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is forced to pay him to keep quiet.  The thing which amazes me is that they dont give him a box on the side of the head, but they certainly observe the Christian virtue of giving to the poor.

The thing which annoys me most is to have some old crone, (who obviously isn't in town for the sole purpose of begging,) pull a long face as soon as she sees a well dressed woman or man passing, and then thrust out a boney hand for "caridad."  I have been in a store waiting to be waited on and have seen a not so poorly dressed woman come in and go up to the cashier and ask for money.  In small shops I've rarely seen them refuse.  They usually give them a penny.  I wonder if they set a daily limit of pennies - say 50 cents - or even less, and after that is gone they then refuse to hand out any more money.  It is a disgrace for an American Country to have so many beggars.  I've heard that St. Thomas boasts a superiority

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over San Juan in that respect - we shall see.

This evening I decided to stay a while at the club and finish reading an article in "Esquire" on stamps.  I hadn't been seated long when Miss Lester, the hostess, came out and sat down to talk.  A little while later two gentlemen, one of whom I had noticed often at the club, came out and joined us.  In the course of my conversation with Mr. W.P. Owrey, one of said gentlemen, it developed that he was an entomologist - mostly working with plant quarantine.  The other young man was Mr. Fife (sp?) who had just come in from Mayaguez.  He had been asked if he knew Dick - and as he remembered the name he acted both surprized and pleased to meet [[strikethrough]] N [[/strikethrough]] me.

Mr. Owrey is grey haired and blue eyed, with rather a young face.  He is quite friendly