I am all the time talking about you, and bragging, to one person or another. I am like the Ancient Mariner, who had a tale in his heart he must unfold to all. I am always buttonholing somebody and saying, "Someday you must meet my mother."

Life isn't all beer and skittles; few of us have touched a skittle in years.

Father, I beg of Thee a little task To dignify my days, 'tis all I ask.

l am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground. So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind: Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year.

My heart is warm with the friends I make, And better friends I'll not be knowing, Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take, No matter where it's going.

Please give me some good advice in your next letter. I promise not to follow it.