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At 10 p.m. the next night, Parkinson, the Colonel and I drove to Fairview to see the "Century" and saw it this time in spite of the Colonel's bet of "a piece of whitemeat" at the next day's picnic that it was too late for it. Then we went to Perk's to sip some wine and hit the hay at 12:30 a.m. Perk and the Colonel each thought the other about 100%. The Colonel remarked, "My God, he's a powerful man!" Perk had told me, "The Colonel's a real he—man." We were all sorry to have Nana and the Colonel depart for Louisville on July 29th and it seemed pretty lonesome around the house with them gone. But once the Colonel had established a date on which he would be back at the store, nothing could persuade him to alter his plans. So away they went to "Wooeyville" as Bab called it. I believe that Bab particularly missed Nana and Gapa because they found it very difficult not to spoil her. Bab was a darling in many ways but there was sometimes room for improvement in her behavior. She didn't always mind we11 and did a lot of fussing on occasion, all of this probably due to her having been spoiled not only by her grandparents but also by us.

Mother spent all of July and part of August at Chautauqua. I drove up there in mid-July to have dinner with her and go to the theater with her one night, getting home about 1 a.m. after a lonely ride back all by myself. Later I drove up there for dinner and the opera, attending "Butterfly" and enjoying Brownie Peebles as Suzuki more than Milo Miloradovich as Cho Cho San; probably the recent memory of Maria Mueller as Cho Cho San at the metropolitan was too strong. Charles Kullman was just then showing his great promise, singing Pinkerton, and destiﬁed to be a Met stalwart for many years. I spent the night at the Unitarian House and the next day, Mother and I drove to Niagara Falls. It was a bright day and the tones of white and pale green in the spray and the water itself were indescribably beautiful. The thought of the geologic story of the place was thrilling. He returned to Chautauqua in time for dinner, attended the concert, and then I drove back to Erie. Mother returned to us right after Nana and Gaps left but went back to Chautauqua for Music week. Then she came back and remained with us for some time.

Soon after the first of August, Willie and I had a nice visit to Chautauqua when we went up to get Jewel Loefflet. The three of us went to "Carmen" which was thrillingly done for a small Opera company. The reliable Brownie Peebles was fine as Carmen although her big ankles always bothered me a bit, voice or no voice. Kullman was Don Jose, again very exciting. Norton Hall is a beautiful little auditorium inside and out and between the acts on a summer evening, the scene of the crowd out front is always charming. That night we saw a girl out there who looked like a McClelland Barclay model. She was tall, dark, gorgeous, in a red—velvet wrap and with a figure such as you seldom see. I wished I might have painted a picture of her. In fact, I decided that maybe I should have been an artist.