are in quarantine. Nobody else has it through.

Everybody here has colds, and I think that it
is so funny that I, who usually gets me some
easily, haven't gotten one yet. (That sentence sounds quay)

I got a letter from Winthrop (III) enclosing
what he called a very choice clipping, I have
enclosed it.

This morning I rode, and this afternoon
they gave three plays, which were acted by children
trying to get in to the dramatic club.

The school magazine is the ?(questionmark)
a foolish name, I think. I have put your nanadown
for a subscription.

I will stop now, as I will have

to write you tomorrow any class, I think.

Aiken
South Carolina

Dear Aunt Mable;

Thank you very much for your
letter. We have plenty of time to read them,
and in the evenings after eight, and on Sun-
days we can write them.

It has been very cold here, but
today it was quite warm.

We have a swimming pool, but
we could only use it for the first few days
because it got cool, but I guess we'll be able
to use it in the Spring more.

I ride four times a week, and after
Thanksgiving we have draghunts every Saturday.

I have no roommates, but I'm beginning

of the new school from Miss Parkhurst. I like the
Dalton plan twenty times more than this. It is
so much less boring, and you learn so much
more without having to work so long.

I can't think of a thing more birthday present.
But perhaps I'll think of something later.
A tennis tournament is about to begin for
three cups that Mr. Barrett gave.

Yesterday I had my hair washed. She did it
pretty well for the time she took. It was
a very sunny day so my hair dried pretty soon.

I just got a letter from Judy and a handkerchief that I had left there.

I went to church this morning, I think this
is an awful church, it is so big and bare.

I am going riding now.

With lots of love

From
Louise.

P.S. Write soon.

(3hrs. later)

P.S. I just got through copper.

We had a wonderful but dusty ride.
The music teacher is giving a concert
to night.

Thanksgiving, at least those who have had the measles can go out, I

I can't go to the Wilds for lunch today because the Boys school has gotten Scarlet fever and dyptheria, and we can't suppose there is a Wilds boy that goes there or something, anyways the day girls am't coming here to school for a while.

I am going to ride this afternoon. I hope I can drag as soon as possible. Mrs. Chipchase said one that I might be able to drag before Christmas.

Yesterday I had my hair washed. The man did it in about 10 minutes, because I wanted to ride, but I got there too late and the horses were gone. I guess it was just as well because my hair was quite wet. So I sat in the sun and dried it.

Could you send me about $5.00 please? I only have about $2.00 left.

Would you please send enclosed letter?

Directed by ______ Martha Milliken

Assistant Director ______ Fifi Laimbeer

Piano ______ Ann Valentine

Scenery ______ Miss Hugh-Jones

## ACT I

Scene I ______ School Campus

Scene II ______ Tom's Bedroom

Scene III ______ Same as Scene I

## INTERMISSION

Mandolin Club

## ACT II

Scene I ______ Sorority House

Scene II ______ Locker Room

Scene III ______ Same as Scene II

Scene IV ______ Same as Scene I

END

## CAST

Mandolin Club
* Peggy Moffett
* Bobby Marshall
* Susy Hill
* Fifi Laimbeer

Connie Lane ______ Betty Kent

Patricia ______ Natica DeCosta

Sadie ______ Peggy Moffett

Baby ______ Nancy Heckscher

Tom Marlowe ______ Mariana Richardson

Edd ______ Bobby Marshall

Sammy ______ Winifred Lee

Professor ______ Sybil Whigham

Coach ______ Martha Milliken

Chorus
* Winnie Lee
* Olga Middleton
* Babs Stevenson
* Frances Forsyth
* Sybil Whigham
* Peggy Moffett

Clogging
* Fifi Laimbeer
* Sybil Whigham
* Winnie Lee

Fermata School

Aiken, South Carolina

Dear Mother:

How are you? Today was a very warm day, and I rode as usual in shirt sleeves. It seems impossible that it is almost the first of December.

Isn't it exciting, in the Christmas vacation, the school lacrosse team is going to play Bryn-Mawr! Ain't we the best cats! And we're going to beat them too, because we've got a good team.

A tennis instructor has come, and I am master every body & is taking lessons, including me. We can only have lessons about once a week though, because there are so many and so little time.

Today I had the most wonderful ride because Mrs. Chipchase let me hide her own big hunter. "Out and bound" I was never so thrilled. He is

of the rain, and he wanted to go so much that
when we trotted and cartered he didn't do so a thing
bucked and bucked. And when we jumped he
always bucked after the fence, once hitting my
poor nose, and then my chin with his neck

Next week we will have exams, but I don't
think that they are as important as the last ones,
unless they are only tests.

E E E! E E K!

Just think only in more days!!!

With all of love,

From

Louise.

FERMATA SCHOOL
AIKEN, SOUTH CAROLINA

Dear Mother:

How are you?

Today I had a wonderful but very exciting ride. I fell off twice!! Both jumping, twice in succession, It was my fault because I held the horse in too tight at the jump, and he started to go over and then stopped, but I kept on going over his head. Of course I didn't hurt myself, as I landed right in the soft bushes which are on either side of the fence. I held on to him the first time, but this second time he got away and they had a grand time catching him, after

that I gave him more rein and he jumped alright.

Then suddenly we came around a corner, meeting
another road, and an unmounted horse rushed by
us and on home, and a little ways off who should
we see but Helen Óbrien, (the very fat girl)

lying absolutely still on the ground. My heart
was in my mouth because I just knew that
she was dead, until she moved a minute later.

She was alright, except that her breath had been
knocked out. You see she and Audrey Barrett
ride alone with Mrs. Chipchase's step daughter.

Yesterday I missed the Lacrosse bus, and as
the walkers had gone I had to walk ten times
around the tennis courts!

all members of the Lacrosse team that plays Bryn-Mawr,
are dieting, and they have two dieting tables
for them. They are going up a day before us and will
play on Saturday with lots of love,

From,
Louise.

Fermata School
Aiken, South Carolina

Dear Mother;

Would you please write
Miss. Elder, and give her permission
for me to drag? Mais what Mrs. Chipchase
said to do. That would mean that I have
your permission to drag whenever I get
Mrs. Chipchase's, and she never would
give it to me unless it was perfectly safe.
Only "gas" girls are dragging now.

It is getting a little warmer, but still
quite cold. I played Lacrosse Today.

Yesterday I had the best ride I have had
since I've been here. There were only 3 people
riding, all jumpers. One was riding sidesaddle
and jumping too. We jumped just about

June 30, 1967

Dear Mother,
How are you?

How are you?
Thanks you for your letter.

Not very much has been happening lately.

It is very cold here, perfectly freezing.

