Folder 356

[first page of multi-page typed document]

November 7, 1931

Mr. Will Richard, Taxidermist, Cody, Wyoming

Dear Richard:

We left New York September 5th on the steamship Pennsylvania, after having put in a most exhausting summer; we ended a change badly.

Right away in Cuba we got an eye-opener, - on board the Pennsylvania was a girl of about eighteen or so; she was of the high-strung type, with very meager education, and all alone. On the sight-seeing bus in Havana this girl sat immediately behind us. When we arrived at the far-famed “Tropic Gardens”, we found it to be a very expensive, beautiful and unique place, but it was built by a brewery as an advertisement, and in a splendid grotto there was a huge barrel of beer where everybody could drink as much as they liked, gratis.

The stampede was amazing - getting something for nothing - it was awe-inspiring.

The afore-mentioned girl, being active and enterprising, got to the bar and downed five glasses of beer, while I, lanquidly [sic] curious to see whether the pale concoction bore any resemblance to Munich beer, fiddled about on the outer edge of the mob, and Ethel looked on from a distance. I never got a chance to sample the stuff, but our girl presently emerged from the push, drunk as a fool and garrulous.

It settled a point that Ethel and I had discussed before - could beer really make anyone drunk?

That afternoon we saw the girl, fortunately now in the company of another older female passenger, staggering about the street, talking to Cubans she met - a “cinch” for the “Cadet” and the South American “White Slave” trade, had she been alone.

The Panama Canal was a joy; we kept rushing from one side of the ship to the other so as to miss as little as possible; a six foot alligator was one of the high spots. It would be a delightful experience for someone with plenty of time and money to explore all the recesses of the waters there in a steam launch; I should love it.