems to ms to be a most satisfactory and inexpensive nylon negligee yesterday--*!* .ill

be less weight and bulk in my luggage--it is white and enoww *ite.and -ouches f

green and navy blue. It made in coachman style with a great full ia.rtand l^feetly

appropriate to wear down to breakfast, if one wwre grven to that

things As it

was less than ten dollars I consider it a most satisfactory purchase.

^*+1

Brooks is back from his Canadian fishing trip and I say him today for the first time since May 1st--the day I broke down and admitted I bed a virus after my voice started to leave* me. '"he leaves are not out yet and he had a great deal ox rain and so*d and not very good fishing but he seems to have enjoyed it. He said t iey had a lox ol sleep
and when asked--a lot of good canasta,

June 1.

Well Thursday I had the novacaine and an hour1 scaling by Jr. iiany without any

extractions and then an hours drilling and temporary filling by Jr. Jackson. By that

time the drooling sensation and the senee of lack of oqntrol of ny xongue docided me to

go Straight, to Freeport. After early dinner we went to the ..Ike olub to see .ay s caaai

--the 38nai Brith team play. Jay i.th. oatolier an* #M at it very professionally u

plays a good game. We were amused when he disagreed with the umpires decision he snatched

off his big oatciier'e mask, threw it on the ground and jumped up and down ceveumin

soraetidng at the man. The next time Jay was at bat, he was ^a pit_"Oa hal

the umpire called it a ball. Molly gets very indignant, out Jim says

ealls OL as

he sees "em." It threatened and did actually rain on Uanorial Day wnm Jimand enj dro

to Lttituck to look at a house for their swxaepa is in the Sunday School service in the euurei--todsij. $11

1!wW Jhoust. J~*-

- ky Ti C.( Ua(

j
May 30, 1951

Well, things move in the office# Last week there was an Executive Committee meeting , a Board of Directors meeting and on Friday night we had the representatives of the locals, hereinafter to be called "Associates", for the
session we have agonized over for so long# It all went very well and at last we
have announced the new blueprint and all that remains to do is to work very hard with great patience and diplomacy to put it all into operation# We are far from out of the woods, but basic decisions are made &hd that means a great deal# Tom left yesterday for London by air, with a large box of candy under his arm for his first date--tea this afternoon at the Savoy with a beautiful blonde, aged twelve# He has a mad itinerary of three or four days in eachof about ten places including Algiers# I begged him to drop out part of it and settle down somewhere for some
relaxation instead of always having to adjust to new places, new money and so on# But the continual motion seemed to intrigue him!

Maria had a fine crossing and is most enthusiastic about the London flat Hank had found# She goes into great detail about the attractiveness of the spare room which she nicely calls "your room" and urges to plan to stay as long as I possibly can# However I am making no decision about my summer until mid-ffiune when I hope there will be an improvement in my leg--which has now bothered for more than a month# At least there is an end to different sort of pain which came after I got into bed and interferred with my sleep three weeks ago. The
"after a block pain" continues so that I don't walk more than that if possible and
so lead a circumscribed life# Lately Gerry has switched from the Vitamin B 12 injections to liver and folic acid -- whatever ii at is#

Yesterday I lunched at the Princeton Club with Lefty Davies and Dr.
Mather from Washington on the suoject of the Egyptian mission which arrives at crack dawn on Saturday. I shall not go to the airport to meet them, but have said I woubd attend their briefing session on Saturday afternoon and the first tea for them on Sunday afternoon. So I do not expect to get out a chit-chat this weekend either# The eight Egyptians will be in this countxy for six weeks and go to the coast# They are paying their own way, but we are setting up a lot of hospitality for them to pro
vide an opportunity for them to meet with representative Americans and learn f m
contact and observation. In the afternoon I went to a most interesting memorial service for Joseph P# Chamberlain, who was one of the key figures in the FPA since its inception. He was one of the most modest, gentle and kind people I have ever
known and used his brilliant and understanding mind for the welfare of other people. James G. McDonald spoke the tribute for the FPA and afterward asked me to have tea with him, but as I had a lot of stuff on my desk, I declined and went back to work until seven#

Sunday Bishop deWolfe confirmed Clevee, Molly and Jim (Molly was a member of the Collegiate Dutch Reformed Church but Jim's exposure to Presbyterianism at boarding shcool made him resist confirmation in the Episcopal Church --but since he has been teaching Sunday School for two years decided to be a proper Churchman. ) Clevwe, as crucifer in his vestments looked very fine, all six feet of him, was the xirst to receive the Bishops attention. Jay was in the choir and appeared to be
doing a good job--with his blondness he looks the ideal "angelic choirboy". Freddy went to the service with me and we were fortunate to be able to sit with Martha and Clave, her visiting mother and aunt and Fran# Fred was very much impressed with the Bishop's beautiful voice and the forthrightness of his sermon. With over thirty to be confirmed it was a long stretch for a not yet seven old with as much love of action as Fred has. The country is lovely in its spring lushness--the iris , weigelia and snowball are lovely# Lilf of the valley, dogwood and azelia are over. Molly had her first roses of the season in the house.

I hope the price war that Macy started spreads to the stores I use. It would be nice to snatch a bargain of two as I have had no time to get a spring hat, dress or anything. But now I am concentrating on mei

. 7* C; /V\V7,

LMJ, JJL*cl.,31~A,

HJ1unk IyvyiAp June 10, 1951

Thursday was the first decent day we have had in ages and at one o'clock the Egyptians left for Boston. I hope they were not too busy with their packing to notice how pleasant it can be here in June. Their flight from Paris began badly when one nour out a motor conked out and they turned back. In order to land with an almost .iull fuel load a great deal of gas was jettisoned and made a cloudlike vapor around the P1*51 which many of them feared would catch fire. After a repair job they a.l climbed back into the same plane and crossed without incident. After the Saturday afternoon briefing we went to the Penthouse Club, which gave a lovely view of Central Park m its soft early greenness. The girl has studied at Cornell and is thorou^ily acclimated, full of beans anl something of a flirt. Mrs. Fahmy, dean of a girls' college in Cairo is an ardent xeminist and working hard to get woman suffrage. She is either not strong or not well and X fear she may collapse. Selim Bey, dean of the College of Business at Fouad University, is large and rather pompous. He speaks with a British accent but is very anti-British in views. Couda is a newspaper man and radio commentator and was my dinner partner on Saturday. Mones is a historian and sweetly academic. Zein el Din is the head of the Motor Transport Workers Union and looks like a merry little Irishman. Courdal, a Harvard Ph.D. is in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a nationalist firebrand, belieing his frail appearance. Ezzedem is motion picture producer, a large handsome young man and completely spoiled. He was veryready to move on from one affair to the next when the time came and trie others complied.

The reception Sunday afternoon was very interesting with a lot of non-Mission Egyptians from the Embassy, Consulate and UN Mission there; some State Department people and a sprinkling of such figures as Norman Thomas and Mrs. Roosevelt. I was glad to see that she wore a print dress with a navy blue background and looked very well indeed. For tunately I declined George Denny's invitation to go to the "Great Caruso and the litUe labor man accepted and that let me out of a growing involvement with him. airs, -'ahmy naa fainted earlier at Mrs. Roosevelt's telecast, so I took her back to her hotel. On Monday at lunch time the party was split and half of them lunched with the FPA and Down Hall. (This wiole thing should have involved Brooks because it stemmed irom the Town Hall round the World trip two years ago of which he was a member--but I could not even persuade him to go to the luncheon.) Tuesday the Egyptian Ambassador, Rahim a very fine looking and attractive man, gave a big cocktail party at the Savoy Plaza --with hot and cold canapes and Egyptian pastry and candy--pistachio nuts bound together with rose weaves. Mien 1 congratu lated Zein el Din on the fine speech he had made that day at the Chase^ Bank luncheon, started off when we stopped on Sunday and was inviting me to spend an hour with him on the desert in the moonlight" that evening. It would have been fun to see how that invitation would be translated in New York on an overcast, humid evening but my curiosity seems to be below par. At the Town Hall of the Air broadcast I was drafted to read one of the questions fired at the speakers just before George introduces the tppic--I suppose it is meant to show the sort of thing "the public" expects to have come out of the meeting. Between the Egyptians and the Jews in the studio poor Lord Wilmot had a rough time. When it was over we moved into a smaller studio for an hour's seminar. I took Allpori from the office along with me to that and it turned out to be a violent anti-Israeli wrangle and not at all what poor George Denny had planned. Yes, Allport served his purpose and in the creaking up confusion I avoided a situation.
The battle of the prices continues. I understand that Giiaoel and probably other stores mark up some items at the same time they mark down others. By and large I fear the public is being milked. Having a free half hour on Wednesday I went to Franklin Simon :o teta bemberg sheer and a nylon, but the clerk who always takes eare of me was not on duty. Looking over the reduced rack I found a very nice red tie silk at 39# of its original price and took it. Had I had time to shop two months ago whai I wanted tnat type oj. dress I would have considered it a good buy at its former jrice.
Thursday I walked seven blocks returning to the office from a conference on Four at the US Mission to the UN office. Of course my leg hurt, but it is the furtherest I have walked in weeks and it is better ae the pain did not spread xrom tne call vo trie thigh.

