Page 22 - 1921 Hartridge

tell you. Up until last month I was down on the South Sea Islands, getting up Community Choruses among the natives. Last year we had a contest between the islands for the best chorus, and the strain of it all was too much for me. I had to come back home. Lately I’ve been in Atlantic City.
“ By the way, whom do you think I saw down there? Helen Rice! Did you know she’d taken a B. A., an M. A., and a Ph. D., and that she is the author of that book, A Ratwcinatwn on the Metabolism and the Transmogrification of the Soul? Would you ever have suspected her
genius when we were at school? She had just had a nervous breakdown and she said she wanted to rest for a time without using her brain,
so she had almost decided to apply for a position in Caroline Butterfield’s
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orphan asylum. No, I shouldn’t have thought that Caroline would have made a good orphanage head either, but she uses all her sisters for teachers and nurses, thus saving a lot of expense. Ruth Broughton told me that that was the only reason the directors kept her.
“Oh, Tappy! Ruth has invented a tuning fork by which anyone
can keep on the tune. What? Oh, yes! She uses three herself and
sings beautifully now. She’s made a great success of her life—yes, a great success indeed.
“ I ’ve certainly rambled long enough, haven’t I? What I really telephoned you for was to invite you to come to dinner next Thursday,
and then go to the Ninety-Second Street Theater. Margot Valentine is
playing in her latest picture. Funny the way she stepped right into
Theda Bajra’s shoes, isn’t it? Personally, I think she’s a lot better than Theda ever was.
I leave for
fj
“Let me know if you are able to get away on Thursday,
course I realize how busy you are with the horses.
as it will probably be the last time I shall ever see you.
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Of I hope you can come
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