I had a tennis lesson this morning.
The drag started from school today.

I have to sit in and do nothing
this afternoon, because I was supposed
to do some algebra over this morning
because I forgot to do it this week, and
I went out to see The Drag Start first,
which I did not know that I shouldn't
have done, and so I am gaited for the week-
end, and can't go off the grounds.

Dear Mother;

How are you? Today is Sunday, and we have over an hour for letter writing, as we don't go to church on account of mumps. So I will try to write you a long letter, if I can think of enough to say.

It is awfully cold Today. I slept indoors
last night, not in my room but in the room
off the sleeping porch, as one of the girls there
was down in the infirmary with mumps, and it
was too much bother to move upstairs. In the
middle of the night one of the four girls that
slept in there, was snoring very loudly, so the
girl next to me threw her hot water bottle
at her, and then it was alright.

I don't know what I'll do today, I hope
they have a basketball game this afternoon. They
aren't allowed to give tennis lessons on Sunday
any more because of some blue laws.

AIR MAIL

VIA AIR MAIL

Mrs. W. M. Crone
6 Mrs. Melvin V. Boardman
1801 P street
Washington, D. C.

Sunday, July 19

Antigua

Dearest Ma:

We have been here four days, now, and I am just beginning to have enough energy to attempt to describe our experiences and situations to you. I suppose that it is the altitude that makes one so terribly lazy, although it is only about 4500 feet high here, but up to now we have hardly been able to drag ourselves around. Then too, we haven't been able to sleep too well because of being constantly awakened by the most tiresome earthquakes; the second night we were woken up by the most horrid sinister rumble, and the house positively shaking up and down. We got up and stood in the doorway, quite terrified, until it finally passed over. About 15 minutes later it happened again, this time even worse, and there were several slight quakes later on in the night and on subsequent nights, although the only ones that did any damage were the first two, which knocked down a wall of a ruined church. I don't believe that they are dangerous at all because almost all of the houses are one story or else very low two stories except for the ruins, and the native seem to take them very calmly; but they are very tiresome.

We have had a good deal of rain in the afternoons, but the mornings are beautiful and the temperature is about perfect, never really hot. Johnny Putnam met us at the airport in Guatemala City and urged us to come right down here instead of staying over there, - which we did in a hair-raising trip in a taxi driven by a daredevil Indian; he only succeeded in killing one dog on the way down, but he aimed at everything living that we passed on the road. We moved right into the house, Johnny has been incredibly helpful in every way; he knows all the ropes how much everything should cost, all the people here, etc. So far we have been eating our meals at the Alcazar, the hotel nearby that Mrs. Garrett spoke of, but we are hoping to get a housekeeper before long. The house is very cute, if a bit primitive in some way. To hot water or bath-tub, of course, but we do have a tiny patio with a lime tree and a pool for washing dishes, laundry, etc. (with gold fish in it!) We also have a miniature Indian who comes and pumps water once a day for 10¢. The part about boiling and filtering water, (we have a filtering machine) is the most awful nuisance, but we are very careful about it.

The town is very beautiful, all pastel colors with the weirdest little Indians pattering about; of course it is not architecturally as interesting as Mexico because most of the churches are in ruins, but scenically it is more spectacular and more picturesque. The Indians are very friendly and inviably greet one with their favorite expression, "Good-bye", on the street.

Johnny is staying with two other American boys in a house belonging to a writer named Gore Vidal. They are all very nice and have been helpful in many ways. We have met quite a few other of the American population,

including the Hodgsons, Virginia Moore's friends, who came to call yesterday, and we are all going there for supper tonight. They just come down here for weekends occasionally. Tell Virginia, altho I will write her myself later on, that we met her friend Marjory Peters, just caught her as she is going back to N.Y. tomorrow. Mrs. Hodgson is Spanish, (San Salvadorean, I believe) and is very entertaining. She speaks English with quite a Spanish accent interspersed with American slang expressions, such as referring to the priest as an "old sourpuss", to ornaments on the church as "doo-dads", etc. She has reconstructed an old house here in the most elaborate way, so grand that one can hardly dares walk on the floor with ones muddy feet. Yesterday they invited us back there and then she disappeared into the kitchen to make candy; her husband, who is 86 and rather a rough diamond American type, I should think, wouldn't make an appearance because he was busy with his cross-word puzzles. "Those dam cross word puzzles" said Mrs. H., "thats all he ever does."

Thankyou for your letter, which you mailed on Tuesday and I received on Friday, very quick, I should think. Give my love to the Columns, also to Glenway and Monroe if they are there now. Lets see, Stephen will have gone back by now. Give my love to Aunt Floy.

With lots of love,

Muy noble y muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de
los Caballeros de Goathemala,

21. de Julio ... de 1948

The weather has been much better since I wrote you, I had two whole days with no rain at all, very bril-
ly. The earthquakes, which seem to be connected with
ther in some way, have quieted down and practically
as well. We spend most of our time, most of our
t least, just wandering around town and visiting the
etic ruins of churches, convents, etc.. Tomorrow we are
Johnny Putnam, up to the Hodgson's coffee finca; I
stand just where it is but we take a taxi to a place
urs drive from here and then Donald Hodgson meets us
out from Guatemala City and we drive on for an hour or
guess.

We are still having our meals at the hotel but are going
a cook next week, - at $12.00 a month. Most everything
ap here compared to U.S. standards, but it is very
have to bargain and haggle every step of the way when
ings.

I read Johnny's book, - a sort of fictional version of
ances in T.B. sanatoriums, and to our surprise it is
good, and I should think would have, what with its
tacular subject matter, quite a lot of popular appeal.
I don't see any papers and have no idea what is going
world. Somebody told me that they heard over the radio
was an earthquake in Boston ?! but I think they must
erstood.

I found an approximation of an antique store the other
ght some little Mayan figures, -fakes, I suppose, ex-
are made of stone and I shouldn't think they could fake
Mary also bought a good sized archaic wooden Christ,
opes to be able to smuggle out in the picnic bag. There
a good deal of variety of opinion about what one can
take out,- the dealers, of course, insisting that
the anything smaller than furniture out, but I guess
little things will be alright.It is too bad because
wonderful old furniture, chests, etc. here, for very
there is no point unless one has a house here.

Did I tell you that I saw Tota in N.Y.; she said that
't allowed to take any money out of

Argentina she

Monday, July 26

Antigua.

Dearest Ma:

Received two letters from you, one last week and one on our return here from the Finca trip yesterday. How awful about the Northern Lights tenants, - what do they have to say about it? I think you ought to threaten eviction if they haven't paid.