The French election bothers me a lot. If earthe ae^tgklift lesmay^iav^ ogt-day ^

smarted themselves in this new law and either Bight or heiz

wi

Q&,jJkttjU),CJ,

]~e.

July 1, 1951

The long pause between chit-chats was caused *by a weekend

in which I had no

time being with Molly and Jim and the little boys^ and then one with Martha and tfleve

during which we went to Fran's graduation from the Freeport High School. It was held

in the stadium with great dignity and a very nice feeling of real friendliness between

the principal and the students# Hie pupils looked charming with the girls in white

caps and gowns and the boys in maroon. Tassels of contrasting color were flipped from

left to right at the proper moment# The student's speeches all carried a strong note

of political freedom and anti-Communism# Fran was 11th in a c&fcss of 235# On Saturday

we examined the little boy's report cards--Freddy got a certificate for not being late

or missing a day at scholl throughout the first grade# Clevee was not to get his marks

until Monday# The weekend weather like that of weekdays is mixed --but more clouds

and rain than fair and always with a deadeningly high humityo The sort of atmosphere

than makes me sub-human,

At 2iong last I looked LIFE in the face and stopped my wishfi 1 thinking# My leg is better and for brief moments I have a little energy, but it is apparent to me that I need physical vegetation rather than travel and the stimulation uhich comes from new so cial experiences# With great regret I wrote Amy Dewar that I would not visit them in British Columbia, to Maria that I would not use her fine g* est room in London and to Mrs. Harris that I could not be "coddled" by her and Larxy at Torcy# If after being with Aunt Annie at Fort Miller and at Linikin Lodge in Maine I am not refreshed and renewed I shall be despondent, but at least I shall have done the best I could to be ready for whatever happens next winter# No cb ubt plenty will happen# We are all on the edge of our chairs at the office these days for we know that the Ford Foundation is contemplating our appeal for money, on tfiich several of us have spent a good deal of time in the past few weeks# Such a grant will mat sobre all our problems but will be a big assist*

Tom has missed all the appeal presentation and this weekend should be in Lisbon competing with the seven or eigjht crews of the Midshipman* s summer cruise# Bill Maddox, our Counsellor of Embassy in Portugal, wrote me that he would be glad to do what he could for Tom but that the competition would be heavy# Tom's arrival into 3erlin was something# Upon arrival,Tempiehof,he was lead out of the plane first and greeted with a succession of flash li^it photographs, whisked through customs and sped to his hotel# None of the greeters or conveyors spoke English and he has not German. After he had been ushered into a large suite well banked with flowers he sent for an interpreter--filially the assistant to the assistant manager arrived and explained# Berlin was havi. ng a large Film FestivalItalian, French and British movie stars had arrived but no one from Hollywood# So of course everyone was delighted when it was learned that Herr Tyrone Power was to be there I

Thursday night I went to the Nuri Eren's penthouse for a buffet dinner. It was hot and sticky but fortunately they have a terrace where we all had a drink first and where I am a few other smart ones had dinner, too. Not more than a third of the giests were Turkish, many of the others #ere from the UN secretariat No doubt I was in the miscellaneous category. I was sorry to see Dean Virginia Gildersleeve again and con firm my opinion that shfe is far from well# She is troubled about Dorothy Thompson's new committee "Anerican FriedaLs of the Middle East" which has all 'the ear marks of anti-Semi tism and like me wonders where they got the money for the full page ads appearing in both Times and Tribune this past week# There certainly is no big money in the list of sponsors# I learned that tulips are Turkish and were introduced to Europe in the 13ih century. The Turks still do not seem too worried about Iran and it does seem that the most skillful diplomacy may save the situation temporarily# But it will remain a tinder box, I fear, capable of stimulating unrest throughout the whole Arab nei^iborhood#

I am very impatient with the radio for implying that there may be news on the proposed Korea truce at any moment. These things move so slowly that it is unfair to alert the American public to expect immediate cessation of hostilities# "Independent Member" by A.P.Herbert is giving me a good deal of pleasure. The section dealing with the war time patrol of the Thames is fascinating reading# Some of his experiences in the House of Commons between 1935 and 1949(when the University manbers were abolished^ show interesting side lights on the operation of the Mother of Parliaments. In a speech at Bath -fn May 1940 he used "sense OJ nrgency --later so popular with statesmen--he says#

17 East 64th Street l ew York 21, N.Y.
July 13, 1951
Dear Jand anon&-- Ten days ago B. King Couper telephoned me
and w spent the evining together. We talked of you both and tiiought it would be nice to write a joint round robin letter, but to tell the truth were so busy talking that we never got to it. As you may know he is now an oceanographer with the Bureau of Ships, Navy Department and based in Washington. Knowing full well that I am sketchy on oceanography he referred me to the Rachael Carson series of three articles in the HEW YORKER beginning with "the issue of June 2. lie said that all his brother oceanographers were taking refresher courses by reading them, ^ully expecting to be bored I picked up the first one (fortunately I've been too busy to get rid of old magazines) and was fascinated. X now recommend them to all my friends, her bock (published by Oxford Press) has run through three editions and is tem porarily unavailab le.
King has an apartment at 247 Delaware Avenue, 3W Washington 4, and prides himself on his developement as a cook. I gathered that his first attempt at lemon meringue pie fell short of expectations and cleaning up the kitchen afterward was quite a chore! At 34 his mother was currently painting three portraits. he h d spent the weekend in East Orange with Huddy and reported everything very fine in that area, including the red headed twelve year old son. Johnny Law is lucky to be alive. He went into the armed guard in the war and on the Murmansk (I think it was that far north in the north Atlantic)had three ships sunk under him and one time had a very near thing in being picked up by an already overloaded small boat, but hie crew (gun) insisted they find and take him on.
I have had a hellish winter made worse by the suicide of my boisec wife. She killed their two youngest children in the process. I had known her for over twenty years and you can imagine the gloom and the strain. I turned out to be an emotional blotter for several of my collegues who had not know Winifred as long as I, but who regularly went to pieces for days. 'rooks was magnificent Two other men from the office and I worked with him at his homo in Greenwich all last Tuesday afternoon and evening and I was glad to see how much more relaxed he was in those surroundings now. Two weeks after tho tragedy several of us spent the weekend in the house with him, to help reestablish himself there. That was something T hope never to have to repeat. When I got around to thinking about myself 1 found that I was expected to spend my holiday at the chateau in Trance with Mrs. Harris and Larry again, that Maria was counting on my being with her and Hank in their London flat and Amy Dewar thought I would be with them in British Columbia. Then I began to feel sub-human, ind had great pain in my loft leg after walking one short block. The doctor gave ms shots until I need to be vulcanized and I delayed until late June before deciding. Although I'm better, a "vegetating holiday" is indicated, so I'm gding to the coast of Maine and expect to read only one paper a week. If Iftm not a new woman #i I get back at least I shall have done the best I cruH in that direction.
This is really meant to be greetings from King and me. I know that he too hopes that you both are having delightful sunders and in course of time will.tell w.nat. .is new with you.

