father’s railroad years, Kansas City, Des Moines, St. Paul, Chicago—forward and back. What we missed in continuous contacts over a long period, we gained by becoming adapted to new surroundings quickly. I have never lived more than four years in any one place and always have to ask “Which one?”, when a stranger greets me by saying, “I’m from your home town”.
I went to at least six high schools but managed to graduate in the usual four years’ time. The last one was Hyde Park in Chicago, and it furnished a diploma.
I don’t think that boys particularly cared for me, but I can’t remember being very sad about the situation. Probably I didn’t get so much exercise at dancing as I should have liked, because of having only one or two faithful partners. By the way, I think dancing can be one of the loveliest pastimes in the world. I have always liked it, and among the possessions I treasure most are three volumes of music collected by my grandmother when she was a girl. In them are the popular dance tunes of her day as well as the sentimental songs.
