8/17-8/23/47

8/17 Sunday Sylvia is in the habit now of saying "you little rascal" or "you little rat" at any opportunity. Eugene loves to horse around with her causing her to squeal in no time. In the morning to Walton and afterwards to the woods for two cans of berries. We took along milk, cookies, cake, fruit. The Inter-American conference opened at Rio. A Chicago mob attacked Negroes entering a housing project. Bklyn Trust Co strike ended in defeat. Bromwich & Pails for Australia defeated Czechoslovakia's Drobny & Cernik 4-1 in the Davis Cup semis. Australia meets us in the finals in September.

8/18 Lillian took the kids up to the roof in last week's hot evenings where they had a lot of fun. Played out a chess game with Eugene and then cards with the kids. Eugene played chess and checkers by himself in addition to his incessant comic book reading. 100 miners were killed in England. The F.T.C. cited the Iron & Steel industry with price fixing and maintaining. MacArthur's Asst. George Acheson [sic] was among the missing in a B 17 crash. The Gov't 'loyalty' purge began today. We all went downtown after lunch to Electronic Corp of Amer. 353 W. 48 to buy a table model radio victrola for $49.50 reduced from $99.50. Lillian went on the Macy's to buy both kids brown shoes specially priced at $2.98 with raw cord soles. Size 3 for Eugene and 12 1/2 for Sylvia. Both got E width. Russia vetoed Transjordans Ireland & Portugal while we vetoed Albania and Outer Mongolia for UN membership.

We had that combination radio and record player for many years; it was a very good radio, used to pull in stations from far away at night.

8/19 The Left Wing at the French S.P. congress won 21 of 31 seats. Bulgarian Petkov anti-Gov't leader has been condemned to death for treason. 118 were arrested in the Chicago anti-Negro rioting. The City will probe price-fixing. Gen Markos Vafiadis has set up a free gov't in guerrilla territory in Greece. Yemen & Pakistan became UN members.

8/20 Eugene still plays make believe with Sylvia. Dominican dictator Trujillo charges a revolutionary army is being encouraged in Cuba to oust him. Indonesia has turned down U.S. mediation offers, insisting on UN action. A congressional investigator slugged A.F.L. general counsel Joe Padway at a hearing on a jurisdictional dispute. A North Car. mob forced students in an inter-racial house to flee town. 500 are feared dead and 5000 injured in an arsenal explosion in Cadiz. Lillian read "There Comes A Time" by Thomas Bell, "Going Home" by Lester Cohen and "The Big Sky" by A.B. Guthrie. I read "Writers & Writing" by R. VanGelder.

Amusingly, the second book was apparently actually "Coming Home". 

8/21 The kids have many of their games and toys in cigar boxes and tennis ball boxes labelled by Eugene as Peg set, clay, tennis box, cargo, Uncle Wiggily, S. Amer jig saws. Eugene drew Kobi - A Boy of Switzerland by M & C Buff, Paul Bunyan by James Stevens,Traveling With The Birds by R. Boulton & Sylvia drew Hansel & Gretel with music. Housing foe Rep Gamble R-NY will probe the housing crisis. The Senate Foreign Relations Comm. released a hostile study of the Soviet Union calling it intolerant, suspicious and opportunistic. A rank & file longshoreman strike broke out again against Ryan. 15 Nazi doctors including Hitler's physician Brandt were found guilty of experimenting on concentration camp inmates. N.J. banned Jim crow in its schools & militia.

8/22 11 day Vacation starts. Lost to Weckworth & beat Mencher. The former at St. James. Sam at Woodlawn after he had lunch with us. Eugene beat him a game of chess. We picked a can of berries then to mothers to supper. Mom & Pop just came home after 2 1/2 weeks at "Feingolds". Lost a chess game to Eugene & Pop. Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania & Bulgaria were turned down for UN membership by Russia & US & England. Gen James Harbord is dead at 81 and Bilbo at 69. We won the Wightman cup, beating England seven matches to none.

8/23 To Walton with the kids then St. James where I had to look for Eugene for a half hour before I found him watching a chess game. On the way to Woodlawn Eugene got a propeller shoot and Sylvia a three piece cardboard set - 10¢ each. At Woodlawn I beat Lebost. Eugene beat Alex, on a queen against a rook handicap. Then Eugene and I picked berries. Lillian must see about the pain which has been bothering her in her neck. There is much to-do about the seven Protestant ministers led by Guy Emery Shipler & W. H. Melish who visited Yugoslavia and came back with a favorable report.