U-1 t

" (/

CtT

July 15 1951 The Office at 7 a.m. on Sunday

Although I had planned to come to the office today to do some pre-

holiday clean-up work X had not intended to make it so^

would not have were a not a refugee from fire. At 5>3 *

pounding on a door and heavy steps on the stairs was a good deal of smoke in my apartment and more in the hall.

TThe

fireman ti A

who answered my shout said I had better dress hut need ^leaveyet. A

look out the window showed Hoy Howard leaning out ^^/^<^e"n!rfsu;ed

sjs.'ES

szsszezk.l'ttst:st*v.2 zs-attasasw '*-s-a.. SEE2E*f^lldTB^herg

-jwhite

dress with the rings of family sentiment into the feen travelling hand hag^

LTdS^ face. Miss Corotneff, who had turned in the frSm Boston who was staying with her had been harbored ^^e^llivans^ seem to be the superintendents of the house next door. We eased there ana
Mndlv eiven coffee. Our fire was in the cellar and got an awful lot of water put on it, if one can judge from the length of time the three pui^pers^ rwTeoOsr,,ukmletedn e.dtoiAn&t"hhhotenuhntetofhhnfaaeillwcfse.-tpohaaaMstitsswsiexOmooirngoehttnoefgfofthhhoeaaaccdfkxr.t.eoqub" eWanicTM ttkhcannseocskf,h--ueurptwhate,,srriopens,xl,cyrusien atoyh,ioAmu,p,saoeAse coat and slippers, with only her purse, despite having been wakened by her imest before there was even much smoke upstairs, They plan g
but! declined to go with them. I telephoned her upon Brrivalto offer them the couches here if they changed their minds and deav&tha sas and electricity had been cut off. Hone of the other tenantsseemtohave iZn in the house over the weekend. Being after seven now the Coffee Shop
downstairs must be open and I'll get me some breakfast.

Foiled on that front. Eveni fi the sign says "open at 7 , they mean 8 on Sundays, but by this time the day elevator men are on du y.

The Egyptians are back after their tour of the country and 1 saw them alnl on Friday. TThh/vee hhaadd aa wwoonndeerful time andtahrceirvferreyedoimmpretossceadr.ryMorsn. Fahmy was very conscious of the role of w ^ ^ almost say seCond class
Z'fJolZ? ctu^roW E^tla-n women. The fact ttet "everything works" was a surprise
Cto"S.rth: hi.SU

impressed^them^all aid Selim ley made quite a little speech about ourstrength

and hoped that the enemy would not test it to his sorrow. Bart Underbill

State Department said that there had been >any inquirios about

poseibiiw

of similar delegations from other countries. X doubt if Lefty Davies

for another soon!

far as sll-rade! toned up^ Hrir^^oclSo^a^er in the Bureau of IhipB. Havy Dept. and'referred me to the works of EachaelCarson, which X find
fascinating. All the oceanographers are taking a refresher course by reading her.

fo\JJk. CVT 7H/W*/

September 9, 1951

For me at least, summer is over and the autumn push is on. The first
week of my holiday at Fort Miller with Aunt Annie and Miss Funston was very pleasant for me, but I suspect the hostesses, found me a very leihargic guest. ^ X w&s still bemused by the fire and the heat and the humidity of recen t days in
New York. We drove through the lush country a good deal and it was beautiful. .. Lake George, Saratoga Springs, Manchester (Vt.) etc. A broiling day in New fork provided another shot of vitamin B-12 from Gerry, a telephonic check on the office
and a melting departure on the so called "Bar Harbor Express" for Maine* Linekin Lodge was as relaxing and pleasant as ever, but there was an inordinate amount of rain and fog. So much in fact that before the end of my third week there I telephoned Tom and arranged to have a fifth week of vacation at my own expense to
try to get more of the sunning and swimming which had been perscribed for me. When
the weather was possible X swam twice a day and not only swam around one iirst island but once went half way to the second. But there were a good many days when
overcast chill with damp wind made swimming in the not so cold as usual water undesireable. Several days the fog was so thick that we could not even see the first island from the dining room, which when the a ght foot tide rise is in, is over the water. Often it rained so hard that the "60g horn" five miles away at the Cuckolds reef sounded. But while I was there, the fantastic dreams stopped and before I left I had a few days of that sense of physical well being which
preceeds energy.

The rest of the office was in a summer tempo but even the first of my now "two weeks back" have been a frenzy of activity in the speakers bureau and to make up for my delayed return I have done from six to ten hours overtime each week. I hope to stop that but we are in thp throes of the season's planning and Tom has
to be needled about the "Council of Associates" meeting on September 21 and 22, for which he is responsible in name but where 1 do all the background work. Brooks got back Friday and I had him 011 a national broadcast re the Japanese Feace Treaty signing on Saturday as a piece of public relations. Vera returned Tuesday very happy that she had finished her book on how to make the rest of the world love the USA. Last year we anguished over the form certain necessary reorganization of publications and structure should take. Now we have made the changes and must have
a great deal of patience and alertness to implement these changes in a smooth func tioning and effective operation. It probably will not be easy, but at least we are through the stalemate of indecision. I have written seven of the twenty "How to do it" memoranda?! in which I tell all my trade secrets. If only the other
five authors would produce their mms. for processing, I would feel a whole lot
better about that operation.

Thursday I was offered The Right Honorable Hugh Gaitskell, British Chancellor of Exchequer (the man whose recommendation that English people pay the National Health Service for eye glasses, false teeth and toupees led to the resig nation from the Cabinet of Aneurin Bevan) for a major speech two weeks from Friday. I changed several schedules and got everything lined up including having on my desk the printer's prrof of the announcement to members, when I was told that rajich as the Chancellor wanted to do it there was still a possibility that he could not
get away from the Ottawa Conference in time. I have released the printing press reserved for tomorrow morning and now wait to here where I'll get a guarantee of appearance before 1 waste more time and money. It should be a ten strike if it comes
off even if done on di ort notice

Tomorrow I see Gerry and we decide what the summer has done for me. The whole business stems back to the undiagnosed light poMo I suffered at five or six.This le"t no ~d+h under-velooed lap muscles, which have kervt me from skating and
always ben a strain or rav lower back. Natur~llv fatigue has slvvs Manifest itself in the week Darts. Gk>rrv has great faith that the Snace Shoes ('i>65 plus tax) for which I had c*ts made on July 11 will help, despite her letter that these should be rushed I do not yet have them.. My.guess is that they will not appear for anotner several weeks. 'The question is will they be the answer?

