[Paragraph breaks added for ease of reading.]Office - Mon. [Mar 18, 1912 was a Monday.]
For the first time in my career here I have absolutely & positively nothing to do. The catalogue is in the hands of the printer and I've read all the proof sheets that they've given me twice and I dont intend to read them no more. At present it looks as though work here would hold out for four or five weeks longer. I'm not hurrying the printers up any as I should be perfectly willing to stay here till June 1. I am n.g. on writing. Owe everybody letters and don't care.
How about coming up here in May? And did you do the secretarial work? I cant produce much of any more excitement than you, though I "went out" three nights last week. Monday to an anti-suffrage meeting with mother. The speakers were very good but not good enough to convert me.
Tuesday the Countess of Warwick lectured under the auspices of the Mt Holyoke Alumnae Association of N.Y. They hoped to make a lot of money for the S.A.B. [Student Alumnae Building; it was built in 1916 from alumnae donations, and is now called Mary Woolley Hall] fund but I guess they didn't make much. I sat in a box - my only appearance in one since "Little Lord Fauntleroy" some years ago. One of the trustees whom Lauran knows, bought the box, and gave her three tickets. The lecture was a mixture of uninteringness [?] and excitement. All the talk about the Duc de Orleans, the Empress Louisa etc was meaningless to me but toward the end she branched off into suffrage and child labor and abolition of war. We were much impressed by her earnesness and lack of ostentation. She is certainly a remarkable woman.
Saturday I looked at the spring styles in hats and went to Laura's to dinner and that's all that I can think of that I've done for the last eight weeks. I've taken to sewing evenings lately and have completed 1 embroidered chemise - very swell.
Also have read another of HG. Wells. - Tono Bungay - Its a lot like new Machiavelli in some ways but not so good. So you're reading Shopenhauers? He makes me optimistic because his pessimism is carried so far that it's absurd. At present I'm reading about three philosophical poets - Lurcretius (whom I never heard of before) Dante & Goethe - very itneresting but not exactly simple. Have also been reading Palmer's Odyssey aloud to Isabel, so I feel quite steeped in the classics.
We have a girl now, thank heaven - a green firm [?] and pretty good. Dont know what mother would think of having me go to washington - haven't broached the subject but I doubt if she would favor it. I would like it allr ight but I feel that I ought to stay here unless I got an exceptional chance somewhere else. I've about made up my mind to teach in vacation playground this summer if I get an appointment and a good one.
As ever
Mar 18