Viewing page 97 of 110

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

to spend the late summer and early fall with a French grandfather (whose death, incidentally, should stimulate their buying capacity before long. (Grandfather is 90.) I don't mean to be mysterious in not mention names, but I spoke to the lady in question this morning and she asked me not to mention her name as a prospect. But she said that she would love to meet you when you came out. The trouble out here is that there have been too many rogues in California with wares of indifferent quality to sell at terrific prices. Consequently lots of people are distinctly"dealer shy". And in this particular case my friends have been thinking seriously of waiting till they got to Paris to shop around. In this connection I think that you might be of great help to them. Any helpful suggestions might very well be an awfully good investment for the future. But I needn't go into all this till I see you.

Francesca and I whipped off to Tahoe for a week (over the 4th) so we shall not be going away again for some time to come. I do not in the least resent your inclination toward the southern part of the state. It is perfectly grand down there in that den of pleasant iniquity and you would  be a moron not to take in with a vengeance. And you will of course want to see the Huntington Collection and two or three others - such as the Arsensbergs, the Preseton Harrisons, the Williss J. Holes, and the von Sternbergs. All of that can be easily arranged either through Walter Heil or mo. Why don't you try to come on out before the end of July - in order to see my friends - and then go on to Hollywood after San Francisco. Unless you have some particular reason for stopping in the south first, you might just as well do S.F. first and L.A. later. If I could think up some legitimate excuse I would tag along after you to Los Angeles - for it is the best place in the west to have a good time - and I always say "all work and play makes Tom Howe a very dull boy".

I hope that these rambling argument have enough logic in them to persuade you that the West will bear a little investigating, and that we shall have the pleasure of seeing in San Francisco before the end of the month. Let me know what you decide and we shall make ready for your arrival.

As ever (with apologies for the peculiarities of my amateur stenography)
Sincerely yours, 
Tom

Robert Levy, Esq.,
Leona Farms, 
Cary, Illinois.