September 9, 1951 page 2
I had expected to return "fat and Lazy" for I ate everything in signt at Linekin Lodge and their excellent pastry cook produces the most wonderful pit and cake with hot breads twice a day. At least I did not follow the example a. many including Mrs. Beai^ with whom I bat most of the time of making it pie a la mode except on rare ocassions. I rationalized the eating by thinking t.iat I oxidized better in the fine fresh air, that the hour or better of stooping and bending over the flowers every day was good for me. One rainy day a box o candyarrived from Tom and I unabashedly ate a lot that very afternoon sitting in from of the roaring lounge fire with Vinton Summers. I'm not sure whether I am two or four pounds heavier but I know I lost a lot of flabbiness.
One day this passed week I lunched at the Brussels with the French Cultural Counsellor of Embassy, de Messieres, and Mendes-France, the former Minister of National Economy and French representative at the International Monetary Fund meeting going on next week in Washington. The latter is a brilliant, -ittie .man who despite his failure to be reappointed to *to e Cabinet of Haven is an ao-e adocat d of his countries policy. He is pleased at the drawing away ^.rorn the Communists displayed in the June election, and maintains that the gap oetween wages and cost of living is not so great as it appears because o uie wira payments made by the government to the workers with large .amilies* - am at raid I shall not see him as he flies back to Paris next weekend.
John Coatm/oafn St. Andrew's University turned up last week t,oo t,o expai.m a study that he is conducing of information spreading (propaganda in the good sense) and its proper use by governments in the current battle tor the control of IZ AnZ of l/n. It is a good and useful thing he is doing with great intelligence and I must keep in touch with him as I think some of his bindings may be useful to the FPAe I had a dim association in ray mind of his name and Jndia, so warn we finished with the purpose of his call we got onto that and I learned a great deal. Nehru has transferred* all his former hatred of the British to the USA because we are big and powerful. The elcetions supposed to be held in India last ftyMw ber did not come off because Nehru knew that he would be defeated. Kripilani, the head of India's socialist party is now in California, with the help of our o a Department, as he would probably be put in jail along with Nenru s other opponents were he to remain at home. Coatman, _ who in addition to oeing Information Director for the Government of pre-partition India, served as an Aroy^o* lc** J had letters from India and Pakistan officers re the fighting in Kashmir immediately after independence In the old days the British organized mixed regiments as ar as religion is concerned. In 1947 the personnel of regiments divided, the Muslims going into the Pakistani army and the Hindus forming a cadre for an Indian regimen, it *o happened that the two new regiments riiich had formerly been boatman s we.e PP each other in the Kashmir battle line. At night, they wrote him, they would go out between the lines to meet and embrace with tears that things snouxa come t,o \. a uass. He is very pessimistic about the future of India, fearful that ^ i u o to the western world, and sees no possibility of a future unification in one state such as Madam Pandit has recently spoken of. In the hot periods oi his ,wen-y,vo vears in India, Coatman has done the most enormous amount^of thoughtful reading. He seems parallels between conditions described by Pluto in The Republic ana those of today. Incidentally he smokes a meershara pipe vhen he reads Pluto and a
church-warden pipe while enjoying Shakespeare- Alas, I did not know this until we were at the elevator and he had been too polite to smoke his pipe with me diQ I had been so interested in him that I had forgotten to offer him more than one
cigaretteI
Ruth Iheeler-Bennett arrives about the 24th to be in New Y ork .tor a few days before' going on to a six weeks visit with her mother in Virginia. About a montn later Krs. Harris expects to oome with Larry. He will only stay briefly, but she mil remain longer. Their New York apartment has been sold over tneir heads and >ud, tne J-oungest son who is here, is trying to una another.

$68, V<jlU'O/ Q+T, T//*

*li% |n,'eiC//

'

'

September 23, 1951

Autumn is official at four this afternoon and not a moment too soon to please me, so long as it is more than "on the recrod"* The warm, humid weather has continued during the Ifiet two week$$$ and while it was good tobe with Martha and 01 eve and the children last weekend it was impossible to sxvim on Saiir day* I did put on my suit and get some sun on Sunday afternoon* Saturday was devoted to teaching them Samba--three pack Canasta, which they all enjoyed*

A week ago last Tuesday Maria called me up* She had just arrived on the "Quwa 11 Hank had flown over a day or two earlier, but gone straight to Washington for conferences which preceeded the Ottawa talks with the members of the North Atlantic Treaty* Sheloves London and still bemoans my not being there with her during the summer* She swears
that there is an atmosphere of kindliness there, which is a great antidote for New York. Hank was to have returned to London tomorrow, but instead goes back to Washington* They have hardly seen each other while in the USA together* She leaves fairly soon --but d :ate unsettled. I am seeing them tonight but doubt if there is any real news on leaving since
we talked on the phone this morning* I've seen Mafia three evening and had long talks* It is clear that we have a very bad press in Europe, people who meet her casually at dinner or cocktails, think from her accent that she is French and say what they really think*
Later they are embarrassed when they find out that she is the wife of an .American official , I suppose. With the $$ regular London markets and the Embassy commissary to draw on
their food problem is simple and life for her is pleasant, though she had written me of her concern at the paee at which Hank works*

At noon of September 11th I got the definite word on Gaitskell for luncheon on the 21st and worked like a beaver* There were all the usual routines and as many "Diffi
cult" people as ever, but the ocassion was a great success* We had a fine audience, actually more than the legal limit of the room* Gaitskell is a nice, relaxed sort of person, an intellectual leader of the Labor Party and probably very disappointed in the way nationalization has not worked # It was an above average speech and the New York Times gave it firtt page with the full text on an inner page. A little after six I went to B'Arcy Edmundson1s cocktail party for the Chancellor and had a chance to talk with him again. Although we did not discuss the election, it is my guess that he anticipates a
Conservative victory* It would not surprise me if Gaitskell went back to teaching econom
ics in a University* D'Arcy's party gave me a chance to talk with Mrs* Dwight Morrow about Ruth Wheeler-Sennet, who arrives on Wednesday and will go to "Call Me Madam " on Thursday, also to chat with Mr* and Mrs. Thomas S. Lamont and several other people I had not seen lately* Afterward I came home and arranged with Tom to telephone me in the
morning so I could take a sleeping pill and not worry that I would sleep through the alarm* Needless to say I need the sleep as the Gaitskell luncheon came on the first day of the
two day Council of FFA Associates when forty peole from roundabout the country were in*

The Council meetings are really Tom's responsibility and I usually do most of the planning--build the agenda, draft the announcements and the follov^-ups and do the memoranda for the chairman of each session will say the right things about each partici pant, yet keep to a time table so that we get through the agenda of each session in the time allotted. It is well that he has his secretary do the actual follow-up of keeping the record of delegate's replies and so on, as my staff is toe overburdened to take thgfc
on* On Monday my secretary announced that she had been on Sunday and gotten a lot of back work cleaned up, she had taken another job, when I let her off the previous Friday to go to the dentist and would like to permanently leave the folio-wing day. Naturally I was shattered and managed to prevail on her to see the week out* Her stenography and
typing leave much to be desired, so it is not likely that I shall fair worse, but she was a nice person and together with my assistant, Miss Luek we made a congenial and good team. We have now waited the statutory period for the Union to supply some one and are
free tomorrow to go into the open market* I can only hope to get a good person for what we can afford* I tried to get the job up-graded, and lost my temper with Tom and Miss Wells. They sympathize but feel it would upset the Union balance throughout the office to do it now. They admit that when I have a low grade person is no time to uggrade and
and leave such a person frozen , as she would be, with the higher salary* I only know that the next month hard anyway is going to be appreciably tougherl

/

C* T; 7VM, /

t kucUc..

October 3, 1951 11 a.m. at home

For almost a month I have had trouble with the refrigerator and have had to bring

work home with me to justify staying here to receive the service man at * ast four days*

Yesterday they returned the box after overhaul with a five foot instead J. & tai

7

tension. "First thing in the morning" was promised so I did not bring anything with me uo

work on and have now cleared off all I can do and shall improve the shinning moment.

Last Friday Tom, Miss Wells and Higgins andBerg (two new^trainees) and

to Gresnwhich on the 5il4. Brooks had two house gi ests for overnight, so we

%Frdee

lobsters and champagne. Afterwards I taught Mrs. Higley, jaias ofeils

peck Canasta-- Samba, while the others played Canasta. We startdd work talk at breakfast

and by ten Allport and Lee arrived and we got down to real sessions as soon as the mgle/a

left by motor for Cleveland. Alas, I was on the inside.shift and worked m tne library an.i

quarter of seven with the luncheon break when we went to the Round Hill Aub. It was sunny

and lovely (out of the wind) but we had to eat indoors instead of on the xwrrace. Broo*s

and the two trainees spent the day on his terrace. That evening Mrs. Allport and Mrs. ee

wame for dinner and with ten, there was a problem for cards. Tom and I plainly annajnee

we wanted more Samba and Brooks got us a table. But it was soon apparent to me that

visiting ladies wanted no part of any cards and did want to play The Game --a shut o cx

ades. Miss Wells, Brooks and Tom had never played and took a dim view of it all but were

good sports. Allport drew all the women on his team* It all turned out very well and we

had a riotous time. To act out so my team could guess, I drew Nanook of the North , vl/ho

Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder" and "The Sexual Behavior of Females r and to my

great relief thry guessed them all. By selecting "Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman

"Eternal Father, Strong|-to Save" and "As Maine Goes so goes the Nation , ihe Arsena o

Democracy" among the fifteen things we dreamed up our side won. Brooks got the one on

Maine and we were weak from laughter as he tried to get Tom to say "Maine" by pointing o

me, waving goodbye and f ancing off in the general direction of Maine. They did not catch on

but we certainly lauded. Sunday morning I did flowers but there was very little sun and after a late mid-day dinner, Miss Wells and the two trainees left. Brocks showed ion and me some of the pictures he had taken in the West this summer, we talked shop a bit and then played three handed Samba . There was a break for supper, which we :ixed to the xten o making tea and toast and taking a wonderful salad out of the refrigerator, followed y more
Samba after we had put the dishes into the dish washer and left the kitchen as spotless

as we found it

We agreed that wewould have brakfast at eight to make the train we wanted, Brooks
would wake Tom at 7j30 and I'd use my own alarm, I was wakened by Brooks rapping on ray door and saying with great disgust in his voice "Frances, it is very late. I thought you were using your alarm." I flew to my bath and was in it when there was another knock and Tom calling"There is a mistake. It is not late." By the time I was dry Tom was out on the terrace pacing in the early sun--Brooks had forgotten to change his clocx -rom daylight
saving and it was a little after seven and the breakfast was not ready.