I received a long, - six page letter from Steve, with all the latest news, esp. the latest cat movements. He sounds quite contented. Yes, Bob is due $200 on August 20; I gave him $100 for incidental expenses on June 20, - for gas for his car, and dinner etc. when they eat out. I don't suppose he would have spent all of this, but you might ask him about it. He was to keep an accounting of it. I believe that he can stay until sometime towards the end of September when his school starts again. I am glad that he is working out well, Steve seems quite contented with him. He was quite funny about the party that he and Bob went to at the Michaelis, said that the biologists all talked shop but that the food was good.

Our new cook has just arrived, - Carmen, - with a little Indian trailing her with an enormous basket of vegetables, fruits, etc. on her head. Carmen seems very nice and intelligent; we pay her $12.00 a month, plus her food, of course; this makes our total overhead for our pied-a-terre here about $60 a month, plus food when we are here, which is negligible, - about a dollar a day. This is really a wonderful place for anyone who wants to live cheaply and do some writing or painting. The hotels are not cheap, however, and Mrs. Garrett was quite right about the wretched Clark tours, from what we hear.

We spent the last four days on the Hodgson's Finca, - we were driven there on Thursday by Donald Hodgson, the younger son who runs the place; five hours on roads in comparison to most of which the backroad to Windsor is a dream highway. In the end we drove for miles up a narrow winding cow-path, practically, and the sudden appearance at the end of a large, completely modern residence, with plumbing, electricity, etc. seemed miraculous. It was built about forty years ago, by painstakingly bringing materials and contents up by oxcart from the nearest railroad. It did seem like the end of the world. Our host was very nice but quite a strange little character, - he would wake us every morning at about 6:30 by walking into the room, talking away about some esoteric subject or other, and followed by his spaniel and then the servant with coffee, a la English country house. He would talk and talk while we would sit up in bed and try to appear awake; we would have breakfast at about 8:00 and then, the second day at least, he took us out on an endless ride, - Mary on a horse and me, like Sancho Panza, trying to kepp up on a minute mule, - for five hours thru the endless jungle. We would retire to our room and rest most of the afternoon

Friday, July 31.

Antigua.

Dearest Ma:

Thankyou for your last three letters, - I am afraid that you are way ahead of me even though you did rather repeat yourself! I don't think that that letter could have been lost, because I am sure that you have told me three different times about the Columns, Glenway & Monroe's arrival, etc. etc. It is better than not hearing it at all; I think you must have addressed two envelopes and mailed one empty.

Well we are now nicely settled with our angelic Carmen, - so far she is just too good to be true and seems quite free of all the domestic vices and petty rackets that we had been warned about, in fact she does the most painstaking accounting, every morning at breakfast, making quite a ritual about the accounting of every penny spent. There was one awful moment yesterday when she couldn't account for 5c - the figures just wouldn't come out, and she went rushing around in a perfect frenzy while we tried to calm her, until she remembered what it was for. Outside of initial stocking up costs of about five or six dollars, she spends around a dollar a day or less. The food consists mainly of black beans (morning, noon and night) plantains and bananas, avocados, a little overcooked meat, and various exotic fruits and vegetables. It is much better than the hotel food which was for the most part imitation American.

To be truthful about the goldfish found, it is divided into two sections; the non-goldfish section has a sort of sink, all in stone and probably three or four hundred years old, into which she scoops water for washing dishes; the city water pours into this and is supposed to be quite pure, in fact some Americans here don't bother to boil the water and have been quite alright, but we boil it on the little electric stove, and then filter it in a filtering machine. Anyway Carmen washes the dishes in this stone sink, then dries them, as far as I can see, by leaving them in a basket out in the sun. Carmen is somewhat above average in intelligence, in fact her sister is a "nurse", just practical, I presume, so she is probably more onto the dangers of bugs than are some servants.

We are planning to take a trip up to Atitlan and other points west pretty soon, possibly next week. There is still a good deal to see here, we go out every morning and wander around. The distances are quite small, so we will probably only be gone a few days or a week.

The Hodgsons came to town on Thursday, and invited us for lunch; Donald on his way to town from the finca, Mrs. Hodson just for lunch, and Mr. H. for the weekend. Their house is restored in a very formal way, and Mrs. H., who is San Salvadoran, is very formal in some ways, very informal in others; for one thing I notice that strict rules of protocol are observed with regard to the slight edge in age that I have on Mary, and I am invariably put on Mr. H.'s right, or Donald's,

P.S. Have just received your letter of Aug. 2. also this bill from Mr. Wright.

Thursday, Aug. 4.

Antigua,

Dearest Ma!

Since writing to you last we spent a day in Guatemala City going up and coming back by bus; it takes about an hour and a half each way. Altho it is still quite a small city, it seemed very exciting after three weeks down here, and we had a wonderful time wandering around and shopping. Mrs. Hodgsdon had invited us to lunch, and we had a very pleasant time; she has been incredibly hospitable, inviting us to meals every time they come down here as well as in town. She had also invited Mrs. Toxsika Roach -- we had been told that at one time when one came to Guatemala one had to choose sides between Mrs. R. and Mrs. H. as they were the two rival leaders of society. Mrs. H. however told us, confidentially, that Mrs. R. was a wonderful friend but a terrible person to have as an enemy, so I gather that she has found that their present armed truce relationship is pleasanter. Mrs. R. is a very formidable and dynamic woman who stamps around with an enormous cane - a little reminiscent of Mrs. Hooper; as you can imagine we heard a great deal about the wrong-doings of the various members of the foreign colony, and esp. the American Ambassador and Mrs. Kyle, - a backslapping Kansan who has been able to antagonize everybody by his highhanded manners. The man whom Mrs. Garrett gave me a letter to, Mr. Donovan, is no longer here, but the two queens looked very disappointing about him too, so perhaps it is just as well! Mrs. Roache invited us to lunch on Monday, when we plan to go into town again. She is going to take us to the archeological museum in the morning. She invited Mr. Hodgsdon to lunch too, but didn't invite Mrs. H., and Mrs. H. said later on that she wasn't going to go unless invited directly by Mrs. R., - so I don't know what's going to happen about that. After lunch Mrs. H. took us shopping for groceries, etc. but there wasn't any timeleft for sightseeing, not that there is very in G.C. as it is still relatively new.

Donald Hodgsdon is tentatively planning to go to France in a week or so, and if he does he wants us to take his car. This would be an incredible blessing, because it would be so much easier to travel around by car than by bus, so we are waiting to hear if it is definite or not before making any trips. In return we will buy him a new set of tires, and anything else that we can think of for the car.

