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#33 Ferry Avenue, 
Detroit, Michigan,
September 27, 1906.

My dear Mr. Morse:--

I was dreadfully shocked by the news contained in your good letter of September 24th, which reached me on Tuesday morning - the day of the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Havemeyer and her sister, Mrs. Munn. I would have answered at once but for the Havemeyer visit, which ended only last night. This morning they started for Denver and expect to be away from New York about two weeks. They will spend tomorrow in Chicago, and inquired with much interest concerning your collection. I think they would have asked you for consent to see it but I discouraged them because of the sorrow in your household. 

I have known the Havemeyers for a number of years, in fact, fifteen or more, but not at all well until their late visit. They certainly are most sympathetic and amazingly interesting. Mrs. Havemeyer's taste is most exquisite, and, of course, her long attention to artistic matters has equipped her more thoroughly for the enjoyment of fine Oriental things than any other lady I have ever known. Mr. Havemeyer is an extraordinary man. No one can be more deeply touched by beauty than he, provided, he is in a mood to enjoy it. He told me that there are times in his life when he cannot disengage himself from most active material things; then there are periods when music seems the only thing in life, and again times when other fine arts are his sole desire. I am glad to say that he 

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