It is now after mid night of Thursday. Tom has been here for beer as I /now have my ice box after almost a month, We opened the Evenings with the Experts series tonight with ex-Ambassador James G. McDonald speaking on his experience in Israel, I presided and we had a very good crowd. He did very well and some of the new staff who had not heard him were much impressed, Before hand he dined with me at the Club and we had a coxey and most interesting chat. As I sensed from his best seller book, his -diplomatic experience
has done wonders for him.

Last week Ruth Wheeler-Bennett and her mother were here and I had two evenings with

them. One night we went to "Affaire of State" with June Havoc playing the lead and. thought

it very good, though I should like to see it with a cast that underplayed it. Anoiher night

aur-sssr- ssnjs'A, it was"collM Me Madam" which I enjoyed as much as I did the first time* "

' a coc-~

office pressure. Three da/o.-. h ^ ~ VQs grim hut today I started with a Miss Fuhrerstarted f^|gthir.'gTrather starry eyed bu? wfora I think mil work out well.

C&u+e, Cak( S(JW<- , Lei {

*
October 14, 1951

A beautiful bright, clear Indian summer day in \ihich I do not sun on the roof as Molly, Jim, Bill, Fred and a friend of his were in to go to the zoo and I spent two hours with them of out doors* Last weekend, while Martha and Cleve were at Annapolis I was with Fran and Clevee and as they had their own affairs I had two periods of several hours by myself. In one I sunned in my bathing suit in the high hedge enclosed area but on Sunday it rained torrents and bjew gales. Molly was good enough to have us all for
a barbecue dinner on Saturday wiile the weather was still fine.

I stayed in town this weekend as it is Maria*s last before sailing^on Tfiesday for London again. We have both been so busy that I have not seen nearly enough of her. The best tale is her trip to Stockholm. They arrived by plane in time to change and go to an official dinner. Being very tired she lazed in her hotel room the next day after Hank went off for his interviews. About the time she started to stir herself to go out^and see the sights, Hank burst into the room with a "Well, let's go." Amiably agreeing, she asked where to and he replied "Why, back to London". The route from hotel to airport was the only sight she had of Stockholm, where she had never been before! I have just finished writing a Will for her, as she fears she and Hank may both be killed in a plane crasho She will get it signed tomorrow.
Well, on Monday I got my Space Shoes and they are something! Arthur Godfrey, Frederic Marsh and either Doroihy or Lillian Gish may think they are fine. They are very comfortable but no thing of beauty. I may decide to send them back and have the left heel built up a little as they strain a muscle in my left leg which has not hurt heretofor. But from the way things go in the office it will take more than shoes to put me right. On^ Friday I completed my first twenty-five years with the FPA and since it was a holiday 1^ stayed away -- and lost one speaker, but got another for another meeting. Saturday, I felt I should begin my new year right and went to the office and worked for five hours. I'm in my usual autumn rush and some members of the Board think it would be dandy if this year i did a com&ination of the New York program, which seemed heavy encugh last year, plus the events I put on five years ago as well. Quite apart from the natural question 02 whether I can do it, there is the rather basic question will the New York members support that much pro gram? In the past ten days we have had three "policy and administration" crises and there is one, which will take acute form tomorrow. It was to prepare for that one that took me to the office yesterday and will take me a couple of hours right now before I go to take Maria for a late dinner tonight. Along with these alarums and excursions, Miss Lusk has been out of the office more than she has been in since September 24 with acute labyrinthitis. That was the day I began having no secretary as a result of Mrs. Nonnenbruk*S resignation for a job with more money. G11 October 4th 1 took Miss Fuhrer on Trial and this past week we had the Jewish Day of Atonement and Columbus Day, so she lias taken my dictation on five days. I've had no time to diow her the routine things she should do and Lusk, who understands has not been there to tell her. I'm not at all sure Si e will last. I was exhausted after trying to be three people on the Jewish holiday and went to bed at 9i30. At 10il5 Kiss Lusk telephoned to tell me say she would not he in on "piursday It took me until after eleven to get back to sleep. Vera had an emotional crisis on Thursday and it took me half an hour to partially calm her. Do you v/onder that I did not get to sleep until five a.m. on Saturday morning? Last night I took a sleeping pill and had a fine night. Next weekend I hope to be with Molly and Jim and let a big dose of the little boys clear my mind of trials and tribulations

Fdr relaxation I have been reading "Time for Tapioca" by Charlotte Stryker. a most amusing account of an American family in Java, where they expected to buy^a tapioca plantation and supply the Pennsylvania glue factory The difficult es^ they had with climate, Dutch bureaucracy and Javanese "adat" or tradition are wonderful readin^*---all 4.80130 one elses troubles of twenty years ago. It does supplement the Sanxa dama Kau book on
the Javanese people

Thursday I talked with Edgar von Schmidt Fauli, a German who was Prisioner of

Sr-r -in Russia for five years.

people He is here at the University of Virginia on a Dept. of Stat(

P> to*..::

J8> 1951

:l

After two weeks experience with the Space shoes they did not seem to ^ethe a#s^-0r

so who. I went to Gerry for my annual flu shot on Tuesdays I complained loud anc oag*

She promptly sent me to the x-ray man. Wednesday he took $35 worth of pictures

y

lower back." As yet I do not have the results of the reading of them.

The "little one" who was on trial as my secretary when iast I wrote picked up a

sslarv check of $72 on the 15th and just failed to return on the following^day. I had

not only wasted time breaking her in, but found no less di an five letters in her note

book which she had not transcribed. She got paid for two holidays--the Jewish holiday

and Columbus day and actually worked six days. I had good references on her too. Then

I got a disappointed lyric soprano as a temporary fill-m. ohe vorfeed six days

reported sick for two more, actually 1 do not think it was the work but rather a compli

cation in her personal life which made it undesiraable for her to leave her home phone.

Meanwhile Gerry put a Mills College graduate onto me, who seemed ideal but wanted a

good deal more than I could pay. By sheer genius I worked out a system ^ereby di e

would get what she needed, but an hour ago she telephoned me tnat she did ncfc trunk she

could do it. It would interfer with her studies in a studio where she willJLearn enough

about her avocational interest--the engrossing art, which is hieing out in one

to become professional. After all she gave up a good job in California to come nere

to study in the only studio in the country. But having told the lyric soprano tnat we

had someone coming on trial for the permanent job, she has taken anotner post with one

Grocers' Association.

I am faced tomorrow with the third day m a row wi.h no sec

retary. Gan 3rou picture the condition of my desk? 1 hate fcoi

To calm my jangled, nerves X have been reading "Time of Fallen Blossoms" byAllan

3. Clifton--a warrant officer in the Australian Army of Occupation in Japan* Though

his work and his own sensitivity he was able to write a sympathetic look about the

little people of Hiroshima and their lives and characteristics seldom plumbed

Occidental. Yesterday I spent a good deal of time remaking a dinner dress to wear *o

a Turkish dinner tomorrow night and probably to the auditorium meeting e

f

Thursday for Lord Halifax, war-time Ambassador to tne US. I qo not usually drees o

these evening meetings, but Eustace and Maud Slligraan are having a reception aftsrward,

so I may! Friday I succeeded in getting a sixty station network (Naticanl Broadcasting

System) for a half hour recording of his speech. The recording is much less of a stra:

on the principals than a live broadcast with its split second tuning.