With lots of love,

P.S. Give my love to Aunt Floy and remember me to your house guests. Mary is sitting on the balcony sketching Indians as they go by; she is doing some wonderful watercolors of Indians and ruins. Domingo, the Indian who comes and pumps is pumping away, - Carmen always finishes her accounting ritual with, "and ten cents for el senor de la bomba (pump) and two cents for tortillas for the goldfish and me".

Tuesday, August 23, 1948

Antigua

Dearest Ma:

I felt very guilty when we returned yesterday from our tour of western Guatemala and found five letters accumulated from Woods Hole, - including the nice post card from Monroe. We had rather a strenuous ten day trip, - esp. the last part which I will get to later on, - and somehow I couldn't seem to settle down to write a letter.

We started out a week ago Friday, - hired a car and drove over to Atitlan; about 3½ hours including a flat tire. The drive is very spectacular, esp. the last part as you approach the volcano encircled lake. We stayed at a horrid California motel-type hotel, the Casa Contenta, which is famous for its mattresses and food, but not nice otherwise. In the afternoon we went to a rather fabulous market at Solola-- the costumes that the Indians wear in these different towns are so unbelievably weird, I suppose they are derived more or less from early Spanish costumes or even Moorish robes. The next morning we drove on to Chichicastenango, as we wanted to see the famous Sunday market there. We got there about lunch time, - without hotel reservations, and had the most horrid time finding a place to stay. The Mayan Inn, the big Clarksburg hotel, was all full; then went to the only other hotel, - all full; then we were taken (by the bus driver, we travelled by bus after Atitlan) to a Pension; it was all full; then to a sort of native boarding house, - three beds in a room with a chamber pot under each one, and frightfully dirty. To our relief they were full, - so we returned to the Mayan Inn and had lunch. It really was quite a predicament because Chichi is quite isolated, there was no way of getting away unless we went to some town quite far away and we were determined to stay and see the market. Finally we just wandered around and asked people in shops where we could stay, and eventually came upon a house with a sign saying "Hostepepeaje Aqui" over the door. The rooms looked more like stalls than anything else, with only the bed frames stacked against the walls, but we paid our dollar a piece and when we returned that evening the landlady had fixed the room up quite nicely, and also the beds consisted of straw mattresses on boards, I slept was so worn out that I slept very well, although Mary said she was kept awake all night by things crawling.

The interesting part about Chichi is not so much the market, but the Indians themselves; they are very austere, quite frightening in a way. They hate tourists, esp. as it is a sort of religious center. All day long there are Indians standing on the steps of the church saying prayers and swinging incense pots. The inside of the church is the most peculiar thing imaginable, - with little groups of Indians kneeling around candles stuck in the middle of the floor. They don't like tourists to go into that church, but there is another church where white people are positively forbidden to enter; we heard that one white man went into it once and was thrown out and down the

steps and very severely injured. We also heard of another woman who was spat at by an Indian woman in the first church, and Mrs. Roach, who was probably a little too aggressive in making her collection of Indian costumes which is now in the Guatemala Museum, was spat at full in the face by an Indian up there. There were lots of tourists there taking pictures of the church, so I thought that was alright and in the afternoon I took a picture; in the process I felt myself hit by an object which turned out to be a peach stone, and didn't pay too much attention; but when I looked up and saw an Indian woman threatening me with an enormous rock I didn't stop to discuss the matter with her. The second night we got into the Mayan Inn,-- which is a wonderfully well-run hotel; the servants there are all pure Indians, but they seemed to be quite tamed and were very nice; they are marvellous looking Indians. We heard that about six years ago, however, some of the chief Indians took a petition to Guatemala City asking to have the Mayan Inn closed, because they found the tourists such a nuisance.

On Monday morning we set out again, at about 6:00 A.M., and got to Quetzaltenango at 2:00 P.M. It was a very beautiful drive over mountains, -only about 70 or 80 miles altogether, but we had to change buses and wait for three hours at a little junction called Los Encuentros; we sat around and socialized with the other tourists, and just as we were leaving I found a wonderful little cache of Mayan idols for sale in the filthy little restaurant, and bought most all of them for around $1.00 a piece. We suspect that they are all fakes,-- but some Indian must have gone to a lot of trouble as they are carved out of stone and are really quite nice. Quetzaltenango is the second biggest city and not very interesting,-- quite prosperous, in fact all of Western Guatemala. seemed much more prosperous than around here. We managed, however, thru inquiries, to get ourselves invited to see a wonderful collection of Mayan jades and other objects belonging to a Mr. Robles, a coffee finca owner. He was very nice, and has some really marvellous things and told us a great many interesting things. He has cooperated in an amateur capacity with the Carnegie Inst. and other archeological groups down here. He and his family are coming to N.Y. this winter and I gave him our address and proposed that he see your Hittite uck, etc., in return for our visit. The next day we went on to Hueuetenango, a four hour bus drive north of Quetzal. It is a much smaller, marvellously clean town, right on the edge of the Cuchamantanes mountains. The United Fruit Co. is sponsoring some diggings and restrictions of some ruins called Zaculeu nearby; they are restoring the in a way that is supposed to be authentic,-- with plaster on the outside, but they look rather awful, like the tomb of some unknown solier or something. They are not digging now, and only start in again at the end of the rainy season. We stayed in Huehue. from Wednesday until Monday,-- when we flew back to Guatemala City, (a fourteen hour bus trip, but 30 minutes by air) and on down here yesterday. It was wonderful to get back here and we still like Antigua much better than anywhere else.

