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8

There is a total gap in my diary between April 9th and May 30th but I do find in the archives, two memo cards dated April 23rd at New haven on which I have set down a couple of impressions which I wanted to put into my "idea file" for my writing. Although these are recorded during a business trip, they have nothing to do with business and I am reviewing them here instead of the GE section. Incidentally, while my diary was shamefully neglected throughout these years in the mid-30s, I did jot down a great many ideas for my writing file and have been able to recapture a good deal from this. 
The first incident, if it could be called that, occurred in the Taft Hotel at New Haven, where I normally stayed. It was a fine hotel, across from the "green" and the University, and next to it was the legitimate theater where so many of the New York shows had their pre-Broadway tryouts. It was a very modern hotel for that period but at the same time tasteful and well-run and with a good clientele. I always enjoyed my visits to the Taft, of which I had a good many over the years. On this occasion, I was having breakfast in the hotel dining room, which I recall as very attractive in a red-and-white Colonial motif with rich red wall-to-wall carpet. I immediately became conscious of a couple sitting at the next table, evidently a mother and daughter. The entire experience consisted of simply watching these two remarkably lovely women, one perhaps twenty and the other fifty. I was fortunately seated facing directly toward them so my observation could be carried on without effort or embarrassment. The girl wore a riding habit made up of a dark-brown tweed jacket, corded tan breeches, and polished dark boots. Her hair was in a knot at the back. She looked as pretty and fresh and thrillingly youthful as any girl I'd seen in a long while--at the same time, unspoiled but unhurt. She had rosy cheeks, chestnut hair, a perky nose and full red lips. And I admired her beautifully-made, graceful but strong little hangs, which were meticulously manicured. Only one thing seemed to mar her. She seemed just the least little bit affected which disappointed me. In this respect she failed in a small way to line up with her mother, who was obviously a cultured, highly-intelligent woman and without a scrap of affectedness. But, I reflected, no doubt the girl got a big bang out of acting like that, not realizing there is no charm like natural charm. And she had that in vast quantity as did her mother. I always thought that breakfast was the most delightful meal of the day and this measured up as one of the most rewarding in my long experience, just to sit there and watch these two very lovely women, to watch the animation as they talked, their expressions, two people very close together enjoying the company of each other. To turn from this to the contemplation of diesel-electric locomotives, much as I loved them, was a bit of a letdown temporarily--but only that because I was truly enjoying what I was doing, not only in New Haven but also wherever I worked. I just hope I can do justice to the story of the tests we were making then.