Last Konday and fMM Wednesday I went to the Herald Tribune Forum in the ballroom of the Waldorf along SthT"couple of thousand other people to listen to speeches from 7:45 to 10:30. As usual they had a lot of "big namesyPaul Hoffman, Ato. Kirk, yhitney

Grisvold, etc. I was particularly interested in Amar Singi, an indian .1 aime> " * iust completed six weeks in Carrollton County, Georgia, where he had been lealni..b at first hand why Americans work together and how. He Is taking tack to India an an uerio-n county agent to see how they do things in his part of inula. ine Lb direc.cr o._

a Technical Assistance project in India, who fouhd Singh,

f *je ^^ii'atra-6

made in very simple things for Indians living in the are of this project. One HiusL.a

tW through improved seed one 3 acre farmer got a good enough crop from one acre to

build his family the first brick house they had ever had. Singh said ue saw worse .oil

erosion in Georgia as a result of 100 years of deep ploughing than there was in India

after 2,000 years of shallow planting.

This afternoon I am going to call on Krs. Harris in her new penthouse apartment. ^

She and Larry arrived on the "Queen" with twenty four pieces of luggage in -tue most o.

dock strike and Larry strained his book in getting part of the luggae off the snip. 1 a

not sure how lone either one will remain, suspect she is here for montns md.using, a crip

to nSGornia and he tori weeks. Wednesday my little cadet called me frony fest Point.

L

+ ci me to the Armv-Southern California game on Saturday, i declined tie

and

hove Isked him for dinner and the theatre. I must remember to get tickets for some*,.

Mult alos put my mind on how I can entertain Krs. Harris and Larry. Hana made her snip

right, but we worked until two the night before. Everything tnat possibly could

went wrong including the non-appearance of her good health certificate until almosCtf -i:mi'd-

"SalUm,

November 4, 1951

"jhen it snowed yesterdp.y X decided bust it was really "time fco got my nylon gxasscurtains hung. They had been "down for the sunnier" since the fire. Also when it rained in torrentss "along with the snow, I was indeed glad that I had politely told tne v/est Point cadet, Herald Stout, that I would not be able to go to the Array- U* of Southern California game that afternoon. Pneumonia v;ould be the final straw# Actually by the time I set off to meet him at the Club for dinner only a strong cold wind remained of the storm. Poor boy, he is having a dreadful time with Topography and there was some doubt if his grades would allow him to come to the Game*- He is very introspective and mixed up---in many ways much younger than his 21 years, but feels that his year at the Point has been very good for him. Xt will be interesting to see it he lasts to graauaie. We went on to "T he Koon is Blue"--a gay, sophisticated, little coraaiedy with Barbara Bel Geddes and Barry Nelson finally fall in each other* s arms at the final curtain after an appropriately stispenseful pferiod ill whicn the audience wonders if sie will ...all instead for the affable" roue played by Donald Cook* Afterward we went to Howard^Johnson*s for a soda, which Hal supplemented with a cheesburger and coffee against his trip by Army bus
back to the Point*
Tuesday life started getting very complicated when it was apparant that Jane Carey had not invited Major Lockhart, aid de camp to Lord Halifax, to her pre-meeting dinner party as I indicated she was expected to. Official eyebrows was raised to me and 1 dis claimed responsibility, but filled the gap by inviting Lockhart to dine with Tom and me. After he had accepted, other eyebrows were raised at Jane and she did a tail spin, be moaning that she could not seat more than twelve, etc., etc* I really think I ma quite noble to omit saying that had die only played ball with me when I ### cleared the time for her dinner and invited Lockhart all would be well* I did^ say that if one of ner men gave out on Thursday I would relinquish the Major to her. Locxhart turned out to be rather a duck and the three of /us had an amusing time and I gather^a much more relaxed^ meal that the principals The speech read rather insipidly, but listened very well, uis main point being that Anglo-American cooperd- ion should be implemented by a stronger ana more permanent "relationship", which he did not deiine* Imagine my surprise to find a pa^e one story in the TIMES the next day and the full text of the speech* Oih er papers did quite well by ue, too. I had arranged 23 minute recorded broadcast, which apparently was aired on almost ninety network stations? All of which gives us very good publicity* From the meeting we went on to the Eustace Seligman*s house for a reception, wnere the elite had a chance to press the hands of the Sari and the Countess of -ali^ax. ounce they left for Washington the next morning and Lady Halifax had had a day ox shopping to buy things people had asked her to take back they had to go home early, urooks insisted that Tom and I help him escort thep back to the hotel, so we departed early. As nroons is in the throes of moving from the Lowell and Greenwich (he is selling tnat mouse) o a penthouse at 135 Madison Avenue and a house at Princeton and is very little in tne office, I thought that he wanted to have a staff conference acout an important conversa tion he had had that afternoon with the Ford Foundation# But not at all, I was deposited at my door at any early hour but in an exhausted state.
At dinner I asked Lockhart if the frayed blue tie with write polxa dots tnat Iali-tax had worn when he spoke for us during the war was "public relations" toskow the American people that the British were putting everything into the war to the extent that the ivibassador denied himself haberdashery, he roared. He well remembered the cie--a favorite of his lordship* s, and actually that day was its last appearance around tne ambassadorial neck* Lady Halifax had long been trying to get him to throw it^away without success^ But whi they got back to Washington there was a letter from a man in tne mia-west begging lor a tie of the Ambassador1s to add to his collection of those of the great* e would trea sure any item .Halifax would give him and place it between those of Mark Twain ano rrover Cleveland. The Ambassador snorted at the letter and would have none o.. it. Then Lock hart mentioned the matter to Lady Halifax and a f8w days later .he tie appeared on aid's desk with the request that it be sent to the collector.
Monday night I attended a big cocktail party and dinner in honor of the 28th anniverTurkish Republic at the Waldorf. Fmletter and the Turkisn
Ambassador spoke. As Brooks brought me home we agreed "that we do things better.

November 4, 1951--page 2

It really was a shambles. In the first place I was invited for cocktails at 6
before a 7:30 dinner, of which I took a very dia^ view. I planned to gex to tne cocktail party a little before seven, birt my watch stopped in the afternoon and^ I found myself conferring in the office at 5:15 thinking it was a few minutes after four. With the day's dictation to sign and a few oddments, I did not get home until after six and so did pretty well to leave here about seven. I love to go to other-people's-parties and see what goes wrong and how my existing techniques prevent similar happenings, or how I can improve mine so the same things do not happen to met There was a dramatic climax when two Turkish veterans from Korea appeared and walked through the applaudng audience to the head table. One of them
had been wouhded 14 times in combat in Korea. They were both nice looking, eager, scrubbed young men. One said a few sentences in Turkish, which was translated .

I still do not have a secretary Saw two candidates last week. One I would not have. The other did not think I offered the kind of work she wanted to do. However, Tom was in Washington for two days and I used his and Vera was in the mid-west on speaking engagements and I used hers, so got out a lot of work. Miss Lus' is almost full time again now, but won't be full load until she gains eight pounds--a slow pro cess with her. I certainly shall be glad to have from Thursday midnigit to late
Monday night in Virginia with the Cash family!

The week's developement on my leg is that the x-rays seem not to be the answer in
themselves, so ./ednesday I went to the Laboratory to have some blcod chemistry me only thing I know is they did not do the cholesterial count, though there was consul tation about that between Gerry and the blood man. She is now studying the x-rays, the blood analysis and my list of everything I have put in my mouth and s?/allowed for five days. I expect we will have a session on her conclusions this week.

Wednesday afternoon my collegues gave me two beautiful meaium sized orcnids with a little poem about how they could not let October pass without letting me know of their mindfulness of the anniversary and the test of their tribute would come later. I have no idea what that is--but naturally I am more interested in what the Board of Directors will do, if anything. The orchids dressed up my faj.thj.ul blacx
nylon taffeta for the Halifax festivities and went to the theatre last night, uian.*. fortune they were not the big purple ones, which I dislike intensely.

