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14

down my thoughts. Of my work, of my disappointment crowned at last by success, of my marriage in the winter and all the newness of life after that-- of many, many things joyful and sad that have passed in the months that have run by so fast. Each day is a drama by itself, and how much I regret that a record of all those days has not been kept.

Erie, Pa.,
August 2, 1927.

About 2 p.m. yesterday, the GE whistle blew, and after looking puzzled for a moment, everyone made a mad rush for the windows while outside, the Works Avenue rapidly filled with people eagerly looking skyward where, glistening like a great silver bird in the sunlight, hummed along "The Spirit of St. Louis" and within it, the young man of 25 who overnight became the most famous person in the world--and received more acclaim than any other human being who has ever walked the earth down through the ages--LINDBERGH! A name that will go down in history. The thought of that boy my own age, and his glorious adventure, probably the most finished and beautiful ^[[individual]] accomplishment in all history, fills me with such an utter thrill that I can scarcely contain myself. And it seemed a bit odd to think that there in that marvelous man-made bird that was flying along so near to us, sat a person whose name will be known in the ages to come whereas we who watchedwill be lost in the great tide that forever absorbs and engulfs the commonplace, which fades away and is lost in the vastness of the past.
  Something is decreeing that we do not go to Buena Vista next Saturday. We had a special from Peg today saying the cook has left and Aunt Mary and Grandmother Dixon are ill. And with dear Peg's arm broken, they are in a bad situation. So we are rather disappointed but shall go to Louisville instead and I know shall have a great time besides making Willie's mother and father very happy.
  I am making the main diagram of the New York Central's trolley-third rail-battery-oilelectric locomotive now besides looking after Brancke's business in his absence, so am rushed to pieces. But my job is a joy to me. My, but how lucky I am! This was all a dream two years ago.
  Tonight Willie and I rode to the Peninsula and it was so clear we saw mirages all along the horizon. Later we went to the dock and gloried in a sunset most gorgeous indeed--flaming sky, delicate little clouds, dark-blue, gold, lavender--a cloudy host streaming up from the west to the zenith in all the golden and purple loveliness of the summer evening sky. Oh, how good life is!