The reason that we stayed so long in Hueuetenango was--

that we had heard so much about a wonderful Indian village up in the mountains called Todos Santos, which could only be reached by horseback or walking, and of course we became so curious that we simply had to go. Well it was too frightful and all I can say is that if that is the place that Lanfranco walked to then I have a great deal of admiration for him. We drove for about an hour in a hired car up into the mountains to a place, - a sort of Mongolian plain on the mountain crest with a few Indian huts in the distance, called Pakish. There we were met by prearrangement by a wire between our hotel manager and the Alcalde of Todos Santos by a guide and four horses. (Another girl named Priscilla Beattie who was staying at the hotel came along too.) Well the first part wasn't too bad, - it was a very pretty ride except when we went thru clouds and fog and when we nearly froze to death, which was practically all the time. The guide was dressed in one of these dreadful piratical Todos Santos Indian costumes, derived, I was told from 16th century Spanish costumes, just like the pirates', I suppose, with striped red and white pants and shirts, grey jackets, and a red cotton Vandana on the head under the straw hat. The guide walked, we three rode, and we put the food and blankets on the fourth horse. The guide started pestering us about how much we were going to pay him, so as soon as we got to the collection of thatched huts that constituted the town, (3½ hours later) we went right to the alcalde, expecting to be given the keys to the city and to be able to settle down in safety and comfort under his benevolent protection. The mayor was just as piratical looking as all the others, and when he saw us coming up the hill he quickly retreated thru the swinging doors into his office where he pretended to be very busy talking over important administrative problems with his cronies sitting around him. He of course didn't get up when we entered, (women are a lower order up there) and after we had explained our problem he told us to sit down and banged on a large sort of school bell that was on his desk, - all too Gilbert and Sullivanish for words. Then he went back to his chattering away with his friends, all in the local dialect, - and completely ignored us. Finally the guide appeared, - then, after another banging on the bell, the horse owner. We began to feel guiltier and guiltier, - as though we were being tried, - and quite uncomfortable to say the least. We were kept waiting until finally we began to show signs of slight impatience, when we were told that the guide wanted $2.00 for each trip, and $2.00 for each horse. We paid up with pleasure and returned to our home in Todos Santos, - a house that had been lived in by an American woman, Maude Oaked, who had live up there for a couple of years making studies of the Indians. She had gone away two years previously, and either the house had run down a good bit or she was a very reed individual, but it really was something. The ladino couple that eemed to own it swept it out hurriedly for us; its only advantage over the Indian huts was that it did have glass windows and a couple of cairs, also a wood floor, a great luxury in Todos Santos, even though it had been used more or less as a stable by the dogs and chickens. They it a fire for us and we huddled on our blankets in front of it, trying to keep warm, - in fact we spent most of our entire visit up there on square eight feet of blanket on the floor in front of the fire. You can imagine how well we slept; fortunately we brought lots of hardboiled eggs, cheese, bread, etc. with us since we had plenty to eat but it was monotonous to say the least. We wandered around town

Antigua

September 1, 1948

Dearest Ma:

I hope this letter will catch you in W.H. before you leave for "Elmwood Court", - what on earth is that? I've never heard of it. Aunt Floy, apparently, is seriously rebelling against the Curtis and the Colony Club,

I received your letter with its enclosure of Win's letter yesterday, - how awful to have the grip for ten days in the middle of the summer; probably too much music festival. I also received too long letters from Steve, one predicting and the other announcing the birth of five more problem kittens, I mann four, heavens. He sounded very well & cheerful.

Incidentally, before I forget it:

1) Bertha and Arkley are due $325.00 on Sept. 6.

2) I generally send them two checks for $100 each at the same time, for food, gas, etc.

3) Stepehn's allowance checks will have run out, and starting this Friday, Sept. 3, he is entitled to $10 a week; you could send him four checks in advance, dated: Sept. 3, 10, 17, 24, respectively, if you wanted, so that you wouldn't have to bother every week. As you can imagine he will remind you, anyway, so there is no danger of your forgetting.

That is about all the business I can think of.

I hope you will like the Homestead, and that there will be some congenial company, not all golf players, etc., by the way, I forgot to tell you, that Mrs. Hodgdon is still hoping that you will come down here and told me yesterday again to tell you that you could stay in her house here in Antigua, and esp. to tell you that she has Simmons mattresses, - among the few in Guatemala.

We are thinking of returning by a United Fruit Co. ship sometime in October, - we have such an accumulation of rugs, blankets, antiques (all small items, but Mary has an almost uncontrollable craving for archaic wood carvings, - the more battered and worn eaten the better.) etc. that we probably couldn't fly, and anyway we thought it might be rather fun to come by boat. It takes 5 days and they leave on Thursdays, arriving in N.Y. on Tuesday. Robbie, according to the last word from him, is planning to come down here for his vacation, which starts on Oct. 1, if we are still here; we will, therefore, stay on until the middle of Oct. sometime and then go back with him or at the same time if he flies. I am also tentatively expecting Charlotte Russell sometime around the middle of this month, - the last I heard from her she was planning to return with Red to Florida, arriving in San Francisco around the tenth; then they were going to fly to New Orleans, Q. he on to Fla. to see his family, and she down here for a couple of weeks. I haven't heard from her in sometime now but hope she is coming.

We have had a pretty quiet week, - resting after our travels and Todos Santos; did you get that "Forever Amber" sized letter I wrote last? We have taken a couple of drives around in our new car, - you can't imagine what a luxury it is to have the car. We finally had an explanation of how our unexpected good luck -; Donald Hodgdon bought a jeep for the finca, but is going to keep this car to use around town, however for the time being

he and his mother (as I understand it, they own the finca jointly)
want us to have the use of it as long as we are here.

Our plans, now, are as follows:

On Sunday, Miss Illingworth arrives in Guatemala City. I am
going up to meet her, or rather we are both going up; returning here,
where she will spend the night at the Hotel and see something of Anti-
gua; then on Monday we are all going over to Lake Atitlan-where Mary
and I will stay with an artist named Pat Crocker who has a very attrac-
tive house, and who occasionally takes in two or three paying guests,
and Miss I. will stay at a hotel. The next morning we will take a boat
trip to one of the Indian villages on the Lake, and then in the after-
noon Miss I. will be whisked off to Guatemala City by bus or taxi, as
she will fly on the next day. We will stay on until the end of the week-
Donald H. is coming over too, I believe, then, there is a feria in
Quetzaltenango the following Sunday that Mrs. H. wanted to go to, so we
are all going on there for the following weekend. Then there is a
possibility of your going after that with Donald to a finca way up in
the north again, in the jeep; someplace where he has to go every year
or so to try to cajole 160 Indians into coming down and helping with
the crop at the big finca, it should be a wonderful experience if we
go; I trust the accommodations will be better than Todos Santos. I know
this all sounds complicated, but it really isn't except for the unpre-
dictability of the Hodgsdons, mother and son; and then there is the
possibility of Charlotte arriving, but she can join us wherever we are.

Anyway, as far as I know, our address next week will be as follows:
Sept.6-11: c/o Mr. Pat Crocker, Panajachel, Solola, Guatemala.
Sept.11+13:Hotel XXXXX, Recreo, Quetzaltenango; that is still uncertain, tho.

Will write in a day or two, to the Elmwood Court Hotel.

Lots of love to Aunt Floy and loads to yourself,

P.S. What are you having done about my car? Why not have Arkley come and get it? He would probably enjoy the trip, and with Bob there they could spare him. If you leave it in Woods Hole I could go and get it when I return. Otherwise it could stay in Great Barrington, or N.Y.

Antigua

September 4. '48

Dearest Ma:

I hope that this letter will catch you at "Elmwood Court";
it certainly should get there before the 11th, anyways.