Sunday afternoon at thenew Harris penthouse was very pieass.nt. -^rs. liar* is is

still bothered some by the shingles she suffered from when I was with them in France,

but~looked as well as I have ever seen her. Larry, with whom she actually allo?/ed me

to have half an hour along, is gradually getting over his back strain. He hopes it

will be possible for them both to stay until after Christmas. Their^new quarters

are less than half the size of their old Hast Paver apartment but quite possible,.^ 1

fear that when Mrs. Harris really gets settled she will find a good deal to complain

about -- the door on the automatic elevator is very heavy and I aoubt if she can

manage it alone The last fight of stairs which the elevator does not cover will

probably keep her contemporaries from visiting her in the home. The open roof which

must be'crossed to reach Bud's bedroom is going to be awkward in bad weather and so

on. However, that is anticipatory. Last Sunday she was filled with admir&ion

at Bud's cleverness in finding the place when their home oi ^twenty years standing

was abruptly sold over their heads in September The Atlantic is a curious oning--

MM their four and a half day crossing on a "QueenS covered the same days that Maria was

S sea.

. Harris end Laurence had a perfect crossing, only wished that it were

loneer. Karia writes that she had a very poor one--quite rough and sue was unaole ,,o

he on deck as much as she was in Kay. I gathered she was glad enough to land.

Hovember 13th, 1951
There ie a note of winter in the sir again today, though a wars bright sun p?u" Jfr* !ne 80 1 "f1*"' J* (5ivs 808,8 erodease to the date and the nearness of Christmas throws me into a panie. Just before I left for Virginia on 8th Kiss ;ettwer telephoned me to say that S.JO had decided to try the 'ob as N secretary. She it, a tedoliff BA with a asstar's fro the Kletcher 3hool of Inter national lev; and ttlplamasy 'tth a lot of experience which eon be useful--al so a background oi aueh more salary. She is at least 40 and 1 have not gotten to the
SeaattrefhThheerr bbrrle"aftth!," jusf t ^ as*Mr"s.Konnsnbruah3diUdtt ,1"af"terXtanTMeymo1t)i9ontahlatupjhilaBav*n9l8d*andtoI t0 her 'vapours" for the period of readjustment before she slips
a tthree ,leg1gedt a1niymalp a0gai?n]V b - ? ! 8 " " w h l l n " i 3 f i n e t 0 h v e t h e S p e a k e r s B u r e a u

1 ^

''fTM8,0" ih Virginia mountains was better than the oalendar would promise--

--f,-v! --11

P3 ! !"wnrtaine wore here the foreground en, ourious mixture of

nnd bTM'm";Tery lovoly-

e*">

their brilliant color

tio rf -i* % taoea a frosted dead green, willows green against the deeper green

of .no white yines. It was really oak, which provided the color. Thi place is shaping

^transit;Lea from a combination of peach and apple orchard to *

,'i-'it, berries MuJ 6Httl (the hord i now about 24) with enough cHekenr to provide at least fire dosan eggs a day for the local market. A new pro-

+!*TM -+, .Ur ~0t ftone wall to separate the house grounds from the farm was about

thJ?i 5

stage. On Friday and Saturday both X slept very late end

then laced in the sun to audi an extent that X beeame completely unlaxod and just

as he 0IO8V3 -Or Maieie's dinner of fourteen arrived I started a horrid hacking

eougi,

rime iTthinwas the University crowd and I was not at ray boot. The only

way got to ray-gueot-of-honor-post at Ruth heeler-Bennett's cocktail r.orty on

Atomy ms ay staying Iway from churoh and spending most oi the afternoon in beds

That tup; - ached so^ I decided to ask Jim to get me into the hospital on Monday,

Mn ?rB : rk3 UP a?d by ttat UTM "y worst P1" the abdominal !T! "* 5 "*! "/nouSh t0 justify telegraphing Tea that I would stay another day. a phoned me in the afternoon end urged me to stay yet another but ray conscience stepped in and I plodded back. It was a wonderful respite and as , 0 d being there. Jim sold four calves in the cattle auction which he h,d bou^. two montns before as 'bad selves" for WOO. After being fed at no" cost by four of as cav.'3, taey brought 1 248. Me seems to put two or throe "foster-children" on

tthhee young that X Jtfhco8u9g"h?t",h*onePshtVf*aamkilieist hbaedaubteiefnullbyroaknedn aulpl. four bawled miserably for

T u 411 Brody aoraing I spent with Dr. feisbeek telling hSm the etorv of rav life,
f tr! . 10 80 01000 80 1 ovor 8t to an examination by a psyohe-analysistl Then he looisd e,, the x-rays and blood oheraistry and basal metabolism reports, said snd t-rned rac over cc .'lis teohniol-tsi for electro-eardiagrara and heart ex-ray. X think he then mul-,3 the -hole thing over, talks to Osryy, see me again on the 27th and then writes his report. ..y guess ie that on or about Deoeobar 5, I have a session with her and^ara told that e-.uidlet do not burn efficient from both ends at one and which

f ntL ?bTT ' PU* Ut! 30 far 1 onllr know that

aerious has showed uo or

eluasiA +.hvr!f,- It JUB1 ^0" 'fajiy miror things like not enough calcium in my blood, slug^edi tlij.oid, etc., etc. I m axr*xd I think this ie a very expensive and tine

consuming metnod or desxaing that overwork is the culprit. Frobubly I sra so stupid

that Sorry decided that this was the only way to make a proper impression on my and

give rat impersonal basking to put ray foot down en eorae office practices. Anyway we

get a .our day holiday over Thanksgiving, which is pleasant. This year I hope I can

take it. hast year I nad tne Kenneth lounger luncheon on ray hands and oould not.

"Kleasor of Aquitsiae" by toy Kelly came beck from Hoists's with me. This time X mean to linisn it. "Faakemone" by ilonor Tracy, an English journalist, turned out to be a cynical, tongue An cheek treatment of the Japanese and the occupation fooreee. Kiss Traoy nad a Wiirl making fua of "deraoeratisatioa" ,

fjBP) - CHiMt

.M L< . "&C

u t

,

M &JL Vt

December 2, 1951

Well| I made it

a lovely four day weekend over Thanksgiving with liartha and

Cleve* Clevee made place cards uing half a/ walnut shell with part of a tooth pick

held by candle wan as the sast and the square of white paper sail bore our namesc In

nothing flat Fred decided that his "Mayflower" needed a sea* He used the tomato juice

served the very young, who have not yet acquired a taste for the oysters with which

the rest of us started our delicious meals The rest of trie family were a picture when

they arrived. Molly carried a huge glass t ray->1ate covered with cup cakes topped with,

a yellow frosting, Jim carried two marvelous pumpkin pies Molly had made and Jay had the

cookie sheet laden with jelly apples.

Tuesday I spent another two hours with Dr. Haisbeck who is still not content as to the cause of the pain in my leg. J e started literally at the top of my head this time
and worked his way to the tip of my toss. I swallowed barium il) and he looked at it trickle down my gullet through his flourescope* This much he tells me--my heart is fine, my arteries are those of a 40 'year old and my blood pressure is 124 over 34. BUT he is sending rue to have some "soft Tissue" x-rays of my legs and talks of the possibility
of having me see a good endocronologist and perhaps a fine orthepedist. I'm getting pretty fed up and shudder when I contemplate the bills.

Tomorrow night Gerry will dine and go to "Marriage of Figaro" with me and although this is a social occasion, I expect to get in a couple of licks about this medical hocus-pocus she has gotten me into* Two weeks ago the Metropolitan gave "Rigeletto " for the first Monday night. It is a new production and the sets and costumes are lovely.
At the beginning of the second season of Rudolf Bing, I think it still fair to say that the rounded production of opera under his management is good, there are no "great" voices. The ballet, the chorus, and the minor roles are better* The result of having orchestra and singers rehearse together seems evident, but the repetoire is essentially popular. Kilde Gueden -made an excellent "Gilda" and I thought the best of the cast.

