Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

May 21, 1926 –

 On my way to lunch this morn I passed a restaurant thru the window of which I could see cool white tables, & it struck me that it would be nice to go in there & sit down in a “civilized” manner, instead of going to the “one-arm” as I had intended, where one goes to eat & get out, to perform the formality of eating lunch as quickly & cheaply as possible. I wavered a little & then chose the “one-arm.” I was glad I did, for you do not eat so much there, as watch human beings. Eating lunch is after all a formality – it seems a useless interruption of thought – I am never hungry & just enough to say I have eaten is all that is necessary. At the “one-arm” you can ease your conscience in that line and have a keen enjoyment in watching men. All kinds come here and they choose all sorts of food – that is, as various as their limited menu allows. Some dapper young men choose doughnuts or “sticks” cream puffs & milk (not for nothing was the term “cake—
It is odd how trivial events sometimes expand with time into great ones & stand out like milestones. So it is with my excursion out Seneca Creek road with Mary Alice & Martha after onion shoots the other night. At the time it impressed one enough to write about it, but by now it stands out more clearly as a great moment that comes only once in a great while. There was something truly mystical about that evening, born of the soft