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#36 Cabot Hall, Radcliffe
Cambridge, Mass.
February 28, 1946
[1947]

Dear folks,

It's wonderful to think of having a week in the Carolinas! Grandma will probably be disappointed, but I would not have spent the whole time with her. As for long papers, I'm afraid I will have to bring my complement along: there is no conceivable other time to do research on the long History term paper; I live from book to paper now. But I'll be able to enjoy sights most of the time; the actual reading I'll try to do beforehand, only thinking over and composing the paper during that breathing spell. My subject I shall probably narrow to the contribution of political and religious thought of the Netherlands of the seventeenth century. Miss O'Boyle said she'd look around for good references.

We had a very interesting discussion in conference group today: the philosophes and enlightened despots with their Deism, natural law, perfectability, etc. It seemed they [[strikethrough]] all [[/strikethrough]] had to go through stages to arrive at present-day conceptions, differing only from those of the individual in the long time required for a new idea to take hold.

You keep referring to "mauling over", etc. as if conversation on intellectual subjects had no part of acquaintance with a man. On the contrary, I have discovered a lot about Dutch landscape, history, customs, schools, and viewpoints. It is interesting the way Europeans still cling to the French language as a medium and Paris as the intellectual center. And also to get their viewpoint of the U.S. as a promising experiment which they eagerly want to study -- I don't believe I ever appreciated American history in that light. Also you feel that they do not have our fundamental optimism, nor our naivety, sometimes. There is a great deal of interest to learn.

In emphasizing that Miss Bryant was tolerated by Harvard, I bet you have got a very good point which all Radcliffe women will take into account in their voting. That proves something, is a "self-evident" truth, so to speak.

Nancy Carroll trimmed my hariagain [[hair again]] last night, and it looks more than ever like Joan's. Berna Mayer had hers cut simultaneously, and she is the perfect model -- being French.

I changed from team swimming to intermediate; the other requires tremendous exertion and tension rather than relaxation is hte [[the]] goal; speed. In this other class I am not disappointed for lack of exercise as I feared: we swim fourteen lengths of the pool as preliminary to special practice. I still can't master the frog kick. Learned a new dive.

It is clouding up again. The snow has worn away to the point of bare shoes.

Grusome English! Today he spent a full half of the period describing Sterne's end, one at which "grisly Sterne would have chuckled himself": being discovered (his head) on the dissecting table by a friend after a quiet buriel [[burial]] and robbed grave.

Well, that's the supper bell, so

Love,
Doris