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grows older and sees these broken hopes, professional and personal, in the lives of our friends, one realizes that the best game one can possibly play is none too good to assure a lasting happiness.

En route to Washington, 
Monday, Sept. 30, '40.

Frank Blanchard of Caterpillar blew in unexpectedly this morning and I was glad to see him for I was getting involved on the B&M deal in trouble over changes in Caterpillar lube oil recommendations and refusal of Caterpillar to furnish certain drawings of their engine that the B&M wants. So here was a perfect chance to put old Frank to work and I got him lined up to meet "Connie", Roy and Ernie Bloss in Boston next Thursday to straighten out these points. Frank is a good conversationalist and I enjoyed a few of his gems particularly:

1) As usual, Alexander Botts, the hare-brained but lucky Earthworm Tractor sales manager, famed creation of once-fired tractor salesman William Hazlett Upson, came in for some comment. Frank says Upson visits the Caterpillar plant regularly to get his ideas from conversations with service and field men. The recent story about the boat cradle that was hung onto the bottom of the boat until Botts was knocked overboard by the irate owner and discovered the reason the [[strikethrough]] the [[/strikethrough]]
 terrible performance of the craft, was thus conceived from an actual incident. Franks says that Upson is now working on a story based on the muskrat marsh story he told me last spring en route to New York on the "Merchants." I shall enjoy seeing how Upson twists that around into a good story.