1889*

Blanchard spent a longer-than-usual vacation in Tyngsboro last summer. He accepted several invitations to preach and enjoyed himself generally. For several weeks in December and January he was with his daughter, Mrs. Holden, in Newton. While there he called on the Secretary twice.

Currier, in a characteristic letter written in December, made one suggestion which should be passed on. It was "How would it do to bring Hitler over here, teach him the Battle Hymn of the Republic, make him play it on a jew's-harp and exhibit him as a one-man show?"

Did you see the following letter to the Editor of the Boston Herald, December 20? "Almost like alchemy is the transmutation and amalgamation of groups and individuals in our America who have been in democratic disagreement. The precipitation occurred on Dec. 7 and 8, when each of us became a pass-a-fist. Marblehead. J. C. Flagg."

Frank Hazen's Christmas card came from 1404 East Second St., Long Beach, California. He wrote "We expect to stay here until spring unless bombed out."

A Washington paper, Dec. 12, carried the following: "Chief Justice Alfred Adams Wheat, of the United States District Court, will retire on January 1, ending a 13-year career on the District of Columbia bench, it was announced yesterday from the White House. His decision to doff judicial robes, long rumored, but unconfirmed at the courthouse, was made known in a letter to the President. The Chief Justice came to the bench in 1929 as an associate justice, and was elevated to his present post a year later. He is 74. In approving his request for retirement, the President wrote in reply: 'As you leave this post permit me to express my appreciation of the faithful and devoted service you have rendered as a member of the Federal Judiciary. You carry with you my best wishes for many more years of health and happiness.' "

Secretary, 87 Milk St., Boston, Mass.