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been to Washington. The capital of the United States of America!
And I have never been there! And it is undoubtedly a white city,
much like its heart, the Capitol. Apple-trees in blossom along
the Potomac,--but unfortunately this is autumn. To go to an
unknown Southern city, for no good reason, I well, whatever it
I can be as unhappy there as elsewhere. Whereupon Simon
bought himself a ticket for Washington, and ate a cheese sandwich
and a malted milk at the station soda fountain: this is healthy
food, he thought, and I must take care of myself.

## IV

relaxed
will-lessly
simon sat on the Pullman ~~plush and watched an~~
Autumn rain fall from the close sky. The train slipped
steadily past the unpainted backyard fences of the poor, past
the dead look of factories, across small bridges Gothic and erect
upon marshy streams, into dairy farm country, into neat, small
towns, hurrying at right angles to waiting autos in their sudden
suspense before the train. Jersey: thought Simon, and again and
again he was moved as the train passed a busy avenue and a man
came out of a cigar store with a newspaper in his hand; as a
child bounced a ball on the sidewalk, and as a boy
stuffed newspapers into doors. Their lives move in small, expected,
habitual paths, while I take my sorrow to Washington for no good
reason. What a great distance between us! How extraordinary that
they should be content to be where they are. But I have been
rejected, I have been found insufficient, limited, and one-sided, I
have done something ugly, obscene and brutal, which I cannot
forget nor run away from, anymore than I can run away from my
childhood.

-6-

V

At midnight the train arrived in Washington and Simon was taken by the cab-driver to the Hotel Bristol. In paying the driver Simon noticed that he had only a few cents left, except for the hundred dollar money-order which he had been given the day before. Clearly he would have to cash this, if he was to have breakfast in the morning.

The hotel desk clerk greeted him with much deference, and extended a pen and the register to him. And then, at that moment, Simon thought of the ingenious conceit of signing another name on the register. At the moment it was merely the broken memory of a book he had read in which the hero signed himself as Theodore Agnon as Wunderwachst, Savon ders Botticelli and Manuel Kant, but rapidly it became a delightful invention, and as he signed himself Samuel 73 Elm St., Malebranche, Montreal, Canada, a nervous happiness rose up out of his tiredness.

I am now a Canadian, he told himself joyously, and will have to conduct myself in a mode becoming so that great people. Perhaps I shall speak with an accent, since I am a French-Canadian; perhaps I shall request God Save The King from the string trio in the dining room tomorrow evening. I may even speak of my relatives in France and go so far as to say that I was not born on this contingent but in Lyons, on the Rhone (I think). This amused Simon profoundly.

And then, as the bell-boy took his suit-case and his room-key, Samuel had a sudden feeling of disaster. He would not be able to cash his money-order. And then he recovered, deciding to indorse the money-order with his own name, and then again with his new name. He did this at the writing-desk and then presented the piece of paper dark slip to the hotel clerk who assured him that a hundred dollars

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difficulty and with embarassed eyes, said that he would like
very much to meet some of Samuel's lady friends, of course, he
was kind of an old bird, but still knew what a good time was like,
although somehow he never managed to get about much in the home
town: "It's just kind of an old habit and I guess I'd like to
break it this once", he said, as Simon grew panicky and blushed
and looked at his wrist-watch, jabbered about an engagement,
shook hands and hurriedly departed, cursing himself because
he had no lady friends in Washington, D.C., nor anywhere else,
for that matter, except for a girl who had found him as
insufficient
as Samuel Pomper was now finding him.

VII

Simon decided to go back to New York City as the hotel
elevator lifted him to his floor like a gasp, but between the
elevator doors and his room door he changed his mind and decided
to visit an old school friend of his whom he had not seen for
five years. This friend had twice invited Simon to come unexpect-
edly to his hunting lodge in any time during the fall. Simon had
just finished calling up for a ticket to Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
and was packing his grip with unnecessary and chaotic haste
when some one, some two, rapped loudly on the door.

Two plain-clothes men entered and asked him what his
name was.

"Samuel Malebranche", said Simon, feeling the beginning of
panic.

