f being where money is not talked and
apologies never made for the absence of things that money gets. Miss
Susanna Mason is a liberal education in herself and no "Course in
Culture" could equal the advantage of being in her society. I have
written her, of course, but tell her again of my sense of privilege,
and my great pleasure, in being a guest in her home, and remember
always you are in your father's heart. Always he is thinking of you._

Now wasn't that a nice letter to get from a father? I'm nothing to be
thankful for; but, if he thinks I am, I am thankful for that, and it
makes life a different thing to know somebody is thankful for you. And
another thing I think would make life nicer, make working and living
not so hard, is to tell people you like them and you believe they are
trying to do their best, even if their best is powerful poor. Of
course, all people don't try to do their best. Some are by nature and
practice mean and horrid and ought to have facts handed out to them,
but most people try to do right, and maybe they would try harder if
they got a little encouragement now and then. Anyhow, I've often
noticed it makes a person take fresh hold again for somebody to give
them a lift in the way of a friendly word or so, and it doesn't cost
much--kindness doesn't. I wonder why we don't have more of it.

The reason why Father liked Twickenham Town so much was that nobody
talked business to him, and if anybody knew he was the head of Bird &
Roller, bankers and brokers, they never mentioned it to him or talked
shop at all, and for four days he forgot stocks and bonds and the ups
and downs of the money-market and let go. And yet I am almost sure Mr.
Willie Prince knows all about him--the business part, I mean--and that,
of course, will mean everybody in Twickenham will know pretty soon.
The reason I think he knows is that I went into the bank to get a check
cashed the morning after Father got here, and I saw Mr. Willie sitting
at a table in a corner of the bank with a copy of Bradstreet open
before him and his eyes close to it. I made it convenient to walk up
to the table and look down at the book, and I saw he was running his
finger down the letter "B," and when he saw me he shut the book quick.
I just smiled and passed on. But not talking business is only one of
the reasons Father liked Twickenham Town so much. Another was because
everybody was so nice to him. He had so many invitations to dinner