Dear Goucherites -

While I was over in Catonsville yesterday discussing the Culbertson new 'asking bid' and the '3 way two bid' with my partner for the next tournament- some good spirit (either Emilie or Charlotte, I guess) left Round Robin at my door. Yes, I am a student of Contract, I have respect for it and like to be able to take a hand. It improves one's ability to concentrate and one's memory. I am a stone that is still rolling. Two years in succession we motored to the Chicago Fair. A holiday to the Olympics. A cruise to Nova Scotia. The Mardi Gras and down to Mexico. Two trips by motor to California, once in 1934 and again this summer of 1936 - in fact I have only returned three weeks ago. We took the Southern Route this last time via the Dallas Fair, Carlsbad Caverns, Tucson, Palm Springs, etc. over the desert by night (110 after sun down) with the moon shining bright and a special spot light picking up the side of the road, a weird experience ins the silent desert by night. Then up thru the California Redwood Empire (where the forest fire now threatens) and on up by ferry to Victoria, across to Vancouver and back toward the East via the Grand Coulee Dam.

But the outstanding journey since my last letter was my African venture. In the 24 days to Capetown only one break at the Island of St. Helens, just a sunburnt rock really and clouds and sea - they certainly put Napoleon where escape was not easy. Finally on the 24th day out of NY we came in sight of Capetown - the Southern X was in the sky and across the waters the lights of Capetown were gleaming. I made my way from the Cape of Good Hope- where the sheer drop of 900 feet below the light house, two oceans meet - up to Cairo. And I'll tell you that's a long way to go with hazards between. The two main features of this continent of Africa are first, the native life and second the big game. I saw time and time again the counterpart of our old family cook (Annie) and our man (Clarke) strutting around down there in the African spaces. My first sight of animal life began early down at the Point (Good Hope) where troops of baboons, fathers, mothers and babies, were tumbling from rock to rock, the while making ill natured remarks about us. I came up over the Great Karroo to the greatest diamond mines in the world at Kimberly. Saw Johannesburg, a city whose streets are literally lined with gold, as the mines burrow under the city. But the great adventure began in the Transvaal. It is picnic fare, a camp fire, a folding cot, a hurricane lamp, a bench and a basin and - the glamour of the veld! The beauty of a live free wild creature is a thing in itself. It takes 200 years for an elephant to reach its prime and only a few seconds to kill it - not too soon they are now taking some steps to put an end to wanton killing. If the rivers are too deep to ford, one crosses by pontoon, or at any rate, the best way one can. There are crocodiles like tree stumps along the banks and hippopotami in the waters.

We saw wildebeeste, zebra, impala, hyenas, babboons, warthogs, ostrich, lovely waterbuck, black face monkeys, wild dingo, giraffe, kudu with the great horns, sable antelope, jackals, and lots more I can't stop to tell about. Sleep (if you can) on one of those nights where you hear the lion calling to his mate, the hyena's cry, or the shriek of some defenseless buck caught unawares, the bark of the zebra, or maybe the cry of the night hawk. One day I was within a city pavement of five lions at a kill - 3 males and 2 lionesses. In Tanzanyika at night I could hear the elephants breaking the boughs and trampling the bush. I saw growing here capon, coffee, cocoa, tea, cloves, pepper, nutmeg, ginger root, the vanilla bean, cinnamon, etc. In Kenya, only a few hours may separate trop swamps from eternal snows- and gardens from total desert. It would stir anyone's soul to view near *** in Uganda the spot where the Victoria *** flows, over the Ripon Falls.. Here is the source of the White Nile, the world's most ancient river. And we feel here especially I think the spirit of Africa. I am leaving Africa right here. My really latest hobby is a byke - don't laugh, you try it too. Its the last word for reducing and keeping fit. In the old days my bicycle had a hand brake. Now the new fangled byke is stream line, mind you, and works the brake by the pedal. That was a difficulty for me at first but now I have it where I want it. Last Monday five of us (including two nieces) started out at 7 AM before the traffic had got under way and we pedaled to Dickeyville - a 30 mile ride. I came back feeling like a million dollars. You see its all part of my religion. Elections day is growing near, only four weeks off and I hope better things are in store for us nationally and out in All the world- as well as individually.

Love to each and every one of you
Sincerely

Handwritten Letter, Page 1 (163 KB)
Handwritten Letter, Page 2 (153 KB)