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problem -- namely that every different ring has a different number of segments that would be most economical, so the problem now is to strike an average figure. Hence, I expect to be busy for several days on estimates. It really looks as though things were already beginning to move on the proposition.

[[underlined]]To Willie, April 9, 1925[[/underlined]]: Your letter of Tuesday, written in the laboratory, reminds me of those I used to write at noon hour at the plant when I would be sitting on a box over behind the big furnace, and trying so hard to forget where I was -- not sitting behind a hot furnace but out on the rocks beside the sea somewhere -- somewhere! -- at Shoals. It was hard to close my ears to the pop-pop-pop of the contractors fed the energy to the electric furnace. And when at last I would get myself into a reverie and truly dreaming of distance places and distant dear ones, crash would boom out of the whistle. Dreams were shattered by the reality of Industry again. Industry -- and yet there is a great romance even to industry if one will open one's eyes and imagination to it. It must be awful to have no imagination for imagination can work wonders with the dullest and most uninteresting things..... I have been running my sliderule for four solid days and I am now beginning to arrive at some results. It was quite a problem and unfortunately involved such complicated mathematical equations that they had to be solved by trial, making it very laborious. You see, the more segments one uses in making a ring, the nearer it will approach being a perfect circle and hence the less material would be wasted in machining it into a perfect circle. But the more segments there are, the more it costs to saw off the blocks and the more material is wasted in sawing (the saw is 3/8" thick). Somewhere is a place of minimum cost. But that place is different for every ring and I am trying to strike a happy medium which will be nearest to everything. It is fun to be working on a thing like that, though. I enjoy it.

[[underlined]]To Mother, April 9, 1925[/underlined]]: The All Souls Church directory came today and I find there are several famous people on the register who I had no idea belonged there. Mr. W.L.R. Emmet is a Unitarian as is Mr. E.W. Rice, Jr. who is honorary chairman of the Board and formerly president of the General Electric Company. Then Mr. Lovejoy, one of the directors, is also a member. So the congregation really has some [[underlined]]very[[/underlined]] celebrated members -- Mr. Emmet is world famous and so is Mr. Rice, I think.

[[underlined]]To Mother, April 1925[/underlined]]: I had the sweetest letter from Willie today telling me all about Easter in Louisville. She is the loveliest girl who ever lived. Listen: "But still in all this loveliness, the tears came to my eyes today as I was sitting in church thinking of you. I longed to be with you so very much and you seemed so far away from me. I really couldn't figure myself