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The normal evening consisted of playing one game of croquet (all that the setting sun now allows since we shifted back to standard time Sunday night), and reading.  Henry Guy gives me his old "Natural History" magazines and I read a fascinating article on northern lights.  It was particularly interesting because it referred to the marvellous display we saw at Shanty Shane Aug. 11, 1939 as one of the most brilliant and diversified of all time.  Also I learned they are caused by electrons from the sun, accentuated during sunspot activity, which excite gasses in the upper atmosphere, and are not reflections of sun on arctic snow and ice fields, the old theory.  Another fascinating article concerned a fossil Neanderthal skull found recently in Italy estimated at 70000 years old or before the last Ice Age.  When one thinks of men living in Europe that long ago, one realizes all this agony going on now is just a drop in the ocean of long human history - this man was apparently murdered - they aren't much different now.

Erie, Pa.,
Wednesday, Sept. 4, 1940.
The headlines today told of Pres. Roosevelt swapping 50 overage destroyers to hard pressed Britain for 99 year leases on naval and air base sites in various British possessions in the Western Hemisphere.  So we come closer to war with Germany.  We might as well be in it; we are except officially and I believe the majority of Americans approve helping Britain all possible short of an actual declaration of war.  The British are fighting like hell!