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and sings and then will go off into his room to read Voltaire -- "Oh, eet ees wonnerful man!" Everything he sees reminds him of something else. For instance, he saw a house the other night that was "a fat Italian woman carrying up a beeg bouquet, like this, you see?" and he hunched himself up and bowed his arms out with his hands in front of him; it was perfect. When we passed houses with many icicles hanging from the eaves, "the poor houses are weeping. See their tears?" ...... I have decided to accept the "sign-up" as it seems the very best thing to do. 

[[underlined]] To Willie, February 7, 1926 [[/underlined]]: Speaking of new people and new places, the foreigners I have known have believed in travel as the greatest education of them all. Allende is the same way as Mrs. Nikiforoff and Mr. Nivitsky in this regard. Remarking about his trip to Europe, he said, as though it should be taken for granted, "Oh, I wanted to know Europe." He went to Europe and spent three months there by himself traveling into all the countries except Russia. He says the whole trip cost him only $600 because he was by himself and could live where he chose. In Paris he lived at a boarding house in the Latin quarter. From what he tells me, the whole trip must have been one long delight. And in him, I see that same happy faculty for living that I saw in my cosmopolitan Russian friends. He seems to [[underlined]] enjoy [[/underlined]] life so much; he can see interest in everything. If something is even dull, he can associate it with something interesting and enjoy it in that way.

[[underlined]] To Mother, February 7, 1926 [[/underlined]]: All the news of the Syracuse people is mighty interesting. Gracious! Isobel Duguid is a bit young although, come to think of it, she must be nearly twenty; I forget I'm twenty-three myself. Katherine Knapp is a lovely girl and, in my opinion, much too good for Wiard anyhow; it seems just like her to take up nursing and she will be a wonderful one. See how Phil's life has influenced hers though! It seems as though her life's story would make a wonderful novel and I should, if I were to write it, bring it to a very happy conclusion, for certainly K deserves happiness. And in striking contrast, the escapades of Luke have not seemed to affect the lives of his sisters in the slightest degree; he [[underlined]] must [[/underlined]] be a character.

[[underlined]] To Mother, February 9, 1926 [[/underlined]]: The people here are getting more interesting every day. Three new men arrived from Schenectady yesterday and they were of three new nationalities -- Hindu, Italian and Jap, so now we have on test here the makings of a real cosmopolitan club. We are American, English, Australian, Canadian, Chilean, Japanese, Italian and Hindu. The Hindu, Castellino, and the Italian, Farella (sic), are both boarding at Mrs. Webster's, so now there are six of us testmen there. Castellino is handsome and very gentlemanly and altogether winning