Your dear letter was read, with a number of others, to the 85 guests at my surprise birthday party. It was good to hear it! We did have a whale of a party! A total surprise to me. I enclose the account in the Missourian. There were articles in the Columbia Tribune, K. C. Times, Chicago Tribune etc. etc., but this one gives a fair notion of what took place. Truman, the Governor, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs wrote fine letters.
We are about to begin a new semester. Epic America will be big again — 100 pre-registration cards are gone. Regular registration on Jan. 31.
I was in St. Louis over the weekend, finding a goldsmith to work on Mona's ring. My old friend Schaeffer, who did fine work for me over a long period, is dead. (So many are dead!) I went into the old Post-Dispatch bldg. It's empty! Silence where there used to be such bustle and vibrant power. The Post has moved
to the Globe-Democrat building, which now belongs to the P-D. It was like like a queer dream in which nothing happens right to walk around in that empty building! Life here is a queer business, isn't it? It
seems so because we know so very little about life.
Anyway, a friend is precious, and you are a friend.
John N.