We are expecting our friend Priscilla Beattie, - the school
teacher from Los Angeles who took the Todos Santos trip with us , this
afternoon; she is going to stay on here for a few days after we leave
for the lake on Monday, until she has to return to the U.S. sometime
next week. We are trying to make our "guest room" halfway presentable-
it is a very dank and dingy little room with tile flooring, so we have
bought some straw matting to cover the floor, a basket for a lamp shade,
etc.etc. Tomorrow we go up to Guatemala City to get Miss Illingworth,
then Monday to the lake. On the following Saturday we are going to quetzal-
tenango for the Feria, and will be there at the Hotel Recreo from Sat.,
Sept. 11, until either Monday the 13th or Tuesday the 14th. Mrs. Hodgson
is going with us, which presents a slightly alarming prospect as she is ,
aside from her generosity to us, extremely temperamental and likely to
pick a fight with anyone who crosses her in anyway; as far as we can see
we are the only people in Guatemala who are in her favor, and I only hope
it will keep up ! She is really quite persecuted and put upon by everyone,
even her own family, but particularly the Indians and servants. The other
day she was even complaining about how unfair it was that the lottery was
always won by people like "boot-blacks, and people like that", that it would
be so much fairer if rich people won it once in a while, too !!

Mrs. Hodgson just bought some perfectly wonderful wool rugs,-
I had bought some small ones previously, but these are about 15 feet by
10 feet, and cost about $30.00 each. They have a very thick nap,- about an
inch high, and are absolutely pure lamb's wool. Hers are the natural
whitish color, which is nicest altho less practical, but they can be
died. If you would like me to bring any home let me know. One can bring
in $400 worth of things duty free now, I believe. She also has some beauti-
ful pure white blankets, that cost $15000 each, I think; I suppose you
have enough blankets, what with all the Murray Bay Blankets, now, but
if not let me know. One can also get very nice blankets for $8-$10, but
these are much better quality.

I hope you find Stephen well and all going smoothly there.
After lunch: your letter just arrived, fortunately in time to change the
address of this to Curtis Hotel.

We are tentatively planning to take the United Fruit Co. boat
on October 21, arriving N.Y. Oct. 26; they sail every Thursday.

Will write from the lake,

Loads of love,

P.S. Lots of love to send to you - and ask her if she would like
any blankets or rugs.

Antigua

September 4. '48

Dearest Ma:

I hope that this letter will catch you at "Elmwood Court";
it certainly should get there before the 11th, any way.
We are expecting our friend Priscilla Beattie, - the school

We are expecting our friend Priscilla Beattie, - the school
teacher from Los Angeles who took the Todos Santos trip with us , this
afternoon; she is going to stay on here for a few days after we leave
for the lake on Monday until she has to return to the U.S. sometime
next week. We are trying to make our "guest room" halfway presentable-
it is a very dank and dingy little room with tile flooring, so we have
bought some straw matting to cover the floor, a basket for a lamp shade,
etc.etc. Tomorrow we go up to Guatemala City to get Miss Illingworth,
then Monday to the lake. On the following Saturday we are going to quetzal-
tenango for the Feria, and will be there at the Hotel Recreo from Sat.,
Sept.11, until either Monday the 13th or Tuesday the 14th. Mrs. Hodgson
is going with us, which presents a slightly alarming prospect as she is ,
aside from her generosity to us, extremely temperamental and likely to
pick a fight with anyone who crosses her in anyway; as far as we can see
we are the only people in Guatemala who are in her favor, and I only hope
it will keep up ! She is really quite persecuted and put upon by everyone,
even her own family, but particularly the Indians and servants. The other
day she was even complaining about how unfair it was that the lottery was
always won by people like "boot-blacks, and people like that", that it would
be so much fairer if rich people won it once in a while, too !!

Mrs. Hodgson just bought some perfectly wonderful wool rugs,-
I had bought some small ones previously, but these are about 15 feet by
10 feet, and cost about $30.00 each. They have a very thick nap,- about an
inch high, and are absolutely pure lamb's wool. Hers are the natural
whitish color, which is nicest altho less practical, but they can be
died. If you would like me to bring any home let me know. One can bring
in $400 worth of things duty free now, I believe. She also has some beauti-
ful pure white blankets, that cost $15000 each, I think; I suppose you
have enough blankets, what with all the Murray Bay Blankets , now , but
if not let me know. One can also get very nice blankets for $8-$10, but
these are much better quality.

We are tentatively planning to take the United Fruit Co. boat
on October 21, arriving N.Y. Oct.26; they sail every Thursday.

Will write from the lake,

Loads of love,

Saturday, Sept. 11.

Panajachel.

Dearest Ma:

Today is the day that you arrive at "The Homestead"; I hope
the trip won't be too tiring and that you will like it there, I should
think you would miss Alec. What will you do then all the time? Don't talk
politics too much.

I received one letter from you here, - I hope you didn't write
to Quetzaltenango, because as usual with the Hodgsdons, our plans changed
and we didn't go there, or rather aren't going tomorrow as we had originally planned. We have been on the go rather strenuously for the past week, and were quite relieved when Mrs. H. decided that she couldn't go to Quetzaltenango.

Last Saturday our friend Priscilla Beattie, the school teacher
from Los Angeles who took the Todos Santos trip with us, arrived in Antigua
to visit us, and stay on a few days after we came over here. On Sunday we
drove up to Quat. City to meet Miss Illingworth who, as I think I told you
was spending three days in Guatemala on her way back from a tour of South
America. Her plane was three hours late, so we had to hang around and then
not get back until about 6:30; then we were all invited to Mrs. Hodgsdons
for supper. The next morning we flew Miss I. around Antigua, took in a half
a dozen ruins and the market, had lunch and then drove over here in the afternoon,
- through the rain the whole way. On Tuesday morning we took the boat
trip to one of the villages on the lake, and in the afternoon Miss I., thank
goodness, was able to get a ride back to Quat. City, and we were able to
relax. She has the strength of ten, - was flying right on to Yucatan to
see the ruins and then back to N.Y., but it has taken us several days to
recover. She is really very good company, tho, and we enjoyed having her with
us.

We have a very nice place to stay here, - this Pat Crocker is
a young painter, with and has fixed this house up with marvellous taste;
it isn't too comfortable, at least the plumbing is even more primitive than
our house in Antigua, but otherwise it is very attractive; also he has his
own vegetable garden, and we can have lettuce, salads, etc. for the first
and only time in Guatemala. Pat has made a series of pictures of native
Guatemalan Indian costumes, which is very fine; it was on view at the Brooklyn
museum all last winter, and now it seems that it may be published. His
pictures, otherwise, are not very interesting, but this series are very
well done. He is primarily an architect by profession, and has restored
several of the houses in Antigua. Being a paying guest is really an ideal
arrangement because one has such complete independence.

