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LAW OFFICES 
RAYMOND PACE ALEXANDER 
1900 CHESTNUT STREET 
PHILADELPHIA, PA.

DAYMOND PACE ALEXANDER 
JOHN FRANCIS WILLIAMS 
MACEO W. HUBBARD 
SADIE T. MOSSELL ALEXANDER 


RITTENHOUSE {9960 
{9961 
{9962 
{9963
CABLE ADDRESS "ALEXRAY" 

March 19, 1937 

Dear Uncle Henry: 

I thought I should write and let you know that Raymond has finally decided, after many months of hoping against hope, that he will not be able to come to Paris this summer. I never did approve of his idea of making the trip but I wanted him to come to his own conclusion. While conditions are much better in America and we are enjoying a greater share of prosperity, it would be very vital now when we are beginning to see the light of day to spend as much money as it would to cost to make the trip and lose as much money as he would while he is away from the office. I have no doubt that within another year he will be able to take the trip without any hesitancy, but it would really be unwise for him to do so at this time. 

I think your price for the portrait is reasonable, as does Raymond. He is so anxious to have you do it. I told him that he could now get the money together and he can make definite plans for the trip in 1938. 

I thought you would be interested in the following incident: I am very fond of going to auction sales. Samuel T. Freeman and Company have their auction rooms on Chestnut Street just a half block from our office. I often go there two or three times a week. The other day when I went in one of the auctioneers asked me what would I say if he told me a Tanner painting had been sold on the main floor the day previous. Usually nothing is sold on the first floor but very cheap goods that attract passersby. I told him that I would be very angry because he had not told me about it. By this several of the men had gathered around and they began to tease me about coming in so often and then missing a Tanner painting. Finally they told me that they had purchased it for me. It is one of your old paintings, apparently painted in Atlantic City. It is small, possibly 6 x 8 -- an early morning fishing scene. The men are standing on a pier that extends out into the ocean awaiting the arrival of a boat that can just be seen coming out of a heavy fog that is rising from the rear. It is really beautifully done. I think that if you looked at it you would say, well, that was very good work after all. I think I can hear you saying it now. Can you imagine that the boys were able to buy it for $6.00 because nobody recognized that it was your painting until the auctioneer was calling out the sale? Then one of the men who works there rushed up and said: "Buy that in for Mrs. Alexander." They told me that the last time they had one of