Iry new secretary is still dazed by the complexity of the job but loves it. I am not sure that I can take her lack of memory and her inability to coordinate, but must be patient a little longer* Thursday morning D'Arcey Edmondson, the Comptroller of British Information Services, assured me that if Mr. Churchill is "up to making a second speech
in the US" he will of course make it for the FPA in New York. It has not yet been de cided if he will address the Congress. He takes his major speeches very seriously writing them himself and is an old man with limited energy, so it is a question* D'Arcy however points out that there is the possibility of a speech by Anthony Eden if it is decided the
Prime Minister cannot. So, it looks as if I were in or a big "do" about January 11th/ Unfortunately D'Arcy has seen and been impressed with two big shows I have put on for lesser British lights on very short notice and I'm begging him to speed up this decision* Meanwhile, I am trying to get all my routine New York prograin lined up for January and February as I am also pretty firmly committed to a party for Governor Dewyy in late Jan* or early Feb* Only the date remains to be set and we have agreed not to do that until after New Year .1 am also pushing on my Christmas cards and gifts, because if and vihen I get the green light on the Churchill-Eden deal there will be no time or energy for any thing else.

Yesterday Lefty Davies asked me to hear Norman Thomas at the Town Hall at eleven

and then

lunch with them. Last week was tough--the first five day week after

three in which there were holidays and being very tired Friday I went to bed moderately

early end did. not bother to set my alarm* Result I slept until eleven and had to scrambfc

into some clothes and a taxi to catch the last fifteen minutes of the speech* Lefty

had only asked a young couple rho evidently were friends of his from the days he was

president of Colorado College and who lovingly called him "Frexy", sol rated and sat

at Thomas' right* Me had a grand time. Mr. Thomas was in Indie, six months ago and

naturally was impressed with the short food supply, and the many problems resulting from

independence and partition piled on top of poverty, over population, under education, etc.

The thing which most impressed me was his statement that we must rearm, it will buy us time. Thomas, the old pacifist saying that I We talked until 3 s 30 so I did not get home

in time to hear Navy tet ray--42 to 7 u,

CQ^CJ}, Tuu,i^,

Tift,

December 16, 1951

Our spell of warm, damp weather has gone. Thursday was cold and late Friday

afternoon we got snow, which stalled traffic at going home time in a fine way. I

made my 26 blocks in an hour but Tom, who has called me three times so far over

the weekend,was two hours and a half en route. He seems to have sat for

pn hour and a half in a stalled

cab waiting to get one which was rolling. By

midnight it started to rain and most of the sonw was washed away before Saturday's

bitter cold wand swept into town. I've been busy over the weekend getting the las$

of my cards addressed and stamped and the bulk of my gifts wrapped. All this

forebehandedness because I wanted to be ready to give all my time to the British

dinner. I am now morally certain that it wall not come offi Churchill will make

only his Washington speech and Eden has a personal commitment to speak at Columbia

University after collecting an honorary degree. Well, the dream was nice while it

lasted and the preliminary steps taken in the office will be useful for another

occasion, I expect.

Well, the "soft-tissue" man gave Baisbeck a great deal of most interesting

information and left me only $5 of my December rent money. At any rate we seem

to have altered the line of invetigation and are now trying to angle an appointment

with Dr. Cuttmann. MeanwhileI went to oculist to have the wen taken from my right

upper lid. Instead of taking it out Dr. Connoly only nicked it and told me to hot

compress, use drops and a

salve. Perhaps I have not been too faithful about

the treatments, tomorrow I'm going back to see if he won't really take it out.

Tomorrow night Betty Day will go to "Gotterdamerung" with me. The end of Janu ary she is going' to study painting in Spain and Italy. This is in the interest of her retired avocation. Since she used to be my assistant, perhaps I should explain that she has inherited enough to retire on ahead of schedule.

Tuesday my little handkissing Austrian speaks at the Town Hall luncheon and then at five o'clock we have the office Christmas party. Thursday is the Board of Direc tors meeting over dinner. Friday afternoon the office closes until Wednesday morn ing. My, won't that be fineJ

Y7e are having the usual December crush of "lady shoppers" in the mid-town area. Between them and the elaborate Christmas decorations the ppor clerk does not have room to work and the would-be customer doesn't have a chance to get what she wants
even if she see it.

Yi/hen I began I thought I had something to say--but the janitor seems to have called it a day and my feet are getting too cold to permit any brain action. Kerry Christmas'

Cr7, TJU.

* '

*

'

Ju~4,

'

V ' December 29, 1951

Happy New Year I lay it bring you what you most want* From my point of view
1952 cannot help being an improvement on 1951. Although the FFA gave four day weeh ends s at both Christmas and Few Year, I don't go to Freeport until late tomorrow morning. Aunt Annie, who came down from Albany lest Saturday left early this morning Judith Listowel9 who arrived by air late Thursday, some eight hours behind schedule because^ of icing between Scotland and Labrador, has been here for dinner. V7e load a very cozy time going over her proposed speeches and gossipping. She had had neither time in Lon don nor since her arrival to wash her hair, so she did it here. At the point of the shampoo there was heaps of heat, so much more than she is accustomed to that she sat about in her black slip, eventually I got her into my Christmas bedjacket. She is so much smaller than I that I could think of nothing else in which she might cover herself without appearing to be in a tent. The Plight Honorable the Countess of Listovel certain ly was as informal as cur almost twenty years of friendship implies, be had great fun but did not begin to cover the topics which should have been covered

On December 13th we had the office Christmas party and Sandy Allport made a
wonderful Santa, using the moose heads on the Lounge wall for reindeer, someone even climbed up and put a shiny red ball on the nose of one of them (Rudolf) He threw his sack of gifts down from the gallery and slide down a rope as we had a fire in the fireplace. Some of the poems which accompanied the little gifts were masterpieces
especially the ones for Vera and Hiss Novich. Then Santa read a long a la Hiawatha piece about me and handed a couple of boxes to Brooks, who made a long and full some
speech and presented me with what turned out to be a beautiful silver cigarette case and a Dunhill lighter--the 25th Anniversary gift of the staff and a few of the Board.
I was touched and thought it very sweet that three , no four, of the Board men ana three of the women came. Torn came to me while I was still circulating to display my presents and expressing my thanks and told me to fade away. He picked me up in my own office and went to dinner at Erookses penthouse. Faith binony was home from Rollins and looked lovely in a beautiful deep red Chinese brocade dress. Beside the Hmenys there werefive from the Board and six from the staff. It was a wonderful dinner and
I was very much touched that Brooks bothered to do it and that the people I like best on the Board were either there or %$$$$ troubled to write rae later how sorry they were to miss it. I have been granted a month1s extra holiday with salary as a bonus for my service, (in the Edison Company they only give you a pin$)

Last Sunday Aunt Annie and I went to Holly and Jim and had a lovely Christmas with the little boys. They all seemed to get what they most wanted, and personally I thought they had so much that anytliing which might have been overlooked must have been forgotten by them in the joy at what they had In the middle of the day we went down to see the other family and then we all talked with Cal and Thelma in Georgia. Even illie had quite a t&lk with Cal. "Wednesday night we went to "Point of No Return" in which Henry Fonda plays the lead. It is very skillfully staged and excellently act ed. Since it is about the Fifth Avenue Bank Aunt Annie was especially interested. Thurs day Aunt Annie went to Orange for the night, where her host lost a handsome diamond and
platinum ring as he got oSt of the car but did not miss it until the next morning. Fanncy her joy when she found it in the gutter after the house had been ransaked and Mr. Deignan had gone off to New York! That evening I went to a cocktail party at Vera's, where she had her usual collection of interesting people including the new Indian Consul Gen
eral--since his office is in this block I consider him a neighbor. Larry Karris and I embraced but talked to other people up to the time I left for a dinner engagement. For tunately Dexter Fefckins (whose aunt was Fanny Farmer and whose wife now does the Cook
book) left at the same time and brought me down in a cab.

Judith will be here until the 13th but I doubt if we ever get caught up in our conversation. 1 shall heatr one of her speeches three times and feel that she wants me to go to Columbia to hear a different one. Jell, we shall see about that. Maybe which opera I would miss will be the determining factor'. Now I must go to bed having
eaten more than a British meat ration for a week at dinner