Viewing page 226 of 266

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

257

must send Henry a message. It was inscribed on a paper napkin and put into an airmail envelope with swizzle sticks, cigarette butts, ashes and burnt matches and promptly dispatched to Erie. This called for another drink and the conversation ran on concerning Sherwood Anderson and "Dark Laughter" (Mat seems to know quite a bit about books), WPB, Washington life, Al's experiences in Erie, etc. The Erie remarks included reference to the poker party at Brandy's house when we were ejected and which Al attended. That got Mat off on [[underlined]] Billy Brandenstein, his cousin, [[/underlined]] and how she had "married beneath her" by marrying someone of [[underlined]] German extraction. [[/underlined]] I promptly took exception to this and told Mat my wife is of [[underlined]] German extraction [[/underlined]] also. Mat said he must watch his remarks more carefully, mentioned the only two great-grandfathers he knew anything about as being English, etc. etc. (Mat's middle name is [[underlined]] Kephert [[/underlined]] or something similar). Later Mat was doing some writing and asked how to spell "gentleman" - "el" or "le"? I then got off what I think was a masterpiece if I did say it - [[underlined]] "what a man - boasts about his [[/underlined]] great-grandfathers and then can't spell 'gentleman'!" Ab got it but I don't know that Mat did. We had a third drink. Mat tipped the waitress another dollar, was dissuaded from tipping a hat check girl (whose services we had not used) another dollar, and from stopping at the Hay Adams for another drink, and we proceeded to the Del Rio.

[[underlined]] Mat bet me a dollar [[/underlined]] he could get us a good table in spite of the crowd - I took him - whereupon he tipped the head waiter $5 to get a good table and win a dollar from me. We got a good table but were crowded next to a medical corps captain and

Transcription Notes:
Reviewed