On Sunday Donald H. wired his family from the finca that he
was sick and was going to the American Hospital; subsequently, after their
frantic calls to the American Hospital, which expected him all day, he
wired that he was better and was proceeding to the lake. He arrived here on
Monday night, with four enormous and very Germanic coffee buyers; we all,
including Miss I., sat around and made rather labored conversation with them
that evening at one of the hotels. Donald seemed quite recovered from his
sore throat, and on Wednesday morning he took a little boat, a Motor
launch, and we went, along with some very nice people named Dent whom we had
met the day before, to another of the little villages on the Lake. That
afternoon he returned to Quat. City, to finish his deal with the coffee
brokers, and the next afternoon Mrs. Hodgsdon arrived with the news that
she couldn't go to Quetzaltenango with us but had just come to spend the

night here. The next day She brought a letter from Donald saying that he was going to come back here if we didn't go to Antigua, but was too tired to go with us, so, as we didn't want to go much anyway, we decided not to go. The next day, Mrs. H. returned to Guat. City, and in the afternoon Donald arrived, with the news that he thought we should go on to Quetzaltenango to see some new volcano or something, etc. etc. did you ever hear of such a family? Well, anyway, the upshot of it is that we are taking it easy today, and tomorrow may go on to Quetzal., I'm not sure. Anyway we will be returning to Antigua on Monday or Tues.. Charlotte Russell is arriving on Saturday, from New Orleans.

What is the most fun here is to go around to the different market days in the different towns; they each have a specific market day. Altho they don't sell so many interesting things, - they are usually mainly for vegetables, meat, etc. one can buy native textiles, huipils, etc. if buys directly from the Indians. It takes a good deal of nerve to proposition them, but once one gets the knack of it, and gets used or rather hardened to being laughed at or else just completely ignored, it isn't so hard. They aren't a bit dumb about prices, tho, and the really good things are quite high, even after intensive bargaining.

There is a funny old man here at the lake, Don Emilio Crespo. He raises cows and mules, by profession, and drives them by this house every morning and evening. He is a native Spaniard, but has lived here most of his life, and is too picturesque for words with a big white beard, a Spanish beret and a long blue flannel shirt. I noticed that he had an interesting jade piece on his watch chain, and he asked said he had many more and asked us to come and see them sometime, so we all went down to his house. Well it seems that his collection is quite well known, - and was really something; he had one room just littered with Mayan pots, figures, stone idolos, etc. etc. all in the most awful mess; then he had a large, old fashioned safe, with some perfectly wonderful things in it; obsidean heads, jade carved jades, etc. Apparently in his travels around he has found and excavated some burial mounds, but he won't tell anyone where they are. Many of his things are really museum pieces, and there is absolutely no question as to their authenticity. He wants to sell most of them, but at what prices !!! He had a very extraordinary carved obsidean ceremonial knife, and carved cup that went with it; he isn't selling that, but he said that he had been offered $25,000 for it! He had some really interesting little obsidean heads, - very archaic, but wanted prices like $75.00, or $125.00 for them. They are probably worth those prices, but they sounded more like Fifth Ave. prices. In particular he had one little carved stone animal with an arrow sticking in it, and he wanted $125.00 for that, altho it was only about two inches long. Apparently he found one tomb that all these particularly good things came from. We bought some smaller things, - $2.00 items, but I have an awful feeling that we will be irresistably drawn back there before we leave. What do you think about those prices? I do know that there is no question about their authenticity.

Will write again when we get back to Antigua,

With loads of love,

Antigua

September 17, Friday

Dearest Ma:

Just received your letter from Hot
Springs; it sounds a very strange place for you
to suddenly find yourself. I guess you will have a
good rest there anyhow, that is as long as you
keep out of political discussions :-). I was glad
to hear that aunt Floy was much better.

We have had a pretty quiet week since
we got back on Monday, getting caught up on
correspondence, reading etc. I am still waiting to
hear from Charlotte, the last I heard from her was
that she was arriving around the 18th, but it still
hasn't been confirmed.

I received a note from Beatriee Berle
enclosing a letter of introduction to a Guat. doc-
tor and his wife; I knew of them already, they
have a house here, and don't sound a bit interesting
so I will take my time. On the whole the Guatemalans,
or rather ladinos (all non-Indian Guatemalans) are
not a very glamorous bunch; just bad imitations of
Americans, as they emulate everything American and
deprecate everything really Guatemalan, i.e. the
Indians in particular. As for the foreign colony,-
it is exactly like a small town, thinly spread over
the map of Guatemala,- with the same rapt interest
in each others goings on only more so.

Wednesday was Guat. independence day;
what goings on-! Skyrockets and church bells all
night long for two nights. The children were all
dressed in little white uniforms, - a present from
the Pres. of Guat.; and had to parade into the
square and salute the flag. Otherwise there wasn't
much of excitement, except for the crowds.

Monday, Sept. 20.

Antigua

Dearest Ma:

Charlotte arrived on Saturday, and is in fine form; a bit plumper but otherwise just the same. She and Red are mad about Hawaii, and are even thinking of selling their house in Fla. and going back there to live, or rather to sail down to Tahiti and live there. She is staying for between two or three weeks, -I hope, contrary to your thoughts on the subject, that she will be here a few days after Robbie gets here because she adds so much to the general hilarity and they would like each other very much. If their visits do overlap she will move over to Mrs. Hodsgdon's house, almost next door.

We fixed her room up in a very elaborate way, featuring two "pinatas"; they are enormous paper animals, in this case an alligator about five feet long, and a life-sized blue swan, suspended from the ceiling. Their proper purpose is for children's parties; they have pots inside them, that are filled with candies. The children are given sticks and they all beat at the poor piñata until it opens up and lets the candies fall to the ground, when they have a mad scramble to pick them up. When we got back from school, City we found, to our surprise, even, that Carmen and her sister had entered right into the spirit of the occasion and had spent the day in decorating the hall and the guest room with long tissue paper streamers, in pink and white, all over the walls and ceilings. It was all very festive.

Wednesday, Sept. 29.

Dearest Ma:

Got back here on Monday afternoon, and received two letters
from you, Sept. 22 & 24th. How perfectly dismal about 820 Fifth, Cleve-
land tax situation, etc. to say nothing of poor Aunt Floy's predic-
ment. Can Miss Bridgeman stay on with her and make the trip to Washing-
ton ? I should think that someone besides Celine would have to help
out on that. Its too bad that she can't stay on at the hotel until
completely recovered, but perhaps she wants to get home anyway.

