Mexico -- Description and travel; United States -- Description and travel
The train was awful. At last I have something to complain of! How the
luxurious, pampered American can stand his night travelling car is
a wonderment to me. Here at last is something they might copy from
Europe. In England, France, and Italy, it is far more comfortable. My
night is indescribable. The bed behind a curtain is all one gets, not
a square foot of privacy to stand up and undress in. I had to struggle
out of my clothes as I sat or lay on my bed. Then, whenever anyone
passed down the car (and they did pass), they brushed my curtains
which parted enough (in spite of being buttoned), to let in a streak
of electric light that waked me. Moreover, people passed down the car
whistling, and at an early hour in the morning, when the stars were
still in the heavens, passengers who were about to alight at the next
stop got together and talked loudly, ... not a wink of sleep could I
get while two men discussed business matters. Weary as I was, sleep
could not combat the conditions.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1921. _New York._
A weary wreck, I arrived at midday at New York, and to my surprise
and joy, Hugo Koehler had brought Dick to meet me at the station. I
then went up to the Numesmatic Society, where I found my exhibition
all arranged, and ready to open at two o’clock. Some press people were
already there.
Very little re-arranging had to be done. The “Numesmatic” staff must
have worked like super-men. Mr. Bertelli, the bronze founder, had
retouched the pattines and done wonders. I was delighted.
It is very thrilling to see one’s own exhibition--
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1921.
Hugo and I went to lunch with Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney at her studio.
I sat next to Mr. Bob Chanler, whom I hadn’t met before. He has the
head of a great French savant, and a voice like the roar of a bull. He
was once married to Cavalieri! On my other side, Mr. Childe Hassam,
the painter; opposite Mr. ---- and Jo Davidson. There were lots of
people I didn’t know, and among them I met a Sheridan cousin called
Pittman. Good looking and nice, I was glad to claim him. Paul Manship
came in afterwards, he and I and Davidson and Bob Chanler, unable to
bear the noise or the absence of air, at the end of lunch went upstairs
to the studio and danced to the gramaphone. Mr. Chanler, rather mad,
and attractive accordingly, kissed me in a moment of expansion! That is
very American. They may kiss in public,----!
After lunch Ruth Draper did some imitations. It is pure genius.
It was difficult to drag oneself away from such an attractive party.
I like Mrs. Whitney and her breakaway from the conventions. She seems
to achieve the real Bohemian spirit. I remember John Noble telling me
about her years ago--she is the fairy godmother of struggling artists.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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