April 14, 1936 - July 2, 1938
Handmade volume with cardboard covers, unlined paper
9 1/2 x 11 1/4 inches
company cars.
After dinner I walked around in the yard a bit - examined a pecan tree (native, with small fruit) and was mystified about some scorings and surface tunneling in the sod. Clarence later told me it was the work of an armadillo.
After dark I walked to the “business section” on an errand to the drug store - the insects, & particularly the tree-crickets, made it seem like an August night; but the sky had that quality I have read about, of being velvety, and closer to the earth. A quarter moon hung high in the west. To the north, I could just see the upper three stars of the handle of the Big Dipper (or Great Bear) which “brought home” to me more vividly than anything, him for south I was.
Though the place was screened in everywhere, a few mosquitos managed to get in, and pestered me while I was writing and reading. Fearful of my night’s rest I pondered what to do. However, in the closet I found a “shroud” of mosquito bar which had obviously been made to put over a whole bed. My struggle with this affair now seems funny, but it was not then. After a long struggle, I got it over the bed. Then there was no way to get into the bed. So I had to partially remove the netting, crawl in & push it down again with hands & feet. It was however always sagging into my face. The bed was warm, and a hideous night seemed my only prospect. After getting up several times, I finally