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Beatrice Wood    6

It was at this time I first met Brancusi who was in New York for an exhibition. I was thrilled dining [[strikethrough]] w [[/strikethrough]] him while he spent two hours embroiled in a naughty story abut a crocodile, slipping from reality to fantasy. He told me it took months to create and polish his work. After dinner I took him to mee the ARensbergs. I saw a great deal of Picabia, but always in company of Marcel or Roche. I was drawn to Gabrielle Buffet, his wife, though in my secret heart I thought it strange, that being old, she was married to so dashing a figures. She was thirty.

One unforgettable evening Marcel and Picabia took me to Coney Island, insisting that I ride all the fast going machines and terrifying roller costers [[coasters]]. It was heavenly to be near Marcel with his arm around me as I sreamed [[screamed]] going down the appaling [[appalling]] falls. Both men made me go on the ghasly [[ghastly]] machines until I stopped shrieking, with the result that the next morning I could not get out of bed, for my arms were paralysed [[paralyzed]] with nerve shock.

It was two in the morning when we returned and walking down 14th Street, I stepped ahed [[ahead]] between two sailors approaching from the opposite direction. This made a policeman think I was accosting for prostitution and was about to arrest me, when Marcel and Picabia intervened. For a girl brought up as strickly [[strictly]] as I had been, to be mistaken for a prostitute, was the end delight of a dreamy evening.

The Arensbergs, big name Galleries and the more liberal artist were al lin revolt against the jury system. We were as much in revolt against hypocracy [[hypocrisy]] as young people of today. The famed artist and writer had endless discussions about the evils of the jury system, but I was too much in love to be interested in intellectual problems.