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Dear Doris:
It is such a dark morning up in my Dome that I am typing for a bit before going at my beetles. Dad's day in town. We are going to meet at noon to go to the library and to look up some saccharine tablets for Julia at a wholesale druggists. They are very scare, I hear, and we may not be able to find any. She wants to give them to her Japanese friends. She came up yesterday to invite me to a party she is giving to all her friends at the Arts Club Sunday afternoon. She expects to leave the following week some day when the army orders come.

We have been entertaining the Italian. He came out Tuesday night and stayed until 10:30, and Dad was so excited by his long talk with him that he couldn't get to sleep till after midnight. He has taken him in tow for the rest of the week during the day and Saturday afternoon he brings him out again, and he will stay to supper and go to the biological society meeting with us afterwards. Fortunately it is mostly movies-on Greenland. But it is surprising how well he understands and can be understood in so short a time. He spoke no English in Sept. but now gets on very well and understands most of what is said to him. He must be a very keen little man. His clothing is so poor -- he has a raincoat lined with what seems to be an army (khaki) blanket. And his stockings are huge grayish white hand knit affairs that bulge all over his legs. I am going to try to get Dad to offer him one of his old winter coats. He has 2 little girls in Italy and maybe I could give him that scarlet flannel skirt for one and the little brown jacket you had for the other -- they are 9 and 12. But I must go very easy. He is going up to the scientific meetings in Cambridge after Xmas and sail from N.Y. early in Jan.

I am glade the electric clock came thru safely. Grandma needn't worry over the electricity it uses, as it uses a very small amount, they say. I am glad you are getting her to show you her treasures. Did she show you the cashmere shawls? I think they were in the big storage trunk-box in the front chamber closet. I wish you would check on them too, tho you may have to move a feather bed or two to get at them. Be sure to look up the hollow handled knives, too. We sent the books for the boys to Maude direct, so she will have the pleasure of giving them to them. I had a letter in answer to one I wrote to Hazel Drake telling me in detail of what Mr. Kimtis did and it sounds very good. He didn't paint the back of the house but probably could not get paint, and we can do that next summer if paint is any more abundant.

You sound as if you were getting a good dose of studying as usual but one of the thing about college is that you gradually learn to hit the high spots and let the low ones go - one can't possibly do everything in this world. So get to bed early and trust in the broad outlines as much as possible. Your health and eyes in especial should be preserved at all costs. In a couple of months it will begin to be lighter mornings and easier to wake up.

Love,
Mother.