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19

Lemp, the old white-bearded gentleman who is one of the guiding geniuses behind the Diesel electric locomotive and was an intimate of Steinmetz. I met Mr. Dutton, the minister, whose sermon I was so delighted with. He must be a remarkably interesting man, exceedingly well read, and himself an author. But the queer thing is that his speciality is detective stories. As Allende says he looks rather like Mussolini, with rather "prominent" eyes. The church is small but the peolple are typical of Unitarians the country over. A Mrs. Armstrong appealed to me as being a most charming lady. Mrs. Stevens invited Allende and me to dinner and we were taken up there by the Coes. Mr. Stevens was away but Mrs. Steven's sister was there and very attractive, younger than Mrs. Stevens and a professional nurse. The conversation was largely along the most cultural lines and it showed me how terribly read I am. I simply wasn't in it with Allende, who discussed everything from Anatole France's style to the World Court with equal facility and intelligence. It made me wish I hadn't wasted so many precious hours on things that now I don't even remember and it also spurred my resolve not to have cause for a similar regret again. I told Mrs. Stevens about Willie and me, and, of course, she was surprised. She showed me some pictures of her own daughter, Ruth, and she has a right to be proud of her. She is a most unusual and beautiful-looking girl. I hope that when she is home from Mr. Holyoke somtime, I can meet her. Mrs. Stevens was lovely and gave me just the sort of invitation that was extended to me by Mrs. Nikiforoff. It is good to have a home to which one can go anytime one wants to here. This evening we attended church again and heard Mr. Dutton give a splendid talk on Dreiser and "An American Tragedy." I am going to read "Sister Carrie" and "Jennie Gerhardt" when I can get it. And so the day was far more colorful than this brief account sounds. I am to be in a play too, and perhaps the lead, wonder of wonders! Everything is turning out marvelously and I hope I am conducting myself in a way that makes me worthy of it all. Today has been a real inspiration to me. 

Erie, Pa.,
Monday, January 18, 1926.

I worked all day on the Inspection Tests and find I'm fortunate to be on them because they cover things that one would never get otherwise. Had a discussion on American slang with Allende this noon and explained various things to him including "poosh in the face." ...... .

[[underlined]] To Willie, January 18, 1926 [[/underlined]]: I am to be in a play here given by the Unitarian Church; I was roped into it yesterday. It is "The Arrival of Kitty" by Norman Lee Swartout, and is of the usual length, so is quite an undertaking. I may take the part of a boy who sometimes disguises himself as a girl. The late-February performance is to be given at a big auditorium downtown so I may have got into more than I realize.