We had a very gay and exciting weekend; we drove from here
to Quetzaltenango, quite a trip, on Thursday; then every day until we
got there back on Monday, we would take a trip to a different town for
the market day, making a hotel at Quetzaltenango our headquarters. We
took with us a box of canned goods, and every day we would buy bread
and make a picnic lunch out of cans of peanut butter, sardines, etc.
and after the usual frantic search for a proper picnic spot that would
come up to everyone's requirements as to shade, seclusion, etc. etc. we
would settle down for lunch. It was a very practical and economical
arrangement. The market at a place called San Francisco el Alto was the
most spectacular, - it is a small town built around a rather imposing
church, way up high on the top of a hill. On Fridays, market days,
Indians come from all over the country, - one passes them climbing up
the hill and on the way. The main product that is sold is blankets;
many of them are stretched out to dry all over the streets of the
town, one even has to walk or drive over them, and they look, as they
are mostly very bright colors, perfectly wonderful. The car went very
well, miraculously enough we haven't yet had a flat tire, but on the
way back we came over one road that we never expected to get out of,
but succeeded only in breaking a spring, it was so bumpy.

Tomorrow we are going up to Guat. City for the day again, -
to get reservations on the boat back, etc. Charlotte is planning to
leave on Monday, just as Robie gets here, if the connections can be
made. Charlieote is in wonderful form and has added a rather unique
fillup to our trip through Guatemala by doing the hula- hula at the
drop of a hat. She has gone completely Hawaiian, every other word is
Hawaiian, etc.

I was glad to hear from Pepe, - received a note too, forwarded
from N.Y..

Must hurry and get this in afternoon mail,

lots of love,

P.S.: About the little house in Murray Bay, - I really shouldn't think it would do any harm as far as the value of the big house is concerned to sell the little house, - as I remember you can't even see it from the big house, it is way down at the bottom of the hill. Should be amazed if they got anything like $8000, as it is very rudimentary Tuesday, October 5. even $5000 would be a good price, I should think. Antigua.

Dearest Ma:

We have been having a rather hectic time the last few days, and I don't seem to have been able to settle down to write. Yesterday Charlottle left, also Johnny Putnam, who had decided to go back to the ranch in Wyoming that belongs to some cousins of his and where he spent the year previous to coming down here. He hadn't been well at all, had lost over 40 pounds which is very dangerous in his condition, so quites suddenly decided to go back. We saw them off on the 1:40 plane to New Orleans, and at 3:20 we met Robbie and Margaret Miller; I had asked Margaret long ago to come down for her vacation but hadn't heard from her so had assumed that she wasn't coming, till I got a telegram from her last week. She apparently had decided just on the spur of the moment to come down. We were very glad to have her but a little startled as we had only one guest room, however we got her a very nice room at a nearby hotel and she will take her meals with us.

Our sailing date has been pushed up two days, - now we leave on the S.S. Talamanca, on Oct. 20, arriving in N.Y. on Oct. 25. In view of that and also Margaret's arrival we regret very much

Wednesday, I think.

Dearest Ma:

I have never felt more like one of my Pilgrim ancestors; from the time on Monday when we were rowed ashore on this rocky coast in many relays with our seventeen pieces of luggage, to this really cold and rainy morning I have never known anything quite so rugged! The island is very beautiful and wild, that is when it doesn't rain. The house, or cabin rather, is just a shade less Tobacco-Roadish than Allan Priest's country retreat, although as a matter of fact there is only a superficial comparison as we have hot water, frugal and plumbing that works perfectly, and once we had hidden away all the horrid printed mottoes and other offensive decorative objects it is quite attractive in a rustic way. Lali is ominously quiet about it all and spends the entire day sitting in her bedroom and writing reams of letters which Mary and I suspect as being S.O.S.'s, however she is quite Spartan and uncomplaining. Perhaps she will send messages off in bottles next.

Yesterday Mary and I walked down to the other, slightly more civilized end of the island and dropped in on Mary Cabot Wheelwright, "Miss Mary" as her captain calls her. Her friend Mrs. Allan, who was travelling with her in France last summer had just arrived from New York; Miss W. was telling her a story in which someone was just knocking on the door, when we appropriately knocked on the door, so she actually seemed pleased to see us. Her house is an old sea captain's house and is really very pretty, and full of very nice old hook rugs, chests, etc. She spoke a good deal of Tom and of how badly she thought he had looked this winter, and of how nice the funeral was, so I guess I did her an injustice in suspecting that she had just been walking by.

Mrs. Royce was an absolute heroine. We arrived at "The Oaks" at about 7:00 on Sunday; she was standing in the driveway all prepared to take over, and she really did that from the time we arrived until we stepped into our motor boat to come over here the next day. Her house is quite nice, right on the water, - absolutely jammed full of pictures, photos, mottoes, excess furniture covered with zhintzes, etc. Mary and I slept in a sort of guest room in a large double bed, and Lali was exiled to a summer house in the middle of the lawn. Mrs. R. had a weekend guest, a Dr. Maxwell, a dentist from Bangor (82 yrs. old however.) After dinner Lali went to bed and Mary and I and Mrs. R. and Dr. Maxwell played Canasta for a while. The next morning Mrs. R. took us into Bar Harbor, showed us the sights, mostly the aftermath of the big fire, then we did our shopping and finally she took us down to Seal Harbor and saw us off. She coudln't have been more helpful; she also took me into the bank at Bar Harbor and introduced me to the ladies in power there, and showed us the various shops. She is absolutely in heaven up here, I suppose it is the nearest thing to the island of Jersey.

As soon as Mary's friends the Kings, (from Sarah Laurence)

arrive life will be much simpler as they have a telephone. They
live quite close by. They were supposed to leave N.Y. on the fif-
teenth and should be here by now. So far we haven't received any
mail because we have to discuss that problem with them. Miss Wheel-
wright gets hers in a sort of ashcan that is moored out in the ocean
somewhere, but God knows how we ever get ours. If you should have
to get in touch with me you could try their phone, surely they will
be here in a day or so: the name is:

Wyncie King, Sutton Island, via Southwest Harbor. (For tele-
phone calls of telegrams. ) If they don't answer Miss Wheelwright
has a phone and could probably send for us in an emergency.

Miss W. has raised high hopes for entertainment in us by
promises of boat trips to various islands, including one that has
a beach of pure red jasper.

Robbie, and I think Ed and Dan are coming up for the Fourth
of July weekend. They will get the rooms with the bunks with the
straw mattresses, ha ha, but once they are here they can't very
well get away.

I will probably have to put this into a bottle to mail it
too, but perhaps eventually it will get to you.

I hope you are quite recovered from your flybite and all
settled in Woods Hole now. Give lots of love to Aunt Floy and tell
her I was sorry to have missed her in Lenox.

Lotsof love,
Lorine