lothes and renounce all pleasures, jewelry and
becoming raiment. I had to tell him I'm not ready for that yet, and he
smiled triumphantly. He predicted I'll play cards and dance before the
winter ends. I don't like him when he's so flippant. I want to be loyal
to my home teaching but I see more clearly every day how great is the
difference between the pleasures sanctioned by my people and those
Virginia and her friends enjoy. There's a mystery somewhere I can't
solve. Like Omar, I "evermore come out at the same door where in I
went."

_October 29._

To-day we went for a long drive along the Wissahickon. The woods are
bronze and scarlet now. The wild asters made me homesick for Lancaster
County. I wanted to get out of the car and walk but Virginia and her
friends wouldn't join me. I wanted to bury my nose in the goldenrod and
asters--and get hay fever, one of the girls told me--and I just ached to
push my way through the tangled bushes along the road and let the golden
leaves of the hickory and beeches brush my face. It seems that most city
people I have met don't know how to enjoy nature. They have a
nodding-from-a-motor-acquaintance with it but I like a real
handshake-friendship with it. I just wished David were here to-day! He'd
have taken my hand and run me to the top of the hill and picked a branch
of scarlet maple to carry with my goldenrod and asters. Well, I can't
have the penny and the cake. I want to be in the city, of course that's
the thing I most desire at present--I really am having a good time.

In the evening we went to Holy Trinity Church. The organ recital gripped
my soul. I wanted it to last for hours. And yet when it was over and the
rector stood before us and preached one of his impressive sermons I was
just as much interested as I had been in the music. There's a feeling of
restful calm comes to me in a big dim church with stained glass
windows. We stopped in the Cathedral one day last week. That is a
wonderful place, too. I like the idea of having churches open all the
time for prayer and meditation. I'm learning so many new ideas these
days. If I ever do wear the plain dress I'm sure of one thing, I'll be
broad-minded enough to respect the beliefs of other persons.

_November 11._

I can put another red mark on my calendar. I heard the great Irish
Tenor! Glory, what a voice! It's