FIGHTING THE INSECTS 



pened to be Dr. Woods of the Harvard Medical College, and he 

 called me over. 



"Dr. Howard," he said, "I want you to know Mr. Wilton 

 Lockwood, one of our foremost artists. Mr. Lockwood, this is 

 Dr. Howard of Washington, who is now giving a course of 

 lectures before the Lowell Institute." 



Lockwood was not at all abashed and at once asked whether 

 I had heard what he had just said, and when I said that I had he 

 went on to say that he would not take it back and that he firmly 

 believed it all. But then, somewhat apologetically, he went on to 

 say that, after all, that frame of mind was by no means confined 

 to Boston, that there were plenty of similar shams elsewhere, 

 and plenty of intellectually or culturally pretentious people in 

 other parts of the country. 



"For example," he said, "over in the Catskill Mountains there 

 is an organization known as the Onteora Club, where a lot of 

 writers and artists and their admirers have built a stone wall 

 around themselves and have assumed a holier-than-thou feeling 

 that is displeasing to their neighbors and to people like us who 

 see clearly." 



My rejoinder was difficult, but I really had to tell him that I 

 was a charter member of the Onteora Club. He shrugged his 

 shoulders, said good night and went to bed. Was there really 

 anything else he could do at the moment.'' 



The next morning he joined me at breakfast. (He lived out of 

 town and was staying a few days at the Club.) As he sat down 

 he said, "I'm afraid that I owe you an apology. I really know 

 about the Onteora Club only from hearsay, and I may be very 

 badly informed. But I insist that I was right about the Lowell 

 Institute audience." 



Of course I told him all about the Onteora Club (the real 

 truth), and we had a very pleasant talk together. It turned out 



[86] 



