.. "you had too many hardships and privations in your growing
years ... and you are of too nervous a temperament."
* * * * *
But my love for Vanna had regularised me somewhat. I discarded my
sandals and bought Oxford ties. And I preserved a crease in my trousers
by laying them, folded carefully, under my mattress every night. And I
took to wearing shirts with white linen collars....
And I kept a picture of the girl I adored, secretly, among my
manuscripts--it was one I had begged of "Con" Cummins, frankly taking
him into my confidence as to my state of heart toward Vanna. Which
confidence "Con" never abused, though it might have afforded endless
fields of fun.
"Con" framed the picture for me.
When alone with it, I often actually knelt to it, as to a holy image.
And I kissed and kissed it, till it was quite faded away.
* * * * *
Emma Silverman, the great anarchist leader, came to Laurel, with her
manager, Jack Leitman. I went to the Bellman House, the town's swellest
hotel, to see her. I had never met her but had long admired her for her
activities and bravery.
I found her a thick-built woman, after the gladiatorial fashion ... as
she moved she made me think of a battleship going into action. There was
something about her face ... a squareness of jaw, a belligerency, that
reminded me of Roosevelt, whom I had seen twice .
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