"That's what we thought", said one of them, while
the other began to poke into his suitcase, "Got anything to
identify yourself?"

"Well, the fact of the matter is--", began Simon, "What's
up anyway?"

["-9-", "orders\n"You can't pass funny money, anyway you like here in\nWashington, young fellow. You're coming down to the station with us.\"", "\"That money order is good\", said Simon, sure that all\nwas now lost, that it would take any number of years to explain\nhis way out of this mess.", "\"It had the same handwriting for both signatures, young\nfellow. Just what were you trying to do?\"", "Simon seated himself on the bed, and started to explain\nthat it was all a joke, that his real name was Simon Lessing, that\nhe worked for a New York publisher and was merely amusing himself\nby taking another name. And immediately he saw that amusement was\na mistake, something the cops would never understand, and everything\nwas only becoming more hopeless.", "\"A fine joke, passing funny checks. Can't you get your\nlaughs any other way?\" said the cop.", "\"I was just feeling down on my luck and this occurred to\nme\", said Simon, realizing that he was never going to communicate\nto anyone the reasons for his behavior.", "\"What were you doing in Washington anyway? Have you any-\nthing to show who you are?\", asked one cop.", "Simon looked thru his wallet and found nothing. He\nstarted to say: \"I just felt like coming to Washington. I've never\nbeen here before\", but obviously that was even worse. Reaching\ndesperation as he saw that the other cop had finished with his\nsuitcase and ~~both were~~ now ready to take him to the police station,\nSimon told them to call up his boss in New York City. Now he\nwould lose his job, and everyone in New York City would know\nhow absolutely insane he was.", "\"What! Spend all that money on an out-of-town call?\nYou're off your nut, ~~Sammy~~\", said one cop.\nSammy"]

-10-

"Simon", said Simon, correcting him.

"Samuel", said the other cop, and then, wearier than he had ever been before, Simon started to persuade the cops that it would be cheaper not to risk the trouble and nuisance of a false arrest.

The cops assented finally and while the call to Simon's boss was being put thru, one cop kept on telling Simon that he ought to have a better story next time, for no one just came to Washington for nothing, and changed his name for nothing, and signed two names to a money order for nothing.

The other cop held onto the phone, and finally the connection was made. The cop asked for Simon's boss, and was told that he was out to lunch, news that was immediately conveyed to Simon.

"Ask for his secretary", said Simon, genuinely wishing that he were dead.

The cop asked for Peggy, was told that she was on the wire, and asked her whether she thought she could identify Simon's voice.

She said she could, and Simon took the phone.

"Hello, Peggy".

"Who is this?"

"This is Simon, Peggy."

"You'll have to speak louder".

"For God's sakes", Simon shouted, "can't you recognize my voice by this time", and he trembled in despair.

"What in the world are you doing in Washington, Simon?"

Sometimes.

"I'll write you a letter about it, I'll. Tell the cop who I am. I'll be back in New York tomorrow."

Simon's identity was confirmed and the cops departed, one cop still a little dubious. Simon seated himself on the bed, exhaust-

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and deathly pale and motionless to the wind, and the wind was

VIII

Three hours later Simon was on the train for New York City
and as the train beat happily thru a golden autumn evening, past
small white towns, into the gentlest dusk and mildest evening
sky, Simon lifted himself from his seat and walked backwards
to the MEN'S ROOM, jolted by the train's motion into constantly
steadied steps.

Here he began to wash his hands with great precision, and
then, looking up, he unexpectedly met his own face in the mirror,
whereupon he grimaced at himself and then lookat himself seriously.
Well! he thought, I may as well get accustomed to the sight, for
it will be keeping me company for a long time. You will go with me
whether I go to Cincinnati, Ohio, or Louisville, Kentucky, or
St. Louis, Missouri, or Natchez, Mississippi, or New Orleans, or New
Paso, or Santa Fe, or Albuquerque, or San Diego, or Los Angeles,
or San Francisco, or Honolulu, or Tokio, or reiping, or Benares, or
Teheran, or Baghdad, or Alexandria, or Smyrna, or Florence, or
Vienna, or Paris, or London, or New York City.

February 2-3, 1936.