FACING THE NEW WORLD 43 



price, at any cost. When next he met Dr. Solotaroff 

 and Dr. Kaplan and told them of the strange question 

 and the answer he had given, they roared with laugh- 

 ter. They had been in the country for five years, and 

 knew in just what sense the word "ambition" is inter- 

 preted by an American. 



We had a wide circle of friends in New York, who 

 met each other frequently for one purpose or another. 

 Occasionally a dance was given for some cause we 

 were interested in, and lectures delivered on various 

 subjects. When the night of our first dance arrived 

 my husband insisted that I go to it with our friends; 

 he wouldn't have me miss that pleasure, but would stay 

 at home with the children; saying that he would go 

 to the lectures, and that would be a fair division. But 

 when a very interesting lecture came up, he would sur- 

 prise me by having some friend stay with the children, 

 explaining: 



"Not for the world would I go alone and have you 

 miss this pleasure!" 



He was a home body primarily and liked best, after 

 the day's work was over, to stay there, seated in a 

 comfortable chair, with a book as his companion. He 

 liked now and then to visit a friend, or to go to the 

 theatre, or to a dance given by the community. But 

 to have a few intimates in his own home, and to dis- 

 cuss matters with them until the small hours of the 

 morning, was his chief delight. 



I well remember that spring of 1887. We lived in 



